Moscow, Kremlin, Zhukov's car slowly stopped in front of the gate of the building, two rows of Soviet soldiers stood in salute, Zhukov slowly got out of his car and walked up the steps of Red Square.

Walking through the long corridor, Zhukov followed his guards step by step to the door of the agreed conference room, where the two guards stretched out their hands to stop Zhukov's guards from moving forward, only signaling that Zhukov and his secretary could push the door in. The two Zhukov guards took one look at Zhukov and then stepped aside.

Zhukov straightened his military uniform, looked down at the dust on his boots, then at his secretary, then reached out and knocked lightly on the door of the conference room.

"Please come in!" came Stalin's voice from inside, and Zhukov pushed open the door to find a dozen generals of the Front sitting at the conference table, as well as senior commanders of the Air Force and Navy. The youngest in the room also has the rank of general, and even includes Marshal Timoshenko, who has been suspended.

"Long live the great leader, Comrade Stalin!" Zhukov stood at the door and saluted, shouting slogans in a loud voice. His greeting echoed through the empty conference room, and the room was eerily quiet.

"Marshal Zhukov, this time I invite you to return to Moscow from the front, mainly to hear your views on the situation at the front, and to have a more intuitive understanding of our current situation on the front. Stalin sat down in the first place, just lightly pointed to the position next to him, motioned for Zhukov to come and sit down, and then said softly: "All of you here are generals who are absolutely loyal to the motherland, you can speak freely, I just want to hear your views on the war." ”

"Yes! Great leader Comrade Stalin!" Zhukov walked to Stalin's side, sat down on the empty chair, and then took the document bag in the secretary's hand, took out a lot of documents from it, spread them out on the table in front of him, he sorted them out little by little, everyone waited patiently, no one spoke, only the rustle of documents and papers.

After a few minutes, Zhukov finally sorted out his thoughts, raised his head to look at Stalin and said: "Regarding the battle situation at the front, as the front-line commander personally appointed by you, Comrade Stalin, I have a few opinions. ”

"First of all, in the north, although the German army is gathering Finnish troops to put pressure on Leningrad, I personally believe that the war situation in the north is actually irrelevant to the overall situation, and it does not mean much if Leningrad is not in our hands, or whether it is not in the hands of the German army. After Zhukov took out a document and handed it to Stalin, he said softly: "As the Northern Theater of Operations, I personally think that it is the least important. ”

Stalin took the report on the defense of Leningrad, looked at it twice, and threw it on the conference table: "The Germans obviously did not have much interest in Leningrad either, and the army group attacking there was said to be Army E, which was disabled on the battlefield, and there was no deterrent. ”

After he said this, he looked at Marshal Timoshenko, obviously this marshal who carried the black cauldron of the southern theater of operations now has a new use, which is why he appeared at such an important strategic meeting: "Marshal Timoshenko, I order you to go to the northern theater to stabilize the situation and hold the important city of Leningrad, do you have any problems?"

"No problem! Comrade Stalin! I am willing to live and die with Leningrad!" Timoshenko stood up and said uprightly.

His determination seemed to satisfy Stalin, so Stalin stretched out his hand and pressed down, motioning for him to sit down: "Very good! I am sure you will keep your promise." After saying this, he looked at Zhukov again, waiting for his number one subordinate to continue talking about the problems of the front.

"On the Central Front, I deliberately gave up a large area of land between Minsk and Smolensk to buy time and space for our troops. The Germans were now suffering from supply difficulties, and the plan to attack Moscow would not make any substantial progress in the short term. Zhukov said as he handed Stalin the report of the aerial reconnaissance and some calculations.

Obviously, Stalin was still very concerned about the Battle of Moscow, he picked up the materials and looked at them carefully, and the assistant behind him was also very intimate, with a slight wave of his hand, a waiter pushed a huge map over, this map was nailed to a huge board like a wall, and there were many wheels underneath it, to ensure that this huge map could move as he wanted.

Zhukov stood up and walked to the map, he was the commander of the army, and when he looked at the map, it was obviously much more professional than against a bunch of reports and data tables, he stretched out his arm, grabbed the whip in his hand, and pointed forward, the end of the whip was knocked right on the position of Smolensk: " The railroad tracks from Minsk to Smolensk were of different specifications than those used by the German army, and even if they were to be accelerated, the renovation would not be completed until May of this year, during which time the Germans relied almost entirely on trucks and mules for their supplies. ”

"So I conclude that the Germans will not choose to overcome such difficulties and force their way to attack Moscow. Zhukov drew a whip on the map, connecting the area between Smolensk and Moscow: "Breaking through my 2 main fronts and 4 infantry fronts, eating hundreds of thousands of troops and then taking Moscow, for the Germans, there is nothing but to allow us to move." ”

"Comrade Zhukov! Pay attention to your words! Moscow is the capital of our great Motherland, and if it falls, it will be an irreparable loss for the whole country. One of the generals looked at Zhukov angrily and scolded: "This is our capital!

Stalin frowned, but did not stop the other party's questioning, apparently he also had such thoughts, at least for Stalin personally, Moscow was the basis of his rule in the USSR, and in any case he did not want to have the capital occupied by enemy countries during his own rule of the USSR.

Zhukov made a horizontal stroke between Moscow and Smolensk with his whip and introduced: "Here we have a strong defensive line, where the main forces of our army, nearly 1 million people, are deployed to take charge of the defense of Moscow. So far, I have no intention of drawing a single soldier of these troops, in order to ensure that there will be no accidents in Moscow. ”

After listening to this, Stalin nodded slightly, and he agreed with Zhukov's arrangements on the Moscow front. To be honest, Moscow is both a base camp and a base for him, but these are not reasons why he cannot abandon Moscow, and to be honest, the political significance here is greater than the actual benefits, and it is not something that cannot be abandoned at all.

But when the enemy approached Moscow, the whole country was shocked, and the country's capital was shaken, he realized that Moscow really could not be handed over. After all, for a person who has played politics all his life, such an evaluation of the political center is enough for him to pay attention to.

"It looks like you've set your focus on the Southern Theater. Stalin did not say what he was thinking, but asked: "Then tell me about the southern theater of operations that you value the most, and see if it is worth the risk of Moscow for us." ”

Zhukov nodded, walked to the Stalingrad area, far below Moscow, and continued: "In fact, I have always been worried that the German army will concentrate its forces and start the battle of the Caucasus first, and now it seems that the German side has a more comprehensive view of the problem than us, they have been deploying the battle of the Caucasus for a long time, and as early as around 1927, they were paving the way for the battle of the Caucasus. ”

"In 1927, we were still on friendly relations with the Germans. One of the generals frowned and said, "At that time they were thinking about attacking the Caucasus?"

"Not exactly, but it's absolutely certain that they're preparing something. Zhukov walked back to his position, took out a piece of information, spread it on the table, and said: "I have investigated some of our records and reports, and I have obtained accurate figures in this regard: the Germans have mapped the terrain of the entire southern theater of operations under the pretext of aiding construction, roads and railways have been built according to German standards, and even they have redesigned railway bridges and some airfields, which exceeded our construction needs at that time. Now these places are high-level airfields for taking off and landing large bombers, and it can be said that we have contributed to help them build a large number of military facilities. ”

"With this infrastructure and a large number of factories and equipment, the German army was able to use the oil transportation route from Kyiv to Donetsk to Stalingrad as quickly as possible, cutting into our most important strategic point, the Caucasus. Zhukov once again walked to the map, pointed to the southern theater of operations on the map, and said: "There are convenient transportation, there are railways and good bridges, and there are even tank factory maintenance workshops every other distance, these are all industrial projects that they helped build us." ”

"Oh my God, they calculated every step, and even in the days when they didn't have tanks of their own, they reserved repair factories for their armored troops on our territory, along the way?" one of the generals looked at Zhukov in disbelief and questioned in a tone of disbelief.

"It's not a coincidence that anything comes up more often. Every German assault was rhythmic and purposeful, and they always had to make sure to occupy these vital places as they pushed forward, and to save as much money as possible on the cost of the attack. Zhukov sneered, looked at Stalin, who was also a little shocked, and said: "The more they calculate to reduce their losses, the clearer this seemingly chaotic key point will be." When it happens several times in a row, we will find that it is not an accident, but a pre-arrangement that they have really done. ”