Sokov felt a little hungry. He raised his hand and looked at his watch. It was not yet twelve o'clock, so he said hello to Ponedelin and Sidorin: "I'm a little hungry. Let's go to the kitchen to find something to eat."
"
Hearing that Sokov was hungry, Sidorin quickly said: "Comrade Commander, if you want anything to eat, just ask. I will call the cooking team immediately to bring it over."
"No need." Sokov waved his hand and rejected the other party's kindness: "I just stayed in the house for too long and felt a little bored. I want to go out for a walk. I will leave the work here to you."
Since Sokov said he wanted to go out for some air, Ponedelin and Sidorin couldn't displease him, so they could only call Koshkin and ask him to protect Sokov's safety.
Koshkin followed Sokov out of the headquarters and when he came outside, he asked tentatively: "Comrade Commander, where are you going?"
"First accompany me to the cooking class." Sokov asked Koshkin: "Do you know where the cooking class is?"
"I know." Koshkin nodded and replied: "I once went to the cooking class to eat."
Seeing that Koshkin knew where the cooking squad was, Sokov quickly told him: "Take me there now. I'm suddenly very hungry. I want to eat something to fill my stomach."
Soon, Koshkin led Sokov to a bungalow and said to him: "Comrade Commander, this is where the cooking squad is, please come in!" After that, he stepped forward and pushed open the room.
Door.
When Sokov walked into the room, he saw a busy scene inside. A group of people were very busy choosing vegetables, washing vegetables, chopping vegetables, etc. Seeing Sokov pushing the door in, everyone was excited.
He stopped what he was doing and stood there and saluted Sokov.
"Comrades, you continue to be busy." Seeing that his arrival had disturbed the work of the cooks, Sokov quickly waved his hands to everyone and said apologetically: "I just came in to find something to eat."
An elderly second lieutenant came to Sokov, raised his hand to salute him, and reported: "Hello, comrade commander, I am the division chief, second lieutenant Nasim. Do you have any instructions?"
"There are no instructions, Second Lieutenant Nasim." Sokov said to him with a smile: "I'm just a little hungry, so I went to the kitchen to find something to eat."
When Nasim heard this, he immediately became frightened: "Comrade Commander, if you want something to eat, you only need to send someone to tell us, and we will send it to you as soon as possible. How can we ask you to go there in person?"
"It's okay, Comrade Second Lieutenant." Sokov said reasonably: "I'm just too bored in the headquarters and want to find a place to clean up. By the way, how much time will it take to prepare a meal?"
"It's almost ready. You and this comrade, the captain, go to the private room and sit down for a while. Once our red cabbage soup is cooked, we can deliver it to you."
"Comrade Second Lieutenant, can you take me to see how to make red cabbage soup?" Although Sokov has drunk red cabbage soup many times, he still doesn't know how to make this soup. He wants to know more out of curiosity.
learn.
"Of course!" Naturally, Nasim couldn't ask for Sokov's curiosity: "Please come with me, and I will personally introduce you to this hot soup."
Nasim brought Sokov and Koshkin to the stove, pointed to a pile of vegetables on the cutting board, and said: "These are the ingredients for making red cabbage soup. The potatoes, tomatoes, onions, and radishes are all cut into pieces."
Cut into slices, and cut the celery into sections." Then he pointed to the steaming aluminum pot that was placed on the fire without a lid, and continued to explain how to make red cabbage soup: "The beef tendon is cooked in the pot.
Meat, when the meat is cooked to the point of tenderness, take the meat out and set aside. Then put the potatoes, onions, and celery into the pot one by one and cook for ten minutes. Then add the cabbage and tomatoes. Wait until they are all cooked.
After it’s ready, add tomato sauce and salt, and it’s ready to go.”
"It smells so good." Sokov said, "I really want to taste the taste of this red cabbage soup right away."
"Comrade Commander, please go to the private room and sit for a while. The food will be sent to you soon."
Sokov and Koshkin, led by the Chief of Staff, came to the private room in the cafeteria. Nasim said to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, when you eat later, close the door so that no one will disturb you.
, you can enjoy your lunch in peace."
"Thank you, Comrade Second Lieutenant." After expressing his gratitude to Nasim, Sokov motioned for him to leave: "You go ahead and do your work first, and you will bring the food to us when it is ready."
Nasim agreed, turned around and left the single room, closing the door behind him.
"Comrade Commander," Koshkin asked Sokov curiously after Nasim left, "Why do you want to come to the cafeteria for dinner today? You know, this is the first time I've known you for so long.
Let’s eat in the cafeteria.”
Sokov chuckled and said: "Every time the cooking team prepares the food, it is sent directly to the headquarters. After I finished eating, there was basically no activity. I felt that I had gained some weight during this period, and even my belly was fat.
Out."
The two were talking when suddenly there was a loud noise outside, and it seemed that many people had entered the cafeteria. Seeing Sokov's surprised look, Koshkin explained to him: "Comrade Commander, in the cafeteria
There will always be commanders and fighters coming to eat at any time, and now there should be a group of commanders and fighters coming to have a meal outside."
Sokov did not speak after hearing this. He just nodded silently, assuming that he agreed with Koshkin's statement. He just listened carefully to what the commanders and fighters outside would say.
"Lieutenant Galinlov," said a childish-sounding voice: "Can you tell us how you escaped from Belarus?"
"Escape from Belarus?" Sokov couldn't help but be startled when he heard this. Why did the other party say he had escaped from Belarus? In order to figure out what was going on, he tilted his head towards the door.
angle so as not to miss what the commanders and soldiers outside said.
A baritone voice spoke up: "After the fall of Minsk, there were no more than a hundred troops left in the city. During the subsequent clearing of the German army, they either pretended to be civilians and hid, or they were caught by the Germans and brutally killed.
Killing. Although the troops outside the city were fighting on their own due to communication interruptions, they analyzed the situation and knew that they had no hope of repelling the German attack if they continued to persist, so they were forced to choose to retreat. But then
The retreat was not smooth, and we were chased and beaten by the Germans all the way. However, because our army lacked heavy weapons, air superiority and effective supplies, we almost escaped and died all the way."
When Koshkin heard this, he stood up suddenly and was about to go out to stop this nonsense guy, but Sokov reached out and stopped him: "Koshkin, don't get excited, let's listen to what he will say next."
Seeing that Sokov would not let him go out and argue with the man, Koshkin could only sit down obediently and listen patiently to the people outside who continued to talk about his experiences that year.
"...the German artillery fire seems to be free of charge. Planes are constantly circling overhead. A regiment of our army surrounds a German company, but it is often impossible to encircle it. The other side uses artillery fire and air force support.
Under a double blow, most of our troops are often killed or injured. Before you can dig out your comrades from the rubble, the enemy's tanks rush up. Within a few hours, there are only a few people left in the regiment.
Alas, all we could do at that time was retreat, an endless retreat, without any logistical supplies, and the order we received was to retreat, retreat. The battalion I was in at the time was broken up by the Germans during the battle, and my comrades jumped out.
The fight became less and less. When we retreated to a residential area, we counted the number of people and found that there were only about 20 people left in the whole battalion. We thought that we should be able to find our troops in the residential area, but even if we couldn't find them, no matter what, we would be able to find them.
We had some food, but we walked around the settlement and still came back empty-handed."
At this time, a loud voice came from outside: "Comrade Lieutenant, what are you talking about? Now the Germans are retreating steadily under the favorable blows of our army. But you are telling the new soldiers about the past of our army.
Some of the failures suffered..."
"Second Lieutenant Nasim, isn't what I said the truth?" Lieutenant Galinlov retorted loudly: "In the early days of the war, our army was either defeated or retreated. If it weren't for my good luck, I wouldn't have died on the battlefield.
He was imprisoned in a German prisoner-of-war camp. You know, there were more than 600 people in our camp at the beginning, but now there are no more than five people alive, including me."
"Lieutenant," Nasim suddenly lowered his voice and said to Galinlov: "The commander and his guard battalion commander are in the single room next to him. If he hears your words, will you still be alive?"
Nasim's words suddenly frightened Galinlov into a cold sweat. He lowered his voice and said to Nasim: "Comrade Secretary, we have known each other for more than a day or two. This kind of joke is not funny."
Seeing that Galinlov didn't believe him, Nasim straightened his face and said, "Comrade Lieutenant, do you think I would joke with you about this kind of thing?"
Seeing Nasim's serious expression when he spoke, Galinlov realized the seriousness of the problem and couldn't help but break into a cold sweat. He asked tremblingly: "Is Comrade Commander really in the private room inside?"
Nasim did not speak, but nodded. At this moment, other cooks came over with food, so Nasim came to the door of the single room, knocked on the door with his hand, and asked respectfully: "Comrade Commander, I am
Chief of Staff, Second Lieutenant Nasim, the food has been brought to you, can I come in?"
The door opened, and an expressionless Koshkin appeared at the door, making a gesture of invitation to Nasim. Nasim quickly greeted the cooking soldiers and brought the meals prepared for Sokov into the private room.
Galinlov, who was standing outside, was still lucky, thinking that Nasim might be joking with him, but when he saw Sokov's most trusted Captain Koshkin appear at the door, he immediately realized that he was really
He got into a big disaster and was immediately frightened to the point of sweating profusely.
Who knows what he is more afraid of, but what happens more and more? Sokov's voice comes from the room: "The lieutenant who just spoke outside is called Galinlov, right?"
Hearing that Sokov actually called out his name, Galinlov didn't know that what he just said was overheard by Sokov. He staggered to the door and sat down inside.
After saluting, Sokov replied: "Yes, Comrade Commander, I am Galinlov."
"Comrade Lieutenant, I think you haven't had lunch yet. If you don't object, please come in and sit down and have something together."
Galinlov didn't have the guts to eat with Sokov. Just when he was about to shirk, Koshkin, who was standing at the door, gave him a hard push on the shoulder and pushed him into the room.
Seeing Galinlov staggering into the room, Sokov knew that this was Koshkin's masterpiece. After a faint smile, he said to Kirillov: "Please sit down, Comrade Lieutenant. Let's have something together, by the way."
Let’s chat.”
Since Sokov told him to sit down, Kirillov could only sit opposite Sokov obediently. Although there was a rich food in front of him, Galinlov, who was feeling uneasy, had no intention of eating.
thing.
"Comrade Lieutenant," Sokov picked up a spoonful of mashed potatoes, put it into his mouth, and asked vaguely, "I just heard you say that you escaped from Minsk?"
Galinlov stood up suddenly and said in a panic: "Comrade Commander, I was wrong!"
"Wrong?!" Sokov looked up at Galinlov and asked, "Where did you go wrong?"
"Comrade Commander, I should not mention the failure in Minsk to others." Galinlov said: "I know this is a defeatist argument, but please give me a chance. I will not dare to do it next time.
Already."
"Sit down, Lieutenant Galinlov." After Sokov asked the other party to sit down, he said like a chat between old friends: "I don't think there is anything wrong with you. On the contrary, for the failure back then, we should
Tell more people and let them understand how hard-won our victory today is."
"Yes, Comrade Commander." Galinlov stood up again and replied loudly: "I will definitely tell more people about my experience back then, so that they all understand that the victory we achieved today is
How hard-won it is.”
Sokov knew that even if he kept Galinlov again, he would not be interested in eating, so he waved to him and said: "Comrade Lieutenant, I think you are too restrained here, so you should go out to accompany your comrades.
Let's eat."
When Galinlov heard what Sokov said, he felt as if he had been granted amnesty. He quickly agreed loudly, raised his hand in salute, turned around and walked out of the room.
After Koshkin closed the door, he walked to the table and sat down. He said to Sokov who was sitting opposite: "Comrade Commander, why did you let this guy go so easily? Even if you don't remove him from his post, at least
We must also teach him a lesson."
"Koshkin, I think Lieutenant Galinlov did the right thing." Sokov said to Koshkin earnestly: "At the beginning of the war, our army was beaten by the Germans due to insufficient preparation for the war.
Being caught off guard, we had to choose to retreat on all fronts and suffered huge losses. Now with our army's successive victories, the history of defeat back then has been ignored by many people, intentionally or unintentionally.
This is wrong. No matter how many victories we have achieved, we cannot forget the failures of the past. We must learn from these failures and avoid making similar mistakes in the future. Do you understand?"
After Sokov's explanation, Koshkin realized that he had thought the problem too simply, so he nodded and said, "I understand, Comrade Commander."
"Now that you understand, let's eat." Sokov said with a smile, "I'm so hungry."