The streets of Moscow in November are covered with snow, and the biting cold wind cuts people's faces like knives. Sitting in the car, neither Lenin nor Trotsky meant to speak, and this enlarged meeting of the Military Commission hit them a little hard. In the final vote, Stalin and Sverdlov narrowly defeated them, removing Trotsky from the post of chairman of the Military Commissariat.

"It is not known who killed the deer!" Lenin, after being silent for a long time, suddenly uttered such a sentence.

It was not only Lenin who wanted to boost his morale, but more importantly, it was really difficult to say how things would turn out. Because it is not enough to remove the chairman of a military commissar with a vote of the CMC, it is necessary to go through the procedure of the Soviets, and this resolution can only take effect if the Supreme Presidium of the Soviet Union also approves it.

"In the Soviets we still have a chance!" Trotsky was also secretly cheering himself up.

But neither Lenin nor Trotsky knew that they had no chance, and that in the Soviets they had to accept defeat as well. Why is this so? Quite simply, the emergency meeting of the Supreme Presidium of the Soviets convened by Sverdlov was not a matter of making a noise, but of a real plan and then action.

At this emergency meeting, Sverdlov announced that he would resign from the post of chairman of the Supreme Presidium of the Soviets, retaining only one seat in the Supreme Presidium of the Soviets. Not only did he resign, but he also offered Kalinin to replace him.

In this way, the matter is obvious. This was the strategy of the Sverdlov-Stalin clique to win over Kalinin. I have to say that this strategy was successful, and Kalinin, the 10,000-year-old soy sauce party, knew his worth very well, and finally entered the Politburo. No matter how you say it, you have to get yourself a regular job.

So can Lenin give him a regular job? Obviously. It's difficult. Judging from Lenin's previous operational thinking, it is obvious that the suppression of Stalin and Sverdlov is not the same as the defeat, and I am afraid that the mentor still wants to limit the power of these two people within a reasonable range.

What makes sense? It would be reasonable for Stalin and Sverdlov to maintain the status quo. And the positions of these two people remain the status quo, so is it possible for Kalinin to be the leader again? At least in the Supreme Presidium of the Soviets is unlikely.

And this time, Sverdlov really made a bloody investment, and in order to completely crush the Trotskyist forces in the Military Commission, he resolutely relinquished the position of chairman of the Supreme Presidium of the Soviets. In exchange for Kalinin's support. I have to say that this is very decisive, even gambling.

Fortunately, gambling was successful, and it was a great success. With Kalinin's support, the power of the Sverdlov-Stalin-Kalinin Supreme Presidium of the Soviet was more than enough to offset Lenin's strength. Again, by a narrow margin, the motion to dismiss Trotsky from the chairman of the Military Council was conceded. And when this motion was passed, it was obvious that Lenin and Trotsky's eyes were a little distracted.

This blow was indeed a bit big, which meant that the Trotskyists had completely lost their foothold in the Military Commission. The army will not listen to Trotsky's command at all. Of course, it doesn't end there. Because although Trotsky is gone, who should the chairman of the Military Commission whom he vacated?

Stalin and Sverdlov were able to unite against the Trotskyists, but this does not mean that the two sides are one family, and in the face of great political interests, these two families can also break the dog's brain. Both Stalin and Sverdlov were determined to win the chairman of the Military Commission, and if they didn't get it right, it would be a new fire.

At this critical juncture, Li Xiaofeng put forward a crucial proposal: "Comrade Frunze should be made chairman of the Military Commission, Comrade Sverdlov should be appointed deputy chairman and deputy member of the People's Commissariat for National Defense, and the post of People's Commissar for National Defense should be taken over by Comrade Stalin." ”

Let Frunze but the chairman of the Military Commission?! At first glance, this is a rather brain-dead construction, because Frunze has always been on the orders of Lenin alone, and when Trotsky was toppled by the Military Commission, this thing was voted against according to Lenin's instructions, and his opposition caused some of the undecided guys to either abstain or continue to support Lenin.

To put it mildly, Frunze was their enemy, and now that he has easily and easily defeated the enemy, why should he share the benefits with the previous enemy? Isn't that crazy?

"I'm not going crazy, letting Frunze be the chairman of the Military Commission is the best choice at the moment!" Li Xiaofeng said with certainty.

"Do you think that by doing so you will ease the tension between us and Comrade Lenin?" Stalin asked contemptuously. Without even waiting for Li Xiaofeng to answer, he sarcastically said: "This is undoubtedly a stupid move, judging from the situation at today's meeting, Comrade Lenin is completely on Trotsky's side, and there is no room for relaxation between us!" ”

Stalin's words won a considerable amount of support and approval, but Li Xiaofeng turned his nose up at it: "You are too short-sighted, how can I use the post of chairman of the Military Commission to ease the sharp differences between us and Comrade Lenin?" I'm not that naïve yet. ”

"And what the hell do you mean?" Zhdanov asked impatiently.

"I mean it very clearly!" Li Xiaofeng said confidently: "Frunze represents a group of comrades who are still loyal to Comrade Lenin. This group of people did not realize how sinister the present shape was, and still less did they realize that we were fighting the Trotskyists on behalf of all the comrades who supported Comrade Lenin's political ideas. They did not understand that Comrade Lenin was confused, and that was why they made the wrong choice. But this is not to say that this group of comrades is irretrievable, we cannot just give up on them, let alone stupidly push them to the side of the Trotskyists! I must remind all the comrades present here that this time our victory was a very fluke, and our advantage was extremely weak. We must unite more comrades, and not turn them into our enemies! ”

Li Xiaofeng's remarks are still very reasonable, although he has won victories in the Military Commission and in the Supreme Presidium of the Soviets before, the advantage of victory is indeed very small, and the forces supporting Trotsky and Lenin are quite small in contrast to their forces. It can even be said that it is five or five open.

To know. This was also a victory for them to launch a surprise attack in a sector that had previously had an advantage. There are hardly any advantages even in these places, and in the disadvantaged Politburo, how can you get it?

As Li Xiaofeng just said, the key reason why their superiority is not outstanding is that Lenin is supporting Trotsky, and because of Lenin's support, the forces within the Leninists have been dispersed. Then these people who temporarily supported Lenin really supported Lenin's ideas. Was it like Trotsky?

This may be the case for a small part, but the vast majority of those who continue to follow Lenin are probably more motivated by inertia, from their blind trust in Lenin, and from the prestige that Lenin had successfully accumulated before him.

That is, they were blindly following Lenin for the time being, and they were not Trotskyists. As soon as Lenin was gone, they would most likely immediately rejoin Stalin and Sverdlov.

At such times, what is needed for these centrists is not criticism and repression, which will only drive them to the side of Trotsky. The right thing to do is to persuade and co-opt. It was for them to recognize the alliance of Stalin and Sverdlov.

If you want to do this, the most important thing is to show kindness. It was to let them know that the alliance of Stalin and Sverdlov represented the future of the Leninists. Then it makes sense to appoint Frunze as chairman of the Military Commission.

Just imagine, even Frunze, a person who obeyed Lenin's orders, Stalin and Sverdlov were able to use it, and they were decisively reused, what does this mean? Not only does it show that Stalin and Sverdlov were politically enlightened, but that their previous opposition to Comrade Lenin was not motivated by the interests of a small group, but by the Leninists.

Compared with Lenin's "selfish" support for Trotsky, an outsider, Stalin and Sverdlov "selflessly" defended the interests of the Leninists, and it is not clear who is good and who is bad?

What's more, if Stalin and Sverdlov can ignore the past against hardcore opponents like Frunze, those who are confused and can't figure out the direction for a while will naturally have no need to worry about settling accounts after the autumn.

When Stalin and Sverdlov figured out Li Xiaofeng's true intentions, they had to admit that someone was indeed more clever, and it was indeed more advantageous to make Frunze the chairman of the Military Commission.

In fact, Lenin was a little surprised when he learned that Frunze had been nominated for the post of chairman of the Military Commission, because according to his understanding, Stalin and Sverdlov did not have such clever political means. Those two are better at straight and straight means than this roundabout means. Especially when he learned that this construction was proposed by Li Xiaofeng, he was even more surprised, and for the first time he began to realize that he had despised someone's political wisdom.

So is Li Xiaofeng really smarter than Stalin and Sverdlov? Not necessarily, not impossible. The reason why he can think of this kind of roundabout method is very important is that this person has crossed over from the Celestial Empire, and the political thinking of the East is more twisted and turned, so it is naturally not strange to think of a roundabout method.

So is the method that Li Xiaofeng came up with easy to use? It should be said that it still had a certain effect, and it did make some of the wall-riding factions of the former Leninists begin to move closer to the Stalin-Sverdlov alliance. Even Lenin's constant work of persuasion and explanation was meaningless.

This situation continued until the end of 1934, and in the course of constant confrontation, the Stalin-Sverdlov clique and the Trotsky alliance became more or less stable. On the whole, the Trotsky alliance was more powerful in the Military Commission, and the Trotsky alliance in the People's Commissariat was more advantageous, and in the party committees, especially in the Politburo, the two sides appeared to be evenly matched.

Of course, the two sides did not try to upset the balance, but after a few tentative attacks on each other, both sides found that they had more than enough strength. With Lenin's support, Trotsky was unlikely to be crushed by the Sax Alliance, which had taken over nearly 75% of the Leninists' power, and Trotsky had no chance of it.

The next time the balance is broken, I am afraid that it will not be until February 1935, when the two sides will inevitably have a bloody war for the sake of political interests in the next five years.

But for the time being, there is still a month or two to go, and during this time, the international form is still undergoing profound and worrying changes.

From 1934. The Nazis basically completely controlled the state power in Germany. From this year onwards. The Nazis began to test the reaction of Britain and France with various small actions, and at the same time, the Soviet-German honeymoon period formed after World War I also came to an end. It is foreseeable that in the very short period of time, the mustache will soon lead Germany to break through the shackles of the Treaty of Versailles and embark on the path of military expansion.

If the military threat of Nazi Germany is still in the future, then Japan's expansion in the three northeastern provinces and in northern China is aggressive. The Great Wall failed in the War of Resistance, and the Nationalist Government actually lost its control over the territory north of the Great Wall. In this region, Japan's power is rapidly expanding. In addition, there was a huge friction with the interests of the Soviet Union in the Middle East and the interests of Outer Mongolia. Let's put it this way, the two sides are constantly at odds, and an armed conflict is no longer avoidable.

"Beginning in October, the Japanese Kwantung Army carried out a comprehensive encirclement and suppression of the Arshan anti-Japanese base area and the Northeast Anti-Japanese Allied Army. The Kwantung Army mobilized a division and a brigade of regular troops to attack Arshan, and the Northeast Anti-Japanese Allied Army fought fiercely with them more than a dozen times, and abandoned Arshan ...... as a last resort."

Blyucher's telegram to the Military Commission did not show the slightest joy in the whole text, the Northeast Anti-Japanese Allied Army lost its base area, and the main force also suffered heavy losses in the head-to-head confrontation with the Kwantung Army, and the number of troops quickly reduced to about 20,000 as soon as it had grown to 50,000 men. And they were driven to Outer Mongolia like a lost dog.

However, the state of the Northeast Anti-Japanese Allied Army is not the main topic of concern to the Military Commission. What really worried the military commissar was that Blyukhel also said: "According to aerial reconnaissance and intelligence obtained by the underground party of the Chinese Communist Party. The Japanese Kwantung Army had the intention of crossing the border to continue the pursuit. It may not be enough to deal with the Japanese invasion alone with the strength of the Mongols......

Blyukher's meaning was very clear, relying on the strength of Mongolia and the Northeast Anti-Japanese Alliance Army alone was afraid that the Kwantung Army would be blown up, and he was asking the Military Commission whether it could continue to increase troops to the Far East and grant him the power to deal with it on the spot.

This topic is very sensitive, and there is no opinion on the continuation of the military commissariat to increase troops in the Far East, but the power to grant Blyukhel the power to dispose of it on the spot is very controversial. At this point in time, no one wants a war to come in. Both the Trotskyists and the Trotskyists now want to settle the matter of the congress first, and then talk about external affairs when the power structure is stabilized. At this time, the Japanese came uninvited, which made both sides hesitate, and they were afraid that they would lose the other side by investing too much in this issue.

"Can you try to ease the tensions between the two countries first?" Voroshilov spoke on behalf of Stalin's department, "At this time, the Red Banner Front in the Far East is not ready, and there are too many problems with rushing to war!" ”

In fact, this is, the Far Eastern Red Banner Front has been preparing for more than a year, and there is no such thing as a haste at all. In fact, Blyuhel did not mention this in his telegram to the Military Commission, and in fact Blyuhel was worried about a problem -- that is, he could not organize troops to fight back immediately after being attacked by the Japanese Kwantung Army. What he wants now is this right to make a decision on the fly. To put it bluntly, Blyukhel is fully prepared and can completely the Japanese.

And what Voroshilov is worried about is that if Blyukhel does not fight this battle, and even suffers the loss of the Japanese, then it will have to make the Shuangsi alliance look good at the time of the conference, after all, the Military Commission is now their world, and if something goes wrong, the board will definitely be slapped on their ass.

Therefore, Voroshilov or Stalin was more inclined to seek stability, and only wanted to fool the matter first, and wait for the dust to settle after the congress before making calculations.

If the military commissar was full of Stalin's people, then this is really the case. The problem is that Trotsky is still a-stirring stick in the Military Commission, and Li Xiaofeng does not support this.

The reason is very simple, when the Kwantung Army was eyeing the border, through diplomatic channels, the two sides had already fought a wave of verbal wars. The Kwantung Army said that it was to suppress bandits, and also said that Mongolia deliberately connived at and supported the bandits in attacking the local government of puppet Manchukuo, and demanded that Mongolia hand over the Northeast Anti-Japanese Allied Army that had fled to the territory. There have even been calls for the redemarcation of the disputed "historical legacy" border in the Haraha region.

Let's put it this way, the arrogance of the Japanese is quite arrogant, and Li Xiaofeng will never agree to hand over the Northeast Anti-Japanese Allied Army anyway. On the contrary, he thought that he could completely do a guy and let the Kwantung Army be honest.

As for Trotsky, at this time he was weak in the Military Commission, and he had become a-stirring stick, always trying to add to the chaos. For example, this time, Voroshilov, on behalf of Stalin, said that he wanted to solve the problem diplomatically, and he wanted to contradict it:

"The Politburo and the Military Commission have previously decided to launch a self-defense counterattack if necessary to dispel the unrealistic ambitions of the Japanese. I think the conditions are ripe now, why not fight? ”

Even this person not only said that he wanted to fight, but also proposed that he must fight a beautiful big victory, otherwise it would be a dereliction of duty on the part of the leadership of the Central Military Commission in charge of this issue!

Trotsky not only shouted and killed at the Military Commission, but also mobilized the power of public opinion to block Stalin and Sverdlov, and for several days both Pravda and Komsomolskaya Pravda shouted the theory of the Japanese threat and called on all citizens to take up arms to defend every inch of the Soviet Union and its allies.

Anyway, this almost forced Stalin and Sverdlov into a corner, and it can be said that if there is even the slightest slip-up on this issue, it will be a catastrophe! (To be continued......)

PS: Bow and thank you to Comrade Schistosoma parasite and Comrade Juventus!