Leaving aside the exchanges between Reinhardt and Mussolini, the other two leaders on the German and Italian sides, are also not at peace.

Churchill was in the midst of crises in Africa and on his homeland, and Stalin, who had not encountered a war, was not at ease in the slightest.

He frowned, staring at the map in his smoky office.

Seeing that France, Italy, Germany, and Britain were fighting in the African battlefield, Stalin, who was far away in Moscow, should have been unable to sit still.

If it had not been for the fact that the spy Olga had intercepted German intelligence and indicated that Japan was going to make a big move in the Far East, Stalin would have been ready to transfer Germany to do so.

These days, the weather in Moscow is rarely sunny, but Stalin always sits in his office and is depressed.

There is a question that has been bothering him for a long time - doesn't it mean that Japan is about to go north? It's been more than 2 months, why hasn't Japan done it in the Far East!

According to the telegram sent from the Far Eastern front, the Japanese Kwantung Army did not even move a single soldier, as if it had not received a battle order.

Stalin originally thought that this was a good play played by the Japanese for him, to paralyze the Soviet Union, and wait for the Soviet army to relax before taking action. But then he realized that he seemed to be thinking too much.

Today, this confusion will finally be unraveled in Stalin's mind - the "key" to unlock stems from another telegram from the Japanese Ministry of Defense intercepted by the Soviet Ministry of Enemy Works.

At about two o'clock this afternoon, Stalin's cronies hurried from the telegraph room in a panicked pace, and he entered Stalin's office without even knocking on them.

Stalin trusted and understood this cronie very well, and he knew that there must be something important, otherwise this usually calm cronie would never appear so flustered.

"What makes you so flustered?" Stalin asked.

"General Secretary, this is a telegram that the comrades of the enemy Ministry of Labor have just intercepted from the Japanese side, and I believe that there must be something in it that you are interested in." The assistant excitedly took out a telegram.

"Show it to me." After Stalin finished speaking, he took the telegram and read it carefully.

After a long time, Stalin almost got up and shouted: "Damn Reinhardt actually played us!" We've all been tricked by him like monkeys! ”

It was the first time for this crony to see Stalin stirring up such a big fire, and in a panic, his body trembled slightly, and the documents in his hand fell to the ground.

After picking up the papers, the cronies' mood still couldn't calm down for a long time, and he had a premonition that something big might happen. Based on his knowledge of the leader's personality over the years he had followed Stalin, Stalin would certainly not have forgotten this. At the very least, he will be careful to remember today's events before completing his revenge.

As it turned out, the cronies did not err on their judgment.

The next day in Moscow, the sky was still clear, but the atmosphere in the conference room of the Krim Palace was not relaxed.

At this meeting, Stalin gathered and recalled all the high-ranking generals of the Soviet Union, and everyone knew with their butts that the general secretary must have some battle arrangements, otherwise why gather the generals?

These high-ranking generals are very well informed, and earlier today, they also heard about the interception of a Japanese telegram by the enemy's Ministry of Engineering yesterday, and some of them even know a little about the contents of the telegram.

Before the operational meeting, several Soviet generals were outside talking.

"I heard that yesterday the enemy's Ministry of Engineering cracked a telegram from the Japanese, and the content of the telegram is probably that the Japanese side is frequently transferring troops in Southeast Asia, but does not have the slightest idea of the Far East." Said one of the generals.

"yes, I've heard that, too. It is said that the enemy Ministry of Engineering had also cracked a telegram between the Germans and the Japanese, and from the telegram it seemed that this was just a play between the Japanese and the Germans, and the Japanese had no intention of moving the Far East at all. Another general also shared what he knew.

Many generals mingled like this, sharing what they knew with each other.

"Damn the dwarf, damn the liar Reinhardt." Stalin roared in the conference room: "We must give them a little color, especially to give Reinhardt, a hypocritical villain, a long memory!" Let him know that we in the USSR are not just talking about deception. ”

"Leader, you mean that we are going to attack on the Eastern Front of Germany?" Khrushchev, as the first secretary of Ukraine, first asked tentatively.

Because he is mainly responsible for the affairs of Ukraine, and the cooperation between Ukraine and the Germans is the closest and most frequent, once the two countries are at odds, Khrushchev's political achievements will inevitably plummet with the Germans' withdrawal. This is something he does not want to see.

"Yes, that's right. Comrade Khrushchev, you guessed it. Stalin did not notice Khrushchev's mental activity in the slightest, and said to himself: "Before the attack, I am preparing to carry out an exercise." Simulate a head-on clash between our army and the armored forces on which the German army depends, and use victory to increase the confidence of officers and soldiers. ”

"Comrade Pavlov, Comrade Zhukov, the task of the mock exercise will be entrusted to you." Stalin instructed the two already well-known generals.

"Yes, Leader. We're done! The two generals replied in unison.

On Stalin's orders, Pavlov and Zhukov quietly conducted confrontation exercises at a secret military base in Western Siberia. This was a very important combat exercise of armored forces in the Soviet army's combat plan.

Pavlov was lucky enough to be assigned to command the units of the Red Army, that is, the Soviet units during the exercises. And Zhukov was unlucky, and was assigned to the commander of the Blue Army, who would normally lose, that is, to simulate the command of German troops.

In the Soviet Union, the Red Army was generally the Red Army and the enemy was the Blue Army, so every time the play was played, the Blue Army was the Red Army, which was in line with the consistent "tradition" of the Soviets. Therefore, Pavlov's assignment to command the Red Army can basically be said to be a great opportunity to perform.

But after the exercise, Pavlov, who had always been tactful, broke out into a strong direct conflict with Zhukov.

It turned out that Zhukov found that there were obvious loopholes in the strategic deployment of the Red Army, so he changed the plan set in advance, commanded the Blue Army to attack in advance, and defeated the Red Army units commanded by Pavlov on the basis of the plan.

Pavlov, who had been defeated miserably, was not satisfied and complained to the General Staff, saying that Zhukov had violated discipline by revising the exercise plan without authorization, and that Zhukov was showing off his talents.

Zhukov was also angry when he heard it, after all, he also thought that he had defeated the main force of the Japanese army in the Far East, and he was not a rice bucket with only a little cleverness.

So Zhukov also bluntly criticized Pavlov in turn, saying what if he was facing not exercises, but the German army?

For this reason, Stalin had no choice but to educate and instruct both of them. However, Pavlov and Zhukov at that time did not listen to a word.

Objectively speaking, Zhukov's ability was unmatched in the Soviet army at that time, but Pavlov was obviously more likely to become a big thing. Pavlov was not as sharp as Zhukov, he paid great attention to the relationship between his superiors and subordinates, and there were almost no quarrels with others, let alone people who could not get off the stage.

This character of Pavlov was clearly appreciated by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Stalin, who for a long time expected more from him than Zhukov.

Pavlov, upon his return from the "gilding" of the Spanish Civil War, was honored by the Supreme High Command and, as a matter of course, was appointed director of the Soviet tank and armored forces.

Soon, he was promoted to general along with Zhukov, who also played a great role in the Battle of Nomenkan.

But after this exercise, the gap between Zhukov and Pavlov has inadvertently become apparent.

Obviously, Pavlov is more good at being a man, but Zhukov is even more good at fighting!

Afterwards, Stalin promoted Zhukov to the post of commander of the Kiev Special Military District, and put his trusted Pavlov in the post of commander of the Belarusian Special Military District, which can be regarded as a balanced promotion of the generals he used to wage war against Germany in the future.