At the moment when his life was about to end, Petrovsky's heart was empty, although he was still very young, but he felt that he had no regrets in his life, and he considered it a supreme honor for the revolution and the glorious sacrifice of the party.

The guillotine's guillotine fell with a whirl, and just as Petrovsky closed his eyes, waiting for the sharp pain of that moment, there was a burst of laughter from the side.

Petrovsky ignored these nasty noises, he begged for death, but after a long time, he did not feel the moment of separation of his head from his body. Could it be that the guillotine is out of order? He thought stupidly.

"Leonardo, don't lie down and pretend to be dead!"

Petrovsky felt someone kick his ass, and he subconsciously opened his eyes and immediately saw Li Xiaofeng's smiling face.

"Comrade Andrey, why are you here!" Petrovsky was shocked.

"Why can't I be here?" Li Xiaofeng asked with a smile as he shook the mask in his hand as he spoke.

A flash of lightning flashed in Petrovsky's head, he was inexplicably surprised and angry, if he hadn't been locked in the guillotine, he would have rushed up to fight with a certain immortal.

"Andrey. Petrovich, you traitor! Petrovsky roared, "You have betrayed the party, you have betrayed the revolution, you have betrayed the trust placed in you by Comrade Lenin, you shameless villain!" ”

Looking at Petrovsky's face distorted by anger, Li Xiaofeng felt more and more interesting, this naïve stupid boy really didn't figure out the facts.

"You're so excited!" Li Xiaofeng said, "Use your brain and think about what this is for?" ”

Petrovsky didn't listen to a word, he just glared at a certain immortal viciously, until Nikolayevich, who was already dead, stood before him again.

"Well behaved, lad!" The dead man complimented, "At your age, there are very few lads like you who regard death as home!" ”

Petrovsky did not have enough brains. Or rather, his brain has turned into a mess. He shuddered, "What the hell is going on?" Isn't the instructor already dead? ”

Li Xiaofeng took over the conversation with a smile and explained: "This is the party's test for you, only real fighters who are extremely loyal to the party and the revolution, are not afraid of death, and are not confused by money and beauty can go to work!" ”

Petrovsky still felt a little dizzy and asked stupidly: "What about these tortures?" ”

"Fake!" Li Xiaofeng said with a smile: "The ones that have been chopped off and the ones that have been burned are all prosthetic hands that have been prepared in advance!" Of course, the guillotine is also fake. This machine is a prop I borrowed from a magician friend! ”

Petrovsky's eyes widened: "That bloody tongue? ”

Li Xiaofeng casually took out a tong strip and handed it over: "Roast beef tongue, do you want one?" ”

Petrovsky's eyes widened, his mouth grew long, and it took a long time for him to touch his body: "So whipping and tiger chairs are also fake?" ”

"Fake." Nikolalovich laughed and said, "It's all magician's props." It does make you feel tearing pain, but it doesn't hurt your body! ”

Petrovsky was suspicious of his legs, and sure enough, except for some soreness, his knees were normal. But he was still very confused, and he asked Li Xiaofeng, "What is all this for?" ”

Li Xiaofeng sighed: "I have already said just now, this is a test for you. The work of a political commissar is extremely important to the party. Not everyone is competent, so this can be said to be your graduation exam. Only qualified people can be political commissars! ”

"Am I qualified?" Petrovsky asked in a daze.

Li Xiaofeng said seriously: "Your performance is quite good. Comrade Leonardo! ”

Hear this. Petrovsky breathed a sigh of relief, but soon he asked with some dissatisfaction: "Comrade Andrei." I am very ...... about such a test Very disgusted. We are all comrades, so doesn't the party trust us at all? ”

"The party has given you full trust!" Li Xiaofeng said very officially, "If the party does not trust you, it will not entrust you with an extremely sacred and very serious work...... It is a pity that many of you comrades have betrayed the party's trust in you and behaved rather clumsily. We've even identified some of the enemy's spies from among you! ”

Petrovsky stopped talking, he didn't expect that Li Xiaofeng gave such an answer, and when he thought that among the comrades he got along with day and night there were enemy spies lurking, he was both heartbroken and angry, and of course, more frustrated, he didn't even find out about the existence of these spies, which made him feel ashamed of his trust in the party.

Li Xiaofeng patted him on the shoulder and said earnestly: "Comrade Leonardo, don't have ideological baggage because of this, the party has great hope and trust in you. The success or failure of the armed struggle depends to a great extent on your performance! ”

With Li Xiaofeng's encouragement, Petrovsky was resurrected in an instant, forgetting that little bit of mustard, and all he thought about was how to repay the party's appreciation and trust in him. This little kid walked out of the interrogation room in high spirits, and couldn't wait to devote himself to the great cause of the revolution.

Looking at Petrovsky's background, Li Xiaofeng pouted, what an innocent little brat, just take it seriously in two sentences, it's too easy to deceive. However, a person as innocent as Petrovsky, who he had seen quite a few today, did not care too much, and lazily ordered: "Next!" ”

A day later, in Lenin's apartment, Li Xiaofeng gave a detailed report on the final results of the selection test: "After preliminary screening, among the first batch of 700 trainees in the political commissar training course, 521 passed, of whom 203 performed well...... Among the 179 unqualified people, a total of 27 spies and spies planted by the enemy were screened out......"

Lenin asked incredulously: "There are so many spies and spies?" ”

Li Xiaofeng nodded, "I'm afraid the actual number of people is more than this, and our screening methods can't find out 100% of the spies planted by the enemy...... It is conceivable that in the ranks of our revolutionaries, there must still be some well-hidden enemy agents! ”

"It's inevitable!" Lenin did not pay much attention to this assertion, he was more concerned about when these qualified commissars would be able to take up their posts.

In this regard, Li Xiaofeng smiled bitterly: "They can only say that they are politically qualified, but militarily, this time their performance is quite bad." It can even be described as clumsy. According to Brusilov. There was not a single qualified military man among them. ”

Lenin smiled and said lightly: "Our demands must not be too high, as long as we pass the political hurdle, I am already very satisfied, as for the military aspect, I do not expect much from them, as long as they can slowly learn from the lessons of the future armed struggle." ”

Looking at the relaxed smiling face of the tutor, Li Xiaofeng felt a little cruel when he didn't come. Don't look at the instructor's easy words, but learning from the lessons learned from the battle will undoubtedly come back at a high price, and it is conceivable that most of the more than 500 trainees in the first batch of the political commissar training course will probably be ruthlessly eliminated in the brutal struggle. How much is left after the worst is one-half or one-third, and even more pessimistic one-quarter or one-fifth or even one-tenth is possible.

In this regard, Li Xiaofeng did not have a particularly good way, the time was too tight, even if he was an officer who had received several years of formal military education, the death rate was alarmingly high when he went to the battlefield for the first time. What's more, this kind of crash course rookie?

"When will they be delegated?" Li Xiaofeng asked.

"It's coming!" Speaking of this topic. Even Lenin couldn't help but sigh, the darkness before dawn was indeed the hardest. The closer we get to the moment of the dawn, the more fierce and brutal the struggle becomes, and this applies both to the struggle outside the Party and to the struggle within the Party.

For the struggle outside the party, in the face of the dying struggle of the Provisional Government, Lenin could not hesitate to kill the killer, but in the face of the intertwined struggle within the party, even he, the great mentor, could not help but have a headache.

Although the line of armed struggle has been determined, there is a great deal of debate within the party about the exact time and method of its development. Needless to say, Kamenev and Zinoviev were as resolutely opposed to the line of the Mentor as ever, and from an opportunist standpoint, they kept repeating the clichés of the revisionists of the Second International, saying that the conditions for a socialist revolution in Russia were not yet in place, and vigorously belittled the strength of the Russian working class, and they strongly demanded participation in the so-called Preparatory Congress, asserting that the first thing the Bolsheviks should do at present was not to engage in any armed struggle, but to unite with the Mensheviks and the Socialist-Revolutionariesto establish a bourgeois parliamentary republic.

Lenin, of course, did not pay much attention to these clichés, and the two alternate members of the Central Committee could speak for any purpose, and they simply ignored them when they voted. What really upset the Mentor was Trotsky's attitude.

What should we say about Trotsky? This guy is a genius and capable, but he lacks an unwavering will in his character. Every time he reaches a critical moment, he may waver and fall off the chain.

This time, for example, when Lenin strongly demanded the implementation of the line of armed struggle and the dispatch of political commissars to the garrisons around Petrograd to carry out the party's command, this was a waste of money.

Trotsky had neither explicit support for Lenin's proposals, nor certainly his opposition to them, but he tried to take a middle ground: "In the present situation it seems that the armed struggle is carried out in a bit of a hurry," said the elder Tol, "and I think that the line of armed struggle is correct." But the timing is not right. We should proceed after the convening of the Second National Congress of Soviets, with the consent of the Congress! ”

"We should avoid conflict as much as possible now!" Trotsky emphatically emphasized this point: "The transfer of power will be carried out by the All-Russian Congress of Soviets!" ”

In a sense, Trotsky was delaying and cancelling the armed uprising. How could Lenin have accepted such counter-revolutionary actions under the banner of revolution, in the eyes of his mentor, there is no middle way to go now, and between the Bolsheviks and the Provisional Government there is only a life-and-death struggle, victory or defeat, and there is absolutely no third possibility.

In fact, there was no third possibility, and the Provisional Government would never have accepted the demands advocated by the Bolsheviks, and that an armistice alone would have killed them. So don't look at this period of time, they are frequently engaged in some kind of democratic meetings, preparatory congresses, and seemingly work tricks for peace. As a matter of fact. These are just delaying tactics.

From the day Kornilov's rebellion was put down. Kerensky was doing everything possible to strengthen his influence on the army, on the one hand, he co-opted the remnants of Kornilov's defeated generals, and on the other hand, he actively drew troops from the front, and his Minister of Justice Malyantovich constantly ran around for him, seducing those wavering officers with a lot of money and high-ranking officials.

Even, Kishkin, a Cadet democrat, bluntly said in the newspaper: "We can't wait, we should act now!" ”

The Provisional Government, headed by Kerensky, had already made up its mind. An attempt was made to preemptively eliminate the Bolsheviks and their Central Committee members.

In such a grim moment, any détente or compromise is self-defeating. Lenin was not stupid, he was not fooled by the tricks of Kerensky and his party, the enemy had already sharpened their knives towards pigs and sheep, and he did not say anything about waiting for him. You have to be vigilant, right?

"Our enemies are trying in vain to launch a second rebellion, they are trying to destroy our party by force, to destroy the revolutionary masses, in imitation of Kornilov's methods!" Lenin impassionedly said, "In this case, there is simply no time to convene the Second National Congress of Soviets!" We must be vigilant, always watch the movements of the enemy, and deal the heaviest blow to them whenever they show their counter-revolutionary fangs! ”

"I think!" Lenin waved his hand heavily. "Now we have only one way to go but to arm ourselves and carry out the revolutionary struggle. Choosing another line is the right thing for the party. Irresponsibility to the revolution! I demand that the Politburo immediately discuss the specific timing and details of the armed struggle and come up with a definite opinion as soon as possible! Comrades, we have no time to waste! ”

Trotsky did not expect that Lenin's determination was so great, and he did not have the intention of continuing to argue in the Central Committee, but directly asked the Politburo to discuss and draw conclusions. In that case, his proposal is likely to pass. After all, the seven-member Politburo, Lenin's side accounted for three votes.

"I agree with Comrade Lenin that an armed uprising is imperative!" Sverdlov was the first to unequivocally support his mentor, and Stalin's movements were not slow, and he immediately echoed him: "Comrade Lenin's opinion is very correct!" We cannot watch the enemy engage in intrigues and do nothing, it's time to overthrow this incompetent government of the bourgeoisie! ”

There was a brief silence in the room, and Trotsky was nervous about the battle between heaven and man, and he had two votes on his side, and Ulitsky was frequently eyeing him, as if asking for his opinion. But in this haste, he couldn't make up his mind at all.

Is it against, or is it advocated, or is it abstaining?

While Trotsky was nervously calculating the gains and losses, Dzerzhinsky suddenly spoke: "The line of armed struggle has been discussed and adopted by the Central Committee, at a time when the enemy is constantly carrying out one counter-revolutionary conspiracy after another. We can't do nothing, Comrade Lenin is quite right, it's time for an armed struggle! ”

Trotsky was immediately dumbfounded, he had hoped to take advantage of this precious time to think the last thing, but who would have thought that Dzerzhinsky, who had been a stuffy gourd all the time, would suddenly fall to Lenin's side and become the last straw that broke the camel's back. Of the seven Politburo members, four have agreed to carry out armed struggle, and the minority will obey the majority, and this proposal has been passed with ironclad approval.

At this moment, Trotsky felt an unprecedented sense of loss, he thought that he would be a decisive link, who would have thought that Lenin's advantage would be so great that it was possible to ignore him.

What a fiasco!

Trotsky lamented in his heart that it would be very embarrassing for him to agree or disagree. Agree, it's a shame, in the eyes of outsiders he is a surrender to Lenin, a surrender; If he did not agree, he would be regarded as a dead duck with a hard mouth, and perhaps he would even provoke a backlash from Lenin, who thought that he was Trotsky who was openly challenged.

Yes, although Trotsky did not agree with Lenin's proposal for an immediate armed struggle, this did not mean that he immediately wanted a showdown with Lenin. For him, opposing the immediate launching of armed struggle is only a means of gaining the right to speak, and if it turns into opposition for the sake of opposition, it will really outweigh the losses.

After much deliberation, Trotsky could only lament in his heart that he really could not argue with Lenin now. I can only say gloomily: "I have reservations about the immediate launching of an armed uprising, and I abstain from voting......"

With Trotsky's abstention, Ulitsky could only choose to abstain, and Shao Wumian glanced at Trotsky with a wry smile, and finally gritted his teeth and voted for Lenin.

Sverdlov said loudly: "Five votes agreed, two abstentions, Comrade Lenin's proposal passed!" ”

Lenin nodded, as if not at all surprised by this result, and said with ease: "Since the Politburo has reached a unanimous opinion, then immediately convene the Central Committee and convey this conclusion to all the Central Committee members......" (To be continued. )

PS: Bow and thank the three comrades Brother Manwu, avocet_guan, and lmx1982 for their support of this dish!