Beiyang 1917

1918年7月13ri19：50莫斯科克里姆林宫

"Comrade Chairman, I just received a call back from the Ufa coalition forces. The other party agreed to negotiate a truce, but refused to negotiate a truce first. Instead, they agreed to a truce after the negotiations had a result... and the Ufa coalition forces offered a very high price. Trotsky said in a heavy tone to Ulyanov who stepped into the meeting room anxiously.

"What conditions did the other party propose?" Ulyanov snatched the telegram from Trotsky's hand and read it in the light. The temperature inside suddenly seemed to drop by a degree or two.

"The other party agreed to use the Volga River as the demarcation line, but demanded that all parts from Saratov westward to Kursk and south should also be assigned to the Kolchak regime!" Bukharin panted, waving his hands .

"It's so deceiving! Doesn't the entire Tsaritsyn region go away? Without the granary and transportation and railway hub in the lower reaches of the Volga River, what will millions of people in Moscow eat?" Ulyanov hurriedly read it Telegram, slammed the table fiercely and shouted.

"The lower Volga region is very important to us, and we absolutely cannot promise this to the other party, or we will put the noose around our necks for the enemy!" Bukharin chattered with a blushing face.

Kamenev and Dzerzhinsky have not come back because they have gone out to work at the moment, and there are only four members of the Central Committee, Zinoviev, Bukharin, Trotsky and Ulyanov, in the conference room. At this time, Zinoviev sighed, and looked at Trotsky and Ulyanov hesitantly.

"Tsaritsyn is very important to us. Comrade Joseph has spent a lot of hard work there in the past six months. Isn't the formation of the Southern Front Army and the three battles to defend Tsaritsyn just to consolidate Tsaritsyn, the salient, and abandon Tsaritsyn? Zinoviev, this is absolutely not possible, this coalition commander is simply crazy! Zinoviev, do you think that king is a lunatic, thinking that we will abandon Tsaritsyn?"

Ulyanov walked back and forth in the conference room with his waist pinched, and from time to time he picked up the crumpled telegram from the table to glance at it, then slapped the table, and continued to circle in circles, gasping for breath.

Seeing that Zinoviev was silent, Trotsky had no choice but to stand up and said after deliberation, "Tsaritsyn is indeed very important to us, but now it is not a question of whether we want to cede Tsaritsyn, but our Do you have the strength to defend Tsaritsyn!"

"Huh? Comrade Trotsky, what do you mean? Do you think we should and can hand over the Tsaritsyn region to the Allied Forces? I can see it through now, no matter what kind of all-Russian temporary government of Kolchak That’s right, it’s still the West Siberia Autonomous Government, and that shitty Kazakh Alash Autonomous Republic, all of them are puppets of the coalition forces!”

Ulyanov gasped heavily with a livid face. He originally thought that the Allied Powers were overwhelmed by Germany and Austria on the Western Front. As long as the Soviet Russian government could negotiate a truce with Germany and Austria, it would win The respite for birth and rejuvenation can consolidate the regime as soon as possible and carry on the revolution. I didn't expect that the sick cat-like country in Asia would develop completely reborn this year.

Not only did Japan, the most powerful country in Asia, join the Japanese Alliance in obedience, even the United States, Britain, and France honestly returned the land they occupied to the country. The Allied forces actually extended their hands directly to the Volga River Basin!

"Comrade Trotsky's opinion is worthy of everyone's consideration. Now it is not a question of whether we will cede the Tsaritsyn area on the lower reaches of the Volga River, but a question of whether we can hold Tsaritsyn instead of continuing to fight and losing a lot of troops. We still can’t keep supplies and supplies, so it’s better to exchange them for an armistice. Now the food shortage is increasing, and the defeat of the Eastern Front in the Ufa Battle has become the last straw that crushes us.”

"If Kolchak attacked from the Kazan line to the west, and the Ufa coalition army attacked from the Samara line across the river to the south, we now have less than 20 troops on the eastern and southern fronts combined. With 40 enemies, and the opponent's aviation and machine gun firepower are far above ours, we can't win!" Zinoviev said bitterly.

"If the fighting continues, we will not only lose Tsaritsyn and the lower Volga region, we will not even be able to hold Moscow, even if we transfer both the Western Front and the Northern Front from Petrograd to defend Moscow, there will be no food and Ammunition, this battle can’t go on! At that time, it will not be the problem of Tsaritsyn and Moscow, but the problem of whether the Soviet Russian regime can still exist! Fools and opportunists have never been firm revolutionaries, and they will definitely be able to There's a total collapse"

Trotsky frowned tightly, ignoring Bukharin's eyes about to kill the cat, but laid out the most likely bad situation in front of everyone in one breath.

"What about Kamenev? Zinoviev, you said that we will rely on the working class and arm all the workers. We have more than a million workers in Moscow? In Nizhny Novgorod we have 100 Workers, there are at least 20 workers in Tsaritsyn, and no less than 10 workers in Petrograd, the working class must defend its own power!" Ulyanov shouted, waving his arms.

"Comrade Ulyanov, not to mention that there is not so much food, but there is food, and all the workers have joined the Red Army, so who will produce it? Guns, weapons, ammunition and all industrial supplies require the working class to stay mainly in the factories Instead of going to the battlefield, otherwise it would be fishing and burning forests while hunting. Without material production and food supply, the entire regime would collapse without the enemy attacking itself!

The southern army on the Tsaritsyn front has an average of 150 rounds of ammunition per soldier. We do our best to protect the eastern army, but each soldier gets no more than [-] rounds of bullets. You know the individual soldiers of the Allied Forces What is the base number of bullets carried?At least [-] rounds!If all the workers in our arsenal go to the front line, we can't even guarantee [-] rounds of bullets for each Red Army soldier! "

Zinoviev and Kamenev are responsible for the material production and logistics supply of the whole of Russia. At this time, they couldn't help jumping up and explaining.

"Because of the policy we have adopted as a last resort, all factories are owned by the Soviets, all industrial products are distributed by the Soviets, and the system of collecting surplus grain has been implemented in the countryside, the antagonism between the countryside and the peasants and us Bolsheviks is quite serious.

In addition, Kolchak's All-Russian interim government promulgated the "[-] Rent Reduction Regulations" and the "All-Russian Temporary Land Management Measures", and it is becoming more and more difficult for us to gain the support of the countryside and farmers! "Trotsky's voice was a little cold and terrifying.

"Big landlords and big capitalists are the targets of our defeat and struggle. Rich peasants and peasants hide their grain and do not abide by the grain purchase and monopoly regulations. If we don't rob them of their grain? I must draw everyone's attention again. Some of our leaders His thoughts, words and deeds are slipping more and more towards the right, and sooner or later he will become an accomplice of the left SRs and Mensheviks!"

Bukharin shouted emotionally, of course, this guy dare not look directly at Trotsky and Zinoviev when he said this, but the point of the finger is obvious.

At this time, the door of the meeting room was pushed open, and Kamenev walked in. Seeing the tense and oppressive atmosphere in the meeting room, he couldn't help but be taken aback, and asked, "I have issued an order to the garrison headquarters. From 7:6 pm to [-]:[-] am is the period of martial law, all those stranded on the streets without a special pass will be arrested and interrogated, and workers' pickets have now taken to the streets to enforce the law and patrol!"

After Vatzetis went to the Kazan front to serve as the commander of the Eastern Front of the Soviet Russian Red Army, Kamenev, the chairman of the Moscow Soviet and member of the Central Committee, also served as the commander of the Moscow garrison, commanding three workers' infantry divisions to maintain Moscow's defense and security , and more than 3 worker pickets helped maintain order.

"The Ufa coalition responded and agreed to a truce with the Volga River as the boundary, but asked us to cede Saratov to the area south of Kursk, so that the entire Tsaritsyn must be surrendered to the other side!" Zinoviev explained. road.

Kamenev's expression sank when he heard this, and he walked quickly to the meeting table, picked up the draft telegram and read it, then raised his head to look at the people in the room and said, "If you want to negotiate peace, I'm afraid you must agree to what the other party proposed. Conditions! Otherwise, it’s useless if we can’t keep it, should we seek Comrade Joseph’s opinion on this matter?”

Ulyanov was taken aback when he heard this, but he really forgot about Joseph. It can be said that Tsaritsin won three defensive battles under the joint command of Joseph and Trotsky, and the Southern Front was also led by Joseph It was formed by one hand. If you really want to give up the Tsaritsyn region, you must first convince Joseph. Otherwise, maybe the Bolsheviks and the Soviet Red Army will split first?

Hearing what Kamenev said, Trotsky felt a little disapproving, and couldn't help but said, "The battle is decided by the Central Committee through collective discussion. leadership and min zhu system?”

"No, no, Comrade Trotsky, even the leader can't act arbitrarily, let alone abandon such an important issue as Tsaritsyn, we should listen to what Comrade Joseph said!" Ulyanov had been thinking about Tsaritsyn just now. , this guy painfully discovered that it is absolutely impossible to continue fighting with the coalition forces now. It is expected that losing Tsaritsin would be more valuable as an exchange.

Even though he thought so in his heart, Ulyanov did not intend to let himself bear the blame alone. Therefore, he planned to once again raise the banner of the minzhu system as he did when he negotiated the Brest peace treaty with Germany. , Listen to the opinions of other Central Committee members.

"Okay, then send a report to Tsaritsyn and listen to Comrade Joseph's opinion. If he has the ability to lead troops to defend Tsaritsyn, I, Trotsky, can just go down and become a division commander for him!" The Supreme Revolutionary Chairman of the Military Council Trotsky gritted his teeth.