red moscow

Chapter 2610

"Misha's idea is very simple. Ukraine lacks enough manpower to engage in agricultural production. So we can draw prisoners of war from the Siberian prisoner-of-war camps to assist our people in agricultural production."

After listening to this, Kosygin did not immediately express his opinion, but asked: "Comrade Marshal, do you think this method is feasible?"

"I don't think it's realistic," Zhukov replied. "If we want more people to engage in agricultural production in the future, we will need at least 100,000 or 200,000 prisoners of war. So many prisoners of war coming here at once will increase Comrade Khrushchev's burden. He will not only have to arrange manpower to build prisoner-of-war camps that can accommodate so many prisoners of war, but also arrange troops to guard the prisoner-of-war camps. Moreover, with so many people added at once, there will be huge problems with food supply."

After Zhukov finished speaking, Kosygin said slowly: "Comrade Marshal, your concerns are absolutely correct."

Zhukov turned his head and looked at Sokov, as if to tell him with his eyes: "Well, I was right, wasn't I? No one will agree with your proposal. If you rashly raise this matter with Comrade Stalin, you might bring yourself unnecessary trouble."

Unexpectedly, Kosygin turned to Sokov and asked: "General Sokov, I want to hear if you have anything to add."

"Comrade Kosygin, I don't think there is anything to add." Sokov said with a wry smile: "Zhukov has already made it very clear about the problems of transferring prisoners of war to participate in agricultural production. I was not thoughtful enough and made an unreasonable suggestion."

"Actually, I think we can give it a try." As soon as Kosygin said this, Sokov and Zhukov were both surprised.

After a moment, Zhukov raised his own question: "How to try?"

"Here's what I think," Kosygin said. "If too many prisoners of war are transferred from the Siberian prisoner-of-war camps at once, it will not only cause problems with the local food supply, but will also become a factor of instability. These prisoners of war suddenly came from Siberia thousands of miles away to a place only a few hundred kilometers away from their own country. The first thing they think of is to escape from prison, and then find a way to return to their own country. To prevent this from happening, we have to use a large number of troops to guard them."

Although Kosygin talked for a long time without getting to the point, neither Zhukov nor Sokov interrupted him. Instead, they listened to him patiently and continued, "But if the number of prisoners of war transferred is only three to five thousand, then our management will become much easier. If we find through experiments that the arrival of these prisoners of war is helpful in improving the efficiency of local agricultural production, then we can mobilize more prisoners of war to engage in agricultural production in the coming days."

"Will Comrade Stalin agree?" Zhukov asked.

"I will report to Comrade Stalin in person," Kosygin said. "But before that, I will communicate with Comrade Khrushchev first. After all, that is the place he manages. If we can get his help, it will be very helpful for our subsequent work."

The three chatted for more than half an hour, and then Kosygin stood up and said, "It's getting late. I have to rush to Comrade Khrushchev as soon as possible."

After Kosygin left, Sokov asked Zhukov tentatively: "Comrade Marshal, do you think Comrade Kosygin can succeed?"

"It's hard to say," Zhukov said, shaking his head. "First of all, it depends on Khrushchev's attitude. If he objects, I'm afraid the subsequent plans cannot be carried out."

Sokov nodded after hearing this, and then he remembered something: "By the way, Comrade Marshal, speaking of Ukraine, I think of Odessa on the Black Sea."

"What happened in Odessa?" Zhukov asked puzzledly.

Sokov mentioned Odessa at this moment because he thought that in a few months, Zhukov would be demoted to the region as the commander of the military district. It seemed necessary to prepare some work in advance. He said cautiously: "I heard that after the outbreak of the war, our army buried a large number of mines on the beach to prevent the Germans from landing in this area. Now that the war is over, the mines on the beach should be cleared as soon as possible to avoid unnecessary casualties to the units and personnel engaged in fishery production."

Zhukov looked at Sokov with a puzzled expression and asked, "Misha, if I am not mistaken, you are currently a member of the General Armament Department. Whether there are mines on the beaches of Odessa seems to have nothing to do with you."

The muscles on Sokov's face twitched violently for a few times, and he replied awkwardly: "I just suddenly remembered this question, so I specifically mentioned it to you."

"Misha." Zhukov waved his hand at Sokov and said disapprovingly: "Odessa has nothing to do with us, so don't worry about it. You might as well concentrate on developing new weapons. Maybe you will be recorded in history in the future."

"Comrade Marshal, the troops I commanded were the first to set foot on Romanian soil. Isn't that recorded in history?"

Zhukov smiled: "Misha, if you hadn't told me, I would have really forgotten about this. Yes, after your troops drove the enemy out of our land, they were indeed the first to set foot in Romania. This has been recorded in history. For this, I would like to express my sincere congratulations to you." As he said, he extended his hand to Sokov and shook hands with him.

"Comrade Marshal, do you know when Comrade Ustinov will be back?" Sokov asked cautiously, "Some time ago, I designed a new general-purpose machine gun. Logically, a prototype should have been manufactured and tested long ago. But after so long, I haven't received any news, and Comrade Ustinov is not in Moscow. Even if I want to ask, there is no place to ask."

"Comrade Ustinov has returned to Moscow."

"What? Comrade Ustinov has returned to Moscow?" Sokov asked in surprise. "When?"

"He came back by plane last night." Zhukov replied, "He may come over later, Misha, you should stay a little longer. You can talk to him in person about some things."

Knowing that Ustinov would be here soon, Sokov, who was originally anxious to go home, decided to stay here and wait patiently. Even if Ustinov didn't come, he could still enjoy a delicious meal at Zhukov's place without having to go home and cook.

Almost two hours later, it was almost dark outside. The guard called Zhukov again: "Comrade Marshal, Comrade Ustinov is here!"

Sokov originally thought that when Zhukov heard that Ustinov had arrived, he would take him out to greet him, but Zhukov said into the microphone: "Please let him in."

Soon, Ustinov, dressed in civilian clothes, walked in quickly. Zhukov quickly stood up to greet him and gave him a warm hug: "Hello, Comrade Ustinov, welcome back to Moscow."

After the two men finished hugging, Sokov hurried forward and saluted: "Hello, Comrade People's Commissar!"

Ustinov obviously didn't expect to see Sokov here at Zhukov's place. When he reached out his hand to shake hands with Sokov, he asked curiously, "Misha, why are you here?" "Dear Dmitri Fedorovich." Zhukov called the other party's real name and father's name affectionately, and said, "I have always regarded Misha as my child. It shouldn't be a problem for him to come here to visit me, his elder, during the New Year?"

"No, no problem." Ustinov shook his head and said, "It is entirely right for him to come and visit you."

After the two chatted for a while, Ustinov said to Sokov: "Misha, your new general-purpose machine gun has passed the test. So the test participants all praised the new general-purpose machine gun you designed."

"Is it really that good?" Zhukov asked.

"Of course, my comrade Marshal." Ustinov took out a notebook from his pocket, took out a photo from the notebook, and handed it to Zhukov: "Look, this is the new general-purpose machine gun designed by Misha. After testing, its performance is no worse than the German MG42 machine gun."

Zhukov put on his reading glasses and carefully examined the photo that Ustinov handed over. After looking at it for a while, he curiously asked about a few parameters, and Sokov answered them without hesitation and gave a brief explanation.

"Not bad, Comrade Ustinov." Zhukov took off his reading glasses, returned the photo in his hand to Ustinov, and said with a smile: "This general-purpose machine gun designed by Misha is indeed very good. If I have the chance, I would like to test it myself."

"No problem." Ustinov said cheerfully, "Comrade Marshal, Christmas is just a few days away. After the holiday, I will invite you to our weapons testing ground. Are you interested?"

"If you invite me, I will definitely not refuse." Zhukov said this and turned his eyes to Sokov: "Misha, as the designer of the new general-purpose machine gun, do you have the qualifications to go with me?"

"Of course." Ustinov said reasonably, "Just like the assault rifles used by our soldiers, this new general-purpose machine gun may be equipped to the troops soon. As the designer of this weapon, Misha is certainly qualified to go to the test site and see the performance of this machine gun with his own eyes."

After saying this, Ustinov took a sip of tea, looked up at Sokov and asked, "Misha, do you have any design ideas for new weapons recently?"

Before Sokov could finish, Zhukov said, "Comrade Ustinov, you are going too far. Misha has just designed a new general-purpose machine gun a few days ago, and you want him to design a new weapon. Do you think you can design a new weapon just because you want to? Even the donkey in the production team cannot be used like you."

Zhukov's words caused Ustinov and Sokov to chuckle, and the atmosphere in the room became more relaxed.

"By the way, Misha, when will Asia give birth?" Ustinov asked.

Although Ustinov had asked this question before, Sokov was not sure whether the other party had forgotten or asked it out of concern for him, so he answered truthfully: "March, the due date is March."

"Misha, you're too slow." Zhukov said with a smile, "I remember that you and Asia registered your marriage at the civil affairs department in Stalingrad before the Battle of Stalingrad broke out. Now it's been more than three years and your child is only just born. You're too slow. You know, many people got married at the same time as you and their children are already running around."

Hearing Zhukov and Ustinov talking about children, Sokov couldn't help but think of Karina, who was now in Vladimir and was also pregnant with his own child. He wondered if he would be able to rush over to accompany him when the child was born.

Ustinov, who was talking to Zhukov, saw that Sokov was a little distracted, and couldn't help but ask curiously: "Misha, what are you thinking about?"

"Comrade People's Commissar," Sokov replied hastily, "I am thinking about what other weapons I can design after I have designed the universal machine gun."

"There are many things that can be designed, such as tanks, airplanes and the like," Ustinov said. "These weapons will play a huge role in future wars."

"Unfortunately, I know nothing about tanks or airplanes. Even if you give me this task, I'm afraid I don't have any design ideas."

"You can't design tanks and airplanes, so what about artillery?" Zhukov interrupted and said, "Comrade Stalin once said, 'Artillery is the god of war.' I think while developing new airplanes and tanks, we should also design better artillery."

The speaker may not mean it, but the listener may take it seriously. Zhukov just said it casually, but it made Sokov come up with the prototype of a new type of artillery: a vehicle-mounted howitzer!

The vehicle-mounted howitzer, when moving, the barrel of this kind of artillery is placed in the groove of the driving platform. After entering the combat position, the muzzle is raised to shoot at the predetermined target. However, Sokov could not remember the specific details. He planned to recall them when he returned and then design this kind of artillery mounted on a vehicle.

"Maybe, in addition to light weapons, I can also design a new type of artillery." Sokov said cautiously.

Hearing what Sokov said, both Zhukov and Ustinov were stunned.

After a long while, Ustinov was the first to break the silence: "Misha, did I hear you correctly? Are you planning to design a new type of artillery?"

"Comrade People's Commissar, I do have such an idea." Sokov said cautiously, "But I don't know enough about the structure of artillery. I hope to learn more about this before considering whether to design a new type of artillery."

"Misha, this is easy. I will arrange for you to visit the artillery design team as soon as possible. I hope their design can give you some inspiration."

"I think Misha has the potential to design an excellent artillery piece." Zhukov echoed, "Comrade Ustinov, don't forget that the new rocket launcher designed by Misha based on Katyusha played a huge role in the battlefield of the Great Patriotic War."

"Yes, yes, Comrade Marshal." Ustinov also nodded and said, "After your reminder, I remembered that among the many weapons designed by Misha, the new rocket can be regarded as a kind of artillery, an improved portable version of Katyusha. Misha, when can you go to work?"

"Comrade People's Commissar," Sokov said helplessly, seeing that Ustinov seemed a little anxious when he heard that he could design artillery, "it was you who informed me that I could wait until after Christmas to go back to work."

"Oh, I did say that." Ustinov realized that he was a little too anxious, and said quickly: "Take the time to think about it carefully in the next two days. When you start working, I will arrange for you to visit the artillery design team and communicate with the military experts there."