Being this deputy commander is both an opportunity and a challenge. If I cannot achieve remarkable results, I will probably stop at the commander of the army. Like Cui Kov, by the end of the war, I can only command one army.

After Zhukov called the colonel at the door again, he called the colonel at the door and told him: "You go find a staff officer, but the deputy commander is familiar with the environment."

"Comrade Deputy Commander?" After hearing Zhukov say this, the colonel looked confused and asked in confusion: "Comrade Marshal, I wonder which deputy commander you are talking about?"

Zhukov pursed his lips, waved his head at my place, and said impatiently: "Who else can it be? Didn't you see that there are only General Oshanina and me here."

The colonel was also a smart man. After hearing what Zhukov said, he understood and quickly said, "I understand, Comrade Marshal." Then he walked up to me, reached out to make an invitation gesture, and said politely, "Comrade Deputy Commander, please come to me, I'll find someone to take you to familiarize yourself with the environment."

After coming out of Zhukov's office, the colonel said politely to me: "Comrade Deputy Commander, please wait here for a while. I will find a staff officer to accompany you around."

I raised my hand and looked at my watch. Seeing that it had been almost an hour, and Bukov and the others were still waiting for me outside, I said to the colonel: "Comrade Colonel, let's do this. We are divided into two groups. You go and find a staff officer. I will go to the door to see my subordinates. We will meet at the door later. What do you think?"

Regarding my proposal, the colonel agreed without hesitation: "Yes, Comrade Deputy Commander. In five minutes, I will take people to the door to find you."

As I walked along the corridor towards the door, I saw two generals walking towards me. I was sharp-eyed and I could see clearly that the person walking in front was Lieutenant General Moskarenko, the current commander of the 38th Army, while the general behind me looked like a naive face.

I quickly stopped, stood there, raised my hand to my forehead, saluted Moskarenko, and smiled and said, "Hello, General Moskarenko!"

When Moskarenko heard someone calling his name, he was stunned for a moment, but soon recognized me. He quickly accelerated his pace, walked up to shake hands with me, and said friendly: "It turns out it is you, Comrade Oshenina. Haven't you transferred to the Belarusian Front Army? Today I'm thinking about visiting us?"

Although I had no good feelings for Moskarenko, after all, I had fought side by side in several places, so I still showed enough politeness: "Comrade General, I am Marshal Zhukov summoned here." After saying this, I turned my head and looked at the general beside him and asked, "Don't you know this general?"

The round-faced lieutenant general saw me ask him, quickly stepped forward, stretched out his hand to me, and introduced himself, "Hello, General Oshenina! Let me introduce myself. My name is Rimachenko. After General Moskarenko was transferred to the 38th Army as commander, I took over his original position as commander of the 40th Army."

"Hello, General Nimachenko." After I shook hands with Nimachenko, I turned my head and said to Moskarenko: "Comrade General, are you here to find the marshal? He is in the office at this moment."

"Thank you." Moskarenko thanked me first, and then asked: "How long can you stay here? If you can stay two more days, I would like to call a few old friends to get together with you."

"Don't worry, I'll stay here for a while." Instead of telling him about my upcoming deputy commander of the Front Army, I said vaguely: "There are opportunities to meet at that time."

Moskarenko didn't notice my indifference to him, and was still asking enthusiastically: "Where are you going now?"

"I don't know how long I will stay in Zhitomir," I replied politely to his question: "The soldiers who escorted me to Zhitomir are still waiting outside, so I will settle them first."

"Then you go and settle them," urged Moskarenko, "Let's have a good chat after I see Comrade Marshal come out."

When I walked out of the building gate, the cold wind rushing towards me made me tremble, and then I realized that it was snowing outside. I stood on the high steps and looked around, looking for the traces of Bukov and the others. Soon I found Bukov and seven or eight soldiers standing next to a broken wall across the road, covered in snow, turning into a group of snowmen.

I walked quickly to them and asked in a reproachful tone: "Major, it's snowing so heavily outside, why don't you find a place to hide? Look, you all have become snowmen."

After looking at each other for a few times, Bukov and the soldiers looked at each other and said to me with a smile: "Comrade Commander, I'm worried that you won't find us when you come out, so I stood here and wait for you." After pausing for a moment, he asked me tentatively, "Are we going back to the Army Command now?"

"Why are there only you guys, and the others?" I did not answer his question immediately, but looked around, without seeing the tanks, armored vehicles and trucks that came with me, so I asked with concern: "Where are they?"

Bukov raised his hand and pointed to the side, saying, "There is a square over there. The comrades from the garrison headquarters asked us to park the convoy there, and the guards were resting there." After reporting on the location of the convoy, he continued to ask me: "Comrade Commander, are we going back to Mojili now?"

"We won't go back to Mojili for the time being." Facing Bukov, who was eager to return, I shook my head and said to him: "From the current situation, we may stay here for a while."

"I won't go back to Mojili?" My words surprised Bukov. After a moment of shock, he asked carefully: "Comrade Commander, is there something wrong that makes you unable to return to Mojili in the short term?"

Although I didn't tell the truth to Moskarenko just now, I did not hide it in front of my most trusted subordinate: "Comrade Marshal intends to let me serve as deputy commander of the front army, so in the short term, I will not return to Mojili."

"Fang...Fang Army...Deputy Commander..." After hearing these words from me, Bukov stutteredly asked, "Is this true?"

"Yes," I nodded vigorously, and then ordered Bukov: "Major, go find the people of the garrison headquarters and ask them to arrange a place for you, so you can live here first."

"Yes!" Bukov agreed and wanted to leave with his men, but after walking for a short while, he stopped again, reached out to me, and said respectfully: "Comrade Commander, I congratulate you on your higher position."

"Thank you," I gently shook him, then let go of my hand, and told him, "Okay, go and execute the order."

…………

The meeting held by Zhukov presided over was held on time in the afternoon.

Zhukov sat on the main seat of the conference table, and the chief of staff and I sat on his right hand, while on his left hand were two members of the Military Commission: Lieutenant General Khrushchev and Major General Kreiukov. The reason why the two military commissioners appeared was that after the recovery of Kiev, Khrushchev was appointed as the chairman of the Ukrainian People's Committee and also served as the first book of the Central Committee of Ukraine. Since he was not in the army for a long time and his political propaganda work could not be stopped, his superiors appointed Kreiukov to assist him in his work in the army.

Seeing me sitting next to Zhukov, Moskarenko, who was not far away, showed a surprised expression on his face. Just as he was about to ask questions, Zhukov announced the beginning of the meeting.

Zhukov stood up, put his hands on the edge of the conference table, leaned forward slightly, and said to the commander present: "Dear commanders, everyone knows that Comrade Vatujing was ambushed by the enemy yesterday and was seriously injured and could not command the troops for the time being, so the base camp asked me to temporarily take over his position as commander of the Front Army. General Kurochkin, the deputy commander of the Front Army, was also transferred some time ago. In order to ensure that the work of the Front Army can operate normally, I decided to appoint Comrade Oshenina as acting as deputy commander of the Front Army after reporting to the Supreme Commander himself to agree."

After Zhukov finished speaking, the whole room immediately fell into silence.

Seeing this situation, my heart was like fifteen buckets of water flocking up and down. I thought to myself, "Are you really like I guessed that everyone is willing to accept me as the deputy commander, even if it is temporary, because I have too little experience?"

Just when I was uneasy, a middle-aged general sitting diagonally opposite me stood up and said to Zhukov: "Comrade Marshal, my troops have fought side by side with General Oshanina's troops. I highly recognize her ability. I think the decision of my superiors to appoint her as deputy commander of the front army is very correct."

After staring at the other party for a while, I immediately recognized the bald general as Lieutenant General Pukhov, the commander of the 13th Army. He had indeed fought side by side with him before. For his actions of supporting me, I smiled at him with gratitude. Pukhov glanced at me, nodded, and then sat down again.

Seeing that a colleague expressed his views, Moskarenko stood up without being outdone and made remarks similar to Pukhov. Then the commander of the 27th Army, Trofimenko, the commander of the 40th Army, Rimachenko, the commander of the 60th Army, Rebarko, the commander of the 3rd Army of Guard Tank, and the commander of the 2nd Air Force, also expressed their recognition of my position as deputy commander.

Seeing that no one expressed objection to me as deputy commander, my heart was finally relieved in my throat. Next, when discussing other tasks, the atmosphere in the conference room became much more harmonious.

The meeting lasted for an hour. Zhukov, who had assigned all the tasks, turned his head and asked Khrushchev on the left: "Military Commissioner, do you have anything to add?"

"No," Khrushchev shook his head and said in a sure tone: "I have nothing to add."

Zhukov nodded, turned his eyes to me and asked the same question: "Where are you, Lida, do you have anything to explain to all the commanders?"

"No, comrade Marshal." I shook my head, and replied, "I will spend a few days familiarizing myself with the environment before I can work formally."

"I'll give you two days." Zhukov said to me in an unquestionable tone: "In a few days, we will start a new battle with the Second Front Army, so you must be familiar with the internal affairs of the Front Army as soon as possible." After he finished these words, he paused for a moment. After I nodded and confirmed, he announced loudly: "Today's meeting ends here, the meeting will be over!"

Several army commanders stood up one after another and walked out slowly through the open door. After saying hello to Zhukov, I also got up and walked towards the door, intending to chat with the old friend Rebarko.

Who knew that as soon as I reached the door, I saw a young lieutenant trotting along the corridor. He looked at the commanders who came out of the conference room for a while and then walked decisively towards Moskarenko.

Moskarenko obviously knew the lieutenant, and he stopped, approached the wall, waiting for the lieutenant who was walking towards him. I saw the lieutenant walking to him, approaching his ear, and whispering a few words.

After hearing what the lieutenant said, Moskarenko showed a panic expression on his face. He turned around and walked quickly towards the conference room. He passed by me and walked into the conference room. He said panic to Zhukov, who was still packing things, "Comrade Marshal, isn't it good, Ada is injured?"

"What, Ada is injured?" Not only Zhukov was shocked when he heard this news, but even Khrushchev, who was sitting next to him, jumped up from his seat in shock.

Seeing both of them walking towards the door with panic expressions, I couldn't help but wonder: I don't know who Ada was mentioned by Moskarenko, who could actually make the two military bosses lose their composure.

While I was thinking about it, Zhukov had already rushed to Moskarenko, raised his hand and grabbed his arm, and asked anxiously: "How did she get injured?" Before Moskarenko could tell me, Zhukov had repeatedly urged: "Where is she? Take us there quickly. For the specific situation, let's go as we go."

When I saw Zhukov and Moskarenko passing by me like a gust of wind, I was hesitating whether to follow me. Khrushchev patted my shoulder gently and asked strangely: "Lida, aren't you going?"

I heard Khrushchev's tone and planned to let me see the injured Ada together. Although I was not sure why he wanted to pull me up, I still replied casually: "Go, of course I want to go. Since you and the marshal are going, I am no exception. I will go and see with you."

As we followed Zhukov and the others and walked forward along the corridor, the army commanders looked at us with strange eyes, not knowing what happened, but everyone tacitly asked, but stared at our backs with curious eyes.

I whispered to Khrushchev when there was no one around me: "Military Commissioner, can I ask, who is this Adadi? Why are you and the marshal so nervous when they heard that she was injured?"

Khrushchev said to me with a side face: "Ada, you may not know her. But you are very familiar with her father."

I heard that Ada's father and I were familiar with each other, so I instinctively asked, "Who?!"

"Rokosovsky," Khrushchev smiled at me and said meaningfully: "General Rokosovsky, commander of the Belarusian Front." (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!