Chapter 927 Siberia (1)

Time soon came to February 1942.

As the days passed, Zhukov, who was in charge of Moscow's defense, became more and more anxious. Sometimes he couldn't sleep all night. Even if he finally fell asleep, he would be tortured by various nightmares, such as the German armored forces pressing in with overwhelming force, the wide and thick tracks crushing his body, and then waking up in a cold sweat.

In just a few months, he became so thin that even his hair turned completely white.

Today he had another nightmare. The bombs dropped by the German bombers in the sky came straight at him. No matter how he ran, whether running in a straight line, a circle, a zigzag, or an S line, the terrible bombs seemed to have eyes and stared at him. Looking at the bombs getting closer and closer, he could only let out a desperate scream, and ended up waking himself up.

"!!" Zhukov suddenly opened his eyes and panted heavily. His whole body was soaked with sweat, and his heart was beating so fast that it seemed to jump out of his chest.

After a while, he recovered a little, got out of bed, changed into new clothes, walked to the desk and pressed the doorbell.

Turning his head, he noticed that the time on the floor clock in the corner was 4:10, which was certainly not afternoon time.

After a while, his adjutant knocked on the door and came in. "Comrade Commander, what do you want?"

Zhukov smiled bitterly and apologized. "Sorry, Comrade Minyuk, I forgot to check the time again and disturbed your rest. You go back to sleep."

Minyuk seemed to be accustomed to this kind of thing, and smiled disapprovingly. "I just can't sleep either."

"Then sit down and have a drink with me." Zhukov took out a bottle of vodka, two cups, and a jar of pickled cucumbers from the drawer of his desk.

Minyuk sat down and asked worriedly. "Comrade Commander, are you having a nightmare again? How about asking the doctor to prescribe some medicine for you?"

Zhukov shook his head. "I have asked the doctor before, but he has no solution. He said he could only prescribe me some sleeping pills. If I take sleeping pills and have a nightmare, can I still wake up?" I can wake up from nightmares on weekdays, but if I take sleeping pills, won't I be tortured to death by nightmares?

"But this is not a solution. You look so haggard that I can hardly recognize you."

Zhukov sighed. "Just hold on for another year or two. Maybe it won't take that long."

Minyuk was stunned for a moment, lowered his voice and asked in a low voice. "You mean we can't even hold on for a year?"

Zhukov handed him the cup and asked back. "Then do you think we can hold on for another ten or eight years?"

"..." Minyuk silently took the cup handed over by Zhukov, and the two clinked the cups and drank it all. He naturally knew what kind of predicament Moscow was facing now. It was more than a predicament, it was simply a desperate situation! Just as Comrade Zhukov said, it was a miracle to hold on for a year.

After pouring another cup, Zhukov mentioned another thing. "Have the reinforcements from Siberia arrived? Didn't Comrade Stalin say last time that he would transfer five divisions of troops from Siberia? When did this happen?" Long-term insomnia has had a significant impact on his mental health, and forgetfulness is one of them.

Minyuk thought about it and replied. "This happened 20 days ago. Logically, the reinforcements should have arrived half a month ago. Why is there no news until now?" After muttering for a while, his face suddenly changed. "Comrade Zhukov, have you noticed that since Comrade Beria was sent to Siberia, the number of weapons and equipment supported by Siberia has been greatly reduced?!"

"..." Zhukov thought about it, and it seemed to be true. In the past, Siberia provided more than 200 tanks of various models to Moscow every month, but the number of these tanks has been decreasing again and again in the past two months, and the number in the past week was less than 30! !

This is simply a bit unbelievable.

"Does Comrade Stalin know about this?"

Minyuk was not sure. "Should know, right?" In theory, these reports will be sent to Comrade Stalin, and he should know these things.

"I have to go to Comrade Stalin later. I think something must have happened in Siberia." Although he didn't know what happened specifically, Comrade Stalin would not send his confidant Comrade Beria to Siberia for no reason.

"What could happen in Siberia? Could it be that... those people in Siberia also want to learn... the Far East!" To put it bluntly, Siberia also wants to rebel? Minyuk was shocked by his own thoughts. If even Siberia rebelled at this juncture, Moscow would completely become an isolated island. And once there is no Siberia and other rear areas to continue to transfuse blood for Moscow, how long can this war last?

Zhukov obviously thought of this, his face was terribly gloomy, he drank the remaining vodka in the glass in one gulp and stood up. "No, I'm going to ask Comrade Stalin now."

Minyuk looked at the clock. It was five o'clock now. When they arrived at the "Underground Kremlin", it would be almost six o'clock. It shouldn't disturb Comrade Stalin's rest. The two of them came to the "Underground Kremlin" in a hurry. Just as they arrived at Comrade Stalin's office, they met Malenkov. "Comrade Zhukov, is there something urgent so early? Did the German army launch an attack?"

Zhukov shook his head. "No, is Comrade Stalin up?"

Malenkov glanced at his watch. "Comrade Stalin won't get up for half an hour. If it's not something important, it's best not to disturb Comrade Stalin. You also know that Comrade Stalin's health is not very good recently. Uh, Comrade Zhukov, I see that you have been looking a lot haggard recently. , you also have to take care of your health. It’s up to you to resist the German attack.”

"Thank you, I'll pay attention." Zhukov hesitated and asked. "Comrade Malenkov, do you know what happened over there in Siberia? The volume of tank transportation in the past two months has been far lower than in the past, and there is still no news about the strength of the five divisions that should have arrived half a month ago."

Compared with Zhukov who looked anxious, Malenkov looked calm. "Oh, you said Siberia. Something did happen. Comrade Stalin sent Comrade Beria to solve it. If you made a special trip for this matter, there is no need to make a phone call. That's good. Comrade Beria said that he can solve the troubles in Siberia at most in a month, and then the support of various weapons, equipment and personnel will be restored. This is the content of the message sent by Comrade Beria half a month ago. In other words, after another half month, you will be able to receive all the tanks and reinforcements."

Since Comrade Stalin's confidant secretary said so, Zhukov had no reason to insist on seeing Comrade Stalin and immediately returned to the frontline command center.