Bukharin had never been so angry, and it was like a bolt from the blue for him to be betrayed by an old friend, and for him Trotsky sided with Lenin when he voted and allowed Lenin's offer of surrender to pass!

Bukharin slapped the table and roared: "Lev. Davidovich, you have to explain to us why you suddenly changed your attitude in favor of Lenin's capitulationist arguments, which is a betrayal of your comrades and a heavy loss for Russia! ”

Trotsky's face was not very good-looking, especially when Bukharin questioned him by name, which made him feel deeply offended. However, he knew that this was not the time to quarrel with Bukharin, and he decided to do his best to convince the stubborn Bukharin.

Trotsky said in as soothing and calm a tone as possible: "Nikolai. Ivanovic, please calm down! ”

But Bukharin, however, could not calm down at all, he felt that his chest was full of flames, and he wished to spew them out and burn Trotsky to ashes. He was especially unaccustomed to Trotsky's casual appearance, which had reached the point of critical survival, and how could he calm down!

"Calm down?!" Bukharin roared again, "You are all traitors, how calm me down!" ”

Trotsky's brow furrowed slightly, the word was very harsh, it made him very unhappy, what is a traitor? Don't you see the Germans overwhelming the border? Don't you see that if you don't agree to their conditions, they will launch a frenzied offensive, and if the situation continues to deteriorate, the party's ruling base will be destroyed, and what kind of revolution will there be talk of at that time? What future to talk about?

Trotsky felt that he had endured so much humiliation. It's even more aggrieved than the old scalper. Everything he did was for the party and the revolution. But Bukharin, a naïve second-hand, even questioned him aggressively. It's just unbearable!

Immediately Trotsky broke out: "We must first preserve the flame of the revolution, and if the Germans continue to attack, then our party will collapse at once, and then the clowns of the bourgeoisie will be happy, because their aim has been fully achieved, and they will want to destroy us by the hands of the Germans." According to your strategy, it is a dead end! ”

"Nonsense!" The muscles on Bukharin's head bulged, and he slapped the table hard. "It is the duty of every Bolshevik to oppose imperialism, and it is the common aspiration of all Russia to fight the war of imperialism with revolutionary war," he roared. And you actually groveled to imperialism and surrendered to them! And what is even more shameful is that you are not ashamed but proud, what kind of Bolshevik are you! ”

Trotsky was so angry that he could no longer bear patience or restraint, and immediately retorted: "...... A common desire for all of Russia? You're just telling a joke, you open the window and walk out of this door. Go to the grassroots party members and the masses to take a look and listen. See how many people support your point of view...... The army at the front is completely at the touch of a button, and our workers' armed forces are still quite weak, what do you use to resist the German offensive? Just with a lot of blood? Is it only when the blood of the working class is drained that you are happy and happy? ”

Trotsky erupted, the potential energy was quite amazing, the more he spoke, the more excited he became, the more excited he became, and the spittle sprayed Bukharin's head and face: "...... You are so naïve, as Lenin said, you are always talking nonsense, except for some unrealistic slogans, is there anything practical in your proposition? I'm not interested in wasting time with you any longer, I'd rather go to Lenin for a specific negotiation strategy than to fight with you! ”

After saying that, Trotsky ignored the stunned Bukharin, picked up his coat and scarf and left angrily, and when he slammed the door shut, Bukharin: "Bastard! ”

Then there was a long silence in the office, Ulitsky, Bubnov, Pydakov, you look at me, I look at you, no one spoke.

After a long time, it was Bukharin who broke the silence: "We can't just give up!" He raised his head and glanced at the three of them, and said categorically: "We must find a way to stop the party from continuing to make mistakes!" ”

To put it simply, it is difficult to do, the thirteen members of the Central Committee who had just remained in Petrograd had already voted to approve Lenin's proposal, and how difficult it was to overthrow it, especially when Trotsky was against the water, and with the strength of a few of them, it was impossible to reverse the situation.

"We must find a way to convene a plenum of the Central Committee!" Bukharin resolutely said, "After all, the previous decision was only made by thirteen members of the Central Committee, and it is necessary for all members of the Central Committee to know about such a major event, and only in the presence of all members of the Central Committee can the decision made have legal significance!" ”

It should be said that this is a way, but how can it be so easy to gather all the members of the Central Committee for a while, especially now that Lenin has issued an initiative to the Germans, ready to agree to their conditions, and far water cannot save the near fire!

"I think there's still time!" "Although the Germans have stopped attacking, I think they will raise the asking price, and perhaps put forward more harsh conditions...... If such a situation arises, it will be our chance, and then Lenin will inevitably convene a new meeting to reopen the conditions of the Germans......"

Bukharin's eyes lit up, and he felt that Ulitsky was right, that if the Germans raised their asking price, then the Central Committee members who had originally supported Lenin would inevitably be shaken, and they could wait and see, and wait for the right time.

Of course, stupid waiting is not Bukharin's style, he said: "We should quickly contact the Central Committee members who are not in Petrograd, on the one hand, let them return to Petrograd as soon as possible, and on the other hand, actively do their work, as long as we do these two things, we still have a chance to turn defeat into victory!" ”

In an instant, the momentum of Bukharin and the others soared, and the shadow of the vanguard defeat was swept away, as if the victory was already in hand. However, the situation turned out to be very different from their estimates, and when Trotsky and his delegation reached Brest again, the reaction of the Germans shattered the glasses of the gang.

When negotiations begin. Trotsky was just about to agree to the Germans' previous ultimatum. Kuhlman spoke before him: "Our offer cannot be refused. We ask you to allow Poland, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia to hold a referendum, and the citizens of these countries will decide for themselves whether or not to remain on the territory of Russia...... You shall pay three billion marks to our country and our allies from 1 January 1919 ......"

Trotsky was stunned by these conditions, which did not seem to have been demanded at the time of the previous ultimatum? The Germans were kicked in the head by a donkey, or did I have auditory hallucinations? He couldn't help but pinch his thigh hard, the pain was clear, but he still didn't believe it was true, he tilted his head. He asked Zicherin, who was beside him, "Did they make a mistake?" ”

Titchhelin was not much better than Trotsky, and in fact he was probably even more shocked, because what does it mean that these conditions were the same conditions that he had secretly negotiated with the Germans? Anyway, there was only one thought in his mind at that time: "Andrey. How did Petrovich do all this? ”

Seriously, at this time, he doubted whether the Germans had colluded with their mentor to put on a show, and through a short attack, he forced Trotsky to change his position.

Kuhlman also noticed that the head and deputy heads of the Russian delegation seemed to be distracted. He couldn't figure out what it was for. Could it be that the Russians have repented again?

He hurriedly asked, "Two gentlemen, do you have any objections to these conditions?" ”

Trotsky thought: "Dissent? Meaning of your sister? If Lao Tzu does not agree to this condition. That's the brain! ”

At that time, he almost couldn't wait to say: "We have no objection to these conditions, we fully agree, and hope to complete the discussion of details as soon as possible......"

The two sides hit it off, and the negotiations immediately entered the fast lane, and in just one day, the general policy issues were completely negotiated, and then it was OK to complete the specific details. It can be said that the negotiations immediately entered the fast lane,

The news soon reached Petrograd, and when Lenin learned the specific content of the treaty, he was also stunned, and he had thought that the last treaty should be the last thing the Germans had demanded, but it was obvious that the treaty in front of him was a condition reached during the previous secret contact, that is, someone should have used some method to make the Germans make concessions.

"Call Comrade Andrei," Lenin instructed Sverdlov, "ask him how he had come into contact with the Germans!" ”

Sverdlov was actually very curious about how Li Xiaofeng did all this, and gladly accepted this order.

"Andrey, how did you come into contact with the Germans before, Comrade Lenin is very curious about your working methods!"

Li Xiaofeng didn't want to answer this question at all, because there was no way to answer it, so he could only open his eyes and say nonsense: "Reasoning with facts and patiently dealing with them, this is my working method!" ”

Fart! Even Lenin scolded in his heart, if reasoning with facts can stop the Germans, then it will be a fart battle! He said to Sverdlov angrily: "This kid is not telling the truth! ”

Sverdlov, of course, knew that someone was talking nonsense, and asked, "Do you want me to do his job again?" ”

Lenin shook his head, "There's no need, he doesn't want to say that it's okay, after all, he has the credit for the smooth conclusion of the negotiations." For the heroes, we must be appropriately tolerant, and as long as the result is good, don't get to the bottom of it! ”

With Lenin's instructions, Li Xiaofeng passed the test smoothly, but he was not particularly happy in his heart, because it was difficult for him to get the credit, and whoever made him unable to see the light of day in those activities in private.

Of course, he was aware of this, and he had no intention of fighting for this credit, but what made him angry was that even if he could not receive this credit, he should not be cheap Trotsky! Because of that relatively lenient contract, Trotsky took advantage of him, and in the eyes of many comrades in the party, Trotsky was able to make concessions to the Germans under extremely unfavorable circumstances, which was too awesome!

Anyway, Li Xiaofeng was very tired in his heart, and after spending so much effort, he still let Trotsky pick up the cheap, which made his father very frustrated. Even this one kept complaining about Lenin, why did you let Trotsky negotiate?

It would be nice to let Chichelin go alone, at least Chichelin knew it. Who is most credited with this? Let him take advantage. Why do you have to miss my brother, right? Where like now. Trotsky took advantage of the cheapness, and the brother couldn't get any favors, what a loss!

But Lenin had his own reasons for letting Trotsky go. First of all, he didn't know that this was a bargain, wasn't it? He also did not expect that the Germans would budge, who let someone not speak clearly before?

Of course, even if Li Xiaofeng had made it clear, Lenin would have allowed Trotsky to take advantage of it. For what? That was his old man's tactics of struggle, and there was never an eternal enemy in political struggle, and in order to strike at the enemy, it was very necessary to win over and divide him.

However, this is not to say that Lenin was prepared to make Trotsky his little brother, that is unrealistic. Even if the Mentor had this idea, Trotsky would not have agreed otherwise. The reason why Trotsky continued to preside over the negotiations was Lenin's means of dividing and disintegrating the Trotsky-Bukharin-Bukharin alliance.

Although Trotsky had changed his attitude in the previous vote, Lenin knew that it was only forced. Trotsky's truest idea was still close to no war or peace. However, this reality is not an opportunity for the Mentor. Because of Trotsky's sudden change, it is conceivable that the contradictions between him and Bukharin would intensify.

At this time, the best way to break down is to deepen the contradictions between them and make them more antagonistic to each other. It was therefore necessary to continue to appoint Trotsky to negotiate, and if Bukharin had been told that Trotsky had presided over and signed what he regarded as a traitorous treaty, it would have been impossible for them to reunite with each other.

It has to be said that Lenin's judgment was very correct, and after learning that Trotsky had quickly concluded the traitorous treaty, Bukharin was really furious and scolded Trotsky in front of Ulitsky, Bubnov and others.

"The facts are already clear, Lev. Davydovich has become a traitor and must be criticized alongside Lenin! ”

However, Bukharin's proposal was not unanimously adopted, and there were differences of opinion among them, and Ulitsky said: "Now is not the time to criticize Lev. At the time of Davidovich, our most urgent task was how to overturn this traitorous treaty...... In this case, criticize Lev. Davidovich did not mean anything, but would have united him more closely with Lenin, and then the situation would have turned even more unfavorable for us! ”

Regardless of whether Ulitsky really did it for the sake of the big picture, or because of his friendship with Trotsky, it should be said that this strategy was still correct. It really forced Trotsky to Lenin's side, and with the influence of both of them, it was more difficult to overthrow the treaty than to ascend to heaven.

Bukharin, however, was very dissatisfied, believing that Ulitsky was trying to compromise with Trotsky, and he resolutely resisted such an opinion: "Do not criticize Lev. How did Davydovich convince his comrades of his mistakes? If we ignore Lev . What Davydovich did, that would have a very bad effect, would make the comrades mistakenly think that we approved of his attitude, and this is a fatal mistake! ”

Speaking of this, he waved his arm fiercely and said categorically: "Only criticize Lev fiercely. Davidovich, use all your strength to criticize him, in order to wake him up, to make him realize his mistakes, to bring him back to the right path! ”

Ulitsky wants to scold his mother, you girl, isn't this adding fuel to the fire! What is the use of exacerbating contradictions?

He said bitterly: "Nikolai. Comrade Ivanovich, I personally think that Lev. Davidovich and Lenin are not of the same mind, please don't be so impatient, let me do his work, I am sure that he will change his position if he is understood. ”

Bukharin's stubbornness is here, and he completely disagrees with Ulitsky's proposal, "I think this is a complete waste of time, and now we have no time to waste, if we don't act immediately, the traitorous pact may become a fait accompli!" ”

Ulitsky sighed, stood up and said, "I'll go to Tonglev at once. Davidovich communicates, please be sure not to act rashly until I return. After saying that, without waiting for Bukharin to agree, he hurried away.

Bukharin's insistence on Ulitsky was completely unimpressed, and in his opinion Ulitsky's efforts were completely useless, and as a staunch Bolshevik, he should firmly struggle against the wrong line and not make the slightest compromise.

"Ulitsky is doing completely useless work," Bukharin said contemptuously, "the situation is clear, we must act immediately, resolutely counter the capitulationist line, and not take another step back...... We should immediately unite with the comrades of the left wing of the Socialist-Revolutionary, whose views are basically the same as ours...... I propose that, in order to show our uncompromising determination, we should immediately resign from all posts in the Party and in the Soviet Government! ”

Pidakov immediately chimed in: "Yes, we must show our determination to never compromise, otherwise the central government will think that we are just talking." In addition to this, I think it is necessary to put pressure on the Central Committee from the bottom up, preferably to get the Party committees of Petrograd or Moscow Oblast to pass a condemnation resolution resolutely opposing and demanding the abrogation of the contract! (To be continued......)