Germany, Berlin Führer's Mansion, Accardo is holding his son Caesar, happily playing games with several nannies, he happily pounces on his son, and then lets the little guy kick him in the chest with his foot. The little one laughed very happily, and the sound of hey, hey, hey, hey, floated out of the window, causing the birds outside the window to chirp non-stop.

Little Caesar was still in the stage where he didn't quite understand things, and he looked at everything around him curiously, blinking with a pair of big beautiful eyes. Accardo liked little Caesar's smooth brown hair very much, and every time he hugged him, he couldn't help but stroke Caesar's hair with his wide palm.

"The little one is very healthy and his legs are really strong. After a while of playing, Accardo had to stop, he was already out of breath from his own son's torture due to lack of exercise. Anna and Mercedes, who were watching from the side, couldn't stop laughing, complaining that Accardo should have stepped up his workout.

"When my army takes Moscow, I'll run every morning!" Holding his son, Accardo, whose face was full of comfort, although sweat was dripping on his forehead, still smiled sweeter than winning the war: "I am already very happy, I can still hold my son here for a while, Brauchitsch's grandson heard that he is almost a month old, and he has not had time to go home to take a look." ”

His words made Anna and Mercedes laugh again, because of the victory from the front, the economic development of the country, and the situation of the whole Germany is getting better and better, and the time for everyone to talk and laugh and play has increased correspondingly. Compared to when the war was first provoked, the taciturn and even hysterical Accardo came to have a world of difference.

"Marshal Garipoli called yesterday from Italy and said that arrangements were being made for someone from the Papal Hall to come and celebrate Mass for our children. Now everyone thinks that you are not as good as your children. "Mercedes doesn't look like a woman who has given birth to a child, her figure is almost perfectly maintained, and she doesn't have the thick waist of a Caucasian woman who has transformed into a bucket.

What many people are worried about now is not the outcome of the war on the Eastern Front, but the question of what kind of system the Holy Great German Third Reich will implement in the future and what kind of leadership inheritance it will have -- to put it bluntly, everyone is more concerned about whether Germany will produce a new emperor or whether it will use the "democratic system" of the Führer and Chancellor.

The victory at your fingertips made everyone want to move, at least when everyone didn't have to worry about losing the Führer, then there was a slight change in the attitude towards the Führer as a god. Of course, there is certainly no market for questioning Accardor in Germany now, but there are really many people who think they can replace Accardo.

If the Führer does not claim to be emperor, then this vast empire, which stretches from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Volga River in the east and beyond, is definitely a great stage worth striving for to display his ambitions. The idea of replacing it is unrealistic, but trying to become a successor is definitely exciting.

"Personally, I still think it's a good idea to help our little Caesar get the title of Honorary Emperor of Europe. While teasing his son, Accardo said to Mercedes: "We will have many more sons, a royal status, and a huge estate, which is the best wealth we have left them." If you put them at the pinnacle of power, it's not a good thing. ”

"But Accardo, if you and I were here to make sure that our offspring were not bullied and used as lambs to the slaughter, but what if we weren't there?" Mercedes said as she looked at her husband, at Anna beside her, and said what she feared.

Accardo smiled, then handed the child to Anna, who had been coveting Caesar's chubby cheeks, and then stood up and said, "There is not much we can guarantee, even if we hold all the power, but our descendants are not capable of keeping these things, they will also be replaced by others." We have relinquished power, and it is already a safer choice than standing at the top. ”

He stretched out his palm, stroked Mercedes's shoulder, and comforted: "My dear, we have done enough for the children, and their affairs must be solved by themselves, aren't we? ”

Mercedes nodded, pursed her lips and did not continue to speak, she watched the sun slanting into the bright window, leaving a piece of brightness on the bed, in that brightness, the beautiful Anna was caressing the pink cheeks of the little Caesar with her slender fingers, and the little Caesar was smiling happily, this moment was called happiness for Mercedes.

......

The incandescent light overhead shook slightly with the trembling of the earth, and in the dim basement of the Moscow Kremlin, the lights flickered on and off because of the unstable voltage, making the people in the room a little panicked. You can't see the sun outside, so you can only tell the time by the clock on the wall, and you can't see hope here, so you can only judge the time you have left by the expressions on people's faces.

Stalin sat up from his bed and looked at the picture of Lenin facing him, and a sudden feeling of shame welled up in his heart. He didn't dare to look at that face anymore, he didn't dare to think of the man who had given him the country.

"Come on, come on, come on! Quickly, take this picture off! Hurry up!" he covered his face and pressed his palms against his eyes, only to feel a little better. He once stood in the bright, luxuriously decorated conference hall, and the people sitting below applauded him desperately, and he responded like a god, and his words were as authoritative and valid as the law.

He fantasized about a place full of sunlight, a conference hall with a huge five-pointed star on the roof and countless lights around it. But that familiar place is no longer to be found, and all that remains is a ruin, and the luxurious decoration has been beaten to rubble by 280 mm shells fired by the Germans.

The attendant heard his shout and hurriedly ran in from outside the house, even Stalin, who was so lonely and defeated, was a man called a leader, and a high-ranking existence beyond the reach of a squire. He did not dare to delay and stood at the door, waiting for Stalin to give a clearer order.

"Are you deaf? take that picture down! Hurry up!" Stalin covered his eyes, and he suddenly realized that his beard had not been tidied for a long time, and that those already somewhat messy beards were piercing his palms like knives.

The attendant quickly called the guards at the door, and the two of them took down the huge picture of Lenin in the basement. They walked away quickly with the picture in their hands, for fear that Stalin, who was covering his face, would suddenly raise his head and give some strange order. Lately the work of serving Stalin has become more and more difficult, and he often asks for strange things, such as the fact that he once offered to eat sea fish, but now that Moscow is embattled, where can he find sea fish to improve the life of this leader?

No sooner had the attendants left than a general, dressed in the uniform of a Soviet marshal, surrounded by his entourage and other officials, walked down the corridor to the outside of Stalin's bedroom. Now in the encirclement of Moscow, the only Soviet general who can wear the uniform of a marshal is Zhukov, the general who has followed Stalin from the beginning, standing at the door with a gloomy face, waiting for his subordinates to report to the leader comrade.

With permission, the marshal finally met again with his allegiance leader, Stalin: "Comrade Stalin...... The battle for the south in Moscow was chaotic and uncoordinated, I don't know who exactly gave the order to counterattack, but these orders baffled our troops. ”

"When I gave the order to attack, your troops were retreating, as was the case in Ukraine, and when I gave the order to retreat, your troops were attacking, and this was the case in Kursk...... I'm fed up with this kind of yang and yin violation, Zhukov...... My orders have never been executed. Stalin got up from his bed, then walked up to Zhukov and looked at each other with a gloomy gaze.

"Comrade Stalin! We have already lost this war!" Zhukov did not flinch, and stared at Stalin with a pair of eyes: "What we are insisting on now is the dignity of a nation! The honor of a country! The responsibility of a soldier! If you still have any illusions about winning this war at this time, then I have to ask you to look outside -- our country is already in ruins, and no matter what the result is, we will not be able to win the war!"

"......" Stalin looked at Zhukov, his hands clenched into fists, and his untidy and messy beard trembled, and finally he looked away, and then said to Zhukov in a lonely voice: "So, the southern part of Moscow has been lost? Where else? How many positions has Vatutin lost?"

"My command is still in Leninno, and I will stick there as long as I can. "Zhukov came here in the hope that Stalin would stop giving his troops those almost ridiculous orders, because this morning one of his regiment commanders got a small note signed by Stalin and told his troops to counterattack in the direction of Tula with all the tanks - how could there be any strength to fight back with only one tank left in that regiment......