red moscow

Chapter 2602

For the next three days, Sokov stayed in his office and didn't go anywhere.

In addition to calling Asia every day to learn about her latest situation, he would sit in the office and look at data on various military machinery to improve his theoretical level.

On the morning of the fourth day, Sokov still hadn't received any information about the new machine gun, and he couldn't help but feel anxious. Normally, no matter what the final result of the new weapon test is, the relevant parties should always greet the designer and talk about all the problems that existed during the weapon test.

"Captain, Comrade Captain." Sokov opened the door and shouted outside.

Soon, the captain ran over from the next room and respectfully asked Sokov: "Comrade General, do you have any instructions?"

"I've submitted my design drawings four days ago, why haven't I received any response yet?" Sokov knew very well that the captain was nominally his assistant, but his main role was to monitor him. If he wanted to leave the room, he had to get the captain's permission: "I want to see Comrade Ustinov, I wonder if it's okay."

"It's no problem for you to see Comrade Ustinov." The captain looked embarrassed when he heard Sokov's request, "But Comrade People's Commissar is not in Moscow now."

"What? He's not in Moscow?" Sokov was shocked and asked, "Then where did he go?"

"I heard he went to the Far East. I'm not sure when he'll be back."

When Sokov learned that Ustinov went to the Far East, his mind immediately thought of what Yakov had said a few days ago, and he thought: Could it be that in a research institute in Chelyabinsk there really is a strange stone from outer space, and this stone can also use light beam scanning to directly turn the design on the drawing into a real object?

But he thought about it again and felt that this was too ridiculous. Regardless of whether the strange stone was true or not, anyone who could see the strange stone must sign a confidentiality agreement and could not easily leave the area. How could someone leave and still be drunk and reveal such a big secret? It seems that the military expert mentioned by Yakov was drunk and talking nonsense, and everything he said was his imagination. Yes, it must be like this.

"Comrade Captain, can I go out for a walk?"

"Of course, Comrade General, you are free to go wherever you want." Just when Sokov was thinking about going home, the captain added, "Except for leaving this building, you can go wherever you want."

"What's the point if we can't leave this building?" Sokov's heart sank when he heard the captain say that.

He turned around and planned to go back to the bedroom to rest. As long as he closed his eyes and took a nap, time would pass quickly.

"Comrade General," the captain followed him and said, "You can go to General Yakov. He has been unable to leave the building recently and is probably as bored as you are."

Sokov decisively adopted the captain's suggestion. He stayed in the room alone and had nothing to do. Every time he sat down to read, he would feel sleepy after a while. He spent at least two-thirds of his time sleeping in the past few days.

"Captain, I don't know where General Yakov's office is." Sokov said to the captain, "Please take me there to find him."

"Please follow me and I will take you there."

Under the leadership of the captain, Sokov successfully arrived at Yakov's office.

"Misha, you're here!" Yakov, who was sitting at the table doing nothing, saw Sokov coming in from outside and quickly stood up to greet him.

"I was bored in the office, so I came to take a look." After Sokov and Yakov hugged each other, he asked curiously, "What are you busy with recently?"

"Nothing." Yakov said with a wry smile, "I told you two days ago that we are studying the development of new tanks. This is not my specialty, so I was excluded from the core group and can only do odd jobs every day."

"Is it a T-44 tank?"

The T-44 tank is a medium tank redeveloped on the basis of the T-34/85 tank. It has a crew of four, and the original T-34/85 tank's mechanics and electrical engineers were eliminated. The directional machine gun is fixed on the body and fired by the driver. The turret is improved on the basis of the T-34/85 tank, but there is no protruding neck ring at the bottom of the turret. It is an intermediate transition model between the T-34 tank and the T-54 tank. For the first time, it adopted a mid-mounted turret, torsion bar suspension, horizontal engine, rear transmission, and two-sided front tilted armor, laying the foundation for the typical style of Soviet medium tank development after World War II.

"No," Yakov shook his head and said, "The T-44 tank began small-scale production at the end of 1944. We are researching a more advanced tank. If we have to finalize it, it should be the T-54 medium tank."

Sokov also knew a thing or two about the T-54 medium tank, which was developed on the basis of the T-44 tank. The first prototype was made in 1946 and put into mass production at the Kharkov Tank Plant in 1947.

"T-54 medium tank." Sokov found a seat and sat down. Then he asked Yakov, "Is it possible that you are leaking secrets by telling me this?"

"How is this possible? You are also a member of the design bureau and have the right to know these secrets." After saying this, Yakov began to briefly introduce this new type of tank to Sokov: "The initial design of the T-54 began in October 1944 by the OKB-10 Design Bureau (520rd Stalin Ural Tank Factory). The prototype design was completed in December of that year, and the prototype was manufactured in February 183. It was tested and passed in March and April and was officially named T-12. The body structure and power plant of this prototype are the same as those of the T-1945. The difference is that the armor is thicker, namely the front armor: 2 mm on the top, 54 mm on the bottom, 44-100 mm on the sides, and 90 mm on the top. The diameter of the turret base has been increased to 90 mm, and it has a newly designed cockpit and observation window."

"Since it was manufactured in February, why wasn't it put into use?" Sokov asked curiously, "You know, the battlefield is the best place to test the performance of weapons." "I just said that it passed the test in March and April." Yakov said with a wry smile, "Before our army could mass-produce it, the Germans surrendered, and as a result, this tank was never used."

"This tank has been finalized and can be put into mass production at any time." Sokov remembered Yakov's complaints to him two days ago, and couldn't help asking curiously: "Then why are you still discussing which tank to adopt?"

"Someone suggested that the T-54 medium tank was designed for war, and now that the war is over, it has no place to be used. We should design a more advanced tank to be equipped in the army for decades to come." Yakov explained: "The agenda of the meeting in the past two days revolved around whether to mass-produce T-54 tanks or develop new tanks. As you know, although I have been in a tank division, I am an artilleryman and don't know much about tanks."

After chatting for a while, Sokov turned the topic to Ustinov: "I heard that Comrade Ustinov went to the Far East. Do you think he went to the institute in Chelyabinsk?"

Although Sokov was full of doubts about what Yakov said that day, he couldn't help but think of a strange phenomenon in later generations: in the early morning of February 2013, 2, a huge meteorite with a diameter of about 15 meters and a weight of 20 tons passed through the atmosphere and flew quickly towards Chelyabinsk. As a result, before it hit the city, it exploded and turned into a huge fireball, injuring about 12000 people and damaging 1500 buildings.

Later, the video of the meteorite entering the atmosphere and exploding was played repeatedly, and an amazing phenomenon was discovered: the meteorite was actually shattered by a mysterious object flying from behind. You know, at the speed of the meteorite at that time, even the fastest missile in the world could not catch up with it. Therefore, what object destroyed the meteorite has become an unsolved mystery.

Thinking of this, Sokov began to doubt his own judgment: "Could it be that what the military expert said to Yakov was true? Otherwise, how can we explain the mysterious object that suddenly appeared in the future and destroyed the meteorite? You know, if the meteorite fell into the city, the explosion would be powerful enough to wipe Chelyabinsk off the face of the earth."

"Misha, what are you thinking about?" Yakov couldn't help but ask when he saw Sokov sitting in his seat in a daze again.

"Yasha, I'm wondering, is what you said the other day true?" Sokov expressed his doubts: "If it's not true, why did Comrade Ustinov suddenly go to Chelyabinsk?"

"Who told you that he went to Chelyabinsk?" But Yakov retorted: "There are so many cities in the Far East. Who said that if you go to the Far East, you must go to Chelyabinsk?"

"I thought about it carefully, and what you said that day might be true."

"What's true or false?" Yakov stood up and closed the door, then turned to Sokov and said, "Can you take what someone said when they were drunk seriously? Besides, when I told you about this the other day, I also said it was too far-fetched and I couldn't tell whether what the other person said was true or just nonsense when he was drunk."

He poured a cup of hot tea and placed it in front of Sokov, then continued, "By the way, did you sign the confidentiality agreement Comrade Ustinov asked you to sign?"

"I haven't seen Comrade Ustinov since the day I handed him the design drawings." Sokov answered simply: "Of course, there was no confidentiality agreement signed."

"It's right not to sign." Yakov continued, "As far as I know, the R&D team formed this time has about 200 people, and there are more than a dozen generals alone. This shows how much importance the higher-ups attach to this matter. If you agree to join, I'm afraid you will have to live a secluded life for a long time in the future. By then, not only will Asiya not be able to see you, I'm afraid your children won't have the chance to see you when they grow up."

"Yasha, I have been prepared for the situation you described. However, I did not sign the confidentiality agreement not because I am worried that I will live a life isolated from the world in the future, but because I am worried that I am not capable enough. After joining the R&D team, I will not only fail to help others, but will also hinder everyone."

"What? You think you are not capable enough?" Yakov laughed when he heard what Sokov said. "When I was in the Armaments Department, the military experts around me, especially General Blagonravov, praised the weapons you designed. If you think you are not capable enough, those military experts will probably feel ashamed."

When he heard the name Blagonravov, Sokov suddenly remembered a person: Kalashnikov, the developer of the AK47 assault rifle. But it seemed that his premature launch of the assault rifle overwhelmed Kalashnikov's talent, making this person who should have been famous become unknown.

Just as Sokov felt guilty for stealing Kalashnikov's achievements, Yakov suddenly asked him a difficult question: "Misha, do you know why Adelina went to Germany?"

Sokov had asked Adelina the same question many times on different occasions, but she either kept silent or talked about other things, and refused to tell him her mission to Germany. When he heard Yakov's question, he slowly shook his head and said, "I'm sorry, I don't know. Adelina never told me what her mission to Germany was."

"As far as I know, in January this year, Comrade Sherbakov, then the head of the intelligence agency, formulated a bold plan that will greatly help our development in the next 5 years." Yakov said, "But unfortunately, Sherbakov died of a heart attack on May 10 this year, and the intelligence agency he led fell into chaos because of a lack of leadership. Later, a new person took over and continued his original plan, but because he missed the opportunity, the plan ended in failure."

"Yasha, can you tell me what the plan is?"

"I don't know." Yakov answered very straightforwardly: "I just know there is such a plan, but I don't know the specific content. But according to my guess, Ajelina should be one of the participants in the plan. She was ordered to sneak into the US military occupied area. Her mission should be to obtain intelligence that is beneficial to us, or to cooperate with a hidden agent to obtain more important intelligence."

Sokov agreed with Yakov's guess. When he met General Patton at the Brandenburg Gate, Sokov could sense the change in Adelina's expression. If he hadn't been able to talk and laugh with Patton in fluent English, she might have stayed by Patton's side and left a deep impression on him.

Thinking about it this way, Sokov realized that he might have made a mistake. He was busy communicating with Patton directly in English, which reduced Ajelina's chances of contacting Patton, and had a certain impact on her next mission.

"Where is Ajelina now? Is she still in Berlin?"

"Yes." Sokov replied quickly, "She was assigned to the translation team under the office of the General Staff of the German Occupation Group, and she does some translation work every day."

“When can I return home?”

"She has only been there for a few days. Even if she wants to return home, she will probably have to wait a year or two."