The commander of the Western Military District, Schikov, after receiving the Tsar's order to deal with the invasion of Britain and France with full powers, hurried back to prepare, and as soon as he returned to the headquarters, he invited his deputy, who was also one of the candidates for the crown prince, the rumored illegitimate son of the Tsar, General Zhukov, to come to discuss important matters.

Schikov speculated that the reason why the tsar entrusted such a heavy matter to his Western Military District was not because of him, but because of his deputy and possible future tsar, Zhukov.

He had been working with Zhukov for several years, and although nominally he was Zhukov's boss, in reality, in many ways, he had to consult the future tsar, and Zhukov was also very satisfied with this attitude of Schikov, so the cooperation between the two was very pleasant.

And for Zhukov himself, Schikov is also the object of his focus, and now, it is the moment when he is vying for the position of crown prince, and it is now clear that Dimiliov and Biscaiv of the Eastern Military District are firmly on his side and give him unconditional support, and Warsky and Kosygin of the Northern Military District have also expressed their intention to support him, and it is only a short distance from the last official support, but it is Schikov's attitude that makes him a little unpredictable.

Schikov's attitude is quite vague, he seems to deliberately keep a distance from Zhukov, neither explicitly expressing support nor clear opposition, although he has enough respect for Zhukov, but Zhukov's attitude towards him has always been unpredictable, Zhukov has also tried him many times, but this old slippery head changed the topic in a few words, so that Zhukov felt that he could not use it.

In short, if he wants to win the support of this Schikov, Zhukov may have to work hard.

And when Schikov sent someone to invite Zhukov, Zhukov was saddened by Gutavov's jumping up and down during this time, although the old tsar did not say anything about it. But it is clear that Gutavov has won a lot of trust from the old tsar, and according to Zhukov's original intention, he wanted to rush out and taunt Gutavov and find a way to combat his arrogance, but he was advised not to do so, because this would be the case. He may have fallen into Gutavov's trap and become the instigator of discord, and the old tsar must have been displeased.

And Zhukov looked back and thought, yes, it was also the case, he could not compete with Gutavov and be jealous, but he had to do something like him to make the old tsar and the ministers of the court look at him differently and convince them.

However, he is a military general. Now there is no war to fight, so what else can he do to steal some limelight, just when Zhukov was thinking hard and couldn't figure out what to do, Schikov sent someone to invite him to meet him at the marshal's mansion, saying that there was something important to discuss.

When Zhukov arrived at Schikov's house, Schikov was pacing in front of the Shuai's desk with his head down, which was his habit for many years, and he liked to pace whenever he had something.

Zhukov couldn't help but look at Schikov from the side. Although he had worked with Schikov for a long time, he had never observed Schikov so closely from the sidelines as he did now.

Schikov. He is a famous general in the Russian army, has been in charge of the Western Military Region for many years, and has been directly promoted from the rank of lieutenant general to the rank of marshal with outstanding military achievements. This almost set a precedent for the Russian army to be promoted several levels in a row, and it is enough to prove that he is one of the most trusted generals of the tsar.

Zhukov never doubted Schikov's influence in the Russian army, otherwise, the tsar would not have sent him to the Western Military District.

And this is the reason why he tried his best to win over Schikov.

At this time, Schikov, who was pacing, also saw Zhukov. He smiled and beckoned to him, motioning for him to come and sit.

Schikov also never underestimated Zhukov, the future tsar candidate, although this Zhukov usually gives the impression of being straightforward, without any city at all, and completely a brave man, but Schikov does not think so, he vaguely feels that this Zhukov is not simple, he is likely to be pretending to hunt tigers, if this is the case, such a person is really terrifying.

Schikov also knew that Zhukov wanted to win him over, but he had his own ideas, he was not in a hurry, he had to see and then say, this kind of thing, if he bet on the wrong treasure and stood on the wrong team, then the problem would be big, so he had to look at it before starting.

And at the beckoning of Schikov, Zhukov sat down with a smile.

Zhukov, the son of Nicholas II's cousin, the illegitimate son of the rumored tsar, in terms of age, he is a few years younger than Gutavov, with a national face, quite heroic.

When Schikov saw Zhukov sitting down, he told Zhukov about the Tsar's will.

When Zhukov heard this, he was taken aback, he did not expect that the tsar would completely hand over such an important matter to the Western Military District to deal with, what does this mean, what is the tsar thinking in his heart.

He didn't think it was that simple.

Regardless of the relations between Russia and Britain and France, on the surface, they are still very harmonious so far, and besides, Britain and France have no reason to use force against Russia now.

For this kind of matter, under normal circumstances, the tsar would first send people to contact these two countries, and after understanding the situation clearly, he would resolve the matter diplomatically, but the tsar handed over the matter to the Western Military District, which means that it is self-evident that the tsar intends to use violence to counter violence and force to force.

As a result, their Western Military Region will face unprecedented pressure.

This is also the reason why Zhukov was surprised when he heard this letter.

"Marshal, is this really His Majesty's will? Please don't get me wrong, I don't doubt what you mean, I'm just a little confused. Zhukov asked a very childish question.

However, this was the truest thought in his heart, and he felt that the tsar had made a mistake.

When Schikov heard this, he didn't care, he knew what Zhukov was thinking, even after he heard this will, he thought that he had heard it wrong, but there was no joke, this was the tsar's will.

And now faced with the same question about Zhukov, Schikov could only tell him with great certainty: "Yes, this is what the tsar meant." ”

Zhukov knew that it would be in vain to ask, knowing that it would be the result of asking or not, but he still couldn't help but ask, and after receiving an affirmative answer, his brows couldn't help frowning.

He couldn't understand why the tsar made such a will, he couldn't understand it, but the will had been made, even if he didn't understand it, he had to understand it, this was a militaristic matter.

"Marshal, what are you going to do?" Zhukov looked at Schikov, who had a calm face, and said in a humble tone.

In dealing with this kind of thing, the old and spicy Schikov must have more experience than Zhukov, not to mention that Schikov is the big head of the Western Military District, and since the tsar handed over the matter to the Western Military District, he must come up with an effective plan.

Zhukov wanted to listen to Schikov's opinion first, and then decide his own behavior, maybe Schikov also had this meaning in his heart, he also wanted to listen to Zhukov's opinion on the future tsar, and then see what to do.

In short, the tsar handed over the matter to the Western Military District, and Schikov concluded that Zhukov could not get out of it.

In fact, after receiving the tsar's will, Schikov had countless thoughts in his heart, but he thought that this was definitely not a simple military operation, and the tsar was not old and confused, and the tsar's place to hand over such a heavy matter to the Western Military District must have a deeper reason.

Schikov didn't dare to guess the divine will casually, but he had to guess that only when he truly understood the divine will could he make the right decision, so what was the real divine will.

Schikov did not dare to draw conclusions, it stands to reason that when the Anglo-French coalition attacked, the first thing the tsar had to do was to verify the authenticity of this information, if the information was true, the tsar must make preparations with both hands, internally, he must reorganize his arms for war, and mobilize the strength of the whole country to deal with a possible war, not just let the Western Military District deal with it, externally, use diplomatic means to attract other allies to deal with the attack of Britain and France, and find a way to divide the Anglo-French alliance to achieve the goal of victory without a fight.

However, now the tsar has not done anything, but directly handed over the matter to the Western Military District to deal with, and how the Western Military District will deal with it, where the authority is, nothing is clear, which makes the Western Military District deal with it, and Schikov's head is actually very painful.

The old tsar definitely had a problem for him, Schikov thought.

However, since this problem has been solved, he must find a way to solve it, otherwise, he will not have the trust of the Tsar, so no matter how difficult it is, Schikov will have to solve it.

First, in the Western Military District, the two of them are already respected, and it is unreasonable for Schikov not to consult with Zhukov, and secondly, Zhukov has a special status, and in this critical process, I am afraid that he will play a very important role, on this point, although the tsar did not say it directly, but Schikov can feel the tsar's meaning, otherwise, the tsar will not send this matter to the Western Military District separately to deal with.

All in all, this is a very severe test for the Western Military District, and for Zhukov, I am afraid that the same will be true. (To be continued......)