Shortly after the inspection of the three army groups, the headquarters of the Front was moved to Novobelitsa, near Gomel, and at the same time the forces were regrouped, concentrating the main forces in the center of the front. Along with the transfer of the command, there was also the reconstituted Belarusian government and the Central Committee of Belarus.

Before the headquarters was officially put into operation, Rokossovsky decided to go out into the streets and get a feel for the customs of the Belarusian city.

For the sake of Rokossovsky's safety, Malinin immediately sent a platoon of troops to follow him, but Rokossovsky refused: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the city is full of our troops, can't even the safety of my life be guaranteed?" ”

"But, Comrade Commander." "Although we have liberated the city, who can make sure that there are no hidden Nazis in the city, and what if something happens to you?" ”

Rokossovsky heard the concern in Malinin's words, nodded and said: "In this way, Comrade Chief of Staff, I will only take one squad of guards and fighters with me when I go out this time, and I can't do it any more." ”

Seeing that Rokossovsky was relieved, Malinin's heart felt a little steady: "That's fine, with guards by your side, no matter where you go, we can feel at ease." ”

Rokossovsky, with the fighters of the guard squad, left the command, which was in disarray, and walked along the street towards the front. There were quite a few troops on the road, and when they saw Rokossovsky walking towards them, the commander who led the team hurriedly raised his hand to his forehead and saluted, while the soldiers in the queue saluted Rokossovsky.

There was a new soldier, and after Rokossovsky walked over, he curiously asked the squad leader next to him: "Squad leader, the comrade general who just passed is the commander of our front, right?" ”

"That's right, it's him" The squad leader looked at Rokossovsky's back and said with emotion: "This commander of the Front Army is not only handsome, but also very good at commanding battles. Don't look at us now that we have moved to a secondary direction, but our performance is not at all worse than those troops that are fighting in the main direction......"

Before the squad leader finished speaking, he heard the captain leading the team in front of him shouting in a low voice: "Don't speak!" ”

…………

Rokossovsky walked down the street and saw buildings on both sides, many of which had been destroyed by artillery fire, and residents in civilian clothes were turning through the rubble in the rubble, looking for household items buried underneath.

In front of a relatively intact building in front of it, there was a long queue. When Rokossovsky approached, he found a paper sign hanging at the door, on which was written in black pen "District Soviet".

Rokossovsky curiously stopped an old man who had just come out of it and asked curiously: "Old man, what are you lining up here for?" ”

"It's the Shogun." The old man saw a string of gold stars on Rokossovsky's shoulders and several soldiers following him, quickly took off his hat, bowed to him, and replied respectfully: "This is the newly established Soviet, send a notice for all the residents of the city to register, and issue ration cards to everyone." It is said that in the future, these rations will be relied on to receive the necessary food for each day. ”

Hearing that this was the place to register for ration certificates, Rokossovsky couldn't help but be interested, and he asked the old man curiously: "Uncle, how much food can you receive every day?" ”

The old man thought for a moment and replied, "I heard from the staff inside that adults have 600 grams of bread a day, 100 grams of dried sausage, 200 grams of cheese and 50 grams of sugar a week. Children and dependent elderly people are halved. ”

Knowing that the old man in front of him could only receive 300 grams of bread a day, Rokossovsky couldn't help but ask with concern: "Old man, can you eat enough with such a little thing?" ”

"There's something missing." The old man pursed his lips and said, "But compared to other places, it's not bad." To tell you, General, one of my neighbors was captured by the Germans from Leningrad. He said that the adults there only had 250 grams of bread a day, and no meat at all. Thousands of people starve to death every day because they don't have enough to eat......"

"Old man, what are you talking nonsense?" A staff member who happened to come out of the building, hearing the old man say this, hurriedly stopped him sharply: "How can you listen to the deceptive propaganda of the fascist invaders? As long as the city is in our hands, we will never allow people to starve to death. ”

Seeing that the staff looked aggressive, Rokossovsky hurriedly raised his hand to stop him and said to him: "Okay, comrade, I'm just chatting with the old man casually, don't scare him." Then he turned to face the old man and said with a smile, "Uncle, thank you for the situation you just told me, there is nothing to do with you here, you can leave." ”

The old man bowed to Rokossovsky and the staff, put on his hat and walked slowly down the street.

After the old man left, the staff said to Rokossovsky in a respectful tone: "Comrade General, are you here to inspect?" Because we are too busy with work and we don't have enough manpower, we can't receive you in time, and I ask for your forgiveness. ”

Rokossovsky shook the staff member's hand, shook it lightly twice, and then said politely: "I'm just passing through here, you guys continue to be busy, I wish you all the best!" ”

After leaving the district Soviet, Rokossovsky continued to walk forward, although he saw a lot of city dwellers along the way, but they were either old people or children, all of them were elderly Aunt Katyusha, with a chest circumference and a body shape about the same height, which disappointed Rokossovsky, who wanted to see beautiful women.

After walking forward for a while, Rokossovsky turned his head and saw that the second lieutenant leading the team was only one position behind him, so he turned his face to him and said: "Comrade second lieutenant, we have been walking for so long, have you seen a young girl?" ”

Hearing Rokossovsky ask this, the second lieutenant was stunned for a moment, then shook his head, and said embarrassedly: "Report to Comrade Commander, I have looked at it carefully, and there is not a single one." They are all middle-aged and elderly women, and it is estimated that the young girls all work in factories and shops. ”

"Alas, what a pity." Rokossovsky said regretfully: "I once heard that among the many republics of the Soviet Union, the most beautiful and temperamental girl was from Belarus. It's a pity that I haven't seen a single one after walking for so long today. ”

"Comrade Commander, are you telling the truth?" The second lieutenant curiously asked Rokossovsky: "Are the Belarusian girls really the most beautiful and temperamental?" ”

Although Rokossovsky did not know whether Belarus had laws prohibiting women under the age of 25 from leaving the country as a state resource, he was well aware that because Belarus produced aristocracy in this region, women living in these regions naturally had a noble temperament that was different from that of women in other regions.

"That's right, Comrade Ensign." Rokossovsky said with a smile: "I heard that Belarus is the place with the most nobles, and the beauties here have some aristocratic atmosphere. ”

When the second lieutenant heard Rokossovsky say this, he couldn't help but laugh: "Comrade commander, are you telling the truth? How come I've never heard that before? ”

The second lieutenant's words made Rokossovsky feel a little embarrassed, and he couldn't confirm whether the post about the Belarusian girl he saw in the post bar in later generations was made up or true, so he could only smile and say in disguise: "Comrade second lieutenant, I just heard about it, so I went to the street today to verify this statement." ”

When the second lieutenant heard Rokossovsky say this, his eyes quickly looked around, and after observing his surroundings for a while, he said to Rokossovsky: "Comrade commander, I estimate that it is very difficult to see a young girl on the street. As I said, they either work in factories or sell in stores. If you want to see young girls, we might as well go to the store. ”

"Ensign, that's a good idea." Rokossovsky gave the empathetic lieutenant a thumbs up and asked, "Do you know where there is a shop?" ”

"Comrade commander, I just observed, and going down this street, it seems that there are a few shops, and we can go there and have a look." After the second lieutenant finished speaking, he was afraid that Rokossovsky would think that he was casually perfunctory, so he hurriedly explained: "I used to walk on this road when I entered the city, so I still have some impression of some buildings on both sides of the street. ”

Led by the second lieutenant, they walked along the street for five or six minutes, and finally came across a grocery store that was open.

When he came to the door, Rokossovsky saw a poster of goods on the wall outside the door, and a sign as wide as the threshold on the door, which read "Non-staple food store". But the strange thing is that there is not a single person in line at the door. Rokossovsky saw that there were a dozen or so soldiers behind him, and he was afraid that if he entered, he would frighten the salesmen inside, so he ordered them to stay outside the door, and entered the grocery store with only the second lieutenant.

Pulling open the closed door, Rokossovsky was the first to enter the store. I saw a long room with a row of glass-encrusted counters with all kinds of goods in it. Inside the counter, there is a row of shelves placed against the wall, which are also full of goods. A young girl, standing behind the counter, saw Rokossovsky and the two of them entering the door, and immediately asked coldly: "Comrade soldiers, what do you need?" ”

"Let's take a look." Rokossovsky saw at a glance that the girl with a goose egg face was quite attractive, so he replied with a smile, walked to the counter, and bent down to look at the goods inside.

When he saw several kinds of cigarettes inside, he pointed to them and said to the young salesman, "Girl, please bring me a pack of cigarettes." ”

After listening to his words, the salesman stood still and didn't move at all, but asked in an official tone, "Do you have a special ration card?" ”

"Special ration card?!" After hearing what the salesman said, Rokossovsky couldn't help but be stunned, he turned his head and asked the second lieutenant: "Do you know what it is?" ”

Not only did Rokossovsky not know what the special ration certificate was, but even the second lieutenant was at a loss when he heard it, he shook his head and replied: "I've never heard of it!" ”

This saleswoman has been staying in the German-occupied zone since the outbreak of the war, and her knowledge of the ranks of the Soviet army is still in the early days of the war, and she does not know the new rank that Rokossovsky is wearing, so she behaves extremely coldly. When she met the two soldiers on the forehead, they didn't even know what the "special ration card" was, and an impatient expression appeared on their faces: "If you don't have a special ration card, please go out." ”

"What, let's get out?" When the second lieutenant heard the saleswoman say this, he immediately became angry, he pointed at the other party with his finger, and said angrily: "Do you know what kind of people we are, and you dare to let us go out?" ”

"Who do I care about you?" The saleswoman also belongs to the pungent kind, and when she saw someone pointing at her nose, she also got angry: "Anyway, you can't buy anything here without a special ration card." If you don't leave, if you don't, I'm going to call someone. ”

"We're not leaving." The second lieutenant scowled his neck, put on an unruly look, and said, "If you have the ability, you can ask someone to drive us out." ”

"Since you won't leave, then you're welcome." After the saleswoman finished speaking, she reached out and grabbed a rope by the wall and pulled it up vigorously. Hearing the sound of a bell coming from a nearby door, Rokossovsky knew that the saleswoman was pulling the bell to call someone. He thought it was very interesting, so he clasped his hands to his chest and looked at the other with interest.

The closed door opened, and a man in civilian clothes rushed in from outside, still carrying an axe. As soon as I entered the door, I asked the saleswoman, "What's wrong?" ”

The saleswoman pointed at Rokossovsky and the two of them and said, "The two of them don't have special ration cards, and they still want to buy things here, I asked them to leave, and they won't leave!" ”

The man glanced at Rokossovsky, his eyes widening in surprise. He has much more eyesight than a saleswoman, and the person he recognizes at a glance is a general. He hurriedly walked up to Rokossovsky and said respectfully: "It turned out to be Comrade General, this is all a misunderstanding!" ”

"What is a special ration?" Seeing that the other party's attitude was very respectful, Rokossovsky did not get angry, but asked in a friendly tone: "How come I have never heard of it?" ”

"Comrade General, in fact, it is a kind of ration card for military shopping." The man hurriedly explained to Rokossovsky: "Didn't you see that although there are many goods in our store, there is not a single person in line at the door? It's because our store is only for military personnel. The so-called special ration card is a special ration card for military personnel, with which you can buy what you need from us. ”