The Kremlin windows were covered with snow in the late night, and faint lights emerged from behind the cold-proof curtain, as if a sharp eye was always staring at the country.

From the news that the Kazakh Front was annihilated, the lights here have never been extinguished. Every day, members of the Politburo and senior officers come here to meet to listen to instructions, and the Supreme Command also replaced the Politburo and took over national affairs. For the Soviet Union, the coldest winter in ten years was difficult. The Kazakh's crushing defeat caused a huge prominence in the Eastern Front that had been operating for twenty years. Siberia and Uzbek cannot echo each other, the Caspian Sea coast is facing threats, the Afghan Front was surrounded, and the Persian Front also exposed its huge side. All the Central Asian Franchise Republics are ready to move!

Of course, this blow would not depress Stalin. What he really worried about was how to deal with the war report. Due to his previous success, under his instruction, Pravda, Issue and TASS both competed to report on the important news of the Red Army's recovery of "land". In the newspaper in November, the Red Army armed with advanced GCism and Stalin's spirit was invincible! It was forever victorious! It was the enemy's fortifications and the trumpets with the spirit of fearlessness! But in just one month, he would change his words to admit the failure of the Red Army and the fact that the corrupt and declining capitalist army is more powerful than the Red Army?

The Great Purge and the countless absent Cheka made the Soviet Union accustomed to silence, but who can guarantee that there will be no undercurrents under the calm? Ivanmir and Gubishev are the lessons of the past. Will the craze for young Kazakhstans joining the Independence Army spread to the entire Soviet Union? Will Ukraine, a granary of Eastern Europe, which has always been alienated from the central government, have problems? There are also Finland that threatens Leningrad, Germany, which is increasingly powerful, and so on, all of which seriously trouble Stalin! So he has been reluctant to disclose the Kazakh front's defeat. But the paper cannot contain the fire. Yang Qiu revealed this news and asked the Americans to inspect the prisoner-of-war camp with his own eyes. He even said that Yang Qiu's lying was not easy.

These problems deeply trouble Stalin, and even made him more anxious than the front line that had been barely stable by the weather. But these things were difficult to talk to, so he was on the desk and held a pen to stagnate before the execution of Polish prisoners of war for a long time. Seeing this, Belia was surprised and thought to himself, was the General Secretary not going to execute Polish prisoners of war? He glanced at Mehlis, the director of the General Political Department around him, and said: "Comrade General Secretary, before Germany entered Warsaw, China took away many Poles, and now they have set up reception points in Iran. Perhaps it won't take long to show a legion of Poles like in 1918. If these prisoners of war continue to be left, I am afraid."

"I know, you have to deal with this matter thoroughly." Stalin would not have a headache about how to deal with Polish prisoners of war. He heard that the Polish resistance organization and China had a hookup. He was so angry that he not only signed the letter, but also wrote down his opinion on "expanding the interrogation" next to him, and then handed it over to Beria: "We should teach this traitor country born after the European War, and we should also pay attention to criminals in other parts of Central Asia."

Beria understood the meaning of "criminals". From the Soviet Civil War to the end of the Great Purge, millions of "criminals" were exiled to Central Asia for labor reform. In the past, there would be no trouble in Central Asia, but instead disrupted the proportion of Central Asia's population. But now it has become a war zone. If there is no restriction, there will be chaos. "The General Secretary is right, I want me to say that I should learn from Germany to lock all the Poles in concentration camps!" Meheris ignored Stalin's inadvertent expansion of the scale of the execution of Polish prisoners of war, and fortunately schadenfreshingly fanning the flames, joking about the life and death of the prisoners of war and the Poles in the occupied areas: "This can save food and support the front line. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Stalin was full of whether to admit defeat, while Beria was anxious to execute Polish prisoners of war and resolve the rebellious threat in the Central Asian controlled area, so neither of them paid attention to Mechlis. Seeing his "joke", no one paid attention to him, he had to laugh and said, "General Secretary, Comrade Motolov has sent a telegram back from Berlin. Hitler asked us to provide 2 million tons of iron ore and oil before three months, and also nickel and chromium."

"Greedy!" Stalin cursed in his heart, but there was no expression on his face. He picked up a squeezing of cigarettes and stuffed them into the cigarette butt and stood up: "Comrade Belia, what about your opinion?"

Beria, who had just guessed the wrong thoughts, had to cheer up, and after thinking for a while, he said: "The Germans saw that we could not threaten them for the time being, so they continued to threaten us without fear. But I think we should refuse appropriately to let them know that our Soviet Union is not threatened." Seeing Stalin's face ease, his words changed slightly: "Of course, the current situation is very complicated, and we cannot completely refuse, so my opinion is that we cannot agree easily on materials, but we can make comrades from GC International respond to Germany's actions and direct their attention to the West."

These words talked about Stalin's heart. Although he had lost nearly two million troops since the war, the Soviet Union had not yet reached the moment of life and death with the help of the weather. What we need most now is to increase its armed forces as soon as possible and strive to assemble before spring to launch a counterattack. Moreover, Germany's ambitions are too great and giving too many raw materials will also pose a threat to itself. Therefore, Stalin agreed with his method and instructed: "Wait for Comrade Kalinin, please ask him to mobilize the GC International as soon as possible. The international column model of international soldiers in Spain is very good.

We should start again to defend the Soviets. As for the Germans." Stalin paused for a moment, stayed on the map with his pipe in his mouth before continuing: "Comrade Molotov asked Germany to tell Germany that we can make GC International call on more workers in the occupied areas to start construction and help them resume construction, and materials can also be delivered in half, but they must provide 1,000 engines of 109 fighter jets, send experts to help us improve the design of the fighter jets, and it is best to replace some urgently needed aluminum."

The Soviet Union's aluminum shortage was very serious, and now aluminum has become an important heavy metal from a minor material before the war, and no countries will export it, so Stalin had this requirement. After the two finished recording, he knocked off the ashes and turned around and asked, "Comrade Mehlis, you are the director of the political department. What do you think about the war report?"

Meheris was ignorant, and he was a truly political talent. He heard Stalin's tone that he wanted to admit invasion and failure, and waved his hands in shock: "General Secretary. Never admit that the battle failed! If he admitted it, it would affect morale and fall into the trap of imperialist propaganda."

"Oh, is that?" Stalin knew very well who Meheris was. If he hadn't been loyal, he would have kicked him out of Moscow. So he turned his head to look at Belia: "What about your opinion?"

Beria was also worried about morale and internal chaos, but was much smarter than Mehlis: "I think it should be recognized for the invasion, but the casualties should not be published in detail. This will not only mobilize the nation's determination to fight the invasion, but also reduce the impact on the morale of the Red Army soldiers, and curb the rebellious intentions of ethnic minorities." One was to be announced, and the other did not think it should not be announced, which made it even more difficult for Stalin to choose. At this moment, a knock on the door sounded. The secretary took Zhukov, who had just returned from the front line, into the office.

Seeing Zhukov, Stalin's smile on his face made Mehlis secretly jealous and deliberately pretended to be very caring: "Thank you Comrade Zhukov for your hard work, how is the situation on the front line?"

"Comrade Stalin, please rest assured that the weather has helped us stabilize the Kazakh and Siberian fronts west of the Aral Sea, but Uzbek, Turkmen and Afghanistan are still very serious." Zhukov came back this time to report on his work and hoped to persuade Stalin to retreat from Tashkent and other places again. So after saluting, he didn't talk nonsense and walked to the map to point at the report: "Information shows that the enemy is taking advantage of the opportunity in winter to strengthen the forces of Turkestan, Anjiyan and Afghanistan. The known forces in the first two places have increased to 5 troops, and one army in Afghanistan has arrived, and the situation is very critical."

After listening to the report, Stalin asked, "Comrade Zhukov. Do you want to see me on the phone? Is it just that you want to tell me this?"

"Yes!" Zhukov did not hide his concerns about the southern Central Asia line: "Comrade Stalin. The situation in the Tashkent region is now very critical. I think it should be given up immediately to preserve the vitality of Tashkent, destroy and dig out all railway bridges from Uzbek and Turkmen, and deploy the main defense lines to the Karakar Parkstan region between the Aral Sea and the Caspian Sea, and do so."

Before Zhukov finished speaking, Mehlis, who had been very jealous of him, suddenly interrupted and said sarcastically: "Comrade Zhukov, do you want to give Uzbek and Turkmen to the Chinese as well? What should I do if I lose this place, Afghanistan and Iran!"

Stalin's face was also very unhappy. Unexpectedly, Zhukov was anxious to see him and persuaded him to give up such an important place as Tashkent. Although he did not show it on his face like Mehlis, he was very dissatisfied. He paced back and forth with his pipe, and combed his beard from time to time. After a moment, he suddenly stopped and looked directly at Zhukov with a stern look: "Do you think Comrade Apaneseko and others can't defend the Tashkent Fortress?"

His anger was justified because Tashkent was a real fortress! Although it was not as good as Sevastopol for hundreds of years, after learning that the National Defense Forces built the Anjiyan Kuzhan Fortress ten years ago, he also ordered the use of the fortress left by Tsarist Russia to repeatedly strengthen it. After cooperating with a large number of base-building troops, his overall defense ability was very strong, so he was unwilling to withdraw his troops, hoping to turn Tashkent into a bone spur that would make the enemy unable to rest.

But Zhukov looked at his eyes and held his head slightly raised his head and insisted: "Comrade Stalin, if he had not lost Kizilorda, then it would be okay to stick to Tashkent. But after losing this place, the enemy can attack the southern railway line at any time from the front hundreds of kilometers wide. Once the railway is cut off, General Apanesechenko will become an isolated army again! More importantly, the Afghan front has been surrounded. If they fail, Mare's enemy can go north to attack Bukhara and threaten the flank! Therefore, Tashkent must be abandoned, otherwise there will be another East Kazakh defeat!"

The Battle of East Kazakhstan was already Stalin's flesh thorn. He finally couldn't help but get angry when he heard this and interrupted angrily: "Comrade Zhukov, you have to be clear about one thing! Every inch of the land in the Soviet Union belongs to the Soviet people, and we have no right to give up!"

Stalin's anger made the atmosphere in the room tense, and even Belia, who wanted to interrupt, shut up. Mehlis looked at Zhukov with gloating pleasure. But Zhukov was determined to finish his words: "Comrade General Secretary, I am a soldier! I am ready to implement the highest decision of the commander-in-chief of the commander-in-chief of the commander-in-chief of the General Staff, then I should pay due diligence to inform the danger! The Afghan Front Army cannot come back. If the British are not considered, their only way out is to break out to India! Without Afghanistan's cover to the south, the fortress in Tashkent is a big grave! And we cannot give too much power for the time being!

After losing nearly 2 million, Persia and the Caucasus delayed 800,000, and the existing forces need to stabilize Kazakhstan and Siberia first. After the loss of Kizil Orda, Karakar Parastan's defense requires at least 10 divisions! So at most 6 additional divisions can be sent to Tashkent. Of course, you can also mobilize the troops from the European border and Leningrad, but what should Germany do after these troops are transferred? What should I do when the Finnish Channel? So I think that since I can't give too much power for the time being, it's better to withdraw from Tashkent, so that 40 divisions can be gathered in Karakar Parkstan to launch a counterattack on Kizil Orda and create a gap in the enemy's Kazakh protrusion!"

"Nonsense! It's really nonsense!" After hearing his repeated emphasis on giving up Tashkent, the only heavy fortress city in eastern Central Asia that can greatly consume the enemy's living power, Stalin shouted in anger: "Tashkent is a fortress! A real fortress! Use 50,000 workers and have more than 100 fortress cannons above 152 mm! Do you want to give up in vain? This is a crime, a crime!"

Zhukov was also anxious. The war of attrition fortresses must first ensure that the roads are smooth. If the railway is cut off, it will not play a role in consumption and will lose hundreds of thousands of troops in vain! So he also sacrificed his life: "Comrade Stalin! If you think I, the commander-in-chief of the Front Army and the deputy chief of staff, are talking nonsense, what else do you want me to do? I request to send me to the Tashkent front line, where I will make greater contributions than in Siberia in the snow and ice."

When these words were said, Beria and Mehlis were stunned. Unexpectedly, Zhukov dared to contradict Stalin's absolute authority! The room was so quiet that he could only hear heavy breathing.

Stalin was furious. You should know that Zhukov is not as good as the Nokan Gate to win, and at most it can only be considered as a genius before the war and Afghanistan to make contributions, and it cannot affect his decision. So he waved his hand roughly and did not give Zhukov a chance to speak: "Comrade Zhukov, I think you should go back and calm down. We can do it without Comrade Lenin, and we can do it without you!"

"Comrade Belia, let me tell the comrades of the war report according to your method. I will personally speak to the people of the whole country tomorrow. Okay, it's too late, I need a rest." Stalingen did not give Zhukov the opportunity to continue speaking. After taking care of Belia, he immediately turned his head and went back to his room to rest, and deliberately knocked the door to a loud bang.

.

.

.
Chapter completed!