No one knew what Chen Feng thought, and neither Yang Yi nor others could spy on Chen Feng's true thoughts in his heart. Judging from the actual situation, no matter what the reason, it is extremely unwise to start a war with the Soviet Union at this time, after all, anyone can see that the relationship between the Soviet Union and Japan will definitely not be resolved because of a treaty, and Emperor Hirohito will not be fooled and naively think that the "Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Treaty" is binding on each other, and Chen Feng's insertion at this time will only lead the situation to the most unfavorable side of China.

Although the sound of artillery at Nomenkan has stopped, and the state of war between the two countries has ended with the signing of the "Soviet-Japanese Non-Aggression Pact," the new treaty cannot erase the memory of the past, and it is even less likely that the rumbling artillery of a few months ago will turn into dust and drift away in the wind. Stalin and the entire Soviet leadership did not take Japan lightly because of a treaty, in fact, from the beginning to the end, Stalin did not believe the Japanese, although the war in the Far East was extinguished, but the Soviet Union always stationed heavy troops in the Far East.

Moreover, being the enemy of the two great powers at the same time, not anyone has this kind of courage and strength, so after receiving the reports from their respective intelligence departments, the bigwigs of the major powers in the world were stunned, and their first feeling was that Chen Feng was crazy.

Is Chen Feng really crazy? Apparently not, instead of being crazy, he was very sober. He did so for good reason and reliably.

The reason why Chen Feng was at war with the Soviet Union at this time, and even did not hesitate to fight, in addition to those reasons that can be regarded as people, there are two reasons that cannot be seen. The first one is to paralyze the Japanese. To create the conditions for the Japanese to carry out the most devoid madness, or to clear the way.

It was a foregone conclusion that the Japanese would go south, but when they went south was a mystery. There were major concerns about the Japanese army moving south, mainly the Soviet Union and China. Historically, after the signing of the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Treaty, the Japanese army did not immediately start the Pacific War, but negotiated with the United States and Britain and other countries for a long time until the negotiations broke down, and finally launched the Pacific War.

In the many negotiations between Japan and the United States, Britain, and other countries, there were times when the sincerity of the two sides was very good, and even came close to reaching an agreement. As history drifts more and more away from its previous trajectory. Chen Feng has been worried about whether history will change significantly. Especially under the premise of the strong rise of the Eighth Theater of Operations, will the Japanese postpone the Pacific War, or simply make peace with Britain and France.

The threat to the Japanese from the Eighth Theater of Operations would have been obvious, if not for the sudden appearance of the Eighth Theater. Now the situation in China will be even more difficult. At the very least, the situation in North China will not be what it is now. The provinces of Suiyuan, Chahar, Shanxi, and Henan were already Japanese territory.

The main reason why the Japanese did not immediately launch a war against the United States and Britain and other countries was that they were worried about Chen Feng's subordinates, and at the same time they did not believe in the Soviet Union. So all Chen Feng is doing now is to tell the Japanese that there is infighting between them, the roads in the north have been cleared, and they can sweep through Southeast Asia at any time.

Another reason is that Chen Feng wants to beat the Soviet Union and let the Soviets know that the Chinese are not the soft eggs in their eyes, and the Chinese are all heroes and good men. I can beat you now, and I can win the fight, and in the future, what will Lao Tzu ask you good grandsons not to pretend to be big-tailed wolves to Lao Tzu.

After all, the national strength of the Soviet Union is very strong, and the combat effectiveness of the Soviet Red Army is not weak, but in Chen Feng's view, it is all nonsense, the current Soviet Red Army is just a hollowed-out giant, only an empty shell remains, and the external strength and middle cadres are the most realistic portrayal.

People who don't know history may not dare to do this, but Chen Feng, who is well aware of the history and future development trend of the Soviet Union, is not at all worried about how much threat the Soviet Union will pose to him and the army under his command.

The Soviet Union was indeed strong, but that was before Stalin launched the Great Purge, after so many years of purges, was the Soviet Union still the powerful Soviet Union it once was?

At this time, the Soviet Union was a relatively closed country, and after the October Revolution, the Soviet Union was interfered by foreign capitalist countries, which eventually led to domestic disagreements that suddenly turned into civil wars that lasted for several years, and this Soviet Union left a great shadow. In addition, after World War I and until the outbreak of World War II, the United States and Britain and other countries have always adopted a policy of hostility to the Soviet Union, and even pinned their hopes on Germany to lead the country to the east and tried to let Japan go north to attack the Soviet Union.

In the past few years, the Soviet Union has carried out a large-scale internal rectification, and the intensity of the rectification is quite large, but what they know is only scratching the surface. Chen Feng is different, Chen Feng knows the process of the Soviet Union's purge and the impact it caused, and Chen Feng knows it in great detail.

The purge began in 1936 and ended before the outbreak of World War II. It was a campaign of political repression and persecution directed primarily against the former senior leaders of the CPSU, with the ultimate aim of consolidating Stalin's authority. Due to the prevalence of the cult of personality, some of Stalin's erroneous views and practices had a great negative impact on the development of Soviet society, resulting in the expansion of the anti-rebellion campaign launched in the Soviet Union, and a large number of innocent outstanding party, government, and military leaders and well-known intellectuals, as well as ordinary cadres and the masses, were "purged" on various charges.

Chen Feng did not care about the purge of intellectuals and ordinary cadres, nor did he rely on Chen Feng to start a war with the Soviet Union, but Stalin's purge of the army gave Chen Feng the confidence to fight with the Soviet Union. In 1937 the Great Purge extended to the military, and by 1938 the focus of the Purge shifted to a large-scale purge of cadres in military institutions, especially senior cadres. In a short period of time, a large number of outstanding military generals in the Soviet army were brutally killed. Even Marshal Tukhachevsky, Marshal Yegorov, and Marshal Bryucher, who enjoyed great fame in the world, were arrested and executed.

The scale of the purge and the heavy losses of the Soviet army were appalling, and about 35,000 Soviet commanders and fighters fell victim to the expansion of the "suppression of rebellion." During the Great Purge, three of the five marshals of the Soviet Union were suppressed, three of the four commanders of the First Class Army (equivalent to a general) were killed, and all 12 of the two army commanders (equivalent to a general) were executed.

In addition, among the executed senior officers were 60 of the 67 army commanders, 136 of the 199 division commanders, all of the 4 supreme commanders of the 1st and 2nd class of the Navy, all of the 6 naval commanders of the 1st and second classes, 9 of the 15 naval commanders of the 2nd class, all of the 17 political commissars of the first and second classes, 25 of the 28 political commissars of the group army, 79 of the 97 municipal councils, all 11 deputy defense commissars and 75 of the 80 members of the Supreme Military Council. More than half of the officers in the officer corps were arrested.

The scale of the purge was much more than that, with about 50 per cent of regiment commanders and 20 to 25 per cent of other command staff purged in addition to senior commanders.

The consequences of this purge were gradually manifested in the crucial years that followed, after the purge, the brains of the Soviet army were completely cut off, and the earliest show of the evil consequences of the purge was not in the Soviet-German war, but before the Soviet-Finnish war, because the officers were purged in large numbers, so in the Soviet-Finnish war with the huge war machine of the Soviet Union but helpless against the small Finland, heavy losses, it is because of this Hitler told the senior German generals before the invasion of the Soviet Union: "They have no good commanders." ”

Summing up the Soviet-German war after the war, a respected marshal of the Soviet Union put it this way: "One of the reasons why the Red Army was ill-prepared to repel the sudden attack of this powerful and cunning enemy (referring to Germany) was that the criminals of Yenov and Beria inflicted huge losses on our military cadres, especially our senior commanders. As a result of the unwarranted repression of the pre-war years, the Soviet Armed Forces lost a large number of experienced commanders and political workers. At the beginning of the war, many positions in the military were held by young cadres who lacked sufficient knowledge and experience to command the army in a complex environment. Moreover, the situation created by the unprovoked repression is not conducive to cultivating the creativity and initiative of cadres. ”

Even Erikson of the Soviet Union commented on the purged Red Army High Command: "With the exception of Shaposhnikov, the people of the Supreme High Command were either mediocre or inexperienced. "It was precisely because of this mediocrity and lack of experience that the proposal of the far-sighted Zhukov and Shaposhnikov on the formation of large-scale mechanized units was not adopted, and even the existing mechanized units were reorganized into pieces.

For the USSR as a whole, this was a tragedy, not only for the army, but also for the country and the nation. If these outstanding generals had existed, perhaps Hitler would not have dared to make up his mind to attack the Soviet Union so easily. Similarly, it was precisely because of this that Chen Feng made up his mind to start a war with the Soviet Union.

Under the leadership of a male lion, even a flock of sheep will burst out with amazing combat effectiveness; And if the commander is replaced by a sheep, even if it leads a herd of lions, the final result will be an endless rout. The Soviet army without a qualified commander was just a group of stragglers with weapons, and no matter whether they had a strong enough will to fight, they could not save the war that had already broken out, which was also an important basis or reliance for Chen Feng to start the war. (To be continued......)