Tempestuous Rain Chapter 10 The Storm Before Dawn (Part 1)

  Chu Si Nan sat in the back row of seats in the administrative hall of Smolny Palace, his eyes slightly closed, with an air of being detached and distracted. In front of him, Stalin's face was pale with rage, his straight hair standing on end, involuntarily making one think of a phrase - "anger reaching to the crown". However, at this moment, Stalin's anger seemed far from being covered by just that phrase, he had already gone beyond anger.

  In front of him, a group of people from the Soviet Supreme Command sat around, each one silent as a cicada, not even daring to make a sound. Especially Belia, who was hiding in the corner, was now even more timid and pale. The autumn chill of October seemed not to have arrived on this old fox's body, the sweat on his forehead showed how hot he was now. As his opponent, people like Voroshilov and Molotov, although their faces were also changing color, there was a hint of schadenfreude in their eyes.

  Why did Stalin get angry? Why was Beria so flustered? The reason for all this lies in today's issue of Pravda.

  This newspaper, with the largest circulation in the Soviet Union, today, October 12th, published a message on its front page, roughly stating that the Bryansk battle, which lasted for nearly a month, ended completely at 3:45 this morning. In this battle, our army annihilated 230,000 German troops, captured more than 160,000 people, seized more than 640 German tanks, more than 500 armored vehicles, and more than 730 artillery pieces of various types. This battle is the greatest victory won by our army on the front line since the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War. It not only effectively eliminated the living forces of the German army but also dealt a heavy blow to the central group of the German army, and at the same time, it frustrated the arrogance of the fascist, dictator, and war maniac Hitler. The Bryansk battle is of great significance, proving to the world that the unjust aggressive war launched by German fascism is unpopular...

  The article ran to several tens of thousands of words, occupying a whole page and a half of this issue of Pravda. Apart from the first part which dealt with the concrete stages of the operation, the rest was devoted to panegyric analysis and commentaries. The author's language was very ornate, extolling the genius and military prowess of Comrade Stalin and the Supreme Command he headed in terms that were truly cosmic and all-embracing.

  An article like this would never have provoked Stalin's anger, and indeed, Stalin's anger did not come from this article.

  As I flipped through the newspaper, I saw a report on the second page titled "Leningrad in Crisis". The report stated that while the Soviet army was engaged in the Bryansk battle in the central region, the German army had broken through the defenses of the Northwestern and Baltic Fronts with ease, directly approaching the city of Leningrad. At the same time, Finnish troops also broke through the Soviet defensive lines, encircling the city from the northwest. By October 10th, the two German armies had formed a complete siege around Leningrad, leaving the Soviet army and civilians trapped inside facing extreme difficulties, including hunger, ammunition shortages, making their resistance increasingly difficult.

  The publication of this news made Stalin somewhat unhappy. In the past, news that might affect national morale was not allowed to be released, but Pravda broke the rules this time.

  What is even more absurd is a report from the fourth edition of the historical issues discussion section, titled "Looking at Tukhachevsky's military concept from the fascist blitzkrieg". This report begins with an in-depth analysis of the German fascist blitzkrieg tactics and battlefield advancement methods since the outbreak of war. Through this analysis, it compares one by one the military new technology reforms that Tukhachevsky had proposed and implemented. At the same time, the report also elaborates on a future warfare concept that Tukhachevsky had mentioned nearly ten years ago - "Future wars will necessarily be rapid wars combining motorization, mechanization, air war, and chemical warfare; new technologies and new military techniques will play a decisive role in war." At that time, most people questioned Tukhachevsky's theory. General Budyonny, who came from the cavalry, even specifically accused Tukhachevsky in court, saying he "sacrificed the number of cavalrymen and cavalry expenses to quickly form tank troops", which was a typical destructive activity. Now that several months have passed since the outbreak of war, cruel reality tells people how correct and forward-thinking Tukhachevsky's warfare theory was.

  This article was submitted by an unknown author under the pseudonym "21st Century Vanguard". Although the language is not sharp and even not elegant, the author obviously has a global perspective on war and observes the development of battles very carefully. What's most astonishing is that he seems to know everything about Tukhachevsky in great detail, and in the article, he can even list out the specific time when Tukhachevsky joined the revolution, every battle he commanded, and every military reform proposal he made, etc.

  This article, which is clearly aimed at rehabilitating Tukhachevsky, who has been labeled a "spy" and a "state traitor", or at least at propagating his military ideas.

  The appearance of this article enraged Stalin, and the first thing he did was to severely criticize Molotov. After all, Molotov was now the editor-in-chief of Pravda, and such an article had appeared in his newspaper, so he had to take on the responsibility that could not be shirked. However, Molotov also had his own reasons: this report was added later, and it was a rush manuscript sent from the Kremlin after the final version was finalized. Due to the urgency of the time, plus the source of the manuscript was the Kremlin, he didn't even have time to review it before publishing it.

  Molotov's words were undoubtedly adding fuel to the fire for Stalin. What is the Kremlin? That is his power center, how can such a place produce a deviation? If there is a deviation, where else can it occur?

  An investigation must be conducted, a thorough investigation, and the hidden roots of trouble around oneself must be found out!

  Stalin's suspicion first locked onto Chuson, this young man's city seemed to be getting deeper and deeper, making it impossible for people to see through, and according to Beria, he had been with those damned guys for a while and got along well.

  Secondly, it's necessary to suspect Bellia. This guy has been getting more and more suspicious lately, and he seems to know everything that happened in the past...