red moscow

Chapter 2636

On the afternoon of the day that Sokov moved into his new house, Vaseligov came to Sokov's new home with six soldiers.

"Hello, Comrade General, we meet again." Vaserigov raised his hand to salute Sokov and said respectfully, "By order of Marshal Zhukov, from now on, the five of us will be responsible for protecting you and your wife."

Sokov shook hands with the other party, and then said politely: "Comrade Major, welcome!"

"Comrade General, how do you plan to accommodate us?"

"The first floor has a kitchen and three bedrooms." Sokov looked at Vasherigov and the six burly warriors behind him, hesitated for a moment and said, "You can stay in these three rooms."

As soon as he said this, Vaserigov shook his head and said, "Comrade General, I think your arrangement is not appropriate."

Sokov was stunned, then asked, "What's wrong with that?"

"If we fill up all the rooms on the first floor, if we have guests staying overnight in the future, where will they stay?"

Sokov thought that if there were really guests coming, he could let them stay on the second floor. After all, there were four bedrooms on the second floor. He and Asia would live in one, Asia's parents would live in one, and one would be used as a baby room in the future, leaving one room as a guest room.

But what Vaseligov said next surprised him: "Comrade General, according to Russian tradition, the host's room is on the second floor and the guest's room is on the first floor. If we occupy all three rooms, you will have no guest rooms."

Sokov guessed that since the other party said that, he must have thought of a solution, so he asked tentatively: "Comrade Major, do you have any good suggestions?"

“You should have a basement here, right?”

"Yes, I do." Sokov nodded, and then asked, "Are you planning to live in the basement?"

"That's right, Comrade General." Vaseligov nodded and said, "According to my understanding of the villa, there are at least five rooms in the basement. The five of us can occupy three of them, and the remaining two can be left for you to settle the gardener and the cook."

Sokov originally didn't want any chef or gardener, but then he thought, with the move-in of Vasherigov and his seven companions, there were already nine people in the villa. If Asiya was asked to cook for so many people, her body would definitely not be able to handle it. It was indeed necessary to hire a chef to cook for everyone.

"Comrade Major, do you have any good recommendations for a chef?"

"Yes, Comrade General." Vaseligov nodded and said, "I have a cousin who used to be a cook in a restaurant. If you don't mind, I can invite him to come and be your cook."

"Then let him come as soon as possible." Sokov said, "As for the reward, I will not treat him unfairly."

Under Vaseligov's arrangement, a chef came to the villa that afternoon. After trying his cooking skills, Sokov decisively decided to keep him to cook.

The people brought by Vaseligov were also not idle. They brought bricks and cement and built a duty room that could accommodate two people at the gate of the villa.

Sokov asked Vaseligov curiously, "Comrade Major, why are you building this duty room?"

"Comrade General," Vaserigov explained quickly, "this is also for your safety. We will build a duty room at the door, with two people forming a team, taking turns on duty here to prevent outsiders from barging in."

Sokov wanted to tell the other party that there were troops guarding the gate of the villa and it would not be easy for dangerous people to enter the villa area. But considering that the other party had good intentions, he chose to acquiesce.

After the duty room was repaired, Vaseligov immediately arranged two soldiers to go in for duty. Even so, he still felt that it was not enough and planned to send two soldiers to patrol the yard, but was stopped by Sokov: "Comrade Major, I think it is enough to send two soldiers at the door. After all, the yard is only this big. The soldiers sitting in the duty room can monitor the entire yard. There is no need to send people to patrol the yard."

A week after he moved in, Sokov suddenly received a telegram from the Far East.

The telegram was from Lukin, who said that he had been separated from Sokov for such a long time and missed him very much, and hoped that he could bring Asia to visit Siberia.

After reading the telegram, Sokov asked for Asiya's opinion: "Asiya, Lukin sent a telegram, hoping that we can visit Siberia."

But Asia shook her head and said, "Misha, I'm not going. You know, my health has not been very good since the last car accident, and I can't stand such a long journey. If you want to see Lieutenant General Lukin, go by yourself. For your safety, take Major Vaseligov with you."

"Okay." Seeing that Asia was unwilling to go to Siberia, Sokov did not force her, but said to her: "Then you should have a good rest at home. I will be away for a while."

"Misha, even though you don't have a formal job now, you can't just leave." Asia reminded Sokov: "Even if you want to go to Siberia, you need to inform Marshal Zhukov so that he knows what's going on."

Sokov has always wanted to go to the Siberian prisoner-of-war camp. This has become an obsession for him. Now that he has such an opportunity, he naturally does not want to give it up.

During the August Storm, the Soviet army captured more than 600,000 Kwantung Army prisoners of war. After being detained and screened for a short period of time in Northeast China, they were sent in batches to thousands of prisoner-of-war camps in the Far East and Siberia to serve hard labor.

Due to the lack of railway and road transportation at that time, many prisoners of war experienced a mixed transportation of crossing mountains and rivers on foot and by road and rail. According to the Soviet army's requirements, the Kwantung Army prisoners of war who left the northeast of Longguo on foot must maintain a neat marching formation, and "those who fall behind will be shot on the spot." During the long and difficult march, many prisoners of war died on the way, including the elderly and weak, and some were shot by the Soviet army for falling behind.

When sending Kwantung Army prisoners of war to Siberia, the Soviet army deliberately deceived them by saying that they would be transported back to Japan via the Siberian Railway in order to confuse the prisoners of war. The prisoners of war believed it without a doubt. Even when the prisoner train traveled for several days and arrived at a "vast ocean", many Japanese prisoners of war from the Kwantung Army thought they had reached the coast of the Sea of ​​Japan and were about to arrive in a foreign country. It was not until they took water to cook that they found that the "sea water" here was actually fresh water, and then they realized that they had reached the depths of Siberia - Lake Baikal.

It had been several months since the prisoners of war were sent to Siberia, and they had just gone through a severe winter. Sokov was very curious about how many Kwantung Army prisoners of war had become fertilizer for potatoes. If the number was not enough, he could make another batch of fertilizer in the prisoner-of-war camp managed by Lukin. Sokov took the telegram and drove to Zhukov's office.

Zhukov saw Sokov suddenly come to his house, guessing what might have happened, and asked quickly: "Misha, what do you want to talk to me about?"

"Comrade Marshal, I'm here to ask for leave."

"Leave? What leave?" Zhukov asked in confusion. "You don't have a formal position now. Whether you stay at home every day or travel all over the world, you don't need to ask me for leave."

"Comrade Marshal, it is like this. I received a telegram from Lieutenant General Lukin, hoping that I would visit Siberia at an appropriate time." Sokov was worried that Zhukov would not agree to his going to Siberia, and he emphasized: "You also know that Lieutenant General Lukin once served as my deputy commander, and we forged a deep friendship during the war..."

"Alright, alright, stop talking." Zhukov interrupted Sokov before he finished. "I know your friendship with Lieutenant General Lukin very well. You don't have to repeat it to me. So you want to go to Siberia to visit your old friend Lukin?"

"Yes, Comrade Marshal, that is what I think."

"Who are you going with?"

"I wanted to take Asia with me, but she said she was not in good health and could not go to Siberia with me." Sokov replied, "So I plan to take Vaseligov and two other soldiers to Siberia to visit Lukin."

"I think it's okay. After all, Lieutenant General Lukin is your old comrade." Zhukov asked sensibly, "When do you plan to leave?"

Sokov thought that after meeting Lukin in Siberia, he would rush back to participate in the live-fire military exercises on the eve of May Day. Of course, he hoped to leave as early as possible: "I want to leave Moscow as soon as possible."

After listening to him, Zhukov opened the drawer and took out a train schedule. After looking at it for a while, he looked up and said to Sokov, "Misha, there is a train to Siberia at 8 o'clock tonight. If you have no objection, I will arrange for you to take this train to Siberia."

"Okay, let's take this train."

That night, Sokov took Vaseligov and two other soldiers on a train to Siberia.

Thanks to Marshal Zhukov's care, the four of them were given two boxes, with Sokov and Vaseligov staying in one box and the other two soldiers staying in another. Although there would be no danger on the way from here to the Far East, the three guards, including Vaseligov, were all carrying assault rifles and two basic ammunition. With such equipment, Sokov thought that even if he encountered the attack in Poland, it would be enough to hold out until the reinforcements arrived.

As the train slowly left the station and headed towards Siberia, Vaseligov, who was sitting opposite Sokov, said, "Comrade General, I have heard stories about Lieutenant General Lukin. I heard that if he had not been wounded and captured in the Battle of Vyazma, he might have become a marshal."

"Major, you are right." Sokov was worried that Vaseligov would look down on Lukin, a disabled person, so he gave him a shot in advance: "In the early days of the Great Patriotic War, our army was defeated in Ukraine. Fortunately, a unit commanded by Lieutenant General Lukin stubbornly blocked the German offensive in the Shepetovka area, allowing the troops of the Southwestern Front in Ukraine to retreat in an orderly manner to the Vinnitsa and Uman areas and build a new line of defense there.

Later, his troops were transferred to Smolensk. The situation was extremely critical at that time. The German army had occupied the south of the city and concentrated its superior forces to attack the north of the city. If it had been another commander, the city might have been lost. But under the command of Lieutenant General Lukin, the troops of the 16th Army stubbornly resisted the German attack here and even drove the enemy out of the city several times..."

When Sokov described Lukin's past glorious achievements, Vaseligov listened quietly. Only when Sokov finished his story would he take the time to ask some detailed questions. In this way, the two of them talked until midnight.

Vaserigov looked at the time, then said to Sokov, "Comrade General, it's getting late. You should go to bed early. Don't worry about your safety. We will keep you safe."

Sokov trusted Vaserigov's words very much. After all, this route was the safest rear area even during the Great Patriotic War. Now that the war in Europe has ended for almost a year, there will be no danger along the way. So Sokov lay down on the berth with confidence, covered himself with a blanket, and began to sleep soundly.

I don't know how much time had passed, but when Sokov opened his eyes, it was already bright outside.

He sat up straight and saw that there was a hot breakfast on the small coffee table by the window.

When Vaserigov saw Sokov wake up, he said quickly, "Comrade General, you are awake. Here is the breakfast I prepared for you. Please enjoy it."

"What about you?" Sokov asked politely, "How about eating together?"

"No, no." Vaserigov waved his hand and said, "I've already eaten. Enjoy your meal. Bon appetite!"

"Where are we?" Sokov asked incoherently while eating.

"I asked the conductor when I got my breakfast," Vaseligov replied, "In ten minutes, we will enter Nizhny Novgorod. The train will stop there for about an hour to add coal and water."

"Our destination is Yakutsk," Sokov said. "It's almost 5,000 kilometers away from Moscow. At the speed of the train, it will take us at least five days to get there."

"Yes, Comrade General, if everything goes smoothly, we should be able to reach the destination in five days." Vaserigov said hesitantly, "But if the road is blocked by heavy snow, it will probably take some time, so your schedule will inevitably be a bit tight."

"I plan to return to Moscow in a month." Sokov asked Vaseligov in surprise: "What do you mean by too tight a schedule?"

"Comrade General, I heard that we will hold a large-scale military exercise in Europe in late April." Vaseligov replied: "According to my speculation, you will definitely participate in such a large-scale military exercise. If you want to participate, you must return to Moscow in early April and then go to Europe to meet with the commanders of the troops you are about to command and increase mutual understanding."

Sokov laughed when he heard what Vaserigov said. "Major, you really know a lot. If you really want to go to Europe in early April as you said, then the time is indeed a bit too tight. But it doesn't matter. If Marshal Zhukov really wants me to participate in the exercise, he will send a plane to pick me up if he sees that I don't return to Moscow. It's much faster to return to Moscow by plane than by train."

(End of this chapter)