Chapter Fifteen: The Weak Are Preyed Upon
Along with Barrelnir, they galloped on the highway to Delhi, while Chusenan secretly measured him up and down, chatting with this cavalry colonel from the Dnieper Cossack tribe who had a generous personality.
During the journey just now, he had already chatted with Balyer Ning for a long time. In Chu Si Nan's view, this rough-faced Cossack leader seemed to be very talkative. The conversation between the two, except for the questions he asked Chu Si Nan at the beginning and Chu Si Nan's answers, was basically just him talking. And what he said was all about how cavalry should be; how the first cavalry corps was in those years; how the three marshals from the old cavalry corps, Timoshenko, Budyonny, and Voroshilov, led the cavalry corps to glory back then.
Chu Si Nan was generally aware of these things, although he didn't know the details very well. It seemed that he wasn't particularly interested in listening to this old brother talk about the glorious history of the First Army Group.
"Do you know, Comrade Chusonan," said Baryshnikov seriously as they passed through a village destroyed by war, "this time our Western Front suffered a defeat, and Generals Pavlov and Klimovsky have been dismissed from their posts by the High Command. I heard that they will be put on trial in a military court, it's likely to end badly for them. And replacing them as commanders of the Western Front are Marshals Timoshenko and Kulik, with their leadership, I believe the ferocious German fascists will definitely be completely destroyed."
Baryshnikov's words, however, piqued Chu Si-nan's interest. Kulyabko, the ill-fated marshal who was eventually executed by firing squad, wasn't particularly impressive, to be honest. His military talent was not that outstanding; otherwise, he wouldn't have been so unremarkable in World War II. But Timoshenko, the iron-blooded marshal who had once been seen as a staunch supporter of Stalin and had risen through the ranks with his cavalry prowess, was no simple man. Although his performance in World War II wasn't as outstanding as Zhukov's or Konev's, that was only because he was out of luck, not because of any lack of military talent.
Chu Si Nan had always admired the heroic figures of his time, and Temujin was one of them. After this strange encounter, he had already made up his mind to make a name for himself, not for anything else, but to have the chance to meet those heroes who only existed in history, and to be a hero among heroes.
Behind them, Akhromeyev also rose on a war horse, looking at the front of Chusov and Colonel-General Barilen talking freely, with an enviable heart. This envy not only came from Chusov's temporary lieutenant position, but also because Barilen was not an ordinary colonel, but a colonel of the cavalry corps. In the Soviet army, most people knew that this cavalry regiment was extraordinary, it was a military force that Comrade Stalin trusted most, and in the early days of Comrade Stalin's struggle against Trotsky, only the cavalry corps led by the three marshals stood by his side. Also for this reason, Comrade Stalin trusted the cavalry most, during the Great Purge, he did not forget to give way to the generals from the cavalry. And these were also the main reasons why Akhromeyev felt envious.
"Comrade Balyer Ning, has Marshal Timoshenko arrived at the front?" asked Chu Si Nan.
"Yes, it's come to this," Barayev said with a gloomy face, staring into the distance. "Although I have great confidence in the Marshal, I also know that he is under tremendous pressure now. Minsk has already been lost, and the entire Western Front suffered heavy losses, with almost all of its main forces destroyed. The newly reorganized troops are mostly new recruits who have never been on the battlefield before. Not to mention whether their fighting spirit can be firm, just talking about the grinding of combat effectiveness requires a very long time. Now, the Supreme Command is already very dissatisfied with the Marshal, and if there are any more mistakes in the future, I'm afraid he will not be able to explain himself to his superiors."
Chu Si Nan felt amused in his heart, did he have confidence? What if there were mistakes? Hehe, if history didn't change, then Timoshenko's mistake was already a certainty, and the mistake wasn't small either. The fall of Smolensk, the siege of Kiev, 650,000 Soviet soldiers taken prisoner, could such a mistake be considered small? However, it seems that the situation is about to become somewhat different now. He had luckily yet unluckily arrived in this era, if he didn't do something, it would seem very unforgivable to himself. The problem now was how he could gain the trust of the Soviet upper echelons, how to make these big-nosed people who were arrogant every day believe that only he could lead them to achieve final victory in a shorter time and at a lighter cost. Without a doubt, for Chu Si Nan at this moment, this matter was both the most important and the hardest to achieve.
Chu Si Nan was lost in thought, unintentionally forgetting about Bariel Ning beside him. This colonel from the Cossack army didn't mind his distraction, but simply patted his shoulder and curiously asked: "Comrade Chu Si Nan, what are you thinking about again?"
"Oh, I'm thinking of a fight," Chu Si Nan suddenly said, "I now yearn for a fight, only a fight can make my blood boil."
"Haha, to be honest, I've seen many Chinese people," Barrelin said with a loud laugh, stretching out his hand from horseback and patting Chusnan's shoulder forcefully. "Only you are the most to my taste, I like you. That's right, people should have a fighting spirit, a passionate enthusiasm. Oh, not just people, even a nation, a country, must have a fighting spirit. Without a fighting spirit, a nation will perish, a country will disappear. Don't look at me, Barrelin, as a rough person, but I understand this truth. Comrade Chusnan, let me say something you may not want to hear: why has China been so stagnant for so many years? Why can it be bullied by an island nation that should be inferior to you? The answer is very simple, just like what Temujin Khan once said: it's because Chinese people lack this fighting spirit, lack a sense of dominance, and lack the awareness that a great country should be superior. Otherwise, how could a small island nation dare to bully you?"
Chu Si Nan highly agrees with this statement. What do Chinese people care about? Chinese people have always emphasized "enduring for a moment brings calm and tranquility, taking a step back brings vastness and clarity". But they never thought that if they are in the right and have the power, why should they endure, why should they retreat? Can tolerance and elegance really make others respect them? Can it really lead to victory without fighting? That's impossible. In the face of war and violence, reason and dignity become worthless. As Hitler, a warmonger, said: "I will present reasons for persisting in war propaganda - whether or not they are true is irrelevant. The victor will never be asked later if what he said was true or not. The question of right or wrong is unimportant during the launching and conduct of war. What matters is victory!"
What a reasonable famous saying?! If Japan had won the war of aggression against China, perhaps after a hundred years, this war would be embellished as a liberation war. If the Axis powers had won World War II, then after a hundred years, people would no longer be praising the "Three Giants", but rather the warmonger - Hitler.
