I Will Stage A Coup D’état - Chapter 181



Only Noblemtl

EP.181 After the Dictator’s Death (2)

“It’s MGB!”

Everyone trembled in fear at the mere mention of the Ministry of National Security.

An executive agency that, according to Stalin’s will, puts sane people on a list and sends them to the Gulag.

That was MGB.

So it was natural that Lavrentiy Beria, the head of the MGB, became the real power behind the new regime.

Beria found his colleagues in the Council of Ministers ridiculous.

‘All your weaknesses are in the paper I’m holding in my hand.’

Can we regard prey that we can destroy if we set our mind to it as equal partners?

Beria had no regard for high-ranking party members.

The only people he was wary of were the high-ranking military who had saved the nation from crisis.

Only the military was qualified to be his opponent.

“I wonder what to do with the military hanging around Moscow.”

Beria expelled the army from Moscow under the pretext of maintaining order.

The vacancy was filled by MGB troops.

Beria steadily climbed the ladder to power.

He took control of the capital, became vice-chairman of the Council of Ministers, and placed a watchful eye on the military.

Now, as time passed and the people became accustomed to him, the position of supreme power was no longer a dream.

Beria manipulated Malenkov with great ambition.

Malenkov, a magnanimous man, was a good tool for Beria to use at his will.

‘If things continue like this, by the end of the year, everything will be over.’

Just as Beria was thinking that way, strange things began to happen.

“Your Excellency, Vice-Chairman. These kinds of letters keep coming into the MGB Minister’s office.”

It was a suspicious mail with no sender.

When I asked the people below to find out what it contained, all I found was money enclosed along with the words, “A friend who lives far away.”

A friend far away?

Beria sensed something odd here, but did not order an investigation.

The current political situation was too busy to waste manpower on such trivial matters.

Beria passed over the matter, but the rumor soon spread among party officials.

“You say Beria received money from abroad?”

“Who in the world would hand out envelopes of money like that? This is proof that Beria is receiving support from the West.”

As soon as Khrushchev heard this rumor, he decided that this would be a good excuse to expel Beria.

Khrushchev met privately with an officer on Zhukov’s side and discussed the matter.

“A traitor to his country who has become attached to the West? But is that an excuse?”

“Anyway, I was going to use whatever I had to get rid of him. Just tell Marshal Zhukov that.”

It was a good thing for the coup d’état side that they brought charges of collusion with the West even in the original country.

“Treason against the nation. I guess that’s right. It’s easy for the people to understand.”

The coup was prepared in rapid succession.

Even Soviet military generals who were not on good terms with each other decided to unite and support the coup.

On the day of the coup, a Politburo meeting was held in the Kremlin disguised as a meeting of ministers.

Meanwhile, generals who had made arrangements to visit the Kremlin stopped by the restroom.

As no one dared to inspect the generals’ uniforms, Marshal Zhukov and the commander of the Moscow Guards, Colonel General Kirill Moskalenko, entered with rifles hidden in their overcoats.

“Take one each.”

Upon receiving the order, the officers who had entered the bathroom each received a rifle.

If it had been a Western-style coup, he would have brought troops and caused chaos, but Zhukov had no intention of carrying out such an ignorant coup.

They wanted to end it by quietly subduing the Kremlin and then having the party step in and execute Beria.

It looked good and was beneficial to the people.

While the Soviet officers waited in the bathroom, the curtain rose on the stage for the Council of Ministers.

Khrushchev asked Malenkov to speak, then suddenly attacked Beria.

“Comrade Secretary. On behalf of the party members and the people who are not present here, I denounce Comrade Beria. Comrade Beria is not only guilty of abusing his power, but also guilty of sabotaging Moscow with the support of the enemies of the Federation. How can the Federation be considered a proper state if it tolerates such a shameless person? Treason against the state must be punished.”

“Nikita, what are you talking about all of a sudden? I didn’t do that. George! Don’t listen to these guys!”

The meeting of ministers quickly became a mess.

Khrushchev’s list of charges and Beria’s rebuttal.

Beria’s voice grew louder.

Finally, Khrushchev finished what he had to say and shouted.

“George! Push the button!”

Malenkov hesitated and then pressed the button.

“George! You must take my side! I appeal to our friendship, I have never committed treason! Believe me!”

Beria begged Malenkov to spare him, but the secretary turned a blind eye to his friend’s desperate pleas.

‘This X baby.’

Beria quickly got up from his seat and ran to the window.

And then he shouted outside.

“expenses!”

Party members who saw the situation were greatly surprised.

If Beria called in the MGB troops, it was the end.

At that moment, Soviet officers who had responded to Malenkov’s call rushed into the conference room.

“Uh huh.”

The MGB agents guarding the corridor fled in panic when they saw the armed Soviet officers.

At the forefront stood Marshal Zhukov, the hero of the German-Soviet war, who could not even dare to fight back.

“Comrade Khrushchev, where is Beria?”

As soon as Zhukov burst into the conference room, he asked Khrushchev:

As Khrushchev gestured, Zhukov mercilessly beat Beria, who was shouting at the window.

Zhukov shouted at the beaten and lying Beria.

“Berry, you are under arrest.”

Beria was immediately captured by the generals.

Moskalenko stripped Beria of his belt and tried to disarm him, but he had no special weapons on him.

‘This is a dream.’

Beria could not have imagined that something like this could happen in the MGB-controlled Kremlin, but it happened.

Outside the Kremlin, Soviet units called in by Zhukov arrived one after another and disarmed the MGB troops.

“The Red Army has been captured. Now go back to your nests.”

Although Beria was skilled in political maneuvering, he was no match for the Soviet Army when it came to actually moving troops in battle.

Khrushchev again recited Beria’s crimes.

“I want a proper trial. Not this kind of hasty procedure!”

“A formal trial? You think you deserve that? You’re talking nonsense without conscience.”

No one was willing to listen to Beria’s protests.

If we had let Beria go here, we might have had to fight a civil war.

If he was a fool enough to take such a risk, he would not have been able to sit at the head of the Communist Party.

“This guy, be careful when transporting him.”

Beria was taken straight to prison.

Beria’s expulsion was over in an instant.

Of course, Beria’s disposal did not end here.

The party members had no intention of keeping alive Beria, who had been a human butcher and had been killing people.

Khrushchev informed the party of these thoughts and asked the generals for their opinions.

“Does the military have any other thoughts about Beria’s disposition? If you have any other thoughts, tell Comrade Zhukov.”

“The military simply follows the leadership of the party.”

Zhukov treated party members with humility.

Although this incident was a coup d’état, it was an action aimed solely at operating on Beria.

If you fail to read this situation and presumptuously exercise your right to speak, you could be beaten up by party members.

Zhukov had tasted the spicy taste of politics several times, so he had that much insight.

“Comrade Moskalenko, do you have any opinions?”

“I agree with Comrade Zhukov.”

Moskalenko also saved his body.

In times of such power transition, it was best to keep quiet as much as possible.

“Well then, let’s wrap things up like this.”

As Khrushchev was concluding the coup, Zhukov suddenly asked him something that occurred to him.

“By the way, what are we going to do with Comrade Stalin’s blood relatives?”

Everyone had complicated expressions at those words.

Stalin, the steel dictator.

The blood relatives who carried that halo on their backs were, frankly, burdensome to mess with.

However, it was a burden to just leave it alone.

Even this time, didn’t Vasily stand behind Beria without even knowing the topic?

Party members did not want something like that to happen again.

“I wish Vasily would just be stripped of his rank and put on retirement. Honestly, wouldn’t it be better to send that son of a bitch abroad so that we wouldn’t lose our hair?”

“Then, Svetlana?”

“How about sending them to neutral Austria, comrades?”

It didn’t seem like it would pose much of a threat to his daughter, Svetlana, being sent abroad.

It’s neither a boy nor a girl.

Khrushchev readily agreed.

“Well, let’s do that.”

Even if it was Stalin, I didn’t have any grudge against those kids.

Everyone agreed that that would be an appropriate punishment.

That’s how the Soviet coup was resolved.

Only Beria was replaced, but almost everyone else kept their original positions.

But the power dynamics had completely changed.

The power vacuum left by Beria, who had been the real power, was filled by Nikita Khrushchev, the First Secretary who joined hands with the military.

Although there were no significant changes in visible titles, the real power holders in the Soviet Union had changed completely.

The West did not read this fact accurately, but Korea did.

“As expected, Khrushchev won.”

Pyongyang ignored Malenkov and went straight to Khrushchev.

“Comrade Khrushchev. A telegram has arrived from Pyongyang.”

“Not to Comrade Malenkov, but to me?”

Khrushchev was embarrassed by the fact that Pyongyang was fully aware of the dark power struggle that had unfolded after the dictator’s death.

‘Are you saying that Pyongyang’s intelligence capabilities are this good?’

The US is probably still figuring out the situation, but South Korea has accurately grasped the real situation and has been treating it well.

It wasn’t like I was just vaguely telling a story.

“From now on, we in Pyongyang hope to be good partners with you, Secretary. If the Soviet Union and Korea join hands, what will the West have to fear?”

South Korea clearly saw itself as a post-Stalin power.

‘I guess we should be careful when dealing with Koreans.’

Khrushchev further heightened his sense of vigilance toward Korea.