Red Moscow

"I forgot where I heard it." Sokov said with some embarrassment: "I heard from others that Zhdanov and your father are related. I was thinking at that time that you and your brother's wife are both If she is not Zhdanov’s daughter, then the only possibility is that your sister is married to Zhdanov’s son.”

After listening to this tongue twister, Yakov was a little confused: "I think it is a rumor. My sister and her husband have a very good relationship, and it is impossible to divorce. As long as she is not divorced, it is impossible to marry a Japanese. Danov’s son. The rumor that my father and Zhdanov are related is undoubtedly a rumor created by people with ulterior motives.”

…

The blockade of the embassy lasted until the fifth day, when Sokov finally waited for Zhukov's messenger.

The messenger was a lieutenant. After he raised his hand and saluted Sokov and Yakov, he handed an order to them: "Two comrades, generals, this is an order given to you by Marshal Zhukov, saying to blockade the British Embassy. The purpose has been achieved and the blockade on them can be lifted.”

Sokov took the order, read it carefully, and found that just as the messenger said, Sokov and Yakov were asked to lead the troops back to the Kremlin barracks and wait for the next order. He specifically took a look at the signature on the back. It was only Zhukov's and there was no signature from Beria.

After sending away the messenger, Sokov said to Yakov: "Yasha, our mission has been completed and we can evacuate the British Embassy."

"Has the British apologized to us?"

"I don't know." Sokov shook his head and said, "Our current task is to take the troops back to the Kremlin military camp first. Marshal Zhukov will send someone to inform us of what to do next. As for whether the British side has informed us Apologize, you can ask Comrade Molotov about this. He is the People’s Commissar of Foreign Affairs and should be very clear about this matter.”

"Forget it, I don't think it's necessary to disturb Comrade Molotov for such a trivial matter." Yakov waved his hand, rejected Sokov's proposal, walked to the door, opened the door and shouted outside : "Lieutenant Colonel Bezikov!"

Hearing Yakov's shout, Bezikov immediately ran over: "General Yakov, what are your instructions?"

"I just received an order from my superiors saying that our mission has been completed." Yakov said to Bezikov: "You should gather the troops immediately and prepare to evacuate the embassy area."

"Evacuate now?"

"What, you still don't want to evacuate?" Yakov asked.

"No, no." Bezikov shook his head and said, "I just think it's a bit too sudden."

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, we have been here for five days and have taught the British people enough lessons." Yakov said: "Now, it is our commanders' turn to go back and rest. Okay, hurry up and assemble the troops. Bar."

Bezikov agreed, turned around and ran away.

A few minutes later, Sokov, who was staying in the duty room, heard whistles ringing outside. It should be Bezikov who was gathering troops and making preparations for evacuation.

The movements of the Soviet commanders and fighters outside were naturally clearly seen by the embassy staff inside the building.

The first secretary hurried into the ambassador's office and reported emotionally: "Mr. Ambassador, good news, good news, the Russians outside are about to evacuate."

"Really?" After hearing the first secretary's report, the ambassador got up and walked towards the window, wanting to see it with his own eyes.

"Yes, Mr. Ambassador." The first secretary followed the ambassador and continued: "I saw them gathering outside with my own eyes, and there were people dismantling the tents set up in the courtyard. This was an obvious sign that they were about to evacuate. ”

The ambassador came to the window and looked outside, and sure enough he saw the Soviet commanders and fighters who had originally blocked all exits of the embassy, ​​lining up in the open space. Moreover, several tents set up in the middle of the open space have been knocked down, and someone is packing things nearby.

"Great, this is great." Seeing this situation, the ambassador couldn't help crying with joy: "These damn Russians are finally going to evacuate." Then he ordered the first secretary, "You Go and call the counselor, I have something to tell him."

Before the secretary could leave, the counselor rushed into the room like a gust of wind and said with excitement: "Mr. Ambassador, did you see it? Those damn Russians are gathering troops and it looks like they will evacuate from us soon. . It’s such a joyful thing.”

"That's right, Mr. Counselor." The ambassador nodded and said to the counselor: "Two days ago, we notified the intelligence station outside with a secret message and asked them to help us deliver the news to London. Have they sent a reply?"

"Not yet, Mr. Ambassador." The counselor shook his head and said, "We sent people from the purchasing department to go out to purchase, but the Russians didn't let our people go out at all. They just asked us to give them the purchase list and let them purchase it. After the ingredients are delivered to us, I carefully checked the ingredients and there was no information from outside intelligence stations."

The ambassador was silent for a while, and then said: "Mr. Counselor, after all the Russians have withdrawn, immediately send two reliable staff to our underground intelligence station to learn about the situation from them and find out what happened. Something happened.”

"After the Russians withdraw, I will take them there myself."

After another half hour, there was gradually no movement outside.

The ambassador walked to the window and saw that all the Soviet commanders and fighters outside had evacuated, and everything seemed to be calm again. He turned to the counselor and said, "You can take him there now. We have lost contact with the intelligence station for too long. You need to find out what is going on outside as soon as possible."

"Okay, I'll go now."

After the counselor left, the ambassador picked up the phone, dialed a number, and said into the phone: "Mr. Major, please come to my office. I have something important to give you."

Not long after I put down the phone, the military attache came in from outside: "Mr. Ambassador, what do you want from me?"

"All the Russians outside have evacuated." The ambassador said to the military attaché: "Immediately send someone to guard the outside door. Don't let any random people break in."

The ambassador saw the soldiers sent by the military attaché standing at the door of the embassy with weapons again. The counselor also took a car and two staff members to go to the food purchasing point, which was actually an intelligence station, to learn about the situation. He couldn't help but feel He breathed a sigh of relief and felt that his life seemed to be back to normal again.

What he didn't expect was that within an hour of being happy, a piece of bad news came that shocked him.

The counselor who went to the intelligence station came to his office in a panic and reported to him: "Mr. Ambassador, it's bad, our intelligence station has been taken down."

"What, our intelligence station has been taken down?" The ambassador asked with shock on his face: "What is going on? Why did the Russians take down our intelligence station?"

"Maybe, I think it may be that the Russians want to completely cut off the connection between us and London." The counselor guessed: "It is precisely because of this that they sent people to take down our intelligence station here."

The ambassador walked back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back, thinking in his mind why the Soviet side suddenly took action and took away its intelligence station in Moscow. Could it be that there was something wrong somewhere, and the Soviet side discovered it?

After walking in the room for an unknown amount of time, the ambassador finally stopped, turned to the counselor and said, "Tell me everything you know in detail."

"Mr. Ambassador, the situation is like this." The counselor reported to the ambassador: "I took people to our intelligence station and found that the salesmen selling things inside had all changed into unfamiliar faces. When they saw me entering, there was a bald guy immediately. A middle-aged man came up to me and asked, 'Sir, is there anything I can do for you?'

When I saw it was a stranger, I asked: 'Where did the original boss and the waiter go? ’

The other party replied to me: 'They have been transferred to other places. From now on, I will be responsible for the sales work in this place. ’

Seeing that something was wrong, I said a few perfunctory words and took the people away. "

After hearing this, the ambassador snorted coldly: "Why were they transferred? I think they were taken to prison."

After saying that, he came to the table, picked up the phone and dialed a number, and asked: "Have you contacted the London authorities? ...What, we haven't contacted you yet. What are you doing for food? You can't handle such a trivial matter." OK. ...If you have any news, report it to me immediately.”

"Mr. Ambassador," the counselor said after the ambassador put down the phone, "I don't know what means the Russians used. The day after they blocked the embassy, ​​all our contacts with the outside world were cut off. I originally wanted people from the procurement department to Taking advantage of the opportunity to purchase ingredients, we reported the situation here to London through the intelligence station, but they were also blamed by the Russians. "

"The intelligence sent out a few days ago, do you think the people at the intelligence station received it, or did it fall into the hands of the Russians?"

The counselor thought for a while and then replied: "No matter whether the people at the intelligence station received this information, but as they were uprooted by the Russians, this information must have fallen into the hands of the Russians, so our situation is not Not optimistic."

"Hell, how could this happen?" the ambassador said angrily: "Churchill is no longer the Prime Minister, so how can he talk nonsense regardless of the occasion? As a result, we were implicated. Now, we finally established it in Moscow The intelligence network was destroyed by the Russians following this incident. If we want to establish a new intelligence network, we don’t know how much manpower, material resources and time it will take.”

"Mr. Ambassador, since the matter has happened, I think we should report to London immediately after the communication with London is restored." The counselor suggested to the ambassador: "Let them send capable people to reorganize our team in Moscow. information network."

When the ambassador and the counselor were discussing their work, no one knew that their conversation had been transmitted to the monitoring department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs by several bugs placed in the room. These bugs were planted by Ministry of Internal Affairs personnel during the search process in the past few days. Not only the ambassador's office, but also all important departments have newly placed bugs. Everything that happens in the entire British embassy can be heard clearly by the monitoring department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

But the people in the embassy knew nothing about it. They were still immersed in the joy of the Soviet troops' withdrawal. There were no Soviet officers and soldiers standing guard at the door, and they could enter and exit the embassy freely again.

Besides, as soon as Sokov and Yakov returned to the military camp with their troops, they received a notice asking them to go to Zhukov's office.

After handing over the work matters to Bezikov, the two quickly arrived at Zhukov's office.

When the adjutant in the office outside saw the two arriving, he quickly greeted them: "Two comrades, generals, you are here. Comrade marshal is waiting for you inside."

As he spoke, he pressed the intercom in front of him and reported to Zhukov: "Comrade Marshal, the two generals Sokov and Yakov have arrived."

"Let them in."

"Okay." The adjutant agreed, stood up and walked to the closed door. After pushing open one of the doors, he said politely to the two of them: "Comrade generals, please come in!"

After Sokov thanked the adjutant, he and Yakov walked into Zhukov's office.

As soon as the two of them walked into the inner office, the door behind them closed silently.

Zhukov, who was sitting behind the desk, saw the two people entering the door. He stood up and walked out from behind the desk, shook hands with the two of them one by one, and said: "Misha, Yasha, you have performed very well these days. Comrade Stalin is praising you."

"Comrade Marshal," Yakov asked curiously, "I would like to ask, should the British side apologize to us for our evacuation today?"

"That's not true." Zhukov shook his head and said: "Comrade Beria and I sent you to blockade the British embassy just to teach them a lesson and let them understand that we are not easy to mess with. This purpose has been going on for hundreds of years now. Once it is reached, there is no need for you to stay, so I will let you withdraw first. "

Sokov secretly guessed that sealing the embassy for five days and then choosing to evacuate would certainly teach the British a lesson, but for the British, it seemed to be just scratching the surface and had little effect. Zhukov now asked himself and Yakov to withdraw the troops, and there may be other arrangements.

"After discussions between me and the General Staff, and after requesting Comrade Stalin's approval, we will launch a large-scale military exercise in Europe on the eve of May Day." Zhukov said: "The purpose of this exercise is to deter those who are ready to take action. Allied forces must understand that once they dare to provoke us, they will be attacked with thunderous force. "

Yakov seemed very happy to hear what Zhukov said, and quickly asked: "Comrade Marshal, I wonder how big the scale of this European military exercise is? How many troops are participating, and how much technical equipment is used in the exercise?"

“In addition to the troops stationed in Germany, there is also the Southern Group stationed in Hungary.” Zhukov said: “More than one million troops, 5,000 tanks, 3,000 aircraft, and more than 1 million troops were used. Fifty thousand artillery pieces of various calibers.”

"Wow, so many troops and technical equipment." Yakov was very excited when he heard this: "Comrade Marshal, after our military exercises are over, I think the Allied forces in Europe will no longer have the courage to make small moves against us. Bar."

"That's for sure." Zhukov nodded, then looked at the two of them and asked: "I called you two here just to ask you if you want to participate in this military exercise. If you want, you can do whatever you want. Choose to go to a cluster.”