My German Empire

Chapter 56:

Wilhelm remembered something when he was about to finish breakfast. "By the way, you have to bring back some intelligence when you return so tell General Tukhachevsky that you have inquired about our super tank plan. It weighs 150 tons with a speed of 40 kilometers per hour, 128 mm main Gun and 75mm secondary gun, more than 200mm armor."

Natasha's eyes widened in astonishment. "150 tons? Really?" What is the concept of 150 tons! As far as she knows, the T-18 tank produced by the Soviet Union is only a little over 5 tons.

Wilhelm nodded seriously. "Of course it is true." it's just that it won't be mass produced.

Gathering in the conference room again, Tukhachevsky conveyed Stalin's request to Wilhelm to review the drawings first.

"You want the design drawings?" Wilhelm was not a fool, and he understood Stalin's plan. They want the blueprint first, and then they want to start the construction themselves? It's a pity that even if he knows that the Soviets can't build this ship on their own, it's impossible to give them the drawings, because all he has in his mind is the data of those warships, and there is no complete design at all.

He called in several design experts from the Admiralty last night and asked them to design the "Yamato". These experts were all dumbfounded when they heard the data of this "super warship", saying that it would take at least one and a half years for such a super warship to be designed.

"you don't have to draw a new design for this ship. You can just enlarge the existing design drawings." It took a long time for these old stubborns to react, saying that they can design it out within a month.

Although a month is too long, Wilhelm has some ways to delay. "It's not impossible for me to let you review the drawings first, but they are not free. You can pay for them with grains as we discussed yesterday."

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Of course, Tukhachevsky also knew that the Germans would definitely not give them the drawings for review in vain. He was mentally prepared for this before he started the negotiation. "How much do you want?"

Wilhelm held out a finger. "Since we are friends, I will not be ashamed to ask for more. Ten million tons."

10 million tons? Tukhachevsky had an urge to curse out loud. Do you think food in the Soviet Union falls from the sky? "Your Excellency Wilhelm must be joking, even if we want to buy such a warship, we really don't have 10 million tons of grains"

"..." Well, he remembered that the original space-time Yamato cost 416 million U.S. dollars. So if the price is changed to 10 million tons of grain, won't the unit price be $41 per ton? Now just a drawing requires 10 million tons of food, no wonder Tukhachevsky reacted like this.

"General Tukhachevsky, don't just look at the price. This warship is the 'super warship' that can change our German Navy's destiny." Wilhelm specifically emphasized the words "super warship". "If 10 million tons of grain can be used to seize maritime supremacy, I will throw it out without hesitation . And this "super battleship" is our trump card to regain maritime hegemony, it can even be considered as our national artifact. Don't think I don't know about your intentions. I guess you will refuse our request after you have thoroughly reviewed the drawings and start imitating this warship, right?"

Of course Tukhachevsky also understood what the great leader Comrade Stalin meant. Although they knew that the Germans would not give them the drawings in vain, but after all, under the guise of "review", even if the Germans ask for a price, it would be far lower than the price of a warship.

Tukhachevsky couldn't help but sigh secretly. It's okay to let him lead a war, but he is really not good at bargaining. "Your Excellency Wilhelm, if you have paid attention to the recent situation in the Soviet Union, you will find that our harvest this year is not that good. The Soviet people are also frugal. As the leader of a country, of course you should understand that we cannot leave our citizens hungry "

Food in the Soviet Union is indeed not abundant right now.

Until 1913, Russia was a net grain exporter. At that time, the population of the whole country was 150 million, and the average annual output of grain was 75 to 90 million tons, and the export of grain was 5-10 million tons. During the period 1923-1925, the same grain output was probably enough to feed rural residents, but not enough to supply the rapidly increasing number of workers in cities.

In 1917, large, high-yielding private farms were nationalized and arable land was allocated to small farmers, resulting in a sharp drop in "marketable" food. There was only about 10 million tons of grain left on the domestic market each year, which has long been unable to meet the needs of cities with growing populations, and there is not much grain available for export.

As early as 1928 and 1929, Russia had to import grain from abroad to prevent serious food shortages in urban areas.

This is the "grain problem" hidden behind the booming Soviet Union in 1930 and 1931 (although the collectivization of agriculture did not directly increase the output of grains, it helped to distribute the harvested grain from the countryside to the cities.)

Therefore Tukhachevsky would definitely not agree to Wilhelm's demand of 10 million tonnes of grain unless he was crazy.

After nagging for a long time, Tukhachevsky said the point. "The price you want is too high, we really can't afford it."

Wilhelm asked with contempt in his heart. "Then tell me straightforwardly, how much can you pay?"

"800,000 tons."

Wilhelm's mouth twitched slightly, cutting directly from 10 million tons to 800,000 tons? You are too cruel. "General Tukhachevsky, you just said that our price is too outrageous, I think your price is outrageous."

After bargaining, the two of them finally set the price at 1.6 million tons. The premise of this price is that the Soviet Union will agree to the request made by Wilhelm yesterday to transport raw minerals from the Soviet Union to German factories for processing into finished products and then send them back to the Soviet Union. Also, the design drawings of the warships will not be handed over to the Soviet Union at one time. Germany will deliver one-tenth of the design drawings for every one-tenth of the grain shipped.

Although Tukhachevsky strived to get Wilhelm to deliver all the design drawings at once, Wilhelm never agreed.

After everything was settled, Tukhachevsky couldn't help but wipe the sweat from his forehead. Although he also felt that the Soviet Union had made a profit this time, Wilhelm in front of him was more like a greedy businessman,which made him despise the inferior nature of capitalism from the bottom of his heart.

"But..."