Two days later, when the chief of operations, Colonel Baghramyan, accompanied by a newly appointed leader of the military region, appeared in the office of the Ninth Mechanized Army, Tang Shaohua's depressed mood eased somewhat.

Seeing Tang Shaohua looking at the leader who came with him with him with a blank expression, Bagramian hurriedly introduced him and said: "Comrade Rokossovsky, let me introduce to you, this is the new artillery chief of the military region, Lieutenant General Mikhail Artemyevich Palsegov. ”

Tang Shaohua glanced at the general in front of him, who was thin and well-proportioned, with a gold star medal on his chest, and a mustache, turned his head and asked Baghramyan: "Then where did General Yakovlev go?" ”

"Comrade Nikolai Dmitrievich Yakovlev has been transferred to Moscow to head the General Ordnance Department." General Parsegov was the first to answer, and then he took the initiative to extend his hand to Tang Shaohua and said in a friendly manner: "Hello, Comrade Rokossovsky, it's a pleasure to meet you. ”

"Hello, Comrade General." Tang Shaohua hurriedly raised his hand and saluted, and then stretched out his hand to shake the other party, and said warmly: "Welcome to the Ninth Mechanized Army." ”

After everyone was seated, Tang Shaohua asked Baglamiyan curiously: "Comrade Colonel, why did you suddenly come to me today?" ”

"That's right, Comrade Rokossovsky." Baghramyan said: "From today, the second echelon began to move in the direction of the state border. Owing to the lack of transport for the infantry corps marching towards the border, the artillery units of the corps carried only a handful of shells. General Parsegov and I have come here for the purpose of preparing the necessary armories on the way of the troops, so that the artillery units can quickly obtain sufficient ammunition to the designated area. ”

When Tang Shaohua heard him say this, his eyes suddenly lit up, after the outbreak of war, when his troops marched towards Cowell, they would also be unable to carry enough artillery shells because of the lack of transportation. If the new artillery chief can complete the deployment of the ordnance depots along the route in just a few days, then he can ensure that the troops have sufficient ammunition.

Parsegov smiled and said to Tang Shaohua: "Comrade Rokossovsky, today we have just established an armory in the north-western direction of Zhytomyr, and I hope that you will send people to take charge of the defense work and prevent sabotage by saboteurs. ”

"Don't worry, Comrade General." Tang Shaohua stood up and assured Palsegov: "I will immediately send someone to protect the armory." Is one even enough? If it's not enough, I can even send a battalion. ”

Tang Shaohua's small abacus in his heart was to consider that if the Ninth Mechanized Army had more armories in its hands, it would be more convenient to replenish weapons and ammunition for the troops after the war broke out. Who knew that Parsegov misunderstood what he meant, stood up and took his hand, shook it vigorously and said: "Great, this is really good." Comrade Rokossovsky, when we and other troops talked about sending people to protect the armory, many of them pushed back, and none of them agreed as readily as you did. Don't worry, you don't need a battalion, one company is more than enough. ”

"This is my authority, Comrade General." Tang Shaohua, who had a ghost in his heart, thought that he would soon get countless weapons and equipment, and almost burst into laughter. But in front of Bagramian and Palshegov, he still pretended to be trying to solve their problems and said: "By the way, I don't know that those armories are still short of manpower to guard, if they are not far from us, they can be handed over to me to be responsible." ”

Hearing Tang Shaohua say this, Parsegov shouted at the door: "Chief of Staff, bring the map!" ”

With his shouting, a middle-aged colonel walked in from outside, took out a folded map from the briefcase he was carrying and handed it to Palsegov. Parsegov quickly opened the picture and spread it out in front of Tang Shaohua, furrowed his thin black eyebrows, and his two lips opened and closed silently.

After a while, he raised his head, looked at Tang Shaohua, and said: "Comrade Rokossovsky, come and see, our main armories are all deployed on the line where the army is going, so that the infantry corps can get ammunition replenishment in the designated area as soon as possible. ”

Tang Shaohua saw that there were quite a few armories on the map, and he couldn't help but ask worriedly: "Comrade General, I want to ask a question. I see that there are about forty armories on the map, and it must take a lot of time to build and stock up on weapons and ammunition, right? ”

As soon as Tang Shaohua finished asking, he saw Baghramyan and Palsegov looking at each other, and laughed haha, making him laugh, I don't know why the two of them laughed. After the two of them finished laughing, Bagramian explained to Tang Shaohua: "Comrade Rokossovsky, our armory uses ready-made buildings, and then transports weapons and ammunition from nearby defense warehouses; And some armories are even defense warehouses that are directly requisitioned. So don't look at the number of armories on the map, but we deploy very quickly. ”

"And who are the armories we are responsible for?" After Tang Shaohua figured out the deployment process, he immediately began to inquire about the scope of his jurisdiction, and even said that he would arrange the troops to serve as guards according to the number of armories.

"Comrade Rokossovsky," Palsegov pointed with his hand at several armories near Zhytomyr and said: "The defense of these armories will be entrusted to your army. ”

"Okay, now that you know about it, let's arrange it right away." General Palsegov is a fiery character, and as soon as he finished speaking, he quickly put away the map on the table, stretched out his hand to shake Tang Shaohua's hand, and left the office as quickly as he came in.

Bagramian, who had not had time to leave, smiled at Tang Shaohua and said apologetically: "Comrade Rokossovsky, don't be surprised, General Parsegov is such an impatient. Then he stretched out his hand to Tang Shaohua and said in a friendly manner, "I want to go to the next city with the general, so I won't talk to you more." There are our colleagues from the Operations Department outside, who can take your people to the designated armory. ”