Two Hundred and Thirty Two Confessions

Moscow's Red Square, a military parade about Poland's victory. Stalin sat in the first place with an expressionless face, watching the phalanx of infantry marching in neat steps under the city wall. Khrushchev and Yezhov kept their thoughts on their minds and remained silent. Although the noise of the military band around was still the same, the atmosphere was a little weird and distorted.

"I heard that on the Polish front, our troops suffered heavy losses..." Stalin suddenly asked.

"This kind of thing is all false propaganda by the opposition." Yezhov replied: "Of course there will be losses, great leader Comrade Stalin. How can there be undead in a war?"

"But one of my military advisers told me that the attack on Poland caused hundreds of thousands of Red Army soldiers to die. This is a huge loss. This kind of loss should not exist, and it indirectly shows the incompetence of the commander." Stalin continued. .

"This is just an empty talker who has never been on the battlefield, trying to get your attention with novel remarks." Yezhov said with a smile: "As a great leader who opened up the territory, these rumors will be self-defeating. of."

Khrushchev glanced at Stalin and found that Stalin was also looking at him sideways. He lowered his head and remained silent. Stalin listened to Yezhov's words, nodded and continued to look at the phalanx of soldiers walking across the Red Square.

Yezhov turned his head, his eyes swept away not far behind Stalin, there was the seat where Stalin's advisers were sitting. He thought to himself fiercely: After a few days, I will clean up you guys who like to talk nonsense.

The music played by the military band became louder and more exciting, and the phalanx of the infantry came to an end. The tank unit finally appeared in Stalin's field of vision, a grassy green, t-26 tank painted with a bright red pentagram on the turret, with a slight black smoke from the exhaust pipe, rumbled past the Kremlin in front of it. square.

"I heard that in the last tragic battle, our tanks were destroyed by the Germans more than a dozen?" Stalin looked at the tanks and asked Marshal Voroshilov, who was beside him, "The report you gave me. Here, in the border conflict caused by poor reconnaissance, the German anti-tank artillery destroyed many of our t-26 tanks."

"Yes, Comrade Stalin." Voroshilov nodded and said: "Obviously the Germans have also learned a lesson in Spain. In Spain our tanks are obviously technologically ahead. So in order to deal with the threat of the t-26 tank, The German tanks were intensified and anti-tank guns were heavily deployed."

Stalin thought about it,

He continued to ask: "Comrade Marshal, we can't stand still. We should deploy and develop more powerful tanks to continue to surpass our opponents."

"The new kv-1 tank performed very well." Voroshilov said: "Although there are some problems with reliability, the heavy armor is enough to deal with the German artillery, which has been proved."

"Well." Stalin said to Yezhov and Khrushchev on the side: "Order the tank production plant to increase the production of kv-1 tanks, and produce 2,000 units per year. In addition... The development of new tanks cannot be left behind. Slow! It must be done as soon as possible."

"Yes, Comrade Stalin." The two nodded together.

In the afternoon, the celebration ceremony of expanding the territory finally came to an end. Yezhov walked on the main road of the Kremlin with a frosty expression on his face. When he had just left Moscow, no one could disobey him, and he was here to speak the truth. But not long after he left, someone stabbed him in the back. This loss of control made Yezhov feel very bad.

And Khrushchev, who was walking on the other side, also felt very bad, because he saw a different meaning in Stalin's eyes, which made him feel creepy. He thought about it, as if he had made up his mind.

Voroshilov, who was going down the stairs, frowned. In fact, before leaving the Western Front to board the train bound for Mongolia, Zhukov discussed with him in detail about the technical issues of German tanks. The firepower has surpassed the t-26, and the existing kv-1 tanks only have a slight advantage in armor. However, Zhukov reluctantly admitted: at this stage, we can only expand the kv-1 tank as much as possible to make up for the gap in tanks.

The three of them had their own concerns, and they all called their confidants at the first time.

"You, go and investigate for me and see who around Comrade Stalin is disobedient to us, find reasons, and kill them all. I don't want to see anyone who opposes me again, understand?" Yezhov commanded.

"Go and make arrangements. I want to meet Comrade Stalin as soon as possible, the sooner the better. If Comrade Stalin doesn't see me, you just kneel down and beg him, and give me a chance to meet! Do you understand? Besides... Help me make an appointment with Marshal Voroshilov at night, let's go." Khrushchev frowned and said to his men.

"Go to the kv-1 tank production plant and see the representatives there. Just say Comrade Stalin's order that the production of kv-1 tanks must be expanded to meet production requirements. I don't care how they do it, but I want 2,500 a year. Tank!" Marshal Voroshilov ordered to his adjutant.

You see, sometimes you can clearly see that certain types of people make choices that suit their characteristics when faced with problems: soldiers obey orders, they will give priority to the instructions of their superiors; politicians are good at weighing, they Always focus on the key points and serve the superiors; the villain in the camp will eliminate the dissidents, and the first time he will think of cleaning up the opponent.

Early the next morning, Khrushchev saw Stalin who was having breakfast. Stalin was very happy and personally opened a chair for Khrushchev, and invited Khrushchev to try the butter that was airlifted from Mongolia, as well as the top-quality Russian "bar", sausages, and fried eggs.

However, these mundane things are still twisted and weird in Khrushchev's view. He would rather Stalin yell in front of him than Stalin maintain this kind of uneasy feeling.

"The great leader... Comrade Stalin, I, I..." Khrushchev was guilty, he knew that if Stalin really wanted to investigate what happened with Yezhov, he would be sent to the coldest concentration camp in Siberia It's all light.

"Let's eat first." Stalin pointed to the pile of food on the table and said, "It's cold outside? Did it freeze you?"

"I have some things that I have to confess to you." Khrushchev pinched his thigh, and finally calmed down: "When I was fighting in Poland, I was bewitched by Yezhov and made some irreversible mistakes. The loss to the country also casts a shadow over your sun-like brilliance."

"Yezhov..." Stalin nodded: "To be honest, I heard some rumors recently, saying that you and Yezhov think you can replace me and make some decisions for this country."

"Comrade Stalin! My loyalty to you is beyond doubt." Khrushchev quickly lowered his head and said.

"Before I was disappointed and wondered if the friends I chose were all unfamiliar wolves. This made me doubt my own vision." Stalin said to himself while cutting bread: "But it turns out that Now, I am not surrounded by some enemies, and there are children like you who are only temporarily lost."

"Comrade Stalin! I am still loyal to you, please forgive me for my mistakes. I should not have listened to Yezhov's one-sided words." Khrushchev burst into tears, almost kneeling on the ground: "Give me a chance. …”

"There's nothing wrong with you, my friend." Stalin laughed. "If you're still loyal to me and to the party, there's nothing wrong with you. Tell me what you know. I'd love to hear about Poland. What's really happening on the front lines."

"It starts with the fiasco on the front line." Khrushchev came from a political career, and his tongue is a lotus flower. He blamed Yezhov for most of the mistakes, and then said while crying. How to be forced to obey Yezhov.

After explaining everything to Stalin in one breath, Khrushchev finally said with tears in his eyes: "Comrade Stalin, I was really selfish at the beginning, I want to gain your trust, and I can further become the most capable of your subordinates. People...but Yezhov he..."

"I will deal with Yezhov." Stalin nodded and said: "I understand your mood very well, but the matter will not be decided until Marshal Voroshilov arrives here. I will ask him personally."

After a while, Voroshilov came over as expected. He even more panicked and blamed Yezhov for all the crimes of the political commissar's intervention in the war, and basically there was nothing different from what Khrushchev said. . Stalin then put away his poker face with satisfaction.

"Now it seems that you are loyal to the Soviets and very loyal to me personally... So I forgive you this time! But if there is another time! I will hang you with my own hands!" Stalin finally stood up Said: "Please remember today's lesson! Don't deceive me to do anything! Do you understand?"

"Understood! Comrade Stalin, the great leader." The two hurriedly stood up and bowed their heads.

Stalin nodded, and seemed satisfied with his feeling of being in control of the universe. He narrowed his eyes and said, "As for Yezhov, who has the most serious problem this time, I decided to execute him on behalf of the Soviet government. Do you have any opinions? "

"Your decision is wise." Khrushchev and Voroshilov quickly agreed: "Obviously he is the culprit of the crime!"

Khrushchev glanced at Stalin, and then added a reminder to Voroshilov: "Now it seems that he is the murderer of Marshal Tukhachevsky."

And just as they were accusing Yezhovrow, an attendant exited the hall, came to the end of the corridor, looked around for no one, and hurriedly ran out of the Kremlin. The direction in which he ran was exactly the direction of Ye Ruof's residence.