Red Moscow

As soon as Sokov and Annie returned to their residence, the aunt on duty at the door stopped Sokov and said to him, "Comrade Commander, someone came to see you just now. Seeing that you are not here, I left you a note."

"Where's the note?"

"Here, here it is." The aunt handed a piece of paper folded squarely to Sokov.

Sokov took the note, unfolded it with the help of the faint light in the corridor, and carefully checked the content on it: "Come to my office at eight o'clock tomorrow morning." The signature on the back is "Yakov".

"Misha, what's the matter?" Annie asked curiously.

"My friend asked me to go find him tomorrow." Sokov didn't say much to Annie. He crumpled up the note and stuffed it into his pocket: "Let's go, let's go back first."

"You are back." When the two entered the door, they found that Dong Niya had already returned home and was cooking in the kitchen. Hearing the sound of the door opening, Tonya ran out of the kitchen and asked curiously, "Where did you go today?"

"We went to the Lenin Library," Sokov replied first, "after reading the book, we went to Arbat Street for a walk, and went to the restaurant to eat something with a former subordinate."

"Sit down first, I'll make dinner right away."

Seeing Tonya busy in the kitchen, Annie asked Sokov in a low voice: "Misha, will you leave suddenly?" She asked this because Sokov left too suddenly last time. Originally, Sokov went out with her for a day today, and she was quite happy, but her good mood was ruined by the message in the duty room. She was afraid that Sokov would leave without saying goodbye like last time.

"Annie," Sokov said with some embarrassment, "I'm going back to Moscow this time. Apart from burying my mother, I actually have other tasks. But I can't tell you and Tonya what the specific tasks are. Do you understand? ?”

"Understood." Annie nodded and said, "I have studied the confidentiality regulations, and I know that some things cannot be asked casually."

"How long I can stay in Moscow depends entirely on the arrangement of my superiors." Sokov said in an uncertain tone: "Maybe I can stay for a week or two, or even longer; maybe I will return directly tomorrow." Stalingrad."

"You are the division commander. Is it really okay to leave the army for a week or two?" Annie asked curiously.

"Now the battle in the city has fallen into a stalemate. We are temporarily unable to attack the German army and rush to join forces with our friendly forces." Sokov explained: "If it is only for defense, the situation is the same whether I am present or not."

"It's time to eat!" Before Sokov could say more, Tonya had poked her head out of the kitchen and said to Sokov and Annie who were standing in the corridor: "Hurry up and wash your hands, and then come over to eat .”

During the meal, Tonya noticed Annie's strangeness, so she stared at Sokov and asked, "Misha, did you make Annie angry?"

"No." Sokov replied blankly, "Isn't Annie all right?"

"Nonsense, you can see that she is about to cry." Donia stopped talking to Sokov after saying this, but asked Annie with concern: "Annie, tell me, what happened?"

"It's nothing, it's really nothing." Annie tried her best to squeeze a smile on her face, shook her head vigorously and said, "I was just thinking about one thing, and I was too engrossed in it. All right, don't talk, let's eat quickly, The food is getting cold."

Annie finished her meal hastily, put down the fork in her hand, turned around and went back to the bedroom, and lay on the bed without even washing her face. Seeing that Anne had gone to bed, Sokov took the initiative to take on the responsibility of washing the dishes.

Tonya walked out of the kitchen, looked into the bedroom with her head, and returned to the kitchen again, facing Sokov with a straight face: "Misha, tell me truthfully, what happened, how could Annie be so abnormal?" Woolen cloth?"

"It's okay, it's really okay." Although Sokov didn't think that Anne's gaffe was related to the note he saw in the corridor, he still told Tonya truthfully, and finally emphasized: "I think The reason why Annie lost her composure is probably because of that note, she is worried that I will leave without saying goodbye like last time."

After figuring out what was going on, Tonya sighed and said, "Misha, I want to tell you that both Annie and I like you. But I think you seem to like Annie more, otherwise you wouldn't take the initiative to let her live in." This house. When we lived here, she regarded herself as the hostess. Even when the aunt in the duty room downstairs asked if you were her husband, she did not deny it. Now that you may suddenly Leaving, she will definitely feel very sad in her heart."

"How long I can stay in Moscow is not up to me." Sokov replied with a wry smile, "Sometimes I can't help myself."

Tonya and Sokov chatted for a while, and felt a little sleepy, so they left the kitchen and went back to the bedroom to rest. Sokov turned off the light in the kitchen, lay down on the bed made of chairs, and thought in his mind: just a note made Anne lose her composure. If he told the two of them that he was married, he might hurt them. what kind of negative impact. Forget it, it's better not to tell the two of them the news of their marriage for the time being.

Nothing to say all night.

When Sokov woke up in the morning, he found that the room was quiet. He got up and ran to the next bedroom to have a look. He found that Tonya and Anne were not there, and they didn't know when they had gone to work. Sokov raised his hand and looked at his watch, and found that it was past seven o'clock. If he didn't hurry up, he might not be able to reach Yakov's office before eight o'clock.

After a simple wash, Sokov left the house. He knows that it is very difficult to take a taxi today, so he can only choose to take the bus.

After turning around twice in a row, Sokov finally arrived at his destination. But when he entered the door, he was stopped by the guards at the door. After looking at the commander wearing the old-fashioned military rank, the other party politely said: "I'm sorry, comrade commander, you are not from our place, so you can't enter casually. "

"I'm going to see Lieutenant Colonel Yakov." After being stopped, Sokov didn't get angry, but said to the guards with a pleasant face: "Please call Lieutenant Colonel Yakov."

"Comrade Colonel, please wait a moment." The guard said politely: "I will contact my superiors immediately. As long as they agree to let you in, I will let you in."

After the guard made the phone call, he said to Sokov with a smile on his face: "Comrade Colonel, please wait here for a while. Lieutenant Colonel Yakov will come out to greet you soon."

Sokov waited for a while, and saw Yakov running over panting. After he greeted the other party, he said jokingly, "Yasha, it's because you didn't think carefully. If you had prepared a special pass for me, you wouldn't have to make this special trip."

Seeing that Yakov came out to meet him in person, the guards pulled up the bar and let Sokov in.

When Sokov and Yakov walked towards the building not far away, Yakov suddenly asked, "Misha, can you tell me what happened to the two women living in your house?"

"Ah, you know everything?"

"Yes," Yakov nodded, and replied in an affirmative tone: "I went to see you yesterday, and I heard from the aunt in the duty room downstairs that there are two medical staff from the opposite hospital living in your house. They have been living here since the beginning of the year, and one of them claims to be your wife."

For a moment, Sokov didn't know how to answer Yakov's question, so he just grinned.

"You still have the face to smile." Seeing Sokov's playful smile, Yakov scolded him, "Have you ever thought that if Asiya knew that there were two strange women living in your house, would you How are you going to explain it to her?"

"Yasha, the situation is not what you imagined." In order to avoid misunderstanding Yakov, Sokov felt that some things should be explained to him: "At first I just planned to lend the house to Anne, but she moved in. On the first day, I received an emergency order and returned to the front line, and I did not return until yesterday."

Hearing Sokov's explanation, Yakov felt that he might have misunderstood Sokov, so he coughed lightly to cover up his embarrassment: "Okay, that's the end of this matter, now you follow me back to the office , I have something important to tell you."

After the two came to the office, Sokov couldn't wait to ask: "Yasha, you said there is something important, what exactly is it?"

"Look at this." Yakov picked up a folder, put it in front of Sokov, and said to him, "This is the information on some self-propelled artillery produced recently."

Sokov opened the folder, looked through the information inside, and found that the style of the self-propelled artillery was basically the same as the drawing he gave Peter, so he asked curiously, "Yasha, where did you get the drawing?"

"Where else can it come from, of course it is from the director Peter." Yakov said with some surprise: "Don't you even know the self-propelled artillery designed by yourself?"

"Yes, it was indeed designed by me." Sokov asked back: "Are you planning to mass-produce it based on this drawing?"

"Yes, I called you here today just to ask for your opinion." Yakov said, "How do you think these self-propelled artillery will be organized after they are produced?"

Sokov stared at the markings on the drawings, intending to produce self-propelled guns in five calibers: 76mm, 85mm, 100mm, 122mm and 152mm self-propelled guns.

After looking at it for a while, Sokov raised his head and said to Yakov: "I think that to form a self-propelled artillery unit, it should be divided by the caliber of the artillery, which is convenient for logistics supplies. To prevent the logistics from sending 76 mm caliber shells to 85mm self-propelled guns."

"What you said makes sense." Yakov said while recording in the notebook with a pen: "If the caliber of the shells is different from that of the artillery, then these self-propelled artillery will become decorations. I will report your opinion to the Before that, let our self-propelled guns be grouped by caliber."

"Yasha, I would like to ask, when will the development of the hovercraft start?" Sokov thought that after the victory of the Battle of Stalingrad, the Soviet army launched an attack on Manstein's troops. Occupying a numerical advantage, but because the logistical supply line was stretched too long and the roads were muddy and difficult, the supply of the Soviet army was not smooth. As a result, the troops were defeated by Manstein. Once you have a hovercraft, you can greatly ease the supply situation.

"Hovercraft?" Yakov heard this question, and said disapprovingly: "Misha, please forgive me, this kind of hovercraft is of no use to our army. If you want to force the horses now, you can only spend a lot of money." Human and material resources. Instead of spending so much energy on something that is not applicable, it is better to concentrate on something that is more practical."

"Yasha, you are wrong." Seeing that Yakov didn't pay much attention to the hovercraft he proposed, Sokov said seriously: "I believe you know the road conditions in Russia as well as I do. Once you encounter springization With the accumulation of snow, or the rainy season in July and August, our roads will become muddy, and then the mobilization of troops and the transportation of supplies will become a headache for us. But if the hovercraft is developed, it can be alleviated. The logistical supply pressure of our army."

Sokov's words made Yakov ponder for a long time. In the end, he finally nodded and said, "Misha, you are right, we really need to develop hovercraft to ease the logistical pressure on our army."

"The hovercraft can be used regardless of summer, even in winter, it can also fly on the snow." Sokov said to Yakov: "For example, in the current battle in the Stalingrad area, if there is such a hovercraft, our army The speed of gathering troops and supplies will be greatly improved."

After waiting for Sokov to finish speaking, Yakov picked up the high-frequency phone on the table, dialed a number, and said respectfully: "I am Yakov, please help me find Comrade Ustinov, I have something important to report to him immediately."

Not long after, Yakov called Ustinov: "Comrade People's Commissar, I have already talked with Colonel Sokov, and he firmly believes that the development of hovercraft is absolutely necessary. A new type of hovercraft, The transportation of troops and materials will be completed as quickly as possible in complex road sections."

It may be Yakov's last sentence that moved Ustinov. He pondered for a moment, then nodded and said, "I understand. I will immediately report this matter to the Supreme Commander himself to obtain his authorization. In this way, we can concentrate on the development of the hovercraft."

After Yakov put down the phone, he said proudly to Sokov, "Misha, have you heard everything? Comrade People's Commissar also agreed to my proposal and is going to arrange the development of the hovercraft."

Seeing that his lobbying had finally paid off, Sokov had a knowing smile on his face. He began to think that if it was true that after the end of the Stalingrad Defense War, his troops would be transferred to participate in the Kharkov counterattack. As long as there are hovercraft to help replenish supplies, it may be possible to rewrite the ending of the Soviet army's disastrous defeat. .