Ulitsky and Radick watched Li Xiaofeng and Trotsky have a shocking confrontation without gunpowder. This level of confrontation is so exciting that they both have a sense of admiration. But they also want to know how Li Xiaofeng will deal with it when Trotsky officially expressed his emotions clearly?

Did someone admit defeat and admit that Bubnov is better than Triandafilov, or should he bear it to the end?

In terms of qualifications and political influence, Bubnov is indeed stronger than Triandafilov, but in terms of military capabilities and military influence, the latter is one step ahead of the former. In short, if Trotsky insists that Bubnov is stronger than Triandafilov, Li Xiaofeng cannot really beat the old revolutionary and old comrades.

But Li Xiaofeng had reason to object: "Comrade Bubnov is old and has been out of military work for too long, so it is not suitable!"

Is Bubnov old? He was actually only 59 years old when he was born in 1883. According to the rules drawn by Lenin, he is still far from 65 years old! However, compared with Triandafilov, who was born in 1894, he really looks older. And especially the latter one, since 1929, Bubnov left military work and went to politics. It was indeed inappropriate to let him return to serve as the Minister of General Equipment.

However, Trotsky really couldn't think of a better candidate, so he could only temporarily catch a Bubnov in the publication and make do with it. Now someone is openly slapped the situation in the face, which is really unwilling tolerate!

"Old comrades have the advantages of old comrades, they are steady and reliable!" Trotsky gave such a reason.

Li Xiaofeng smiled and said, "Comrade Triandafilov is not sloppy and reckless?"

Trotsky was gritting his teeth. Are you so crazy? I can't find a reason if I didn't see it. You are forcing me to turn against me, right?

Of course, Li Xiaofeng did not mean that. He just seized the opportunity to deliberately stimulate Trotsky and let out a sigh of anger. To put it bluntly, it was still a petty family.

So I saw Trotsky getting angry. He said slowly: "Of course, if Comrade Trotsky, you think that Comrade Bubnov, the Minister of General Equipment, is the one who is the Minister of General Equipment. Then I am willing to give the old comrades a chance to take the helm, keep the general direction, and advance the existing work step by step, and overcome the difficult period."

This was so old-fashioned and quite rude, but Trotsky listened to it and he realized it keenly. This was the focus of Li Xiaofeng's negotiation with him.

So how many key points are there? The first is to take charge of the general direction. It means that even if Bubnov becomes the chief equipment minister, he will be responsible for the main body, and the original person in charge will be responsible for the details. The second is to advance the existing work step by step. The meaning is that all the projects under Ubolevic's tenure must be carried out and cannot be changed every day. The third is to overcome the difficult period, which is actually a pure threat. It means that if Bubnov cannot do the first two items, then don't blame him for turning against him.

Trotsky stumbled on it and found that the two conditions were not that they could not agree, but that they seemed too humiliated after they agreed. He was also the second mentor and the core leader now. Is it still a matter of making a caring person the director of the General Equipment Department look at your Li Xiaofeng's expression? What is this?

Subconsciously, Trotsky wanted to get angry, but he held back. He understood Li Xiaofeng. There must be a reason why someone dared to speak so harshly, so he asked lightly: "I think Comrade Bubnov is still very capable. Maybe he can take the work of the General Equipment Department to a higher level?"

Li Xiaofeng smiled, but Trotsky was a little panicked. And he quickly replied: "That's right! I think Comrade Huasilevsky is also very capable. The current situation of maintaining stability in the Central Asian Military Region is very serious. It just so happens that a capable and courageous young comrade is needed to take the helm. I think he is very suitable!"

"You..." Not to mention Trotsky, even Ulitsky and Radick almost swear.

Because Li Xiaofeng is a naked threat. You said Bubnov could get the General Equipment Department to the next level, that's good! Then let him go. But I'll take your hopes to Huasilevsky to be the bench in the Central Asia Military Region. Don't you Trotsky just want to let Huasilevsky take over Tukhachevsky's team step by step? Then I don't want to defeat a general equipment minister and strangle your hopes to death. What will you do in the future? I'll still blow up the thorns!

Humiliation! Trotsky never felt so humiliated in his life. Li Xiaofeng simply swollen his old face. This kind of bare threat made him helpless. Who gave someone the advantage of the Military Commission? Just as he had acquiesced to Tukhachevsky before, he could also pinch his seven inches in an instant. It was very difficult for a certain immortal to get Tukhachevsky away, but it was really a matter of one sentence to get a younger generation like Huasilevsky to sit on the bench.

After holding it in for a long time, Trotsky nodded angrily and said, "I understand. I am very satisfied with Comrade Ubolevic's work in the General Equipment Department, and Comrade Bubnov has no objection to this. During the war, it is indeed undesirable and should be avoided to change the project plan at will..."

Trotsky admitted his defeat, and he was forced to no avail. In order to save Huasilevsky, he could only endure the blackmail from a certain immortal. After some verbal battles, the two sides reached an unhappy agreement.

On the way back, Yakov looked at Li Xiaofeng, endured for a long time and asked, "Do you think Trotsky will keep his promise?"

Li Xiaofeng glanced at Yakov and asked back, "What do you think?"

Yakov's mouth twitched twice, and he was speechless. He was stunned and replied: "If he pretended to keep his promise for the time being, and waited for Huasilevsky to grow up, when you can't threaten him like you are now..."

Li Xiaofeng laughed, and Yakov could hear that this was a pure ridicule, but he still insisted that there was such a possibility. At least Huasilevsky did have very outstanding military talent. Who dares to say that he would not be the next Tukhachevsky?

Li Xiaofeng replied slowly: "He has lost at the starting line. In front of him, the older generation includes Ubolevic, Triandafilov, and even Yegorov wants to give me face. The younger generation includes Rokosovsky. Even a large number of people are on the same starting line as him, including Zhukov and Konev. No matter how individuals are, they cannot be compared with the same group. Our people have a faster and greater chance of growing up. Moreover, the Trotskyist influence in the military is too limited!"

Yakov asked dissatisfiedly: "What if Trotsky devoted all his resources to Vasilevsky?"

Li Xiaofeng sneered again: "Trotsky won't be so stupid. If he really did that, the Trotskyist forces in the military would collapse faster!"

Yakov thought about it carefully. It is true that if you want to maintain a group, you must have the injection of interests. Who can get along with you without profit? Once Trotsky tilts all his resources towards Vasilevsky, there will be only one consequence. More and more people will be dissatisfied with Trotsky's approach, and then more and more people will leave the Trotsky group and turn to other groups that can provide benefits.

In other words, even if Trotsky finally brought out Huasilevsky, he was just a commander-in-law. How big can a person be used to? He would still be beaten down by a group. At that time, once Huasilevsky fell, the Trotsky's power in the military would be completely over.

Trotsky would not do such stupid things. Even if he wanted to support Vasilevsky, he would not give all of it. At most, it would be supported by one-third or one-quarter of the power. Even this level of support would probably cause internal conflicts, and maybe it would be a mess.

Moreover, Li Xiaofeng always believed that even if Huasilevsky could grow up, he really thought that Ubolevic's more than 20 years of operation in the General Equipment Department was fake. Without him nodding, Bubnov would be instantly undermined. It would be nice to be a clay Buddha.

So to sum up, even if Trotsky is planning to not be trustworthy, Li Xiaofeng doesn’t need to worry at all. He can completely reduce the risks caused by the old tutor’s failure to be trustworthy to the minimum, and even make the old tutor pay a heavy price.

A few days later, after discussion and research, the Politburo formally made the decision to remove Tukhachevsky from his post as Chief of Staff, and immediately appointed Ubolevic as Chief of Staff, and Bubnov as Minister of General Equipment. Of course, the Politburo and the Military Commission also hypocritically stated: "The Party Central Committee is very satisfied with Comrade Tukhachevsky's work since he served as Chief of Staff. He believes that Comrade Tukhachevsky has completed the tasks assigned to him by the Politburo and the Military Commission very successfully. His diligent work style is worth learning from every Red Army commander and fighter. I hope that all comrades can learn from Comrade Tukhachevsky and thus serve the Soviet people better!"

To be honest, it is better to say that it is a slap in the face than to say that it is a slap in the face. When evaluating his work, military leaders at the level of Tukhachevsky had to include some sentences such as outstanding achievements, outstanding achievements or severely praise his military talent. However, the Politburo only used the four words of conscientiousness to summarize Tukhachevsky's work, and there was no other word for praise. What does this mean?

This shows that the Politburo is not satisfied with its work achievements and believes that Tukhachevsky's second entry into the palace has only been conscientious. In other words, the Politburo only believes that Tukhachevsky has tried his best to do it, but has not done it well.

I have to say that this kind of evaluation is very low, which is simply a humiliation for Tukhachevsky. Naturally, Tukhachevsky was furious when he left his office that originally belonged to him.

Yegorov later recalled: "Comrade Mikhail rushed out of the office in a furious manner, rushed out of the Military Commission's office building, got into his car, and left. We all knew that he was unhappy, uh, or very angry. But we also thought that his anger was unreasonable, at least he should have acted more gentlemanly when he left..."

After leaving this time, Tukhachevsky never returned to the Military Commission. Of course, it was not because the Politburo asked him to get out and not be allowed to approach the Military Commission. In fact, although he was removed from his post as Chief of Staff, the Military Commission did not take him to the end. He still retained his identities as a member of the National Defense People's Committee and a member of the Military Commission, and could continue to stay in the Military Commission office. It's just that Tukhachevsky refused to come back in order to safeguard his self-esteem.

Tukhachevsky left and Ubolevic came. The most significant change was that Tukhachevsky's long-planned Minsk counterattack was immediately stopped, and all the troops that had been mobilized returned on the same route. Ubolevic believed that the time for the active counterattack was still immature. In 1942, the main task of the Red Army was still to consolidate the defense line.

To be honest, Ubolevic is right. Although the Red Army won the battle in Kursk, the configuration of troops on the entire front is still not ideal. Some areas have hoarded too many troops. Some areas are as weak as a piece of paper. Moreover, the Red Army has received a large number of new recruits and new equipment, and a considerable number of officers and fighters still have weak understanding of tactics and new equipment, which is not enough to exert all combat effectiveness. In this case, blind counterattack is very risky, and commanders and fighters should be given more time to get in.

Of course, what Ubolevic did not expect was that the German army did not leave him much time to get in. As mentioned earlier, Hitler actually wanted to continue the attack. Before Paulus was destroyed, he insisted on launching a new offensive, but the armored troops were seriously insufficient and had to wait.

By the end of September, Hitler finally could not continue to endure it. He urgently hoped to teach the Russians a lesson again, preferably annihilation war. This time, Hitler's target was still Bryansk.

"As of September 15, a total of 350 No. 42 tanks have been produced. Adding to the 100 Black Panther D and 50 Tiger tanks that have been produced before, our army has initially achieved the ability to conduct large-scale armored assault again..."

Hald's report satisfied the head of state. This civilian military expert who was very good at tearing down the east and west walls was drawn on the map, and a huge arrow pointed at the Bryansk Front.

In order to achieve the military attempt to break through the Red Army's defense line again, Hitler not only put the newly produced tanks into this direction, but also drew the fourth armored cluster that originally belonged to the Northern Army Group. He handed over this powerful armored force to commander of General Hermann Hott. The third armored cluster originally commanded by Hott was handed over to commander Erich Hopsena, the former commander of the Fourth Armored Cluster.

According to Hitler's vision, the third armored cluster will launch an assault in depth towards Minsk with the cooperation of some troops. The first armored cluster and the remnants of the former second armored cluster attacked in the direction of Kiev, striving to firmly attract and restrain the main force of the Red Army in these two areas. When the main force of the Red Army was restrained, the newly formed second armored cluster and the Hot armored cluster composed of the former fourth armored cluster concentrated all its efforts to attack Gomel in the direction of Bryansk, striving to defeat Rokosovsky's Second Belarusian Front Army in one breath, and then advance towards Moscow at high speed.

This plan was actually very simple. In fact, Hitler did not meet this simple combat plan. His head, full of fantasy ideas, was actually even more crazy. According to his original idea, he was going to concentrate all the armored troops in Gomel, and to use armored torrents to take away the Second Front Army of Belarus, and then headed forward to the heartland of Russia.

However, his idea was strongly opposed by Halder, Yodel and Keitel. In the eyes of these three, the head of state was probably crazy. Although it was right to concentrate armored forces on assault. But all the armored forces were gathered together. This was a terrifying thing.

First of all, such a mobilization is basically impossible. According to the most optimistic vision of the General Staff, it will take at least three months to carry out such a large-scale mobilization. With such a long time, it is difficult to guarantee that the Red Army will not be discovered. Once it is discovered by the Red Army, it can launch an attack first. For example, in the Kiev area, the Red Army has a very powerful armored force and can take advantage of the opportunity to defeat the Southern Army Group in one breath.

Once the Southern Army Group was defeated, the front line would collapse, and it was the Red Army's turn to take the German army away directly. At that time, what greeted the Third Reich of Germany was not victory, but a comprehensive collapse!

Secondly, it is not necessary to concentrate all the armored troops together. The space on the battlefield is limited. If a large number of troops are piled up in a certain area without restraint, the final result will inevitably lead to congestion on the battlefield and make all troops unable to operate. This will cause inefficiency, and a large number of troops will be congested together, which will inevitably become the key target of the enemy air force, which will only cause unnecessary losses.

Under the persuasion of Halder, Yodel and Keitel, Hitler finally reluctantly gave up this crazy idea, but he still put all the elite armored troops into Gomel's direction.

So did Ubolevic discover Hitler's intention? It didn't happen at the beginning, because the Red Army was in chaos. Tukhachevsky's previous plan was no better than Hitler, and it was also a large-scale mobilization of armored troops. As we all know, the Soviet Union's infrastructure level was very bad, and such a large-scale mobilization and then suddenly stopped, inevitably causing chaos.

In order to minimize the chaos, Ubolevicz went to the front line to guide. In fact, Ubolevicz meant that he wanted to end the chaos as soon as possible so as not to be taken advantage of by the Germans, but he did not expect that the Germans were acting so quickly... (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!