For the samples sent by Timoshenko, Stalin was very worried that the Germans had developed a biological weapon, so he entrusted the task of analyzing the composition of the samples to Lieutenant General Golikov, deputy chief of the General Staff and head of the Main Directorate of Reconnaissance. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

After accepting this serious task, Golikov did not dare to take it lightly, and he personally sat in the building where the laboratory was located, so that he could get the analysis report as soon as possible.

At seven o'clock in the evening, Golikov received a report from the head of the laboratory, Professor Vasily, detailing the analyzed data.

After reading the report, Golikov immediately jumped up from his seat. He looked at the old professor sitting opposite him with a serious expression, and said in an incredible tone: "Comrade Vasily, you are mistaken, how can this be the result? The samples sent back from the front line, after being examined by you, actually came to the absurd conclusion that 'there is nothing dangerous'. ”

Professor Vasily looked at Golikov, whose face was full of doubts, and said slowly: "Comrade Golikov, after I completed the examination of the first sample, I also reacted in the same way as you. But after carefully analyzing the four samples we sent earlier, we all came to the same conclusion: there was nothing dangerous in these samples. ”

Golikov was about to speak, when the phone on the desk suddenly rang. He grabbed the microphone, put it to his ear, and said a little angrily, "Hey! ”

"Is it Philippe Ivanovic?" Stalin's familiar voice came from the earpiece, "How is it, are the test results out?" ”

Hearing that it was Stalin's call, Golikov hurriedly stood on the spot, straightened his waist and said: "Comrade Stalin, the test results have come out. But the results are ridiculous, and it is said that there is nothing dangerous in it. ”

"Comrade Golikov," said Stalin, his tone became stern, "you must understand that the Germans used their planes to drop a bunch of thick paper bags containing rats and insects in our defense area, and they were definitely not idle and bored, and they must have wanted to cause irreparable losses to our troops, so you must find a way to check whether the rats or insects are carrying any deadly virus." ”

"Understood, Comrade Stalin." Golikov said respectfully: "I immediately asked them to re-analyze and test, to make sure that they found out what dangerous virus was in the sample." ”

"Good luck then." After Stalin finished speaking, he hung up the phone directly.

Golikov waited for a blind sound to come from the receiver before putting down the phone, and then said to Vasily, who was still standing opposite: "Comrade Vasily, I beg you to carefully test the samples sent from the front to find out what deadly viruses these dead rats and insects are carrying. ”

A wry smile appeared at the corner of Vasily's mouth: "Okay, Comrade General, since you say so, then I will do my best." ”

"Not to do your best, Comrade Vasily." Golikov said: "This is an important political task, and you must do everything in your power to accomplish it. ”

An hour later, Vasily returned to Golikov's office, handed him a freshly baked report, and said in a helpless tone: "Comrade Golikov, the new test results are out, and they are still the same as the original one: there is nothing dangerous in the sample at all. Perhaps to convince Golikov of the authenticity of the test report, he added, "I personally analyzed each sample, and there is absolutely no mistake." ”

Seeing that Professor Vasily was so confident, Golikov walked around the room a few times without saying a word with his hands behind his back, then stopped, reached out and grabbed the report on the table, then walked to the door, took off the military hat hanging on the coat rack and put it on, opened the door and walked out.

Half an hour later, the test report appeared on Stalin's desk. After carefully reading the report, Stalin looked up at Golikov, who was standing as straight as a telephone pole in front of the table, and asked with a frown: "Comrade Golikov, what do you think of the authenticity of this report?" ”

When Golikov heard that Stalin did not call his real name and patronymic name, as he used to do, but directly called his own surname, he knew that the other party was dissatisfied with this report, so he quickly stepped forward and reported in an orderly manner: "Comrade Stalin, the laboratory analysis of the sample was done by Professor Vasily himself, and nothing should go wrong. ”

After waiting for Golikov to finish, Stalin picked up the report and read it carefully, then slammed it on the table. He stood up, pointed at Golikov with his hand holding the cigarette butt, and said dissatisfiedly: "Comrade Golikov, do you also think that there are no dangerous items in the thick paper bag dropped by the Germans? ”

Golikov looked at Stalin with his eyes and said carefully: "Comrade Stalin, I think that from this test report, such a conclusion can be drawn. ”

"Then you say," said Stalin, holding his pipe, walking slowly around the house, "why did the Germans drop these harmless packets of paper in our defense zone?" ”

To Stalin's question, Golikov was silent for a moment, and then replied loudly: "Comrade Stalin, I think it may be that the German army suffered a big loss in Rokossovsky's defense zone, but it was not in a bad way to take him, so I came up with this despicable way to deliberately drop these thick paper packets in an attempt to cause panic in our troops. ”

Stalin pointed at Golikov with his fist holding the butt of a cigarette, and seemed to agree with him. After a while, Stalin continued: "Since you have come to such a conclusion, then inform Timoshenko as soon as possible." I guess he's impatient waiting for the results of this test. ”

Golikov did not speak, just nodded, picked up the report on the table, and then turned and walked out of Stalin's office.

As soon as Golikov returned to his office, he immediately called the command of the Western Front.

At the headquarters of the Western Front, Timoshenko had been waiting for a call from Moscow, and waiting was an ordeal, and it could even be regarded as a severe punishment. Although he kept pacing the headquarters with his hands behind his back, his eyes never took his eyes off the high-frequency telephone on the desk that could talk to Moscow.

As soon as he heard the bell, he rushed to the table with an arrow, grabbed the microphone and put it to his ear, and said loudly: "Hey, I'm Brother Timoshen!" ”

Timoshenko's loud voice startled Golikov, and he quickly removed the microphone from his ear a little before he spoke: "Hello, Semyon Konstantinovich, I'm Golikov. ”

"Hello, Filip Ivanovich." Timoshenko affectionately called his real name and patronymic, and then anxiously asked: "How is it, are the results of the analysis out?" ”

"Yes, the results of the analysis are in." As he said this, Golikov glanced at the report in front of him again, sighed softly, and said: "In the thick paper bag are ordinary dead rats and insects, and there is no danger at all. ”

"What, nothing dangerous?" After repeating Golikov's words, Timoshenko raised his voice and asked: "If there are really nothing dangerous, then why did the enemy drop these things on the positions of our troops on a large scale?" ”

"The laboratory analysis of the samples was carried out by Professor Vasily himself. How capable he is, I don't say, you should also be well aware. Probably in order to prevent Timoshenko from becoming entangled any further, Golikov hurriedly moved Stalin out, "Comrade Marshal, don't worry, such test results have been approved by Comrade Stalin, and there will be absolutely no mistakes." ”

"Well, Comrade Golikov." Sure enough, as soon as Timoshenko heard that the test results had been reviewed by Stalin, he didn't say anything more, but politely thanked the other party, "On behalf of the commanders and fighters of the whole army, I would like to express my gratitude to you!" ”

When Timoshenko put down the phone, Bulganin nervously asked: "Comrade Marshal, what the hell is going on?" How did I hear that the samples we sent for testing didn't seem to have any problems at all? ”

"Yes, my comrade military commissar." Timoshenko stared at Bulganin and said, "We should not doubt the results of the test, it will certainly not be wrong. One thing I don't understand now is why the Germans would do such a boring thing to drop rats and insects that do not carry dangerous viruses at all in our defense zone? ”

Bulganin frowned and thought about it for a long time, but he didn't come up with a reason, and finally decided to leave this headache problem to Rokossovsky to deal with. So he suggested to Timoshenko: "Comrade Marshal, Rokossovsky is still waiting for the inspection report from Moscow, you should call him as soon as possible." As for why the Germans did this, maybe you can ask him. ”

"That's right," Hearing Bulganin's proposal, Timoshenko's eyes lit up, and he slammed the table and said: "Rokossovsky has a good head, he must be able to understand why the Germans dropped so many useless rats and insects in his defense zone." ”

Rokossovsky couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when he received a call from Timoshenko and knew that there was nothing dangerous in the samples sent for testing, but at the same time he felt puzzled.

Seeing that Rokossovsky was slow to speak, Timoshenko couldn't help urging: "How is it, Comrade Rokossovsky, can you guess the intention of the Germans in doing this?" ”

Hearing Timoshenko's question, Rokossovsky thought for only a moment before thinking of the answer: "Comrade Marshal, I think so, perhaps it was Hitler's bandits who suffered a great loss in our defense zone, and there was no way to break through our positions in the short term, so they had to resort to such despicable means. They are trying to stir up panic within our army by engaging in nerve warfare. It has to be said that this conspiracy of theirs almost succeeded. ”

"Okay, Comrade Rokossovsky, now that the matter has been clarified, then the quarantine of the Liaison will be lifted." When Timoshenge said this, he couldn't help but sigh, and said with a little regret: "It's a pity, a very good village was burned down like this." (To be continued.) )