"I've already sent someone to hurry them along, sir."
Before the staff officer had finished speaking, a young soldier of seventeen or eighteen, short in stature, his face dry and red from the cold, came trotting over excitedly. Stopped by the guards, the young man hurriedly removed his hat and stood at attention before Janik. "Brigade commander, you're sending me to seize the artillery position on the south side, aren't you? Don't worry, my men are all..."
The staff officer beside him signaled for the guards to move aside, then looked at the young soldier. "Sergeant Waldemar Zamoyski of the 6th Skirmisher Battalion, 14th Company?" "That's me, sir."
Janik looked over as well and said in a deep voice, "Your real surname is Wizczeck, isn't it? Do you know you violated the conscription regulations?"
Wizczeck froze, shrinking back half a step. "I... I don't know what you're talking..."
Janik put away his telescope and walked over. "When you enlisted in Lublin, your elder brother had already been dead for over a year. Under the conscription regulations, as the only man left in your family, you were not allowed to become a soldier."
Wizczeck visibly panicked and retreated another two steps. "I... I didn't mean to conceal it..."
He suddenly pointed toward the Russian Army's defensive line in the distance. "Brigade commander, I have to see the moment those Russian bastards are crushed! Please, once we enter Minsk, I'll report to the Gendarmerie immediately!"
"You won't be punished, but you must return to your home in Wizna now." Janik rubbed his forehead. The General Staff Headquarters had directly issued him an order yesterday, telling him to send Wizczeck home.
This sergeant's father had died in the battle to defend Poznan. His eldest brother had taken part in the war to raid