Ch.135Ukraine Free Zone (2)

* * *

Let me reorganize my thoughts.

History has changed.

Our Hitler never came to power through the Nazi Party in Germany. And Adolf the martyr will never kill Hitler.

Honestly, from my position, it would have been best if Adolf Hitler had taken power in Germany since it’s easier to deal with someone you know.

History has essentially changed since Hitler joined as a volunteer in the Red-White Civil War.

That’s why I sent him to Austria, hoping at minimum to prevent the Anschluss.

If Britain is too preoccupied with its colonies to intervene in Europe, we will naturally hold post-war European hegemony.

Replacing all the defeated Communist Axis nations with pro-Russian governments and binding them together in something like a European Union would essentially be no different from rebuilding Rome.

No Anschluss, tied down by Poland, Germany split in half with the General Line dividing East Prussia and Austria.

Even if they’re not familiar opponents, the Hitler of the original history succeeded because his gambles paid off.

Considering that, they shouldn’t be too difficult to handle, but I’ve still witnessed serious situations where France was lost and Britain became tied up with colonial matters, only defending the English Channel while maintaining non-intervention in continental Europe. That’s why I’m developing atomic bombs.

It would be difficult for Britain to cross over to Germany after losing France. Otherwise, America would need to use Britain as a foothold to reach continental Europe.

But I’ve sown discord in America. Hmm.

Anyway, that’s why we have the Anti-Comintern Pact.

We need to be clear about who is enemy and who is ally.

“If Austria and Poland can properly serve as meat shields and the Balkan countries can cover their rear…”

I can see how this might play out.

Communist Italy is communist in name only.

As long as Mussolini is there, not much will change. I’ve said this several times already.

But I need to maintain a sense of crisis, so Maria should know this too.

“Your Majesty is looking toward the future.”

Of course.

In the fight against the Reds, one must always look to the future.

One must be wary of the red seeds they sow.

It works particularly well in this era. We never know how these red seeds will bloom in the future.

“We must look to the future. Looking to the future rather than just the present allows us to prepare that much more. Britain only sees the present, but I’m different.”

Thinking about what happens to the Soviet Union and the Communist bloc in the original world… I have a rough idea of how the revolution that Communist Germany will instigate might spread.

I don’t know if Germany will follow the same path as the Soviet Union. But from what I’m seeing, it feels like a German version of the Soviet Union.

And a more active Soviet Union at that.

Looking at the current situation in Britain and France, they’re trying to spread communism to colonies due to their poor economic situation.

The fact that Britain is feeling threatened enough that another Chamberlain of your era has already enacted peace shows they’re seriously concerned about the spread of red influence in their colonies.

But today, a new incident occurred.

“Your Majesty. It’s an urgent matter.”

“What is it?”

“Someone claiming to be a Cheka agent from Soviet Russia has come to the Kremlin Palace.”

A Cheka agent from Soviet Russia.

Saying such a thing in front of the Kremlin Palace is like openly asking to be killed.

No one could be that thoughtless.

Even in Moscow alone, the vast majority—no, almost everyone—would be Anastasia fans.

In such a situation, this person has come claiming to be a Cheka agent.

This is suspicious.

I decided to let him in for now.

The Kremlin Palace is guarded by the Kremlin Imperial Guard, also known as the Anastasia Guard, so there shouldn’t be any problems.

“Well, let’s see him.”

“Are you sure that’s all right?”

“It’s fine. I think I know who it is.”

Even if a Cheka agent has appeared directly to kill me, I still have tanghulu.

No need to worry.

* * *

So, I let him in.

This man who identified himself as a Cheka agent looked familiar.

Yes, that face I saw in Yekaterinburg.

He’s the Cheka agent who killed that guy—Yagov or Yakov, I can’t remember his name—who foamed at the mouth seeing that I couldn’t die and tried to kill me until the end.

“I wondered where you went, but you were in Makhno’s Free Territory.”

I never thought he would have gone to Makhno’s Free Territory.

He’s not a notable figure.

Just a Cheka underling who wanted to do something to the Grand Duchess. Nothing more than an extra.

But he went to Makhno’s Free Territory.

If he defected to me after that… hmm. Something smells fishy.

“Where else could there be forces that might oppose the Holy Lady but the Free Territory? I’ve been infiltrating them for Your Majesty who graciously forgave my sins.”

“Your Majesty, can you believe this beggar’s words?”

Maria seems eager to seize this Cheka agent.

Well, the self-proclaimed Cheka agent does look no different from a beggar.

It must have been complicated to come from Makhno’s Free Territory to the United States.

“He’s the one who killed the Cheka agent who tried to kill me in Yekaterinburg. He’s a man who defected at the last moment.”

I remember his face clearly.

Several years have passed since then, but I remember.

He witnessed firsthand the sight of the immortal Holy Lady.

He defected in a fanatical sense after directly seeing the Holy Lady who couldn’t be burned by fire.

“I see.”

The fact that he’s come here must mean there’s some reason.

“Alright. Tell me in detail. What’s going on?”

“The German Secretary has sent a personal letter to Makhno’s Free Territory.”

Germans sent a personal letter to Makhno’s Free Territory?

“A personal letter? How do you know?”

Makhno. That name keeps popping up when I least expect it.

Ukraine’s Makhno Free Territory.

I wonder if we can consume it before the 1930s.

Britain wouldn’t object to us taking Makhno’s land anyway.

Actually, I was planning to step in when they made more blunders and ruined things with collectivization.

“I am a member of the Supreme Labor Committee of Makhno’s Free Territory!”

“A member of Makhno’s Labor Committee?”

This Cheka agent is a member of a committee created by Makhno?

His name is probably something like Sergei something, but he worked this hard?

Back then, I did give some money to the defected Cheka agents to pretend to show them favor.

I thought they all fled after I told them they would be killed by the White Army if they stayed, but this one seems to have flowed into that place.

“Yes. When Makhno established the Supreme Labor Committee, the highest body for workers in the Free Territory, he appointed many former Bolsheviks to the committee.”

I see, so the Supreme Labor Committee is a government agency he created.

Isn’t that name a bit too casual?

It’s not just my feeling that it lacks any sense of dignity.

Still, I can’t just believe his words.

“It’s hard to believe without evidence. Do you have any?”

“I sneaked away with that personal letter.”

The Cheka agent answered with an extremely confident face.

“The personal letter? You must have been quite close to Makhno.”

“Since I said I was a former Bolshevik, they immediately put me on the committee to please Makhno, making me something like Makhno’s errand boy.”

The Cheka agent politely took out an envelope and handed it to me.

I pulled out the letter from the torn part of the envelope.

If they appointed him just because he was a former Bolshevik, the state of that Free Territory must not be functioning properly.

If it were functioning properly, they wouldn’t appoint someone just because they were a former Bolshevik.

This means Makhno’s anarchist system is unstable, which will work in Russia’s favor.

Well, that doesn’t matter now.

What’s important now is this so-called personal letter.

I read the letter that was supposedly sent by the German Secretary from the torn envelope.

It’s nothing special.

To be honest, it’s just about communists getting along with each other.

For now, Ukraine’s Free Territory is anarchist and a committee rather than a country, so it’s a bit ambiguous to call it an independent sovereign state.

Well, there’s no need to specifically inform us about that.

But judging from Germany’s actions, this doesn’t seem like just “Oh, you share our ideology? Let’s be communist comrades and get along!” kind of thing.

After all, it’s Liebknecht who led the revolution.

He must know that Ukraine is a major source of food for the Russian army.

He might try to use Ukraine to strangle Russia.

In other words, he might use Ukraine as a dagger to stab us.

“Hmm, the Secretary seems quite eager to expand his influence.”

As I thought, it’s suspicious when you think about it.

It’s not even a telegram.

The Secretary specifically sent a personal letter to Ukraine.

Why send a personal letter?

He knows that telegrams could be leaked to the Russian side.

This is a scheme to secretly connect with Makhno and mess with Russia.

Yes, that’s one thing he thought through well.

Anyway, from Communist Germany’s perspective, Makhno is the only one who seems similar to them.

They want to connect with Makhno somehow.

“Hmm.”

We do need to consume Ukraine.

To be honest, we could have consumed all of Ukraine during the Ukrainian campaign.

Because we were mindful of Britain, we deployed Makhno and made it like a neutral zone, but still.

Now that I think about it, seeing how Britain is struggling with Communist Germany, we could have just said “Ukraine is ours” and swallowed half of it.

I was planning to keep Makhno alive for now and consume it later when an opportunity arose.

Has such an opportunity already come?

“If you have nowhere to go, stay in Moscow. If we need to deal with Makhno, you’ll need to testify.”

“Understood, Holy Lady!”

This Cheka agent bowed his head before me several times with a moved expression.

He’s quite out of his mind too.

Calling me Holy Lady instead of Tsar, well.

Yes, if I were him and witnessed the miracle of not burning and not dying from gunshots, I would probably go crazy like that too.

Rather than seeing me as a Tsar, he would only see me as a true Holy Lady, so he can only call me that.

For now, I arranged accommodation for that Cheka agent in Moscow, and I needed to think about this issue.

We do need to consume Ukraine.

The food produced in Ukraine accounted for most of the Soviet army’s food supply.

Currently, we’re bringing in grain through Makhno and using it domestically, but we should start wrapping things up there too.

“Your Majesty, shouldn’t we discuss this with the State Duma?”

“You’re right.”

This isn’t something to chat about with Maria, and what we need to do now is discuss with the State Duma how to consume half of Ukraine.

“Then, what should we do with that Cheka agent? Should we dispose of him? He doesn’t call Your Majesty ‘Your Majesty’ but only ‘Holy Lady.'”

“Well, the Russian Orthodox Church has elevated me to sainthood, so it’s not wrong.”

“Still, there should be a distinction. Isn’t sainthood a status that all of Your Majesty’s sisters have also received?”

That’s true. Just like in actual history, they’ve all been elevated to sainthood.

But from his perspective, he can only see me as a Holy Lady.

Maria can say this because she hasn’t directly seen that I can’t die.

“He’s useful, so there’s no need to touch him.”

“If that’s the case, I can’t say more, but I’m worried he might interfere with Your Majesty.”

Hmm, I’m not sure.

He’s not even a named Bolshevik.

Although he defected after witnessing my miracle, he’s at most an extra, like a passing pedestrian.

He won’t become a risk factor, and he probably came to find me this time to somehow atone for the sins they committed.

The Tsar deserved to die. But still, he was my father, a Holy Lady’s father.

Having witnessed the miracle, he must be afraid.

Afraid that the Holy Lady might someday seek revenge for her father.

So he went to Makhno to find a justification to take down Makhno.

Yes, I can give him credit for that much.

“Is there really a need for that? I’ve arranged accommodation in Moscow and plan to have the Okhrana monitor him under the pretext of protection. He’ll provide us with a justification to get rid of Makhno later. It doesn’t matter. Just in case, have someone from the Kremlin Palace monitor him too.”

“Understood.”

He infiltrated under Makhno for a long time.

And that too, as a defector.

Logically, he’s probably not a named character, and he did this solely for me.

Even if that’s not the case, he’s still useful.

We must keep him with us to later protest against Ukraine.

“Wait, I just had an interesting thought.”

“Your Majesty?”

“After this is over, if we give him a medal for his service in benefiting Russia through his defection, wouldn’t other uncooperative Bolsheviks also reconsider?”

This is about promoting the idea that even former Bolsheviks can achieve merit under the new regime!

With the leadership completely destroyed, the remaining Bolsheviks are those who followed saying, “We can’t live like this! Let’s overthrow everything!”

Only those with pride would refuse to defect or choose to stay in camps, but at least we can promote the image that the Tsar also knows how to embrace former Bolsheviks.

Since Communist Germany might deliberately try to divide us using communists within our borders.

Let’s draw that line in advance.