red moscow

Chapter 2684

After get off work, Anna told Sokov that she had something to do tonight and needed to go back to the house she and Lena rented, so she would not go to Sokov's house.

Since Anna was not going home, Sokov naturally wished for it, so that he could have more time to chat with Lida.

When Sokov used his key to open the door of Victoria's house, he found no one in the living room. It seemed that Victoria had not yet gotten off work, so he went straight to Lida's bedroom.

When I walked into the bedroom, I saw Lida sitting on the recliner by the window, staring out the window in a daze.

Hearing the noise behind her, Lida slowly turned her head and wanted to say something, but unexpectedly found that it was Sokov. Her cloudy eyes suddenly became clear and she said in surprise: "Misha, it's you!"

"Yes, Lida." Sokov came to Lida, sat down on a chair next to her, and said with a smile: "I came to see you."

"Is Vika outside?" Lida looked at the door and said in a reproachful tone, "Why didn't you give you a cup of tea when there were guests at home?"

"Vika is not at home." Sokov took out the key and explained to Lida: "But she gave me a key and asked me to accompany you when I have time."

The two chatted for a while, and Lida suddenly looked out the window and asked, "Misha, what do you see flying outside the window? Recently, I keep seeing something that looks like a bird flying outside the window, but it's not a bird. I really don't know what it is."

Sokov looked out the window and saw a small four-rotor drone. He smiled and said, "Lida, it's a drone."

"An airplane, with no one on board?" Lida asked in surprise, "How did such a small airplane fly?"

Sokov knew very well that since the past two years, some drones have been seen hovering in the sky in Moscow, all of which were released by drone enthusiasts. Lida is old and in poor health. She basically does not go out and has no contact with the outside world. It is reasonable that she does not know about drones.

"Didn't Vika tell you what this is?"

"No." Lida shook her head and said, "Vika is a police officer. She is very busy at work and has little time to get off work on time. By the time she gets home, it is usually dark and you can't see this kind of thing in the sky. Even if I want to ask, I don't know what to say."

"A drone is actually similar to the model airplanes that were popular in the past." Sokov tried his best to introduce this new thing to Lida in a language that she could understand: "The operator issues control commands through the remote control to control the drone's takeoff, landing, flight trajectory, etc. The main function of a drone is to take aerial photos or videos in the air."

Hearing what Sokov said, Lida showed a surprised expression on her face: "Misha, according to what you said, if our army had this kind of drone during the Great Patriotic War, we would not have to send scouts deep behind enemy lines to understand the enemy's troop deployment and equipment. Am I correct in understanding?"

"Yes." Sokov nodded and said, "In addition to reconnaissance, they can even carry weapons and attack hostile targets on the ground. For example, in the tank decisive battle in the Battle of Kursk, we didn't need to send tanks to fight. We only needed drones carrying bombs to carry out ground attacks to destroy the German steel torrent."

Lida had a puzzled expression on her face: "This drone flies so slowly, will it be shot down by the German machine guns?"

"There are many types of drones. In addition to this quadcopter, there are also fixed-wing drones, which look like ordinary airplanes and can carry up to dozens of kilograms of bombs to attack ground targets." Sokov said with emotion: "If drones are used on the battlefield, they may change the traditional combat mode."

Lida looked at Sokov and asked in confusion: "How to change?"

"Do you remember the Gulf War in the early 1990s?" Seeing Lida nod to show that she knew about it, Sokov continued, "Iraq, which had just ended an eight-year war, sent its most elite combat troops to the battlefield. If it were during World War II, the attacking multinational forces would not only take a long time to break through the defense of Iraq's million-strong army, but also pay a huge price in terms of sacrifice."

"Yes, that's true." Lida nodded and said, "During the Great Patriotic War, let alone the area defended by a million German troops, even if a few hundred thousand troops were stationed in an area, if you wanted to break through, you had to mobilize millions of troops."

"But the outcome of the Gulf War was far beyond everyone's expectations. In just over a month, the Iraqi army suffered more than 100,000 casualties, while the multinational forces only suffered a thousand casualties. They won the war at a very small cost." Sokov continued, "If drones were really put into actual combat, the Russian army would probably suffer a great loss given its strength."

Lida raised her eyebrows and asked in confusion: "Misha, why?"

"During the Great Patriotic War, our senior commanders, such as Marshal Rokossovsky and General Chuikov, all liked to set up their headquarters about 300 meters away from the front line, under the pretext that they could understand the situation at the front line in a timely manner and better command the troops in combat. But if there were drones, the enemy would be able to quickly find our headquarters, and then use drones carrying bombs to accurately attack, thereby paralyzing the troops' command system."

As an experienced veteran soldier, Lida knew little about drones, but after listening to Sokov's story, she felt that what he said made sense. As long as the enemy could find the location of their headquarters through drones, they could carry out precise strikes and thus paralyze their command system.

"What do you think is the way to prevent the enemy's drones from directly attacking our headquarters?"

"I have no way." Sokov answered simply: "Not to mention me, I am afraid that when the war breaks out, no matter how capable the commander is, he will not be able to eliminate the threat of enemy drones to his side."

"According to what you said, in future wars, whoever has more drones will be able to take the initiative on the battlefield."

"Well, that should be the case." Sokov didn't want to continue chatting with Lida in an area he was not familiar with, so he quickly changed the subject: "Lida, tell me about Marshal Zhukov's situation in 1946, and how you were retired early."

Hearing Sokov's question, Lida fell silent, looking out the window without saying a word.

Sokov waited for a long time but didn't hear Lida speak. He thought that she had fallen asleep while chatting again. When he got closer, he saw her turn her head and look at him.

"Misha, there was a plan for a live-fire exercise back then." Lida looked at Sokov and said, "Who knew that it was urgently stopped three days before the exercise was to begin. The anti-aircraft artillery regiment I commanded had already entered the strike position, but after receiving the order, it withdrew to its original station in the shortest possible time."

When Sokov heard this, he realized that the grand exercise that year had not been held. No wonder there was no relevant information in historical books.

Lida continued, "After the exercise was suspended, we were counting our equipment at the base when several people from the Ministry of Internal Affairs suddenly came and said they wanted to talk to me alone. I didn't know what was going on, so I followed them to the office." "What was the content of the conversation?" Sokov asked anxiously.

"It was about some issues concerning Marshal Zhukov," Lida tried hard to recall what happened at the time. "They showed me an investigation report and asked me to express my opinion on its authenticity. I took a look and found that it was all about Marshal Zhukov. The general idea was that he was greedy for credit and took all the credit that belonged to the Supreme Commander himself."

"Then how did you answer?"

"I told them that I was just the head of a small anti-aircraft artillery regiment and that I didn't know much about my superiors' affairs, and I refused to sign the investigation report." Lida continued, "When those people saw that I refused to sign the document, they were furious, but they couldn't do anything to me. The day after they left, I received a notice from my superiors that I was scheduled to retire early."

"Lida, does Marshal Zhukov know about this?"

"I don't think they know." Lida shook her head and said, "I later heard from some friends that they were also interviewed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the main content was related to Marshal Zhukov. Anyone who signed the report continued to stay in the army; those who refused to sign were arranged to retire."

When Sokov heard this, he guessed that someone must have wanted to lower Zhukov's prestige in the army, so he resorted to such a shameful trick. But in the end, Zhukov was only demoted, and a few years later, he made a comeback.

"Misha, I want to go out for a walk." Lida looked at Sokov and said, "I feel like my body is getting moldy from staying in the house every day."

“Do you have a wheelchair at home?”

"No." Lida shook her head and said, "I'm just old and my legs and feet are a little inconvenient, but I'm not paralyzed. Why do I need a wheelchair?"

"Lida, I'll buy you a wheelchair someday and use it to push you outside for a walk. It will be very helpful for your health."

"Okay then. I'll wait for your wheelchair."

Sokov left Victoria's house and returned to his own home. He turned on his computer and searched the website for product information from major shopping malls to see where they sold wheelchairs.

After searching for a long time, he finally found a wheelchair in a shopping mall. But the mall was a bit far from here, and it didn't provide door-to-door delivery. Sokov thought about it and decided to wait until tomorrow after get off work to buy a wheelchair.

The next morning, when he arrived at the market, a colleague who had opened his shop early called out to Sokov as he passed by his shop: "Xiao Lin, Xiao Lin!"

Hearing the other person calling him, Sokov stopped and asked politely, "What's the matter?"

"I have good news for you. Most of the gang members have been arrested by the police." My colleague said excitedly, "Even Wang Juntao was arrested last night in a joint operation between the Immigration Bureau and the police..."

"Wait a minute," Sokov interrupted him, "You mean this is a joint operation between the police and the Immigration Bureau?"

"Yes, it's a joint operation between these two units."

Sokov frowned and said in confusion: "The police and the Immigration Bureau jointly took action just to catch Wang Juntao. Isn't that a bit of an exaggeration?"

"You misunderstood." The colleague explained, "The joint operation of the police and the immigration bureau was not to arrest Wang Juntao, but to shut down the apartment run by Wang Juntao. The hundreds of people living in the apartment were taken to the police station together. After the identity verification, those with complete documents will be released, while those with problems with documents may be deported."

"Wang Juntao should be fine," Sokov said nonchalantly, "After all, he has been in Moscow for such a long time."

"It is said that he was once a robber involved in a major international robbery, but he was lucky enough to escape the joint crackdown by my country and Russia." The colleague continued, "After the Russian police found out his true identity, they notified the Chinese police and are preparing to extradite him back to China. As long as this scourge is gone, we will have peace here."

Sokov knew very well that even if Wang Juntao, who had done so many evil things, was extradited back to China, it would only bring a short period of peace. It would not be long before someone else would take his place and continue to do evil and harm those Chinese businessmen. However, seeing the enthusiasm of his colleagues, Sokov did not want to pour cold water on them, so he put on a smile and said, "Yes, yes, you are right. This is the law of justice. After taking this evil away, we will be safe."

Sokov chatted for a while, went over to open the store door, and while he was sorting things out, he received a call from Victoria.

"Vika!" Sokov saw that it was Victoria calling, and was worried that something had happened to Lida, so he asked nervously, "Did something happen to Lida?"

Hearing Sokov's question, Victoria was silent for a moment, then said: "No, my great-grandmother is fine. I called you for another matter."

"What's the matter?" Although Sokov had already guessed that Victoria's call must be related to the apartment raid, he still asked tentatively: "Is it related to your raid on the apartment building?"

"That's right." Victoria gave Sokov a positive answer: "After our detailed investigation, we found that the big boss behind the apartment was involved in a series of vicious cases more than 20 years ago, so we arrested him and may hand him over to the police in your country."

Sokov felt much more at ease at this moment. After Wang Juntao was extradited back to China, no matter who replaced him, he would probably not harass him. His troubles here should be completely solved.

"That's great, Vika. You've made a great contribution." Sokov said with a smile on the phone, "Maybe in a short time, you'll be awarded a medal, or even promoted to a more important position."

"Misha, speaking of medals, I remembered something." Victoria said, "My great-grandmother won many medals in the Great Patriotic War. But she kept all these medals in her country villa. When you are free, accompany me to the country villa and bring back her medals."

Sokov thought for a moment, then said, "I'm free tomorrow, when do you think it would be a good time to leave?"

"I'll meet you at the market tomorrow morning at ten."