African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1396 A sudden turn of events
"Today is stew and potato pancakes again. This life is really not as good as eating delicious food and drinking spicy drinks in the city."

Time passed quickly and it was time for dinner. The sun had been hanging in the sky for a long time and the members of the grain collection team had just gotten out of bed.

This group of people had a very irregular schedule and clearly lacked the discipline of a regular army. They were extremely undisciplined. Some of them even looked sleepy, yawning, and had not even put on their clothes properly.

Of course, the reason why they are so lax is that they have lived too comfortably and easily for a long time. With the support of the Polish government and Germany, they can hardly find any organization other than the Labor Party that can be sufficiently deterrent to them.

However, the Labor Party entered Belarus relatively late. Unlike eastern Ukraine, where the industry is relatively developed, the Labor Party organization was already relatively active during the Imperial Russian era.

The Belarus region has always been a backward agricultural area with almost no large-scale industry, so the Labor Party's penetration here is relatively slow.

Generally speaking, the Russian Labor Party likes to seize cities with more developed industries first, and then use these cities with concentrated main resources as a basis to control and occupy other regions.

This led to the fact that during the Russian Civil War, the armed forces of the Russian Labor Party went to the countryside with weapons to collect grain, which is the controversial "surplus grain collection system."

It is no wonder that there were always problems in Soviet agriculture. Excessive neglect of agriculture easily led to such a result.

However, in a region like Belarus, where the industry is weak and the agricultural society of the imperial era is still maintained, the old Russian method of "surrounding" the countryside with cities is difficult to work.

During the Imperial era, Russia, as Russia's base camp, had at least enough industrial areas to have an overwhelming advantage over agricultural areas, so the traditional methods of the Russian Labor Party were able to succeed quickly.

This was also effectively demonstrated in eastern Ukraine last year, where after the capture of major cities, other regions basically surrendered.

In the Belarusian region, not only is there no large group of workers to support the actions of the Labor Party organization, but even in the very few cities with a certain amount of industry, it is impossible to carry out a successful "power seizure" action, because in the few cities in Belarus, there are basically Polish and German troops. The Poles and Germans obviously will not empathize with the Labor Party organization. After all, they are also "superior to the people" in Belarus.

These factors led to a result that the Russian Labor Party was making great progress in the war in Ukraine, but it was facing great difficulties in the Belarus region, which is now Poland.

This does prove one thing, that is, the growth of the working class and the expansion of the capital class are positively correlated, and the Belarusian region is obviously not a region favored by capital.

The setbacks in the Belarus region also made the Russian leader Vladimir realize that the activities of the Russian Labor Party in Belarus could not be the same as in Ukraine and Russia in the past, but should fully mobilize the local farmers.

Therefore, starting from the beginning of this year, the activities of the Russian Labor Party in Belarus began to tend to win over local farmers, which to a certain extent also proves Vladimir's flexibility.

But after adjusting the policy, it also takes time to re-arrange the layout. The Russian Labor Party has only been infiltrating the rural areas of Belarus for less than half a year, which is why the White Bandit grain collection team was so careless.

"Karanmozov, it's good to have something to eat. The focus of this trip to the countryside to collect grain is not on eating, drinking and having fun. After all, there is a shortage of supplies in the countryside, so the key is to ask for more tributes from landlords and gentry. As long as your pockets are full, you can do whatever you want when you return to the city in the future," said Movkasky, a member of the White Bandit grain collection team.

The conversation between the two happened to be heard by the leader of the grain collection team, Chervlad, who said to Movkaski with great appreciation: "Not bad, Movkaski is a smart guy. It is indeed a bit hard for us to go to the countryside, but it is not without profit."

"The nobles in the countryside are very wealthy. Now that we are fighting for them on the front line, we must show our appreciation. When the grain collection is completed, I will take you to the most famous Radwich Manor nearby. The owner of Radwich Manor, Sir Radwich, will have to give us some face."

"Add to that the little money we got from the peasants, and this trip won't be in vain."

Cherfrad was obviously trying to have the best of both worlds. Of course, he did not dare to offend the nobles and gentry in the countryside too much, but generally speaking, he still treated the people differently depending on their situation. For example, several second-rate wealthy families in Lunini Village had their homes "raided".

Chervlad continued, "Let's ignore these problems for now. The most important thing right now is to fill our stomachs. Then we will rush to Liuban Village today. After the grain collection mission is completed, we will borrow some money from Sir Radwich."

Although Chervlad said it easily, someone still asked with a lack of confidence: "Boss, Sir Radwich's identity is not simple. If we have a bad attitude, the old guy might report us."

Chervlad was very disdainful of his subordinates' concerns: "What are you afraid of? Do you still think it's the time of the Tsar? I heard that Nicholas II was shot by the Russians. This old guy Radevich is just a remnant of the old times."

"Now the words of the Polish and German masters are the most effective, and the weapons in their hands are the second. In times of chaos and disorder, these remnants of the old times must also restrain themselves."

"Besides, we are just borrowing some money from them. Compared with the wealth they have plundered from the countryside, are we doing too much?"

"We are all robbing, but we are robbing openly, while they are robbing secretly by relying on land and status. When I was farming, I paid them a lot of rent."

Hearing Chervlad's shameless words, his younger brothers secretly criticized in their hearts. After all, Chervlad's past was no secret. This guy had been idle since he was a child. When he was a little older, he joined a gang and later put on a "dog skin". How could such a person have ever honestly farmed the land?

If Cherfrad said that he had worked as a thug for nobles and gentry, it would be more convincing than if he said that he was a farmer.

Rovtashenko, who was preparing food, cursed in his heart: "This Chervlad and Radevich are not good people."

As Chervlad said, he and Radwijk were essentially the same kind of people, except that Radwijk's identity and social status were more respectable.

Afterwards, the White Bandits' grain-collecting teams began to feast on the food. Although they said the food was bad, it was much better than what the real poor people ate. Even the chicken in the stew was not something that ordinary people could eat in this era of war and material shortages.

After seeing Chervlad and his group start to eat, Rovtashenko quietly went to the kitchen.

He whispered to the three villagers in the kitchen, "Leave here immediately as usual. Once you leave the yard, run home and hide. Don't go out!"

The three men were unaware of Rovtashenko and the guerrillas’ plan, so they asked, “What’s wrong, village chief?”

Rovtashenko did not explain, but said: "If you don't want to die, just do as I say. I will go out with you later. Don't ask me questions. I am doing this for your own good."

When the three villagers heard what old man Rovtashenko said, their blood pressure soared instantly. They realized that something bad had happened. They were afraid that Rovtashenko had done something bad behind their backs, and there was a high probability that they would be implicated.

As the saying goes, a good death is worse than a miserable life. Many people will always have a fluke mentality before they are completely forced into a dead end. However, at this time, they can't care what the old man has done. They can only bite the bullet and do what Rovtashenko says. After all, if they stay here, they will not be able to leave even if they want to when the truth comes out.

So, the four of them pretended to be nonchalant and walked through the yard. At this time, the members of the grain-collecting team were enjoying their meal, so no one paid attention to the little actions of Rovtashenko and his companions.

After passing through the yard safely and arriving outside the gate, Rovtashenko signaled with his eyes, and the other three understood and immediately left this place of trouble.

Rovtashenko also rushed home and knocked on the door rhythmically: one, two, three, one, two, three.

Then, the door was opened and Rovtashenko walked in immediately. Rovtashenko's house was not big, but at this time, there were more than thirty people hiding inside.

The entire guerrilla force led by Popov consists of only thirty or so combat personnel. This is why Popov did not support the assault on the grain-collecting team. Although Popov was confident that he could wipe out the enemy with such a small number of people, his own team would probably suffer heavy losses.

Popov asked, "Village Chief Rovtashenko, what is the enemy like now?"

Rovtashenko: "When I left, they were having dinner. I guess the drug had taken effect."

Hearing this, Popov did not hesitate any longer and said, "Village Chief Rovtashenko, please take us there quickly. This medicine is made from a local plant and its efficacy is not enough to kill people. If we let them spread throughout the village, I'm afraid something bad will happen."

Being behind enemy lines, Popov's conditions were very limited, so he had to use local materials.

So Rovtashenko hurriedly led the guerrillas to the yard where the grain-collecting team was.

When they arrived, the white bandits in the yard were holding their stomachs and twitching all over. At this time, they already knew that they had been ambushed, but the pain in their abdomens caused their muscles to spasm and they were completely unable to use any strength.

So, they could only watch helplessly as they were disarmed by the guerrillas. Secretary Popov said, "The timing was just right. If it had been a few minutes later, they might have survived."

After the effect of the drug wears off, although one cannot immediately resume fighting, small movements such as shooting can still be done. This is why Popov rushed here in a hurry. The power of this drug will continue to weaken over time.

……

With the selfless "assistance" of the White Bandit grain-collecting team, the guerrillas of Liuban Village successfully expanded to several surrounding villages including Luninici Village.

Under the chairmanship of Popov, a "Rural Labor Party Government" was established with Luninits village as its center. In order to prevent the encirclement and suppression of the Polish government forces in Belarus, after initially consolidating his regime, Popov immediately decided to attack the Radewitch Manor.

The reason why they attacked Radwich Manor first was because the owner of the manor, Radwich, had a guard team of more than 50 people. If they were captured, the guerrillas could expand to nearly 200 people.

Popov's method of winning over local farmers and getting them to join the base was also very simple: dividing land and exempting rent. In order to protect the fruits of victory, these farmers had to stand with Popov's rural government.

Afterwards, Popov led his men in a fierce battle with the guards of Radvich Manor. Unlike Chervlad's grain-collecting team, the grain-collecting team was based in the city of Belarus and had no foundation in the countryside.

But Sir Radwich was a local tyrant, so although his private armed forces were small in number, they still caused trouble for the guerrillas by relying on the advantage of terrain. However, in the end they were outnumbered and were completely wiped out by the guerrillas along with Radwich himself.

Popov took advantage of the situation and built the Radwich Manor, which had certain fortifications, as the new office location of the rural government.

At the same time, at the Radwich Manor, the guerrillas seized a large amount of food and rubles, and even a certain amount of gold, which was the wealth accumulated and plundered by the Radwich family for generations.

Based on this, Popov's team expanded further, and a base behind enemy lines led by the Labor Party was quickly formed in the Belarus region.

This was also the first rural base established by the Labor Party in Belarus, and it had great reference significance for the activities of the Russian Labor Party in Belarus.

Popov's success was quickly noticed by the top leaders of the Belarusian Labor Party, and soon after, the Labor Party began to establish a large number of rural bases in the Belarus region.

In just less than three months, rural bases sprang up all over Belarus, and in the process, the top leaders of the Belarusian Labor Party were surprised to find that by controlling the rural areas, they had inadvertently divided and surrounded the reactionary forces in the cities.

Therefore, in October 1923, the Belarusian Labor Party responded decisively and began to frequently attack the enemy's roads, railways, and strongholds with these bases as the center. This further shook the already difficult rule of the Polish government in Belarus.

In addition to the attraction of the Labor Party, the Polish rule was unpopular. With the leadership of the Labor Party, the Belarusians were very active in overthrowing the Polish rule and driving them out of the Belarusian region.

Since October, the situation of Poland and Germany in Belarus has begun to take a sharp turn for the worse, and the Russian Red Army on the front line seized the opportunity and launched a large-scale offensive.

In November, faced with attacks from both sides, the Polish and German armies had to begin planning to withdraw from the Belarus region. Due to limited manpower, Germany planned to withdraw its main forces back to Poland and then confront Russia.

In addition to the Labor Party's actions in Belarus, another important reason for this situation was that Germany itself was unable to withdraw most of its troops to support the Eastern European battlefield.

Thus, after eastern Ukraine, the Russian Labor Party successfully recaptured most of Belarus.

For a time, Russia, the evil empire in the eyes of the Western world, once again became the focus of the world. On the one hand, France gloated over Germany's defeat in Eastern Europe, and on the other hand, its fear of the Russian Labor Party was further intensified.

Britain was happy to see the conflict between Germany and Russia. After all, this was exactly what Britain wanted to see when the armistice was signed. The reason why it made concessions to Germany was to let Germany fight each other. In this way, Germany and Russia would be trapped in Eastern Europe at the same time and would not be able to pose a threat to Britain. Britain would also be able to deal with challenges outside Europe more calmly.

After all, Germany and Russia are both land powers, and the United States and East Africa, two maritime powers, are Britain's real concerns. Of course, as a member of Europe, the British will not allow a superpower to emerge on the Eurasian continent. The current stalemate between Germany and Russia is exactly what Britain wants to see.

(End of this chapter)