When Rokossovsky put down the phone, Lobachev, who heard his order next to him, could not help but exclaim: "Comrade commander, are you crazy, why give such an order?" You know, if you really destroy this village, you will be court-martialed if the top authorities are held accountable. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo”

"Comrade Military Commissar, I can't help it." Rokossovsky said with a bit of anger that he could not have imagined: "Many insects are still alive in the thick paper bags thrown by the Germans, and they crawled out of the broken paper bags and into the empty houses in the village. If these insects carry a deadly virus and we don't deal with it in time, it will be fatal to our troops if they spread in the defense zone. Can you bear to watch thousands of our commanders and fighters die in agony because they are infected with the virus? ”

"But there's no need to burn down the village." Lobachev said a little unwillingly: "You must know that it will be winter in just over a month, and if the villagers who have been evacuated to the rear come back and find that the houses they rely on for survival have been burned down, how will they survive the long and cold winter?" ”

"At the moment, Borisova is not able to disinfect the infected area." Rokossovsky said softly: "If we don't want all the commanders and fighters to be infected with the virus, we must take the opportunity to destroy the source of the virus in time." ”

Lobachev took out a pen and paper and said to himself: "It seems that I am going to write a report to my superiors about the reasons why we burned the village, and I hope that in the future they will take our grievances into account when they are held accountable." ”

"Comrade Military Commissar, there is no need to write a report." Rokossovsky stopped Lobachev, who was preparing to write a report: "I'll call Comrade Marshal and report to him about the decision I have just made. In order not to implicate his deputy, he added, "If the superiors want to blame, let me take the responsibility alone." ”

"Comrade Commander, how can you say that?" Lobachev waved the pen in his hand angrily and said emotionally: "Since the superiors appointed me as your political deputy, it means that the fate of the two of us is already closely related. No matter what decision you make, as long as it is not a decision to defect to the enemy, I will unswervingly support you. Even if you have to be held accountable by your superiors, I will bear it with you. ”

"Thank you, Comrade Military Commissar." After listening to Lobachev's statement, Rokossovsky felt his nose sour for a while, and as soon as he grabbed Lobachev's hand, he shook it vigorously a few times, and then said gratefully: "Thank you for supporting me." However, please rest assured that in this extraordinary period, my superiors will not have any objection to my decision. ”

Seeing that Lobachev had firmly stood on his side, Rokossovsky felt much more confident than usual when he called Timoshenko. When Timoshenko's familiar voice came from the earpiece, he hurriedly said: "Hello, Comrade Marshal, I'm Rokossovsky, and I have something important to report to you now. ”

When Timoshenko heard Rokossovsky say that there was an important intelligence report, his whole heart couldn't help but sink, so he hurriedly asked: "What's the matter, Comrade Rokossovsky, what's going on again?" ”

"Comrade Borisova, the political commissar of the regiment at the Huirang Institute, reported to me that when they were collecting the thick paper packets dropped by the Germans, they found that many of the insects in the paper bags were still alive. As the paper bag broke when it fell from a height, many small insects got into the empty houses in the village. Rokossovsky tried his best to report to Timoshenko in a calm tone: "And they have limited conditions now, and they are simply not able to disinfect the places where the bugs are concentrated." ”

After hearing this, Timoshenko asked in an official tone: "Have you taken any measures?" ”

"In order to prevent these bugs from spreading the virus, I gave an order to Comrade Borisova to immediately burn the village." After Rokossovsky reported his deployment dryly, he said carefully: "I made this decision, and if the superiors want to blame and hold them accountable, I will bear everything." ”

Unexpectedly, after hearing this, Timoshenge actually asked disapprenously: "Who told you that we should be held responsible?" After a pause, he continued, "Comrade Rokossovsky, this order you have given is completely correct, and I would have done the same. In extraordinary times, we must adopt some extraordinary measures, as long as we can ensure the safety of the lives of our hundreds of thousands of troops and the people in the defense areas, let alone burning down a village, even if we burn ten or eight, it is worth it. ”

Hearing that Timoshenko did not hold him accountable for ordering the burning of the village without authorization, Rokossovsky could not help but secretly breathe a sigh of relief, and he then asked with concern: "Comrade Marshal, have the results of that test come out?" ”

"Not yet." Speaking of the test results, Timoshenge's originally furlen brows tightened again, "I estimate that the results will not be available until tonight at the earliest." Don't worry, Comrade Rokossovsky, as soon as the results are out, I will call you immediately. ”

After receiving the order to burn the village by Rokossovsky, Borisova immediately summoned the company commanders under her command to a meeting and conveyed the orders of her superiors. She originally thought that many people would question the order to burn down the village, but after she finished conveying the order, not only did no one object, but there were two company commanders vying to carry out this task.

Although all the villagers in the village had been evacuated to the rear a month earlier, Borisova, who had always been cautious, ordered the fighters to check house by house to make sure that there was no one inside, and then set fire to the house.

As the order to light the fire was given, black smoke rose from more than twenty places in the village at the same time, and then the wooden houses began to crackle. The fire soon burned the sky, and everything in the dragon's path was ignited, the houses were burning, the wooden fences were burning, and even some of the trees planted in the village were starting to burn.

The rolling heat wave and the dazzling fire forced Borisova to stand at a distance. Looking at the burning village, Starley said with emotion: "It's a pity that such a good village was burned down like this." ”

Borisova turned her head to look at him and said word by word: "Comrade Lieutenant, although we burned this village today, in the future we will build a better village here, so that the villagers who return home can have a place to live." (To be continued.) )