red moscow

Chapter 2943

According to the original plan, after visiting Lukin and Victoria, Sokov and Khabarov would return to the hotel, but since they were going to see Yakov the next day, Sokov changed his mind and took Khabarov to the nearest department store.

Seeing that Sokov wasn't heading back to the hotel, Khabarov quickly asked, "Misha, where are we going?"

“When we came here yesterday, we saw a department store nearby, and I thought I’d try my luck to see if I could buy any drawing tools.”

“Misha, I think we should forget about it.” But Khabarov stopped Sokov: “Although we are going to meet Yakov tomorrow, we don’t necessarily have to give him the complete design drawings of the rocket launcher then. Just showing him a rough sketch will suffice.”

Sokov thought about it and realized that Khabarov made a lot of sense, so he didn't insist on his own opinion. Instead, he nodded and said, "Alright, let's go back to the hotel and draw a sketch. Maybe it will come in handy when we see Yakov tomorrow."

The two quickly returned to the hotel.

As they entered the room, Sokov took out paper and pen from his satchel and handed them to Khabarov: "Anton, you're just drawing a rough sketch, a regular notebook and pencil should be enough, right?"

“Sure.” Khabarov nodded. “You don’t need special drawing paper for sketching; your notebook and pencil are more suitable.”

While Khabarov was sketching the rocket launcher, Sokov sat beside him without disturbing him, watching quietly.

In just over ten minutes, Khabarov had drawn up a sketch of the rocket launcher.

Sokov picked up the completed sketch and examined it carefully, casually asking, "Anton, is this an RPG-7 rocket launcher? What kind of ammunition do you plan to use?"

"The RPG-7 rocket launcher uses a variety of ammunition types, mainly including conventional armor-piercing rounds, tandem armor-piercing rounds with tandem warheads, and high-explosive fragmentation rounds," Khabarov replied. "The armor-piercing rounds perform excellently in armor-piercing capabilities, easily penetrating 350 to 400 millimeters of rolled homogeneous armor, with a direct-fire range exceeding 400 meters. Furthermore, the addition of high-explosive fragmentation rounds makes this weapon even more effective at killing enemy soldiers, with a kill radius of 15 meters sufficient to cover personnel targets such as infantry."

"Not bad, not bad." Sokov had also introduced rocket launchers in advance during his last time travel, but they were mainly used to deal with German tanks. Now, seeing that Khabarov was about to introduce rocket launchers that not only had the ability to deal with tanks, but could also cause huge casualties to infantry, he couldn't help but nod in approval: "I think if the weapons and equipment department can adopt your blueprints, then the Soviet army's anti-tank capability will be raised to a new level."

Although Khabarov felt that with his two design drawings, getting into the Weapons and Equipment Department shouldn't be too difficult, he still felt uneasy: "Misha, if I really get into the Weapons and Equipment Department, it might not be very convenient for us to meet, right?"

Sokov recalled how, in his previous life, whenever he returned to Moscow, seeing Yakov was simply a matter of a phone call. Therefore, upon hearing Khabarov's concerns, he reassured him, "Anton, don't worry. Once you're in the Armaments Department, I'll have Yakov look after you. If I want to see you while I'm in Moscow, I just need to call Yakov and have him take you to the designated location."

After saying this, Sokov looked down at the sketch in his hand, thinking to himself: In his previous life, these two weapons were released ahead of schedule because of him. Now, Khabarov is the one appearing as the weapon designer. He certainly doesn't understand what a 107mm rocket launcher is. Therefore, this guerrilla weapon probably won't be able to appear on the Soviet-German battlefield.

Seeing Sokov staring blankly at his sketch, Khabarov couldn't help but ask, "Misha, besides the AK47 and RPG rocket launcher, what other weapons do you think should be introduced ahead of schedule?"

“If you can get into the weapons and equipment department, you’ll be a weapons designer,” Sokov said. “Any weapon that’s suitable for this era can be brought to market ahead of schedule.”

Can you give me an example?

"Now that you have assault rifles and rocket launchers, shouldn't you consider a series of machine guns next?" Sokov reminded him, "The Soviet Army currently uses the Degtyarev light machine gun with a large rotary dial on the receiver. Could you consider developing a general-purpose machine gun to replace it?"

Sokov's words caught Khabarov's eye: "Misha, when it comes to light machine guns, the most representative one is the PKM light machine gun. This general-purpose machine gun, which fires 7.62×54mm R-rimmed cartridges, was created by Kalashnikov in 1969 after he improved his PK machine gun. It is a simple, reliable, durable, and powerful weapon that was widely used in the armies and armed groups of the Soviet Union and its allies. It has also been copied or imported by many other countries and is considered one of the best general-purpose machine guns in the world."

After Khabarov finished speaking, Sokov tentatively asked, "Can you draw up the blueprints for this weapon?"

“No problem.” Khabarov said casually, “You know, I’m a digger and a die-hard military enthusiast. Drawing up the blueprints for these weapons is a piece of cake for me.”

"That's good, that's good." Sokov reminded the other party, "Once you're in the Armaments Department, it's not too late to introduce the PKM general-purpose machine gun after the RPG rocket launcher has been successfully developed and small-batch production has begun. If you 'design' too many weapons in a short period of time, you may certainly gain the favor of your superiors, but it might also cause you unnecessary trouble."

"Since I'm valued by my superiors, what trouble could I possibly cause?" Khabarov said dismissively. "Even if there is trouble, I think my superiors will help me resolve it."

“Anton, you don’t understand what I mean. If you gain the favor of your superiors, you will definitely be entrusted with important responsibilities,” Sokov explained. “That means your superiors might arrange for you to participate in some important projects and then send you to work in a secluded city.”

Khabarov's expression changed drastically upon hearing this. He knew of some cities that weren't marked on maps, weren't publicly disclosed, were heavily guarded, and had their own special code names. Their official name was "Secret Administrative Region," or "Closed Cities." The reason for this secrecy was that these cities had once been secret military research centers where scientists conducted important military or scientific missions, requiring a high degree of secrecy. If one entered these cities, with good luck, one could stay for ten or twenty years and have a chance to leave; with bad luck, one might be stuck there for life.

“Misha,” Khabarov wiped the sweat from his brow and asked Sokov tremblingly, “What can I do to gain the attention of my superiors without being sent to these closed-off cities?”

“As I just said, I want you to introduce a new weapon every now and then to gain the approval of your superiors,” Sokov patiently explained to Khabarov. “But the interval can’t be too short. Introducing a new weapon every six months or ten months is fine.”

"Hmm, I understand." Khabarov said thoughtfully, "If Yakov agrees to let me join the Armaments Department during tomorrow's meeting, then I'll have two newly 'developed' weapons in my hands. To launch new weapons, it's best to wait until May or June next year. Am I right?"

"Yes, that's exactly what I mean."

……

The next morning, Sokov was awakened from his sleep by a series of urgent knocks on the door.

Sokov rolled out of bed, put on a pullover, slipped on his slippers, walked to the door, and opened it.

A female soldier standing at the door saw Sokov appear and saluted, saying politely, "Lieutenant Colonel, your phone is downstairs."

Sokov didn't know who was calling and, worried about making things worse, quickly closed the door and followed the female soldier downstairs to answer the phone. After picking up the receiver, Sokov heard Yakov's voice on the other end: "Hello, is this Misha? This is Yakov!"

"Oh, it's Yasha." Sokov's mood improved considerably after realizing it was Yakov calling. Knowing Yakov as he did, he figured a call so early meant they needed to discuss the time and place of their meeting. So he cut to the chase and asked directly, "You're calling so early to tell me the time and place of our meeting today, right?"

“That’s right.” Yakov first confirmed Sokov’s statement, then continued, “I originally wanted to meet you at the café in Pushkin Square, but I received a notice last night that the area is under curfew starting today, and you can’t enter that area without a special pass. Therefore, I’ve decided to meet you at another location.”

"Where would you like to meet?"

“How about Mayakovsky Square?” Yakov said. “From your hotel, take the metro to Mayakovsky Square station. After getting off, exit the station from the front of the train. Walk two hundred meters east, and you’ll see a row of two-story stone buildings. There’s a café there. We’ll meet there at ten o’clock in the morning.”

"Okay, I understand. See you then."

Sokov hung up the phone, thanked the female soldier who had notified him to come and answer the call, and then went back upstairs to the second floor.

As soon as he entered the room, Khabarov rushed over and asked anxiously, "Misha, who called?"

“Who else could it be but Yakov?” Sokov said. “He asked us to meet at ten o’clock in the morning at the café next to Mayakovsky Square.”

"What, to the café in Mayakovsky Square?" Khabarov grew up in Moscow and naturally knew the city well. Hearing Sokov say this, he frowned. "From where we are, shouldn't the closest place be Pushkin Square? Why would they invite us to such a far place?"

"Yasa said on the phone that Pushkin Square is under martial law starting today," Sokov said with a sigh. "Therefore, the meeting place has to be changed to Mayakovsky Square. Since you're already up, hurry up and wash up, have breakfast, and then we'll leave."

"It's not even eight o'clock yet. Isn't it a bit too early to leave after breakfast?"

"Anton, it's wartime now, and the traffic in the city isn't as smooth as it was before the war. Let's set off early so we don't get late."

So the two of them quickly washed up, got dressed, and went downstairs to the restaurant for breakfast.

After the two finished breakfast and arrived at the subway station, Khabarov realized how right Sokov's decision had been.

The subway platform was packed with people. A train arrived and came to a smooth stop. As soon as the doors opened, the waiting crowd surged in. The carriages were quickly crammed together like sardine cans, yet many continued to push their way in. Only when the departure bell rang did people stop their frantic efforts, retreating to the platform to wait for the next train.

“Misha,” Khabarov leaned closer to Sokov and asked in a low voice, “You’ve been in Moscow for so many years, have you ever seen anything this crowded?”

"I've seen it."

"You've seen him before?" Khabarov asked, somewhat surprised. "When did you see him?"

"You probably didn't take the subway near Victory Square on Victory Day, did you?"

“No,” Khabarov shook his head and said, “Every time I go to Victory Square on Victory Day, I have to wait until the party is over, then have a few drinks with other people in the square. By the time I get home, it’s already past midnight, and the subway has stopped running. We always take a taxi home.”

“No wonder,” Sokov explained to him. “I went to Victory Square twice, leaving around five or six in the afternoon both times. It turned out the Victory Square metro station only allowed exits, not entry. To take the metro, you had to take a bus to the Kyiv metro station, more than a dozen stops away. Once inside, I found it packed with people; I had to exert tremendous effort to squeeze to the edge of the platform. It was pretty much the same situation as now.”

Seven or eight subway trains came before Sokov and Khabarov finally managed to squeeze into the carriage. Even after waiting for so long, the carriage was still packed. As soon as they entered, they were pushed into a corner by countless passengers who followed them in, leaving them unable to move.

Sokov smiled wryly at Khabarov and said, "Anton, remember to squeeze towards the door one stop before we reach our destination, otherwise we might miss our stop."

"Don't worry, Misha," Khabarov nodded and said, "I'll find a way to squeeze to the door before we get there."

Shortly after the subway train left the station, an elderly woman walked unsteadily toward the police station not far away.

The police officer standing at the door of the duty room saw an elderly woman approaching and quickly asked politely, "Grandma, how can I help you?"

"Officer," the old woman said to the officer, her expression somewhat flustered, "I think I just saw two German agents infiltrating the city."

Upon hearing the old woman's words, the police officer immediately became alert. He quickly looked around, wondering whether he should call for backup, while asking, "Grandma, where are those two people you mentioned?"

"They left on that same subway train."

The police officer frowned and said with displeasure, "The person has already left, and you're only now coming to report this? Don't you think it's too late?"

"There's nothing I can do," the old woman said with a bitter face. "There are too many people in the station, and I can't squeeze through at all. As soon as the crowd thinned out a bit, I came over to report to you."

Although the two German agents the elderly woman suspected had already left by subway, the police officer felt he should question her to learn about their physical appearance so he could report to his superiors. He quickly opened the door to the duty room and greeted the woman, "Madam, please come to my duty room. I have a few questions to ask you."

(End of this chapter)