This time, Stalin did not veto Zhukov's suggestion, he leaned back in his chair, stared into Zhukov's eyes, and was silent for a long time before he said with difficulty: "If I humiliate and sue for peace with Germany, then my prestige in the Soviet Union will definitely be affected." ”

When Zhukov heard this, his face was overjoyed. He also thought that Stalin was not unwilling to negotiate peace, but only concerned about the influence. So he hurriedly stepped forward and said: "Comrade Stalin, great leader, if we achieve peace on the Soviet-German border, then our troops can easily eliminate the voices that oppose you......"

"I mean, how do I face the voices that criticize me after I die!" Stalin closed his eyes and said to Zhukov in an irritated tone: "I am alive, of course people dare not say anything about me, but when I die, what will the rest of the people do to me? I let their sons, husbands and fathers die fighting for the Soviet Union, and I myself finally chose to live in peace?"

He looked at Zhukov, who was stunned, and then accentuated his tone, and this time he said something more serious, which also made Zhukov reacquaint himself with the comrade Stalin in front of him: "How can I be worthy of Comrade Lenin, who handed over the Soviet Union to me? How can I be worthy of our revolutionary cause? Even if I, Joseph, died in Moscow, the Soviet Union cannot cede an inch of land in my hands! I am Stalin! Stalin is not the name of a coward!"

"So...... Comrade Stalin, how are we facing this situation now?" Zhukov asked in a respectful tone, swallowing a mouthful of saliva. He felt that he only knew Stalin today, and he knew this Soviet ruler who was in his impression and famous for his **** brutality. Now he knows that behind the **** is extreme perseverance, and behind his brutality is Stalin's unbending fortitude.

Every great man worthy of being remembered by history has his own personality characteristics, and it is precisely because of these characteristics that they also have their own limitations in the sexual pattern. The fact that these people make mistakes in their choices does not fully attribute to their stupidity or madness, because perhaps these are the same reasons that led them to success.

Fu Jianjian used Hanchen Wang Meng, so he made the former Qin strong. When making this choice, he was confident and persistent, and this decision did have the desired effect. However, when Wang Meng begged Fu Jian not to go south to attack the Jin Dynasty before his death, Fu Jian was equally confident and persistent, believing that he could destroy the Jin Dynasty and realize the dream of unifying the Central Plains...... So everyone knew the result.

And Stalin was also such a man, he was conceited and stubborn, stubborn and persistent, insistent and irritable, but in the irritable there were three points of wisdom. If it weren't for this character, how could he have overwhelmed so many elites and become the leading leader of real power in the Soviet Union in Lenin's time? And it happened that it was this kind of character that made him set off the bloody storm of the Great Purge and chose the tough line of fighting to the death with Germany.

"What you have to do is actually very simple, hold every inch of the ground, until the last minute. Stalin, somewhat tired, spoke slowly, and threw the crumpled telegram in his hand at his feet: "Moscow will hold out to the end, until the German invaders are repulsed, or until they fall completely." ”

"I understand! Comrade Stalin! I will hold on to Moscow until the last moment!" Zhukov replied. If his previous attitude towards Stalin was obedience under high pressure, then at this moment he felt that he should do something for the country, for this admirable leader.

"Cooperate well with Comrade Vatutin! As long as we deal a heavy blow to the aggressor here, then the flag of the Soviet Union will never be lowered!" Stalin stood up, walked around the table in front of Zhukov, and patted him on the shoulder: "I will be here, waiting for my own destiny." ”

"Well, what about negotiating with the Germans ......" Zhukov seemed to be a little unwilling, but still opened his mouth to ask.

"Of course you can go to the negotiations, Comrade Zhukov. Stalin smiled bitterly, then rubbed his pipe twice with his palm: "However, all this will have to wait until I am already dead." Stalin never compromised, never negotiated, understood?"

"I see! I will hold out until victory comes! Comrade Stalin!" Zhukov saluted, then turned and walked out of Stalin's office. And as the office door closed, Stalin did not immediately sit back in his place. He walked to the bookshelf and looked up at the portrait of Lenin on it, his face expressionless.

It was the man in the portrait who brought him to where he is now, and together they worked together to create a great country with a vast expanse and create the largest country in the world. At that time, he was in high spirits and felt that there was inexhaustible strength in his body, and now he had gray temples and had to face a million enemy troops outside the city alone.

"Comrade Lenin, show me the way forward, if you may! I really don't know what to do now...... I remember what you taught me, and thankfully I did, and now I'm going to follow you, and hopefully you won't be disappointed in me when I see you. Stalin muttered as he looked away from the portrait of Lenin and walked to the window with his hands behind his back, and the world outside was pitch black.

The German shelling did not know when it stopped, the distant gunfire was sparse and inaudible, and Stalin felt infinitely tired and powerless, so he could only drag back from the window with heavy steps. In fact, he rarely works in this office now, and spends most of his time sitting in the basement with no sunlight in sight.

Four hours earlier, German 150-mm guns had shelled the city of Moscow, and the war was no longer far off. Everything here was already within the reach of the enemy, and everyone had to be careful to survive, including Stalin himself.

Pushing open the door, he walked step by step to the corridor, and the guards at the door helped him close the door. The attendants and a group of personal guards followed him down the stairs, then pushed open the heavy door and passed the darker slope to the buried basement. It is tens of meters deep underground and will not be affected by artillery fire.

In the long, deep corridors, only the footsteps of Stalin and his entourage could be heard, and at intervals guards guarded the heavy steel gates, which were powered entirely by diesel generators, with good lighting and supporting facilities. The entire project was built along with the subway project, which has only recently been almost completed.

But no matter how dazzling the incandescent lamps overhead, the end of the tunnel was still so dark that Stalin could not see clearly ahead and what the place he was about to go to. He could only walk slowly, step by step, with his slightly heavy steps.

......

On the outskirts of Moscow, behind a position full of craters and broken barbed wire, in a deep trench, two Soviet Red Army soldiers were in a timber-reinforced bunker, staring into the darkness that seemed to swallow everything in the distance.

The place where they are is relatively safer is because there are horizontal timbers that act as shelter from the wind and rain on their heads. Behind them there was a partial trench layout, a small broken table with lunch boxes for the two of them, and some out-of-date documents scattered around.

It was originally a secret command post close to the front line, but due to the continuous advance of the German army, it has been turned into a hidden observation post and a makeshift machine-gun bunker on the front line. There are still traces of artillery mirrors on the rammed ground, but the expensive equipment and the officials who once lived here seem to have been moved to safer places.

Unlike in Moscow, the lights on the front line are very strict, not only because of the rules, but also because no one wants to joke with their lives. The light that emerges at night can reach far, far away, and the slightest hint is a good reason for the enemy to open fire.

The two men leaned on the reserved observation port, squinting through the starlight, watching the movement on the German positions opposite, and on the ground behind them, seven or eight Soviet soldiers were lying horizontally. These people just slept here because they were tired, so they could occasionally hear a slight snoring.

"I'm thinking, there was a division commander or a military commander who lived here before, and the cultivation was really strong. One of the soldiers in charge of the guard whispered to the other soldier, "And the place is big enough, maybe they have two beds behind us, with quilts and pillows." ”

Putting down the binoculars, another soldier rubbed his dry eyes, where he could barely see anything, and there was darkness everywhere. Hearing the muttering of his companion, he spit out the grass root in his mouth and replied: "If I were you and I had time for nonsense, I would double-check the bullets in the machine gun." ”

"Jingle Bell...... When the ...... was in the distance, the sound of metal objects hitting was heard. There was a lot of canned food from the United States in the Soviet army's logistical supplies, and the soldiers used to tie the canned boxes to barbed wire after eating the cans, which could provide a certain degree of early warning, similar to the role of bells.

"I'm ¥#%!" the Soviet soldier heard the sharp sound in the background of the rumbling of artillery, and after a second of froze, he shouted loudly: "Enemy attack! Get up! The Germans are attacking!"

As if in response to his shout, in the darkness in the distance, the distinctive voice of the MG42 machine gun began to roar.