At the moment when his life was about to end, Petrovsky felt clear. Although he was still young, he felt that his life was without regrets. For the sake of the revolution and the glorious sacrifice of the party, he believed that this was a supreme glory.

The guillotine on the guillotine fell down, and as Petrovsky closed his eyes and waited for the moment of severe pain, a burst of laughter suddenly came from beside him.

Petrovsky ignored these annoying noises. He was determined to die, but after a long time, he did not feel the moment when his head and body were separated. Did the guillotine break down? He thought foolishly.

"Leonardo, don't pretend to be dead!"

Petrovsky felt someone kicking him in the ass. He subconsciously opened his eyes and immediately saw Li Xiaofeng's smiling face.

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

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

A flash of lightning flashed through Petrovsky's mind. He was inexplicably surprised and angry. If he hadn't been locked on the guillotine, he would have rushed up to fight the immortal.

"Andre Petrovic, you traitor!" Petrovsky roared, "You have betrayed the party and the revolution, you have let Comrade Lenin down on your trust in you, you shameless villain!"

Looking at Petrovsky's face distorted due to anger, Li Xiaofeng felt more and more interesting. This innocent and silly child really didn't understand the facts.

"You are so excited!" Li Xiaofeng said, "Take your brain meridian well and think about why this is?"

Petrovsky couldn't hear a word. He just glared at a certain immortal fiercely until the dead Nikolaevich stood in front of him again.

"Good performance, young man!" the dead man praised, "At your age, there are really few young men who are ready to die like you!"

Petrovsky had not had enough brains. Or his brain had become a ball of mucus. He asked tremblingly, "What's going on? Isn't the instructor dead?"

Li Xiaofeng took over the conversation with a smile and explained: "This is the test of the Party for you. Only real soldiers who are extremely loyal to the Party and are not afraid of death and are not confused by the beauty of money can go to work!"

Petrovsky still felt a little dizzy and asked foolishly: "Then these tortures?"

"Fake!" Li Xiaofeng laughed and said, "Those who were chopped off and burned are all fake hands prepared in advance! Of course, the guillotine is also fake. This machine is a prop I borrowed from a magician friend!"

Petrovsky widened his eyes: "That bloody tongue?"

Li Xiaofeng casually pulled out a strip and handed it over: "Grilled beef tongue. Can you get one?"

Petrovsky widened his eyes and grew his mouth. It took him a long time to touch his body: "So it is fake to say that whipping and tiger benches are also fake?"

"Fake." Nikolalovic laughed, "It's all magician props, and it will indeed make you feel like tearing pain. But it won't hurt your body!"

Petrovsky survived his legs and feet with doubts. Sure enough, except for a little soreness and numbness, his knees were normal. But he was still confused. He asked Li Xiaofeng: "Why is all this?"

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

"Then am I qualified?" Petrovsky asked dizzyly.

Li Xiaofeng said seriously: "Your performance is quite excellent, Comrade Leonardo!"

Upon hearing this news, Petrovsky breathed a little relieved. But soon he asked with some dissatisfaction: "Comrade Andre, I feel very... very disgusted by such a test. We are all comrades, so doesn't the party trust us at all?"

"The Party has given you full trust!" Li Xiaofeng said in an official opinion, "If the Party does not trust you, it will not hand over an extremely sacred and serious task to you... Unfortunately, many of you have failed the Party's trust in you and performed quite poorly in this test. We even identified some of the enemy's spies from you!"

Petrovsky stopped talking, and he never expected that Li Xiaofeng would give such an answer. When he thought of the enemy spies lurking among his comrades who were with him day and night, he was both heartbroken and angry. Of course, he was more frustrated. He did not discover the existence of these spies, which made him feel ashamed of the party's trust.

Li Xiaofeng patted his shoulder and said earnestly: "Comrade Leonardo, don't have any ideological burden because of this. The Party has great hope and trust in you. The success or failure of the armed struggle depends largely on your performance!"

With Li Xiaofeng's encouragement, Petrovsky was resurrected in an instant. He forgot the little bit of grudge and thoughtfully how to give back to the party's appreciation and trust in him. This little kid walked out of the interrogation room with a hurried anger and couldn't wait to devote himself to the great cause of revolution.

Looking at Petrovsky's background, Li Xiaofeng curled his lips. What a innocent little brat. It's so easy to deceive a few words. However, he has seen many innocent people like Petrovsky today, and he didn't care too much about it. He lazily ordered: "Next!"

A day later, in Lenin's apartment, Li Xiaofeng reported the final results of this selection test in detail: "After preliminary screening, among the first batch of 700 students in the political commissar training class, 521 qualified people, of which 203 excellent people... Among the 179 unqualified people, a total of 27 spies were screened for enemy spies and 27 spies..."

Lenin asked in disbelief: "There are so many spies and spies?"

Li Xiaofeng nodded, "I'm afraid the actual number of people is more than this. Our screening methods cannot pull out the spies installed by the enemy 100%... It can be imagined that there must be some well-hidden enemy spies lurking in our revolutionary team!"

"This is inevitable!" Lenin didn't care much about this statement. He was more concerned about when these qualified political commissars would be able to take up their posts.

Li Xiaofeng smiled bitterly: "They can only say that they are politically qualified, but in military terms, their performance this time was quite bad. They can even be described as clumsy. According to Brusilov, there is not a qualified soldier among them."

Lenin smiled and said relaxedly: "Our requirements cannot be too high. As long as we pass the political situation, I will be very satisfied. As for military matters, I do not have too much expectations for them. They can just slowly learn from the future armed struggle."

Looking at the relaxed smile of the tutor, Li Xiaofeng felt a bit cruel when he did not come. Although the tutor said it lightly, he learned from the battle and would undoubtedly have a high price to come back. It is conceivable that among the more than 500 students in the first batch of political commissar training class, most of them may be ruthlessly eliminated in the cruel struggle, and how much can be left in the end? One-half or one-third, and one-quarter or one-fifth or even one-tenth is possible.

Li Xiaofeng has no particularly good idea for this. Time is too tight. Even an officer who has received several years of formal military education, the mortality rate is astonishingly high for the first time when he goes to the battlefield, let alone a rookie in such a crash course?

"When will they be assigned their job?" Li Xiaofeng asked.

"It's almost!" When talking about this topic, even Lenin couldn't help but sigh. The darkness before dawn was indeed the most difficult. The closer it was to the moment when dawn came, the more intense and cruel the struggle became. This one applies to both non-party struggles and internal struggles.

Faced with the dying struggle of the Provisional Government, Lenin could kill without hesitation, but in the face of the intricate intra-party struggle, even his great mentor could not help but have a headache.

Although the line of armed struggle has been determined, there is great debate within the party about the specific time and method of development. Kamenev and Zinoviev need not be mentioned. These two guys, as always, firmly opposed the line of the mentor, stood on the opportunistic standpoint, and kept repeating the clichés of the Second International revisionists, saying that Russia did not have the conditions for implementing the socialist revolution, and tried hard to belittle the power of the Russian working class. They strongly demanded to participate in the so-called preparatory parliament and asserted that the first thing the Bolsheviks had to do at the moment was not to engage in armed struggle, but to unite with the Mensheviks and the Social Revolutionary Party to establish a bourgeois parliamentary republic.

Of course, Lenin would not care too much about these cliches. What can the two alternate Central Committee members do when talking, and they just ignore it when voting. What really makes the mentor feel upset was Trotsky's attitude.

How should Trotsky say about him? This guy is very genius and capable, but his personality lacks a firm will. Whenever he reaches a critical moment, he may be unstable and may lose his chain.

For example, this time, when Lenin strongly demanded the implementation of the line of armed struggle and would send political commissars to the garrison troops around Petrograd to implement the party's command, the goods were a waste of time.

Trotsky neither clearly supported Lenin's proposal nor did he clearly object. He tried to take a compromise line: "Under the current situation, it seems a bit too hasty to carry out armed struggle," said Lao Tau. "I think the route of armed struggle is correct. But the time is not right. We should take action after convening the Second National Congress of the Soviet Union with the consent of the General Assembly!"

"We should avoid conflicts as much as possible now!" Trotsky emphasized this point, "The transfer of regime will be achieved by the All-Russian Soviet Congress!"

In a sense, Trotsky was delaying and abolishing the armed uprising. How could Lenin accept such counter-revolutionary actions under the banner of revolution? In the eyes of the mentor, there is no intermediate route at all. There is only a life-and-death struggle between the Bolsheviks and the Provisional Government, either victory or failure, and there is no third possibility.

In fact, there is no third possibility. The Provisional Government will never accept the requirements advocated by the Bolsheviks. Just a truce can kill their lives. So don’t look at this period of time, they are frequently holding democratic meetings and preparing for parliament, which seems to be working hard for peace. In fact, these are just delaying strategies.

From the day the rebellion of Kornilov was quelled, Kerensky tried every means to strengthen his influence on the army. While he was trying to win over Kornilov's defeated soldiers, he actively drew troops from the front line. His Attorney General Maliangtovic kept running around for him, and seduced those swaying officers with a lot of money and high-ranking officials.

Even Cadet Kishkin said bluntly in the newspaper: "We cannot wait, we should act immediately!"

The Provisional Government, led by Kerensky, has made up its mind to try to use preemptive means to eliminate the Bolsheviks and their Central Committee members first.

At such a severe moment, any easing or compromise is equivalent to seeking death. Lenin is not stupid, so he is not confused by Kerensky's tricks. The enemy has sharpened his sword and turned to pigs and sheep. If he doesn't say anything about it, he has to be vigilant, right?

"Our enemies are trying to launch a second rebellion. They are trying to imitate Kornilov's technique to destroy our party and eliminate the revolutionary masses with force!" Lenin said passionately, "In this case, there is no time to convene the Second Soviet National Congress! We must be vigilant and observe the enemy's movements at all times. As long as they show the fangs of counter-revolution, they will give the heaviest blow!"

"I think!" Lenin waved his hand heavily, "Now we can only arm our arms and carry out revolutionary struggles. Choose other lines. This is irresponsible to the Party and the Revolution! I ask the Politburo to immediately discuss the specific time and details of the armed struggle and to come up with a definite opinion as soon as possible! Comrades, we have no time to waste!"

Trotsky had never expected that Lenin's determination was so great. He did not expect that he had no intention of continuing to argue with the Central Committee at all, and directly asked the Politburo to discuss and draw a conclusion. In this way, his proposal was likely to be passed. After all, Lenin had three votes on the Politburo of seven people.

"I agree with Comrade Lenin's opinion. Armed uprisings are imperative!" Sverdlov was the first to clearly support Master Tutor. Stalin was not slow and immediately echoed: "Comrade Lenin's opinion is very correct! We cannot watch the enemy engage in conspiracy and do nothing. It is time to overthrow this incompetent government of the bourgeoisie!"

The venue fell into a brief silence. Trotsky was so nervous that he had a fight between heaven and man. He had two votes on his side. Ulitsky was frequently looking at him, as if asking him about his opinion. But in this hurry, he could not make up his mind at all.

Is it against, support, or abstaining?

Just as Trotsky was nervously calculating the gains and losses of interests, Derrensky suddenly spoke: "The line of armed struggle was discussed and approved by the Central Committee. At present, when the enemy is constantly carrying out one counter-revolutionary conspiracy after another. We cannot do nothing. Comrade Lenin was right. It is time to launch an armed struggle!"

Trotsky was immediately stunned. He originally hoped to take advantage of this precious time to make his final thoughts, but who would have thought that Derrensky, who had been a dull man, suddenly turned to Lenin's side and became the last straw that broke the camel's back. Four of the seven members of the Politburo had agreed to carry out an armed struggle, and the minority obeyed the majority, and the proposal was passed unanimously.

At this moment, Trotsky felt an unprecedented loss. He thought he would become an important part. Who would have thought that Lenin's advantage was so great that he could ignore him.

A crushing defeat!

Trotsky lamented in his heart. At this time, whether he agrees or disagrees, it is very embarrassing. It is embarrassing to agree. To outsiders, he is surrendering to Lenin and surrendering; if he does not agree, he will be considered a dead man and a stubborn person, and it may also cause Lenin to rebound, thinking that Trotsky is just placing a challenge book openly.

Yes, although Trotsky disagreed with Lenin's proposal to launch an armed struggle immediately, it did not mean that he immediately wanted to show off with Lenin. For him, opposing an armed struggle immediately was just a means to win the right to speak. If it eventually became an objection for the sake of opposition, it would be really not worth the loss.

After weighing the pros and cons, Trotsky could only sigh in his heart. Now he could not challenge Lenin. He could only say sadly: "I reserve the attitude of launching an armed uprising immediately, and I abstain from it..."

With Trotsky's abstention, Ulitsky had no choice but to abstain. Shao Wumian looked at Trotsky with a wry smile, and finally gritted his teeth and voted for Lenin.

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

Lenin nodded, as if he was not surprised by such a result at all. He said easily: "Since the Politburo has reached a consensus, then convene the Central Committee immediately to convey this conclusion to all the Central Committee members..." (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendations, monthly votes, and your support is my greatest motivation.)
Chapter completed!