Red Moscow

Hearing Yakov address himself, Sokov felt very relieved, saying that his "old friend" always kept his life-saving grace in mind.

After the two hugged, Sokov asked tentatively: "Yakov, what did you just say? Did you come here specially to pick me up?"

"You are not the only one I want to pick up." Yakov pointed at the staff officer standing behind Sokov, and said with a smile, "I'm here to pick up you two." Pointing to the open car door, "Misha, get in the car."

After Sokov got into the car from the open door, Yakov said to the staff again: "Comrade Captain, you sit in the co-pilot seat." Closed the car door.

After waiting for the staff officer to sit down and close the door, Yakov told the driver: "Comrade driver, drive!"

After the car started, Sokov looked at the unfamiliar scenery outside and asked Yakov curiously: "Yakov, where are you taking us?"

Regarding Sokov's question, Yakov smiled and said, "You will know when you get to the place."

After the car drove for more than half an hour, an area surrounded by a wall appeared on the side of the road. Sokov judged from the barbed wire fence on the wall and the patrolling soldiers with military dogs outside the wall that this must be an important place.

When the car came to the gate, Sokov saw that the security here was even stricter. In addition to a dozen soldiers standing guard, the entrance was also covered with wooden shelves with barbed wire, and there was a sandbag fortification on each side of the gate. , with a Maxim heavy machine gun inside. Seeing this situation, Sokov thought to himself, if the German army did not have the cover of tanks and armored vehicles, if they wanted to rush in, they would inevitably be strewn with corpses in front of the machine gun positions.

An officer on duty came to the car and said in a businesslike manner, "Please show your ID!"

Hearing what the officer said, Yakov and the driver both took out their ID cards and handed them over. Based on his own feeling, Sokov believed that the officer should know Yakov, but he carefully read Yakov's ID card several times, and finally handed the ID card back to Soko who was sitting in the car. The husband and the staff officer raised their chins and asked, "Comrade Captain, do the two of them have a pass?"

"No." Yakov replied simply, "but they are guests invited by Comrade People's Commissar."

Hearing what Yakov said, the officer nodded, then stood up straight and took a step back, raised his hand to salute the car, then turned and told the soldiers standing at the door: "Remove the roadblock, open the gate, and let the car in."

The car drove through the gate, drove forward for a few minutes, and finally stopped in front of a building covered with camouflage netting. As soon as the car stopped, Yakov turned to Sokov and said, "Misha, we are here."

The three got out of the car, accepted some interrogation at the entrance, handed over their weapons, and finally walked into the building. When Sokov followed Yakov along the corridor, he couldn't help asking in a low voice, "Yakov, where did you bring us?"

"Comrade Major." The staff officer behind the two interjected, "This should be an important ordnance research and development or production enterprise under the jurisdiction of the National Defense Commission. If I guessed correctly, the person Comrade Captain plans to take us to meet is a weapon. People's Commissar of the Armament Committee."

Yakov couldn't help but widen his eyes in surprise when he heard what the staff officer said. He asked in surprise, "Comrade Captain, how do you know?"

The staff officer smiled at him, patted the briefcase under his arm, and then politely replied: "Comrade Captain, I was ordered to report to Comrade People's Commissar here."

Hearing the conversation between Yakov and the staff officer, Sokov was a little embarrassed. He said that his superiors sent me to escort Rokossovsky to the military hospital in Moscow, but they didn't ask me to report to the People's Commissar in charge of weapons and equipment. What work? He was thinking about whether to find some excuse to let Yakov send himself out, but Yakov had already stopped, turned around and said to Sokov and the staff: "We are here!"

There are two offices of the people's commissar, the inner and outer, and a major sits in the outer office. Seeing Yakov coming in from the outside, he quickly got up and asked with a smile on his face, "Yakov, you are back. Has anyone received it?"

"Got it." Yakov nodded, turned to point to Sokov and the staff officer, and said, "They are."

When the major saw Sokov and the staff standing side by side, he couldn't help frowning. He said to Yakov, "Yakov, the order I received is that there is only one person reporting to the People's Commissar today. How can it come out now? Two people?"

"Comrade Major, I received an order to bring Major Sokov and his companions here at the airport." Yakov shrugged his shoulders and said to the major: "Maybe the superior temporarily changed the plan, I haven't had time to inform you yet."

The staff officer who came with Sokov quickly stepped forward and said to the major: "Comrade major, I am the staff officer of the 16th Army. I was ordered to report to the People's Commissar on the use of front-line equipment."

The major waited for the staff officer to finish speaking, raised his hand and scratched the back of his head, and said with some embarrassment: "Comrade Captain, please wait a moment, I will call the People's Commissar for instructions." After finishing speaking, he picked up the The phone, after a moment of silence, said into the microphone, "Comrade People's Commissar, Captain Yakov brought back two officers, one of whom claimed to be from the 16th Army, and said he was reporting to you the use of front-line weapons and equipment... Got it, I'll let him in right away!"

After the major put down the phone, he politely said to the staff officer: "Comrade Captain, please follow me, Comrade People's Commissar is waiting for you." The two of Kefu pointed to the couch on one side and said politely: "It may take a long time for the captain to report the situation. You should sit there and rest for a while."

After sitting down on the sofa with Yakov, Sokov asked curiously: "Yakov, may I ask, what kind of work are you doing now?"

"Didn't you see it?" Yakov said with a smile on his face: "I work in the Weapons and Equipment Committee."

"I'm asking about specific jobs."

"Responsible for the research and development of new artillery, in order to produce all kinds of new and more perfect artillery necessary for the front line."

After waiting for Yakov to finish speaking, Sokov asked curiously: "Yakov, weren't you a tank soldier before? It stands to reason that it is most appropriate for you to study new tanks."

Unexpectedly, as soon as Sokov finished speaking, he saw Yakov looking at him in surprise. He thought there was something on his face, so he quickly wiped it off and asked, "Is there something on my face?"

Yakov waved his hand and asked, "Who told you that I was a tank soldier?"

"Weren't you in the tank division before?" Sokov didn't expect Yakov to ask such a question, and replied in a panic, "The second lieutenant who informed me of your whereabouts is also a tank soldier himself."

"That's right, I used to be in the tank division." Yakov said with some embarrassment: "But in addition to the tank soldiers, the tank division also has infantry and artillery. My position at the time was the company commander of the anti-tank artillery company. "