Red Moscow.

Chapter 2653

"Comrade General," Bissenbin said respectfully, "it was a corporal who was patrolling nearby. He called the duty room of the headquarters and said that you came to the city for an inspection and told us your detailed location. Duty The personnel felt that the matter was important and reported it to the commander, General Trofimenko. When the commander heard that the former commander had arrived in Budapest, how could he ignore it, so he sent me and someone to pick you up. "

 After saying these words, Bissenbin paused for a moment, seemingly giving Sokov time to digest the information. When he felt that the other party had almost digested it, he continued: "Comrade General, the car is waiting for you outside. Please come with us."

"Comrade Captain, I'm really sorry. We just ordered the food and the restaurant owner hasn't served it yet." Sokov said to Bisenbin in a consultative tone: "Look, can you wait until we finish eating and then follow you to the commander's office?" department?"

Bisenbin thought for a while, then nodded and said: "Okay, Comrade General, it won't be too late to go to the headquarters after you have finished your meal."

Sokov called Seryosha over: "Comrade Captain, let me introduce you. This is Seryosha, who previously served as the guard battalion commander of the headquarters."

“Are you Seryosha?!” Bissenbin’s eyes widened in surprise: “Didn’t you die in the battle?”

"I didn't die, I was just wounded." Seryosha said with some surprise: "Comrade Captain, do you know me?"

"I don't know." Bissenbin shook his head and said, "I heard it from another guard battalion commander."

"Who?" Seryosha asked impatiently: "Who is the other guard battalion commander you mentioned?"

“Serelkov, Captain Serelkov.” Bissenbin said loudly: “He is the commander of another guard battalion.”

"Seryozha," Sokov had some impression upon hearing the name Bissenbin mentioned: "Is he your guard company commander Lieutenant Serelkov? I really didn't expect that after not seeing him for two years, he would also be there." Became a captain."

Seryosha was not sure: "I think it should be."

 A quarter of an hour later, the restaurant owner brought out all the dishes ordered by Sokov and others.

When the boss was about to leave, Bissenbin said to him: "Calculate how much it is, I will settle the bill."

Hearing that Bissenbin wanted to pay for himself, Sokov felt something was wrong and quickly said: "Comrade Captain, I'd better pay the bill myself."

"Comrade General, when I came here, the commander told me that you are our guest and I must entertain you well." Bisenbin said with a smile: "Since you are here to be a guest, how can you let the guests I paid for it out of my own pocket.”

Since Bissenbin said this, Sokov did not argue with the other party about who would pay the bill, and allowed Bissenbin to follow the restaurant owner to the counter to settle the bill.

“Seryosha, Kopalova.” Sokov said to the two people in front of him: “Let’s eat quickly, the car is still waiting for us outside.”

 In fact, even if Sokov didn't say anything, Seryosha and Kopalova knew that someone was waiting for them outside, so they naturally ate very quickly.

When they finished eating and stood up to leave, the restaurant owner came over, bowed and sent them out the door, and said: "Welcome to visit next time!"

Bissenbin and others who were waiting at the door saw Sokov going out and hurriedly greeted him: "Comrade General, please get in the car."

Sokov nodded, and after letting Kopalova sit in first, he sat in the middle of the back row, while Seryosha entered the door last and sat down next to Sokov.

Bisenbin waited for Seryosha to close the door, then sat in the passenger seat and said to the driver: "Drive, go to the headquarters!"

“Comrade Captain,” Sokov asked Bissenbin curiously after waiting for the car to start: “In addition to the group army headquarters in the city, is the group headquarters also here?”

"That's right, Comrade General." Bissenbin said with an affirmative tone: "The Army Headquarters is located at the School of Economics of the Royal Hungarian University of Sciences on the left bank of the Danube River in the city center. The main teaching building was built in 1874. It is a typical neo-Renaissance period style.”

Sokov is not very interested in the location of the headquarters. In a city that has been baptized by war, not many buildings have been completely preserved. After coming out of the station, Sokov could see traces of war on the buildings on both sides of the road. Presumably, the main teaching building of the School of Economics of the Royal Hungarian University of Sciences was also damaged to a certain extent.

Soon, the car came to a three-story building near the river.

 Bisenbin stopped the car, turned to Sokov and said, "Comrade General, we are here."

 Seryozha opened the car door and got out of the car first. He stood next to the car and helped Sokov and Kopalova get out of the car one by one.

When several people were about to walk into the building, a captain came out. When he saw Bissenbin, he took the initiative to greet him: "Captain Bissenbin, where are you coming from?"

"I was ordered by the commander to pick up a guest." After Bissenbin said this, he suddenly remembered that Sokov and Seryosha seemed to know the captain who greeted him, and quickly added: "Captain Serelkov , The guest here today is still an old acquaintance of yours."

 “My old acquaintance?” Serelkov said confusedly: “Who is it?”

“Lieutenant Serelkov,” Sokov came out from behind Bissenbin and said to Serelkov: “Don’t you recognize me?”

Serelkov stared at Sokov for a while, and then said as if he was waking up from a dream: "It's you, Comrade Commander, am I not dreaming?"

"Of course it's not a dream." Sokov stepped forward and held his hand, shaking it vigorously a few times: "Ever since I was injured and left this army, I thought I would never have the chance to see my former comrades again."

"Comrade Commander," Serelkov said with some emotion: "Your old friend, Captain Seryosha, died in a battle..." "Who said I died!" Seryosha also came over and rushed over. Looking at Serelkov, he said: "Don't you see that I am standing in front of you alive?"

After Serelkov saw Seryosha clearly standing in front of him, he exclaimed, and then asked in surprise: "Seeryosa, didn't you sacrifice yourself? Did you climb out of the coffin?"

Seryosha stepped forward and grabbed Serelkov's hand, and said with a smile: "You touch my hand to see if it is warm. If I am dead, my hand should be cold."

"Seryozha, you are still alive, still alive." Seeing his former comrade-in-arms appear in front of him again, Serelkov became more and more excited: "I never expected that, Seryosha, you are still alive, actually still alive, It really surprised me.”

"Captain Serelkov," Bissenbin said after seeing several people reunited so happily, he was worried that once they started chatting, they would not know how long it would take. He had already wasted a lot of time waiting for Sokov in the restaurant. If the delay continues, the commander will blame him. He quickly said to Serelkov: "Comrade Commander is still waiting to see General Sokov."

"Comrade Commander," Serelkov said quickly, realizing that he might have delayed Sokov's business, "My residence is not far from here. If you have time before leaving, you are more than welcome to come over."

"Well, okay. If I have time, I will definitely go to your place as a guest and catch up with you by the way." After Sokov said this, he turned to Bissenbin and said: "Captain Bissenbin, take us to see General Trofimenko."

Arriving at the headquarters on the third floor, Sokov met General Trofimenko, who took over his post.

"Hello, General Trofimenko!" Sokov stretched out his hand to Trofimenko and said in a friendly tone: "Nice to meet you."

"Hello, General Sokov!" Trofimenko held Sokov's hand and said politely: "Welcome to our place as a guest."

 After Sokov introduced both Kopalova and Seryosha to Trofimenko, they sat down and continued chatting.

Trofimenko looked at Seryosha and asked curiously: "Comrade Captain, I remember you. Didn't you die in the battle? Why are you here again?"

"Comrade General," Seryosha heard Trofimenko ask about this and quickly stood up and explained to him: "I was only injured on the battlefield and fainted. As a result, the rescuers thought I had been sacrificed and left me alone. Lying on the battlefield. When I woke up again, I found myself captured by the Germans and imprisoned in a prisoner of war camp."

　　When he learned that Seryosha was actually captured because of his wounds, Trofimenko looked surprised: "Then how did you leave the prisoner of war camp?"

Seryosha considered that Trofimenko was once his superior and there was no need to hide some things from him, so he said truthfully: "Our army occupied the prisoner-of-war camp, liberated all the commanders and fighters detained there, and then sent them to I went to Siberia and received reform there. I was lucky. Not long after I was released from the labor camp, I met Misha who went there to visit Lieutenant General Lukin, and he took me back to Moscow. "

After figuring out Seryosha's situation, Trofimenko continued to ask: "Then why did General Sokov suddenly appear here?"

Sokov remembered that the 27th Army was also among the troops participating in the exercise, so he said bluntly: "I am here to participate in the actual military exercise next month."

“Oh, you are also here to participate in the exercise?” Trofimenko asked with interest: “General Sokov, I wonder which unit you are about to command?”

“The 4th Guards Army, troops stationed in Vienna.”

“Stationed in Vienna?” Trofimenko said with some confusion: “Since you are going to Vienna, how come you are in Budapest?”

"The train we took had to stop at the Budapest station for more than ten hours." Sokov explained to Trofimenko: "You also know that sitting on the train is very boring, so we just came out and walked around. Let’s go and taste Hungarian food.”

"Oh, that's it." Trofimenko nodded and said regretfully: "It's a pity that today is the weekend. Many famous restaurants are not open. What is open are some small small restaurants. Their food The taste is not authentic. If you can stay a few more days, I can personally act as a guide for you on Monday and take you to taste the real Hungarian food so that you can eat enough."

“What a pity, our train will leave in a few hours.” Sokov sighed and said, “We can only talk about it when we have the opportunity in the future.”

"Budapest and Vienna are less than three hundred kilometers apart." Trofimenko said: "If you come by car, it only takes a few hours. I think you will have a lot of free time after the exercise is over. You can take the time to taste delicious food in Budapest.”

"By the way, General Trofimenko, I want to ask, are the old people in the headquarters still there?" Sokov asked tentatively: "I want to see them."

But after hearing Sokov's question, Trofimenko was silent for a long time before he said: "General Sokov, I understand your mood, but the personnel in the headquarters have basically changed in the past two years. , the division commanders and brigade commanders below have also been replaced by new ones. Even if there are one or two who have not been replaced, their stations are too far away from here and they will not be able to come back in a while. "

“That’s such a pity.” Sokov said with emotion: “I thought I would be able to see a few of my old comrades today when I returned to my old army, but I didn’t expect to see any of them.”

"Misha, it's obviously wrong to say you haven't seen anyone." Seryosha reminded him from the side: "When we entered the door, didn't we meet Serelkov? He was the security company commander of the headquarters. He can be considered an acquaintance of ours.”

“Yes, yes, you are right, Serelkov is an acquaintance we met.”

“General Sokov, I have a question I want to ask you.” Trofimenko said, “I wonder if you can give me an answer?”

 “What’s the problem?”

"The war has been over for almost a year." Trofimenko asked puzzledly: "Why did the General Staff suddenly launch such a large-scale military exercise? To be honest, I called some friends in Moscow When I was on the phone, I was told that they were taking a train to Europe to prepare for the upcoming military operation.”

 Sokov knew very well that even though Trofimenko was the commander of the army group, due to his position, he was unable to know a lot of important information. So he explained: "In early March, during his visit to the United States, former British Prime Minister Churchill delivered an infamous speech, which was full of bad remarks about our country and even promoted that we were their enemies. In order to protest against this "Irresponsible speech, Marshal Zhukov plans to hold a massive military exercise in Europe to shock those young people."

This was probably the first time Trofimenko had heard of such content. After a long silence, he cautiously asked: "General Sokov, I heard that this exercise is a real-arms exercise with live ammunition. There is no such thing here. Outsiders, can you tell me the truth? Is this actual military exercise an exercise, or is it a preparation for launching a new attack against Britain, the United States, France and other countries? "

Sokov did not expect that such a ridiculous idea would pop up in Trofimenko's mind. He smiled and said: "General Trofimenko, you are worrying too much. This is just a military exercise, but the scale is small." It’s a little bigger, but you can rest assured that the armies of Britain, the United States and France will never launch a real attack.”