Sverdlov hasn't had a good night's sleep since the outbreak of the Zhang Gufeng conflict, and he has been spending the night in his office these days, watching out for sudden bad news. He was not worried about the unfavorable situation of the war, but he knew in his heart the strength of the Red Banner Front in the Far East, which was enough to calm down Japan, which was mired in the quagmire of China. Li Xiaofeng, who he was really worried about, was really not at ease with this little friend's stinky temper.

Since 1917, Sverdlov has known what kind of temper Li Xiaofeng is, that he is really retributive, and he is very good at tossing, especially if someone is very bold, and he will definitely use the most drastic means to eradicate those he does not like or offend others.

What worries Sverdlov is that, from what he knows, Apanashchenko has definitely offended someone. Judging by someone's usual style, it is only a matter of time before they erupt.

The only thing Sverdlov hoped for was that someone would not break out at this juncture, and that it was not the time to turn against Stalin at the moment, but to fall out with Stalin, and in the end he could only fall out with Trotsky.

Sverdlov hoped that someone would be patient, preferably until the 1940 general election, but if not, he would have to endure until 1939, and he would have to be given some time to prepare anyway.

Anyway, these days, as a materialist, Sverdlov is constantly praying that God will help. Of course, he was more remorseful, that someone should not have been allowed to go to the Far East during this time period, or that someone should not have been allowed to deal with the problem of Apanashchenko. But the most he did was cursing the Japanese, hating these damned Oriental dwarfs.

While Sverdlov was silently praying, the door to his office was suddenly slammed open. Rubuduck, haggard and even wearing his shoes backwards, hurried in. He couldn't help but get rid of Sverdlov's confidential secretary. Slammed the door shut.

"Something is wrong!"

Sverdlov's head buzzed, his worst fears had happened, and he looked at Ruzutak in a daze, who gushed back to him the latest news:

"Andrey called, he has already executed Apanashchenko and Mekhlis for espionage and treason!"

Sverdlov was biting and gurgling, and he was especially surprised that someone had done such a thing. Unexpectedly, this Nima is simply: "Nonsense!" ”

Sverdlov slapped the desk hard, and then began to circle around the office, complaining as he went: "He can't restrain himself a little, and he told him ten thousand times, now he should focus on the big picture, doesn't he know what the big picture is?" ”

Ruzutak was also shocked, but unlike Sverdlov, he didn't complain too much, but asked, "Now is not the time to say this." It's already happening, and what we're going to do is keep the impact to a minimum! ”

"How to lower it?" Sverdlov smiled bitterly. "You are not unaware of Stalin's attitude, he has spoken for Apanashchenko several times, and it is clear that he attaches great importance to that idiot, how can this be a good ......"

Sverdlov's mood was very bad, and he was even more annoyed with Li Xiaofeng, his attitude made Ruzutak a little dissatisfied, even if Li Xiaofeng did too much this time, he was in a hurry, but someone is his own person, even if someone is wrong, he can't turn his elbow out.

"Comrade Andrei's approach is indeed debatable," said Ruzutak sincerely, "but I think that if it were not really impossible to do so, he would never have ignored your instructions...... I think that some kind of sudden accident may have happened at that time, which led to the fact that Comrade Andrei had to kill the killer. ”

Sverdlov frowned, he was not sure if the reason given by Ruzutak was valid, because someone's temper was ...... He sighed and asked, "How do you think we should respond to this crisis?" ”

Ruzutak took a deep breath: "In my opinion, since it has happened, we can only accept the reality. You know Comrade Stalin's temper, and even if you can give great sincerity to defuse this conflict, he will definitely not give up easily. And in the long run, conflicts between us are inevitable, so instead of trying to explain and make amends, it is better to do what you have to do! ”

Sverdlov's heart chuckled, he understood what Ruzutak meant, this is to ask him to turn against Stalin directly, but this determination is really difficult for him to make......

"Comrade Yakov, time is pressing! Comrade Andrei has not yet reported this matter to the Military Commission for the time being, and now only you and I will get the news, and you must make up your mind by 6 o'clock tomorrow morning at the latest! ”

Sverdlov looked up at Ruzutak in confusion and asked, "Do you want to get in touch with Stalin......

"How can this work?" Ruzutak interrupted him without hesitation and said categorically: "Then the news will leak immediately, which will lead to Comrade Andrei's total passivity, and then he will be wrong even if he has no mistakes!" ”

Sverdlov wiped his face, it was obvious that he was not satisfied with his performance just now, he really could not contact Stalin at this time, this news could only be digested internally, and only after making a final decision, the news could be made public.

"Give me an hour, I'm going to think about it!" Sverdlov replied solemnly.

Ruzutak glanced at Sverdlov, he was in a hurry, in his opinion, there was only one option to consider at this time. But Sverdlov still hesitated and made up his mind, isn't this a rush to death!

However, Ruzutak could not refuse Sverdlov's request, he could only say: "Then you should think about it, time is precious, and you can't delay it!" ”

To this, Sverdlov only nodded silently, but did not say anything.

As he walked out of Sverdlov's office, Ruzutak couldn't help but think of a conversation he had about Sverdlov during his previous conversation with Li Xiaofeng, when Li Xiaofeng said to him: "Comrade Yakov is good at everything, but there is a little. Lack of decisiveness. Hesitation at critical moments. He was more suited to be an assistant to Comrade Lenin than to be a one-man man. ”

At that time, Ruzutak did not agree with this, because he saw Sverdlov as a strong cadre who was able to do things and never dragged his feet, and compared with Lenin, he thought that the biggest problem of Sverdlov was that he was too young and lacked authority.

But after all these years of cooperation, especially after tonight's conversation, Ruzutak has reversed his previous perception, and Sverdlov really lacks the decisiveness. The skill he had shown before was more due to the fact that there was a Lenin with his strong decision-making ability at the helm. It was Lenin who was responsible for making the final decision, while Sverdlov was only responsible for the implementation. If Lenin had not carried the burden, what would have been the case with Sverdlov?

Glancing at the office behind him, Ruzutak sighed, at this time he really missed Lenin a little, if it was the same situation as the mentor, he would definitely not think behind closed doors, he would quickly make a decision and seize the precious time to fire the first shot at the enemy.

Even Ruzutak had some idea of why Lenin had chosen to hand over to Trotsky. Instead of choosing to hand over to Sverdlov and Stalin, Sverdlov was somewhat soft. Stalin, on the other hand, was too hard, but Trotsky was able to control the proportions reasonably.

Ruzutak thought about it for a long time, until he was invited into his office again by Sverdlov's confidential secretary.

"Say, what should I do?"

This sentence finally made the stone in Ruzutak's heart fall to the ground, even if Xiao Si consumed more than an hour, but it is better to have a decision than not to decide, and suddenly Ruzutak was excited......

It was a sleepless night on Ruzutak and Sverdlov's side, but why not on Li Xiaofeng's side? After dealing with Apanashchenko and Mehris, he urgently informed Ruzutak through secret channels, and then he could not influence Sverdlov's decision, and if Sizhen sold him, he would have no problem at all. Of course, he believes that this is unlikely.

On this night, he was thinking more about how to fight the next battle, and the battle plan given by Šteln did not satisfy him. And truth be told, the current situation is indeed a mess. Apanashchenko launched three large-scale offensives without hesitation, with little success, but the situation on the battlefield deteriorated dramatically. The 32nd Infantry Division and the 40th Infantry Division suffered heavy losses, and they were entwined with the Japanese dogs' teeth, and they could not advance or retreat. In this situation, there is no way to immediately change the passive situation.

In particular, this series of onslaught also caused a large number of casualties, and the casualty report in front of Li Xiaofeng could not bear to look at it directly. After three days of attack, a total of 717 people were killed, 75 were missing, and 3,270 were wounded, accumulating 4,071 casualties. Another 17 tanks were destroyed and 76 damaged.

Some comrades may want to say, this casualty is not a big one, and the number of dead is not more than 1,000, what is this called a large casualty? In this regard, Li Xiaofeng can only really say hehe, more than 4,000 casualties in three days, that is to say, an average of more than 1,000 casualties per day, such a battle is already very tragic, okay. In particular, it is necessary to see that among the 717 people killed, there were 152 officers and 178 non-commissioned officers, and the commanders on the battlefield accounted for almost half of the casualties, which is quite an astonishing proportion!

What's more, the 32nd and 40th Infantry Divisions and the 2nd Mechanized Brigade were mainly responsible for the offensive, and according to the peacetime establishment of the Soviet Red Army, except for the 2nd Mechanized Brigade, which was fully staffed, the 32nd and 40th Infantry Divisions were actually in a state of downsizing, and these two infantry divisions were only more than 8,000 men at that time. Two infantry divisions and a mechanized brigade are less than 20,000 when they are full, and one-fifth of these 20,000 people are killed or wounded.

What is even more unfortunate is that of the 4,000 casualties, a high proportion were caused by accidental attacks and poor preparation for the hasty attack. For example, due to insufficient combat preparation and inadequate logistical support, Red Army soldiers on the front line did not have access to safe drinking water, which led to the rampant malaria. The other was the misfire, which led to a large number of fearless casualties.

Especially the latter, because the Japanese army's night attack ability was beyond imagination, so that the Red Army soldiers on the front line had a serious fear of the night, and under mental tension, it was normal to make mistakes. For example, Lieutenant Veneviking, who killed Matsumoto Rokuhe and led to the outbreak of the conflict at Zhanggufeng, was killed by mistake when the sentry misremembered the password while patrolling at night.

All in all, what is now in front of Li Xiaofeng is an out-and-out mess. If you don't want to find a way to change the current unfavorable situation. Even if Sverdlov helped him cover up the shooting of Apanashchenko and Mehris. Later, Stalin, who was embarrassed and angry, would stab him on the head on the grounds that the war was unfavorable.

So for Li Xiaofeng, solving Apanashchenko and Mehris is just the beginning. In order to make a complete exit, he will have to produce a completely different result from Apanashchenko.

Li Xiaofeng convened a military meeting overnight: "Let's talk about it, what are your opinions and suggestions on recovering Zhang Gufeng?" ”

Šteln was the first to speak: "We can't be as brutal as we used to, we can't let our fighters line up to be shot." I propose to conduct cross-border operations, avoiding narrow roads. ”

Popov had just arrived at the headquarters, and he was shocked by the news that Apanashchenko and Mekhlis had already been shot, so naturally he could not make any decent suggestions: "I think the front-line troops should be given a rest first." The lads are so tired. ”

As for Rychagov, he gave advice: "There is no point in continuing the carpet bombing of the previous kind, we should destroy the enemy's positions with precision, and not blow them up indiscriminately." ”

Well, these suggestions are of little value to Li Xiaofeng, and it is clear that these generals are also helpless about the situation in front of them, and of course it may also be because they were shocked by the deaths of Apanashchenko and Mehris, who were afraid that Li Xiaofeng would settle the account for their bad ideas.

In desperation, Li Xiaofeng could only say his opinion first: "It makes no sense to continue the previous kind of desperate attack. The enemy on our side is very strong, and the terrain is extremely unfavorable to us. I propose to withdraw the main forces of the 32nd, 40th and 2nd Mechanized Brigades for rest and recuperation. Let the 26th and 39th Infantry Divisions temporarily replace them. ”

After a pause, Li Xiaofeng looked at the face of the senior commander of the Far Eastern Red Banner Front. Seeing that there was no objection, he continued: "Today, we will organize a capable reconnaissance force to reconnoiter the heights of Montenegro, and we must find out the strength and firepower of the Japanese troops on the heights. Tomorrow morning, the 39th Infantry Division will carry out a feint attack on the southern slope of Zhanggu Peak and Shacao Peak in accordance with today's attack plan. ”

As he spoke, Li Xiaofeng focused on the Montenegro Heights: "Tomorrow afternoon, the key target of our attack will be the Montenegrin Heights, and the 26th Infantry Division will be responsible for the main attack. The 2nd Mechanized Brigade and the 40th Separate Tank Battalion, in conjunction with the 59th Frontier Corps, were responsible for cutting off the link between Zhanggufeng and the Montenegrin Heights. It is important not to allow the enemy to reinforce the Black Mountain Highlands from Zhanggu Peak and Shacao Peak! ”

The generals of the Far Eastern Red Banner Front immediately understood Li Xiaofeng's operational intentions, and the Black Mountain Heights were close to the Tumen River behind Zhang Gufeng, and most of the Japanese reinforcements were using the cover of the heights to cross the Tumen River. The capture of the Montenegrin Heights was tantamount to inserting a nail between the enemy at Zhang Gufeng and the follow-up troops and headquarters of the 19th Division. This nail can directly monitor the situation on the Tumen River and the other side, cutting off the passage of enemy reinforcements and logistical replenishment.

Some comrades may ask, since this Montenegrin Plateau is very important, why did Apanashchenko turn a blind eye to it before and only suppressed it with a feint instead of capturing it? The reason is simple, this Montenegrin Heights belongs to China, and if you want to capture the Montenegrin Heights, you must cross the border. And Apanashchenko took the instructions of the military commission as a holy decree, and did not dare to take a step beyond the thunder pool. Foolishly ordering the troops to advance along the rugged and narrow passage under the flanking attack of the Japanese defenders of the Black Mountain Heights and Shacao Peak, how can this be undefeated?

In fact, at this time, there were still people who were very concerned about the instructions of the Military Commission, and Deputy Commander Popov reminded: "The Military Commission ordered us not to take the initiative to cross the Sino-Soviet border to fight. ”

Li Xiaofeng gave him a blank look: "We didn't take the initiative to cross the border to fight, but the troops of the enemy's Montenegro Heights suddenly crossed the border to attack our army, and our army counterattacked in self-defense!" ”

The corners of Popov's mouth twitched, everyone knew that someone was, although the Japanese army was very tenacious, but its strength was limited and suppressed by the superior firepower of the Red Army, and it was really looking for death when he walked out of the position, and it was impossible to take the initiative to cross the border to attack, and someone was making excuses for capturing the heights of Montenegro.

But Popov will not be stupid enough to say that someone even dares to kill Apanashchenko, and shooting him is not like fun. What's more, Popov was also speechless about the order of the Military Commission, he started fighting, and drew so many rules and regulations to restrain people, this is not looking for abuse. He actually appreciates someone's ability to exert his subjective initiative to create reasonable and legitimate excuses, but the leader does not have to be flexible, like Apanashchenko, who is submissive to his superiors and unconditionally carries out any orders, so how can he fight.

However, Li Xiaofeng not only wanted to take the heights of Montenegro, but more importantly, he wanted to restore the connection between the defenders of Zhanggufeng and the main force, and soon he ordered: "An hour later, the Army Aviation Regiment of the 1st GRU Special Operations Brigade will be responsible for transporting a group of soldiers to Zhanggufeng, and I will ask the artillery unit to suppress the known enemy positions and cover our army aviation units to complete their tasks." ”

Li Xiaofeng always felt that Apanashchenko was too dull, and it was clear that there were still his own defenders on Zhang Gufeng, so he should make a fuss from the defenders. But in the past three days, in addition to covering and containing the Red Army on Zhang Gufeng, they have been bombed by their own air force and artillery in vain, and they can fully shoulder more and more critical missions! (To be continued......)

PS: Bow and thank you to Zsuzm, yzg20042004, PanzerVI, Kamen Angel 555, Shining Charter, agz00025 and Comrade Potato in seconds!