red moscow

Chapter 2604: Advice Concerning Human Life

On the last day of 1945, Sokov received a call from Ustinov: "Misha, have you been in the office lately?"

"Yes, Comrade People's Commissar," Sokov replied hastily, "I heard that you were going to the Far East. I will definitely stay in the office until I receive your new orders."

"Tomorrow is New Year's Day." Ustinov said, "You should go home and reunite with your family, and come back to work after Christmas. If possible, remember to pay New Year's greetings to your superiors. This will be very helpful for your future development. Do you understand?"

Sokov had originally wanted to take advantage of the New Year to visit his old superiors like Zhukov and Rokossovsky, perhaps to work under them in the future. When he heard that Ustinov was going to let him go home, he immediately said in a grateful tone: "Thank you, Comrade People's Commissar, I will follow your instructions."

"I don't have any instructions." Ustinov said with a smile, "I'm just giving you a suggestion. You should know that when I return to Moscow from the Far East, I will consider giving you more responsibilities and letting you take charge of more important tasks. By then, even if you want to visit your old superiors, I'm afraid you won't have the time."

After finishing the call with Ustinov, Sokov called the captain and said to him: "Comrade Captain, I just received a call from Comrade People's Commissar. He asked me to go home and reunite with my family and come back to work after Christmas."

"That means you won't be back to work until January 8th." The captain asked cautiously, "What about me? Will I also be on leave?"

"Comrade Captain, you were originally sent by the People's Commissar to assist me in my work." Sokov said to the captain with a smile, "Since I am going home for the holidays, why are you still staying here? You should pack up and go home early. After all, New Year's Day is our most important holiday and a day for family reunion."

"I understand, Comrade General." The captain nodded and said, "Then I will go home today and come back to work after Christmas."

When Sokov returned to his home, he saw Asia, with her big belly, preparing New Year's Eve dinner with her mother, while his father-in-law Bakanidze was sitting on the sofa in the living room, smoking and reading a newspaper.

Seeing Sokov coming in, everyone put down their work and came to greet him.

Asia, in particular, spread her arms and said excitedly: "Misha, you are back!"

When Sokov and Asiya hugged, he intentionally held his abdomen in to avoid squeezing the other's belly, and asked with concern: "Asiya, how have you been these two days?"

"The kid is kicking me more and more frequently now. It seems like he is anxious to come out and see us."

In Russian, "he" and "she" are two completely different words. When Sokov heard that Asia used "he", he smiled and said, "Asia, are you so sure that it must be a boy? Maybe it's a beautiful little girl."

As soon as Sokov finished speaking, his mother-in-law spoke up: "Misha, do you prefer a son or a daughter?"

Although this question has been asked many times, the elders still like to ask it again and again. Sokov answered without hesitation: "For me, sons and daughters are the same, they are all my children, and I like them all. I heard that there is a saying that more sons are born during war, and more daughters are born in peacetime. Now that the war is over and peace has returned to the world, I think the chances of Asiya giving birth to a daughter are higher."

Unexpectedly, just as Sokov finished speaking, Bakandze said leisurely beside him: "Misha, you seem to be mistaken. When Asia was pregnant, the war was not over yet. You know, if she had not been pregnant at the time, she would definitely follow you to the Far East and participate in the final battle. Therefore, I think Asia has a greater chance of giving birth to a son."

"By the way, Misha." Asia's focus was different from her parents'. "How long can you stay at home this time when you come back?"

"My boss gave me a week off," Sokov replied. "I won't go back to work until after Christmas."

"What are your plans during this period?" Asia asked.

"I plan to visit Marshal Zhukov and Marshal Rokossovsky. After all, they were my former superiors." Sokov said to the three people: "Although I don't hold a position in the army now, I should visit them out of courtesy."

"Misha, you are right," Bakanidze said. "Even though the war is over, it may break out again someday. If you have a good relationship with the two marshals, you will have a chance to return to the army once the war restarts."

"Old man, what are you talking about?" The mother-in-law seemed dissatisfied with what Bakanidze said, and said seriously: "Can't you stay in Moscow and live a good life? You have to charge into battle on the battlefield. If something happens to you, what will happen to Asia and her children?"

While Sokov was thinking about how to resolve the crisis, the phone in the room rang.

Picking up the phone, Yakov's voice came out: "Misha, it seems that the information I got was correct. You really did go home."

"Yes, I have returned home. Comrade People's Commissar granted me a week's vacation and asked me to go back to work after Christmas." After briefly explaining his situation, Sokov asked, "How about you, are you at home or in the office?"

"I'm going home too." Yakov said, "I plan to visit Marshal Zhukov tomorrow morning. I wonder if you would like to go with me."

"What a coincidence." Sokov was overjoyed when he learned that Yakov was going to visit Marshal Zhukov: "Then let's go together."

"No problem. I'll drive over to pick you up at nine tomorrow morning. Please be prepared in advance."

Sokov had been in this era for a long time, but he had never visited other people to celebrate the New Year, so he was not familiar with the various rules. He asked tentatively: "Yasha, when we go to see Marshal Zhukov, what should we bring him?"

"I heard that Marshal Zhukov has fallen in love with red wine these past two years." Yakov said, "Someone just gave me a few bottles of Ukrainian wine. When I go to Marshal Zhukov's house tomorrow, I'll give him these bottles of wine. It will be considered a gift from both of us." "Thank you, Yasha." Sokov said gratefully, "I was worried about what gift to give, and you helped me solve the big problem."

"It's okay, it's just a small favor. We are good brothers, no need to thank me. Remember, I will pick you up at nine o'clock tomorrow morning."

"Okay, I'll wait for you."

After Sokov put down the phone, he said to Asia, "Asia, I have already agreed with Yasha that we will go to Marshal Zhukov's house together tomorrow. He has a few bottles of Ukrainian wine in his hand, which he is going to give to Marshal Zhukov as a gift. Just consider it a gift from the two of us."

"Do you need me to go with you?" Asiya asked tentatively.

"Your body is not in good condition." Sokov looked at Asiya's bulging belly and shook his head slowly: "There's no need to go back and forth."

The next morning, Yakov drove Sokov to Zhukov's residence.

Zhukov's residence was a villa with a yard, and there were two sentries and an officer at the door. Seeing a car coming, the officer hurried forward, raised his hand above his head, palm forward, and signaled Yakov to stop the car.

After Yakov stopped the car, he rolled down the window and said to the officer who was walking over: "Comrade Captain, we are here to visit Marshal Zhukov."

The captain obviously knew Yakov, and did not ask for his ID. Instead, he glanced at Sokov, who was sitting in the co-pilot seat, and then stepped back, raised his hand to salute, and made a gesture to the sentry at the door. Seeing the captain's gesture, the sentry quickly opened the door to allow Yakov's car to drive in.

When Yakov and Sokov walked into the hall, they saw Zhukov talking to a bald man in a Lenin suit.

When Zhukov saw Sokov and Yakov coming in from outside, he stood up quickly and asked in surprise, "Why are you two here?"

The bald man sitting opposite Zhukov had his back to the door. When he heard Zhukov say this, he instinctively turned his head and looked over. Sokov recognized at a glance that this bald man was none other than Khrushchev, who was in charge of the overall situation in Ukraine.

Sokov saluted Zhukov first, then turned around and saluted Khrushchev: "Hello, Comrade Khrushchev, I'm glad to see you here!"

"Misha," Khrushchev stood up and came to Sokov, shaking his head and said, "After I gave you tens of thousands of troops last time, you hardly contacted me again. You even refused my invitation to work in Ukraine."

"Comrade Khrushchev," Sokov thought of the second Ukrainian famine that was about to break out this year, with nearly a quarter of the country's population starving to death. Decades later, a circular black marble sculpture called "Motherland" was built in Kiev to commemorate the Ukrainian people who starved to death in 1946: "I feel that I am not capable enough. If I really go to your place, I may not only be unable to help you, but also cause trouble for you."

"You rejected me, but you didn't hesitate at all when it came to Zhukov's invitation." Khrushchev said with a wry smile, "It seems that in your mind, my status is simply not comparable to Marshal Zhukov's."

"Comrade Khrushchev, you misunderstood." In order to avoid being bullied in the future, Sokov explained to Khrushchev: "I have found that my ability is limited and I am not suitable for local work at all, so I rejected your invitation. If I have been rude in any way, please forgive me."

"I'll forgive you." Khrushchev said slowly, "Can you give me some advice?"

Sokov was still thinking about how to remind Khrushchev that Ukraine would face a food crisis this year. Unexpectedly, the other party took the initiative to put this opportunity in front of him, so he took the opportunity to say, "I do have a little immature idea."

"Come and tell me!"

"Although the war is over, the demobilization of the troops is not over yet," said Sokov. "As a result, there will not be enough people to cultivate the farmland in Ukraine. If there is a drought or something like that again, it will lead to a large reduction in crop yields. Then it will be a problem for the people of Ukraine to have enough food."

"No way, Misha." Khrushchev was absent-minded about Sokov's statement: "During the war, the situation was even worse than it is now, but we still had enough food. Now that the war is over, is the grain production in peacetime still lower than that in wartime?"

"Comrade Khrushchev, you may have forgotten. If the grain produced in Ukraine was only provided to our country, there should not be much of a problem." Sokov reminded him, "But now in Europe, many countries have become countries protected by us, and they have also suffered huge casualties in this war. In other words, the grain produced in Ukraine must not only be supplied to the whole country, but also to these protected countries. In this way, there will be a shortage of food. If there is a drought, resulting in a large-scale reduction in grain production, it means that some people will go hungry or even starve to death."

"Misha, you are exaggerating." But Khrushchev still ignored Sokov's opinion and said to himself: "Even though Ukraine has been occupied by the Germans for such a long time, we still have some grain reserves. Even if there is a large-scale reduction in grain production in 1946, we are able to cope with it."

"Comrade Khrushchev, please don't say anything. Listen to what Misha has to say." Zhukov raised his hand to interrupt Khrushchev's next words. He turned to Sokov and said, "Misha, if the situation you described really happened, what would you do?"

"I think it is inevitable that the drought will lead to a large-scale reduction in grain production." Sokov said cautiously: "At this time, I will consider planting drought-resistant crops on a large scale, such as potatoes and corn..." When talking about corn, Sokov couldn't help but look at Khrushchev. He remembered that the other party wanted to learn from the Americans and started to plant corn on a large scale, regardless of the geographical and climatic factors of the Soviet Union, and planted corn throughout the Soviet Union. However, due to the geographical conditions of the Soviet Union, mainly the temperature and light were too poor, corn almost did not produce cobs, and the relevant personnel bought large cobs from abroad to fool Khrushchev, which led to the failure of the corn campaign.

Although the corn campaign ended in failure, it is still possible to grow corn in Ukraine, where the soil is fertile and the climate is pleasant, which is very suitable for the growth of corn. Sokov continued: "Both potatoes and corn are drought-resistant crops, and the soil in Ukraine is fertile. After planting, the collective farm members don't have to bother to manage them. They just need to wait until September to harvest. With these potatoes and corn, the loss of wheat production can be compensated."

Sokov suggested to Khrushchev that potatoes and corn be planted, mainly because these two crops are drought-resistant and can guarantee a certain degree of yield even in the event of a drought. You should know that Stalin collected 1946 million poods of grain from Ukraine in 1 (40 pood = 16.38 Russian pounds ≈ kg). Although according to his idea, he had already taken into account the serious impact of Ukraine's economy during the war and lowered the collection standards, he still emptied all the grain in Ukraine's granaries, resulting in nearly a quarter of the people dying of famine.

"Comrade Khrushchev, I think Misha's suggestion is correct." Zhukov looked at Khrushchev and said, "I think you can consider his suggestion."

Khrushchev said expressionlessly: "I will discuss this with relevant personnel when I return to Kiev."