Before we left the hospital, Khrushchev called a staff member wearing glasses and ordered: "After the coffin arrives, we will immediately bury Comrade Vatujing's body and then send it to Hagia Sophia Cathedral for our soldiers and residents of the city to pay homage. Do you understand?"

"I understand, Comrade Khrushchev." The staff bent over and replied respectfully: "I will follow your order."

Khrushchev nodded, then turned to us and said, "Okay, let's go, all of them go to my office to do it."

When I walked into Khrushchev's office, I found that the decoration style here was exactly the same as that of Stalin's office. Apart from one desk, it could accommodate more than a dozen long conference tables.

Khrushchev greeted me, and after Zhukov and Voroshilov sat down at the table, he spoke, "Comrades, Vatutin is our close comrades-in-arms. His separation from us is heartbreaking..."

"Wait a minute, Comrade Khrushchev." Before he could finish speaking, Voroshilov, who was sitting on his left, interrupted his words and raised his own question: "As far as I know, General Vatujing was ambushed, but was injured in the leg. The situation had improved a lot a while ago. Why did he die suddenly?"

"Marrior Voroshilov," Khrushchev looked at the veteran marshal with a plain expression: "According to the doctor's report, Comrade Vatujing was caused by an injury infection, and eventually the organs failed due to long-term hypoxia..."

"All right, put away your foolish clichés." Voroshilov interrupted Khrushchev impatiently again. "Vatutin is a senior commander. The medical conditions he enjoys are much better than ordinary commanders and fighters. Why does such tragedy happen?" He paused for a moment, suddenly widened his eyes and added in a stern tone, "I think there is a problem with the medical staff he is treating. Maybe it is a spy sent by the Germans who came to murder our senior generals."

When I heard Voroshilov say this, my heart skipped a beat. In my opinion, the doctors have certain responsibilities for Vatutin's serious injury, but under the current medical conditions, if it is really caused by a wound infection, even the best doctors will be unable to make things happen. But if this matter is linked to the German spy, the nature will completely change.

I secretly looked at Zhukov who was sitting next to him, trying to see something from his face. But Zhukov sat in the chair without saying a word, his eyelids were hanging down, staring at the table in front of him, as if something interesting was attracted to him. Seeing Zhukov posing as if he was out of the matter, I also kept silent tactfully to avoid accidentally getting angry.

"Comrade Voroshilov," Khrushchev replied with a serious expression: "I have sent someone from the Ministry of Internal Affairs to take the doctors and nurses responsible for treating Comrade Vatutin for investigation. I believe they should have come to a conclusion." After that, he got up and walked to the desk, reached out and pressed a button on the table.

The office door was quickly pushed open silently from outside. A young man in a military uniform stood at the door like a telephone pole, quietly waiting for Khrushchev's instructions.

Khrushchev raised his hand and pointed at him, saying, "You go and notify the comrades from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, saying that I am waiting for their investigation report here and let their person in charge come and report immediately." The young man nodded, then turned around and walked out of the room, and closed the door casually.

After Khrushchev and others left, they walked back to the conference table and sat down, saying to us: "My secretary has already informed the comrades of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. I believe that it will not take long before someone will come to report the specific situation to us."

While waiting for members of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Voroshilov asked Zhukov across the table: "Comrade Zhukov, as far as I know, Hubei's 1st Tank Army has been trapped in your First Front Army of Ukraine for a long time. I wonder when it will be possible to wipe out this enemy?"

"If nothing unexpected happens, this German army will be wiped out in two to three days." After answering Voroshilov's question, Zhukov asked curiously: "Comrade Marshal, what are you doing in this matter?"

Zhukov asked this because although Voroshilov was a member of the Supreme Command, he had no specific position at present, but was just a so-called role. He could only stay in the office every day to read the war reports summarized and reported by various military forces, and was not qualified to inquire about the combat deployment of the troops.

When Voroshilov heard Zhukov's question, he obviously found that he had asked questions that he shouldn't have asked. He quickly blushed and explained, "Comrade Zhukov, you also know that today I came to Kiev to award Comrade Khrushchev the title of meritorious service to you, and I happened to see you here too, so I would like to care about the situation of the war there."

Zhukov said with a plain expression: "Comrade Marshal, I will report all kinds of war reports to the Supreme Command in time. You should be able to see what you want to see in your office."

The Ministry of Internal Affairs came to a tall middle-aged man wearing a gray tweed windbreaker and a thin face. He walked to Khrushchev, bent down slightly, and then said, "Comrade Khrushchev, the result of the interrogation has come out."

"Since the interrogation has already been found," Khrushchev said blankly at the middle-aged man standing in front of him: "Comrade Panferov, then start reporting."

Panferov's eyes swept across us one by one, and finally stopped on me. His face showed a slightly shocked expression, and then he returned to normal. He said politely to Khrushchev: "Comrade Khrushchev, since this matter is confidential, do you see if you let irrelevant people avoid it?"

"Not related personnel to avoid?" Khrushchev couldn't help but sneer when he heard Panferov say this: "Who do you think we are like nobody here?" He pointed at us with his hand as he said, "Do you think Marshal Zhukov is an unrelated personnel, or Marshal Voroshilov is an unrelated personnel?"

Khrushchev's words were powerful to swell hatred. As soon as he finished speaking, I found Voroshilov sitting opposite me, and his eyes looking at Panferov became stern.

"No, it's not like this, Comrade Khrushchev, you've completely misunderstood." Panferov quickly pointed at me and defended himself: "I want to ask this female commander to go out for the time being. Her level may not be enough."

"Her level is not enough." Khrushchev laughed in anger at the middle-aged man's words. He looked at Zhukov first and said, "Our Comrade Panferov actually said that Lida's level is not enough." Then he turned his head to the side of Voroshilov, and continued to laugh and tease, "He actually thought Lida's level is not enough and was not qualified to sit here and listen to the investigation report on the cause of General Vatujing's death?"

"Comrade Panferov," Zhukov turned halfway, put an arm on the back of the chair, and looked at Panferov and said, "Since you are a member of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, don't you know that in addition to being a commander trusted by Comrade Stalin, she also received the authorization of Beria to directly mobilize the troops and relevant personnel of your Ministry of Internal Affairs?"

Zhukov's words made Panferov suddenly become uneasy. His eyes looked at me hurriedly with a hint of flattering smile. He raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead, and then apologized respectfully to me: "I'm sorry, General Oshanina, I don't know your identity, please forgive me!"

Hearing his words, I couldn't help but secretly complain: It would be strange if you don't know my identity. Otherwise, how could you call out my surname at once? You should know that when Khrushchev mentioned me, he used my nickname. However, at this time, I didn't want to be snobs, so I waved my hand and said, "Comrade Panferov, this is a trivial matter, you don't have to care about it. You should report the results of the trial to Comrade Khrushchev."

Panferov, who was reminded by me, remembered his purpose here. He quickly opened the briefcase under his armpit, took out a folder from it, and then began to report to Khrushchev: "...After our interrogation, General Vatujing's attending physician had confessed to the heinous crimes he had committed; and the other two nurses were also his accomplices. They added deadly poison to the injections they injected General Vatujing..."

I couldn't help feeling mixed emotions when I listened to Panferov's report, and immediately recalled a joke circulating on the Internet in later generations: The methods used by countries to capture a rabbit that fled into the forest were very different. The Americans would surround the forest and shout at the forest with a loudspeaker: You have been surrounded by us, immediately put down your weapons and surrender. The Soviets only needed to send a few KGBs into the forest, and soon brought out a bear with a bruised nose and swollen face. The bear kept saying as he walked: I am a rabbit, I am a rabbit.

When I think of this joke, I understand in my heart that the results of the interrogation provided by the Ministry of Internal Affairs must have been written by doctors and nurses who were scolded. They are all innocent and have nothing to do with Vatujing's death.

After listening to Panferov's report, Voroshilov raised his hand and slapped the table and said excitedly: "How is it, Comrade Khrushchev, I'm right, Comrade Vatuting's death is definitely not an accident, but a murdered by a German spy." After saying these words, he stopped at Panferov and continued to ask, "These doctors and nurses have been to Germany, right? To be precise, have they all studied in Germany?"

"The attending physician once studied in a medical school in Germany for two years," Panferov replied hesitantly: "Although the two nurses have never been abroad, I should have been instigated by the doctor."

"It's so terrible, it's so terrible." Voroshilov shook his head and said, "I can't believe that these doctors and nurses will harm patients regardless of their professional ethics, and they are also the senior commanders in our army. They are simply a group of devils dressed in angels, and they must not be spared easily."

Seeing Voroshilov's words, the fate of several doctors and nurses would become extremely miserable, and I couldn't help feeling compassion. Just as I opened my mouth and was about to speak, I suddenly felt that my hand under the table was grabbed by another hand. I turned my head and looked at Zhukov who was sitting next to me. He shook his head gently and told me not to meddle in other people's business. Seeing the hints Zhukov gave me, I could only sigh inwardly and apologize to the doctors and nurses I didn't know. Although I was willing to help them, under the current circumstances, I was also powerless.

Voroshilov looked at Khrushchev and asked, "Comrade Khrushchev, since the situation has been investigated clearly, what do you plan to deal with it?"

Khrushchev pondered for a moment, then looked up at Panferov and said, "Comrade Panferov, your Ministry of Internal Affairs will continue to follow up on this matter. You must continue to interrogate the prisoners, find out whether they have other accomplices, and you must catch them all in one place."

"Yes, Comrade Khrushchev is right." Voroshilov echoed: "We must continue to investigate and see if there are any hidden German spies in the military hospital. We must uproot them so that they will not harm the remaining senior commanders."

Seeing that Khrushchev and Voroshilov had already made up for this matter, Panferov nodded with a smile, placed the interrogation record in front of Khrushchev, and then turned around and left the office.

As soon as Panferov walked out of the room, Khrushchev's secretary reappeared at the door. He stood straight at the door and reported to Khrushchev: "Comrade Khrushchev, Marshal Zhukov's phone call was called from the front line."

"Transfer the phone in." Zhukov heard the secretary say this and immediately stood up from his seat. After giving an order, he quickly walked to the phone and picked up the microphone: "Hey, I am Zhukov!"

Because I was far apart, I couldn't hear clearly what the caller said to Zhukov, but from his furrowed eyebrows and his increasingly ugly face, I knew something must have happened.

Zhukov put down the phone, walked quickly to the conference table, and said to Khrushchev: "Comrade Khrushchev, I'm sorry, there was something wrong with the front line, and I need to go back and deal with it immediately." After saying that, he did not wait for Khrushchev to react, and nodded at Voroshilov, greeted me and said, "Lida, let's set off immediately."

"Wait a minute, Comrade Zhukov." Unexpectedly, we didn't take a few steps, Khrushchev suddenly shouted from behind. When we stopped and turned to look at him, he quickly walked in front of us and said to Zhukov in a friendly tone: "Comrade Zhukov, I'll take you to the airport in person."
Chapter completed!