Sokov and others sat in the car and waited for a while, and saw a convoy full of commanders and fighters appearing on the road ahead.

   Koshkin turned his head and said excitedly to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, it should be the troops of the 1st Guards Division who have come."

   Sokov opened the door and got out of the car, standing on the side of the road, wanting to see who the first commander was.

  When the convoy passed in front of Sokov, the driver deliberately slowed down, the headlights of the car flashed, and at the same time, he honked his horn, expressing his respect to Sokov in his own way. The commanders and fighters sitting in the carriage also stood up neatly and saluted Sokov.

  When fifty or sixty trucks passed by, a jeep came from behind. When the jeep was more than ten meters away from Sokov, the jeep stopped. Major General Tolstikov, the commander of the 1st Guards Division, got out of the car and walked quickly to Sokov. After raising his hand and saluting, he reported respectfully: "Comrade Commander, Major General Tolstikov, the commander of the 1st Guards Division, reports to you that our division is preparing to receive the defense handed over by the Germans, please instruct!"

After Sokov raised his hand to return the salute, he held Tolstikov's hand and said with a smile: "Comrade General, I congratulate you. You can easily accept a piece of land that originally belonged to the Germans without a single soldier." land."

Hearing what Sokov said, Tolstikov grinned and said: "Comrade Commander, the land that the Germans offered to us has never been more meaningful than the land that they seized by themselves. But since he is not willing to share with us We are the enemy, so it is logical for us to take over their defense zone."

   "Comrade General, your troops are about to take over the German defense zone. I think I need to say hello to you about some things."

   "Comrade Commander, if you have anything to say, just say it."

"Military discipline! Comrade General!" Sokov said with a serious expression: "When you arrive in a new place, you must strictly enforce military discipline. You must not let commanders and fighters harass the common people, understand?" Knowing what he meant, he pouted at the German civilians who were eating in the opposite supply point, and said, "Did you see those German civilians? They were deceived by the SS, thinking that our troops would loot them when they arrived. They killed everyone, packed up their belongings and fled their homes in a hurry. When they found out that our army was not what the SS advertised, they gradually returned to their homes.”

  Tolstikov glanced at the civilians, and asked with some puzzlement: "Comrade Commander, why did they come to our supply point to eat?"

"When they returned to their own home, they found that it was a mess." Sokov said with a wry smile, "Not only valuables were looted, but even food was robbed. In desperation, they You can only come to our supply point to collect food."

   "Who did it?" Tolstikov gritted his teeth and asked after hearing this: "Who looted their belongings and robbed them of food?"

"Not very clear." Sokov said truthfully: "Because their town was first occupied by the German army, and now it has fallen into the hands of our army. As for who entered their homes to loot, I don't know. "

   "Don't worry, Comrade Commander." Tolstikov assured Sokov: "Nothing like this will happen to our division."

   "That's good." After Sokov finished speaking, he stretched out his hand to him: "Good luck!"

On the way back to the headquarters, Koshkin, who was sitting in the co-pilot's seat, half turned around and said to Sokov: "Comrade commander, the Germans have done a lot of bad things in our homeland in the past few years. Now we Some troops have entered their country, and I think it is necessary to take some retaliatory measures."

"Comrade Captain, you can't say that." Sokov looked at Koshkin and said with a serious expression: "If military discipline is not restrained, what if some commanders and fighters do things that damage the image of our army? What if a certain If these countries expand these events infinitely and discredit us, how will the history books of later generations evaluate us?"

   "No way, Comrade Commander." Hearing what Sokov said, Koshkin said with an unbelievable expression: "The enemy has been defeated by us, who will discredit us?"

"British Prime Minister Winston Churchill once said: There are no eternal enemies or eternal friends in the world, only eternal interests." Sokov said: "The cooperation between us and the Allied Forces today is based on jointly defeating the world. Based on the most evil enemy - Germany. Once this common enemy disappears, former allies may become enemies. In the future, the place where the victory or defeat will be decided does not necessarily have to be on the battlefield, it can also be on the propaganda offensive. "

  Sokov's words made Koshkin confused. He asked in confusion: "Comrade Commander, can you explain in more detail? I don't quite understand what you mean."

   "Yes, Comrade General, I don't quite understand what you mean." Rednikova next to her chimed in.

"Let me give you an example." In order to let the two of them understand what he meant, Sokov used the example of the civilians he saw at the supply point: "The civilians we saw just now said that after they left their homes, It was looted by an unknown army, and all valuable property and food were robbed. Although the people who did this kind of thing may be Germans, or some of our commanders and fighters who violated military discipline. But if some countries want to promote If they have to use their propaganda media to say that our army did this, will this seriously damage the image of our army?"

   After hearing what Sokov said, the two of them thought about it carefully, then nodded slowly, agreeing to Sokov's statement.

Seeing that the two agreed with him, Sokov continued: "Also, once we and the allied forces occupy a certain city at the same time, each side will occupy half of the territory. Since they are both victors, everyone will use their own way, to deal with the defeated civilians.

For example, the Allied troops entered the homes of ordinary Germans, took away valuables, and after eating and drinking, had a super-friendly relationship with the women at home, and left two pieces of chocolate and a few eggs for the other party before leaving. and potatoes and such.

   And after our army broke into other people's homes, took away valuables, and also had a super-friendship relationship with the women in the family. But when I left, I didn’t leave anything for others, and I didn’t know that I searched the ransacked room again..."

"Comrade General, I think what you said makes sense." Rednikova agreed with Sokov's statement: "I have indeed heard of such a thing, so I just heard from civilians that their homes Being ransacked, the first thing I think of is that our own people did it."

"Lieutenant Rednikova, your statement is inaccurate." Sokov said to Rednikova: "It is impossible to judge who did this without investigation. If we want to force this charge on our army, it will affect the reputation of our army. When I return to the headquarters later, I will arrange people to investigate and find out who did it."

"Well, Comrade General, you are right." Rednikova did not contradict Sokov, but said along with him: "It is possible for the troops of both sides. Specifically, who did it, It will only be known after investigation.”

"Let's continue the topic just now." Sokov went on to say: "The propaganda methods of the Allied forces are far superior to ours. If what I said is made into a movie for publicity, what they do is to talk to the local residents. A kind of friendly interaction, and we will become their negative propaganda materials."

"No way." Koshkin didn't believe Sokov's statement: "Comrade Commander, we are all allies and friendly forces anyway, how could they discredit us on this kind of thing Woolen cloth?"

"Nothing is impossible, Captain Koshkin." Sokov said with a sneer: "The reason why we are still allies and allies is entirely because the common enemy - Germany, has not been destroyed. When this enemy does not exist, we will The contradiction between them will be exposed, and then the situation I mentioned may occur.”

After returning to the headquarters, the first thing Sokov did was to send someone to investigate the looting of the town. He said to Sidolin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, immediately form an investigation team and go to the town occupied by our army to conduct investigations. It is clear who did the looting of residents’ property.”

"Comrade commander, it doesn't matter." Hearing Sukov's arrangement, Sidolin said without hesitation: "This kind of thing must have been done by the Germans. They know they have failed, and military discipline is lost to them." Binding force, looting residents' residences, they can do it completely."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, it is still unclear who did this thing." Sokov said to Sidolin with a serious expression: "I asked you to form an investigation team just to find out who it was. Do it. You have to tell the comrades in charge to investigate carefully, and no matter what the final investigation results are, they must report to me truthfully, without the slightest concealment, do you understand?"

Sidolin originally thought that the investigation organized by Sokov was just a formality, but he didn't expect the other party to take it seriously, so he could only say helplessly: "Okay, Comrade Commander, I will explain clearly, and let them do it. Know the truth of this matter."

   After saying this, Sidolin saw Rednikova standing behind Sokov, and asked curiously, "Comrade Commander, who is this female officer?"

"Comrade Chief of Staff, let me introduce you. This is Lieutenant Rednikova. She was one of the members of the group that persuaded the 613th Division of the German Army to surrender. Due to special reasons, I stayed behind and did not follow Mies. Major Chenko and the others are going to carry out the mission."

   "Hello, Lieutenant Rednikova." Sidolin extended his hand to Rednikova and said friendlyly: "Nice to meet you!"

   "Me too, Comrade Chief of Staff."

Taking advantage of Sidolin and Rednikova's chat, Sokov got through the phone of the Front Army Command, and when he heard someone talking, he identified himself: "I am Sokov, please help me Look for Comrade Marshal, I have something important to discuss with him."

   Soon, Rokossovsky's voice came from the receiver: "Misha, I'm Rokossovsky, what do you want?"

"Hello, Comrade Marshal, this is what happened." Sokov reported to Rokossovsky what he had seen in the West Bank, and finally said: "In the area we occupy, things like this There are still a lot of homeless civilians, how do you think we should resettle them and solve their problems of food, clothing, housing and transportation?"

"Misha, what you are talking about is indeed a big problem." Rokossovsky frowned and said, "As we occupy more and more areas, the problems we face will multiply. For example, the liberation In a certain city in Germany, we not only need to solve the problem of food for the city residents, but also help them solve the problems of water supply, power supply, and heating in winter. This requires a lot of materials and manpower, not just to solve it It can be solved."

"Yes, Comrade Marshal." Sokov knew that post-war reconstruction was a big problem: "I'm thinking about whether we can use cash-for-work to provide the German civilians in the occupied areas with the food and supplies they need. "

   "Work for cash?!" Hearing this unfamiliar word, Rokossovsky asked in surprise, "Misha, what does this mean?"

"Food for work is to exchange the food and supplies they need by working." Sokov said: "The cities we occupy today have been destroyed to varying degrees. The first thing to do , is to clean up the ruins in the city. This work requires a lot of manpower. And our troops are still busy fighting, and we certainly cannot deploy troops to carry out this work. Therefore, we can leave this work to German civilians. Then, according to their work situation, they will be given the materials and food they need for life.”

"Good way, good way. Misha, what you said is indeed a good way." Rokossovsky nodded and said, "I will report this to the Supreme Command as soon as possible to see what their plans are next. .”

  Sokov knew that Lao Maozi's work efficiency was low. After reporting the matter, he didn't know how long it would take to get results. If you dismantle those supply points prematurely, the nearby residents may starve because they cannot find food, and even starve to death. Therefore, he secretly made up his mind that the supply point will continue to be kept until the specific plan of the superior is released, so as to provide food for the residents.

After putting down the phone, Sokov looked at Rednikova and asked, "Comrade Lieutenant, what are your plans next? Should you return to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, or stay in my army? If you want to stay, I will I will arrange a suitable position for you; if you don’t want to stay, I will arrange someone to send you back to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.”

  Facing the choice given by Sokov, Rednikova hesitated for a long time, and finally said: "Comrade General, I am willing to stay. Please arrange work for me."

"All the personnel from the Ministry of Internal Affairs who came before stayed in the security force." Sokov said to Rednikova: "But it is obviously inappropriate for you to go to the security force. I think it is better to go to the intelligence department first. What do you think? "

   "Comrade General, I resolutely obey your arrangement!"