Chapter 400 You Must Stand Up: Defend Russia
It's too early; it's 6 a.m., the sun hasn't even had time to rise yet.
Wang Xiao hurriedly brushed her teeth and washed her face, spat out a mouthful of mouthwash, wiped her face, wrapped a scarf around her neck, and rushed out the door.
There was no car, it was too cold, the engine needed to warm up, and the driver didn't have time. Tyachenko simply didn't have the patience to wait.
She kept walking ahead, and Ivanov and Wang Xiao could only grit their teeth and keep up.
Fortunately, it didn't snow yesterday or today. Otherwise, if it were so early and there hadn't been time to shovel the snow, the roads and Red Square would have been natural skating rinks.
The sky was overcast and there was no one in sight on the road.
A cold wind blew the leaflet to her feet; it was printed with the campaign slogan of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation—Россия, Родина, народ (Russia, Motherland, People)—the simplest kind of printed material.
She looked up and saw a poster on the store entrance with a cartoon of Zyuganov glaring at her and shouting, "Hurry up and store the food! This is your last chance!"
The printing cost of a poster is 30 times that of a flyer.
How did Wang Xiao know this? Because the flyers and posters were all printed by their printing factory.
Originally, the printing factory's orders were for printing packaging boxes and bags for all kinds of goods.
As soon as the election began, the demand for all kinds of printed materials surged. Printing plants, with their advanced equipment, reasonable prices, high efficiency, and ability to operate in three shifts, quickly seized the Moscow campaign printing market.
Even if the factory owner has clearly sided with the president, it only means that they have secured one more business deal, not that their existing orders will stop.
When it comes to making money, it's not shameful to make money from anyone else.
But now, is it still possible to continue earning this money?
Wang Xiao wanted to grab Tyachenko, hold her head, and shake it hard—"Tell me, tell me, what's wrong with your father, the president?"
However, Dyachenko remained silent and simply walked forward with his head down.
She climbed the steps, her leather shoes barely hindering her from moving forward, almost jogging.
Ivanov has long legs, so he can barely keep up.
Wang Xiao was in a terrible situation. She was forced to run a long distance in the dark early in the morning, and when she stopped in front of the guards, she was almost out of breath.
Then, because they were brought by the president's daughter, the security check was just passing through a metal door, without a detailed body search.
Even so, Diachenko still urged, "Hurry up, hurry up."
They ran along the marble floor, over the thick carpet, through the light of the crystal chandelier, around the complex corridors, and finally to the door of the reception room.
Wang Xiao had just stopped, panting and leaning on Liu Ba's arm, when a furious roar came from the reception room: "Their headquarters! Where is their headquarters? I want to shut them down!"
Thank goodness, the horse they bet on is still alive, and they can continue to participate in horse racing.
What did the people inside say in response? The thick door panel covered their voices, and Wang Xiao outside couldn't hear them at all.
The footsteps nearby grew closer, causing her to instinctively turn her head and see a familiar face.
"Mr. Chubais, what brings you here?"
Despite the freezing winter weather, Chubais was drenched in sweat and panting as he spoke, but he didn't answer Wang Xiao's question. Instead, he looked at Diachenko and said, "My God, how could this happen? What on earth is going on?"
Wang Xiao had the same question.
However, Diachenko simply shook his head and mumbled a reply: "Sir—"
The door to the reception room was flung open from the inside, and the president's roar erupted: "Since you know nothing, Vladimir, what are you doing here?"
Punonin put his hat on halfway, then put it down, turned around, and calmly replied, "Sir, my mission is to protect Russia's security and maintain its peace."
The president sneered: "Very well! Very well! Do you think I'm an executioner or a war criminal?"
Terrified, Tyachenko rushed into the reception room and pleaded with his father, "Dad, please don't do this."
After a slight hesitation, Chubais stepped forward and said, "Boris, I think we need to have an open conversation now."
The door closed, and Wang Xiao felt like cursing.
No, what's going on?
They dragged her and Ivan out of bed early in the morning, made them run themselves ragged to the Kremlin, and then left them there.
No one told them what happened from beginning to end!
Ivanov, forgetting his anger, quickly pressed Punonin for answers: "What happened? What are you doing here?"
The good news is that the assistants who stayed on Huaxia Commercial Street no longer need to try to contact Punoning.
The bad news is that he and Wang are now even more confused than he is.
The tax police major general finally put on his hat. He glanced back at his friend and said in a flat voice, "Our president intends to dissolve the State Duma and the Communist Party."
With a crackling sound, a thunderous sound rang in Wang Xiao's mind. Was the spring thunder in Moscow coming early?
I was completely stunned by the explosion.
She now feels she should take back what she said earlier.
Why be thankful that the president is still alive? He might as well have just been killed.
She previously said that the Communist Party members running for office had been kicked in the head by a donkey.
As the saying goes, where there is a hidden dragon, there must be a phoenix chick, and this one is no exception.
Moreover, Zyuganov had no way to suppress the bigwigs of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and had no choice but to accept it reluctantly.
What was he thinking? Why did he decide to ban the Communist Party at this time?
Was he afraid that all Russians would not unite and overthrow him?
Even those who are indifferent to or even hate the Communist Party of the Russian Federation would resolutely disagree with his ideas. If everyone condones him today, then tomorrow everyone will be the one whose basic rights are violated!
Wang Xiao was completely baffled and stared intently at Punoning: "Why would he do that?"
This is like killing 100 enemies and stabbing yourself 8000 times!
Punonin's expression darkened slightly, and he shook his head: "I don't know."
He was summoned to the Kremlin at six o'clock in the morning. The president talked to himself, insisting that he would dissolve the State Duma, ban the Communist Party, and cancel the general election; he wouldn't listen to anything else.
Listening to his unspeakable complaints, Wang Xiao could only offer a haphazard, whispered word of comfort: "Vlamikl, you have to think positively. At least this time, you weren't excluded from the Kremlin's decision."
The sun had not yet risen, and the dim light in the corridor outside the reception room made people's faces look as if they were covered with a layer of dust.
Punonin's expression was strange, and he whispered in an almost breathless voice, "Yes, he needs a thug to create bloodshed; he needs a scapegoat to take the blame for his stupidity and madness."
He could fully foresee that if he raided the headquarters of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and threw its high-ranking officials into prison, what kind of storm of curses and hatred would await him, and countless people would hide by the roadside, wanting to kill him.
His life is completely ruined!
“But you’re at the table now,” Wang Xiao’s voice was even softer than his. “How can you be a player if you’re not a pawn?”
Pronin's cheek twitched slightly, and he was about to speak when the door to the reception room creaked open, accompanied by Chubais's hoarse shout: "Boris Nikolayevich, this is not 1993..."
The door was quickly closed, stopping the rest of the argument.
Tyachenko strode out from behind the door and walked straight up to Wang Xiao: "Miss Wang, please come with me."
Ivanov immediately followed: "Madam, where are you going?"
Tyachenko made a gesture of obstruction, forcing a smile: "Sir, this is a conversation between ladies, please excuse us."
Ivanov smiled politely and ingratiatingly: "Oh, madam, you may not know, but I am a friend of the ladies, so I think I don't need to avoid you."
As he spoke, he hugged Wang Xiao's shoulders tightly, silently declaring that they were one and could never be separated.
Tyachenko subconsciously pursed his lips, glanced at the reception room again, and finally frowned as he hurried forward, leaving behind the words, "Follow me."
Punonin looked at them, then glanced at the reception room, and finally put his foot down.
He couldn't leave; he had to stay and act as the last line of defense against the president.
He will not allow anyone to destroy Russia, not even the country's head of state.
Tyachenko walked very fast, and Wang Xiao practically jogged to keep up. She didn't even know how many turns she made or how many rooms she passed through before finally entering a room that didn't seem to have any special markings.
Inside sat a middle-aged woman wearing headphones.
Upon seeing Diachenko, she immediately took off her headphones with a blank expression and gave up her seat.
The latter took the headphones, pushed Wang Xiao to sit down, and then put the headphones on her head.
Before Wang Xiao could react, the president's roar rang in his ears: "I know the only obstacle is the Constitution!"
This was followed by Chubais's fierce retort: "Now, whoever violates the Constitution will be overthrown!..."
Wang Xiao immediately took off his headphones, stood up, and glared at Tyachenko with a livid face: "Madam, I don't understand what you mean. I have no right to hear this."
Is she crazy?
The president was arguing with his campaign advisor and former First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, and asked her to listen in on their argument.
Is it because they think she has nine heads? Is it because they think her life is too comfortable?
Wang Xiao lifted her foot: "Sorry, I should leave. This is not a place for me."
"God!" Diachenko reached out to stop her, his face pleading. "Don't go, Miss Wang, I need your help now. This must be stopped, or my father will be finished, Russia will be finished, and we will all be finished."
Wang Xiao suspected that she hadn't slept all night and had endured a very difficult night; otherwise, she wouldn't have said such crazy things to him.
Unfortunately, I am a businessman, not a philanthropist, and therefore cannot feel a surge of sympathy for this.
Wang Xiao looked at her and said seriously, "So now you should stop your father. If Mr. Chubais can't persuade your father, then only you can. Only you can stop all of this."
Diachenko was on the verge of tears: "I begged my father, I told him that if he did this, he would lose everything, everyone would abandon him. It was no use—"
She shook her head, her eyes reddening. "No matter how much I begged, it was no use. I almost knelt down."
“Then kneel down.” Wang Xiao said decisively. “Please kneel down, hug your father’s feet, and make him retract his order. You must stand up and protect your father.”
Tyachenko shook his head again, his eyes glistening with tears: "It's no use, Your Majesty. You don't know how stubborn my father is."
She really didn't know who to ask for help.
Because everyone around his father had gone mad. Even Soskowitz, who was working with him on the election campaign, supported cancelling the presidential election.
With nowhere else to turn, she saw the China Commercial Street next to Red Square.
A crazy idea instantly took root in her mind.
She thought of the king, who was very good at public relations and extremely good at persuading others.
Once the thought popped into his head, Dyachenko could no longer control himself.
In politics, she was a newcomer.
Although her father had been president for five years, she only began to gradually get involved in his work in the latter half of last year.
She simply didn't have the ability to make a better choice, nor did she have the time to think it through.
Because her father has made up his mind that in a few hours he will announce to the public the dissolution of the State Duma, the banning of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, and the cancellation of the presidential election in the summer.
She couldn't imagine what kind of catastrophic disaster would occur at that time.
Tyachenko spoke quickly and urgently, and Wang Xiao tried hard to extract useful information from it.
However, there was so little useful information that Wang Xiao didn't care about her fear and helplessness.
"Why? You have to tell me why your father did this. He was a wise politician and should have understood that this is not the time to bombard the White House in 1993, and the nature of this matter is completely different from bombarding the White House and dissolving Congress."
Dyachenko shook his head: "I don't know. I tried to tell him all the consequences of the disaster, but it was no use. My father only told me that he couldn't let the Communist Party of the Russian Federation continue to run rampant, because that would destroy Russia."
Wang Xiao couldn't accept this reason.
Perhaps that's what the president really thinks, but that's definitely not the reason he's acting so impulsively right now.
He could have handled the State Duma's resolution passed yesterday with much more moderate measures.
“Honey, if you can’t give me a real reason, then I can’t help you.”
Dyachenko was desperate: "I really don't know what other reason there could be. I have told you everything I know."
Without hesitation, Wang Xiao said, "Then, my dear, please go back now, back to your father's side. All problems that cannot be solved by reason can only be solved by emotion. Go and persuade him, hug his legs and beg and cry, stop him. My dear, you must protect your father."
She didn't give Tyachenko any more time to hesitate, and directly dragged her arm back.
Thank goodness, although the Kremlin made her dizzy, Ivanov was quite familiar with the place and quickly led them back to the door of the reception room.
Punoning was still standing at the door, like a steadfast guard.
Just as Wang Xiao was about to step forward and ask them how the argument was going, the door was suddenly pulled open from the inside, revealing Qiu Baisi's gloomy and angry face.
The president's roar chased after him: "Anatole Borisovich, you have to admit that you made many serious mistakes in the privatization process."
Chubais, his face flushed, turned around and said, word by word, "Yes, sir, I have made a mistake, and I am suffering the consequences. And you, sir, how will you bear the guilt of bringing all of Russia into hell?"
With a loud thud, something crashed heavily to the ground.
Tyachenko was startled, but Wang Xiao didn't give her a chance to back down, pushing her forward directly: "Darling, your father needs you now."
She won't let the Russian princess escape.
She hadn't even received the second set of keys to open the treasure vault yet, and she had already planned how she would handle that huge fortune once she actually got her hands on it.
She won't let the Asian financial crisis next year slip by.
So now, no one can stop her from getting the second set of keys.
The president stood in the center of the reception room, panting heavily, his face weary and haggard. At his feet lay a broken vase, the fallen flowers barely alive.
Wang Xiao's first thought upon seeing him was that this scene must not be filmed and leaked; otherwise, she wouldn't know how to continue her campaign's media relations work.
“Dad.” Tyachenko looked at his father with tears in his eyes and reached out to hug his arm.
She thought Wang was right; perhaps she really should kneel down now. Even though she had never knelt before anyone before, this was her father, her dear father.
However, the president merely patted his daughter's hand reassuringly, his gaze fixed on Wang Xiao's face.
He was breathing heavily, like an exhausted old bear: "And you, ma'am, are you in cahoots? Are you planning to use a war of attrition against me?"
Wang Xiao was utterly astonished.
Without her noticing, the president actually mistook her for an advocate.
She instinctively wanted to stay out of it, but just as she was about to speak, sunlight streamed in through the window, and the sun slowly rose into the sky.
The intense golden rays of the rising sun bathed the president, gilding him with a halo, as if he were the king and ruler of this world.
In that instant, Wang Xiao had a sudden realization; she knew why.
For businessmen, money is the most important thing.
For politicians, power is the most important thing.
Yes, power, power is what threatens him.
If the Belovezh Accords are invalid, and if the Union still exists, then is he, as the president of the Russian Federation, also illegitimate?
From his perspective, he couldn't stand it; he absolutely couldn't tolerate it.
Is it absurd?
They became hysterical over this uncertainty, even wanting to dissolve the State Duma, ban the Communist Party, and plunge the country into war.
There's nothing absurd about it.
Which person in a position of power isn't selfish? After I die, who cares if the world is flooded? (Note ①)
Wang Xiao's heart immediately settled down.
Once she understood what the other party wanted, she knew what her next step should be.
"No, sir, you misunderstand. I don't even know how to fight, let alone fight a war."
The president's stiff facial muscles twitched, as if he was trying to force a smile, and add a touch of teasing, such as, "If you can't even fight, why is Ivan so afraid of you?"
But he was so tired. He had barely had a proper rest since yesterday, and he was exhausted.
So he just mumbled, "So what are you doing here, ma'am? You should be enjoying a relaxing weekend."
“I have come to ask you to fight,” Wang Xiao said in a firm and powerful voice. “I ask you to stand up, just as you did during the August 19 Incident, and call on all the Russian people to defend Russia.”
Everyone in the conference room, at the entrance, and outside the conference room was stunned.
Good heavens, what strange things is she saying?
Defend Russia? Where did this idea come from? The person who now wants to dissolve the State Duma, ban the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, and plunge the whole of Russia into disaster is none other than this president!
Wang Xiao, however, seemed completely oblivious to their astonishment, and solemnly emphasized, "The State Duma is insane! The Belovezh Accords have long been recognized by the United Nations and have the force of international law. The State Duma says they're invalid? Are they trying to make Russia antagonize the whole world?"
"What would Ukraine think if the Soviet Union were restored? What would all the CIS countries think? They have always regarded the Soviet Union as a tool used by Russia to invade them."
"The Crimean issue hasn't been resolved yet, so why is the State Duma bringing this up now? Are they afraid war won't break out?"
"They've gone mad! They've taken advantage of any power they have. They've acted with impunity, relying on the kindness and trust of the people. Because of their greed, ignorance, and shortsightedness, they've betrayed the people and dragged them into a huge disaster."
"Sir!" Wang Xiao looked at the president with a serious expression. "You must stand up and stop them. In 1993, the Constitution established a federal system and a presidential system, explicitly denying the continuity of the legal system from the Soviet era. As the legitimate president and head of state of Russia, you must stand up and lead your people in this fight!"
She pointed out the window, “They are violating the constitution. They must be brought to court. The law must uphold the dignity of the constitution.”
Punonin really wanted to applaud.
The president was clearly the one intending to defy the constitution. However, through her manipulative and evasive tactics, it became entirely the State Duma's fault.
Chubais, a seasoned and shrewd politician, readily accepted Wang Xiao's words: "That's right, sir. We must defend the dignity of the Russian Constitution and not let them continue to do as they please."
Yes, we must seize this opportunity to arrange a grand speech, so that the president can publicly denounce the selfishness, greed, and ignorance of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.
They should never have any power; any power that falls into their hands will be abused by them.
They don't care about the lives of the Russian people at all; they only lead them to hell time and time again.
The president needs to step into the limelight, make the people forget the terrible reforms, and recall his image as a fighter standing on a tank, holding a megaphone, calling on all Russians to stand up and defend Russia.
Chubais looked at the president eagerly: "Sir, you should give a speech to the whole nation today."
Sunday, a day off for everyone, gives people plenty of free time to follow the news.
There couldn't be a better moment to make a public appearance.
Dyachenko clung to his father's arm and pleaded, "Dad, they're the criminals."
The president looked at the crowd hesitantly, but ultimately did not shake his head or utter any words of rebuttal.
Chubais immediately stated, "I'll call Channel One and NTV and have them arrange it right away."
They had to race against time; they couldn't allow Korzhakov and his conservative followers, who were determined to cancel the presidential election, to surround the president again.
Otherwise, the latter will waver and ruin their plans.
Wang Xiao also got into work mode and offered her opinion directly: "Sir, you need to have a spa treatment now, a deep rest, and a facial treatment as well."
No one likes to see their leader weak and old.
He may be tired, but he must be full of fighting spirit.
Only in this way can he attract fans who believe he can ultimately win.
In the evening, sitting in front of the television, Wang Xiao, who was exhausted after a long day, could finally see a perfectly presented picture.
Today's video is from 1991. The president, waving his fist, stands on a tank and calls on all Russians to stand up and defend Russia.
Then came the president's address to all citizens.
He spoke for a full hour, vehemently condemning the two resolutions passed by the State Duma yesterday, saying they would plunge the country into chaos and prevent the people from living in peace and tranquility.
As Wang Xiao listened, he remarked to Ivanov, "He's a natural orator. Compared to him, Zyuganov lacks a bit of charisma."
Therefore, as one of the writers of the speech, she stated that the speaker did not disgrace the speech.
Ivanov sighed heavily, slumped onto the sofa, and muttered to himself, "God, can the Kremlin please stop this now?"
I no longer dare to expect them to be of any help; I just hope they don't cause any more trouble.
Wang Xiao's reaction was simply a chuckle.
As the saying goes, "It's easier to change mountains and rivers than to change one's nature." Anyone who makes the first mess, as long as they're still alive and well, will almost certainly make a second or third one soon.
May God bless His people.
She couldn't be relied on as a heretic; she just wanted to rest.
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Note ①: "After me, the flood." The original French phrase is "Après moi, le déluge," which literally translates to "After my death, there will be a flood." It may have originated from Madame de Pompadour, Louis XV's mistress, to comfort the king who was dejected by war defeats; later, it was widely attributed to Louis XV himself, reflecting the extravagance of his reign and his pessimistic predictions about the future.
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