More than 300 fighters of the 2nd and 4th battalions, led by Rai, came to Gasan's hideout. With the order of the fourth battalion commander, the soldiers immediately surrounded the place. Sadly, when they entered the basement, they found signs that someone had lived there, but they didn't find the person they were looking for.

"Hell!" When he saw that the place he was searching was empty, the commander of the fourth battalion immediately realized that he had come one step too late, but he still ordered the soldiers to search everywhere, hoping that Gasang had not fled too far.

The commander of the fourth battalion, who had nothing to do in the end, returned to the garrison with the soldiers in a gloomy manner, and when he called Xie Weilian, he reported with some weakness: "Comrade brigade commander, I have brought people back. I don't know if Ghasang got some news beforehand, but by the time we arrived, he was nowhere to be found. ”

After hearing this, Xie Weilian frowned and asked, "Then have you asked the pedestrians nearby, and have you seen a person dressed as a soldier appear nearby?" ”

The commander of the fourth battalion shook his head and said, "Comrade brigade commander, have you forgotten that all the residents of the town fled long before we captured this town, and even if Gasang appeared in that area, who would see it?" ”

"I see." Xie Weilian knew that since Gasang had escaped from his hiding place, it would not be easy to catch him again, so he said to the fourth battalion commander: "You continue to send people to search nearby to see if he has appeared at the station. If he dares to arrest him, he will be killed. ”

After Servelian ended the call with the commander of the fourth battalion, he called the army commander Panov again and reported to him the news of the failed arrest. After hearing this, Panov pondered for a while and said: "If this corporal defects to the enemy, it is possible to reveal the next whereabouts of our army, and we must find a way to catch him." ”

"Comrade Commander." Hearing Panov say this, Severian said in embarrassment: "At present, the whereabouts of this person are unknown, and it is very difficult to catch him." ”

"I think even if he escapes, he won't be able to escape from our defense zone at the moment, and I will immediately order the troops to launch a search." After making this decision, Panov called the chief of staff of the army and said to him: "Chief of staff, immediately inform the three tank battalions below that a corporal of the 14th Motorized Rifle Brigade stationed in the town of Thorn is unknown after killing a major and two fighters, and let them assist in the trackdown." Once the whereabouts of the other party are discovered, the necessary measures are taken decisively. ”

Just as the chief of staff of the corps was giving orders to several tank brigades, an officer walked in from the outside, raised his hand and saluted Panov, and said: "Comrade commander, there is an internal affairs officer from the headquarters of the Front who wants to see you outside. ”

"An internal affairs officer from the Front Command?" Panov knew that in the headquarters of the Front, there were always representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but they rarely came to the troops below, and he thought to himself, could it be that he came for the matter of Gasan? Thinking of this, he hurriedly ordered the officer: "Invite him in!" ”

Not long after, the officer led an officer from the Ministry of Internal Affairs into the headquarters. The man raised his hand and saluted Panov and said: "Hello, Comrade General, I am Lieutenant Ilyich of the Special Service Section of the Front, and I have been ordered to assist you in finding out the assassination of our officers and soldiers. ”

"Welcome, Lieutenant Ilyich." Panov got up and shook the lieutenant's hand, and said sincerely: "When it comes to fighting, our commanders and fighters are not ambiguous at all, but when it comes to catching murderers, that's your specialty." ”

Ilyich smiled faintly at Panov and said: "Comrade General, I don't know what clues you have?" ”

"Yes, yes," Panov replied quickly, "and we have found out who did this." But unfortunately, he ran away before I could send someone to arrest him. Now I have given orders to the brigades to pursue them with all their might, and to kill them if necessary. ”

When Ilyich heard this, he glanced at the chief of staff standing next to the telegraph machine and asked rhetorically: "Comrade General, don't you know that your order has reached the unit to which you belong?" ”

"The Chief of Staff is preparing to send my orders to the troops." Panov also glanced at the chief of staff and said, "We need to arrest this crazy bad guy in the entire defense area." ”

"Stop, Comrade General, please don't give orders to the troops below." Ilyich heard Panov say this, and hurriedly stopped him: "Once you pass on the order and carry out a search operation in the entire defensive zone, it will definitely cause unnecessary panic among the commanders and fighters. If the Germans seized this opportunity and launched a counterattack against our troops, it would inevitably cause considerable losses. ”

"Makes sense, makes sense." After listening to Ilyich's analysis, Panov hurriedly called out to the chief of staff: "Comrade Chief of Staff, there is no need to send a telegram to the troops below. ”

The chief of staff returned to Panov and asked with a puzzled face: "Comrade commander, why didn't you send a telegram to the troops?" ”

"Let me introduce to you, this is Lieutenant Ilyich from the Special Service Section of the Front Command, and he was sent by his superiors to help us solve the case." After explaining Ilyich's identity to the chief of staff, Panov continued: "The lieutenant suggested to me that it is not appropriate to search for the escaped Gasang in the defensive zone now, otherwise it will lead to panic ......."

After the chief of staff waited for Panov to finish speaking, he nodded, looked at Ilyich and asked: "Comrade lieutenant, I would like to ask you how you plan to capture this missing corporal?" ”

"I've brought six people here, and if I want to arrest him, I may not have enough people." Ilyich replied, "I hope you can send me a little more man." ”

The chief of staff did not get the answer he wanted from Ilyich, and after a gentle sigh, asked: "Comrade lieutenant, I don't know how many manpower you need?" ”

Ilyich held out a finger and said, "At least one platoon." In addition, Comrade General needs to prepare an additional order for me, so that I can mobilize your troops if necessary. ”

The chief of staff felt very embarrassed by Ilyich's request, if it was for a platoon, it didn't matter, but he wanted an order that could mobilize troops at any time, which was a bit difficult for a strong man. Therefore, the chief of staff turned his eyes to Panov for help, wanting to get the necessary help from him.

Unexpectedly, after listening to Ilyich's proposal, Panov actually nodded in agreement: "Well, Comrade Lieutenant, I meet all your requirements." My only condition is that you capture the missing Corporal Gasan. I don't know if you have confidence? ”

Hearing Panov's question, Ilyich grinned, and then said: "Comrade General, have you forgotten that the capture of fugitives is the strong point of our Ministry of Internal Affairs. Not to mention that Gasang is still in your zone, even if he escapes to German territory, we can still capture him. ”

Although there was a fire in the house, Panov shuddered when he heard Ilyich say this. In order to send Ilyich away as soon as possible, he instructed the chief of staff: "Chief of Staff, immediately transfer a platoon with the strongest combat effectiveness from the guard battalion and hand it over to Lieutenant Ilyich for command." In addition, I will draw up a special order and give it to the lieutenant, so that if necessary, he can mobilize the units of our army. ”

Lieutenant Ilyich is an experienced veteran investigator with a unique side to solving crimes, otherwise Rokossovsky would not have agreed to be sent on this difficult task. With a platoon of soldiers, he came to the place where Gasang used to hide and conducted a detailed investigation.

One of the entourage was a sergeant, and when he saw Ilyich looking around in the basement, he couldn't help but ask curiously: "Comrade Lieutenant, do you see what's coming?" ”

Ilyich glanced up at him, and then said, "According to my judgment, this Gasang may have heard something and decided to flee on the spur of the moment. He was in such a hurry that he didn't even have time to bring the food and water he had hidden in the corner. If I'm not misjudged, he didn't escape from the town at all, and should have been near some restaurant or café, trying to find something to fill his stomach. ”

"He's still in town." Hearing Ilyich say this, an expression of surprise appeared on the sergeant's face, and he said a little excitedly: "Comrade Lieutenant, that is, as long as we set up an ambush near the restaurant or café in the town, we can catch him?" ”

"It should be like this, what we're trying to figure out now is that there are a few restaurants or cafes in town that are open." Lieutenant Ilyich turned his head and asked the guard platoon commander: "Comrade second lieutenant, do you know?" ”

"Comrade Lieutenant," said the guard platoon commander, shaking his head, "if you are looking for a restaurant or café that is open, you may be disappointed." Because by the time our army captured the town of Thorn, the inhabitants of the town had long since left, and only the defenders remained here. ”

The reply of the guard platoon commander disappointed Ilyich a little. But he was not discouraged, but continued to ask: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, in addition, where were the three commanders and fighters killed by Gasang killed?" ”

"I know, it's right next to a shop two blocks from here." The guard platoon commander took the initiative to say, "I'll take you over to have a look." ”

"Shops?!" When Ilyich heard the guard platoon commander say this, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he hurriedly asked: "Comrade Ensign, can I ask, what is that store running in?" ”

The guard platoon commander didn't know much about the situation in the store, so he turned his head and asked the two soldiers behind him, "Do you know what that store sells?" ”

One of the fighters nodded and replied: "That store is two floors, with a food store below and a clothing spot above." I heard that they had come out of it and had been stopped by the major, and they had not said a word before they opened fire. ”

"Second lieutenant," Ilyich heard this, and hurriedly said to the guard platoon commander, "it seems that Gasang is hiding there, you should rush over at once, fence off the store, and don't let him escape." ”

The guard platoon commander listened to Ilyich's tone, and did not seem to act with him, so he asked curiously: "What about you, Comrade Lieutenant." ”

"I'm worried that there won't be enough people, so I'm going to find some more people." Out of prudence, Ilyich had the sergeant with him, along with the platoon commander of the guards, rush to the store, while he himself led the men towards the station of the fourth battalion.

Outside the battalion command post of the 4th Battalion, the soldier standing guard, although he recognized Ilyich as an officer of the Ministry of Internal Affairs from his dress, blocked his way and politely asked: "Comrade lieutenant, may I ask you something?" ”

"I'm Lieutenant Ilyich of the Special Service Section of the Front," Ilyich said to the sentry, "I have an urgent need to see your battalion commander. ”

The sentry said dryly, "I'm sorry, the battalion commander is calling a meeting of several company commanders inside, you can't go in." You'd better wait outside for a while, and then you'll do it when the meeting is over. ”

Ilyich was afraid that too long of delay would allow Gasang to escape again, so he pushed away the sentry and strode inside. The sentry tried to stop him, but found several of the Ministry of Internal Affairs fighters behind him pointing guns at him, so he could only flash to the side and watch in disdain as the men broke into the battalion command post.

The commander of the fourth battalion, who was holding a meeting inside, saw a few people breaking in from the outside, and immediately became angry: "Who are you and how did you break in?" With that, he shouted loudly outside, "Sentinel, Sentinel! ”

"No need to call, Comrade Major." Ilyich, interrupting his calls, took Panov's order out of his pocket, handed it to the commander of the fourth battalion, and said to him: "We have been ordered to come and investigate the case of the murder of the commander of the first battalion. ”

Knowing that these people from the Ministry of Internal Affairs had come to investigate the Gasang murder case, the fourth battalion commander smiled a little awkwardly, and then asked rhetorically: "Comrade Lieutenant, I don't know if I have anything to serve you?" ”

"Comrade Major," Ilyich, after putting Panov's order back into his pocket, said to the commander of the fourth battalion, "we have discovered a possible hiding place for Gasan. I don't have enough people around me, and I hope you can send someone to help us take action. ”

"Found where Gasang is?" Knowing that Gasang had a whereabouts, the fourth battalion commander became a little emotional: "Where is he?" ”

"Right next to the store where the commander of the first battalion was killed." While explaining to the commander of the fourth battalion, Ilyich urged him: "Comrade Major, don't rub in, hurry up and move the troops." If it's too late, maybe he'll run away. ”

Before Ilyich entered the door, the fourth battalion commander summoned his subordinates to discuss the matter of arresting Gasang, and at this moment, when he learned that the other party might be hiding in the shop near the place of the crime, he also became excited, and hurriedly ordered the company commanders: "The first company will stay to guard the station, and the rest of the company commanders will take their respective troops and go with the lieutenant to arrest people." We must not let this guy who has ruined the honor of our army go unpunished. ”

The company commanders, who had received the order, readily agreed, and then got up and walked outside, intending to return to their company and assign tasks to the fighters so that they could immediately rush to capture Gasan.