When the captain was ordered to invite me to a meeting the next day, I covered my abdomen with my forehand and lay on the bed in pain from menstrual cramps. I don't know if Lida has always had this problem or if she only appeared after suffering an abdominal injury.

After making a phone call yesterday, I started to have a seizure as soon as I got back to the house, and I rolled on the ground in pain, but fortunately I was seen by Nina, who had just gotten off work. She helped me to lie on the bed, fed me a glass of honey water, and helped me rub my stomach for a long time before it got better.

Hearing the knock on the door, I struggled to get out of bed with my hands on my belly, and slowly walked over and opened the door. Standing at the door was the captain who had delivered the clothes yesterday, and when he saw me like this, he first saluted according to the rules and respectfully reported: "Division Commander Oshanina, I have come by order of General Zhukov to invite you to attend the military meeting to be held in half an hour. ”

I nodded, and said weakly, "I know the truth." Where will the meeting take place? ”

"Meeting room on the ground floor. You go down the stairs on the east side to the first floor and you will see the fighters on duty, and they will tell you how to go. After answering my question, he hesitated for a moment, and finally asked with concern: "Comrade division commander, what's wrong with you?" Do you need me to help you get a military doctor? ”

I glanced at him gratefully, shook my head and said, "It's nothing, maybe I got a cold last night, and my stomach is a little uncomfortable, it's okay for a while, don't bother the military doctor." Thank you, Comrade Captain! ”

The captain saw that I did not want to call a doctor, so he did not insist, saluted again, and turned away.

I closed the door and went to the bathroom to wash my face, although I knew that I couldn't touch cold water in the past few days, but I didn't know where to find hot water, so I had to make do with it.

Walking slowly up the stairs to the first floor, I saw soldiers standing guard on both sides of the corridor, and when I saw me coming down from the upper floor, I was immediately greeted by an ensign officer. As soon as I looked closely, I recognized the officer, whom I had dealt with in the past when I had been at the headquarters, and although I could not name him, we knew each other. He also recognized me at a glance and immediately smiled and said to me, "Hello! Master Oshanina, are you here for the meeting? Please come with me and I'll take you. ”

I followed the ensign, through the soldiers standing guard on either side, to a spacious reception room. The second lieutenant made a gesture of please and said, "Commander Oshanina, this is it, please." After saying that, he saluted me and left.

There were already a lot of people in the reception room, I glanced at everyone's military ranks, and was immediately shocked, all of them were generals, the lowest rank was a major general like me, and the rest were almost all lieutenant generals, and even two generals. Some stood, some sat on benches against the wall, and familiar people gathered together and chatted in low voices.

The door to the reception room was closed, and outside the door sat a lieutenant officer of the command. He looked at the commanders who had walked in, as if silently remembering which of the summoned commanders had come, and repeated from time to time: "Please take off your coat, comrades, generals, please take off your coat......"

I saw a long hanger nailed to the wall between the doors, and the hanger was already full of short fur coats and military coats, so I took off my military coat and found an empty seat to hang it.

I was thinking about whether to find a place to sit down, when suddenly a low voice came from next to me: "Hey, if I'm not mistaken, today should be a high-level military meeting, why is there a female commander to attend?" And it's still the rank of major general! ”

I followed the prestige, and it turned out that it was two major generals sitting on the bench, who were talking about me in a low voice, and it was the middle-aged man with a wide face who was sitting on the left. As soon as he finished speaking, the officer with a bitter gourd face beside him glanced at me and said lightly: "I said, old man, you must know that the rank of Lu Dao can be obtained not only on the battlefield, but also in other places. As a woman, as long as you serve your superiors who can promote her, you can still get a high-level military rank. ”

After saying that, the two of them laughed at the same time. Because the voice of the bitter gourd face was so loud, almost everyone in the reception room heard it, and everyone invariably turned their eyes to us.

I was bleeding from their humiliation, and I glared at them as I took a step forward, ready to rush over and punch each of them. At this moment, someone behind me put his hand on my shoulder and said softly, "Leda, don't be impulsive!" "Stopped my reckless behavior.

I looked back and saw that standing behind me was the commander of the army group, Lieutenant General Rokossovsky. He took two steps forward, walked in front of the two major generals, and said coldly: "I don't know how the two of them obtained the rank of major general, but I can tell you very responsibly. General Oshanina's military rank was obtained by her own strength on the battlefield, not to mention that she commanded the troops to fight so many victories, even she killed more fascist bandits than you see. ”

Seeing a lieutenant general come out to speak for me, the two of them stood up with a blushing face, and just about to say something, at this time a familiar voice came over: "General Rokossovsky is right, Oshanina's repeated military exploits are obvious to all, and all comrades Stalin will personally make an exception to promote her to the rank of major general." ”

I looked back and saw that it was Lieutenant General Vlasov who had helped me say good things this time, and behind him were still standing two generals, Lelyushzynzka and Dovatol, and when they saw that I had noticed them, all three smiled and nodded at me.

The two major generals, who had gossiped about me, saw that two generals of higher rank than them were speaking for me, realized that they had said the wrong thing, apologized to me, and then hid to the other end of the room.

When Rokossovsky saw Lelyushinka and Dovatol, two old comrades-in-arms who had recovered from injuries and been discharged from the hospital, he immediately excitedly pulled them to chat. After shaking hands with Vlasov, I gently asked him: "Comrade commander, is the deputy commander Lin from China here?" ”

Vlasov shook his head and said: "No, yesterday the Germans launched another offensive on Volokolamsk, and after Deputy Commander Lin commanded the troops to repel the enemy, he organized another counterattack and successfully wedged two to three kilometers into the enemy's line. He is organizing troops today to strengthen the defense of the area, so he will not be able to get out of this meeting. ”

Hearing Vlasov say this, I felt a little regretful in my heart, and I wanted to take the opportunity of the meeting to meet this military god and ask him for advice again, but it seems that there is no chance.

While I was in a melancholy state, the lieutenant on duty at the door left the door of the inner chamber open, and then let himself to the door, and announced in a loud voice: "Comrades, generals, please come in!" ”

This sentence was like a call to attack for everyone, and in an instant, both those standing in the reception room and those sitting on the benches rushed to the door. I deliberately fell behind others and let people with higher status than myself go first, so I was the last to walk in.

When I crossed the threshold, the first thing I saw was Zhukov, who was standing in front of a large map hanging on the wall with his hands behind his back, watching blankly at the steady stream of generals entering the room. The commanders of the armies who walked in first sat around the long tables, while the commanders of the lower ranks sat on benches against the wall. Seeing that Zhukov didn't notice me, he hurriedly found an inconspicuous corner and sat down.