As night falls, the lanterns begin to turn on.

 A dinner specifically for the commanders of the Eighth Route Army was held at the Fengtian Imperial Hotel.

 In the hall, the bright crystal chandeliers reflect the golden decoration, creating a noble and elegant atmosphere. A variety of food and wine are placed on the long table, quietly waiting for the guests to arrive.

Sokov, who was waiting at the door to greet him, saw several jeeps parked on the roadside, and more than a dozen people got out of the car one after another. They were wearing gray Eighth Route Army caps and modified khaki Japanese military uniforms. uniform. Captain Feng, wearing a Soviet uniform, stood out among this group of people. After he got out of the car, he came to a jeep behind him and opened the rear door.

After the car door opened, an imposing commander got out first. Seeing everyone's attitude towards him, he guessed that this person should be Commander Zeng of the 16th Division. After Commander Zeng got out of the car, he did not immediately come over to greet Sokov and others. Instead, he stood sideways by the car, waiting for his companions in the car to get off.

“Misha,” Yakov asked Sokov in a low voice, “could the person in the car be the commander they call him?”

"I don't think so." Sokov shook his head slightly and said in a low voice: "I think the guy who got off the car first looked a bit like their commander."

As he was talking, the people in the car had already got out of the car. Seeing his gentle look, Sokov said in a low voice: "Yasha, I think the commander who just got off the car may be the political commissar of this unit."

Captain Feng came to Sokov with a commander who looked like Commander Zeng and a political commissar, and said with a smile: "Comrade General, let me introduce you. This is Commander Zeng of the 16th Military Division. This person next to me is Political Commissar Tang."

“Hello!” Sokov smiled, shook hands with the two of them, and introduced himself: “I am General Sokov, commander of the 53rd Army!”

When Captain Feng introduced Sokov's identity to Commander Zeng and Political Commissar Tang, Political Commissar Tang always had a smile on his face, but Commander Zeng suppressed the smile on his face and even frowned slightly. Everything was seen by Sokov.

When Captain Feng introduced several other commanders who had followed Commander Zeng to the banquet to Sokov, Lu Jin extended his hand to them and said politely: "Hello, comrades from China! I am very happy to be here with you. See you here!”

When Political Commissar Tang learned that the person in front of him was Lieutenant General Lu Jin, the deputy commander of the 53rd Group Army, he immediately stepped forward to shake hands with him and said warmly: "Hello, Comrade General, I can meet here the commander of the friendly forces who helped us defeat the Japs." Member, I am also very happy.”

 Commander Zeng, however, seemed very indifferent to Lu Jin. He just shook hands politely and did not speak.

When both parties got acquainted and walked toward the banquet hall inside, Commander Zeng whispered to Political Commissar Tang: "Comrade Political Commissar, what is going on with the 53rd Army?"

Political Commissar Tang couldn't help but be stunned after hearing this, and then asked: "Old Zeng, what's wrong? Do you see anything wrong?"

"Their commander comrade is too young. He became a general at such a young age. I think there must be some background, right?" Commander Zeng said with disdain: "And this deputy commander is even more outrageous. He is actually a A disabled person in a wheelchair. A group of troops commanded by the old, weak, sick and disabled, I don’t think they have any combat effectiveness.”

“Old Zeng!” When Political Commissar Tang heard this, he quickly grabbed Commander Zeng’s arm and said in a low voice but urgently: “Be careful and don’t say these words that may affect unity.”

"Don't worry." Commander Zeng said disapprovingly: "They don't understand what we are talking about."

If it were other Soviet commanders, they would indeed not understand what Commander Zeng was saying, but he never dreamed that Sokov, who was walking in front of them, not only heard their conversation, but also understood the content of the conversation. Regarding Commander Zeng's distrust, Sokov just smiled lightly, without showing the slightest dissatisfaction on his face.

After three rounds of food and five tastes of wine, Commander Zeng stood up with a wine glass and said to everyone: "First of all, I would like to thank the Soviet comrades for arranging a new residence for us. I would like to toast you." He Sokov After the others clinked the glasses, he drank the wine in one gulp.

After finishing the glass, he put down the glass and said to Sokov and others: "General Sokov, I have a request. I wonder if you can agree to it."

Although Sokov was eager to know the other party's request, he still waited patiently for Captain Feng to translate Commander Zeng's words before he asked slowly: "Commander Zeng, I don't know what request you have, please just say it. .”

“You have arranged new accommodation for us and provided us with enough food.” Commander Zeng said, “But I wonder if you can provide us with weapons and military uniforms?”

After listening to Captain Feng’s translation, Yakov asked curiously: “I wonder what you want weapons and uniforms for?”

“Comrade Chief of Staff,” Commander Zeng looked at Yakov and said, “We need to recruit new soldiers to expand our army. If we don’t have weapons and uniforms, can we still call it an army?”

"I'm sorry, Comrade Zeng." After listening, Yakov said politely and distantly: "According to the agreement signed between our country and China, we cannot provide weapons and ammunition to your army. This is a violation of the agreement."

"What a **** agreement." Commander Zeng became anxious when he heard this: "Without military uniforms, our troops look in a mess. You know, you know they are new recruits; you don't know, you thought they were a group of bandits. Speaking of Weapons are even more important. If soldiers don’t have weapons, how can they fight the enemy on the battlefield? Should we let them use their fists and teeth to deal with the enemy?"

When Sokov heard this, he suddenly remembered that he had watched a movie about this former commander in later generations. In the movie, he was bragging to the Soviet commander at a banquet just to obtain weapons and ammunition. The beards glared, and the two sides got into a quarrel. Fortunately, the female translator he brought was smarter. Seeing the stalemate between the two parties, he immediately called in the band playing outside and played "Katyusha" on the spot, thus defuse the hostility on the court and make both parties calm. Next, an agreement was reached that satisfied both parties.

Sokov was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't notice what Commander Zeng said. He suddenly saw the other party taking off his military uniform, and he hurriedly concentrated on trying to figure out what happened.

Commander Zeng took off his shirt, pointed at the scars on his body, and said to everyone: "Except for a few 38 covers, our troops are all old-fashioned Hanyang-made, sleeves, and even bird-made ones." Guns, even such backward weapons, are not available to every soldier. Therefore, on the battlefield, we can only use cold weapons such as broadswords and red tassel guns to fight the enemy. Look, these scars on my body are from the battlefield It was left behind while fighting the Japanese." Commander Zeng showed his scars in public, which caught the Soviet army off guard. The garrison commander Major General Koltun, who was sitting next to him and remained silent, stood up and was about to say something when Sokov raised his hand to stop him. Sokov looked at the scarred Commander Zeng and said, "Commander Zeng, I also have a few scars on my body. Why don't we two compete to see who has more scars?"

"Comrade General," seeing Sokov standing up to take off his military uniform, Political Commissar Tang quickly stopped him: "Old Zeng drank too much and is talking nonsense. Don't mind."

"Old Tang," Commander Zeng didn't buy his fault. Instead, he stared at him and said, "Don't you know how much I drink? What am I doing now? The little wine I just drank is not enough for me to wash my hands." It’s oral.”

 Sokov knew very well that in Commander Zeng’s mind, he was just a pretty guy with a backing, and he didn’t know what connections he had to rely on to sit in the position of commander of the 53rd Army. If you don't shock the other party, he will still look down on you in the future. It was out of this consideration that he declined the kindness of Commissar Tang and took off his military uniform, revealing numerous scars on his upper body.

 The commanders of the Eighth Route Army were stunned when they saw the scars on Sokov's body.

"Comrades from friendly forces, let me introduce you." Yakov felt that he should come out and say a few words at this time: "The reason why Sokov became a general at such a young age was not because of connections, but because of His illustrious military exploits. Every scar you see was left by the enemy on the battlefield."

Yakov walked to Sokov's side, pointed to several bullet holes in his chest and abdomen, and continued: "These bullet holes were all left during the defense of Stalingrad. You may have doubts about Stalin. I don’t know much about the Battle of Gullah. What I can tell you is that the brutality of this battle exceeded your imagination. A soldier’s survival time on the battlefield is no more than 24 hours; even an officer’s survival time is no more than 24 hours. 72 hours. The troops commanded by Sokov were nailed to Mamayev Hill like nails. Facing the attack of tens of thousands of German troops, they never took a step back..."

Commander Zeng, who originally couldn't see Sokov clearly, looked ashamed after hearing Yakov's words. He didn't expect that the pretty boy he looked down on would turn out to be such an amazing person. Yakov ignored his translator at all and continued: "Look, all the bullet holes on his body are on the front, indicating that he was hit by bullets when he was face to face with the enemy. And the scars on his back are , it’s just some shrapnel wounds…”

 The atmosphere in the banquet hall fell into embarrassment.

 Fortunately, this situation did not last long. A female band member led a small band from outside into the banquet hall.

Seeing this, Sokov couldn't help but smile. He knew that the icebreaker was coming. This female Eighth Route Army should be the female translator in the movie. She resolved the embarrassment between the two parties by letting the band play "Katyusha".

Sure enough, the next moment, I heard the female Eighth Route Army member speaking fluent Russian in a clear voice: "Comrade commanders, it seems inappropriate to just drink and eat without any music. I wonder if you are willing to listen to the band?" Play a song?”

After Nv Balu finished speaking, everyone’s eyes were focused on Sokov. After all, he was the person with the highest military rank and position here. While getting dressed, Sokov nodded and said, "No problem, let the band play a song for us."

With Sokov's consent, the female Eighth Route Army immediately turned to face the band and said in Russian: "Comrade General has agreed, then you will play the song that was agreed in advance."

Soon, the familiar melody of "Katyusha" sounded in the banquet hall.

Lukin, who was sitting next to Sokov, immediately took the lead in singing. Then, the other Soviet commanders also sang along with the melody.

The Soviet troops were all singing "Katyusha", and the Eighth Route Army was not to be outdone. Although they did not speak Russian, they could sing the Chinese version of "Katyusha" and sang along. For a moment, the two languages ​​sang loudly to the same melody.

 After singing "Katyusha", the female Eighth Route Army did not immediately ask the band to leave the restaurant, but continued to play other music nearby.

Seeing that Commander Zeng was also dressed, Sokov smiled and said to him: "Comrade Zeng, you may be wondering why my deputy commander is a disabled person?"

 After listening to Captain Feng’s translation, Commander Zeng nodded vigorously. He also wanted to know how Lu Jin became disabled.

Now that the atmosphere has reached this point, Sokov recounted what he had recorded about Lukin in his history books to those present.

After learning the true situation of Lu Jin, Commander Zeng stood up, faced Lu Jin and said apologetically: "Comrade Deputy Commander, please forgive me for being rude to you just now." Then he winked at the subordinate next to him. , after everyone stood up, he took the lead and raised his hands to salute: "Please accept our salute to you. This is the respect of soldiers for soldiers! Salute!"

Following Commander Zeng’s order, all the Eighth Route Army commanders and fighters in the banquet hall raised their hands and gave Lu Jin a solemn salute to show their respect for this hero on the Soviet-German battlefield. Lu Jin, who was sitting in a wheelchair, also raised his hand in return. Sokov next to him could clearly see the tears shining in his eyes.

After everyone was seated again, Sokov said bluntly to Commander Zeng: "Commander Zeng, I still stick to our original opinion. According to the agreement signed between our two countries, I cannot provide weapons and ammunition for your troops. and military supplies such as military uniforms.”

Commander Zeng’s smile froze on his face. He did not expect that after such a harmonious scene just now, it still could not change Sokov’s mind. He wanted to have another attack, but was discovered by Political Commissar Tang next to him. Political Commissar Tang grabbed his head and shook his head slightly at him, telling him not to be impulsive and that everything should be considered in the long term.

Just when Commander Zeng was discouraged, he heard Sokov continue: "Although our army will abide by the agreement between the two countries and will not provide weapons, ammunition and military supplies including military uniforms to the Eighth Route Army. But the regulations are strict. Yes, people are alive, and we may be able to work out a compromise to solve the current dilemma."

Commander Zeng's eyes suddenly lit up when he heard what Sokov said, and he asked with some urgency: "General Sokov, do you have any good ideas?"

Sokov first turned his head and glanced at Lujin and Yakov next to him, then turned his gaze to Commander Zeng, and said unhurriedly: "Let me tell you my thoughts first. If you don't object, we will Just follow this plan.”

 (End of this chapter)