The next morning, at the same time that Tang Shaohua convened a meeting of several leaders of the Ninth Mechanized Army, Zhukov was also in a conference room in the Kremlin to attend an important military meeting personally chaired by Stalin, with the participation of members of the National Defense Council and the General Staff.

As soon as the meeting began, Zhukov stood up and reported to Stalin: "Comrade Stalin, in recent days, German planes have been harassing the borders of the Soviet Union as many as sixty times. ”

After listening to this, Stalin turned his head to Molotov, who was sitting next to him, and ordered: "Comrade People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, call Ribbentrop and send a verbal diplomatic note." ”

With that, he stood up and began to walk slowly around the long conference table. When he lit the pipe in his hand, stopped, turned around and asked the general who was sitting next to Marshal Voroshilov: "Comrade Golikov, is there any update?" ”

Golikov, whose name he named, with the rank of lieutenant general, was the deputy chief of the General Staff of the Red Army and the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate, and when he heard Stalin's questioning, he quickly got up from his seat, opened the folder in front of him, and reported to Stalin. The content of his report was almost always related to the specific date of the German attack on the Soviet Union. Due to the complexity of the sources of his information, there will inevitably be a lot of contradictions. In order to reassure Stalin, he concluded: "I think that if the German fascists were to attack the Soviet Union, it would be after they had defeated the British, and this was the more likely time." There was information that the war against the USSR would inevitably take place in the spring of 1941, and this had to be expected. But this is a hypocritical report from the British, and perhaps even from German scouts. ”

Stalin, who was standing at the table and smoking his pipe quietly, removed his pipe from his mouth after listening to the report he had so badly wanted to hear, and continued to walk slowly forward. After walking a few steps, he suddenly asked: "Comrade Zhukov, what is the opinion of the General Staff on this matter?" ”

Zhukov stood up again, straightened his back and replied: "Comrade Stalin, I have already reported to you about the uneasiness in the military districts of the state border. I believe that it is imperative that our troops be truly prepared for all kinds of battles and that the first echelon is spread out along the national border. ”

After listening to Zhukov's reply, Stalin's face immediately showed anger, he pointed at Zhukov with the hand holding his pipe, and said unceremoniously: "You propose to carry out a general mobilization in the country, mobilize our troops, and deploy them on the western border. Have you ever thought about it, it's tantamount to war! Do you understand this or don't you understand this? ”

In response to Stalin's accusations, Zhukov, although full of grievances, could only remain silent. Seeing that Zhukov did not speak, Stalin continued: "In the Baltic, in the West, in Kiev and Odessa, do you know how many divisions we have? ”

Hearing Stalin's question, Zhukov, as Chief of the General Staff, immediately replied: "As of June 1, we have a total of 149 divisions in the above-mentioned areas. ”

Stalin smiled when he heard this, and said to Zhukov in a mocking tone: "Why, my comrade chief of the General Staff, is there still so many troops?" ”

Zhukov hesitated for a moment about Stalin's blind optimism, and finally mustered up the courage to retort: "Comrade Stalin, according to our reconnaissance materials, the German divisions are organized according to wartime, and these divisions have 14,000 to 16,000 men, while the establishment of each of our divisions is about 8,000 men. Such a comparison of forces is too great. ”

Stalin looked at Zhukov and said with a straight face: "Don't trust reconnaissance in everything. ……”

It is precisely because of Stalin's disapproving attitude that it has imperceptibly influenced the concept of war of many senior commanders. So much so that after the meeting, after Golikov received important information from the famous spy Sorge, he just threw it into the file bag in his office, missing a good opportunity to prepare the Soviet army for war.

When the Kremlin meeting was going on in a depressing atmosphere, the meeting presided over by Tang Shaohua also had an unpleasant scene. When he announced that from now on he would intensify the training of the troops, Deputy Political Commander Kamenev first raised an objection: "Comrade Rokossovsky, since the exercises are over, is it necessary for us to carry out daily training again?" You know, the border is not very peaceful now, if our actions are detected by German scouts, will they see it as a provocation? ”

After Kamenev finished speaking, the technical deputy commander, Colonel Vnukov, also chimed in: "Comrade General, we have no spare parts for our tanks and armored vehicles, and the amount of fuel is insufficient. What do we do when it's time to start what you call your daily training and your technical equipment is damaged and your fuel is depleted? ”

When Tang Shaohua heard his two deputies say such a ridiculous reason, he had an urge to flip the table. But in order to make the troops have a stronger combat effectiveness when war broke out, he held back his anger and said: "Training is necessary. In order not to damage too much technical equipment, the divisions only needed to spare a third of their equipment for training. Speaking of this, his eyes swept over the three division commanders, "The training starts tomorrow, do you have any questions?" ”

The three division commanders looked at each other, then stood up together and replied neatly: "There is no problem." ”

Tang Shaohua raised his hand and looked at his watch, and saw that it was almost time to call Zhukov, so he turned his head and instructed Maslov, who was sitting next to him: "Comrade Chief of Staff, you will be responsible for the daily training of each division." ”

"Okay, Comrade Commander." Although Maslov also felt that Rokossovsky's request for daily training was a bit excessive, in front of many subordinates, he still readily agreed: "I will go to the divisions at any time to check the daily training." ”

When Tang Shaohua was the only one left in the office, he raised his hand again to look at his watch, then picked up the confidential phone on the table, dialed a number, and said to the operator: "Operator, transfer me to the Moscow General Staff and find General Zhukov." ”

When Zhukov's deep voice came out of the earpiece, Tang Shaohua hurriedly got up from his seat and greeted him respectfully: "Hello, Georgy Konstantinovich!" Among Zhukov's many subordinates, Rokossovsky was one of the few who could call him by his own name and his patronymic.

Zhukov had not yet recovered from the blow he received at the meeting, he was silent for a moment, and then asked slowly: "Comrade Rokossovsky, yesterday you said that you had something important to report to me. Now that I have time, you can start reporting. ”