February 22, 1946, eastern suburbs of Leningrad.

In the Northern Hemisphere, the days are the shortest in the year in the middle of winter, and before 4 p.m., the sky is already getting dark. On a small hill facing north and south, four Soviet soldiers wearing Soviet-made 1940-style steel helmets - World War II armor that is as famous as the German army M35 and the US army M1 and have a unique shape at a glance, wearing woolen winter military uniforms and long grass-brown windbreakers, are on guard next to an open-top gas car, they look focused but bored, and they stood in this ice and snow for almost two hours, without any additional heating tools. I don't know why I'm in this relatively remote position, guarding a two-track railway line. The railway, which connects Leningrad and Moscow, was originally a key line guarded by the army, and the bridges, forks, and stations along the way were garrisoned, and today the vigilance has obviously been escalated, where there are slopes or woods, there are basically cars or trucks parked, and the officers and soldiers in the same attire are also silently enduring the bitter cold, and they do not know when the end will be.

"I'm going to pee!" The tallest of the four, the high-ranking soldier said angrily, although the words were correct, they inevitably gave people a sense of vulgarity. Relying on his strong body, he easily carried the ** sand submachine gun full of magazines on his shoulder, and climbed up the hillside like a brown bear. There is a small pine forest, and beyond that, there are endless fields. In this season, there is usually not even a rabbit except for the cold wind and the cold and hard frozen ground.

The movement of the big man made the dull atmosphere change slightly, and another tall thin soldier whispered: "I really want to know who is going to pass through here, and there is such a big pomp, why don't you just take the special plane!" ”

The soldier, who was about the same height as him but was stronger, said, "Isn't it convenient to fly?" Why do you choose such strange weather to take the train, does it look different? ”

"Don't guess, maybe it's a marshal who happened to be inspecting nearby!" The non-commissioned officer, who was not tall and unusually generous, squinted his eyes to the east, which was the direction of Moscow, and the direct path into Leningrad by car. The next day was the annual Red Army Day of the Soviet Union, and in the absence of clear instructions, the officers and men naturally felt that this time they were on duty for the train entering Leningrad from outside.

"Makes sense!" The tall, thin soldier spoke in a tone that did not look like a sycophant, and just then a low muffled grunt came from the woods on the hillside.

The three Soviet officers and soldiers who remained on the hillside not only did not become alert, but the tall and thin soldier also sneered: "Hey, I said Varilev, pee and?" Constipation again! Who told you to eat so much at noon! ”

"It's disgusting!" The short, stout non-commissioned officer was too sensitive, and before he could smell the stench, he had already pinched his nose and complained indignantly: "Varilev, you rude fellow, you have to go far away from the!" ”

But there was no echo in the woods.

"Something can't be wrong, right?" The tall and relatively stocky soldier picked up the submachine gun, because it was inconvenient to pull the bolt and pull the trigger with thick gloves, so he took off the large hairy gloves and kept only the velvet gloves inside. At the same time, the other two were alert, but the muffled sound from the woods relaxed them again.

"Who brought the paper?" The voice sounded like it had changed somewhat, but a little farther away and it was freezing outdoors, and the Russian soldiers didn't notice anything unusual.

The short and stout non-commissioned officer subconsciously took two steps down the hillside: "Damn it, Varilev, you can just find a few leaves to solve it!" ”

There was only the humming of a constipated person in the woods.

The tall and sturdy soldier picked up the submachine gun again, searched in his pocket, found a ball of straw paper, and walked towards the woods with a frown: "Varilev, this piece of paper is worth a thousand gold, how about helping me on duty next time?" ”

"No problem!" There was a muffled voice in the woods, and the speaker seemed to pinch his nose to speak.

In wartime, even if they are not close to the front line, the soldiers will maintain a high level of vigilance, but more than half a year of peace has gradually paralyzed their thinking, the tall and sturdy soldier walked up with a gun on his shoulder, and said: "Man, your condition does not seem to be very good, can you handle it?" ”

The crouching guy in the woods was silent, and when the tall and stout Soviet soldier walked to the edge of the woods, a cold voice suddenly came from the side of the hillside: "Who gave you permission to leave your post without permission?" ”

The three of them, including the tall and sturdy soldiers, stopped in place and followed the prestige, only to see two young officers wearing the uniforms of the security forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR appear near like ghosts, the leader looks like a lieutenant, and the one who follows behind the ass with a submachine gun on his back is a non-commissioned officer, and the rank alone is overwhelming them, not to mention that the security forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR are an elite force that is quite mysterious in the eyes of ordinary people, and they are stationed in large and medium-sized cities in the Soviet Union to undertake internal security and security work, During the Great Patriotic War, he was also responsible for supervising the armed forces, acting as a team of overseers, with considerable power. After the end of the war, although the size of this force was greatly reduced compared to the wartime, it still undertook a secret mission that made people smell and wonder, see and fear.

The short and stout non-commissioned officer hurriedly saluted and explained: "Report, just now Varilev, our senior private, just went to the woods to relieve his hands with an upset stomach, and we did not leave our posts. ”

The leading internal affairs officer approached slowly with his hands behind his back and a straight face, and he looked disdainful of the non-commissioned officer's explanation, but said coldly: "No matter what method you use, you are limited to appearing in front of us in line within half a minute, otherwise you should be punished for deserting your duties without permission." ”

The non-commissioned officer was stunned for a moment, and his two privates were also stunned at this time, and the tall stout soldier standing at the edge of the woods tried to look inside and whispered to his companion, but the constipated fellow did not respond.

Seeing that the captain of the internal affairs army had already rolled up his sleeves and looked at his watch, the short and stout non-commissioned officer didn't care so much, and rushed to the woods on the hillside alone, leaving the thin and tall private to stay where he was, as for the tall and stout private standing at the edge of the woods, he had heard it very clearly just now, so he rushed into the woods with an anxious face, not realizing that there was a strong murderous aura in it, and he didn't calm down to figure out why the officers and non-commissioned officers of the internal affairs forces were still wearing wartime uniforms— Not long after the release of the new uniforms, the mixing of the old and the new was normal in the army, but the conditions of the internal affairs forces were superior to those of ordinary troops in all aspects, how could these high-spirited guys still wear old military uniforms when performing their missions?

After the action of the non-commissioned officer of the Soviet army, the officer in the uniform of the Ministry of Internal Affairs no longer looked at his watch, the corner of his mouth suddenly showed a sly smile, and when he waved his hand gently, the non-commissioned officer behind him walked quickly to the thin tall private who remained on the hillside, and said in confusion: "Soldier, the button on your collar is loose!" ”

The simple Soviet private immediately subconsciously lowered his head to arrange his collar, but when he was surprised that he did not loosen the collar button, the non-commissioned officer of the internal affairs army had already floated to his side, the dagger in his hand flashed coldly, and disappeared into his chest in an instant, and the other hand pressed his neck tightly, so that he could only make a helpless cooing sound.

There was a rustling sound in the woods, and after a few moments, everything was quiet again. Two sturdy young men in Soviet uniforms and submachine guns on their backs stepped out of the woods, while two men dressed in internal affairs worked together to lift the dead Soviet private to a parked car, wipe the blood from the corners of his mouth, and put him in the car as if he were resting on his seat. After that, wearing the uniform of the captain of the Soviet Army's internal affairs troops, he raised his binoculars to look around, according to which the nearest temporary Soviet duty point was about two kilometers away on the edge of the woods, and the squad leader or squad deputy rank junior non-commissioned officers were not qualified to use the telescope, and judging from the posture of those people, they must not be aware of the abnormality here. When the lieutenant waved his hand, two more soldiers in 1943 Soviet Army uniforms came out of the woods, and they carried their large and heavy bags onto the Gass car parked on the hillside, and then returned to the woods as if nothing had happened, and took down the other two slap bags, and at this time at the edge of the woods, about seventy or eighty meters away from the railroad tracks, several other young men in Soviet uniforms were quickly assembling the disassembled and transported launch parts, which became the most common in the German [***] team in the middle and late stages of the war" Tank killer", that is, an 88-mm anti-tank rocket launcher, it is not a problem to break through the T-150 armor within an effective range of 34 meters, not to mention a special bulletproof compartment.

About half an hour later, the sound of a train moving in the direction of Leningrad was heard in the distance, and a long, light-gray snake appeared in the telescope, which was not moving very fast, and it seemed that it would take several minutes to pass under the hillside. At the signal of the lieutenant in the uniform of the Internal Affairs Army, a soldier wearing a Soviet-made steel helmet sat in the Gas, tried to start the car, checked that it was in good condition, and then left it in the starting state, and then took the rocker from the compartment and found a support point so that it could hold down the accelerator pedal in place of the human footstep if necessary. By the time he had done that, the light gray snake's head had already appeared with a snort. The winter is very cold, and the white gas coming out of the front of the steam locomotive is particularly thick. Through the fog that drifted with the wind, the lieutenant stared at the carriages behind him, and judging from the silhouette and appearance, the two cars closest to the front were indeed armed armored carriages, but they were not exposed to large and small anti-aircraft weapons as they were during the war. The outer walls of the back carriages are sleek and exquisite, not at all like ordinary passenger carriages, they look exactly the same, and it is difficult to distinguish the specific purpose from the appearance, and at the end of this train with more than a dozen carriages, there are two armored carriages that are the same as the front.

As the train approached, every "Soviet soldier" on this hillside maintained a calm posture, only showing a little nervousness and apprehension in his imperceptible eyes. After calculating the meeting time, the soldier sitting in the car drove the car down the hillside, and the driver on the front of the train immediately sounded the whistle when he saw this situation, and the close range sounded deafening, but the soldiers on the car ignored it, and when the gas car was still more than 20 meters away from the tracks and the locomotive was already close at hand, he propped up the rocker with extremely quick movements, turned over and jumped out of the car door, and rolled down the hillside, while the gas car with a dead soldier and hundreds of pounds of explosives continued to move forward, The train braked again at this point to no avail, and the cannon on the armored compartment opened fire at the last moment, still not preventing the car from crashing into the front of the car with a loud bang......

(To be continued)