Carrying large and small bags, Sokov and Annie came to the door of the hospital together. When Anne saw Sokov handing most of the things to her, she said a little embarrassedly: "Misha, it's too much. You gave too much. I can't take it."
"Annie, aren't we friends?" Sokov asked Anne with a smile. After seeing her nodding in affirmation, he continued: "Since we are friends, why do you refuse a gift from a friend?" After saying that, he stuffed these things that were extremely valuable during the war into Annie's arms.
"Misha, thank you!" Faced with Sokov's hospitality, Anne said with some embarrassment: "If there is anything I can do to help you, just come to me."
Anne's words reminded Sokov that he originally came into contact with Tonya because this hospital often went to Dimiryazev Agricultural College to treat the wounded, and he wanted to use the car to visit Rokossovsky. Now that Tonya has gone to the front line, it is still unknown when she will come back, so he can only place his hope on Anne.
Thinking of this, he grinned at Annie and said, "Annie, I have something to ask you for help."
"What's up?"
Sokov said cautiously: "If your hospital sends someone to pick up the wounded at Dimiryazev Agricultural College, can you arrange for me to go with them?"
Sokov's request aroused Anne's vigilance, and she asked with a serious expression: "Misha, what are you doing at the Dimiryazev Agricultural College?"
"That's it." Seeing that Anne was suspicious of him, Sokov quickly explained to her: "My superior, a general, was injured some time ago. It was I who escorted him to Dimiri by plane. Yazev Agricultural College. You also know that the transportation from here to that hospital is very inconvenient, so I can only ask for your help."
After figuring out what was going on, the expression on Annie's face softened. She lowered her head and thought for a while, then said to Sokov: "Misha, if you really want to visit your superior, then I can make arrangements for you. But," she said with some embarrassment, "I don't know When will the ambulance leave and where should I notify you?"
"Annie, I live on the third floor of that house." Sokov pointed to the residence across the road and said to Anne: "If there is any news, you can send someone there to inform me."
After the two separated at the entrance of the hospital, Sokov waited for Annie, who was holding a bunch of things, to disappear from his sight, then turned around and crossed the road back to his home.
After simply eating something, he lay in bed and recalled the military meeting he attended today. He clearly remembered that among the three front armies that participated in the Battle of Kharkov, except for the Bryansk Front, the other two front armies suffered losses. heavy. If your troops are placed under the command of the Southwest Front, then what awaits you is to be killed on the battlefield or be taken prisoner. If you want to get rid of these two unfortunate fates, you can only talk to Rokossovsky. According to his own memory, he served as the commander of the Bryansk Front shortly after he recovered from his injury. Only under his command will there be a glimmer of hope.
Because he got up too early in the morning, he fell asleep not long after lying in bed. He didn't wake up until someone knocked hard on the door outside. He rolled out of bed, walked to the door sleepily, and opened the door.
Annie was standing outside the door. Seeing Sokov like this, she asked with some doubt: "Misha, are you sleeping?"
"Yeah, I'm sleeping." The listless Sokov asked weakly, "What's the matter?"
"Misha, aren't you going to Dimiryazev Agricultural College?" Anne said urgently: "The ambulance is downstairs and will leave in a few minutes."
"What, the ambulance is downstairs?" Sokov couldn't help but trembled when he heard what Annie said. He immediately became sober. In order to confirm that he heard it right, he asked specifically: "I heard it right. Bar?"
"Yes, Misha, you heard it right, there are two ambulances waiting downstairs." After Annie gave Sokov a positive answer, she urged: "Hurry up, don't keep the driver waiting."
"Thank you, thank you, Annie!" Sokov gave Annie a hug and a kiss on her forehead. Then he put on his military coat and boots as quickly as possible, and finally put his military cap on his head. , said to Anne: "I'm ready, let's go."
Anne didn't expect that Sokov would suddenly kiss her, and her whole body immediately shut down. After hearing Sokov's words, she blushed and nodded, and replied in a low voice: "Okay, Misha. Let's do it." Let’s go!”
The two came out of the building. Sokov saw a military green ambulance parked on the side of the road. The huge red cross mark on it looked like it had just been painted on. A driver stuck his head out of the car window and shouted to the two of them: "Hey, I say, you two, please be quick, the other car has been walking for a long time."
On the way to the Dimiryazev Agricultural College, Anne asked Sokov: "Misha, do you want me to wait for you later?"
"No need." Sokov thought about how long he would have to chat after meeting Rokossovsky. If he asked Anne to stay and wait for him, it would affect her work, so he politely refused: "I don't want to." Know when to leave.”
Annie asked with some worry: "How will you get home without a car?"
"Don't worry, Annie." Seeing Annie caring so much about him, Sokov couldn't help but feel warm in his heart. He smiled and replied, "There are so many cars coming in and out of the hospital every day. I can just take one and go home." .”
Sokov originally asked Tonya to help him come to Dimiryazev Agricultural College. He wanted to pretend to be a medical staff and sneak into Rokossovsky's ward. But he later discovered that this idea was too wishful thinking. Since there were so many people in the hospital protecting Rokossovsky's safety, how could he easily sneak into the ward? Fortunately, now that I have a special pass, the sentries in the corridor and outside the ward will no longer block my way.
The ambulance arrived at the Dimiryazev Agricultural College. After Sokov said goodbye to Anne, he went directly to the floor where Rokossovsky lived. When the sentry in the corridor saw Sokov's appearance, he immediately stepped forward to block his way and said politely: "I'm sorry, Comrade Major, you can't enter here casually."
"Comrade soldier," Sokov said to the sentry with a smile on his face: "I am a subordinate of General Rokossovsky. I want to visit him, okay?"
"No." The sentry said with a straight face: "Comrade General needs to rest, you can't disturb him."
Sokov took out the special pass from his pocket, handed it to the sentry, and asked: "Can I go visit now?"
The sentry took the special pass from Sokov's hand and looked at it carefully, with a troubled expression on his face. At this moment, a voice came from the other side of the corridor: "What happened, Sayit!"
Hearing this voice, the sentry quickly turned to face that direction and replied: "Comrade Lieutenant, a commander wants to visit General Rokossovsky."
"What time is it, and I'm still here to visit." A lieutenant of medium height, without a military cap, and with gray hair walked along the corridor and said to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, it is now past the visitation time. You’d better please come back.”
"Comrade Lieutenant," Sokov finally arrived here. How could he give up so easily? He politely said to the Lieutenant: "I am from the 16th Group Army. After visiting Comrade Commander, I will return to the front line. You see Can you be accommodating?" In order to increase his leverage, he took his pass from the sentry's hand, handed it to the lieutenant, and added, "Look, this is my special pass."
The lieutenant took the pass from Sokov's hand, read it twice, and said helplessly: "Okay, Comrade Major, since you came back from the front line and have a special pass, I will make an exception. But don't stay too long, the general is still very weak and cannot talk to people for a long time." After saying that, he handed the pass back to Sokov.
After thanking the lieutenant, Sokov came to the ward where someone was standing guard at the door. When the two soldiers standing at the door were about to reach out to stop him, the lieutenant said from the side: "Let him go in."
Upon hearing the lieutenant's order, the two soldiers quickly put down what was blocking Sokov. There was even a soldier who took the initiative to open the door of the ward and said to Sokov with a smile: "Comrade Major, please come in!"
Sokov walked into Rokossovsky's ward and found that the space inside was quite large, with a writing desk, dining table, chairs, etc. all available. There were even two single sofas placed next to the hospital bed, presumably for visitors to sit on.
Rokossovsky heard someone coming in from outside and opened his eyes. After seeing clearly that it was Sokov, his eyes couldn't help but light up, and then he said with a smile: "Misha, it's you. I thought you had returned to the front line long ago."
"Comrade Commander," Sokov quickly came to the bedside, held Rokossovsky's hand, and asked with concern: "How are you feeling?"
"I can't die." After Rokossovsky said something self-deprecatingly, he asked Sokov to sit down: "Misha, stop standing, sit down quickly and chat with me. After living here for so long I haven’t seen anyone else except doctors and nurses for a long time. And after each examination, the doctors and nurses wouldn’t even say a word and left, leaving me alone in bed in a daze. Tell me. , why are you still in the city?"
After Sokov sat down on the single sofa next to the hospital bed, he organized some vocabulary in his mind and replied: "Comrade Commander, I have designed a new type of rocket launcher, which is very suitable for small unit combat or use in street fighting. . Therefore, my superiors ordered me to stay in Moscow temporarily and wait until the new rocket launcher is officially developed before allowing me to return to the army."
"So that's it." Rokossovsky, whose face turned pale, said breathlessly: "How is the situation in the suburbs? Is our army's counterattack still continuing?"
"Comrade Commander, strictly speaking, our winter campaign ended in early March." Sokov did not expect that Rokossovsky stayed here and lived in isolation from the outside world. No one reported it to him, so he took the initiative and said: "But the Supreme Command is deploying a new campaign."
"A new battle?" Hearing Sokov say this, Rokossovsky smiled faintly, and then said: "If my guess is correct, the Supreme Command probably wants to launch an active offensive in the south of Moscow. , trying to drive the enemy across the Dnieper River in order to liberate more cities and areas from the enemy's hands."
Seeing that Rokossovsky could so accurately judge the next move of the Supreme Command without leaving home, Sokov couldn't help but secretly marvel. However, he knew that the content of today's meeting was still top secret, so he just smiled noncommittally to Rokossovsky's speculation.
Seeing the smile on Sokov's face, Rokossovsky was a little embarrassed and immediately guessed that the other party must know something important. However, he did not ask further questions to avoid embarrassing Sokov. Instead, he took the initiative to change the subject: " Misha, where have you been living during this time?”
"The Supreme Commander himself rewarded me with a house on Lenin Street." Sokov felt that Rokossovsky would know something sooner or later, so there was no need to hide it from him, so he answered truthfully: "Yes." Cove took me there, and when he told me that the house was awarded to me, I was shocked."
"You deserve this, Misha." When Rokossovsky heard that Sokov got a house, he didn't show the slightest surprise on his face. Instead, he thought it was a natural thing: "After all, you Leading people to rescue Yakov and rescuing the Supreme Commander himself from humiliation is a great achievement. Not to mention one house, even three or four houses as rewards, I think it is normal. .”
The two chatted for a while. Sokov remembered that his troops would soon be incorporated into the Southwest Front, so he asked Rokossovsky: "Comrade Commander, from the various intelligence analysis I have, otherwise Soon, the Istrian battalion will be transferred to other fronts. I hope you can help me and not let my troops leave the Western Front."
"This matter may not be easy to handle." Regarding Sokov's request, Rokossovsky said with some embarrassment: "Once the Supreme Command makes a decision, no one can change it. Not to mention me, just Even General Zhukov was helpless."
Seeing that Rokossovsky was in such a difficult position, Sokov no longer pushed anyone into difficulty, but asked tentatively: "Comrade Commander, if...I say if, if you one day serve as a higher-level commander, can you When you command more troops, can you bring our business under your command?"
