That night, in the town of Kaurcaog, Chen Dao welcomed two groups of guests.

The first wave of guests were, of course, the three unlucky division commanders of the Soviet army.

Chen Dao extended a warm welcome to the arrival of the three uninvited guests and invited them to dinner.

Although the three division commanders were prisoners, they were not timid in front of Chen Dao.

After thanking Chen Dao, the commander of the 45th Tank Division, Zhuronov, sat down on a chair, picked up the bottle of white wine on the table, and poured himself a glass of wine.

He raised his glass and said in a thick Russian-accented German language: "Your Excellency, it is a pleasure to meet you, and thank you for your hospitality." ”

Zhuronov was very straightforward, and the other two division commanders were not hypocritical, and then raised their wine glasses to toast Chen Dao.

Chen Dao raised his wine glass and clinked glasses with the three of them one by one, and the four of them drank happily and chatted again.

After eating and drinking, Chen Dao's subordinates removed the utensils, and Major Lorenz, Captain Nietzsche, and Captain Nobel sat down at the table with pen and paper.

Seeing the posture of the three of them, Zhuronov said: "Your Excellency the Governor, are you going to interrogate us?" ”

Chen Dao said with a smile: "It's not an interrogation, it's just a talk." ”

Zhuronov pointed to Major Lorenz and said: "I'm sorry, Your Excellency the Governor. If it's a conversation like the one we had at the dinner table, I'd be happy to accompany you. If it's something else, I'm sorry, my consciousness is very unclear right now and I need to rest. ”

With Zhuronov taking the lead, the division commanders of the 213 and 216 motorized divisions bluntly stated that they should not think about extracting intelligence from them.

Chen Dao saw the three of them put on a posture of "non-violence and non-cooperation", and suddenly felt a little tricky.

I met a guy pretending to be a tough guy again. And it's three. Do you have to take some means of your own violence with an aesthetic color? Only these three guys are willing to speak?

Chen Dao's index finger of his right hand kept tapping on the table, looking at the three of them coldly, there was no expression on his face, and the atmosphere in the room was extremely depressing.

The sound of pushing the door broke the depression in the room, Chen Dao looked up at the door, and saw a captain staff officer pushing the door in, and said to Chen Dao after standing upright: "Your Excellency, General Hult is here." He wants to see you. ”

Chen Dao ordered Major Lorenz to arrange for the three of Zhuronov to rest and come to the rest room of the military headquarters by himself.

Seeing Chen Dao's arrival, General Hoult hurriedly stood up and saluted him, and Lieutenant Colonel Spelberg, who was traveling with him, did the same.

Chen Dao solemnly raised his hand to salute the "General Hoth", and teased in his mouth: "Your Excellency Commander, your most loyal subordinate, the commander of the Seventh Panzer Corps, Heinz. Feng. Rosen salutes you. ”

The impostors General Hult and Spelberg couldn't cry or laugh, and hurriedly invited Chen Dao to sit down, and said their intentions without waiting for Chen Dao to ask questions.

"We have received an order from the Army Command to award you the rank of lieutenant general on our 'General Hult'."

"Admiral Hult," he said, picking up an aluminum box on the coffee table. From the inside, he took out a pair of gold and silver epaulettes with red edges, and one of the epaulettes would shine brightly.

Look at the epaulettes that shine in the light. Chen Dao was full of emotion in his heart.

This is really good news from the delivery room - finally born (literate).

I don't have to wear the rank of major general as a military commander in the future.

"Your Excellency, such good news should be announced in public. How about we have a promotion ceremony early tomorrow morning? Spelberg said.

"Don't be so exaggerated, just our "General Hoth" in the command room of the military headquarters and so on, your arrival has inspired me, and I suddenly thought of a special promotion ceremony. I need your cooperation to make this promotion ceremony more beautiful and unforgettable for some people. Chen Dao said.

Chen Dao is his immediate boss, and Spelberg naturally will not object.

After hearing Chen Dao explain his idea, Spelberg and "General Holt" couldn't help but clap their hands and praise Chen Dao's creativity, and then gathered people overnight to prepare for the promotion ceremony tomorrow morning.

Early the next morning, not long after the three of them got up, washed up and had breakfast, they were invited by Major Lorenz to a small square west of the town of Kaurchog.

Zhuronov jumped out of the VW82 barrel car and scanned the square, and saw two columns of soldiers standing in the center of the square, each of which was brightly dressed and had blue and white striped shoulder pads hanging from the shoulders of their uniforms.

The soldiers carried a variety of musical instruments, including trombones, French horns, and waist drums.

It was clear that standing in front of the trio was a marching band.

What do the Germans want to do?

A big question mark popped up in the minds of the three Zhuronovs.

Major Lorenz was quick to answer the questions in the minds of the trio.

"In recognition of the victories that Governor Rosen has achieved in these three days of fighting, the German Army Command has issued an order to promote His Excellency the Governor to the rank of lieutenant general, and you are now attending the promotion ceremony of His Excellency the Governor."

The faces of the three Zhuronovs were instantly covered with clouds, which was in stark contrast to the sunny weather.

Isn't the victory that the Germans say is their own defeat?

The fact that the Germans wanted to participate in the promotion ceremony on their own was tantamount to giving themselves a resounding slap in the face, which was a naked (naked) humiliation.

In the minds of the three of Zhuronov, the little good character that Chen Dao had accumulated by inviting them to dinner last night was cleared in an instant.

The promotion ceremony was not postponed for a minute or second with the ugly faces of the three people.

At 8:55 a.m., the military band played a cheerful and sonorous military music "Erica".

The moving music attracted many townspeople, who gathered around the square, and when they saw that the German soldiers were not hindered, they slowly approached until they reached the cordon set by the German soldiers.

Two sedans drove into the square to the beat of drums, and a German general jumped out of each car.

Zhuronov recognized one of them as the Polish governor-general he had just met last night, and the other older general wore the rank of general on his shoulders.

The protagonist of the promotion ceremony arrives, and the military band stops playing the music and changes the drum beat for the ceremony.

After the drum sounded three times, Zhuronov saw the German general walking towards Chen Dao and said in a loud voice: "In honor of Heinz. Feng. General Rosen was awarded the rank of Lieutenant General on behalf of the General Headquarters of the German Army. ”

After the German general finished speaking, he put a pair of lieutenant general's epaulettes on Chen Dao's shoulders, and then saluted Chen Dao and took a group photo with his hands.

The process of the award ceremony was extremely simple and straightforward, and it could even be said that it was tedious, and Zhuronov was very unimpressed.

Seeing Chen Dao wave his hand in the direction where he was, Chen Dao and the German general walked in front of the three of them.

Chen Dao introduced to both sides: "This is the commander of the German Third Panzer Army. Admiral Hort, these three colonels are all Soviet friends I just met in the previous battles, this is Colonel Zhuronov, this is "

Although they were very reluctant, they did not want to be regarded by the Germans as soldiers who did not know etiquette, so the three of them had to raise their hands to salute General Hoth.

After returning the salute, "General Hult" asked Chen Dao: "General Rosen, you said that you would surprise me at the promotion ceremony." Are you talking about surprise these three Soviet friends? ”

"Commander, they are only part of the surprise, the second phase of the ceremony will begin right away, and you will soon know what the surprise is."

Seven or eight minutes later, on the road leading to the town of Kaurchog, two BMW sidecars and eight trucks rushed into the square and stopped on the east side of the square.

The first four trucks were German military Mercedes trucks, and the soldiers of the three squads jumped out of the first three trucks and quickly occupied the commanding heights on the north side of the square, and also set up machine guns.

Jumping from the fourth truck was a squad of gendarmes, metal nameplates on their chests glowing with a cold light.

The two gendarmes also led the fierce black-backed wolfdog.

Ten gendarmes faced Chen Dao and stood in a row side by side, waiting for orders without saying a word.

The appearance of forty heavily armed German soldiers immediately cast a solemn atmosphere on the square.

"Invite our guests to the stage, don't make the audience wait." Chen Dao said.

Ten gendarmes immediately rushed to the other four trucks and shouted to dislodge the passengers of the four gas trucks.

Seeing a group of ragged and depressed Soviet soldiers jumping out of the car, a cloud of doubt rose in Zhuronov's heart.

The German gendarmes stormed into the crowd of Soviet soldiers, dragged out eight soldiers, escorted them to the north side of the square, stood about a meter apart from each other, and then retreated to a distance of about 15 meters from them, and stood face to face with guns in their arms.

Seeing that this did not need to explain a scene, a strong premonition suddenly rose in Zhuronov's heart, a sense of foreboding.

Without waiting for Zhuronov to ask, "General Hoth" preemptively asked: "General Rosen, what are you going to do?" ”

The three Zhuronovs hurriedly looked at Chen Dao, quietly waiting for Chen Dao's answer or confirming their guesses.

Chen Dao didn't even look at the three of them, and said expressionlessly: "Commander, everything is as you can see, according to the order from the Supreme Command, I will shoot the prisoners here." ”

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PS: The second shift is at seven o'clock. (To be continued......)