By the time Stalin came to his senses again, it was already the next morning, and after the chaos of the previous night, the guns of the German army were only a little more than 1 kilometer away from the outer walls of the Kremlin in Moscow.

Because of the capture of several nearby buildings, the Germans did not stop their offensive at night, as usual, but uncharacteristically mobilized special forces to carry out targeted assaults on several important fortified buildings around them. The Soviet soldiers were caught off guard and did not put up any decent resistance at all, and lost control of those important buildings.

The only thing that could stop the German advance was the Soviet National Library, where the Soviet defenders deployed a whole regiment of the true elite, with plenty of ammunition and high morale. Although this regiment is still a patchwork of the two original main regiments, it is already very different from other Soviet troops that are cobbled together with dozens of troops.

At least this regiment has several anti-tank guns, deployed on both flanks of the streets, and even two Stalin tanks to protect these anti-tank guns, and there are many more machine guns, which is one of the few units in Moscow that is now fully organized and does not lack weapons and ammunition.

At dawn, the Germans launched an attack on the library, but because it was only a routine temptation, they did not launch a strong attack regardless of losses. The battle lasted a full 30 minutes, and the Germans were finally repulsed by the Soviet Red Army, and the defensive lines of both sides were temporarily stabilized.

"Comrade Stalin! I must solemnly tell you that just this morning the Germans were already attacking our positions near the National Library of the Soviet Union......" Zaitsev stood in front of Stalin's bed, apparently the captain of the guard who remained by Stalin's side during the time he was unconscious.

He didn't close his eyes all night, because all kinds of battles were reported directly here, after all, this side was already closer to the front line than Zhukov's headquarters. Apparently the situation was not so rosy, and the German soldiers were getting closer and closer to where they were, and as soon as they climbed out of the underground bunkers, they could hear the sound of dense machine-gun fire outside the Kremlin's collapsed palace walls.

Although Zaitsev had fantasized countless times about what his final days would be like, he never guessed that he would be so down. Ever since Vatutin's death on the battlefield, he had seen Stalin every day approve a thick stack of lists of officers killed. Some of these men had been wounded and had survived until recently, while others had died in defensive positions with the last troops under their command.

As the Soviet defensive line became more and more compressed by the Germans, and the reserves were finally depleted, the number of officers killed began to skyrocket. Many people know that they have no choice but to fall on the road of the charge or die in the cold trenches, and not everyone has a good choice, at least these officers who followed Stalin to the end, there is no way to choose a decent surrender.

"Comrade Zaitsev...... General Konev telegraphed that he hoped to shrink the line of defense and build a new line between the Saverovsky railway station and Pravda...... "Glancing at Stalin, who was lying on the bed and had just opened his eyes, the officer who came to ask for instructions turned his attention to Zaitsev. It is more impractical to expect Stalin to give tactical orders than to ask him to play strategy, at least in this case, and asking a sober Zaitsev is more in line with the reaction of a normal person.

"Let him retreat along Tver Street, there is nothing left to defend there!Command him to draw a regiment...... No, 1,000 soldiers, reinforce the defense line of the National Library! If it is breached again, we will have to use the outer walls of the Kremlin as a line of defense!" Zaitsev glanced at Stalin, whose face was pale and weak, and quickly explained the task in a fast voice, and then waved his hand to let the officer retreat.

Then he looked at Stalin, who wanted to struggle to get up, put his hand on the other party's arm, and finally thoughtfully put a soft pillow for Stalin, and then stood up straight by the bed and waited for Stalin's order.

"I'm hungry, Comrade Zaitsev...... Command the kitchen, prepare the food. As if Stalin had not heard the news that the Germans had reached the National Library, as if the war outside had nothing to do with him, he commanded Zaitsev in a calm tone: "How long have I been in a coma? Before I opened my eyes, I seemed to have been struggling in the darkness for a century......

"Okay! Great leader, Comrade Stalin!" Zaitsev nodded, then went to the door, called the waiter, and gave the news that Stalin had woken up and was going to eat.

Stalin leaned back on a soft pillow and waited for Zaitsev to turn around and walk to his bedside before continuing to speak, asking about the battle outside: "The Germans have already reached the National Library? I have been there, and I remember the rows and rows of bookshelves inside...... It's a pity...... Knowledge is a treasure of humanity, and it should not be affected by war. If we rebuild it, it may be that many of the treasured books will no longer be found, which is a loss of human civilization, which is a pity. ”

His words made Zaitsev laugh and cry, and now the whole city of Moscow is in flames, and every building seems to have left the mark of war. Not to mention a small library, even the Kremlin, the symbol of the entire Soviet Union, can now only be seen in photographs.

Soon, Zaitsev had time to rest, because Stalin's lunch had already been served, and he was slowly cutting beef and vegetables and a very delicate-looking fried egg at his desk with a knife and fork, because his mouth was gagged, so Zaitsev had to give Stalin two more orders to move the defensive forces and abandon part of the position.

Unexpectedly, Stalin raised his hand to signal Zaitsev to give these orders, and he listened to the tasks assigned by his subordinates while eating with great interest, and finally in between eating, he also issued a heartfelt compliment: "Comrade Zaitsev, you have a great talent for commanding! You can even command the troops of an army in battle!"

After he finished praising Zaitsev and making the other party blush, he started whimsically: "I was defeated and completely lost everything here...... I really want to meet the German Führer who has brought me to where I am today. ”

When he said this, Stalin looked at Zaitsev, and then asked the other party curiously: "You say, if I send him a telegram inviting him to have dinner here, will he come?"

Would the Führer of the Third Reich named Accardo come to the ruins of Moscow and have dinner in the enemy camp? Zaitsev felt that the other party might not have done such a stupid thing, and if the Führer had done such a crazy thing in order to show his bearing or royal demeanor, he would have probably not come to this day and led Germany to such a brilliant victory.

So Zaitsev shook his head regretfully and replied to Stalin: "I don't think he will come here to have dinner with you, the Germans are afraid of death, and presumably their Führer will be no exception." ”

"Hahaha......" Stalin laughed heartily, after eating a lot, the Soviet leader now regained some energy, he pointed at Zaitsev with a fork, and said with great interest: "You can really make me happy...... The German Führer was a coward, haha, it's really quite possible. We're in positions of power, we don't risk our lives easily, and we're all cowards technically, right?"

Knowing that Zaitsev could not get an answer at all, Stalin did not intend to listen to Zaitsev's answer, he put down the fork in his hand, then gently pushed the plate outward, picked up the wine glass and drank a little bit of water inside, and suddenly fell lonely for a moment. Although he had been in a relaxed state just now, and was even in the mood to start a joke that he hadn't talked about for a year, this did not represent the sadness that he was deep in his bone marrow at this moment.

"Zaitsev...... Thank you for being with me to the end. Stalin looked at the scraps on the plate, leaned back in his chair, and looked at Zaitsev, who was stunned across the table. He did not call the comrade by this title, but directly called the other person by name.

Without waiting for Zaitsev to speak, he continued to speak, staring at the trace on the wall where Lenin's portrait was originally hung: "I must give an account to the Soviet people, and I must also give an account to my mentor...... So I selfishly asked you to stay with me until now. The other day, I talked to my personal doctor and talked to him a lot about ending my life, he is a good doctor and gave me a lot of pertinent advice......"

"Comrade Stalin......" Zaitsev leaned to his feet, trying to persuade Stalin to abandon this terrible idea. But the other man stretched out his arm to stop him from continuing to speak, and he had to hunch over and maintain the position that he had been standing halfway through.

"As the supreme leader of the USSR, I, Stalin. To you, Comrade Zaitsev, give the last order. Stalin looked into the eyes of a terrified Zaitsev and uttered one of his last commands of his life, word by word: "Please hold your ground to the last soldier, and place my body properly, burn it and bury it, whatever you want, in short...... Don't let the Germans get their hands on or use my body. You...... Can it be done?"