Things turned out to be as Shulka thought, and Mekhlis took Shulka's idea for himself as a matter of course.

Mekhlis found Stalin as soon as he returned to Moscow by train.

"Comrade Stalin!" "I think we should turn our attention to the South!" Mehris said. ”

Stalin continued to look at the documents, without raising his head, and replied casually: "Oh, Comrade Mehris, when did you care about strategy?" ”

"That's what I think...... "The British have cut off our supply to the south, which will make our army's southern front, that is, the area east of Kiev, short of supplies, and our attention is even on the Moscow defense line, which is still transporting ammunition, food and other materials from the south to the north, I think we should stop immediately!" ”

"And leave them to you?" Stalin flipped through the documents and sarcastically said: "If we do not continue the transport to the north, what will the soldiers at the front rely on to fight the Germans?" ”

"The Germans may well change the direction of the offensive, Comrade Stalin!" "The cutting off of supplies by the British would certainly attract the attention of the Germans, and at the same time the defense line of Kyiv was very weak, and if the Germans suddenly concentrated their forces on Odessa, and then hit the Crimea along the Black Sea across the Dnieper, it would threaten the Caucasus, which is not only our transport route with the British and the Americans, but also the Baku oil fields, from which a considerable part of our oil comes from!" ”

In fact, not quite a part, but most of it...... The total production of the Baku oil fields at this time accounted for 71.5% of the Soviet Union.

Hearing this, Stalin slowly raised his head from the document, looked at Mehris with surprise and said: "Go on, Mekhlis! ”

Mehlis was secretly overjoyed by Stalin's encouragement, and continued: "I think we should stop the Caucasus from continuing to transport supplies in the direction of Moscow, and ask them to plan the storage of strategic supplies for emergencies. In addition, we should strengthen the defense of the Crimean region! ”

"Why not strengthen the defenses of Kyiv?" Stalin asked rhetorically.

"Because the Kyiv line of defense is too fragile, Comrade Stalin!" Mekhlis replied: "Its supply lines depend on the ports of the Odessa line, and if these ports are captured, it means that Kyiv will be cut off from the outside world, and the Germans can easily do this by simply concentrating their air power!" ”

Stalin casually picked up his pipe and stuffed it into his mouth, which was his habit when thinking about problems.

Mehris, who was familiar with Stalin, knew that this also meant that what he said had succeeded in attracting Stalin's attention.

After a moment of silence, Stalin said: "Very well, Comrade Mehris, I can't believe that these are your ideas. It's far-sighted, it's reasonable, and if the Germans do what you say, they will catch us off guard! ”

Mekhlis smiled: "Of course this is my idea, Comrade Stalin!" ”

"We don't need to worry too much, though!" Stalin replied: "Because all this is based on the fact that the British, the Americans, no longer supply us with supplies along the line of the South Caucasus." I think we can use diplomacy to solve this problem! ”

"But, Comrade Stalin......"

Mehris didn't know what to say for a while, this is the shortcoming of stealing other people's ideas, and if there were other dissenting opinions, Mehris could not do anything without ink in his stomach.

"Of course I know we need to do some preparation!" Stalin replied: "We can't take chances, so what you said is at least partly useful, that is, we should strengthen the defense of the Crimea and let them have a planned reserve of some strategic supplies!" ”

"Of course, Comrade Stalin!" Mehris nodded and said, "We should do it!" ”

When Mekhlis returned to Rzhev the next day, he excitedly told Shulka: "Great, Comrade Shulka, Comrade Stalin accepted our proposal!" ”

"Really?" Shulka was a little surprised, he didn't expect it to go so well, but then Mehris's words let Shulka know that this was not the case.

"Yes!" Mehris poured Shulka a glass of wine, seized French brandy, of course.

"Comrade Stalin intends to strengthen the defense in the Crimea!" Mekhlis handed Shulka a glass and poured himself a glass: "At the same time, let them stock up on strategic supplies!" ”

"That's it?" Shulka thought there was something to follow.

If you really accept Shulka's advice, the first thing to do is to try to avoid the siege of Kyiv, which has a million troops.

Shulka believed that these units should be sent to Odessa.

The reason is obvious, Odessa is a port city, which can be attacked and defended...... The USSR had the Black Sea Fleet, which, in case of being surrounded by German troops, could at least withdraw its troops through the fleet at night.

On the other hand, at this time Odessa can be said to be a much more important place than Kiev.

Without the capture of Kyiv, the Germans could bypass it and continue their advance, which hardly affected the plans of the Germans to attack the Crimea, the Caucasus, Baku.

But if Odessa is not captured, the Germans will not be able to attack with confidence, because the Soviets can use the navy to transport troops to Odessa at any time to cut off the German supply lines from the rear and surround the German army.

Stalin, however, did not do this.

"Yes!" Mehris replied: "You may be right, but the matter is not as serious as you think, because we are resolving this difficulty diplomatically, and it is estimated that it will not be long before it is ...... British and American aid will be restored! ”

So Shulka had nothing more to say.

Shulka knew what was going on, and Stalin did not fully believe the information he had conveyed using Mekhlis.

From Stalin's point of view, he preferred to continue to expand the results of the counteroffensive in the direction of Moscow, so he would not easily turn his attention to the south, even if he believed that a crisis in the south did exist.

"Perhaps!" Shulka said: "We should give Kyiv a wake-up call! Because as soon as these become true, Kyiv will be completely surrounded by German troops! ”

"That's right!" Mehris said, "I'll send them a telegram!" ”

With that, Mehris raised his glass and said, "Cheers to our victory!" ”

"For victory!"

Shulka was amused as he drank the wine, and he could see that Mehris was not at all concerned with the war, and he was more concerned about whether he would be recognized or valued by Stalin.

That's why he called Stalin's reserved listening a "victory."