When Zhukov heard my answer, his face showed an angry expression, and his eyes staring at me seemed to spit out fire.▲∴, just as I was thrilling, he made an unexpected move. He reached out and grabbed the teacup placed on the table and threw it to the ground.

The glass cup in the silver cup trunk fell to pieces on the hard ground. As the legs of the trouser legs were wet with tea, a few drops of tea with residual heat splashed on my face, making me instinctively take a step back to the back.

Zhukov pointed his finger at my nose and scolded, "Oshaninna, I really misread you. I handed over the 6th Guard Army with a total strength of nearly 80,000 people to you, hoping that you can turn your defense zone into a floodgate that the German army cannot cross as in Stalingrad as in Stalingrad. Unexpectedly, you told me that you can't defend the line of defense at all. The battle has not yet begun, and you have even considered giving up the first and second line of defense. In this case, how can you fight this battle? "He might be so angry that his name to me has changed from the "Lida" he often uses to the slightly unfamiliar "Oshaninna".

At this moment, Zhukov, who was furious and thunderous, was completely different from the calmness he had in his usual days. Because he was too close, my eardrums were almost blown by his loud voice. Although he said a lot of ugly words, out of respect for him, I didn't care about what he said at all, but just silently endured his thunderous wrath.

After he got angry and calmed down again, I said to him slowly: "Comrade Marshal, can you listen to my explanation?"

He glared at me and said angrily, "If you have anything to say!" After that, he sat down at the table.

Instead of explaining to him immediately, I walked to the place where the teapot was placed by the wall. I poured a cup of tea again and brought it to him. Povsky, who was originally scared and silent next to me, saw that the atmosphere inside was eased, squatted down and began to clean up the mess underground.

Zhukov, who was so thirsty that he cursed, picked up the tea and took a sip, then ate it, and slapped the cup on the table, and asked in a much more relaxed tone: "Tell me. What do you think?"

"Comrade Marshal," I stared at Zhukov and said, "Although our Guards' 6th Army sounds quite a bit weak, because the defense front is too large and evenly distributed to three lines of defense, it seems a bit weak. Therefore, in this case, we can only weaken certain areas and focus on defense."

"Yes, our defense war often weakens one direction and strengthens another." Zhukov agrees with me very much, because he had taken the same approach when he was commander of the Leningrad Front. He then asked, "But does this have anything to do with your plan to give up the first and second lines of defense?"

"Because I strengthened my main force to important areas, the defenses in some areas will appear weak. In this way, once the German army launches an attack, our defenses will have more points of possibility of being broken through." I know that if I don't explain my true thoughts to Zhukov, he will be able to "destroy relatives for justice" and remove me from office and send me to the military court. Therefore, I said: "Our purpose is to consume the living power of the German army, so we don't have to care about the gains and losses of a city and a place. So even if the German army breaks through our first and second lines of defense, there is nothing to worry about. Not only can we block them in front of the third line of defense, but the key points of the defense on the first two lines of defense are still controlled by our army, so that the German army dare not use all its power to attack Kursk. As long as their power is consumed almost, we can launch a comprehensive counterattack."

"Don't care about the gains and losses of a city and a place?" Zhukov read my sentence over and over again several times, and finally asked in confusion: "This statement is incompatible with the guiding ideology of our army. I really don't know how you came up with it. You must know that we have always educated commanders and fighters. Even if the bones are exposed to the wilderness, they must be nailed to the position like nails and cannot retreat at a single step. Now I will publicize them not to care about the gains and losses of a city and a place. Will this cause confusion in the mind of commanders and fighters?"

"Comrade Marshal," I explained seriously about his doubts: "For what you are worried about, I think you only need to send political workers to the army and do a good job of political propaganda."

After hearing this, Zhukov did not answer my words, but instead asked: "Why are you so optimistic about this tactic? Let me tell you about your reasons."

Seeing that Zhukov was about to ask the truth, I had to bring out the famous view: "When people have lost their land, people and land have both exist; when people and land have lost their land, people and land have both been lost. Although from a tactical point of view, we will lose some positions, but we will preserve the vitality. Sooner or later, we will be able to regain the lost positions."

I can't remember whether the same argument was made to Zhukov or others before. When I said this, Kirillov continued, "Yes, comrade Marshal, I think Lida is right. After the German army occupied our positions, they would have to divide their troops to guard them. In this way, their power for frontal attack will be weakened invisibly."

My words and I made Zhukov fall into deep thought. After a long time, he asked slowly: "Lida, what would you do if you were the commander of the Voronezh Front?"

Hearing Zhukov's question, I immediately understood that he wanted to test my ability to adapt, and quickly threw out his already thoughtful answer: "Comrade Marshal, since we know that the German army is ready to launch a strong offensive on our defense zone, the troops under the front army should be prepared to fight. In addition to the artillery, the Air Force Group must also be prepared to take off the air at any time.

In order to better command the battle, commanders of the army group, commanders of the infantry army and division must enter the front-line command post. At the same time, from now on, the political workers of the army group, the political departments of the army and division, and the political workers of the political office will immediately go to the grassroots troops to help commanders and party and league cadres at all levels carry out ideological and political work on the front line, and find each commander and fighter to mobilize before the war. In order to improve the vigilance of the troops and encourage the officers and fighters to fight for victory and vow to deal with the enemy to the end. Commanders and political workers also need to give exciting mobilization speeches before the battle goes on."

After hearing what I said, Zhukov nodded with satisfaction and said, "I didn't expect that your thinking was exactly the same as Vatujing. By the way, do you still insist on letting the German army break through our defense line?"

"Yes, Comrade Marshal." While answering his question, I emphasized my defensive ideas again so as not to leave a thorn in his heart: "I just said that our first and second lines of defense will be broken by the Germans, which does not mean that we will not defend with all our strength. Instead, in some irrelevant areas, we will not invest too much troops to defend. Even if the position is lost, we will not organize troops to carry out huge casualties. And those main defensive positions are our top priority. In addition to sending heavy troops to guard, we must also strengthen the firepower of the defenders. Even if the Germans break through our lines of defense, they can still play a restraining role in the rear of the enemy."

Zhukov listened patiently to me and made his point of view, unexpectedly not interrupting me until I said the last sentence: "I'm done." He said slowly: "Since you have thoughtful considerations, I believe that in the next battle, your Guards 6th Army will definitely perform well."

When Kirillov saw Zhukov's attitude becoming calm again, he seized the opportunity to propose: "Comrade Marshal. The commanders of our divisions have come, and we are waiting outside at this moment. Can you meet them?"

Zhukov frowned when he heard Kirillov's suggestion. After thinking for a while, he nodded and said, "Okay, since Comrade Kirillov has proposed this matter personally, I'll meet you. Anyway, many people are old comrades from the past, so you can take this opportunity to reminisce about the past."

Seeing that Zhukov agreed to his proposal, Kirillov shook his eyes at Povsky, who was standing next to him. The latter understood and walked quickly to the door. He said to the outside, "Come in, comrades, come in. The Soviet Marshal wants to meet everyone."

A dozen people rushed in, making the room suddenly crowded. Several older teachers were obviously very familiar with Zhukov. They called Zhukov's real name and father's name affectionately, saluted and shook hands, and asked about each other's recent situation. They seemed very close. I just heard Zhukov say that many of them were his old comrades-in-arms, and thought he was just talking casually. Seeing this, I realized that what he said was true.

Due to the limited space in the house, Bezikov, the chief of staff, arranged for people to move in a few benches so that all the division-level leaders could sit down and listen to Zhukov's speech.

After everyone sat down, Zhukov, who was sitting at the table, said with a smile: "Hello, comrades, commanders. I'm here today, first to check the preparations for the troops, and second to see everyone." Speaking of this, he suddenly emphasized his tone and asked, "Are you all ready for battle?"

After a moment of pause, the teachers present answered in unison: "It's ready."

When Zhukov heard everyone's answer, he did not show any joy on his face, but said with a stern face: "Comrades Commanders, we may be about to fight a big battle, so you should go deep into the grassroots companies to understand the real preparations, see what problems still exist, and solve them immediately. Otherwise, once a big battle and bad battles are exposed, everything will be too late."

After Danielov finished speaking, he added: "Comrades, although most of the divisions in our army are Guard divisions, and their combat effectiveness is stronger than ordinary troops. But everyone should understand that the reason why they can be stronger than others is because the proportion of veterans in the Guard division is high, there are many combat backbones, good weapons and equipment, and rich combat experience. However, in order to make up for the combat losses of the Guard division in the early stage, they also added a lot of new recruits. For these new recruits who have no experience, you should hurry up and train and improve their combat effectiveness as soon as possible, and don't let them pee their pants when they hear the gunshots. Such troops are unreliable."

After Danielov's words were finished, it caused laughter from the commanders present. After the laughter, Colonel Nekrasov, the commander of the 52nd Division of the Guards, stood up and echoed: "Comrade Deputy Commander is right. The position we lost some time ago was because there were too many new recruits in the defenders. When they heard the gunshots, many people panicked and did not know how to occupy the favorable terrain to resist. They either ran around the position or followed the panicked cowards to the back."

"Col. Nekrasov," I heard this, raised my hand to interrupt the words behind him, and asked, "Have your division's recruits been shot by live ammunition?"

Nekrasov didn't know why I asked this, but he answered honestly: "Report to Comrade Commander, most of the new recruits in my division have not conducted live ammunition shooting. But I believe they are in the battle..."

"Can you expect new recruits who have not even experienced live ammunition shooting? "I saw that Nekrasov was a little dissatisfied, so I pointed out to him without hesitation: "What's more, your division and the 51st Guards Division are sticking to the first line of defense of our army. If the combat quality of the troops is not strong, how long can you last when you are deeply trapped behind enemy lines?"

Nekrasov, who was blamed, blushed and defended himself with dissatisfaction: "Even if the recruits were allowed to shoot live ammunition, they would still not be able to reach the level of veterans of the Guards."

"It doesn't matter if it doesn't reach the level of an old soldier for the time being, but the training of live ammunition shooting must be carried out immediately." I said in a commanding tone: "I will give you two days to ensure that every recruit must perform at least one round of live ammunition shooting so that they will not panic when they hear the enemy's gunshots."

"Two days are too short, right?" Colonel Nekrasov said with a blushing face. "I think it is difficult to achieve the results you want with such training."

At this moment, I suddenly thought of the past when the devil instructor in Japan helped me train new recruits in Liuban area, so I said seriously with a stern face: "Extraordinary things, you need to use extraordinary training methods. Let your new recruits squat in the trenches, and then let someone shoot at the trenches, so that they can truly experience the feeling of bullets flying over their heads. In addition, each new recruit should throw at least five grenades so that they will not be afraid of hearing the explosion."

My training method shocked Nekrasov. After a while, he murmured: "Comrade Commander, is this appropriate?"

"It is suitable, in the current situation," I said to Nekrasov and said to all the division commanders: "This kind of training method must be promoted immediately within the entire army. However, you must remember to ensure safety, because the lives of each of our soldiers are precious. Our training is to reduce unnecessary casualties caused by panic in battle. Do you understand?"

"I understand!" All the commanders shouted in unison. (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!