Chapter 2665

In response to Sokov's order, Shekhovtsov readily agreed: "Yes, Comrade Commander, I will prepare a vehicle for you right away."

After making several phone calls, Shekhovtsov said respectfully: "Comrade Commander, the car you want is ready and parked outside now. Please come with me and I will take you to the car. "

Two jeeps were parked outside the door, with a driver and a soldier with live ammunition standing beside them.

"Comrade Commander," Shekhovtsov said to Sokov, "this is the car for you!"

Vaserigov glanced at the vehicle prepared for him and frowned: "Major Sekhovtsov, is it safe to go to the army station from here? Will there not be any gangster attacks on the road?"

"Austria has been under the control of our army since last year." Shekhovtsov said confidently: "I can assure you that Comrade Major and Comrade Commander will never encounter any danger on the road."

"Pull it down." Vaserigov said disdainfully: "We came from Budapest by train yesterday. As soon as we entered Austria, we were attacked by a group of gangsters. Almost all the passengers in the car were killed. Fortunately, we carried enough Only with the quantity of weapons can we avoid the same tragedy.”

"What, you were attacked by gangsters on the way to Vienna by train yesterday?" Shekhovtsov's rank is too low and he is not qualified to know many things. Naturally, he does not know about the attack on Sokov Road. At this moment, he heard Vaserigov mentioned that he even thought the other party was joking: "I don't think it's possible. The war is over, and all the living Germans have been put into prisoner-of-war camps by us. Where did the gangsters who attacked you come from?" Come?"

"Major, do you think I'm lying?" Seeing Sekhovtsov's attitude, Vaserigov seemed very annoyed.

"Major Sekhovtsov, what my subordinates said is true." Sokov was worried that the two would quarrel, so he began to defend Vasergov: "We did encounter an attack on the way here. Fortunately, the reinforcements arrived in time, otherwise you would have replaced someone as the army commander."

He raised his hand and looked at his watch and said, "It's getting late, let's go quickly." After saying that, he opened the side door of the back seat of the jeep and sat directly in.

After the vehicle started, Sekhovtsov, who was sitting in the passenger seat, seemed a little restless.

After a long time, he finally summoned up the courage to ask: "Comrade Commander, were you really attacked by bandits on the way here?"

"Of course." Sokov nodded slightly: "Would I lie to you about such a trivial matter?"

"No, no." Shekhovtsov hurriedly waved his hands and said, "Comrade Commander, you are kidding. How could you lie to me?"

Sokov turned his gaze out the window, looking at the scenery outside.

Ever since he watched "Sissi" as a child, he has been attracted by Austria's beautiful natural scenery and has always dreamed of traveling here. Unexpectedly, what was not done in later generations was inadvertently achieved after time travel. If nothing unexpected happens, it is possible for me to stay in this beautiful country in the next few years.

When the vehicle drove into a small forest, a fallen tree trunk suddenly appeared on the road ahead.

Vaselgov, who was sitting in the lead car, immediately shouted to the driver: "Stop, stop quickly!"

The driver quickly stepped on the brakes and stopped the car only seven or eight meters away from the tree trunk.

Vaserigov opened the car door and jumped out of the car. He quickly came to Sokov's car and said loudly: "Comrade General, there is a fallen tree ahead. I am worried that there may be an ambush in the nearby woods. I came here specifically to inform you.”

Onischenko, who was following behind, also got out of the car he was riding in, walked up to Sokov, and asked him for instructions: "General Sokov, what should we do next?"

"The location of this tree is too strange. There might be someone harmful to us lurking nearby." Sokov said thoughtfully: "Unfortunately, there are too few people around me to enter the forest to search."

Onischenko escorted Sokov to take office, bringing three jeeps and five guards. Sekhovtsov only prepared two vehicles and two guards, and the number was indeed a bit small.

"General Sokov," Onischenko suggested to Sokov: "I don't think it is necessary to search in the woods. As you said, our manpower is too small. It is impossible for these people to enter the woods. It won't do anything, so I suggest moving the trunk and moving on."

"Vaseligov, Serelkov!" Sokov felt that Onischenko's words made sense, so he turned around and called the guards he brought with him: "When other comrades are moving the trees away, you are responsible for serving as guards on both sides. , to prevent possible attacks?"

"Understood." Vaserigov and Serelkov agreed, picked up their weapons and came to both sides of the car to serve as security guards.

Onischenko and Sekhovtsov gathered the rest of the guards and went to lift the tree across the road.

The tree trunk moved away, and no bullets were fired from either side.

Seeing this, Sokov felt that he might have been attacked too many times and was a little nervous, so he quickly asked everyone to get in the car and continue on their way.

For the sake of Sokov's safety, Vasergov got into Sokov's car this time, sat down next to him, and said with lingering fear: "Comrade Commander, why is there no one driving in the woods on both sides of the road?" The gun shot. Was the tree falling just an accident?"

As soon as Vasergov finished speaking, Shekhovtsov retorted: "I don't think it's possible. It hasn't rained recently, and I just looked carefully and there are no traces of insect damage on the tree. Its collapse must have been man-made. As for why no one shot at us when trees were used to block the road, I really don’t understand.”

Sokov would naturally not think about things he couldn't understand, so as not to exhaust a lot of brain cells.

Ten minutes later, the convoy arrived at a checkpoint.

As soon as a sergeant came over to stop the car, Shekhovtsov, who was sitting in the passenger seat, stuck his head out: "It's me! I want to see your military commander."

Even though Sekhovtsov’s rank is not high, he often travels around and there are quite a few people who know him.

After the sergeant saw Sekhovtsov's face clearly, he quickly raised his hand to salute him and said: "Hello, comrade major. Our commander is currently at his headquarters. If you have anything, you can be found there. he."

The convoy continued to move forward, and Shekhovtsov turned to Sokov and said: "Comrade General, Lieutenant General Felix, commander of the 20th Guards Corps, a division commanders' meeting will be held today. Please come over at this time. Maybe their meeting isn't over yet."

As Shekhovtsov said, Lieutenant General Felix and several of his division commanders are currently studying the exercise plan. Suddenly he saw a group of people breaking into his conference room. He asked with some displeasure, "Who are you and why did you just break into my conference room?"

Onischenko took a step forward and said to Felix: "Comrade General, on the order of Comrade Commander, I sent General Sokov here to serve as the commander of the 4th Guards Army. Because Commander There is no one in the ministry, so we have to come here.”

"What, there's no one in the headquarters?" Felix said in shock after hearing this: "Where is the chief of staff, where did he go?"

"Comrade Commander," Sekhovtsov stood up from the crowd and greeted with some embarrassment: "The Chief of Staff took his men to inspect the troops everywhere. I thought his first stop would be I chose this place, so I rushed here with the new commander.”

"The Chief of Staff has never been to us." Felix explained quickly: "I think he may have gone to the 21st Guards Corps first. If you are willing to wait for him here, I believe it won't take long. , he will bring people over.”

Sokov thought of the fallen tree he saw on the way here, and felt there was something fishy about it. If you rush to the 21st Guards Corps rashly to look for the Chief of Staff, you may not be found and you will be exposed to new dangers. Thinking of this, he nodded and said: "General Felix, what you said makes sense. I'd better stay here and wait for the Chief of Staff."

After learning Sokov's true identity, Felix took the lead in saluting him, and then said: "Hello, Comrade Commander, welcome to the 20th Guards Corps. For your arrival, my men and I A warm welcome.”

Sokov knew very well that while the other party was saying a warm welcome, he might not know how to scold him in his heart.

After scanning the faces of the commanders standing at the conference table one by one, he turned his attention to Felix: "General Felix, since I am already your commander, can you introduce me to Want to meet your commander?"

Hearing Sokov's question, Felix did not dare to neglect and quickly introduced the commanders at all levels present to Sokov.

After listening to Felix's report, Sokov learned that the people meeting here were all commanders at or above the regiment level. If Felix is ​​willing to introduce himself, his identity will be known to more people in a short time.

After Felix introduced himself to all the regiment-level and above-level commanders of the 20th Guards Corps, Sokov walked over and sat on the seat Felix gave him. After everyone was seated, Sokov said: "Comrade commanders, I believe you already know that in less than a month, our army will conduct a large-scale real-force military exercise in Europe. As a participant, what do you think?”

As soon as Sokov finished speaking, a division commander stood up and asked: "Comrade Commander, I don't understand. The war in Europe has been over for almost a year, why are we still conducting such a large-scale military exercise? What is the purpose of this kind of exercise?" What’s the purpose?”

Hearing the division commander's question, Sokov showed a puzzled expression on his face: "What, you still don't know why you are conducting the exercise?"

In fact, Sokov was all pretending. When he and Malinin met, he knew the reason for this exercise. Not to mention the commander of the Guards Division below, even Malinin, the commander of the Austrian cluster, did not know.

At this moment, in order to dispel everyone's doubts, Sokov said: "Comrade commanders, this comrade division commander is right. It has been almost a year since the war in Europe ended. Logically speaking, we have begun to enjoy a peaceful life. But there are people in the world who are dissatisfied with the current situation and plan to provoke a new war. The purpose of our exercise is to show off the powerful strength of our army to scare some people with ulterior motives and make them shut up obediently. , don’t stir up trouble wantonly.”

"Comrade Commander," after Sokov finished speaking, Felix raised a new question: "Can you tell me who made what remarks that prompted the Supreme Command to make this move? Exercise decision?"

"It's Churchill, the former British Prime Minister Churchill." Sokov knew that only by letting everyone understand the real reason for carrying out the exercise can the exercise be taken seriously: "When he visited the United States, he published an article that was extremely unfriendly to our country. Speech. In this speech called Iron Curtain, he maliciously slandered our country's image and even promoted us as an enemy of our allies. In response to his irresponsible speech, our Ministry of Foreign Affairs made serious protests. With little success, the Supreme Command decided after research to launch a large-scale military exercise at the end of April to use our strength to scare the allies and let them understand that we are not easy to bully. "

"So that's it." Felix, who figured out the reason, had an angry expression on his face: "I can't believe that my comrades who once fought side by side started to hinder me behind my back less than a year after the war ended. If I If the army doesn’t conduct this large-scale military exercise, we don’t know how many dirty tricks they will use in the future.”

"Comrade Commander," the division commander who had just asked the question stood up again and said indignantly: "If the allies still wantonly provoke us after the exercise, please allow my troops to take the lead in launching a real attack on them and teach them a lesson. A meal.”

Sokov knows very well that the situation in Austria is now more complicated than that in Germany. Several countries have troops stationed here at the same time. If many things are not handled properly, large-scale military conflicts may occur. For this, sufficient publicity must be raised. alert.

"Comrade division commander," Sokov raised his hand and pressed down, signaling the division commander to sit down and talk. After the other person sat down, he continued: "The purpose of this exercise is two-fold. One is to use force to frighten the alliance. The second is to test whether the combat effectiveness of our troops has been affected after the war."

Hearing what Sokov said, the commanders present had complicated expressions on their faces. They looked at each other, not knowing how to respond to Sokov's statement.

Seeing that everyone was silent, Sokov realized that something was wrong, so he turned to Felix and asked: "Comrade Commander, is there any problem with your unit?"

"How should I put it, Comrade Commander." Felix said with an embarrassed expression: "Since the war ended and there was no need to fight, the combat effectiveness of the troops has inevitably been affected. Many commanders and soldiers do not participate in training every day, but just go everywhere to buy alcohol. , some people even stayed drunk for many days. Although I ordered people to carry out rectification, but with little effect. Sometimes I even think that fortunately the war is over now, otherwise if the situation continues as it is now, once the enemy comes over. , my troops are simply unable to resist."