Chapter 278
In the corridor outside Stalin's office, a dozen people, some in military uniforms and some in plain clothes, were waiting there, ready to be summoned by Comrade Stalin at any time.
Recently, Stalin was preparing to go to Berlin. According to the proposal of the leaders of the United States and Britain, the four countries of the Soviet Union, China, the United States and Britain should hold a meeting to reach an agreement on the issue of fighting against Japan. However, the Soviet Union and Britain and the United States had differences over who would represent China. The two sides have not reached an agreement so far. However, Stalin's trip to Berlin has begun to be arranged.
In addition to this matter, Comrade Stalin currently has several other urgent issues to deal with: the arrangement of the victory celebrations of the Great Patriotic War; the concentration of all efforts on the construction of the Fourth Five-Year Plan; and the strengthening of collective farm discipline and the expansion of the collective farm system to the newly occupied territories.
Of course, these are just some of the more important issues. Comrade Stalin was not very concerned about other issues, such as the war against Japan. The victory in the war against Germany made him full of confidence in this war that was still under planning.
When Yuri walked up the stairs to the corridor, he glanced at the people waiting in the corridor. He didn't recognize any of them, mainly because they had never met in previous work. But they all knew him, and their eyes were fixed on him. No one spoke, but just greeted him with their eyes.
Yuri did not move forward. He consciously walked to the back of the team, ready to wait for Comrade Stalin to summon him.
However, he only stood there for less than two minutes before he saw the door of Comrade Stalin's office open, and Zhdanov walked out while putting his top hat on his head, and it was Poskrebyshev who escorted him out.
"Comrade Andrei Alexandrovich," Yuri saluted and greeted Zhdanov when he saw him approaching.
"Oh, it's Yuri." Zhdanov didn't expect to see Yuri at the end of the team. He was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "It's been a few days since you returned to Moscow. Do you feel you are used to life here?"
“I’m not used to it,” Yuri said with a smile, “Now, I can’t even sleep well without hearing the sound of gunfire.”
"Haha," Zhdanov laughed, "are you suggesting that you still want to go to the battlefield in the Far East? I don't think Comrade Stalin would agree. You should think about other work."
After saying that, he shook hands with Yuri again and then walked quickly towards the stairs.
"Comrade Stalin is meeting with Marshal Zhukov," Poskrebyshev said with a smile after seeing Zhdanov off the stairs. "You may have to wait a while. Come, I'll take you to the lounge where you can rest for a while."
Well, people who are trusted by Comrade Stalin can always enjoy some privileges. Yuri did not refuse and followed Poskrebyshev to the lounge.
Sitting on the sofa in the lounge, Yuri took out a cigarette from his pocket, lit it for himself, and began to think about a question he had been considering these days: whether to accept Khrushchev's proposal and preside over the damn disarmament work.
After taking only two puffs of his cigarette, Poskrebyshev, who had just left, came back and stood at the door and said, "Come on, Yuri, Comrade Stalin wants to see you."
Yuri quickly put out his cigarette, stood up, straightened his military uniform, put on his hat, and then followed Stalin to his office.
Stalin's spacious office was still filled with smoke. In fact, Comrade Stalin used to hate others smoking in front of him, even though he himself was a heavy smoker. But with the outbreak of the war, because he often had meetings with these heavy smokers in the army, he gradually relaxed this restriction and began to allow those generals he valued to smoke in front of him. However, now that the war is over, no matter what others do, Yuri is ready to restrain himself in this regard.
Poskrebyshev went over and opened several windows facing the Red Square, while Stalin, with a serious face, was standing in front of his desk reading a document intently, with the dark pipe in his mouth, but it was not lit.
"Well, Comrade Yuri Arkhipovich Kulyokov, please take a look at the plan for the Victory Parade," Stalin turned his head when he heard footsteps, and when he saw Yuri coming in, he smiled and said, "I always feel like something is missing."
Yuri walked over quickly, took the document, and read it .
This is the planning process of the Victory Celebration Parade. As expected, the person in charge of the parade, or the commander of the parade, is Zhukov, and the chief commander of the parade is Yuri. This is different from his memory of his previous life. Yuri feels a little ashamed because he has snatched Rokossovsky's role.
After reading the entire plan from beginning to end, Yuri frowned and said, "Comrade Stalin, I think we should also add a German army flag formation at the army group level and above. We can imitate the military parade after defeating Napoleon in 1812, and have the flag bearer present the German flag to the rostrum."
After hearing this, Stalin crossed his arms across his chest and supported his chin with his right hand, making the posture he usually used when thinking. After a moment, he smiled and said, "Yes, that's how it should be. Only in this way can we declare to everyone that we have defeated German fascism and the Third Reich!"
Turning back, he called Poskrebyshev, handed him the document, and said, "Give it to Comrade Antonov and ask him to make some changes on this point."
"Okay," Poskrebyshev responded and walked quickly out of the room.
"Sit down," Stalin said after the secretary left the room. He turned back to his desk, pointed to the chair opposite him, and said, "There are cigarettes on the table."
"I've already smoked it," Yuri said hastily.
"Comrade Yuri Arkhipovich Kulyokov," Stalin did not try to persuade him, but said directly, "I asked you to come here today mainly to ask for your personal opinion on your future work arrangements."
Yuri sat down in the chair and straightened himself.
"The People's Commissariat of Defense has discussed and studied the proposals you and Georgy submitted earlier," Stalin lit his pipe, took a puff, and said calmly in the smoke, "Regarding your proposal to set up four garrison groups in Eastern Europe, the People's Commissariat of Defense agrees in principle. However, on the issue of the selection of the commander of the group stationed in Germany, Comrade Malenkov and Comrade Beria both proposed that you should take the position. What is your opinion?"
"Comrade Stalin, I don't think I am qualified for this job," Yuri said without hesitation, taking out the words he had prepared long ago.
"Oh, what's the reason?" Stalin asked calmly.
"Personally, I think," Yuri said calmly, "the main focus of the commander of the German cluster in the next few years should not be the construction of the army, but the coordination of relations with the Western allies. This requires the commander to have certain diplomatic skills, and I am undoubtedly very lacking in this regard. Therefore, I don't think I can take on this responsibility well."
Stalin did not dwell on this question. He held his pipe in his mouth and remained silent for a long time. Suddenly he asked: "So, what kind of work do you think you can do?"
Yuri really had to admire Khrushchev's vision. This guy had obviously studied Stalin thoroughly, and all his previous instructions were now put to use.
"Comrade Stalin, I am preparing to submit a report on disarmament to the Central Committee and the Council of People's Commissars," Yuri said without hesitation, looking at Stalin, "I believe that after several years of war, our national strength, especially the national economy, has reached a nearly exhausted level. Under such circumstances, continuing to maintain a conventional force of more than 12 million has become a heavy burden on the entire country. Therefore, it is urgent to disband the existing bloated force."
"Disarmament?" Stalin had obviously considered this, but he didn't expect Yuri to bring it up first. He seemed to be smoked by the smoke, and his eyes narrowed under his thick eyebrows. After a moment's hesitation, he smiled and said, "This is a thankless job. Are you sure you want to take charge of this work?"
Hearing him say this, Yuri knew that Stalin was very satisfied with his proposal, because he had never said that he would be in charge of this work, but only said that he would submit a report, but Stalin directly threw this work on his head.
"I am willing to take charge of this work, Comrade Stalin," Yuri said, nodding vigorously and showing great determination.
"Then, briefly tell me your thoughts." Stalin said with a smile.
Talk about ideas. It seems that he wants to hear Yuri's ideas in this regard, but in fact he wants to see if this is his real idea. If he can say one, two, three, four, and five, then he naturally wants to do this job sincerely. If he can't say anything, then he is definitely talking nonsense.
Fortunately, Yuri was mentally prepared, and during the past few days of leisure, he had really carefully considered some issues in this regard. So, under Stalin's pointed gaze, he told him all his considerations of the past few days.
In Yuri's disarmament concept, many aspects are borrowed from the policies and measures taken in the previous disarmament in the country. In fact, disarmament is not a simple matter for any country. It involves many aspects, especially it is related to the work of the army and the local areas. In addition, there are also complicated matters such as the placement of wounded soldiers and the transfer of officers.
Therefore, according to Yuri's proposal, the establishment of a disarmament working committee became inevitable.
