Red Moscow

"Comrade General," Bissenbin said respectfully, "it was a corporal who was patrolling nearby. He called the duty room of the headquarters and said that you came to the city for an inspection and told us your detailed location. Duty The personnel felt that the matter was important and reported it to the commander, General Trofimenko. When the commander heard that the former commander had arrived in Budapest, how could he ignore it, so he sent me and someone to pick you up. "

After saying this, Bissenbin paused for a moment, seemingly giving Sokov time to digest the information. When he felt that the other party had almost digested it, he continued: "Comrade General, the car is waiting for you outside. Please come with us."

"Comrade Captain, I'm really sorry. We just ordered the food and the restaurant owner hasn't served it yet." Sokov said to Bisenbin in a consultative tone: "Look, can you wait until we finish eating and then follow you to the commander's office?" department?"

Bissenbin thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "Okay, Comrade General, it won't be too late to go to the headquarters after you finish your meal."

Sokov called Seryosha over: "Comrade Captain, let me introduce you. This is Seryosha. He used to serve as the guard battalion commander of the headquarters."

"Are you Seryosha?!" Unexpectedly, Bisenbin's eyes widened in surprise: "Didn't you die in the battle?"

"I didn't die, I was just wounded." Seryosha said with some surprise: "Comrade Captain, do you know me?"

"I don't know him." Bissenbin shook his head and said, "I heard it from another guard battalion commander."

"Who?" Seryosha asked impatiently: "Who is the other guard battalion commander you mentioned?"

"Serelkov, Captain Serelkov." Bisenbin said loudly: "He is the battalion commander of another guard battalion."

"Seryozha," Sokov had some impression upon hearing the name Bissenbin mentioned: "Is he your guard company commander Lieutenant Serelkov? I really didn't expect that after not seeing him for two years, he would also be there." Became a captain."

Seryozha was not sure: "I think it should be."

A quarter of an hour later, the restaurant owner brought out all the dishes ordered by Sokov and others.

When the boss was about to leave, Bissenbin said to him: "Calculate how much it is, I'll pay the bill."

Hearing that Bissenbin wanted to pay for himself, Sokov felt something was wrong and quickly said: "Comrade Captain, I'd better pay the bill myself."

"Comrade General, when I came here, the commander told me that you are our guest and I must entertain you well." Bisenbin said with a smile: "Since you are here to be a guest, how can you let the guests I paid for it out of my own pocket.”

Since Bissenbin said so, Sokov did not argue with the other party about who would pay the bill, and allowed Bissenbin to follow the restaurant owner to the counter to settle the bill.

"Seryosha, Kopalova." Sokov said to the two people in front of him: "Let's eat quickly, the car is still waiting for us outside."

In fact, even if Sokov didn't say anything, Seryosha and Kopalova knew that someone was waiting for them outside, so they naturally ate very quickly.

When they finished eating and stood up to leave, the restaurant owner came over, bowed and sent them out the door, and said, "Welcome to visit next time!"

Bissenbin and others waiting at the door saw Sokov going out and hurriedly greeted him: "Comrade General, please get in the car."

Sokov nodded, and after letting Kopalova sit in first, he sat in the middle of the back row, while Seryosha entered the door last and sat down next to Sokov.

Bisenbin waited for Seryosha to close the door, then sat in the passenger seat and said to the driver: "Drive, go to the headquarters!"

"Comrade Captain," Sokov asked Bissenbin curiously after waiting for the car to start: "In addition to the group army headquarters in the city, is the group headquarters also here?"

"That's right, Comrade General." Bissenbin said with an affirmative tone: "The Army Headquarters is located at the School of Economics of the Royal Hungarian University of Sciences on the left bank of the Danube River in the city center. The main teaching building was built in 1874. It is a typical neo-Renaissance period style.”

Sokov was not very interested in the location of the headquarters. In a city that had been baptized by war, not many buildings had been completely preserved. After coming out of the station, Sokov could see traces of war on the buildings on both sides of the road. Presumably, the main teaching building of the School of Economics of the Royal Hungarian University of Sciences was also damaged to a certain extent.

Soon, the car came to a three-story building near the river.

Bissenbin stopped the car, turned to Sokov and said, "Comrade General, we are here."

Seryozha opened the car door and got out of the car first. He stood next to the car and helped Sokov and Kopalova get out of the car one by one.

When several people were about to walk into the building, a captain came out. When he saw Bissenbin, he took the initiative to greet him: "Captain Bissenbin, where are you coming from?"

"I was ordered by the commander to pick up a guest." After Bissenbin said this, he suddenly remembered that Sokov and Seryosha seemed to know the captain who greeted him, and quickly added: "Captain Serelkov , The guest here today is still an old acquaintance of yours."

"My old acquaintance?" Serelkov said confusedly: "Who is it?"

"Lieutenant Serelkov," Sokov came out from behind Bissenbin and said to Serelkov: "Don't you recognize me?"

Serelkov stared at Sokov, stunned for a while, and then said as if he was waking up from a dream: "It's you, Comrade Commander, am I not dreaming?"

"Of course it's not a dream." Sokov stepped forward and held his hand, shaking it vigorously a few times: "Ever since I was injured and left this army, I thought I would never have the chance to see my former comrades again."

"Comrade Commander," Serelkov said with some emotion: "Your old friend, Captain Seryosha, died in a battle..."

"Who said I died!" Seryosha also came over and said to Serelkov: "Don't you see that I am standing in front of you alive?"

After Serelkov clearly saw Seryosha standing in front of him, he exclaimed, and then asked in surprise: "Seryosha, didn't you sacrifice yourself? Did you climb out of the coffin?"

Seryosha stepped forward and grabbed Serelkov's hand, and said with a smile: "You touch my hand to see if it is warm. If I am dead, my hand should be cold."

"Seryozha, you are still alive, still alive." Seeing his former comrade-in-arms appear in front of him again, Serelkov became more and more excited: "I didn't expect that, Seryozha, you are still alive, actually still alive, It really surprised me.”

"Captain Serelkov," Bissenbin said, seeing how happy they were to meet again, he was worried that once they started chatting, it would take them an unknown amount of time. He had already wasted a lot of time waiting for Sokov in the restaurant. If the delay continues, the commander will blame him. He quickly said to Serelkov: "Comrade Commander is still waiting to see General Sokov."

"Comrade Commander," Serelkov realized that he might have delayed Sokov's business and said quickly: "My residence is not far from here. If you have time before leaving, you are more than welcome to come over."

"Well, okay. If I have time, I will definitely go to your place as a guest and catch up with you by the way." After Sokov said this, he turned to Bissenbin and said: "Captain Bissenbin, take us to see General Trofimenko."

Arriving at the headquarters on the third floor, Sokov met General Trofimenko, who replaced him.

"Hello, General Trofimenko!" Sokov stretched out his hand to Trofimenko and said in a friendly tone: "Nice to meet you."

"Hello, General Sokov!" Trofimenko held Sokov's hand and said politely: "Welcome to our place as a guest."

After Sokov introduced both Kopalova and Seryosha to Trofimenko, they sat down and continued chatting.

Trofimenko looked at Seryosha and asked curiously: "Comrade Captain, I remember you. Didn't you die in the battle? Why are you here again?"

"Comrade General," Seryosha heard Trofimenko ask about this and quickly stood up and explained to him: "I was only injured on the battlefield and fainted. As a result, the rescuers thought I had been sacrificed and left me alone. Lying on the battlefield. When I woke up again, I found myself captured by the Germans and imprisoned in a prisoner of war camp."

When he learned that Seryosha was actually captured because of his wounds, Trofimenko seemed surprised: "Then how did you leave the prisoner of war camp?"

Seryosha considered that Trofimenko was once his superior and there was no need to hide some things from him, so he said truthfully: "Our army occupied the prisoner-of-war camp, liberated all the commanders and fighters detained there, and then sent them to I went to Siberia and received reform there. I was lucky. Not long after I was released from the labor camp, I met Misha who went there to visit Lieutenant General Lukin, and he took me back to Moscow. "

After figuring out Seryosha's situation, Trofimenko continued to ask: "Then why did General Sokov suddenly appear here?"

Sokov remembered that the 27th Army was also among the troops participating in the exercise, so he said bluntly: "I am here to participate in the actual military exercise next month."

"Oh, you are also here to participate in the exercise?" Trofimenko asked with interest: "General Sokov, I wonder which unit you are about to command?"

"The 4th Guards Army, troops stationed in Vienna."

"Stationed in Vienna?" Trofimenko said with some confusion: "Since you are going to Vienna, how come you are in Budapest?"

"The train we took had to stop at the Budapest station for more than ten hours." Sokov explained to Trofimenko: "You also know that sitting on the train is very boring, so we just came out and walked around. Let’s go and taste Hungarian food.”

"Oh, that's it." Trofimenko nodded and said regretfully: "It's a pity that today is the weekend. Many famous restaurants are not open. What is open are some small small restaurants. Their food The taste is not authentic. If you can stay a few more days, I can personally act as a guide for you on Monday and take you to taste the real Hungarian food so that you can eat enough."

"What a pity, our train will leave in a few hours." Sokov sighed and said, "We can only talk about it when we have the opportunity in the future."

"Budapest and Vienna are less than three hundred kilometers apart." Trofimenko said: "If you come here by car, it only takes a few hours. I think after the exercise is over, you will have a lot of free time. You can take the time to taste delicious food in Budapest.”

"By the way, General Trofimenko, I want to ask, are the old men in the headquarters still here?" Sokov asked tentatively: "I want to see them."

But after hearing Sokov's question, Trofimenko was silent for a long time before he said: "General Sokov, I understand your feelings, but the staff in the headquarters have basically been replaced in the past two years, and the commanders of the divisions and brigades below have also been replaced by new people. Even if there are one or two who have not been replaced, their bases are too far away from here and they can't get back in a while."

"That's a pity." Sokov said with emotion: "I thought I would be able to see a few old comrades in arms today when I returned to my old unit, but I didn't expect that I couldn't see any of them."

"Misha, it's obviously wrong to say that you didn't see any of them." Seryosha reminded him from the side: "We went in Didn't we meet Seryoelkov when we were in the headquarters? He was the commander of the guard company of the headquarters and we are also acquainted with him. "

"Yes, yes, you are right, Seryoelkov is the acquaintance we met."

"General Sokov, I have a question for you." Trofimenko said, "I wonder if you can give me an answer?"

"What question?"

"The war has been over for almost a year." Trofimenko asked puzzledly, "Why did the General Staff suddenly organize such a large-scale military exercise? To be honest, when I called some friends in Moscow, they told me that they were taking a train to Europe to participate in the upcoming military operation."

Sokov knew very well that although Trofimenko was the commander of the army group, he could not know a lot of important intelligence due to his position. So he explained: "In early March, former British Prime Minister Churchill delivered a notorious speech during his visit to the United States, which was full of bad remarks about our country and even promoted us as their enemy. In order to protest against the other party's irresponsible speech, Marshal Zhukov plans to hold a massive military exercise in Europe to deter those scoundrels."

This may be the first time Trofimenko has heard such content. After a long silence, he asked cautiously: "General Sokov, I heard that this exercise is a live-fire exercise with real guns and live ammunition. There are no outsiders here. Can you tell me the truth, is this live-fire military exercise an exercise, or is it a preparation for a new attack on Britain, the United States, France and other countries?"

Sokov didn't expect that such a ridiculous idea would come out of Trofimenko's mind. He smiled and said: "General Trofimenko, you worry too much. This is just a military exercise, but the scale is slightly larger, but it will never allow the armies of Britain, the United States and France to launch a real attack. You can rest assured about this."