Early the next morning, a convoy consisting of two jeeps and five trucks appeared at the door of the guest house.

The two sentries on duty at the gate, seeing this sudden appearance of the convoy, naturally wanted to step forward to interrogate and find out the origin of the other party.

The passenger door of the first jeep opened, and a lieutenant got out. He said to the sentry: "Comrade soldier, please go in and report that we have been ordered to pick you up and take you to the train station."

"Please wait a moment, Comrade Lieutenant." The sentry said politely to the Lieutenant: "I will go in and report immediately."

 The sentry entered the guest house, found Bezikov, and reported to him about the convoy. Bezikov learned that the convoy was taking his group to the train station, and he quickly came out to meet with the lieutenant to learn about the specific situation.

"Hello, Comrade Major." The lieutenant saw Bezikov appear, raised his hand to salute him, and said respectfully: "I have been ordered to take you to the train station."

Bezikov stepped forward and shook hands with the other party. After questioning him for a few more words, he turned back to the guest house and reported to Sokov and others.

 Half an hour later, Sokov and others came out of the guest house and got on the vehicle waiting outside in an orderly manner.

When the vehicle started, Sokov saw Yakov staring at the guest house, so he smiled and said to him: "Yasha, are you reluctant to leave here?"

Yakov chuckled and said: "Misha, we have lived here for less than a week, but many unexpected things have happened. I think that even if many years have passed, I will still remember the time I spent in Khabarovsk. day."

Shortly after the motorcade left the guest house, Sonia appeared at the door of the guest house again. Seeing that the sentry at the door was gone, she couldn't help but feel a little surprised. She was still secretly wondering, what happened to Yakov and the others, and why they removed the sentry today?

Walking into the guest house, a busy waiter saw Sonia coming in. He quickly stopped what he was doing and asked politely: "Girl, what can I do for you?"

"I want to find General Yakov who lives here." After Sonia explained her purpose of coming, she also asked curiously: "The last two times I came here, there were sentries standing guard at the gate. Why were the sentries removed today? ?”

"The reason is very simple." The waiter said: "Because the generals and others have left, and the soldiers on guard naturally left with them."

Sonia was shocked to learn that Sokov and Yakov had left, and quickly asked: "When did they leave?"

“It’s been less than a quarter of an hour.” The waiter said with some regret, “If you had come ten minutes earlier, you might have met them.”

“I met General Yakov yesterday, but he didn’t tell me that they were leaving.” Sonia asked reluctantly: “Will they come back?”

"I think they will definitely not come back again." The waiter shook his head and said: "They did not go out to do errands, but went back to their defense areas. You know, their defense areas are one or two thousand kilometers away, and they will come back again." Probably very slim."

Seeing Sonia's disappointed look, the waiter comforted her and said, "Girl, if you still want to keep in touch with General Yakov, you can write to him. I believe he has left you a military mailbox number for correspondence. .”

Even though Sonia and Yakov had a lot of contact during this period, Yakov always remained vigilant and did not tell her too much. Naturally, he never mentioned the military mailbox number. But in front of the waiter, she could only pretend to be fat: "Well, I have the number of the military mailbox. I will write to him when I get back. Thank you, I'll leave first."

Sonia left the guest house and walked weakly along the street. After walking not far, an officer wearing the uniform of a second lieutenant came towards her. When Sonia saw this man, a look of panic flashed in her eyes.

When the two approached, Sonia accidentally dropped the bag in her hand. When she bent down to pick it up, the officer also bent down first, helped her pick up the bag, and said with a smile: "Girl , this is your bag, please take it and don’t drop it on the ground again.”

"Thank you, Comrade Commander." After Sonia said her words of thanks loudly, she suddenly whispered: "I just went to the guest house, and everyone inside left. It is said that they returned to their defense area."

“Damn it!” the second lieutenant muttered, “Why did you leave so suddenly? Have you figured out the reason?”

"No. But I will find a way to re-establish contact with that General Yakov." Sonia said this, thinking of a general in the ward yesterday who said that General Yakov was his subordinate and asked her to go to the guest house Go and invite him. The two talked for a long time after meeting. Unfortunately, he was arranged to help in the operating room and did not hear the conversation between the two. But if you want to get back in touch with Yakov, maybe you can start with the hospitalized general.

"Okay." The second lieutenant said, "As soon as you have the exact information, come to contact point two to find me."

After saying this, the second lieutenant raised his voice again and said to Sonia with a smile: "Girl, it is my honor to serve you! Goodbye, and I wish you good luck!"

When Sonia met with her accomplices in ensign uniforms, the convoy in which Sokov and others were riding had already arrived at the Khabarovsk train station.

Since there are no ticket gates for Russian vehicles, the convoy drove directly onto the platform and stopped next to the train they were about to take.

After Sokov, Yakov, Lukin and others got off the bus, a military representative from the station came over. After saluting several people, he reported to Lukin, the highest-ranking military officer: "Comrade General, I am a military representative from this station. Representative, the carriage you are riding in is hung at the rear of the car, and you can board the train there.”

After thanking the other party, Lu Jin asked politely: "Comrade, military representative, I wonder how long it will take for us to take the train to reach our destination?"

“Two days and three nights, Comrade General.” The military representative explained to Lu Jin: “There is a box in the carriage you are in, which is specially prepared for you.”

After Sokov and others got on the train, Bezikov waved his hand to the soldiers in formation and said loudly: "Comrades, get on the train!" After two days and three nights of turbulence, the train finally entered the Transbaikal Front. defense zone.

Before the train came to a complete stop, Sokov saw people lining up to greet him on the platform. Standing at the front of the queue was Lieutenant General Gorokhov, the military commissar of the 53rd Army. He quickly turned to Lukin and Yakov: "Deputy Commander, Yasha, Army Military Commissar General Gorokhov has brought people to the station to greet us."

As soon as the train stopped and the door opened, before Sokov and others got off the train, Gorokhov got on the train with two officers.

When he came to the carriage and saw Sokov, Gorokhov first raised his hand and saluted, and then said with some emotion: "Hello, Comrade Commander, welcome to return to the 53rd Army. "

Sokov reached out and took the other person's outstretched hand. After shaking it twice, he pulled him in front of him and gave him a warm hug. He patted the other party on the back and said equally excitedly: "Comrade Military Commissioner, I really didn't expect that we would have the opportunity to fight side by side again."

"Yes, yes." Gorokhov said with emotion: "When the troops were mobilized to the Far East and learned that you were about to take up the post of commander of our 53rd Army, your former subordinates were extremely excited and wished they could immediately Meet you. No, yesterday I received a call from the Front Army Headquarters, saying that the train you are taking will arrive at noon today, so I personally took someone to the train station to pick you up."

"Comrade Military Commissar, let me introduce you." After Sokov and Gorokhov chatted for a while, he first introduced Lukin to him: "This is the new deputy commander, Lieutenant General Lukin. I believe you have heard of him before. name, right?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander. Shortly after the outbreak of the Patriotic War, I once read a report about Lieutenant General Lukin in the newspaper." Gorokhov said, reaching out to Lukin and saying in a friendly manner: "Hello , Comrade Deputy Commander, welcome to the 53rd Army."

Then Sokov was about to introduce Yakov to Gorokhov, but the other party said first: "Comrade Commander, you don't need to introduce General Yakov. When you were still the commander of the 53rd Army, he He has been to the 53rd Army many times and can be said to be an old friend of ours." After saying that, he stretched out his hand to shake Yakov's hand.

“Now that everyone knows each other, let’s talk about work.” Sokov looked at Gorokhov and asked: “What is the current situation of the army?”

"After the Germans surrendered, there were rumors that our army group was going to disband, which caused a bit of panic at the time." Gorokhov said: "But not long after, I received a notice from my superiors saying that you were about to return as the commander of the group army. position, and the troops will have more important combat tasks in the future. After announcing that the troops would not be disbanded for the time being, the superiors began to replenish our group army. Originally, each division only had 60% of the troops. After the replenishment, it reached 80%.”

Hearing that the strength of the divisions under the group army was only 80% of the prescribed strength, Sokov couldn't help but frowned: "We may fight a fierce battle next. The current strength of the army is only 80%. Isn't it a bit too small?"

"That's quite a lot, Comrade Commander." Gorokhov said: "As far as I know, in the later stages of the war, many troops had less than 50% of their troops left, but they still successfully completed the tasks assigned to them by their superiors. combat missions. Now the proportion of our troops has reached 80%, and we are fully capable of completing any combat missions."

Sokov knew very well that there was still a month before the war started. If he was lucky, his superiors might be able to add some more troops to him. Moreover, the soldiers to be supplemented will not be the kind of recruits who have not undergone specialized military training and have no combat experience, but veterans who have been laid off from various combat units. The addition of these soldiers will not only not dilute the combat effectiveness of the troops, but also bring the combat effectiveness of the troops to a new level.

“Comrade Military Commissar,” Yakov asked Gorokhov curiously, “I wonder how far away our army group’s location is from here?”

“Not far, not far,” Gorokhov said with a smile, “it’s only more than eighty kilometers from here.”

Hearing what Gorokhov said, the muscles on Sokov's face couldn't help but twitch violently. More than eighty kilometers is not far enough? You must know that the troops will soon fight the Kwantung Army, and the ammunition and supplies required will be massive. If the train station is too far from the station, transportation will also be a big problem.

However, the abnormality on Sokov's face was not noticed by others. Yakov was still urging Gorokhov: "Comrade Military Commissar, it's getting late, so let's set off quickly. Get to the unit earlier, and we can get familiar with the unit earlier."

Soon, Sokov and others took the convoy prepared by Gorokhov and set off towards the location of the 53rd Army.

Since Sokov wanted to know more about the situation of the troops, he asked Gorokhov to share the car with him, while Lukin was placed in other vehicles.

On the way, Sokov looked at Gorokhov and asked: "Comrade Military Commissar, please tell me, which unit is the most powerful unit in the group army?"

"Which other unit could it be?" Gorokhov replied with a smile: "Of course it is Lieutenant General Afunin's Guards Infantry and other 18th Army. This army has the 3rd and 4th Guards Airborne Divisions. The 41st Guards Infantry Division are the most elite troops."

Sokov nodded slightly after hearing this. When he first served as the commander of the 53rd Army, he had always used Afunin's 18th Guards Army as the main force. Now that he heard that this unit was still the most powerful unit in the entire group army, he was very pleased. He smiled and said: "I didn't expect that Afuning is also a lieutenant general now!"

"Yes, yes." Gorokhov nodded and said: "According to his military exploits, he should have been promoted to lieutenant general a long time ago. But due to some special reasons, the application for promotion submitted by the army headquarters was rejected by the front army. The command suppressed him for a while, and it was only after the Germans surrendered that he was officially promoted to lieutenant general.”

Although Gorokhov spoke lightly, Sokov sensed something was wrong. Based on his understanding of Afuning and the results achieved by the unit on the battlefield, it was normal for the other party to be promoted to lieutenant general. Why did the application for promotion take so long? Something must have happened that I don't know about.

Thinking of this, Sokov frowned and asked: "Comrade Military Commissar, please tell me truthfully, what happened to General Afnin, and why was the promotion matter delayed for so long?"

Hearing Sokov's question, Gorokhov opened his mouth, but he swallowed the words when he reached his lips. After hesitating for a long time, he finally said: "Comrade Commander, this matter is a long story and cannot be explained clearly in one or two sentences. I think it is better to wait until we get to the headquarters and I will tell you slowly."

"Okay." Sokov thought that the other party was unwilling to talk about it in the car. He was probably worried that if the driver heard it, it might leak out and cause unnecessary trouble, so he stopped forcing and just nodded. He turned his head and followed the other person's words: "Then let's wait until we get back to the headquarters to discuss this matter."

Seeing that Sokov was no longer entangled in this topic, Gorokhov couldn't help but secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He then changed the subject in time: "By the way, Comrade Commander, since you left, the personnel in the army have not changed. Most of them are the same old faces. Do you plan to meet them? "

"That's for sure." Sokov said with a smile: "After all, we are reunited after a long absence, and it would be nice to meet these old friends. Comrade Military Commissar, when we return, you will call the corps commander and division commander of the group army And the brigade commanders, let them all come to the headquarters to meet, talk about old times, and deepen each other's feelings."