Red Moscow

The ambassador yelled for a long time, but in the end nothing came of it. The people in the embassy tried to get out of the building, but were blocked by Sokov's men. They couldn't even get out of the embassy, ​​so naturally they couldn't see Molotov. Who could they protest to?

The counselor came up with a bad idea, asking the military attaché to lead the soldiers in the embassy to force a path open for the ambassador to leave the building.

But as soon as he said this, he was refuted by the military attaché: "Mr. Counselor, do you understand what you are saying? If my men had not had a conflict with the soldiers outside, and they had been allowed to take the ambassador out, they might have been able to complete their mission. But now, they see the soldiers outside who had beaten them before, and even if you whip them, they dare not go out of the building, let alone cover the ambassador to rush out of the building."

"Forget it, don't say anything more." When the counselor wanted to say a few more words, the ambassador raised his hand to stop him: "Since the military attaché said that the problem cannot be solved by force, then we can only wait."

"How long do we have to wait?" asked the counselor.

"I'm afraid they will lift the blockade of the embassy only when their superiors have eliminated their anger."

The soldiers on duty outside were divided into three groups, changing shifts every two hours. The soldiers who were off duty would go to the tents to keep warm to dispel the cold.

Sokof also ordered Bezikov to call in team doctors and asked them to check the soldiers who were off duty in the tents to see if anyone had frostbite. As a member of the team doctors, Asiya naturally participated in it. The only difference is that other team doctors have to stay here all the time, but Asiya can go home after dark.

When it was dark, Sokov came to Asiya's tent and said to her: "Asiya, you are too weak. If you finish your duty here, I am worried that you will not be able to bear it. Now you can go home with the people I arranged."

Asiya knew that this was Sokov's care for her, and she did not refuse his kindness, so she took the car arranged by the other party to go home.

After Asiya left by car, Yakov said to Sokov: "Misha, Asiya's physical condition has not been ideal since the last car accident. Anyway, we will not go to London again, the workload of the team doctor has been greatly reduced, and there are enough staff. Why not let Asiya rest at home?"

"Yasha, do you think I don't want Asiya to rest at home?" Sokov sighed and said: "If I don't find something for her to do, she will have random thoughts all day long. I'm worried that if this continues, her nerves may have problems."

"Hey, if there hadn't been that damn car accident, your child would have been born."

"Yes, the due date is in these two days." Sokov's nose was sour when he talked about the child who died before he was born, but he said with grief: "This may be fate."

"Although Asiya's child is gone." Yakov looked around and saw that there was no one nearby, so he pressed He said in a low voice: "But don't you have another child? When is the due date for Karina in Vladimir?"

Sokov calculated in his mind for a while and replied: "If nothing unexpected happens, it will be mid-July." After saying this, he clasped his hands together and began to pray, "God bless, bless my second child to be born smoothly and grow up safely."

"Misha, don't worry." Yakov raised his hand and patted Sokov on the shoulder, comforting him, "Karina is different from Asiya. Her activity area is her home and the municipal building. The two places are only three or four hundred meters apart. The possibility of another car accident is infinitely close to zero. I believe she will be able to help you give birth to a child smoothly."

"I hope so." Sokov thought to himself that after this busy period, he would go to Vladimir to see Karina. No matter what, she will soon become the mother of his child, and he can't just ignore it.

…………

The next morning, when Asiya appeared at the embassy, ​​she had a panic expression on her face.

When Sokov saw her expression, he couldn't help but feel uneasy. He thought to himself that maybe something went wrong again, otherwise Asiya wouldn't be so worried.

"Asia," the uneasy Sokov asked cautiously, "Did something happen?"

Asia nodded vigorously, and then said, "Yes, before I came, I got a message that Marshal Rokossovsky fell ill, and his condition was very dangerous."

"Ah, Marshal Rokossovsky fell ill?" Sokov asked in surprise, "Where is he living now?"

"In the underground hospital where you were hospitalized last time." Asia explained, "The hospital opposite the Lubyanka Building."

"Well, then I'll go see him."

"Misha, what's going on? Marshal Rokossovsky was fine a few days ago, how could he suddenly fall ill?"

Sokov did not answer Yakov's question immediately, but asked back, "Yasha, let me ask you a question. Why can't ordinary people command large troops to fight?"

Yakov didn't think at all, and instinctively asked, "Why?"

"Let me give you an example," Sokov said to Yakov: "Suppose you are the principal of a certain school and you want to organize thousands of teachers and students in the school to go on foot from Moscow to Leningrad. In the meantime, you Not only do you need to plan different travel routes, but you also need to coordinate the departure times of each class, the transfer and rest places, as well as the tents, dry food and water needed for the trip. In addition, you also need to make predictions in advance. There are risks and accidents that may occur on the road. With this operation, God bless you if you can get people there smoothly.”

Yakov did not speak, but nodded slightly to express his agreement with Sokov's words.

"In the same way, senior commanders on the battlefield are not commanding thousands of people, but tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of people. The pressure they will bear will be extremely huge. With this When these troops go to war, a wrong decision will cause the death of tens of thousands of people. Can ordinary people withstand such pressure? "Sokov continued: "During the defense of Moscow, Marshal Rokossovsky commanded The 16th Army, because the friendly forces on the left and right wings were repulsed by the Germans and their flanks were exposed to the enemy, there was a risk of being encircled if they continued to fight. Therefore, in this case, he proposed to Marshal Zhukov that the troops should retreat to. In the Istria Reservoir area, he used the easy-to-defend but difficult-to-attack terrain to build a new defense. At the same time, as the front of the defense was reduced, he could have more troops as reserves.

However, his request was rejected by Marshal Zhukov. Even after leapfrogging to the Supreme Command for instructions and obtaining approval, Zhukov stopped the retreat to the Istria Reservoir. Perhaps we will feel that Marshal Zhukov is unkind and puts Marshal Rokossovsky's troops in danger. But at that time, Marshal Zhukov, as the commander of the Western Front, faced huge pressure. He considered the overall situation, not the local area. As long as he could stabilize the defense line, he would not hesitate to sacrifice the 16th Army. "

When Yakov heard this, he couldn't help but feel a little confused. He just asked Marshal Rokossovsky why he was hospitalized, but Sokov told him a lot of inexplicable things. When he was about to interrupt him, he heard Sokov continued: "Because senior commanders endured tremendous mental pressure on the battlefield, after the war, when they have exhausted their energy, they will have physical problems of varying degrees. And Rokossovsky The Marshal was seriously injured during the Moscow Counterattack. I think his hospitalization this time may have been caused by excessive mental stress, which led to the recurrence of old injuries. "

"Oh, I understand what you mean." Yakov nodded and said, "You are saying that Marshal Rokossovsky was under tremendous pressure during the war, which caused the recurrence of his old injuries. Am I right?"

"Yes, that's what I mean." When he learned that his old superior, Marshal Rokossovsky, was hospitalized for an acute illness, Sokov would definitely go to visit him. He said to Yakov: "Wait until I finish the work here. After handing over to Lieutenant Colonel Bezikov, we will go visit Marshal Rokossovsky, okay?"

"Of course." Yakov nodded and said, "He also once served as my superior. He was hospitalized due to illness, so it is natural to visit him."

After the two handed over the work in the embassy to Bezikov, they took a car to the hospital where Rokossovsky was hospitalized.

However, when he arrived at the entrance of Lubyanka's underground hospital, he was told that Rokossovsky actually lived in another hospital, so Yakov turned around and drove towards the new target.

When the car arrived at the hospital, Sokov saw that the parking lot outside was filled with all kinds of cars. It seemed that they were all here to visit Rokossovsky.

When Sokov and Yakov came to the door of the inpatient department, they found that the place could be described as a shining star. There were dozens of officers standing outside, with the lowest rank being major general. Without exception, they were blocked by a dozen sentries on duty at the door.

The two passed through the crowd and walked directly to the door, but were stopped by a second lieutenant on duty: "I'm sorry, Comrade General, Marshal Rokossovsky cannot see outsiders due to poor health. You'd better please go back." ”

"I am General Sokov." After Sokov revealed his identity to the other party, he asked directly: "I am an old subordinate of Comrade Marshal. I heard that he was hospitalized and I came here specifically to visit him. Could you please be accommodating? Let me in."

"I'm sorry, Comrade General." But the second lieutenant said with a straight face: "The task we received is to not allow anyone to enter the inpatient unit, so as not to disturb Marshal Rokossovsky's rest. Please retreat to the alert Behind the line, don’t make things difficult for us.”

"Didn't you hear my identity clearly?" Seeing that the second lieutenant still refused to let him in, Sokov couldn't help but feel a little angry.

"Of course you heard me clearly, General Sokov." the second lieutenant said, neither humble nor haughty: "Look, there were three or four generals who were blocked by us at the door. We didn't let any of them in, and of course you are no exception. Please understand me. Difficulties, don’t make things difficult for us.”

Sokov wanted to say a few more words, but was pulled back by Yakov.

"Misha, it's useless." Yakov said: "Other generals came earlier than us, and they couldn't get in, let alone us."

"Then what should we do?" Sokov said dissatisfied: "Are we going to go back in despair?"

But after hearing this, Yakov smiled slightly, leaned into Sokov's ear and said: "Misha, we can't enter through the main entrance, can't we enter from other places?"

The words awakened the dreamer, and Yakov's words reminded Sokov: Yes, there are sentries guarding the main entrance, so you can't enter at all, but you can go around to other directions in the inpatient department and find other doors to enter. Even if you can't find the door, you can still consider climbing through the window.

Thinking of this, Sokov immediately pulled Yakov away from here, preparing to go around to the back of the inpatient department to find a new entrance.

But when the two came to the back door, they found that they had thought the problem too simply. There are also four sentries standing guard here at the back door. They do not check people coming out of it; but if you want to go in from the outside, they have to carefully check your ID even if you are wearing a white coat.

"Misha, what should we do?" Yakov couldn't help but feel a little disappointed when he saw this: "It seems that we can't enter the inpatient department from the back door."

"Then there is only one last option left." Sokov gritted his teeth and said, "That is to find a place where no one is paying attention, climb through the window and enter the inpatient department. Although there are sentries guarding the front and back doors of the inpatient department, they cannot be there. There should also be a soldier behind every window."

In this way, the two found a deserted area, and using the cover of the green belt, they quietly approached an open window.

Sokov came to the window, turned to Yakov who was following behind and said: "You lie down, and I will step on your back to see if there is anyone in the house."

Without saying a word, Yakov immediately bent down and squatted on the ground, letting Sokov step on him. After the other party stood firm, he stood up slowly while holding on to the wall, gritted his teeth and asked Sokov: "Misha, is there anyone in the room?"

"This should be a utility room, there is no one in it." Sokov said: "I will crawl in first, and then I will pull you in."

Sokov climbed into the window on his hands and knees, then turned over and stretched out his hand to pull Yakov outside. Yakov grabbed Sokov's hand with both hands, kicked his feet on the wall, kicked hard a few times, and climbed up the window.

After the two entered the room, Sokov said with emotion: "Fortunately, the window in this room is open, otherwise we would not be able to enter the inpatient department at all."

"Yes, the windows are closed in winter. Not to mention the first floor, even the windows on the second and third floors are closed." Yakov said: "If the windows are not opened, we will not be able to open them at all. Unable to enter the building.”

"The next step is to find Marshal Rokossovsky's ward." Sokov asked Yakov: "Do you have any good suggestions?"

"Although the inpatient department is not big, if we were running around like headless flies, we might not find anyone, but we would be discovered by the soldiers on duty in the building and kicked out." Generals Kove and Yakov were kicked out of the inpatient ward by sentries, which will become the biggest news in Moscow tomorrow, and we will also become the laughing stock of others. "

"Don't talk nonsense, do you have any good way to find Marshal Rokossovsky's ward in the shortest possible time?"

Yakov held his chin and thought for a while, then said: "The easiest way is to go directly to the nurse duty room and look at their registration records, so that you can find Comrade Marshal's ward in the shortest possible time."

"What if, I say if." Sokov said: "What if there are soldiers responsible for protecting the marshal's safety in the nurse's duty room? In that case, wouldn't it be tantamount to throwing ourselves into a trap if we do this?"

Seeing that Sokov rejected his proposal, Yakov said with a sad face: "Misha, do you have any good ideas?"