Time flies.

In August, the trilateral negotiations reached an impasse.

The Soviet side is no longer willing to waste precious time, and waste time with two insignificant little people, microphones.

Whenever negotiations begin, they always steer clear of substantive issues.

For example, in what way, what kind of force and equipment should be used to deal with NC aggression, the troops each side will send in the event of war, and the resources that can be invested.

They avoid these issues and only discuss abstract and irrelevant issues, the so-called 'principles, state structures, systems', etc.

Voroshilov, as a representative of the Soviet Union, began to ask some very specific questions: was there any prescribing of what Poland should do in response to the pressure of the NC?

In the event of a war, how many troops could Britain come to the aid of France, and how many troops could France use itself?

What is the attitude and trends of Belgium, their position and opinions?

The representative of France, Dumanck, said: he did not know anything about the Polish plans.

The British representative Drax said hesitantly: "At present, there are 5 treasurers in the UK, and 1 mechanized division. The implication is that these are the forces that Britain can use externally.

In order to force the two countries to show sincerity, Marshal Voroshilov said in an impassioned tone: "If the war starts, the Soviet Union will immediately send 150 infantry divisions, 6,000 artillery, 1~13,000 tanks and 4,500 aircraft to deal with the invaders in the west." ”

Such an answer shocked the representatives of the two countries and brought them with inexplicable relief.

The Soviets were genuinely interested in reaching a valuable cooperation, but they did not have any mandate to respond, and they were left to look at each other.

At an important meeting on the 14th, Marshal Voroshilov again pointed out that the fundamental question at present was whether Poland would be willing to allow Soviet troops to enter its territory.

Whether it was the question of confronting the German invasion, or the defense against possible aggression by Britain and France, the attitude of Poland was extremely important.

He then asked the British and French delegates the same question: "Do the British and French staff chiefs think that the Soviet troops can make contact with Germany across Poland, especially across the Vilna gorge and Galicia?"

This is the real core of the matter, and the premise of all cooperation is based here.

If the Soviets did not even have a way to meet the enemy, even if they wanted to help after the war, they would have to sit by the border and watch from the sidelines.

At the same time, the USSR repeatedly declared in the newspapers that Britain and France were not sincere about cooperation, and there was no substantial progress in the negotiations.

It's just that the Western world's habitual ignorance of the Soviet Union has prevented these reports from appearing in important sections of the mainstream media in Europe and the United States.

People are optimistic that Britain, France, and the Soviet Union are close to reaching military cooperation.

At the same time, Dumanke and Drax, as representatives of both sides, also telegraphed to their own countries, asking their governments for instructions on how to answer the Soviet questions about Poland.

The two waited anxiously in Moscow for five days, but no reply came.

Dumanke asked the government to find a way to get the Warsaw government to accept the Soviet Union's terms, but the answer was a brutal refusal.

At the same time, the British and French leaders were still secretly contacting the dwarfs and encouraging NC to oppose the Soviet Union**.

Just when the negotiations between the two sides were delayed and reached an impasse, Moscow suddenly received a piece of news.

The British government is negotiating a military loan of 5~1 billion pounds with Germany, which shows that Western countries are trying to push the war to the Far East.

The top leaders of the Soviet Union were very worried that if the Western countries succeeded in their plot, they would have to face more than just the NCD of the dwarfs.

Rather, it was Germany, which had the support of Britain and the entire Western capitalist world, and such a war would be extremely terrible.

In fact, as early as May, Stalin used the resignation of Foreign Minister Livinov to hint that the trilateral negotiations between Britain, France and the Soviet Union were not going well.

It was also Stalin's mockery of the policy of appeasement, which ended in failure after eight years.

However, Western newspapers, accustomed to ignoring Soviet things, thought that Litvinov's resignation was due to a trumped-up charge that had been 'liquidated.' ’

At a time when Stalin was actively trying to reach an agreement with the West, but could not, the dwarf extended an olive branch to him.

In mid-August, the German ambassador to Moscow was ordered to meet Molotov and, on Berlin's instructions, read to him an urgent telegram from the German foreign minister that he was going to Moscow to settle Soviet-German relations.

The Soviet Foreign Minister listened to the statement of the German ambassador with 'great interest' and expressed a 'warm welcome' of Germany's desire to improve Soviet-German relations.

To further test the intentions of the other side, Molotov questioned whether the German government was interested in signing a non-aggression pact between the two countries.

Specifically, is Germany prepared to exert its influence on Japan to improve Soviet-Japanese relations and eliminate border conflicts.

Was Germany willing to guarantee the security of the Baltic states jointly with the USSR?

Molotov's questions were exactly what the little man was looking forward to, and at this time he was more desperate than anyone else to reach a 'peace' agreement with the Soviet Union.

Once the two sides reached an agreement, the Soviet Union would stay out of the war completely, so that he could attack Poland without fear of Soviet intervention.

Because the dwarf firmly believed that as long as the Soviet Union stayed out of the matter, Britain and France would also shudder.

The little man happily and generously accepted the Soviet side's opinions.

On Berlin's orders, the ambassador to Moscow again went to Molotov and informed him: "Germany intends to conclude a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union, which will be for a period of 25 years, if the Soviet Government so wishes,

In addition, Germany was willing to work with the Soviet Union to guarantee the Baltic states, and finally, Germany was willing to exert its influence to improve Soviet-Japanese relations. ”

At this time, the little man was living in his residence on the top of the Bavarian Alps, anxiously awaiting an answer from Moscow.

For him and his NCD, the attack on Poland was already on the verge and had to be launched.

The atmosphere over Berlin, and especially over Salzburg, is so tense that you can't breathe.

But the outcome of this meeting finally disappointed the little man.

Moscow's reply note began with a scathing accusation, recalling the NC government's previous hostile behavior towards the Soviet Union.

"Until recently, the Soviet Government had exacerbated this phenomenon by believing that the German Government was looking for an opportunity to enter into a conflict with the Soviet Union......

Not to mention the fact that the German government used the so-called ** convention to work hard to establish and form an anti-Soviet united front that included a number of countries,

It was for these reasons that the Soviet Union participated in and organized a united defensive front against aggression. ”

Later, however, the Soviet side changed its rhetoric and mentioned that if the German Government is willing to change its past policy from the present and decides to seriously improve its political relations with the Soviet Union, the Soviet Government will welcome this change and will make changes on its own.

Stalin and Moscow, for their part, clearly understood why the dwarf was so urgent, and they were happy to see the dwarf become nervous for their own sake.