It may be that they saw that their companions had lowered their weapons, and the soldiers with rifles around them, although they were still standing still, they all obediently put their guns down.

At that moment, a series of shouts came from the rear of the train: "All the people have their documents ready to be checked by us." ”

I turned my head to look in the direction from which the voice came, and an elderly captain with a dozen soldiers behind his back came over. At every place where the crowd gathered under the car, one or two fighters would be left behind, and in cooperation with the robes who were on guard next to them, they would check the passengers with their documents. The captain may have participated in some kind of battle, and the two medals he wears on his chest stand out.

I didn't speak, but stood facing the direction he had come, intending to wait for him to come and ask what had happened, so that our train would be stopped.

The captain didn't notice a few of us at first, stopping and stopping from time to time to see how his men were checking their papers. When he was only seven or eight meters away from us, he accidentally saw me, as if he had been stabbed by something, and then fastened the discipline button of his uniform, and pulled the hem of his uniform, and then trotted in front of me, raised his hand and saluted, and said: "Comrade General, Captain Osip reports to you that our company is on a mission. ”

I raised my hand in exchange for a salute and asked coldly, "Captain, are you the person in charge here?" ”

The captain looked left and right, nodded, and replied affirmatively: "Yes, we lead the troops on a mission here." ”

I bowed slightly, and then asked, "Captain Osipp, can you tell me what kind of mission you are performing?" ”

When Ocip heard my question, he didn't answer right away, but looked at me warily and said, "I'm sorry. Comrade General, I have no right to reveal to you our mission until I have ascertained your identity. ”

Dolnikov, who was standing next to him, stepped forward and said with some impatience: "Captain, you are blind?!" Don't you see the rank on the shoulders of Comrade General? ”

To Dolnikov's reproach, Osip replied without humility or arrogance: "I'm sorry. Comrade Captain, I was tasked with stopping the train and checking the documents of everyone on board. I can't give you any more details until I've found out who you are. ”

Seeing Captain Osip's old-fashioned attitude, I didn't react in any way, Yushchenko, who was standing on the other side of me, couldn't help it, he walked up to me and said to me politely: "Comrade General, please lend me your special pass first." All right? ”

I guessed that Yushchenko probably wanted to give the other party a dismount, so I cooperatively took out the special pass that Beria had prepared for me from his pocket, and asked Dolnikov to bring over his documents and handed them to Yushchenko.

Yushchenko put his documents together, slapped them in the palm of the other party's outstretched hand, and didn't say anything, just snorted coldly.

Osip took the document and looked at it, and his mouth turned into an O-shape. It hadn't been closed for half a day, and he probably didn't think of my two accompanying officers. They are all members of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, not to mention my pass, which was personally issued by the Minister of Internal Affairs, Beria. After he closed his ID, he raised his hand to salute me again, handed it to me with both hands, and stammered, "I'm sorry, I will ...... General ...... Homosexuals. I don't...... Don't know your identity, please ...... Will...... Comrade General forgive ......"

I took back the documents in Osipp's hand, exchanged the military IDs of Dornikov and Yushchenko for the two of them, put my special pass in my pocket, and then asked Osipp gently: "Comrade Captain." Now that you know who we are, can you tell me what exactly you're doing? ”

"That's right, General...... No, Comrade Hero of the Soviet Union. He was halfway through his sentence when he caught a glimpse of the Red Star medal hanging from my chest, and immediately he changed his address to me, becoming more and more respectful: "This morning a staff officer of our group army, on his way to deliver a letter on a tricycle, was attacked, and the staff officer and two fellow soldiers were all killed. When they were found, their uniforms, weapons, and documents were gone, and the documents they were carrying were lost. The motorbike they were riding was parked 60 kilometres east of here. Fearing that the enemy would infiltrate our rear and wreak havoc on the train in our uniforms, our superiors ordered us to stop the trains on this line, strictly inspect the passengers, make sure to retrieve the documents, and eliminate the daring Germans. ”

Hearing that the Germans may have infiltrated our rear, intercepted our staff officers, and snatched important documents, Dolnikov and Yushchenko, who were beside me, were also anxious, and together they turned their eyes to me and asked with serious expressions: "Comrade General, what should we do?" ”

I thought about it for a moment, and then instructed Yushchenko: "Captain Yushchenko, you go and gather our men and cooperate with Captain Osip's men to check the documents of all passengers." After the order, I asked Osipp, "Captain, is there anything else you would like to add?" ”

"Comrade Captain," Osip walked up to Yushchenko's side and said quickly, "When you ask your subordinates to check their documents, in addition to seeing if the photo matches their own, they should also pay attention to the staples on the documents. We use different materials from the Germans, they use stainless steel, while we use ordinary materials, so over time, there will be a little rust. ”

"I see, I'll go." Yushchenko is also an anxious child, and after listening to Osip's introduction, he raised his leg and was about to leave.

At this moment, I suddenly remembered a detail that Oshanin had told me at the reunion with Oshanin in Moscow, and I stopped Yushchenko and told him: "Comrade Captain, for those who are in doubt, check the bottom of their boots. The spikes at the bottom of our military boots are generally round, while the German boots, although they have the same appearance, have square spikes on the soles. Remember? ”

"Remember, Comrade General." Yushchenko agreed, and with a few fighters around him, he ran towards a place with a large number of passengers not far away.

Watching Yushchenko leave, Dolnikov, who was not assigned the task, was a little anxious, and he couldn't wait to ask me: "Comrade General, what is the task of me and my subordinates?" ”

I turned my head to look at him, smiled and said, "Captain, you and your people will stay here first." I'm sure I'll find your place later. ”

Although Dornikov knew that I was talking like this, it was a bit perfunctory, but he couldn't refute it, so he could only honestly agree: "Yes." ”

Since I stood still all the time, Osip did not dare to leave casually, so he had to stay where he was with me. As for the inspection, he left it to his subordinates. And the seven or eight soldiers who were originally guarding our area were also sent away by him.

After a while, there was a cacophony in front of me, and then I saw Yushchenko and his men walking towards us with a few men. Seeing this, I couldn't help but nod my head, satisfied with Yushchenko's efficient work.

Yushchenko walked up to me and excitedly reported: "Comrade General, we have captured four undocumented people. ”

"Four?!" Reminiscent of Captain Osip's statement that only three commanders and fighters of our army were killed. How did the Germans come out of nowhere? I looked carefully at the four "captives" whose hands were cut behind the back of the soldiers, and I always felt that something was wrong. I closed my eyes and thought for a moment, then opened my eyes and asked, "Comrade Captain, have you checked the soles of the four of them?" ”

"Soles?" When Yushchenko heard me say this word, he was stunned for a moment, then shook his head and replied: "I'm sorry, Comrade General. I haven't taken care of it yet. I just want to bring them over as soon as possible so you can see them. ”

"Alright. Comrade Captain, let the fighters check the spikes on their soles. I was a little dissatisfied with Yushchenko's recklessness and said, "I think you must be mistaken, you didn't see that they are all Asian faces, how can they be Germans." ”

In the face of my criticism, Yushchenko did not dare to defend himself. Hurriedly ordered the soldiers to lift the soles of the four people's shoes one by one to check, and found that the spikes on their boots were indeed round, not square like the Germans. After the inspection, Yushchenko probably realized his mistake and hurriedly waved at the fighters. Motioning for them to let go of the four men.

After the four of them were released, Osip stepped forward and asked puzzledly, "I have a question, why don't you four have documents?" Don't you know that when you go out, you have to carry your documents with you? ”

After listening to Osip's words, the four of them all lowered their heads. I thought about it for a moment, and immediately thought of a possibility, so I turned to them and asked, "Answer me, are you all sitting in the aisle?" ”

As soon as I finished speaking, a small black and thin man raised his head and asked me in astonishment: "Comrade General, how do you know that we are sitting near the aisle?" ”

I laughed at his question and didn't answer it, just looked at the other three people to hear what they had to say. Immediately after that, the second person also raised his head and said in an affirmative tone: "That's right, Comrade General, that's right." I was indeed sitting in the aisle, could it be that our documents were stolen by someone else? ”

After hearing what he said, Dornikov couldn't help but take a step forward, grabbed the other party's collar, and asked emotionally: "Did you find anything unusual in the car?" ”

Dolnikov's words made the man frown and think hard. In order to ease the other party's nervousness, I also comforted him in particular: "Comrade soldier, don't worry, think about it slowly, whether anyone has collided with you when you were in the car or something." ”

I reminded the other party of my words, and his face immediately showed a clear expression, and then he said to me: "Comrade General, I remember, although there are many people in the car, it is not too crowded. There was an ensign in a black leather jacket who passed by me and accidentally bumped into me because the train was shaking. I guess he stole my papers. ”

"Do you remember what he looked like?" Dolnikov asked each other as if he were interrogating a prisoner.

The man shook his head, then nodded, and said, "I just remember that he was of medium height, with a round face, and a scar on his left cheek. ”

After listening to the soldier's statement, Dornikov couldn't hold his breath, he glanced at Yushchenko with disdain, and then asked me: "Comrade General, let me take someone there this time, I promise you, you will definitely be able to find out these German spies in makeup." ”

In the face of Dolnikov's request, I didn't even think about it, so I refused it outright, and then instructed Osip: "Comrade Captain, let your men stand guard at the door of the carriage, and let the soldiers under the carriage get on the carriage in batches according to the unit of the unit they belong to, and bring all those who are left alone here." ”

"What about ordinary citizens?" After receiving my order, Osip did not immediately carry it out, but stayed where he was and asked me: "They are also quite numerous, how should we distinguish them?" ”

"Let each of them find a familiar person to testify for themselves, and as for the single passengers who have no one to testify, bring them all here." Seeing that Osip wanted to leave after receiving the order, I added later: "As for the female passengers, you can let them get on the bus directly, I don't think the Germans would send women to carry out such a dangerous mission." ”

Due to the cumbersome means of screening this time, it took about half an hour for Osip to return to my location with a group of people. There were about thirty soldiers and ordinary citizens surrounded by the fighters, and after taking a look, I ordered Yushchenko: "Comrade Captain, you take someone to check the soles of his shoes. ”

When Yushchenko, who had been holding back his belly for a long time, heard this order from me, he immediately beckoned a dozen of his fighters, rushed into the crowd, and without saying a word, he would raise one of the other people's feet to check whether the spikes on the soles were square or round.

It didn't take much effort before four people were pulled out of the crowd. Yushchenko held up the military ID cards that had been searched from them, and excitedly said to me: "Comrade General, I found it, it is them." Not only are the spikes square, but even the documents on their bodies are the soldiers next to them. ”

I took the four military ID cards that Yushchenko handed me, flipped through them casually, and returned them to the four soldiers who had just been wrongly arrested, and kindly reminded them: "In the future, when you go out, you should be vigilant." You're lucky this time, I can help you, and the next time something like this happens, maybe I'll just arrest you as German spies. Do you understand? ”

"Understood, Comrade General." The four soldiers took their military ID cards, thanked me for their kindness, and got on the train one after another.

I looked at the four German spies who had been pulled out, and found that one of them, a German in a second lieutenant uniform, had a round face and a long scar on the left cheek. I turned back to Dolnikov, who was standing next to me, and said: "Comrade Captain, you have the most experience in dealing with this kind of German spy, and the rest will be left to you." (To be continued.) )