Chapter 267

The commander stopped, slowly turned around and gave me an absent-minded look. Then he looked serious and asked in a business like tone, "Comrade commander, what can I do for you?"

Before I could speak, the expression on his face changed from seriousness to surprise, and he said in surprise, "my God, isn't this my Rita Cheka? Am I right? Is it you or your ghost that appears in front of me

He knows me? I couldn't help but be surprised. I quickly rubbed my eyes and carefully observed the commander in front of me with the help of the dim light in the corridor. Looking closely, I realized that it was my old acquaintance, Willa's father, Colonel Korolev, who worked in the headquarters. Compared with a few months ago, he was much thinner, so that I didn't recognize him at a glance.

I quickly straightened up, made a stand at attention posture, saluted him: "Comrade Colonel, how do you do!"

"Why haven't you seen me for a few months? When you were in Leningrad, you always called me uncle Pavel. " "Of course, as a former general, it's understandable to pretend that he doesn't know me as a little Colonel," Korolev said with a kind sarcasm

"Uncle Pavel," he said, and I felt a fever on my face. I quickly explained, "it's not what you think. I'm glad to meet you here. However, according to the regulations, if you see the commander, you should salute... "

"You and I are old acquaintances. Besides, you and my daughter vera are still best friends, so we don't need to talk about these empty rites. Why, are you here to find Comrade commander? "

When he said that, I thought of the purpose I had just stopped him, and immediately added, "yes, uncle Bavier, I've been ordered to report to commander horzin. I don't know where his office is, so I always... "

"I've been wandering in the corridor, haven't I?" He gave a little smile and then said, "what would you do if you didn't happen to see me in the corridor?"

I quickly explained, "I don't know where the commander's office is, so just now I was going to go downstairs to inquire about the guards. Unexpectedly, I met you."

"Lieutenant General Huo Jin took the engineers of the headquarters to inspect the defense of the Kirov factory. It is estimated that he will come back very late. I have been authorized to arrange new work for you. Now let's go to my office together! "

I followed him along the carpeted corridor.

We soon came to a door, and he went up and opened it. Entering the room, I saw that it was a small reception room. Near the door of the inner room, there was a small table with a second lieutenant sitting there. Seeing us at the door, the second lieutenant immediately got up and saluted us. At the same time, he looked at Korolev with a hint of inquiry.

The Colonel immediately pointed to the second lieutenant and said to me, "Rita, this is my adjutant, second lieutenant zirkov." After the second lieutenant beckoned him to come, he introduced me and said, "zirkov, this is oshanina that I often mention to you."

After listening to Korolev's introduction, zirkov stepped forward and saluted me again. He held my hand excitedly and said, "Hello, comrade general, I'm glad to meet you here!"

I gave him a wry smile, then corrected him and said, "Comrade lieutenant, I am only a major now, not a major general."

"You are always a great general in my mind. It's great that you killed so many German men in order to avenge our comrades! You know, our colleagues who know your story admire you very much.... "

"Enough, comrade lieutenant." Korolev suddenly interrupted what he said behind him and said with a straight face, "call major general hilov and brigade political commissar Higgins and ask them to come to my office." After giving orders to his adjutant, he waved his head at me and said, "Rita, come with me to the office."

When he entered the office, he went straight to his desk and said to me, "Rita, please sit down now. You don't have to take off your coat if you like. Because of the lack of fuel, the furnaces here are not flourishing. "

I sat down in a armchair not far away, put the bag I had been carrying under my feet, took off my hat and held it in my hand.

"Well, talk about it," said Korolev, and sat down“ I've heard about you in Moscow, and I know you've played well. It's just that I think you are too impulsive to shoot those German prisoners. Is it worth ordering so many people to be killed for the sake of irrelevant people, and thus ruining one's own future? "

I don't want to discuss the killing of prisoners with anyone at the moment, so I digged off the topic and said, "Uncle Bavier, I haven't seen you for only a few months. Why have you lost so much weight?"

After hearing my question, Korolev was obviously stunned for a moment, and then said slowly, "due to the siege of Leningrad by the German army, there was a shortage of food in the city, and the relevant authorities implemented the ration certificate system. Because there is very little food that can enter the city every day, we have to cut the food quota of the army and the people again and again. Only two months ago, the concept of "dietetic malnutrition" was understood only by doctors who came to the clinic or carried patients on stretchers to write a medical history. The concept of concept has become a household name for all leningrads. "

I understand that the German siege led to the shortage of food and materials in Leningrad, and hundreds of people died of hunger every day. Even middle-level officers like Korolev were affected by the lack of food. The captain got up from behind the table, shaking a little, but he held the table by his hand to avoid falling. Then he straightened up and walked with firm steps towards the wall with the map. He went to the map of the city, pointed to the map with a stick and said to me, "in late December, we opened an ice transportation line on the frozen lake Lado. With this ice transportation line, we can evacuate the old people, women and children in the city and bring in the necessary supplies at the same time." Although his words have not been finished, I have already guessed the position I am going to take, so I can't help but ask tentatively, "Uncle Pavel, I want to know what position you are going to arrange for me to defend the ice transportation line?" Korolev was very satisfied with my understanding ability. He nodded and said, "because the ice transportation line has not been opened for a long time and various facilities are not complete, it's very cold there, but the number of heating sheds we set up is seriously insufficient. At the same time, the German army sends planes to bombard and strafe our ice transport line every day, so we urgently need commanders with air defense experience to transport and command the anti-aircraft artillery troops deployed there. " I nodded, stood up and said, "I see, uncle Bavier. I don't know what scale of air defense forces I can command, a company or a platoon, or even a class. " On hearing this, Korolev put down his stick with a smile, came up to me, patted me on the shoulder and said, "Rita, you really look down on yourself. At present, the air defense area of the ice transportation line is divided into three sections, each of which is about five kilometers long. We intend to appoint you as the commander of an anti-aircraft artillery battalion, and you will be responsible for the air defense of the middle section of the road. " As he walked back to his desk, I sat back in my armchair. I accidentally raised my foot as if I had kicked something. I looked down and saw that it was the cloth bag that ellenburg gave me at the airport. What's in the bag? I haven't opened it for a long time. If I hadn't picked it up, I would have thrown it away. I bent down, frowned, opened the bag, opened the mouth and looked inside. I found two buns, a tin of canned fish, two tins of condensed milk and seven or eight boiled potatoes in it. Seeing what it was, I felt less disgusted with ellenburg. You should know that in peace time, these things are not worth much money at all, but in Leningrad at this time, they are more precious than gold. These things can save at least several people's lives. I took out the canned fish and a tin of condensed milk, went to Korolev's table, put it gently in front of him, and said, "Uncle Bavier, I didn't bring you anything when I came to Leningrad this time. This is my gift to you. " When Korolev saw the canned fish and condensed milk placed in front of him, he stood up and said in a flurry, "Rita, you'd better keep these things for yourself. You know, there is a shortage of everything in Leningrad. Maybe you can use them at any time."“ Uncle Bavier, "seeing that he kept staring at the canned milk and condensed milk in front of him, knowing that he was being polite, he pushed the two things in front of him a little bit," this is my gift for you. Please accept it anyway. " Seeing that I insisted on it again and again, he naturally accepted it, and at the same time, he repeatedly expressed his thanks to me. There was a slight knock outside the door, and then the adjutant, second lieutenant zirkov, pushed the door and came in. Standing straight at the door, he reported to Korolev, "Comrade Colonel, major general hilov and brigade political commissar Higgin are here!"“ Invite them in When the two future superiors came into the room, I had stood up from my chair, put on my military cap, and saluted them politely. Korolev came out from behind the table, shook hands with them, and then began to introduce major general hilolev and brigade political commissar Higgins to me. Tall and thin, with two gold stars on the diamond neckband of the military coat is major general hilov; The other fat man with eyes and of medium build is Xijin, a tourist political commissar. The conversation with the two superiors was very brief. They repeated what Korolev had just said to me and repeatedly stressed to me the importance of ice transportation line. This is the only ground transportation line in Leningrad that keeps in touch with the outside world besides air transportation line. It is the life line of Leningrad. Even if you sacrifice your life, you should protect her.