Red Moscow

Early the next morning, Sokov woke up from sleep, feeling refreshed, sat up and was about to get out of bed for a walk, but someone pushed the door and walked in.

After seeing clearly that it was Vera, Sokov greeted her with a smile: "Good morning, Vera!"

Unexpectedly, when Vera saw Sokov sitting up, she was shocked and said repeatedly: "Misha, who told you to sit up? Lie down quickly, I want to examine you."

After lying down obediently, Sokov smiled and said to Vera: "Vera, you have to check it out for me quickly, I'm going to go out later!"

Vera sat down on the chair beside the bed, took out the blood pressure monitor and thermometer, and prepared to measure blood pressure and temperature for Sokov.

Taking advantage of Vera's busy time, Sokov asked, "Where is Asia?"

"Don't talk." Vera, who was measuring blood pressure, raised her voice and said, "Otherwise it will affect the accuracy of blood pressure."

Sokov quickly closed his mouth after hearing this, lest the blood pressure measured later would be inaccurate.

Soon, Vera finished measuring her blood pressure. While packing her things, she said to Sokov, "Assia is making breakfast in the kitchen. After I finish checking for you, you can go out for breakfast."

It took Vera more than half an hour to conduct a series of examinations for Sokov, and found that his physical indicators were all normal, and he felt much more at ease. She packed up all the instruments used for the examination, and then said, "Okay, Misha, we can go out for breakfast."

When the two came to the living room, Asiya had already placed breakfast on the table. Seeing the two people come out, he asked with a smile on his face, "Is the inspection done?"

"Yes, Assia, it's done." Vera replied briefly, "Misha's indicators are all normal. After breakfast, you can go anywhere you want."

The three of them had just started eating breakfast when they heard someone knocking on the door.

Assia walked over and opened the door, and seeing that it was Koshkin who knocked outside, she quickly let him in.

"Comrade General," Koshkin came to Sokov and said respectfully, "I was ordered to pick you up. I wonder when you plan to leave?"

"Lieutenant Koshkin, even if you drive me out, you still have to eat breakfast." Sokov greeted the other party and said, "Sit down and eat something first."

Assia put a set of cutlery in front of Koshkin and said, "Please sit down, Lieutenant Koshkin, please eat whatever you want."

Koshkin stared at Vera intently, and after hearing Asiya's words, he just replied casually: "Okay."

Seeing Koshkin and Vera flirting with each other, Sokov couldn't help but smile lightly, and then said to Koshkin: "Lieutenant Koshkin, when we go out later, take Vera back to the hospital, and then Go to the destination again."

Koshkin was worried that the hospital and Zhukov's home were not in the same direction. Hearing Sokov's words at this moment, he couldn't help being overjoyed, and quickly said: "Okay, Comrade General, I will take Vera back to the hospital first."

After a few minutes, everyone finished their breakfast. Before Assia went into the kitchen to wash the dishes, she was going to make tea for everyone, but Koshkin refused: "Assia, I think Vera might want to go back to the hospital as soon as possible, and I don't have time to drink tea at all, let's talk about it next time Bar."

Zhukov’s residence and the hospital where Vera works, one is in the city center and the other is in the east of the city. Starting from Sokov’s home, you have to drive west first, and after sending Asia to the destination, you need to turn around and head east. To reach Zhukov's villa.

If Sokov arranged such a route, even if Koshkin obeyed on the surface, he would still murmur in his heart. But this time it was sending Vera to work, and Koshkin felt unusually excited.

After sending Vera to the place, Koshkin turned the car around and drove in the direction of Marshal Zhukov's villa.

"Lieutenant Koshkin," Sokov asked Koshkin tentatively, "do you know where Comrade Marshal lives?"

"It doesn't matter, Comrade General." Koshkin said excitedly: "If I can't find it, how can Comrade Deputy Minister entrust me with such an important task?"

There was no outsider in the car, so Sokov asked confidently: "Lieutenant Koshkin, tell me, what is Marshal Zhukov doing in the villa now?"

"What else can I do?" Koshkin said casually, "I think he must be growing vegetables and flowers in the courtyard of the villa. Besides that, I can't think of anything else he can do."

"That may not be true, Comrade Lieutenant." Unexpectedly, as soon as Koshkin finished speaking, Assia retorted: "If it is the end of spring and the beginning of summer, what you said is still possible. Today it may be cold In the freezing winter, even if Marshal Zhukov wanted to grow vegetables and flowers, the conditions in the yard would not allow it."

"Yes, Assia is right." After Assia heard this, Sokov also realized that Koshkin had taken it for granted. The weather was more than 20 degrees below zero, let alone the frozen ground It is difficult to dig, and even if vegetables and flowers are barely planted, they will all be frozen to death: "In such weather, how can it be possible to grow vegetables outside."

"Comrade General," Koshkin asked Sokov with a quick glance back, "then tell me, what should Marshal Zhukov be doing at this moment?"

"I think he was either reading battle reports and studying the battlefield situation in the house, or he was chopping firewood in the yard."

After driving for more than half an hour, I finally came to the east of the city.

Koshkin drove the car off the street and into a forested area.

Other cities plant trees in the city, but Moscow is a city built in forests. A quarter of the entire city is covered by forests. Many street trees on both sides of the streets are natural rather than artificially planted. .

At this moment, Sokov saw the car driving into the forest, driving staggeringly along a trail full of snow, so he asked casually, "So Marshal Zhukov lives in the forest?"

"Yes, Comrade General." Koshkin replied without turning his head: "It is quieter in the forest, which is good for Marshal Zhukov's recuperation."

Regarding Koshkin's statement, Sokov couldn't help but secretly sneered: He was obviously being idled, and he even said that he was cultivating here. Fortunately, such idle days will not last long. As long as Vatutin is injured and leaves the front line, Zhukov will have the opportunity to pay and take over Vatutin's command of the Ukrainian First Front Army.

"Misha," Assia looked at the uncleaned snow on the path outside, and asked Sokov with some concern: "The snow is so deep, what should we do if our car gets stuck in the snow and cannot move?" ?”

"Don't worry, Assia." Sokov smiled and comforted Assia and said, "In any case, this place is still in the city. If something happens to the car, we can go out on foot for help."

"With such deep snow, if the vehicle really gets stuck, it may not be easy to rescue."

"Assia, don't worry." Seeing Assia's worried look, Koshkin comforted her and said, "Snow rescue teams are usually equipped with sled vehicles and tracked armored vehicles, not to mention those who are just trapped in snow. A car, even a car that's stuck in a swamp, can pull it out."

The car driven by Koshkin drove into a villa area amidst the chatter of the three of them.

There is a guard post at the entrance here. Seeing a car approaching, an officer in a military coat and two soldiers with submachine guns ran out of the duty room and stopped the car with his hand.

As soon as the car stopped, the officer stepped forward and said to Koshkin, "Comrade Lieutenant, this is a restricted area, and no one else is allowed to come in or out."

"Do you see what this is?" Koshkin became anxious when he heard that, pointing to the special pass on the windshield, he said angrily: "I am the car of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and I have important matters here. "

After the officer saw the special pass on the windshield, he couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat. He quickly changed his face, and said with a smile: "Comrade Lieutenant, may I ask, what is your purpose for coming here?"

"I sent General Sokov to see Marshal Zhukov." Seeing that the other party had admitted his intimidation, Koshkin asked with airs, "Do you know where he lives?"

"Yes, Comrade Lieutenant, of course I know." The officer approached Koshkin, pointed to the front and said, "Go down this road, and the third villa on the left is the residence of Marshal Zhukov."

When the car drove forward, Sokov carefully looked at the villas on the roadside. The villas here are different from the country villas he has seen before. Those villas are basically built with wood, but the villas here are made of stone. Even if they are bombarded once or twice, they can still remain roughly intact. In front of each villa is a yard surrounded by a wooden fence, and the trees and shrubs inside are covered with snow.

Arriving outside the villa where Zhukov lived, Sokov saw through the gap between the wooden fences that there was no one in the yard. He shook his head at Koshkin who had just got out of the car, and motioned him to go forward and ring the doorbell.

Koshkin, who understood, hurried forward, went to the door and rang the bell.

After the doorbell rang more than a dozen times, the door of the villa was opened from the inside, and a major wearing a beaver fur hat and long black fur coat came out from inside.

He came to the gate of the courtyard and asked Koshkin who was standing outside through the door: "Lieutenant, what do you want?"

Koshkin heard vigilance from the other party's tone, and in order to prevent misunderstandings, he quickly explained: "Hello, Comrade Major, I am accompanying General Sokov to visit Marshal Zhukov."

Sokov waited for Koshkin to finish speaking, took two steps forward, looked across the door from the major, and said, "I am Sokov, is Marshal Zhukov there?"

After quickly scanning Sokov's epaulets, the major said respectfully, "I'm sorry, Comrade General, Marshal Zhukov is not at home at the moment."

"Not at home?" Sokov asked wonderingly, "Then where is he?"

"Go fishing."

"Going fishing?" Sokov's eyes widened in surprise when he heard what the major said, "Marshal Zhukov went fishing in such a cold weather?"

"Yes, Comrade General." The major replied, nodding his head, "It's a hobby of Comrade Marshal."

"Do you know where it is?" Sokov said this, and saw the major nodding, knowing that he knew where Zhukov was fishing, he said to the major in a sincere tone: "Can you come to me to find him?" ?”

"Okay, Comrade General." The major opened the courtyard door and said to Sokov, "Please come with me, and I will take you to the Marshal."

The major's footsteps were fast, and it was very difficult for Sokov, who had not recovered from his leg injury, to keep up with him.

After walking forward for a certain distance, the major saw that he had left Sokov far behind, so he slowed down, approached Sokov and asked curiously, "Comrade General, have you ever injured your leg?"

"Yes, Comrade Major." Sokov did not hide his injury at all. He nodded and said, "I was bombed by the Germans and was seriously injured. I lay in the hospital for several months. Now The injury has basically healed, but it is a pity that he is not able to walk smoothly enough."

"Comrade General, don't worry, your injury will heal in a short time."

After walking for a few minutes, the major pointed forward and said, "Comrade General, here, Comrade Marshal is fishing on the ice."

Sokov looked in the direction of his finger, and sure enough, he saw several people in front of him. The person who was fishing in a mink cap and a long black fur coat was, of course, Marshal Zhukov. And the two standing next to them were wearing cotton military caps and military coats, and they were as cold as third grandsons. They were undoubtedly the guards protecting the safety of Marshal Zhukov.

Two guards stood not far from Zhukov, their cheeks were blue from the cold, but they were worried that too much movement would scare Zhukov's fish away, so they didn't dare to stomp their feet on the spot to keep warm, and could only rely on their own righteousness Come fight the cold.

"Comrade Major," Sokov couldn't help asking the major when he saw this, "In such a cold day, those two soldiers seem to have been frozen to death. Why don't you prepare a warm place for them?"

"Marshal Zhukov also wanted to go fishing on the spur of the moment," the major replied with some embarrassment, "We didn't have time to prepare anything to keep out the cold, so we had to make do with it."

Sokov looked around and found an army green tent nearby, he pointed there with his hand and said, "Comrade major, you can definitely move that tent over so that the soldiers can also have a place to keep warm." .”

"That tent is for Marshal Zhukov to process the caught fish. The fish produced in this way are fresh and taste good." The major explained to Zhukov: "Besides, our soldiers are protecting the safety of Marshal Zhukov and cannot leave too far. If They all went to that tent to keep warm, who will be responsible for the safety of Comrade Marshal?"

"Comrade Major," Sokov waited for the major to finish speaking, pointed to the tent and said to him, "Since your people cannot leave their posts without permission, you can order someone to move the tent over and put it where Comrade Marshal is fishing. In this way, Comrade Marshal can sit in a warm tent and continue fishing."

"What, fishing in a tent?" The major waited for Sokov to finish, and shook his head with a wry smile: "Comrade General, you are so good at joking, I have never heard of it, and you can actually fish in a tent." .”

"I said yes, so I'm sure." Sokov said confidently: "Comrade major, you order someone to move the tent first, and I will explain to the marshal. I think he won't be angry."

"Okay, Comrade General." Seeing that Sokov was so confident, the major didn't hesitate anymore. He waved to the two soldiers in the distance and made a few gestures to signal them to come to him.