red moscow

Chapter 2647

three days later.

Sokov said goodbye to Asia at the station and officially set off for Vienna, the capital of Austria in Europe.

In addition to Seryosha and Vasherigov, the entourage also included two guards who had been to Siberia with him. In order to prevent possible dangers on the way, the four of them were equipped with assault rifles. Sokov also wanted to bring an assault rifle, but was rejected by Vasherigov.

The officer in charge of protecting Sokov said confidently: "Comrade General, we are the guards protecting your safety. Even if there is danger, we will deal with it. How can we let you take risks?"

Seryosha also agreed, "Misha, Comrade Major is right. You are now a senior commander. Even if you encounter danger on the way, it should be the guards around you who should charge into battle. How can we let you risk your life? I think you should not carry a gun and just accept our protection."

Since Seryosha and Vaseligov reached the same opinion, Sokov could not refute it and could only accept it.

As the train left the station and headed for the far west, Seryosha said, "Misha, we're going to be on the train for several days. Can you tell us something interesting?"

"Interesting things?" Sokov began to think about what interesting things he could tell Seryosha and Vaserigov. After thinking for a while, he asked tentatively, "Do you want to hear stories about Vienna?"

"A story about Vienna?" Sokov's words aroused Seryosha's interest: "Misha, tell me quickly."

Sokov waited for Vaseligov, who was standing at the door, to come and sit down next to Seryosha before he spoke: "Let me talk about the relationship between Vienna and the mustache."

"In 1907, the 18-year-old mustache came to Vienna. He had only been to school for a few years, and his academic performance was terrible, so his chances of advancement through academic studies were slim. But with the little painting skills he had learned as a child, he thought that perhaps becoming an artist would lead to a successful life.

In 1907 and 1908, he took the entrance exam for the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts for two consecutive years, but was never admitted.

He was always upset about not being admitted to the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, and even wrote in his book "My Struggle" that the world must have suffered a great loss if the Academy of Fine Arts did not admit him.

Later history proved that he was right.

The art professors in Vienna never imagined that if they had admitted the little mustache, there might be one more madman in the art circle full of madmen, and the world would have one less warmongerer, thus avoiding a huge disaster. You know, the Second World War provoked by the little mustache led to the innocent massacre of 600 million Jews and the death of more than 4000 million people on the battlefield. This was the craziest war in human history.

Seryosha and Vaseligov obviously knew very little about the history of the mustache. After listening to Sokov's story, both of them showed shock on their faces.

Seryosha took advantage of the moment when Sokov was talking to ask tentatively: "Misha, how did that little mustache guy become the head of Germany?"

"Although he failed the entrance exam to the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, the little mustache still persisted in his dream and was unwilling to leave Vienna. He lived in a basement and even ended up in a shelter. In order to continue to survive in Vienna, he painted a lot of still lifes and buildings and sold them to tourists to earn a meager income. From time to time, he went to bars and cafes frequented by literati painters, hoping that a mentor would appear. But this opportunity never came.

In early 1913, Little Mustache made the first correct decision in his life: to immigrate to Germany.

And so he left Vienna and went to Munich.

When the First World War broke out in 1914, the mustache threw away his brush and signed up for the Bavarian Army, becoming a soldier in the 16th Regiment of the Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment. His unit fought against the British and French forces on the Western Front and participated in the First Battle of Ypres, the Battle of the Somme, the Battle of Arras, and the Battle of Bastion.

In 1917, he was promoted from a messenger to a corporal, and was awarded a "First Class Iron Cross Medal" and a "Second Class Iron Cross Medal" for his bravery in combat.

During the Battle of the Somme in 1916, he was wounded in the thigh by a shell and returned to the battlefield on March 1917, 3. On October 1, 1918, near the village of Wilwick, the mustache was temporarily blinded by a mustard gas attack. During his recovery, Germany surrendered to the Allies.

After being baptized by the smoke of war, he completely gave up his dream of using art to transform humanity and gradually evolved into a war maniac.

"Comrade General," Vaseligov asked tentatively, "Is the little mustache's painting skills very poor? Otherwise, he would not have been rejected by the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts for two consecutive years."

"After seeing the paintings of Xiao Huzi, Michael Liversidge, the honorary dean of the School of Art at the University of Bristol, expressed his opinion: Even from the perspective of the 1920s, his painting skills are too conservative. The paintings are typical works of art candidates. When using pencils and pens, he is very uncertain. He is not clear about the position of the perspective point and often makes some basic mistakes. It is reasonable that such candidates were not admitted to the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts."

Seryosha said thoughtfully: "What if, I say what if. If the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts had admitted the little mustache, this damn war might not have started, and we would not have lost so many relatives and friends."

"I hope there won't be another war like this." Vaseligov also added: "Although I have never been to the battlefield, I have many friends who have come back from the battlefield. Although the war is over, they all suffered from stress disorders after retiring."

  Hearing what Vaseligov said, Sokov was stunned. He thought to himself, isn't stress disorder a name that was coined in later generations? How come it appeared in this era?

Seryosha asked in confusion: "Major, what is a stress disorder?"

"For example, whenever someone calls your name, you shout it out loud," Vaserigov explained to Seryosha. "When someone taps you on the back, you throw yourself over the shoulder. Or you dig traps around your home to prevent sneak attacks, and even wake up at the slightest noise in the middle of the night."

"The major is right." Sokov waited for Vaseligov to finish speaking, then nodded and agreed: "For officers and soldiers with this disease, even if they are discharged from the army, it will take several years to barely overcome the disease."

As the three of them chatted, lunch time soon arrived.

"Comrade General," Vaseligov asked Sokov, "would you like to eat in the dining car or have it brought here?"

"Let's go to the dining car," Sokov said to the two. "It will take several days for the train to reach its destination. It would be too boring to stay in this compartment all day. We should go out and walk around more if we have the chance."

In this way, the three of them came to the dining car. As soon as they sat down, a female conductor came over and asked politely: "Comrade General, what do you need?"

Sokov took the menu from the female conductor, ordered two dishes at random, and then handed the menu to Seryosha and Vaseligov who were sitting opposite him: "Take a look, what do you two want to order?"

Seryosha did not take the menu, but said casually: "I want the same thing as him."

Vaserigov took the menu, looked at it, ordered two dishes he liked, and said to the female conductor: "Let's order this much first. If it's not enough, we can order more."

Perhaps because there were not many people in the dining car at the moment, the female conductor quickly brought the meals to the three people.

She placed the food on the tray on the table in front of the three people and said, "Bon appetit!" Then she took the tray and left.

While Sokov and the others were eating, they suddenly heard someone calling them: "Misha, Misha!"

Hearing this familiar voice, Sokov's heartbeat suddenly quickened. He never expected to meet her here.

"Misha," Seryosha, who was sitting opposite Sokov, turned his head to look in the direction of the voice. After seeing who it was, he was shocked. He turned around and said to Sokov who was eating, "It's your ex-girlfriend Kopalova!"

Sokov only knew that there seemed to be some story between the original owner of the body and Kopalova, but since he did not inherit the other's memory, he could not know the answer he wanted to know. But at this moment, when he heard Seryosha say this, hope surged in his heart. Since Seryosha knew that Kopalova was Sokov's ex-girlfriend, then he must know a lot of things. He must find a chance to ask him secretly someday.

Sokov raised his head, pretending to be surprised, and said to Kopalova who was walking in front of him: "It's you, Kopalova! I didn't expect to meet you here. Where are you going?"

"Where else can I go? Of course I'd go to Vienna. Our newspaper has received an interview assignment to go to Vienna to cover the upcoming large-scale military operation, and I'm also a member of the interview team." After Kopalova briefly explained where she was going, she asked, "Misha, where are you going?"

"Kopalova, what a coincidence! I'm also going to Vienna." Sokov laughed dryly. "I never thought we would go to the same place."

"Yes, what a coincidence." After Kopalova sat down next to Sokov, she continued, "Maybe the commander of the army we are going to interview is someone you know."

"Which unit commander are you going to interview?" After asking this question, Sokov suddenly thought of Kopalova's interview, which might involve confidential information, and quickly added: "If it involves confidential information and it is inconvenient to say, don't tell me."

"It's not a secret, so it's okay to tell you." Kopalova said openly, "The first unit we are going to interview is the 4th Guards Army. It is said that in the upcoming military operation, the superiors have equipped this unit with a strong commander. As for who he is, we won't know until we arrive in Vienna."

Seryosha originally wanted to tell Kopalova that Sokov was the new commander of the 4th Guards Army, but when the words were on the tip of his tongue, he found out that his superiors were keeping the appointment of the new commander secret from the interview team, so he swallowed his words back and did not tell Kopalova about Sokov's new identity.

"Kopalova, have you had lunch?" In order to avoid exposing his identity, Sokov changed the subject in time: "If you haven't had lunch, how about eating with us?"

"Okay, okay!" Kopalova nodded and said, "I came to the dining car to have lunch. I thought I would be alone, but I didn't expect to meet you. Then I will eat with you. Conductor!" She raised her hand and waved to the female conductor on the other side, "Please come over."

The female conductor came to Kopalova, handed her the menu, and asked politely: "Comrade, what would you like to eat?"

Kopalova looked through the menu and selected a few dishes she liked. When she handed the menu back to the conductor, she emphasized: "I will pay for it together with the general's lunch."

The female conductor stood still and looked at Sokov, wanting to confirm whether he was willing to pay the bill with Kopalova.

"Conductor," Sokov looked up at the conductor and said, "This girl is my friend. Her expenses will be charged to me later."

After receiving Sokov's reply, the conductor nodded and left with the menu.

"Misha, which box do you live in?" Kopalova asked curiously, "I'll come to see you later."

After Sokov told the box he was in, he asked, "Where is your box?"

Kopalova pointed in the direction she came from, pouted and said with grievance: "I live in a four-person room. I don't know how the logistics department made me live in the same room with three strangers. What's even more outrageous is that I am the only woman, and the rest are men."

Sokov couldn't help but raise his eyebrows when he heard what Kopalova said: "You, a girl, are squeezed into a box with three grown men and will spend almost a week together. Doesn't your leader worry that something will happen to you?"

"That's right." Kopalova complained to Sokov: "I went to the team leader to report it, hoping that he could help me change the box, but he refused."

"Why should I refuse you?" Seryosha interrupted.

"He said that the rooms for each interview team member were arranged by the newspaper leaders, and he had no right to change them." Kopalova grabbed Sokov's arm, shook it hard twice, and said while twisting her body: "Misha, do you think he is going too far?"

"Excessive, of course." Sokov said this not to perfunctorily answer Kopalova, but because he was worried about her. It would be a lie to say that he was not worried about something happening to a beautiful young girl like Kopalova, who had to share a box with three strange men after such a long journey. He thought about it and asked tentatively, "How about you move to my box. Although it is also a box for four people, your box is more spacious. More importantly, we are all acquaintances, so you don't have to worry about your personal safety being harmed?"

"Okay, okay." Kopalova had obviously been waiting for Sokov to say this, and said hurriedly, "After lunch, I'll move the luggage to your box."

"Kopalova," Seryosha volunteered when he saw that Kopalova was going to move in with Sokov, "Take me to your box later and I'll help you move all your luggage over."