In the afternoon, the blue sky was so blue that not half of the clouds could be seen, and the weather was oppressive and breathless. In the center of Moscow's capital, the Kremlin stands on flat ground, overlooking its subjects like a majestic ruler.

There are no pedestrians on the streets, and the eerie silence is more disturbing than the hustle and bustle of the city. Not long after, several black cars passed the road in front of the Kremlin, slowly drove into the government building, squeaked a few times, the black car stopped in front of the building, the driver rushed to the door of the rear seat after opening the door, and opened the door for the people in the back seat with continuous training, only to see a man in a suit in his 40s walking out of the car with a cane.

After leaving the car and standing still on the ground, he glanced up at the sky, looked down and muttered faintly, "It's going to rain."

With that, he walked into the building.

Subsequently, several waves of convoys arrived, and the arrival of these convoys in turn broke the calm outside the Kremlin......

At the end of the hallway, there was a faint sound of discussion in a room, either high-pitched or low-pitched. At a long table of 12 people, another group of people was engaged in a lively discussion.

"In my opinion, he Zhukov is a turtle with a shrunken head and tail." A slightly chubby man who looked to be in his forties, with obvious Mediterranean tendencies on the top of his head, sat at the long table and shouted at the top of his voice: "If the front line can't be held, it must have nothing to do with him." The generals are cowards who retreat at the slightest setback. How can such a soldier led by a general defend the land for the people? ”

"Yes, yes, yes! He's almost like a woman. To the left of the chubby man, a man with black-rimmed glasses and a polite appearance echoed in his voice: "Zhukov is not doing well, he is cowardly and evasive, and the battle line can be held but he gives the order to flee." If you want me to say, this war will be lost, and Zhukov should bear the main responsibility! ”

The man said and glanced at the people present: "What do you think?" ”

As soon as these words came out, the people present exchanged their heads one after another.

"Zhukov is not doing well this time!"

"Sure enough, it's just a reckless man with well-developed limbs and a simple mind."

"He's a coward who is afraid of death!"

"At the beginning, General Pavlov warned Zhukov that it was useless to be clever on the battlefield, but unfortunately he never changed. If he had listened to Comrade Pavlov's advice earlier, he would not have made such a humiliating decision......"

Discussion has come and gone, although there are occasional sentences such as "Is it too hasty to draw conclusions now?" Why don't you investigate the survey? There were such doubts, but most people unanimously agreed that everything was the fault of the timid and cowardly Zhukov.

They take it for granted that as soldiers, they should fight to the death in the face of the enemy, and all reasons for retreating are excuses for greed for life and fear of death!

"We should go to Comrade Stalin to clarify our point and get rid of Zhukov as a pest!" I don't know who suddenly got up, and in an instant, the conversation became the appearance of everyone simply suing Zhukov together.

......

Outside the window of the temporary headquarters of the Southwestern Front, where Zhukov was located, I don't know when, it actually rained heavily.

There was a sparkle in the dimly lit room, accompanied by the occasional hissing sound, which was exceptionally clear in this dimly lit room.

There were two or three soft knocks on the door outside, as if they were afraid of disturbing the rest of the room's owner. Although the person knocking on the door knew, the person in the room must have been unusually awake at the moment.

The person who knocked on the door was the chief of staff, Puerkaev, who did not dare to knock loudly because he felt that the documents he was about to hand in were too heavy.

If he had known, he would have called a staff officer to help him bring this document, and he would not have to face this embarrassment himself.

"Come in!" A thick, deep male voice came from inside the door.

Puerkaev took a deep breath and then twisted the doorknob.

With a "click", the door opened. Pu'er Kaev pushed the door open and entered, only to find that it was pitch black. Just when he was at a loss, the person in the room said lightly: "Turn on the light." ”

So, Pu'er Kaevny continued to fumble for a while, and finally found the switch.

At the moment when he pressed the switch, he inexplicably felt relieved and silently relieved in his heart.

In just a few minutes, a cold sweat faintly broke out on Pu'er Kayev's back.

Under the light, on the seat opposite him sat a fat general in military uniform, and after the other party extinguished the cigarette in the ashtray, he lay back in his chair and watched Pu'er Kaev come over: "You are here, Comrade Pu'er Kaev,"

"Participation...... Chief of Staff, the documents from above have come down. Puerkaev was a little reluctant to look directly into Zhukov's eyes, and only floated in the air.

Faced with this scene, Zhukov suddenly wanted to laugh, and his laughter was not because of Puerkaev's nervous slightly funny facial expressions, but because he had already roughly guessed the ridiculous content in the document.

Pu'er Kaev also seemed to have noticed Zhukov's composure, and felt that it was inappropriate for him to be struggling, so he was relieved and said quickly: "The boss said that he hoped that the chief of staff would sign the No. 3 offensive order as soon as possible, and also said that this is the unanimous opinion and expectation of the people."

As he spoke, Puerkaev opened the document and placed it on the table in front of Zhukov.

This is an established fact, and there are not many options left for Zhukov. No matter how big his opinion is, there is nothing else he can do well except not sign.

After a helpless wry smile, Zhukov waved his hand lightly, "You go first, I'll be alone quietly." ”

Pu'er Kaev was stunned for a moment after hearing this, and immediately stood up and saluted: "Yes! Comrade Chief of Staff! ”

Then Puerkaev immediately turned away, and the moment he left the door, he breathed a sigh of complete relief.

To be honest, he knew that he hadn't figured out how to talk to Zhukov about it now, and he couldn't find any comforting words to say about Zhukov, an upright old friend.

What Puerkaev can do is not to give Zhukov a second stimulation and not to give Zhukov any excessive advice.

Kirponos was right, what to do, Zhukov knew much better than his own people. What they could see, Zhukov could see through a long time ago.

So, let's not bother Zhukov and let him decide what to do next.

In the hallway, the sound of Puerkaev's boots getting lower and lower sounded......

"Smack!" The sound of a cup being broken finally came from Zhukov's room after Puerkaev left.

"Fuck the opinions and expectations!" Zhukov slammed the document on the table.