Putukhin sat down in his chair, pushed Rokossovsky's pistol back in front of him, and said without moving: "Comrade Rokossovsky, put your pistol away and be careful not to misfire." Also, Comrade Military Commissar and I haven't eaten yet, and you, the master, are not competent. ”

Rokossovsky picked up the pistol on the table, reinserted it into the holster, and winked at Grissa. Grissa nodded, put away her pistol and walked out with the two fighters. After Grisa went out, Rokossovsky said magnanimously to Kamenev: "Political deputy commander, you have been standing long enough, please sit down." ”

A moment later, Grissa and a warrior appeared at the door, carrying a steaming samovar, followed by a large tray full of things. After the two put the samovar on the table, Grissa turned around and put the teacups, teapots, saucers with sugar cubes, bottles of honey, plates with military rusks, and sliced **** on the table from the tray in the hands of the soldiers behind him.

A samovar, also known as a tea soup pot. A copper kettle with two walls filled with water on all sides and a fire in the middle. Rokossovsky picked up the teacup and made a cup of hot tea, and politely asked: "Comrade Military Commissar, how many pieces of sugar do you want?" ”

"No need to put sugar." After saying a word in an angry voice, Vashugin snatched the teacup from Rokossovsky's hand. I saw him scoop a spoonful of honey with a small teaspoon and put it in his mouth, then put his mouth to the teacup, and sucked the tea one by one with a loud sound. His face was flushed with the heat of the tea, revealing a certain happiness and contentment.

Rokossovsky couldn't help but laugh dumbly when he saw Vashukin's way of drinking tea. He poured another cup of tea and asked Putukhin: "Comrade General, how many sugar cubes do you want?" ”

"I'll do it myself." As he spoke, Putukhin took the teacup from Rokossovsky's hand, put two sugar cubes into the cup, and stirred them gently with a small teaspoon. After seeing that the sugar cube in the teacup had completely melted, he put the teaspoon aside, looked up at Rokossovsky, and asked: "Tell me, Comrade General, why did you make such a decision?" Don't you know that the unauthorized detention of a superior commander will lead to a military court and even a death sentence, regardless of the final outcome? ”

"Comrade General, I know all this." Rokossovsky replied with a bitter face.

"Since you know, then you still ordered someone to detain us?" Kamenev, who was sitting next to him, said angrily: "Not only are you looking for death yourself, but you are also dragging so many soldiers to die with you." ”

After listening to these few words of Kamenev's complaints, Vashukin just snorted and continued to drink tea in his unique way. And Putukhin raised his hand to interrupt Kamenev's words, looked at Rokossovsky and asked puzzledly: "Comrade General, can you tell me the reason for your doing?" ”

Rokossovsky shrugged his shoulders and said helplessly: "If I told you that war between the Germans and us was about to break out, would you believe it?" ”

Putukhin took a sip of tea, glanced at Rokossovsky, shook his head in disbelief, and smiled wryly: "Comrade General, don't you think you are alarmist?" Our troops were massing towards the border, and although it had been done in secret, the Germans would have been aware of our movements as long as they were not blind. Do you think they will be so stupid to attack where we are heavily armed? ”

Rokossovsky did not squeak, he was thinking about how to answer Putukhin's question.

"Comrade Rokossovsky, what I want to tell you is: you are wrong, and you are very wrong." General Putukhin continued: "You are completely caught up in speculation, thinking that the Germans are making a little move on the national border, and the precursor to attacking us in the ninety. That's why they hurriedly engaged in a so-called preparation exercise, and because they were afraid that we would force you to terminate the exercise, they caught a cold and detained us. ”

Hearing Putukhin's words, Rokossovsky suddenly felt extremely tired, reached out and grabbed the teacup in front of him, and after taking a few sips of water, he said loudly: "General Putukhin, can you listen to my explanation?" ”

Putukhin did not speak, but made a gesture for Rokossovsky to continue. But before Rokossovsky could speak, the door was suddenly pushed open, and Maslov, who had just returned from the city's air defense position, appeared at the door. Seeing the scene in the house, he couldn't help but be surprised, quickly walked up to Rokossovsky, pointed at the guards soldiers with guns, and asked loudly: "Comrade commander, what is going on here?" Why would our fighters point their guns at the military commissars? Without waiting for Rokossovsky to reply, he turned around and ordered the fighters in the house, "Put your guns down." ”

It's a pity that these guards and fighters in the office are all Grissa's henchmen, and they don't pay attention to Maslov at all, and the muzzle of the black hole is still pointed at the three of them who are drinking tea, Vashukin, Putukhin and Kamenev.

"Comrade Chief of Staff, don't be in a hurry, listen to me explain to you." Rokossovsky said aloud to a few people: "You must all think that I am insane, which is why I give a series of ridiculous orders. But I will tell you that my sanity is clear that I am doing this because the Germans are about to attack us. As the commander of the garrison of Zhytomyr and the commander of the 9th Mechanized Army, in this case, something must be done, so I have temporarily detained a few of you. ”

After listening to Rokossovsky's words, Vashukin slammed the empty cup in his hand on the table, stood up and said solemnly: "Comrade Rokossovsky, do you know what you are talking about? To say that the cities should be prepared for war is to say that the enemy has the potential to go almost deep into the depths of our motherland. Well, to put it well, this is a ridiculous idea, and if you put it badly, it is completely a manifestation of defeatism. ”

Rokossovsky did not argue with Vashukin, but raised his hand and looked at his watch, and saw that the hour hand had pointed to six o'clock in the afternoon, and there were only three hours left before the German chief of the army surrendered to our army. He pursed his lips and said to Vashukin: "Comrade Military Commissar, if the Germans are going to attack us, there will definitely be some signs beforehand. Please wait a few more hours and I may be able to provide you with convincing evidence. ”

"Okay, then I'll wait for you for three hours." Vashukin huffed, "If you don't have evidence to convince us by then, please let us go." That's all for today, I won't pursue it. ”

Rokossovsky smiled and nodded, and said: "Well, Comrade Military Commissar, since you promised not to pursue it again, then the matter will be easy to handle." If, then, by ten o'clock I have not received any information that would confirm that the Germans are about to attack, I will let you go, and I will be at your disposal. ”

After reaching an agreement, everyone sat down again for tea. Russians are strange, no matter how much contradiction there is, but as long as they sit together and drink tea, the originally tense atmosphere immediately becomes harmonious.

Of the five people drinking tea, the most absent-minded was the chief of staff, Maslov, who kept raising his hand to look at his watch, and from time to time glanced at Rokossovsky with concern. But Rokossovsky and the others talked and laughed like friends who had been reunited for a long time, and did not notice Maslov restlessly.

When the clock on the wall pointed to half-past nine, the door was pushed open again, and a staff officer entered from outside. He walked quickly to Rokossovsky, pulled out a telegram from the folder under his armpit, handed it to Rokossovsky, and then he saluted again, turned and walked out of the room.

After reading the telegram, Rokossovsky handed it to Vashukin and said with a smile: "Comrade Military Commissar, look, this is a telegram sent to you by the head of the military district, saying that there is a German chief of the German army who claims to be a member of the KPD/Party who has surrendered to our border guards, and according to his confession, the German army is entering the departure area and will attack us on the morning of the 22nd. Now you understand why I let my troops carry out combat readiness exercises, right? ”

After reading the telegram, Vashukin casually handed it to Putukhin and said disappreciatively: "Comrade Rokossovsky, what can this telegram say?" This defector may have been deliberately sent by the German general in order to provoke a conflict between the two countries. ”

In response to Vashukin's suspicions, Rokossovsky said resolutely: "Comrade Military Commissar, you are not right, I think that the defectors are telling the truth. After saying this, he could not help but worry about the fate of this defector, because after the outbreak of the Soviet-German war, this person has not been heard from again. Some say he was shot; Others say that while crossing the river, he was shot and wounded by our border guards, and died after giving the information; It is also said that after the outbreak of the Soviet-German war, he died under German shelling. All in all, this defector, who left a strong mark in history, later disappeared without a trace.

After reading the telegram, Putukhin looked up and asked Rokossovsky: "What should we do?" ”

"All units should be ordered immediately to enter the first level of combat readiness." Rokossovsky advised him: "But before that, first of all, it should be reported to Moscow." ”

"That's right, Comrade Rokossovsky is right, this matter should be reported to Moscow." Vashukin forgot his identity as a "prisoner" at this moment and directly instructed Maslov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, you go and send a telegram to the duty room of the Military District, asking them to convey this matter to the Chief of Staff of the Military District, Pulkaev, and ask him to immediately report the matter to Moscow." ”