When Tang Shaohua returned to the garrison headquarters, it was already one o'clock in the morning.

He looked up at the wall clock on the wall of his office, smiled wryly and shook his head, and said in his heart that it was already so late, Colonel Bagramian must have rested, and if you want to contact him, it is estimated that you can only wait until the time when he works during the day.

Tang Shaohua was just lying on the temporary camp bed and wanted to seize the time to rest, when the telephone on the table suddenly rang. As soon as he rolled over, he got out of bed, and before he even had time to put on his shoes, he rushed to the table and raised his hand to grab the phone. There must have been something very important about the phone call coming in at such a time, so after he put the earpiece to his ear, he said loudly: "Hey, I'm Rokossovsky, where are you?" ”

"Thank God, Comrade Rokossovsky, I can count on finding you." Baghramyan's voice came from the earpiece, and he asked in a reproachful tone: "I say, where have you been?" Why did I call your office more than a dozen times in a row, and the attendant said that you were not there, and I didn't know where you went. ”

"I'm sorry, Comrade Colonel, I went to the tank division to inspect their training." Tang Shaohua knew that Bagramian called him in the middle of the night, and it would definitely not be to catch up with the old days, so he hurriedly asked: "May I ask if you called so late, is there anything important?" ”

"The night before yesterday the military district held an extraordinary meeting, the commander General Kirponos decided to organize the troops of the military district into two echelons and bring them into combat readiness. You know about this? ”

"I learned this from the Chief of Staff of the Army Group, General Pisarevsky." Tang Shaohua didn't know why Baghramyan suddenly asked about this matter, and after answering truthfully, he asked rhetorically: "Colonel, wasn't this order canceled by Moscow?" ”

"True, immediately after receiving a telegram from Moscow, the commander revoked the order to bring the troops into combat readiness." Perhaps to make it clear to Rokossovsky what was going on, he patiently explained: "General Pisarevsky flew to Kiev by plane in the afternoon and personally reported to the commander that according to reconnaissance, it had been found that the Germans were gradually strengthening their deployment, that they had begun to remove the obstacles set up on the border one after another, and were stockpiling a large number of artillery shells and aerial bombs, and that an attack could occur at any time. He also pointed out to the commander that our troops were currently staying in their own positions, and that it would take at least one or two days to occupy defensive positions built along the border, while the enemy could not give us such a long time. At the end of his report, he asked the commander: Isn't it time to raise the combat alert to the troops covering the state border? ”

When Tang Shaohua heard this, hope was rekindled in his heart, and he nervously asked Baghramyan: "Comrade Colonel, what kind of reaction did the commander have after listening to the report?" ”

Although the commander agreed with him, he said that because he did not have the consent of the Moscow side, he could not raise the battle alarm for the time being. And said that only with the approval of Moscow can the relevant orders be issued to the troops. ”

Tang Shaohua originally thought that after the chief of staff of the group army personally went to the military region to find the leaders and reported the actual situation on the border, Kirponos would decisively give the order to enter combat readiness again, but he did not expect that he refused to give the correct order because of his many concerns.

Tang Shaohua sighed, and just wanted to say a few words to Baghramyan, but heard him say again: "In the evening, the report of Colonel Valennikov, chief of staff of the 26th Army, also arrived. In his report, he said: The Germans are constructing a starting point for the offensive. Having received this report, Commander Kirponos could no longer sit still, and after much deliberation with Chief of Staff Pulkaev, he summoned me to his office and instructed me to draw up an order overnight for the second echelon to move towards the border. ”

Tang Shaohua secretly thought in his heart, when Baghramyan said this matter to himself, was he preparing to convey the order to open to himself? Thinking of this, he asked curiously: "Comrade Colonel, I don't know what troops need to drive to the border line this time?" ”

As soon as he finished speaking, the sound of paper turning came from the earpiece, and after a while, Bagramian picked up the order he had just prepared and read into the microphone: "The 31st Infantry Corps should reach the border near Kovelli from the Korosjian region in the early morning of June 28; The 36th Infantry Corps was to occupy the borders of Dubno, Kozin, and Kremenets in the early hours of June 27...... The 49th Infantry Corps and the 15th Infantry Corps arrived at the border by 30 June. ”

When Bagramian read out the order, Tang Shaohua listened intently to see if there were any troops of his own, but when he finished reading the order, he did not hear the number of his own troops, but he unexpectedly heard that among the troops that had been drawn out was Fedyuninsky's 15th Infantry Army. He couldn't help but ask in surprise: "Comrade Colonel, after Fedyuninsky's 15th Army was launched, who would be in charge of their defense area?" ”

Bagramian put the order back on the table and said slowly: "Recently we are receiving two newly arrived army groups, and the vacated defense areas will be received by these new troops one after another. And the defense area after Fedyuninsky's troops are deployed, you send a motorized infantry regiment to receive them, and when the new troops arrive, you can hand them over. ”

Tang Shaohua only felt that his heart was constantly sinking, and his eyes were black for a while. Not long ago, he had privately discussed with Fedyuninsky that once the war broke out and his troops left for the front, he would hand over the vacated defense area to the 15th Infantry Corps, and let them strengthen and improve the existing fortifications so that they could continue to resist the German offensive here. According to the new order of the military district, Fedyuninsky's troops were not only unable to help themselves, but on the contrary, to send troops to take over their defense areas. In this way, Tang Shaohua's plan was completely disrupted.

Although Tang Shaohua's mood was hit by this bad news, he did not forget that he still had important things to do with Baghramyan. As soon as the other party finished speaking, he immediately said: "Comrade Colonel, I have something I would like to ask you for help with. ”

"Comrade Rokossovsky, if there is anything, just say it." Although Bagramian did not know what Rokossovsky would say, he still said boldly: "As long as I can do it, I will definitely grant your request." ”

"During the marching training of my tank division, quite a few tanks broke down, most of them were old tanks. Due to the lack of spare parts, it was difficult for us to repair these tanks. After a brief introduction to the situation, Tang Shaohua made his own request to Baghramyan: "Can you find a way to provide us with a batch of spare parts for tanks?" ”

"No problem, no problem. There are a lot of spare parts for old tanks in the defense warehouse, and it is useless to put them there anyway, and when it is daybreak, I will call the quartermaster in the warehouse and ask him to hand over this batch of spare parts to you. Baglamyan agreed to Rokossovsky's request very readily, and finally specially told the other party: "By the way, your technical deputy commander used to be familiar with the quartermaster of the warehouse, so leave this matter to him." ”