Ch.32You’ve Created a Monster.

# The Captured Bolsheviks

Among the notable figures we captured from the Korean era I knew was Semyon Budyonny, who had been enthusiastically leading enemy cavalry against Mikhail Frunze before getting thoroughly thrashed by the Cossacks on a rainy day and taken prisoner.

There were others too, like the female revolutionary Alexandra Kollontai and Alexander Shlyapnikov. These two were apparently caught while attempting suicide.

And then.

There was Lenin.

To be precise, it was Lenin in a completely unconscious state.

Someone must have been trying to take him away. Lenin was found on a carriage, and we were able to capture him when the driver was killed by White Army bullets.

We captured Lenin, the man I’d dreamed of catching!

Beyond that, I felt nothing special.

If Lenin had been conscious, captured as a defeated man raging at the failure of his revolution, that would be different. But now, unconscious, he looked like any street vagrant—no one would recognize him as a revolutionary.

“Why did Lenin collapse?”

“Someone apparently tried to assassinate him. Evidence of chloroform inhalation was found in his office.”

“It couldn’t have been the Okhrana.”

If the Okhrana had done it, we would have known about it already.

Come to think of it, doesn’t Mikhail Frunze also die from chloroform later?

This strongly smells like Stalin’s work, doesn’t it?

However, one person was nowhere to be found.

Leon Trotsky.

We searched Moscow thoroughly, but he was nowhere to be seen.

If he’s not here, he must have already fled.

That’s the most likely scenario.

“Unfortunately, we couldn’t find major figures like Trotsky. We did capture Stalin, though. He was caught by some lost German soldiers.”

Ah, so that bastard was captured after all.

“You mean White Army soldiers who suspiciously speak excellent German.”

We have no foreign troops helping us.

We simply have White Army soldiers who speak various languages.

“How do you plan to deal with the surrendered Bolsheviks?”

“As planned, let’s execute Mikhail Frunze and other Communist Party leaders without trial. Trials are a luxury for Reds. The political officers below them will either be shot or sent to Siberia depending on how much they participated in combat.”

Mikhail Frunze originally died in 1925 from chloroform overdose on the operating table after opposing Stalin.

They say it was Stalin’s plot, which isn’t implausible considering his Great Purge.

From the White Army’s perspective, there’s no reason to keep him alive either.

He’s the one who tormented our White Army in Moscow until the very end.

Considering actual history, his death seems appropriate.

Even if we sent him to Siberia, he might escape and become troublesome again.

We decided to kill most of the other Bolsheviks too.

How many have escaped after being sent to Siberia?

We really need to kill all the significant ones.

Those who haven’t yet joined the Bolsheviks might be spared, but notable figures who are loyal Bolsheviks should be executed even if they fought in the German-Soviet war.

Even if I wanted to show mercy as a saint, sparing them would cause discontent within the White Army—”Oh, they’re letting revolutionary forces live?”—while the Reds might pretend to surrender while plotting behind our backs.

Execution purifies the plague.

“Yes.”

The White Army generals who participated in the civil war are experienced commanders who have won numerous victories.

They are certainly no less capable than the Soviet commanders from actual history.

After all, in World War II, the Soviets initially retreated because Stalin had killed all his competent officers.

So there’s no reason to spare notable figures out of consideration for actual history.

The communists would never submit to me anyway.

Leon Trotsky probably went to Petrograd.

With Moscow lost to the White Army, Petrograd, the city of revolution, would be the most likely place for him to flee.

“Your Highness, the Reds are fleeing westward. General Ungern is pursuing them.”

Westward. That would be Petrograd.

Trotsky must be among them.

“These Reds are truly disgusting. It seems we’ll have to go all the way to Petrograd to finish this.”

The Bolsheviks refused to accept defeat and fled.

Ungern’s Asiatic Cavalry Division is actively hunting down the fleeing Red Army, but Trotsky won’t be among them.

In the current situation, Petrograd would be the most likely destination.

Though he fled, would Trotsky be the type to beg for his life?

Or would he?

We need to put pressure on Petrograd quickly.

“Let’s support Yudenich, who wants to attack Petrograd, with the condition of granting Finland conditional independence.”

“Are you willing to accept Finland’s independence?”

Well, there’s no choice.

If Finland hadn’t already declared independence, it would be different.

They’ve already independently declared independence and are cautiously watching our side.

So we can allow Finland’s independence under certain conditions.

“Yes. The new Russia shouldn’t be a thug nation that pressures neighboring countries with force. Tell them I’ll grant independence if I can serve as the nominal King of Finland. Otherwise, we’ll respect them as a sovereign nation.”

“So you’ll keep them under your sphere of influence.”

“If we simply grant independence without conditions, ethnic minorities seeking independence might cause trouble.”

That would be annoying, especially now that we’ve just gained the upper hand in the civil war.

Now, it’s time to execute the Reds who surrendered in Moscow.

The execution of the Bolsheviks took place in the outskirts of Moscow.

The White Army disarmed the Red Army officers and cornered them.

“C-comrades! Didn’t you s-say you would spare those who surrendered?”

“We surrendered believing only that!”

“Mercy is only for those who became Bolsheviks under your threats. You surrendered like foxes only because you had no choice. You’re all sentenced to death by firing squad!”

Bang! Bang bang bang!

The Red Army officers who once took pleasure in executing officers from the imperial era were now shot by White Army officers themselves.

For a while, Moscow was swept by a bloody storm of Red blood.

The Reds who once celebrated their revolution, acting as if the world belonged to them, received no mercy.

As if receiving karma for their indiscriminate killings, the hardcore Reds died miserably by bullets.

The red blood spilled by Red Army officers would become fertilizer for the new Russia.

“Your Highness, Lenin has regained consciousness.”

“Has he now.”

Well then, shall we go meet Lenin?

As the victor, teabagging is obligatory, isn’t it?

* * *

Shortly after regaining consciousness, Lenin was dragged out of his sickbed and forced to kneel before me.

He glared at me with bloodshot eyes.

“What a fierce expression.”

Of course. He’s face to face with the enemy of the revolution who destroyed it.

But the same goes for me.

I’m meeting the person who overthrew the Empire.

Although I was Korean in my previous life, this body is Anastasia, and I defeated the infamous Lenin.

How can I contain this exhilaration?

“Princess! Even if we die here, the proletarian revolution will never stop! Communism will ultimately triumph!”

Oh, he speaks well. But what can he do?

It won’t be that easy.

If the Soviet Union had truly succeeded, it might be different. But it ultimately failed.

Even in actual history during the Civil War, Stalin and other Red Army leaders threatened peasants to steal food, burned villages that resisted, and publicly executed deserters.

Of course, the White Army wasn’t exactly virtuous either.

But the Soviet Union, established with all kinds of fine words, was too authoritarian and violent.

Such hypocrites.

I took out my baton and lifted Lenin’s chin.

“You speak well. But what can you do? Such a thing will never happen.”

“!?”

“What you speak of is merely idealism. Whether it’s the escaped Trotsky or anyone else, the result will be the same no matter which country they flee to.”

“What do you mean?”

Yes. What do I mean?

I spoke to Lenin with a confident expression.

“Russia has already experienced one civil war, and we plan to make anti-communism our national policy. Wherever communism takes root, we can use you as a pretext for invasion. Thanks to you, we had a civil war, and future Russians will shudder at the mention of you. Thus, the newly reborn Russia will consider it its destiny to eradicate communists worldwide.”

“What.”

From now on, Russia will live with the reputation of being the first country to experience a communist civil war.

And that Russia will extremely hate communism.

Eradicating communism will be seen as its destiny.

“Leon Trotsky, was it? He’ll probably flee from Petrograd too if cornered. Whether to China, the New World, Europe, or anywhere else.”

“!!”

He must have understood the meaning of my words. The reborn Russia will appear to be starting a new imperialism, extending its power everywhere under the pretext of ‘eradicating communism.’

What better justification could there be?

“Thank you. Thanks to you, the Russian Empire will rise again.”

Lenin’s face, already red, looked like it was about to burst.

Yes. That’s the face I wanted to see.

Because of what they did, the world will become even more imperialistic.

He’ll probably die of rage.

The new Russia will intervene, invade, and rise as a stronger imperialist power wherever communists try to take root.

Contrary to their intentions, communists will become pawns of imperialism.

That’s the ultimate teabagging.

Even if they flee like cockroaches, they’ll only provide Russia with more pretexts for intervention.

In his eyes, I must look like the final boss of imperialism.

“We will conquer every country where you’ve sown your seeds. The world will be covered in blood. And workers who were fed carrots with your different ideas won’t even realize they’re being used as disposable pawns as they die.”

“I… I have created a monster.”

Lenin trembled, looking as if he’d seen a monster, completely terrified.

He’s falling for it, the stupid Red bastard.

Or perhaps he’s sensing something with the typical communist instinct.

Then I should play along with the atmosphere.

“Thank you. Thanks to you, my eyes have been opened. As I said, no trial is necessary. Tomorrow, execute him—no, kill him directly with cannons like the British did to Indian rebels. Mikhail Frunze and all the other Reds should be executed by cannon fire along with him.”

“Yes!”

Lenin was dragged away by White Army soldiers waiting behind.

Tomorrow, he will be executed by cannon fire in Moscow along with the other communists who resisted.

The idol of the revolution who established the Soviet Union will be torn to pieces and scattered.

“Your Highness, about what you said to Lenin earlier.”

Chief of Staff Drozdovsky, who had been watching my conversation with Lenin, seemed curious about what I meant.

It might have sounded like I was dreaming of ambition when Russia isn’t in a position for that.

Of course, I don’t see that as realistic either.

“Ah, that was teabagging.”

“Teabagging?”

Ah, that term wouldn’t exist in this era.

I cleared my throat.

“I mean, it was just to mock the defeated. It won’t actually happen. Communism will mostly disappear into history after this anyway.”

“That actually seems like a good method.”

“Pardon?”

“Of course, conquering the world is nonsense, but it’s sufficient as a pretext for war when needed.”

Why are you taking it so seriously?

It might sound plausible in theory, but still.

The civil war is more urgent right now.

Yes, like Stalin.

“That’s one way to look at it. By the way, where is Stalin?”

“About him, I actually have something to tell Your Highness. It’s rather…”

He seems to have trouble saying it. What could it be?

After hesitating in a manner unbefitting his age, Pyotr Wrangel finally delivered the shocking news.

“He was maimed by German bullets?”

“The doctor says the bullet unfortunately hit a very unfortunate place.”

“You mean he’s been castrated?”

“That’s correct.”

I barely managed to suppress my laughter.

The great Stalin, now a eunuch.

Hasn’t he become too pitiful?