The Germans are attacking, the Soviet defenders are also desperately defending, although the German soldiers have approached the Kremlin in the heart of Moscow, but the battle is still breaking out in the streets and alleys, and every moment it seems that someone will shed blood and die because of this war.

In a hidden underground headquarters in the front-line area north of Moscow, Konev and his assistants and several other officers were arranging to abandon part of their positions and continue their retreat near the Kremlin.

He knew that the troops over there had suffered heavy losses and urgently needed to be replenished. If all the troops do not rush to reinforce there, it is likely that within a day, the Kremlin will fall. So he decided to abandon part of his defensive positions on his own initiative, and sent 2,000 troops to the Kremlin to assist those there in holding their defensive positions.

Stalin's departure was also a huge blow to Konev, and even now the decisive and courageous commander could not believe that the leader he had been following had truly left them. So he ordered the news that Stalin had left to be blocked and not conveyed to the rank-and-file soldiers who were fighting on the front line.

Still, many troops got the astonishing news that the remnants of an entire corps, about 3,100 men, had surrendered to the Finnish army in the northernmost defensive positions of Moscow. Approximately 3 blocks of defensive positions were ceded, leading to the collapse of the northern defensive line. Konev had been mobilizing his troops for three hours, but he had just stabilized his line and barely prevented the Finnish army from continuing its offensive south.

"Send a telegram to Vasilevsky and ask him to find a way to support another 3,000 soldiers in the Kremlin, and it is better to get there tonight, otherwise we will probably be divided and surrounded by the Germans. Konev instructed the chief of staff beside him: "Also, count the remaining ammunition of the troops, we can't do anything without weapons and ammunition, can we?"

Watching the chief of staff walk out of the house, Konev motioned for another officer under his command to lean over, then pointed to a few blocks on the map and ordered him: "Try to get the defenders of this area out quietly, and then you take these men to the Kremlin at once, and obey the commander there, understand?"

Just as Konev was about to arrange the third mission, the phone on his desk rang suddenly, so he had to stop issuing orders, turn around and walk quickly, and pick up the phone receiver: "Hello! I'm Konev!"

"Comrade Konev! I'm Zhukov!" On the other side of the phone, Zhukov's voice came, Konev subconsciously pressed his heels together and stood up straight: "Dear Comrade Marshal Zhukov! What are your instructions?"

On the other side of the receiver, Zhukov's voice looked a little tired and haggard, but he still insisted on continuing to speak, and said to Konev: "Comrade Stalin left us, he left me and all the soldiers who were loyal to him, and at the moment of death he gave the order to continue the fight and not allow surrender. ”

"......" Konev did not speak, he knew that Zhukov would continue, so he had to remain silent, waiting for Zhukov to pause and continue to say what he wanted to say.

On the other side of the phone, Zhukov really did not let Konev wait too long, and quickly continued: "With my own loyalty, I have agreed to Comrade Stalin's last wish, as long as I still shoulder the command of all the armies in Moscow, I will never give the order to surrender." ”

"But! Konev ...... You and I both know that the war is over, and every minute of continued resistance here loses hundreds or thousands of the best soldiers under our command...... We can give up our lives for our ideals, but we don't have the right to ask them to die with us!" Zhukov said word for word to Konev on the other end of the phone.

He was the kind of general who didn't care about the casualties of his army, and even in the first Battle of Nomenkan, he ordered to continue the attack on the defeated Japanese army because of his haste and pursuit of greater results, regardless of the sacrifice of his soldiers. This order directly led to a sharp increase in the casualty rate of the Soviet Red Army, and also proved Zhukov's ruthlessness and determination.

But since the siege of Moscow, Zhukov has seen too many innocent deaths, too many desperate destructions, and he reflects on his past and finally begins to question himself. He felt that the sacrifice that comes from the pursuit of victory is valuable, and that it is not rational to destroy oneself at all costs when it is doomed.

So he opened his mouth and continued to Konev, who was stunned over there: "So I intend to leave a last hope for all the Soviet soldiers in the encirclement of Moscow. I feel that they should have the right to choose for themselves, at least they should not be forced to die...... Are you right, Comrade Konev?"

"Comrade Marshal Zhukov...... Now that you are my direct commander and leader, I accept any orders from you and promise that I will be able to carry them out firmly! If you order my troops to surrender, then I will carry out this order......" Konev was silent for a long time, and finally answered Zhukov's question.

The tone of his voice was already a little trembling, because he didn't know what kind of eyes those who were alive, as well as those who were already dead, would look at him after he gave the order to surrender - it was he who had been encouraging everyone to fight for the motherland until the last second, but now the time was far from the last second, and he had to take the rest of the people and choose the shameful option of surrender.

"No! Konev! I didn't give the order, I asked you to give the order. Zhukov held the phone and said slowly to the somewhat overwhelmed Konev: "I promised Comrade Stalin that I would persist in resistance until the moment I died. So I will not break my word, and I will not give the order to surrender while I am alive. ”

"Marshal!" Konev, realizing something, tried to interrupt Zhukov, but his shouting was interrupted by Zhukov.

On the other end of the phone, Zhukov rushed to say his thoughts, confirming Konev's unspoken speculation: "I will now hand over the command of the Moscow city defense forces to you, and everyone around me is a witness...... In ten minutes I will kill myself in my office, and as Marshal of the Soviet Union, I will entrust everything to you and Comrade Vasilevsky!"

"Take everyone and live! Konev! This is my last order to you! Please help me finish him!" Zhukov waited patiently after speaking, he waited for the answer on the other side of the phone, and waited until he heard a weak answer, and then he hung up the phone in his hand with satisfaction.

"Come out, everybody, and come in again when you hear the gunshots, and my body will lie on the bed, and you can ask the Germans to verify it, lest they fear that I have escaped." Zhukov looked at the room full of officers, trying to squeeze out a smile, but found that his face was no longer listening to him. So he had no choice but to wave his hand and let everyone leave quickly, he was afraid that his ugliness would be seen, and everyone could not help but be afraid when facing death.

The officers left one by one in frustration, and finally when Zhukov's chief of staff came to the door, he stopped his steps, looked back at Zhukov, and suddenly pulled out his pistol and put it on his temple: "Comrade Marshal! I have been working with you for so long, I shouldn't let you leave alone!"

Before Zhukov could open his mouth to persuade him, and before Zhukov could raise his hand and touch the other party's arm, the chief of staff pulled the trigger of the pistol, and immediately blood splattered, and some even fell on Zhukov's face and chest. There was silence in the house, and the officers who had just reached the door all looked back and looked at the astonishing scene before them.

With difficulty, Zhukov shifted his gaze to his feet, to the chief of staff who was lying there. They had been commanding Zhukov's cluster together for almost a year, and the two men worked together very well – alas, this tacit understanding did not bring victory to the Soviet Union, but only enhanced the personal friendship between the two of them.

While moving his gaze, Zhukov drew his pistol, he raised his feet and walked back to his desk, sat down in his favorite chair, and then the Marshal of the Soviet Union looked at the officers who were still standing at the door, and said the last words of his life: "There are no marshals of the Soviet Union who surrendered!"

"Bah!" the sound of gunfire echoed across the ceiling of the headquarters. Four hours after Stalin had chosen to die, he entrusted Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov, who was guarding Moscow, to choose the same method to escape the final defeat.

"Phew!" Before anyone could recover from the scene of Zhukov's suicide, another officer drew his weapon and smashed his head. Pessimism and despair, in such a doomed moment, spread like a plague, affecting everyone's thoughts. Soon there were second and third followers, all of whom chose to use death as a beautiful end to their persistence at such times.

The sound of gunfire continued to echo in the headquarters of the Zhukov cluster, one after another of the usually high-ranking officers fell in a pool of blood, the female sergeant in charge of distributing newspapers and organizing files curled up in the corner and cried, and from time to time there were cries and the sound of broken wine bottles, followed by a loud shot, which made people collapse.

At 15:33 p.m. on August 6, a Soviet officer holding a white flag on the German position, followed by two officers, delivered an important message to the German army: "We are here to negotiate!"