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Chapter 1530: Stalin's Choice

In late March, the grass grows and warblers fly in the south and north of the Yangtze River in China, the peach and willow are green, the ice and snow in North China and Northeast China begin to thaw, and the breath of spring is coming, while Moscow in Europe, although the sun is shining, it is located in the high latitude area, and it is still covered with ice and snow everywhere, and it is white. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Moscow, the Kremlin, the Cathedral of Our Lady are dignified and solemn, the bell tower of Ivan the Great is covered in silver, and the five towers are inlaid with agate red stars, which are magnificent. The conference hall was packed. The Subu National Congress is underway. Due to the frequent bad news from Central Asia, the mood of the delegates was not very high, and the conference hall was silent.

After the opening of the congress by Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars Molotov, a number of ceremonies were carried out according to the procedure, followed by Stalin's speech, and the meeting room burst into deafening applause.

Because during the war, Stalin was wearing a marshal's uniform, and at this time, he was not only the general commander of the Soviet Central Committee, but also the supreme commander of the Soviet Red Army, integrating the party, government and military power. Stalin approached the pale yellow podium, put down his speech, looked around at the delegates, and applauded, in harmony with the delegates' applause. After a while, he pressed down with both hands, motioned for the delegates to sit down, and waited for the venue to calm down before he said calmly:

"Comrades, the fact that in such a short period of time to hold another national congress is that our Party, our Soviets, is facing a test of life and death. In the West, the Germans sharpened their knives, having annexed Austria and the Czech Republic, aiming their next prey at Poland, and once Poland was annexed by Germany, the Nazis, who were extremely hostile to the Bolsheviks and the Soviets, would inevitably extend their claws to the Soviet Union; In the East, the Far Eastern separatists, aggressive, have occupied the Ural line and can at any moment force their forces towards Moscow; To the southeast, Central Asia is being invaded by the Chinese, and large areas of the country are being lost. Soviets, we have reached the most dangerous time, we must act immediately, abandon any illusions, and work together to defeat our enemy once and for all! Stalin said sonorously.

There was silence in the room, and everyone listened attentively to Stalin's speech.

After the end of this national congress, the Soviet Union will officially enter the wartime system, the original economic development plan will be suspended, and everything will revolve around the war. The Subu Central Committee has issued an amnesty to all scientists, engineers, and skilled workers exempt from any responsibility, requiring them to lay down their ideological baggage and devote themselves to their work with the greatest enthusiasm to design and produce the planes, artillery, tanks, and ships that the Red Army urgently needs. There will be a general mobilization for war throughout the Soviet Union, an army of 10 million will be formed, and the next thing will be to train and go to the front. Eighty percent of the Soviet Union's industrial, energy, and raw material base was in the European part, and once the national mobilization was completed, the energy that could be generated was extremely staggering.

After making his report, Stalin left the Kremlin in a black "Volga" car and went to a training base outside the city to inspect the training of the troops who were about to be deployed to the front. Marshal Voroshilov, People's Commissar of Defense, Marshal Budyonny, Commander of the Moscow Military District, Shaposhnikov, Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army, Vasilevsky, Deputy Chief of the General Staff, Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars Molotov, Minister of Internal Affairs Beria followed. In addition, there was another person who came as a surprise, and that was the commander of the Leningrad Military District, Zhukov, who Stalin specifically asked to attend.

Zhukov is not tall, with broad shoulders and a small face, but his big chin is particularly prominent, and there is a deep *** in the middle of the bottom of his jaw, which divides the muscles of his jaw into two parts. He was a member of the Russo-Buenos Party, successively served as a cavalry regiment commander, brigade commander, division commander, army commander, deputy cavalry director, and graduated from the advanced training course for senior chiefs at the Frunze Military Academy.

In the training base, which covers an area of thousands of acres, all the commanders and fighters who participated in the review raised their hands and saluted Stalin. Stalin solemnly returned the salute.

At a glance, the tanks on the snow are lined up and lined up, like small hills, and the guns are holding their heads high in the sky, and the trees in the distance are covered in silver, and a few birds are flying into the sky. With an order, the Red Army officers jumped on the tank, quickly activated, crossed the barricades, crossed the narrow bridge, fired, destroyed moving targets.

Stalin was very satisfied with the performance and went to see artillery training.

The commander of the artillery regiment waved a small red flag and ordered "preparations", and the artillery held the shells, filled the guns, and pulled the gun ropes, which were interlocking and tense and orderly; in the sound of "shooting," the muzzles of the guns spewed fire, and the shells flew out, hitting the target at a distance of 5,000 meters, and the flames flashed and the smoke of gunpowder billowed.

Stalin, who saw this scene from the telescope, nodded slightly, stepped forward to shake hands with the commanders, and encouraged: "I hope that when you fight on the Eastern Front, you will annihilate the enemy more, so that our infantry casualties will be smaller!" ”

The commanders replied in unison: "Serve the Soviets!" ”

After the inspection, on the way back, Stalin asked Zhukov for his opinion on the current situation of the war as a whole.

"Comrade Stalin, with all due respect, it is true that tens of millions of soldiers can be conscripted overnight with a mobilization order, but it is even more difficult to recruit tens of thousands of officers with actual combat experience at the rank of lieutenant colonel and above! There are very big problems in our troops; many division and regiment commanders were only company and platoon commanders before, and many army commanders were only regimental and battalion commanders and had no experience in commanding large corps operations; in addition to being ideologically active and politically sound, they are more accustomed to obeying and never commanding operations according to actual conditions. Moreover, in the army, the internal affairs commissars and political commissars have too much power, which leads to the lack of creativity among the commanders of the army, and they rigidly copy the experience of previous campaigns, and in the long run, I do not think that they will be able to achieve victory in the operation against the Far East and the squadron. ”

Stalin was furious and wanted to attack, but when you think about it, what Zhukov said is indeed the main problem facing the troops at present. The so-called soldiers think of good generals, the country is in turmoil, and those who can speak up for righteousness by their side have all been ruthlessly cleansed, and if Zhukov is "clicked" again, it is estimated that no one will remind him in the future. Thinking of this, he told the driver to stop, and then said to Zhukov:

"You go back first, I'll look for you when I need to." Now you should first manage the Leningrad Military District well, select a number of qualified lieutenants and officers from the Moscow Eastern University, the Frunze Military Academy, the Tormachev Military-Political Academy, the Comintern Military Engineering School, the Leningrad Communications School, the Kiev Military School, and other military academies, and focus on training, and then select a group of staff officers and grass-roots commanders for advanced tactical training. Let's take a multi-pronged approach, first train the commanders, understand? ”

"Yes, Comrade Stalin!"

Zhukov nodded solemnly, then pushed the car door and walked down.

......

Stalin's Kontsevo villa, southwest of Moscow, is surrounded by high walls and dense woods, and there are no other buildings within a radius of several kilometers nearby, but the sound of forest waves rises from time to time. He got out of the car and walked into the gate of the villa and passed the huge stone screen. A little earlier, the colonnades are thick, the walls are neat, the two camphor doors are thick and sturdy, and the rooms inside are large and practical.

Stalin came to the study, and because his wife committed suicide and the children were sent out to be guarded, the whole house seemed deserted. Sitting down at the desk, he took out a carved pipe, pinched a few pinches of tobacco leaves from the cigarette case, put the pipe in, wiped a match, lit the tobacco leaves, took a puff, but Zhukov's words sounded in his ears, and he couldn't help but ponder.

"At the moment, the morale of the army is unstable. It seems that the 'Great Purge' has really hurt the vitality of the army......"

Stalin remembers very well that in the "Great Purge", five marshals of the army, navy and air force, Tukhachevsky, were executed, and Yegorov, after being imprisoned in Gugra, was rescued by another marshal Blyukhel, and both of them belonged to the category that had to be purged; In the "Great Purge", all the commanders of the second-class army were killed, 57 army commanders were killed, and 154 of the 186 division commanders were executed...... Counting over and over again, more than 5,000 officers above the rank of lieutenant colonel were killed, so it is no wonder that Zhukov would say that there were no middle and high-ranking commanders who could fight.

"Alas......"

Stalin picked up the pipe, put it in his mouth, inhaled, there was no smell of smoke, and then sucked, there was still no smell of smoke, took down the pipe and looked, the tobacco in it had been burned out at some point, shook his head and smiled bitterly, had to shake off the ashes, took out the tobacco leaves from the cigarette case, filled the pipe, and was about to light the fire, the secretary Poskolebeshev sent a document, and lit the tobacco leaves for Stalin with a lighter, and turned to go out.

After Stalin's cigarette, he stepped on the plush carpet and came to the window, and pondered:

"The Soviet civil strife, the division of the Far East, the Chinese invasion of Central Asia, and the expansion of Germany's influence to the East to threaten the borders of the Soviet Union are something that all Western countries, including the United States, are happy to see, and we have no way to form an alliance with Britain, France, the United States, and other countries, nor with Poland, because not long after the success of the October Revolution, Poland invaded the Soviet Union together with more than a dozen imperialist countries......"

Stalin felt that the Soviet Union had reached another life-and-death moment, and continued to think: "Now that the Soviet Union has been caught in the battlefields of the Eastern Front and Central Asia, it is impossible to extricate itself, so long as the war against the Soviet Union can be postponed, and under certain conditions, it can shake hands with the devil, so as to avoid the dilemma of the Soviet Union fighting bitterly with the Far East, China, and Germany at the same time, and Britain, France, and even the whole world watching the fire from the other side." ”

Stalin followed this line of thought: "Yes, under certain conditions, it is possible to seek peace with Hitler. But how to get that message across? People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Livinov was a Jew with a British wife, and Livinov had always hated Germany and had a fiery war with Britain and France...... You have to replace it, but who will replace it? Molotov, of course! ”

Thinking of this, Stalin returned to his desk, took out a copy of the documents brought by his secretary, and flipped through them, which was a list of arrangements for the work of the National Party Congress, and once he made a decision, the meeting would be carried out in full accordance with his wishes and meticulously.

"Litvinov's diplomatic work is all about carrying out the instructions of the party and the government, and the reason why he appears to be inclined to Britain and France at present is not his personal behavior, but the expression of his collective will. Now that Litvinov is removed, many people will have an idea, of course, in order to play the big game of diplomacy well, it is always necessary to proceed from the overall situation and make local sacrifices, which is also common. ”

Thinking so, Stalin picked up a ballpoint pen made in Syria from the pen holder, moved the tip of the pen to the list, crossed it on "Litvinov", and then moved it to Molotov, drawing a circle heavily.

"In this way, Hitler will change his opinion of us, and we will also be able to buy time and make the necessary preparations to crush any enemy attack......"

Thinking so, Stalin slowly put down his pen and picked up the phone: "Comrade Molotov...... You're going to come to my house right now, yes, right now......"

After a while, Stalin saw the arrival of Molotov, the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, and he took a step forward.

Molotov has sparse hair, a long round face, a short beard, oval gold-rimmed glasses, and a sharp, piercing gaze. He was presiding over the National Congress, and was somewhat surprised by Stalin's sudden summons, and when he saw Stalin, he hurriedly stepped forward and excitedly shouted: "Comrade Stalin......"

Stalin stretched out his hand, shook it with Molotov, pointed to the sofa next to the desk, and said, "Sit down and talk." He went to sit down first, picked up the folder on the desk, and handed it to Molotov: "I just sent it, you can take a look at it first." ”

Molotov took the folder, sat down, and by Stalin's slightly different demeanor, he sensed that something new was happening. Over the years, everyone who was around Stalin had developed a habit: what Stalin did not let him know, he would never ask; If you don't let you see it, you will never look at it.

Molotov opened the folder and looked. This is a secret piece of information from Germany, which says that Hitler has recruited people to make plans for an attack on Poland, and the details are to be examined. After reading it, Molotov handed the folder back to Stalin and said: "Hitler's ambitions are too great......"

Stalin nodded and changed the subject: "Recently, we have been caught in a war with the separatists in the Far East and with the Chinese. In fact, we all know that Central Asia is also dominated by the Far Eastern Republics, and if the Chinese do not have the support of the Far East, they will not dare to enter an inch of Soviet territory at all. Originally, the battle plan we formulated was to first hurt the Chinese and not let them participate in the civil war in the Soviet Union, but judging from the current situation, the Chinese who have been strengthened in the Far East are not so easy to deal with, as evidenced by the operational incidents in Semipaladinsk and Ust-Kamen. After this national party congress, it is necessary for us to adjust our strategy on the Eastern Front.

At the same time, Germany was aggressive on the Western Front, and they signed international treaties with Italy and Japan successively, and the spearhead was directed at the Soviets. To this end, we have negotiated with Britain and France on the conclusion of a treaty of mutual assistance against aggression, but so far there has been no progress. It is not difficult to see from this that Britain and France are sitting on the sidelines and trying to throw Poland out as bait in order to prompt Hitler to pounce on us. ”

Speaking of which, Stalin asked Molotov's opinion: "What do you think about this, Comrade Molotov, please talk about it. ”

Molotov pondered for a moment what Stalin had said, and cautiously said: "We should make the greatest diplomatic efforts...... and he said to the main point of the question: "It is imperative to do a good job on the German side......

Stalin picked up Molotov's words: "That is why I have just made a difficult decision to make you the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs and replace Litvinov in order to show the attitude of our Soviet Central Committee. ”

Molotov was very surprised: "Me? He said eagerly: "Comrade Stalin, please think again......"

Stalin strengthened his tone: "What, do you question my decision? The fact that the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars is also the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs shows the importance we attach to diplomatic work! ”

"Alright! I obey the decisions of the organization. ”

Molotov suddenly softened, and began to ponder how to put pressure on the Chinese government in diplomatic work to force An Jiajun to withdraw from Central Asia.