On a 50-kilometer-wide front stretching from Shklov in the south to Dubrovno in the north, tanks, self-propelled guns, trucks, and armored vehicles of the 14th Panzer Corps lined up in a steady stream heading to the east bank of the Dnieper River.

In the sky, Luftwaffe fighters never disappeared from the battlefield.

In the eastward march of the army on the east bank of the Dnieper, one of the troops marched against the tide and marched straight west to return to the west bank of the Dnieper, and this force was Chen Dao's governor's guard.

In the part of the city of Dubrovne on the west bank of the Dnieper, General Witsheim had already moved to the city with the headquarters of the 14th Panzer Army.

Following in the footsteps of Admiral Witesheim, Chen Dao and his adjutants appeared at the headquarters of the 14th Panzer Corps, waiting for the return of the Governor's Guard and the arrival of a group of guests.

Seeing Chen Dao, Admiral Wittsheim greeted him with a smile and shook hands with Chen Dao.

"Your Excellency the Governor, I will miss these wonderful times when I fought alongside you, and I look forward to working with you again."

Chen Dao's face was also filled with a bright smile, after all, it was a big victory.

"Although I am about to leave, my heart is with Mr. Admiral, and with the officers and men of the 14th Panzer Corps."

"Two divisions against two divisions, one battle of Cannae, a day of heavy damage to the opponent, and a beautiful siege and annihilation, you are worthy of the genius who predicted the defeat of France in eight weeks. After this battle, I think there will be countless more admirers of you in the 14th Panzer Army. ”

"Including you, Mr. Admiral?" Chen Daoxiao asked.

Admiral Wiesheim said, "Of course, that includes me. ”

The atmosphere of the conversation was good, and Chen Dao's mood was even better. When I was in a good mood, I suddenly remembered something.

His days in the XIV Panzer Corps. The admiral in front of him was also very courteous to himself. Just give him a big gift before parting.

Having made up his mind, Chen Daozheng said to Admiral Wiesheim: "Mr. General, there is an old Chinese proverb that says so. ”

"Oh, what is the proverb? The story that His Excellency the Governor had to tell last time was the Tiger, the Serpent and the Eight Princes still fresh in my memory, and whenever I get bored, I think back to the complicated relationship between them, and every time I think about it, it puts me in a good mood. ”

Aware of the deep desire to learn on Admiral Wiethesheim's face. Chen Dao didn't sell it, and said bluntly: "This proverb says so, brother・・・・・・ although I am not by your side, there is a legend of mine by your side." ”

"Your Excellency the Governor, since you successfully prophesied the destruction of France in eight weeks, you have become a legend in German military circles."

Chen Dao waved his hand and said: "The real hero never mentions the merits of the past, what eight weeks to destroy France, that is already in the past." As I was leaving, I decided to leave a new legend in the XIV Panzer Corps. ”

Chen Dao said and walked to the command room first, and came to the battle map.

Point to the map. Chen Dao said to Admiral Wittsheim: "There is no doubt that our next target is Smolensk. Regarding the battle for Smolensk, there are two things that require special attention. ”

When Admiral Witsheim saw Chen Dao talking about military affairs, the expression on his face immediately became serious, and he asked the staff officers around him to prepare for the record.

"First, after summarizing the wars of these years, especially the street fighting, I have come to a conclusion. In the face of sparsely populated towns with a population of only tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, and other cities with a population of less than 500,000, we can use the tactics of front-line horizontal push to launch an attack. But Smolensk is different, it is a large city with a population of nearly a million, and the ideal situation for such a large city is to occupy it on the move, but this ideal situation rarely arises, so we must take another approach, which is to encircle, and try to do everything possible to encircle the city first, and then attack the city, please note this. ”

"Street fighting is tricky, I'll remember your reminder." Admiral Wietsheim said.

"A front-line siege is a crushing battle, and if the enemy reacts quickly and has a large reserve, it is likely to turn into a war of attrition. Siege first and then siege is a war of annihilation, which are two completely different modes of battle, and they must be distinguished. Chen Dao said.

Witessheim nodded solemnly, and then asked, "What's the second thing?" ”

"The second thing is relatively simple, it's to find someone, you see here." Chen Dao's right index finger pointed to a place name on the map.

The location of this place name is about twenty kilometers west of Smolensk, and Admiral Wietsheim asked puzzled: "Katyn?" Are there any particularly important people in this place? ”

"Very important, if you can find them, our Minister Goebbels of the Propaganda Department will thank you with 120,000 sincerity."

Admiral Witesheim's gaze instantly became intense.

"Who is he? What's his name? ”

Faced with Admiral Wietsheim's inquiry, Chen Dao said categorically: "I don't know, I only know that their location is in the forest near Katyn, if you don't have a clue, you can ask the local residents." ”

Admiral Wietsheim said: "Are you talking about them? Lots of people I'm looking for? ”

"Yes, thousands of people, Poles." Chen Dao said.

Admiral Wietsheim asked suspiciously: "You mean that there is a prisoner of war camp in the Katyn Forest where the Russians are holding the Poles?" If that's the case, it should be easy to find. ”

Chen Dao smiled, and Admiral Wietsheim was keenly aware that Chen Dao's smile was very mysterious and intriguing.

Unable to guess what was hidden behind Chen Dao's smile for a while, Admiral Wietsheim had no choice but to say: "When we occupy Katyn, I will definitely have people carefully search Katyn Forest." ”

Just then, a sergeant hurried into the command room.

"Report, Admiral Feltinghoff Schell of the 46th Panzer Corps has arrived."

"Ask him to come in."

Soon, outside the door, a thin general with a Hitlerian mustache walked in, none other than General Heinrich Gottfried von Fittinghof Schell, commander of the 46th Panzer Corps under the Second Panzer Army.

After Chen Dao and Admiral Wittsheim warmly greeted Admiral Scheer, Chen Dao raised his eyebrows and extended his right hand to Admiral Wietsheim again.

"Mr. Admiral, the last thing I want to say to you at the time of parting is to remember to change the vest."

"I'll change it as soon as you're gone." Admiral Wietsheim said.

Admiral Schell looked Admiral Wietsheim up and down suspiciously, and all he saw was a crisp military uniform.

Where is the vest? What vest?

A series of question marks popped up in Admiral Scheer's mind.

Chen Dao turned his head to look at Admiral Scheer, who looked puzzled, and said with a smile: "General Scheer must have changed his vest." ”

"Yes, but judging by General Scheer's expression, I think it's necessary for you to explain to him the complicated relationship between the tiger, the snake, and the king." Admiral Wietsheim teased.

The military situation was urgent, and General Scheer and Chen Dao did not stay too long.

Admiral Wietsheim led his men to personally send the two outside the gate, and then waved goodbye.

Sitting side by side with General Scheer in the back seat of a VW82 barrel truck, Chen Dao patiently told Admiral Scheer the story that had to be told between the tiger, the snake and the king.

Admiral Scheer suddenly realized, and said with a smile: "It turns out that this is what it means to change the vest, so to speak, our 46th Armored Corps has just changed the vest. ”

"After the change of vests, our next target is Leningrad, and we are a few days away from the main forces of the army group?" Chen Dao asked.

"Two days at most."

On July 6, 1942, two major events occurred on the battlefield on the Eastern Front, the first of which was the announcement by the Chief of the General Staff of the German Army, Halder, that the Soviet troops in the encirclement of Minsk, Belarus, had been completely wiped out, which meant that the infantry of the Fourth and Ninth Armies under Army Group Center could throw off and chase after the Panzer Army in front in great stride.

On the same day, with the departure of Chen Dao, the 14th Armored Corps, which was a subordinate of the former First Armored Group Army, ended the "history of swagger and deception" of pretending to be the main force of the group army, and became a member of the Second Armored Group Army's battle sequence.

The 46th Armored Army, which was originally part of the Second Armored Army, put on the vest of the First Armored Army and became a member of the First Armored Army, and at the same time, Chen and his Governor's Guard put on the new vest. (To be continued.) )