When the news of the gun salute and fireworks in Moscow's Red Square reached the headquarters of the Central Front, after a brief silence in the room, almost everyone in the room shouted "Ula" at the same time, whether it was the commander or the ordinary signal corps, all of them were infected by this atmosphere, and everyone opened their voices and cheered, and the sound was about to lift the roof.

When the room was quiet again, Rokossovsky loudly announced: "Comrades, this is the first time in the history of the Great Patriotic War that a gun salute has been fired. This is a commendation from the motherland to the units of the Central Front, the Voronezh Front, the Bryansk Front, and the Steppe Front, and commends us for the outstanding fulfillment of our combat missions. To celebrate such a great victory, we should celebrate it with a drink of champagne. ”

He looked around, found the Minister of Logistics, Andipiko, in the crowd, and instructed him: "Comrade Minister of Logistics, I order you to immediately distribute all the champagne from the warehouse to the troops, so that everyone can come together to celebrate this great occasion." ”

As soon as he finished speaking, there was another heartfelt cheer in the room.

After a short time, the champagne was delivered to the headquarters, and Malinin opened the champagne with his own hands and filled the glasses of each member of the headquarters with champagne. After waiting for Malinin to finish pouring the wine, Rokossovsky raised his glass high and said excitedly: "Comrades, for the sake of victory, cheers!" ”

The rest of the commanders and fighters also raised their glasses one after another and shouted, "Cheers!" ”

After seeing Rokossovsky drink all the champagne in the glass, they did the same and drank the champagne in the glass.

Zhukov, who has always loved to keep a straight face, is also very kind at the moment, smiling when he talks to everyone. He walked to Rokossovsky's side with a wine glass and asked with concern: "Comrade Rokossovsky, the Battle of Kursk is nearing the end, have you considered resting for a while?" ”

Rokossovsky smiled at Zhukov's concern and replied: "Comrade Marshal, I estimate that there will be a series of offensive battles in the future, and even if you want to rest, you may not have time. ”

After hearing this, Zhukov nodded and said approvingly: "That's right, Comrade Rokossovsky, after liberating Orel and Belgorod, our next offensive goal is to force the Dnieper River, liberate Kiev occupied by the German army, and return the capital of Ukraine to the embrace of the people." ”

While the two were talking, Maksimenko, who was flushed, came over and handed a telegram to Zhukov, and at the same time said with a blank face: "Comrade Marshal, this is a telegram that has just been received, from Commander Vatutin. ”

When Zhukov received the telegram, he said with a smile: "Maybe Vatutin, they are also celebrating their victory, and they specially sent a telegram to tell us." With that, he looked down at the telegram in his hand. After reading the above content clearly, his expression became serious, and he read the above content again, and found that he was not dazzled, and something unexpected really happened.

Seeing that Zhukov's face suddenly turned blue, Rokossovsky immediately realized that something serious must have happened, and asked tentatively: "Comrade Marshal, what happened?" ”

Zhukov looked left and right, and said in a low voice: "There are many people here, it's inconvenient, let's go to the hut inside." ”

When the two came to the hut, Zhukov handed the telegram in his hand to Rokossovsky and said with a heavy expression: "General Apanashchenko has died!" ”

"What, General Apanashchenko died?" Hearing that the deputy commander of the Voronezh Front had died, Rokossovsky hurriedly took the telegram and carefully read the contents of it, only to see that it was written: General Apanashchenko was found by German bombers when he was supervising the battle at the forward command post, and the general was hit by fragments of aerial bombs, and in just half an hour, the general passed away.

Rokossovsky put down the telegram, looked at Zhukov and asked: "Comrade Marshal, when did this happen?" It is important to know that the fighting in the Belgorod direction has long been over. ”

"I don't know." Zhukov shook his head, picked up the high-frequency phone on the table, and dialed Vatutin's Voronezh Front. As soon as the phone called, he asked bluntly: "Comrade Vatutin, I would like to ask, how did General Apanashchenko die?" ”

"Report to Comrade Marshal," replied Vatutin, somewhat embarrassed, "I wrote very clearly in the telegram that he had died while inspecting the forward command post and had been bombed by German planes. ”

"German plane bombing?" Zhukov frowned and said: "If I remember correctly, after noon today, the air supremacy on the battlefield will be in the hands of our army, where are the German bombers?" ”

"According to our analysis, General Apanashchenko died in the morning." Vatutin explained to Zhukov: "Due to the fact that there were no survivors in the bombed forward command post, except for a few seriously wounded. The general's death, we also learned from several wounded. ”

"Was this reported to Comrade Stalin?" Zhukov asked coldly.

"No," Vatutin replied in a whisper, "Comrade Vasilevsky went to Konev's steppe front, so I haven't had time to report the matter yet......"

Before Vatutin's words could be finished, he was unceremoniously interrupted by Zhukov, who asked coldly: "Is Comrade Chief of the General Staff in your command, and what is the connection with your report on the death of General Apanashchenko?" You know, Apanashchenko is the deputy commander of your front, and if something goes wrong with him, as the commander of the front, you should report to the Supreme Commander himself as soon as possible. ”

"I'm sorry, Comrade Marshal, I was wrong." Vatutin said ashamedly: "It was only after the recovery of Belgorod that I learned of the death of General Apanashchenko. At that time, we had just reported the good news of the recapture of the city to the Supreme Commander himself, and because I was worried that the bad news would affect his mood, I took it upon myself to refrain from reporting the matter for the time being. ”

"Confused, you're so confused." After criticizing Vatutin, Zhukov realized that he might really have a difficulty, so he took the initiative to take the matter on himself: "Okay, now is not the time to hold accountable, you should collect the body of General Apanashchenko as soon as possible and send it to Moscow for burial." I will be responsible for reporting to Comrade Stalin. ”

Stalin's heart suddenly became heavy when he heard the news of Apanashchenko's death, and according to his consideration, he was ready to reappoint Apanashchenko as commander of the steppe front after he had served for a period of time as deputy commander of the Voronezh Front. Unexpectedly, one of his most important old subordinates would unexpectedly die on the battlefield near the end of the Battle of Kursk.

He was silent for a long time, and finally said to Zhukov in a hoarse voice: "Comrade Zhukov, can you go to the Voronezh Front and escort the body of General Apanashchenko back to Moscow?" ”

"Comrade Stalin, I have ordered Vatutin, and they have collected the remains of Comrade Apanashchenko." Zhukov replied very dryly: "I will go to the Voronezh Front and escort the general's body back to Moscow." ”

"Okay, Comrade Zhukov." Stalin said weakly: "I wish you a safe journey!" ”

As soon as Zhukov left the hut, Carina staggered in, walked up to Rokossovsky, pointed at him with her finger and said: "Comrade commander, the time is almost up, it's time to do a medical examination for you, you quickly take off your coat, I can check it." ”

Rokossovsky walked to the door and closed the wooden door that had just been installed, lest anyone come in and disturb him when he checked it later. When all this was done, he walked to the bedside, took off his military uniform, and prepared to undergo Carrianna's routine examination, only to find that she was drunk and unconscious, lying on the bed and falling asleep.