Stalin, General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, had such a magic power, and when he did not speak, he gave endless coercion to the members of the Political Bureau of the CPSU who were present, as if the air was solidified, and imprisoned him in all the surrounding spaces, because he could not guess what Comrade Stalin really thought in his heart, which was very dangerous, perhaps because of a sentence or an event, a certain member of the Political Bureau who was high in the past was on his way to the concentration camp, or had already been secretly executed.

Now this is the case, Marshal Petroshilov, Chief of the General Staff, after the report, first Comrade Stalin's angry accusations, and then the leader's long silence, angry accusations are not terrible, even if it is a scolded dog's blood, it is not terrible, the most terrible thing is not knowing Comrade Stalin's heart, what he really thinks, maybe, Comrade Stalin made a murderous move, maybe ......, anyway, there is any possibility.

This silence, like a mountain with no peak in sight, rushed to the face, and Marshal Petroshilov, who bore the brunt of it, almost felt suffocated, and fine beads of sweat oozed from his forehead and back, but he still maintained the posture of a soldier, and the silence in the office was terrifying.

Finally, when the members of the Political Bureau almost collapsed, Stalin spoke, and then, the air frozen in the office appeared a little loose, "Comrade Petroshilov, I don't need to listen to the complaints of the General Staff, what I need is to gather no less than one and a half million troops in late March, west of the Ural Mountains, as well as all the weapons and equipment and all kinds of materials for the offensive. ”

"In mid-April, the second batch of troops transferred to the east, with no less than one and a half million troops and corresponding weapons and equipment, and the last group of one million troops, must be assembled by the end of April at the latest, Comrade Petroshilov. There is not much time left for your General Staff, and what you have to do is how to gather your troops as quickly as possible and prepare for the attack, instead of chattering and complaining at the meetings of the Political Bureau. ”

Marshal Petroshilov did not know the depth anymore, he would be looking for trouble himself, and he hastened to say: "Comrade Stalin, the General Staff will definitely follow your orders. To complete all the deployments of the Third Outer Mongolia War, we have gathered 3 million troops in two batches to attack Tang Qiuli's independent division in Outer Mongolia. Is it more than enough, and it is necessary to continue to mobilize the last batch of a million troops? ”

Marshal Petroshilov asked. Quite a skill. On the other hand, it is also to reduce the pressure on himself, it is now the middle of February, and by the end of April, all four million troops have been assembled in place, more than two months. The difficulty is not ordinary, and if one million fewer people are mobilized, the pressure will be reduced a lot, and at least there will be time to catch your breath. But I knew that if Comrade Stalin failed to complete the task, the consequences would be very severe.

Stalin shook his head incomprehensibly, and said in a rare, murderous tone: "Comrade Petroshilov, one of your points must be corrected, we have used such a huge force in the East this time, and the target is not only which Tang Qiuli and the Chinese he hates, but also the Japanese Kwantung Army that occupies the Far East, and we must completely defeat the Chinese and the Japanese in the shortest possible time with the most ferocious attack, and permanently eradicate the external hidden dangers of the eastern territory of the Soviet Union Chinese. Once and for all', what we have to do is to achieve such an effect. ”

All the members of the Political Bureau of the CPSU Central Committee and the senior generals of the General Staff who attended the meeting were all impressed by Comrade Stalin's courage and farsightedness, and a warm and neat applause rang out in the office.

Stalin waved his hand, and the applause stopped, "Comrade Pandelev, what is the progress of your air force's work in building field airfields in the east, and at the end of March, when the ground forces begin to attack, can your air force come up with no less than 5,000 combat aircraft to support the attack on Tang Qiuli's independent division?" "This is asked by the commander-in-chief of the Soviet Air Force, General Pandelev, the chief of everything that has wings in the Soviet sky.

General Pandelev stood up and replied succinctly: "No problem, Comrade Stalin, when the ground forces launch an attack on those Chinese, I can take out at least 6,000 combat aircraft to provide air fire support for the infantry comrades, including 4,500 fighters and 1,500 bombers, this is just the deployment in the early stage, and more than 5,000 combat aircraft will be deployed to the east in the future, because we have enough field airfields to accommodate, our air fleet, over the Outer Mongolia region, It's almost overwhelming. ”

"Good! Very good! Comrade Pandelev, comrades in the Air Force are doing a very good job! Under normal circumstances, Comrade Stalin would never praise someone at a meeting of the Political Bureau, in front of so many members of the Political Bureau, "The comrades of the Air Force have set an example for us, and the actions of the General Staff seem to be too procrastinating and sluggish in comparison," he said, and his gaze seemed to sweep the Chief of the General Staff, Marshal Petroshilov, intentionally or unintentionally.

Just this glance made Marshal Petroshilov's hair explode all over his body, and on his head, the beads of sweat that had just dissipated seeped out again, and he knew too well the meaning of this gaze, there were disappointments, warnings, and dissatisfaction, anyway, it was very complicated, but there was no satisfaction and appreciation.

Stalin paced for a while, sat back down at the table, put on new cigarettes, lit his pipe, took a pleasant puff, and puffed out a light blue smoke, "Comrade Beria, you, the General Coordinator of the All-Soviet Intelligence System, tell us about the situation of the Germans, what is that madman Hitler doing now?" Stalin's gaze swept to Beria, chairman of the All-Soviet Anti-Counter-Terrorism Committee.

Recently, Comrade Beria's mental state has been very full, and he has a feeling that he is in good spirits on a happy occasion, and although he was not able to intervene in the army's intelligence system in the end, he has also earned a very important title, that of the General Coordinator of the All-Union Intelligence System.

According to Comrade Stalin, the Soviet intelligence system went its own way, and it was a waste of resources to do its own thing behind closed doors, and it was necessary to integrate it, so the General Coordination Committee came into being, and its duty was to coordinate the relations between the various intelligence systems of the Soviet Union, to regulate internal disputes, and to summarize the important strategic information of the various intelligence systems and present them directly to Comrade Stalin.

Regardless of the fact that it is merely coordinated, it has the implication of harmony, and it has no power to directly participate in the specific operations and personnel appointments and dismissals of various intelligence systems, let alone the right to interfere in the daily work of various intelligence agencies.

But in Beria's view, this is an excellent opportunity to control the intelligence system of the whole Soviet Union, since it is coordination, then he has a reasonable identity to meddle in other intelligence agencies, internal disputes, only if he needs it, he can create a zào at any time, with his own perfect political struggle, the means of turning the clouds and rain, with a ruthless style, the one who does not open his eyes and dares not to bow down to orders, it will not take long, he is a well-deserved leader of the whole Soviet intelligence system, the first red agent!

Seeing that Stalin was talking to himself in such a cordial tone, which was completely different from his previous attitude towards Petroshilov, Beria secretly felt relieved and at the same time a little flattered.

Beria hurriedly stood up and replied respectfully: "Comrade Stalin, according to your instructions, all our intelligence systems will put all their energy in two directions, one is the Chinese Tang Qiuli troops in the east, and the other is the Germans in the west, according to the information we currently have, the war between the Germans in the British Isles and the Anglo-American coalition forces has entered the end!" ”

In his tone, he was full of confidence, and of course, he couldn't lack Beria's pride.

"Oh?" Stalin's body leaned forward sharply, his eyes flickering, with suspicion and fear, and asked: "Comrade Beria, according to you, the Germans will soon end the war against the Anglo-American forces?" ”

If this is the case, their own battle plan in the east must be abandoned; on one side is the German army, which is sweeping across the European continent and is arrogant and vigorous, and on the other hand, there are Chinese and Japanese; judging from the current situation, the threat of the Germans is far greater than that of the Chinese and the Japanese; "the lesser of two evils," he will be forced to make a choice; with the current national strength of the Soviet Union, he will not be able to defend the Germans in the west, attack Tang Qiuli and the Japanese Kwantung Army in the east, and fight two wars at the same time.

Therefore, Beria's intelligence is very important, so important that he needs to change the political decision of three months ago, and is forced to change the strategic direction of the country again, although the Soviet Union will pay a heavy economic price for this, the transfer of millions of troops, it will be a staggering amount of money, and it involves the issue of its own authority, but the face and ruble are not as painful as the loss of the country.

Unlike Stalin, the members of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the heavyweight generals of the military who attended the meeting had another idea, and those who knew Beria well even thought viciously, "Wouldn't this guy have already gotten the exact information that the Germans had the absolute upper hand in the war against the British and American forces, and they didn't say it for a long time, in order to show superiority?" ”

Therefore, not only was Stalin's gaze full of surprise, but all the members of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the important generals of the General Staff who attended the meeting shot viciously at Beria, who was a little triumphant.

(To be continued)(To be continued......