red moscow

Chapter 2606

Yakov drove away from Zhukov's villa.

After driving for a distance, he turned his head to look at Sokov who was sitting in the passenger seat and asked tentatively: "Misha, do you really want to see my father?"

"Yes, Yasha." Sokov nodded and replied, "I think some things should be reported to him in person."

"What report?" Yakov said with a wry smile, "Tell him that after the beginning of this spring, Ukraine may experience a once-in-a-century drought, which will lead to a large-scale reduction in grain production, thus plunging the country into famine?"

"Perhaps my use of the term 'large-scale reduction in grain production' seems a bit inappropriate."

"That's right." Yakov became excited. "I just think your wording is not accurate enough. How can you use a term like 'large-scale production reduction'? At best, you can only say that there may be 'a certain degree of production reduction'..."

Before he could finish his words, he saw Sokov looking at him blankly. He couldn't help but ask in surprise: "Misha, did I say something wrong?"

Sokov smiled bitterly and replied: "I think the accurate description should be 'a large area of ​​grain failure', which led to the great famine."

Yakov slammed on the brakes, and the car stopped on the side of the road with a sharp braking sound.

Sokov, whose head almost hit the windshield, quickly reminded Yakov: "Yasha, tell me when you brake next time, so that I won't hit the windshield."

"Misha," Yakov said sternly, "If you say something like 'there will be a large-scale crop failure' in front of my father, I'm afraid it will bring you unexpected trouble."

"But what I said is the truth." Sokov said helplessly: "If we don't pay attention to it, I'm afraid many people will die of famine."

"Misha, I understand your mentality, but these things are not something you should worry about. You should just focus on being a novelist or a military expert."

Facing Yakov's kind words of advice, Sokov felt warm in his heart. The other party was thinking about him and worried that he would suffer a loss, so he stopped him from making inappropriate remarks in front of Stalin. But he also knew that if he kept silent, he could make a fortune, but tens of thousands of people would die of hunger. If Stalin could listen to his advice and transfer hundreds of thousands of German prisoners of war from Siberia to plant potatoes and corn on a large scale, the severity of the famine might be alleviated.

Seeing that Sokov seemed to want to say something, Yakov raised his hand to stop him and reminded him, "Just now I heard Marshal Zhukov told you to visit his home in two days. Maybe he wanted to talk to you about this matter."

"So what do you suggest?"

Before Yakov could answer, a police car drove over. After the car stopped, a traffic policeman got out and walked over with a baton in hand. From a distance, he shouted into the car: "Hey, hey, hey, you are not allowed to park here, drive away quickly!"

Yakov rolled down the window, stuck his head out and said, "Comrade traffic police, we are talking about something and we will leave after we are done."

The traffic policeman was shocked when he saw the gold star on Yakov's shoulder strap. Then he saw the person sitting in the passenger seat, who seemed to have a higher military rank than the driver. He quickly stepped back and saluted: "I'm sorry, comrades generals, I disturbed you! Please continue, you can stay here as long as you want."

After saying that, he turned around and ran back to the police car, quickly started the vehicle and left.

"Yasha, tell me what you think," said Sokov.

"Marshal Zhukov asked you to go to his villa in two days," Yakov said, "You can have a good talk with him. Maybe he can give you some good advice. Before meeting Marshal Zhukov, you must not meet my father. This is my advice to you as a friend."

"Yasha, you have a point." Sokov calmed down and thought about it. He was indeed a little too rash to go and make a speech to Stalin. You know, Khrushchev and he had some friendship, but when he said that Ukraine might face famine due to drought, the other party's attitude was also very cold. If he said something similar directly to Stalin, he might send him to the ice and snow of Siberia to calm down: "After I meet Marshal Zhukov, it won't be too late to meet your father."

Yakov restarted the car and continued driving forward.

"Misha, I think you'd better visit Marshal Zhukov before the 5th," Yakov said, "so that I can arrange for you to meet my father on Christmas Day."

"There are so many people visiting Marshal Zhukov's home these past two days. Even if I go, I'm afraid I won't get a chance to talk." Sokov said, "But I will visit Marshal Zhukov again before the 5th."

"By the way, you just told me that you knew Comrade Malenkov."

"Yes, I met him in Berlin, and we took the same special train from Berlin to Moscow." After briefly introducing the situation, Sokov asked, "Yasha, why are you asking this?"

"I have already told you at the villa," Yakov said, "Malenkov is highly regarded by my father and is very familiar with my father's thoughts. If you really want to seek advice from my father, you can also go to Comrade Malenkov and listen to his opinions."

"That's a good suggestion." Sokov nodded and said, "I'll find time to visit him."

Yakov sent Sokov downstairs and was about to drive away when he suddenly remembered something: "Misha!"

Hearing Yakov calling him, Sokov quickly stepped forward and asked, "Yasha, is there anything else?"

"You've been back in Moscow for quite some time. Have you contacted Karina?"

"Karina?!" Sokov felt that the name Yakov mentioned was very familiar, but he couldn't remember where it was.

Seeing Sokov standing there in a daze, Yakov was a little unhappy: "Misha, when you were still in Berlin, I told you about her. How come you forgot?"

After Yakov's reminder, Sokov immediately remembered the girl in Vladimir. Her father was attacked by gangsters in Poland on the same train as him to Berlin, and her father was unfortunately killed by the gangsters. He had promised Yakov that he would go to see Karina when he returned to Moscow. But he had been back for so long, and because of work, he was too busy to visit Karina, let alone call her.

"I remember now." Sokov said with some embarrassment, "But you also know that after I came back, I was locked up in the General Armament Department most of the time and had no chance to see her at all."

"You can't go to Vladimir to see her, so you can always call her, right?" Yakov said dissatisfiedly, "But I guess you haven't even called her."

"You're right, I didn't call her." Sokov replied cautiously, "What happened between her and me is over. I'm afraid it's not appropriate to meet her again."

"It would be inappropriate for you not to go see her." Yakov couldn't help but sighed when he said this: "Forget it, I've said everything I need to say. As for whether you go to Vladimir or not, it's your freedom. I have no right to interfere."

"If I have time, I will drive to Vladimir by myself." Sokov said, "I just don't know if I can find her after I get there." "Here is her phone number, do you need it?"

"That's great that you have her phone number." Sokov held out his hand to Yakov: "Give me her number quickly."

Yakov pulled a folded piece of paper out of his pocket and said to Sokov, "Here is her contact information. I hope you can contact her when you have the chance."

"Okay." Sokov took the note and put it directly into his jacket pocket without even looking at it. "I'll find time to visit her."

When he got home, Asia came up to him and asked Sokov with concern: "Misha, you are back! Did you see Marshal Zhukov?"

"Yes." Sokov nodded and replied, "Today, there were many people visiting Marshal Zhukov's home. In addition to Marshals Khrushchev, Malenkov and Rokossovsky, there were at least hundreds of generals visiting. Because there were so many people, I didn't even have a chance to talk to Marshal Zhukov, so I stayed for a while and then Yakov and I came back."

"Have you been going out to pay New Year's greetings these days?" Asia asked.

"Maybe I won't go out for a while." Sokov shook his head and said, "If I have the chance, I will visit Marshal Zhukov again, as well as Marshal Rokossovsky, Khrushchev and Comrade Malenkov."

"These are important people. If you interact with them more, it will be very helpful for your future."

"I hope so."

The next morning, Asiya suggested going out for a walk on the street, but Sokov refused: "It snowed last night, and everyone stayed at home drinking. Besides, the shops were closed. Even if we went out for a walk, there was nowhere to go."

When Asia heard this, it seemed to make sense, so she went to discuss with her parents to see if they should cancel their travel plans.

Bakanidze said, "It's New Year's Day these two days, and there must be many relatives and friends who will come to our house to pay New Year's greetings. I'm afraid it would be impolite for us not to be at home. Misha, if possible, please send me and your mother-in-law back to the family quarters of the instrument factory."

"How long do you plan to stay?" Sokov asked.

After discussing with his wife for a while, Bakanidze replied: "We will be back on the 6th at the latest."

Knowing that Bakanitze and his companions would be back after the 6th, Sokov couldn't help but think that he should take advantage of this rare opportunity to go to Vladimir and meet the beautiful Karina to find out how she is doing.

Sokov drove Asia and her family to the workers' dormitory of the instrument factory.

When he was about to turn around and leave, Asia came to the car window and told him, "Misha, I have discussed with my parents and I will go back on the 6th. You don't need to pick us up. Just rest at home."

"Well, have fun."

When Sokov was about to leave Khimki, he suddenly saw a roadside sign with "Vladimir" written on it, indicating that this road led to Vladimir. Sokov quickly stopped the car on the side of the road, staring at the sign, wondering if he should take advantage of Asia's absence to go to Vladimir to see Karina.

He lit a cigarette and thought about the problem quietly.

When he finished smoking a cigarette and was about to throw away the butt, he suddenly remembered something. Yakov had repeatedly urged him to go to Vladimir. Could it be that something unclear had happened?

In order to find out what was going on, he threw his pipe to the ground, turned the car around, and drove east along the road.

Since it is the New Year period, most citizens are drinking and celebrating the New Year at home, so there are basically no vehicles on the road.

Driving the bucket truck on the empty road, Sokov couldn't help but worry about one thing. If his car broke down on the road, he might not be able to find a place to repair it. What should he do then?

Fortunately, the worried thing did not happen. Three hours later, the barrel truck driven by Sokov entered the city of Vladimir.

  After entering the city, Sokov found a place to stop, looking at the empty streets, wondering where Karina was at the moment, was she on duty at work, drinking at home, or visiting a neighbor?

He took out his cigarette box, ready to smoke another cigarette to calm himself down, but found that the box was empty. The cigarette he smoked before leaving should be the last one.

It was New Year's Day and all the shops were closed. Even if he wanted to buy cigarettes or eat something, he couldn't find a place. Since he had already come to Vladimir, the only thing he could do was to go directly to Karina's house. If she was at home, that would be the best; if she wasn't, he would just turn around and go back to Moscow.

He crumpled up the empty cigarette box and threw it out of the car window, then started the car and drove towards Kalina's house.

When he parked his car downstairs, he saw that there was no one around. It was obvious that everyone was staying at home drinking.

Sokov got out of the car, walked quickly into the building, and came to the door of Karina's house. He rubbed his face with both hands, calmed himself down, and knocked on the door a few times.

But there was no movement from inside the door.

Could it be that Karina was on duty at work, or was visiting a neighbor? Sokov thought so in his heart, and raised his hand and knocked heavily on the door twice.

This time there was a noise in the house, and I could vaguely hear someone asking, "Who is it? Who's outside?" Then I heard footsteps coming towards the door.

The next moment, the door opened and Karina, wearing a long gray nightgown and looking haggard, appeared at the door.

Seeing Sokov standing outside the door, Kalina's face looked a little confused, as if she didn't recognize who Sokov was.

"Karina," Sokov saw that Karina had just been woken up by him and was not fully awake yet, so she didn't recognize him. He quickly whispered, "You don't recognize me, I'm Misha!"

"Misha, you are Misha!" Kalina suddenly came to her senses when she heard Sokov's voice. "Yes, you are Misha. I have finally got you here." As she said that, she reached out and grabbed Sokov's arm, trying to pull him into the house.

Sokov was very cooperative. Before the other party's hand exerted any force, he took the initiative to enter the house and closed the door. He asked with concern: "Karina, were you sleeping just now?"