Red Moscow

After Rokossovsky got out of the car, he walked quickly to Sokov and Yakov. After he glanced at Sokov, he stretched out his hands and grabbed Yakov's arm, and asked with concern, "Yasha, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Comrade Marshal." Yakov saw that Rokossovsky cared about him so much and understood what the other party was thinking, and quickly explained: "Misha and I are both fine, thank you for your concern, Comrade Marshal .”

"It's fine, it's fine." After Rokossovsky said this, he turned to look at Sokov: "Misha, what's going on, why are you being shot?"

"I don't know the specific situation." Sokov glanced at the soldiers who had set up a security circle around him, and then explained to Rokossovsky: "Our vehicle was just driving here when it was suddenly attacked. Shots from buildings on the side of the road. The driver of the vehicle in front was hit by a bullet, causing the vehicle to lose control and a car accident occurred. The driver and a captain died, and another major was injured and has just been sent to the hospital for treatment."

"Who do you think would have done it?" Rokossovsky was talking to Sokov on the surface, but he was actually explaining to Yakov in a disguised form: "The matter of your going to Moscow is absolutely confidential. , not many people know about it, and these people are reliable, so I don’t think this should be a premeditated ambush.”

"You are quite right, Comrade Marshal." Sokov heard what Rokossovsky said, and quickly explained: "I think this is an accident. If it was really planned by the Germans Ambushes, then the target of the gunman's attack is not the driver of the front car, but Yasha and I sitting in the back car."

"So it's just an accident?!" Rokossovsky's expression became relaxed: "Maybe the Germans hiding in the building saw two jeeps passing by on the road. He just fired a shot."

"Comrade Marshal, before you came here, Misha and I discussed this matter." Yakov said, "I think this is very likely. After all, the war has just ended, and there are still a lot of guns scattered among the people. There's a lot of instability."

After chatting with the two of them for a few words, Rokossovsky turned his gaze to Asiya who was standing beside the jeep, and asked with concern: "Asiya, are you not scared?"

"No, Comrade Marshal." Assia shook her head and said, "Anyway, I have also been on the battlefield. This little thing can't scare me."

"Comrade Marshal," an officer who came with Rokossovsky came over and raised his hand in salute and reported, "All the troops have disembarked. Please instruct us on the next step."

Rokossovsky pointed to the mobile building that was being searched by Soviet commanders in the distance, and said, "Comrade major, you leave half of the people here to guard, and the other half go to help and assist them in arresting them." German gunner."

When the major rushed towards the building with his personnel, Rokossovsky apologized and said to Yakov: "Yasha, I'm really sorry, your plane may be delayed."

"It's okay." Yakov said casually: "No one thought that such a thing would happen on the road, and there is no way to delay the take-off of the plane. By the way, Comrade Marshal, do you send someone to the airport to inform the pilot? Lest he wait in a hurry."

"Before I came here, I asked my chief of staff, General Bogolyubov, to call the airport and tell the pilot what happened on the road." Rokossovsky said: "Our top priority now is to catch Stop the shooter who shoots at you."

After waiting for about half an hour, Sokov saw a group of civilians in plain clothes walking in this direction under the escort of commanders and fighters, and quickly said to Rokossovsky: "Comrade Marshal, look, So many people were arrested, among them should be the shooter."

Soon the group of civilians were escorted by the soldiers and came to Rokossovsky and others. Major Bourget, who led the team, stepped forward and reported to Rokossovsky: "Comrade Marshal, we have captured all 48 suspects were arrested, all of them were suspected of shooting, and we couldn't tell them apart for a while, so we brought them all here."

Sokov looked at the civilians standing in front of him, and found that they were either elderly people or children in their teens. Assia approached Sokov and asked in a low voice: "Misha, they are either old people or children. Do you think the gunman will be among them?"

"Yes, Assia." Sokov replied in a low voice: "Although the Germans have surrendered, their common people are still full of hostility towards us. possible."

"Comrade Major," Rokossovsky asked Bourget, "how do you know the shooter is among these people?"

"Report to Comrade Marshal," Bourget replied: "We found various types of guns in their homes, as well as portraits of mustaches, etc..." After he finished speaking, he turned and gestured to the back, and there was immediate concern. A dozen soldiers came over with a bunch of guns and placed them in front of Rokossovsky.

Rokossovsky looked down and saw that the weapons on the ground included rifles, submachine guns and pistols, as well as a dozen framed photos of mustaches. He didn't express his opinion immediately, but turned to Sokov and asked, "Misha, do you have a way to identify the real shooter?"

Sokov looked down at the weapons on the ground, and then said: "Comrade Marshal, based on the analysis of our shooting situation, submachine guns and pistols can be ruled out. Submachine guns can only fire continuously, and there is no accuracy beyond fifty meters." and the pistol has too much range to hit a vehicle driving tens of meters away. The gun that shot at us should be a rifle.”

After saying this, Sokov asked Bourget: "Comrade Major, let me ask you, when you collected the weapons, did you register who the owner of the guns is?"

"It's registered, Comrade General." Boolean nodded and said, "When guns are found in everyone's house, I ordered someone to register."

"Okay, since you have already registered the owner of the gun, the next thing will be easy." Sokov told the other party: "You first ask the owner of the submachine gun and pistol to collect their guns and stand aside to wait. our disposal."

Hearing Sokov's order, Bourget looked at Rokossovsky hesitantly, wanting to see what the marshal's attitude was. Rokossovsky saw the major's questioning gaze, and said impatiently, "Major, didn't you hear General Sokov's order?"

"heard it!"

"Since I heard it, why didn't I implement it?"

Now that Rokossovsky had spoken, Bourget naturally did not dare to neglect, and quickly called the German translator who was holding the registration book, and asked him to do a roll call and call out all the Germans who had submachine guns and pistols.

Facing the muzzles around them, the Germans whose names were called obediently stepped out of the line, took their unloaded gun, and stood at the designated position. They were full of apprehension, fearing that the next moment, the Russians who called the roll would order the surrounding soldiers to shoot and kill them all here.

After the submachine gun and rifle were taken away, there were more than 20 rifles left on the ground. Sokov pouted at Bourgeois and said, "Comrade major, you can check now, which gun can smell gunpowder in the muzzle, Then find out the owner of this gun, he is the shooter who shot at us."

Boolean nodded, bent down to pick up the rifle on the ground, put the muzzle close to his nose, and carefully smelled the smell of gunpowder smoke. At the beginning, he was still a little worried. Maybe these rifles could smell of gunpowder smoke, and the owners of these guns would not be able to be arrested by then. But soon, he changed his mind. The Germans had surrendered for several days. If the guns that fell into the hands of civilians could still smell of gunpowder, it meant that they had fired today or yesterday. The war is over, what are they still shooting? It must be right to arrest them all.

After some inspections, Bourget picked out three rifles, placed them in front of Sokov, and reported to him: "Comrade General, the muzzles of these three 98K rifles smell like gunpowder smoke. It was fired not long ago."

"Find out the owners of these three guns." Sokov said coldly, "I want to see who they are."

Soon, Bourget brought the owners of the three guns to Sokov: "Comrade General, the three of them are the owners of the guns."

Sokov saw clearly the three people standing in front of him, two elderly people in their sixties, and one child in his 14 or 15 years. He pointed to the child without thinking, and said to Bourget: "Comrade Major, needless to say, he must have fired the shot."

Everyone was surprised that Sokov pointed out the shooter so quickly, and Assia also specially reminded Sokov: "Misha, don't make a mistake."

"There's no mistake." Sokov said with a sneer: "Although the three guns smell like gunpowder smoke, the old people are all burdened by their families. Now that the war is over, there is no need for them to make any more troubles. Shooting at passing military vehicles and getting yourself into unnecessary trouble. Children are different. They act impulsively and don't think about the possible consequences. I think it should be this child who saw two jeeps on the road Driving, out of hatred for us, he shot us recklessly."

The conversation between Sokov and Bourget was incomprehensible to the three German civilians standing in front of them. After the German translator translated their conversation to them, the tense nerves of the two old people relaxed. They even drew crosses on their chests, thanking God for blessing themselves. But the child had a shocked expression on his face. He didn't expect the other party to point out himself so accurately. He lowered his head in a hurry, thinking about what to do next.

And Bourget is also asking this question: "Comrade General, since it has been confirmed that it is this child, how should we deal with him?"

If the shooter had been a young man, Sokov would have ordered Bourget without hesitation to drag him aside and shoot him to avenge the unjustly killed driver and captain. But now that the gunman is a child, he seemed a little hesitant. He hesitated for a long time, and felt that this difficult issue should be handed over to Rokossovsky, who had the highest military rank on the scene: "Comrade Marshal, what should we do?" How to deal with this child?"

Rokossovsky is also very embarrassed if he disposes of this young shooter. Now that the war is over, it is obviously inappropriate to shoot people casually. This will lead to the deterioration of the relationship between the Soviet army and the local residents. But if the murderer was easily let go, he would not be able to explain to the family of the dead driver and captain. After some deliberation, Rokossovsky said to Bourget: "Major, send this boy to a prisoner-of-war camp and let him stay there for a few months."

"Yes!" Bourget agreed, and called two soldiers to take the gunman aside.

"Also." After a short pause, Bourget continued to ask for instructions: "We found photos of mustaches in some German homes. I don't know how to deal with them?"

Rokossovsky might be worried that Sokov would throw this hot potato to himself again, so he said first: "Misha, let these people be handled by you!"

Sokov thought for a while, then pointed at the trembling Germans, and said, "Major, let them burn the mustache photo with their own hands, and then go home."

After listening to Sokov's treatment of these people, Bourget's eyes widened in surprise: "What, Comrade General, you let them burn the mustache photo and let them go home?"

"That's right, as long as they burn the picture of the mustache, they can go home."

"But the photos of their mustaches are still hidden in their home, which shows that they may be stubborn Nazis." Bourget said a little unwillingly: "I'm afraid it's not good to let them go like this."

"Comrade Major, as a German, it is quite normal to have a picture of a moustache at home. If you don't have one, the Gestapo who come to visit will probably make trouble for them." Sokov explained to Bourget: "So just because they have pictures of mustaches at home doesn't mean they are die-hard Nazis. Listen to me, yes, let them burn the pictures of mustaches and go home."

When those Germans who thought they were doomed to death heard that they could go back to their homes as long as they burned the photos of their mustaches, they immediately cheered. Immediately, they scrambled to take out matches, smashed the photo frame, took out the mustache photo from inside and lit it, and then left in groups of three and four.

"What about these people?" Bourget pouted at the Germans holding submachine guns and pistols, and asked, "How should we deal with them?"

"It's needless to say, it's natural to confiscate their weapons, so as to avoid any shooting incidents when our military vehicles pass by here in the future." Sokov said briefly: "Those who hand over their guns can also go home .”

After Sokov explained these things in one breath, he suddenly remembered that Rokossovsky was still by his side. He did this by himself, and asked the other party for instructions: "Comrade Marshal, I don't know how I will deal with it. You Are you satisfied?"

"Misha, you handled it very well." Rokossovsky was very satisfied with Sokov's handling method. He nodded and said, "After all, it was only the German boy who caused trouble this time, and there is no need to implicate others. people."