Sokov bid farewell to Asya at the station and officially set off for Vienna, the capital of Austria, Europe.
In addition to Seryosha and Vaserigov, he was accompanied by two guards who had been to Siberia with him. In order to prevent possible dangers encountered on the way, the four of them were equipped with assault rifles. Sokov originally also
He wanted to bring an assault rifle, but Vaselgov refused.
The officer responsible for protecting Sokov's safety plausibly said: "Comrade General, we are the guards to protect your safety. Even if we encounter danger, we will deal with it. How can we let you take risks?"
Seryosha also echoed: "Misha, Comrade Major is right. You are a senior commander now. Even if you encounter danger on the way, it should be the guards around you who charge into the battle. How can you risk your life?"
I think you'd better not bring a gun and accept our protection with peace of mind."
Now that Seryosha and Vaserigov had reached an agreement, Sokov could not refute and could only hold his nose and admit it.
As the train left the station and headed toward the far west, Seryosha said: "Misha, we are going to stay on the train for several days. Can you tell us something interesting?"
"Interesting things?" Sokov's mind began to think about what interesting things he could tell Seryosha and Vaserigov. After thinking for a while, he asked tentatively: "You want to hear about Vienna?
story?"
"Stories related to Vienna?" Sokov's words aroused Seryosha's interest: "Misha, tell me quickly and listen."
Sokov waited for Vaserigov, who was standing at the door, to come and sit down next to Seryosha, and then he said, "I'm just going to talk about the relationship between Vienna and mustaches."
"In 1907, the 18-year-old Mustache came to Vienna. He only went to school for a few years, and his academic performance was a mess. There were very few ways to improve his studies. But with the little painting skills he learned when he was a child, he thought, maybe
An artist will have a life of excellence.
In 1907 and 1908, he took the exam for the Vienna Academy of Arts for two consecutive years, but was never admitted.
Mustache has always been bitter about not being admitted to the Vienna Academy of Arts, and even wrote in the book "Mein Kampf": The world must have suffered a great loss if the Academy of Arts did not admit him."
Later history confirmed that he was right.
The Viennese art professors never imagined that if they had admitted Mustache, there might have been one more lunatic in the art circle filled with lunatics, and the world would have lost one war madman, averting a huge disaster - you know, Mustache
The Second World War he provoked resulted in the massacre of 6 million Jews and the death of more than 40 million people on the battlefield. This was the craziest war in human history."
Seryosha and Vaserigov obviously knew very little about the history of the mustache. After listening to Sokov's story, both of them showed shock on their faces.
Seryosha took advantage of Sokov's speech and asked tentatively: "Misha, how did that mustache become the head of Germany?"
"Although he failed to apply for the Vienna Academy of Arts, Mustache still insisted on his dream and was unwilling to leave Vienna. He lived in the basement and even lived in a shelter. In order to continue to survive in Vienna, he painted a lot of still lifes
and buildings were sold to tourists to earn a meager income. From time to time, he visited bars and cafes frequented by literati and painters, hoping that a bole would appear. But this opportunity never came.
In early 1913, Mustache made the first correct decision in his life: immigrating to Germany.
In this way, he left Vienna and headed for Munich.
When the First World War broke out in 1914, Mustache threw away his paintbrush, signed up to fight in the Bavarian Army, and became a soldier of the 16th Regiment of the Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment. His unit fought against the British and French allied forces on the Western Front.
Participated in the First Battle of Ypres, the Battle of the Somme, the Battle of Arras, and the Battle of Baschenda.
In 1917, he was promoted from an orderly soldier to a private, and was awarded an 'Iron Cross First Class' and an 'Iron Cross Second Class' for his bravery in combat.
During the Battle of the Somme in 1916, his thigh was wounded by a cannonball, and he returned to the battlefield on March 1, 1917. On October 14, 1918, near the village of Wilwick, Mustache was briefly injured by a mustard gas attack.
Blind, and while recovering from his injuries, Germany surrendered to the Allies.
After being baptized by the smoke of the battlefield, he completely gave up his dream of using art to transform mankind, and gradually evolved into a war madman."
"Comrade General," Vaserigov asked tentatively: "Is Mustache's painting skills very poor? Otherwise, he would not have been admitted to the Vienna Academy of Arts for two consecutive years."
"Michael Liversidge, the honorary dean of the School of Art at the University of Bristol, expressed his opinion after seeing the paintings of Mustache: Even from the perspective of the 1920s, his painting skills were too
Conservative. At first glance, the paintings are typical works of art candidates. When using pencils and pens, the strokes are very uncertain, and the position of the perspective point is not clear, and they often make some basic mistakes. Such candidates will not be admitted to the Vienna Academy of Arts.
Within reason.”
Seryosha said thoughtfully: "If, I say if. If the Vienna Academy of Arts admitted Mustache, this damn war might not have been fought, and we wouldn't have lost so many relatives and friends."
"I hope that such a war will not happen again in the future." Vaserigov also added: "Although I have never been to the battlefield, there are many friends around me who came from the battlefield. Although the war is over, they have returned to the battlefield after they retired.
They all have stress disorder."
Hearing what Vasergov said, Sokov couldn't help but be startled. He thought to himself, isn't stress disorder a disease that is only called by later generations? Why did it appear in this era?
Seryosha asked in confusion: "Major, what is stress disorder?"
"For example, every time someone calls your name, you shout it very loudly." Vaserigov explained to Seryosha: "When someone taps you on the back, you get used to it.
He would throw him over his shoulder sexually. Or he would habitually dig traps around his home to prevent sneak attacks. He would even wake up if there was the slightest movement in the middle of the night."
"Major is right." Sokov waited for Vaserigov to finish, then nodded in agreement: "Commanders and combatants with this disease, even if they retire, will take several years to barely overcome this disease.
disease."
While the three of them were chatting, it soon became lunch time.
"Comrade General," Vaserigov asked Sokov for instructions: "Would you like to go to the dining car to eat, or should someone bring it to you here?"
"Let's go to the dining car." Sokov said to the two of them: "The train takes several days to reach the destination. It would be too boring to stay in this box all day. If you have the chance, you should go out for more walks.
"
Just like that, the three of them arrived at the dining car.
As soon as I sat down, a female conductor came over and asked politely: "Comrade General, what do you need?"
Sokov took the menu handed over by the female conductor, ordered two dishes at random, and then handed the menu to Seryosha and Vaserigov sitting opposite: "Take a look, what do you two want to order?"
Seryosha did not take the menu, but said casually: "I want the same thing as him."
Vaserigov took the menu, looked at it, ordered two of his favorite dishes, and said to the female conductor: "Let's order this much first, and if it's not enough, we'll order more."
Perhaps because there were not many people in the dining car at the moment, the female conductor quickly brought the food to the three of them.
She placed the food on the tray on the dining table in front of the three of them one by one, said, "I wish you a good appetite!" and then left with the tray.
While Sokov and others were eating, they suddenly heard someone calling him: "Misha, Misha!"
Hearing this familiar shout, Sokov's heartbeat suddenly accelerated. He really didn't expect to meet her here.
"Misha," Seryosha, who was sitting opposite Sokov, turned his head and looked in the direction of the sound. After seeing the person clearly, a shocked expression appeared on his face. He turned his head and looked at Soko who was eating.
The husband said: "It's your ex-girlfriend Kopalova who is here!"
Sokov only knew the original owner of the body, and there seemed to be some story between him and Kopalova, but since he did not inherit the other person's memory, he could not know the answer he wanted to know. But at this moment, when he heard Seryosha say this, his
Hope arose in his heart again. Since Seryosha knew that Kopalova was Sokov's ex-girlfriend, he must know a lot of things. If he finds an opportunity some other time, he must secretly ask him.
Sokov raised his head, pretending to be surprised, and said to Kopalova who was walking in front of him: "So it's you, Kopalova! I really didn't expect to meet you here, you
Where do you plan to go?"
"Where else to go, of course, is to Vienna. Our newspaper office received an interview assignment to go to Vienna to cover the upcoming large-scale military operation. I am also a member of the interview team." Kopalova briefly explained what she wanted to do.
After going somewhere, he asked: "Misha, where are you going?"
"Kopalova, what a coincidence, I am also going to Vienna." Sokov laughed dryly: "I didn't expect that we actually went to the same place."
"Yeah, it's quite a coincidence." Kopalova sat down next to Sokov and continued: "Maybe the troop commander we want to interview is someone you know."
"I wonder which unit commander you want to interview?" After Sokov asked this question, he suddenly thought that Kopalova's interview might involve confidentiality, and quickly added: "If it involves confidentiality, it's not convenient to talk about it.
, just don’t tell me.”
"This is not a secret, and it doesn't matter if I tell you." Kopalova said openly: "The first unit we want to interview is the 4th Guards Army. It is said that in the upcoming military operation, the superiors have arranged for this
This unit is equipped with a powerful commander. As for who he is, we won’t know until we arrive in Vienna.”
Seryosha originally wanted to tell Kopalova that Sokov was the new commander of the 4th Guards Army, but he stopped talking when he discovered that his superiors had kept the interview team secret about the appointment of the new commander.
She swallowed her words and did not tell Kopalova about Sokov's new identity.
"Kopalova, have you had lunch?" Sokov promptly changed the subject in order to prevent his identity from being exposed: "If you haven't eaten, how about eating with us?"
"Okay, okay!" Kopalova nodded and said, "I came to the dining car to have lunch. I thought I would be alone, but I didn't expect to meet you, so let's eat with you, conductor!
"She raised her hand to greet the female conductor on the other side, "Please come here."
The female conductor came to Kopalova, handed over the menu, and asked politely: "Lesbian, what do you plan to eat?"
Kopalova looked through the menu and selected a few of her favorite dishes. When she handed the menu back to the conductor, she specifically emphasized: "The bill will be paid with the general's lunch."
The female conductor stood there without moving, but looked at Sokov, wanting to confirm whether he was willing to check out with Kopalova.
"Conductor," Sokov said, looking up at the conductor: "This girl is my friend, and all her expenses will be borne by me later."
The conductor who received Sokov's reply nodded, then left with the menu in his arms.
"Misha, which box do you live in?" Kopalova asked curiously: "I will go over to see you later."
After Sokov told the box he was in, he asked: "Then where is your box?"
Kopalova pointed her finger in the direction she came from, pouted and said aggrievedly: "I live in a box for four people. I don't know how the logistics worked, so that I and three strangers were allowed to live in the same box.
What’s even more outrageous is that except for me, I am a woman, and the rest are all men.”
When Sokov heard what Kopalova said, he couldn't help but raise his eyebrows: "You have a girl and three grown men crowded into a box, and they have to spend almost a week together. Isn't your leader worried about you?"
Will something happen?"
"That's not true." Kopalova complained to Sokov: "I went to the group leader to respond, hoping he could help me change the box, but he refused."
"Why did you refuse?" Seryosha interrupted and asked.
"He said that the box each member of the interview team would stay in was arranged by the newspaper leader, and he had no right to change it." Kopalova grabbed Sokov's arm, shook it hard twice, and twisted it.
The body said: "Misha, do you think he is going too far?"
"It's too much, of course it's too much." Sokov said this, not because he was trying to deal with Kopalova, but because he was worried about her. Such a long journey would bring a young and beautiful girl like Kopalova and three strangers.
The man squeezed into a box and said it was a lie to say that he was not worried about anything happening. He thought for a while and asked tentatively: "How about you move to my box. Although it is also a box for four people, the box you are in is more spacious.
.More importantly, we are all acquaintances, so you don’t have to worry about your personal safety being harmed?”
"Okay, okay." Kopalova had obviously been waiting for Sokov to say this, and said hurriedly: "After lunch, I will move the luggage to your box."
"Kopalova," Seryosha volunteered when he saw that Kopalova was moving to live with Sokov: "You will take me to your box later, and I will help you pack all your luggage."