Red Moscow

  Chapter 296 Departure

  The dispute between Sokov and Belkin got out somehow. Early the next morning, Assia, who seldom showed up at the brigade headquarters, came to find Sokov.

   Regardless of the dispute between Sokov and Belkin last night, it was all for work and did not affect their friendship. So when Asya hurried to the brigade headquarters, she saw Sokov and Belkin sitting at the table eating breakfast.

Seeing Asiya barging in from the outside, Belkin greeted her with a smile: "Isn't this Asiya? I haven't seen you for a long time. Why are you free to come to us today?" Speaking of this, he used Out of the corner of his eye, he quickly glanced at Sokov, "Are you here to see our brigade commander?"

   "Assia, have you had breakfast yet?" Sokov saw Assia rushing into the headquarters, guessing that she might have something to ask him. But he didn't ask immediately, but picked up the plate of rusks and handed it to Assia: "If you don't mind, let's eat some together!"

  After greeting Belkin, Asya pushed away the plate Sokov handed over, and said with a serious expression: "Comrade Brigadier, I have something to talk to you about."

  Hearing that Asiya had something to discuss with Sokov, Belkin immediately stood up and said, "Since you have something to discuss, let me avoid it for now."

"Comrade Commissar, you can continue to sit down and eat." Sokov raised his hand to stop Belkin from leaving, and said to him, "Assia and I will go to the next room to talk." After finishing speaking, he stood He got up and grabbed Asiya's arm, and walked towards the hut where he was resting next to him.

   Entering the hut, Sokov closed the door behind him, called Assia to sit down on the camp bed where he usually sleeps, and asked, "Assia, what happened?"

   "Misha," seeing that there was no outsider in the room, Assia called Sokov by his nickname and asked, "Let me ask you, are all the rumors outside true?"

   "Rumors, what rumors?" Assia's words confused Sokov, he looked at Assia and asked in confusion, "Assia, what rumors did you hear?"

"I heard the comrades who went to visit the wounded in the health team say that you had a big fight with the political commissar last night and threatened him that no matter how many deserters there were in the army, they would all be shot. Even a company of deserters , and absolutely will not show mercy.” After quickly finishing what she heard, Asiya asked tentatively, “Misha, did you really say that?”

When Sokov heard what Asiya said, although there were some discrepancies with his original words last night, the main content was still consistent, so he nodded and said blankly: "Yes, I did say that This."

"Misha, why do you say such a thing?" Seeing Sokov admitting it, Assia couldn't help becoming anxious: "You know, our company and battalion organization is different from other troops. There are four to five hundred people in a company. , if the entire company deserts, can you really shoot them all? Now the wounded in the health team are panicking, so I came here to ask you, is there such a thing, or not? Explain to the wounded."

   "Assia, do you know why I had a dispute with the political commissar?" Sokov felt that the truth of the dispute last night must be conveyed to the wounded through Assia in order to achieve the purpose of soothing people's hearts. After Assia nodded to express his willingness to listen, he explained the reasons for the dispute yesterday.

  Asiya patiently listened to Sokov's narration, with a sudden realization expression on her face: "So that's the case. Misha, I think you must have said something out of anger."

  Sokov thought to himself that after the Battle of Stalingrad started, Stalin would issue the famous "Order No. 227", and all those who abandoned their positions and retreated without permission would be shot on the spot. If I don't strictly enforce military discipline at this moment, not only will many soldiers lose their lives because of this order when I arrive in Stalingrad, but I will also be implicated, which will have an impact on my future. But at this moment, in front of Asiya, he didn't express his true thoughts, but said along with her: "Asiya, you also know that when a dispute occurs, people's emotions are more agitated, and it is inevitable that people will be more emotional. Say some exaggerated words. I hope you will tell the wounded about this when you return to the health team, so that they can feel at ease."

  When the two came out of the hut, Belkin looked at the two with a half-smile and asked, "Are you all done talking?"

   "The conversation is over." After giving Belkin an affirmative answer, Sokov asked Assia again: "Assia, should you go back after eating breakfast here?"

   "No, no," Assia waved at Sokov. "The health team has so many wounded to take care of. I want to go back immediately, so I won't have breakfast here."

  Looking at the back of Assia leaving, Belkin asked thoughtfully: "Comrade Brigadier, if I'm not mistaken, Assia came here today because of the dispute we had last night?"

"You guessed right, it's for this." Sokov said to Belkin: "Comrade Commissar, it's getting late, let's eat quickly. After breakfast, we will go to the troops to check on them." preparations."

  The day of departure is coming soon. As soon as Sokov left the station with the troops directly under the brigade, he saw that the two sides of the street were full of residents in the city, and they cheered for the commanders and fighters who were marching on the street. Hearing the names of several soldiers being called out from time to time, Sokov thought in his heart: The people who called out should be the relatives of the soldiers. He looked nervously at the crowd on both sides of the street. He was afraid that an old lady would suddenly appear in the middle of the road, grab the hand of a certain soldier and cry, and the scene might get out of control.

   Fortunately, the situation that Sokov was worried about did not happen. Occasionally, soldiers rushed out of the queue, went to the side of the road to talk to their family members, and then went to chase the team again. Seeing this scene, Sokov's heart hanging in his throat finally returned to his stomach.

  Belkin approached Sokov's ear and said loudly: "Comrade Brigadier, have you seen it? The residents of the city have come out to see our soldiers off."

"I see!" Sokov nodded vigorously, and said: "Comrade political commissar, it seems that the political workers under your command have done a good job in the past two days, and the soldiers' emotions are very stable. What we are worried about should not It will happen."

   "That's right, I think so too." Belkin echoed: "As long as our troops can leave the city smoothly, presumably there will be no more desertion incidents."

   After a short pause, Belkin asked again: "By the way, is Comrade Chief of the General Staff still in Kursk?"

"No, he left by plane last night." Sokov heard Belkin suddenly mentioned Vasilevsky, guessed what he was worried about, and comforted him, saying, "Don't worry, Comrade Commissar. Now that Comrade Chief of Staff has already spoken, when we arrive at Yelets, there will definitely be enough vehicles to send our troops to Moscow."

  (end of this chapter)