Red Moscow

 Early the next morning, Sokov and Yakov left the Imperial Hotel in a jeep without alerting the members of the headquarters and went to the train station, where they prepared to take the train back to Moscow. The people accompanying him were Bezikov and the members of the Ministry of Internal Affairs he brought from Moscow.

When the convoy was driving to an intersection, Sokov saw a tram painted in dark green with a gray roof and brown window frames passing by from the side, because he had seen it in historical materials. Regarding the development history of Shenyang trams, I couldn’t help but take a second look.

In 1937, Fengtian Transportation Co., Ltd. built a tram line from Fengtianyi (today's Shenyang Station) to Nanwutiao (today's Nanwuma Road). In 1939, it was extended to Chongde Street (today's Zhongxing Street area). In 1940, there were The tram was extended to Tiexi District. In 1942, a second transportation line was built along Chiyoda Street (now Zhonghua Road), and 30 Type 200 trams were purchased from the Dalian Tram Factory. These trams were in service until November 1974.

“Misha, what are you looking at?” Yakov, who was sitting next to him, saw Sokov looking out the window and couldn’t help but ask.

 “I was looking at the tram that just passed by.”

“What’s so rare about trams?” Yakov said disapprovingly: “Moscow not only has trams like this, but also trolleybuses.”

Sokov said "Oh" casually and changed the subject: "Yasha, did you get in touch with Moscow yesterday?"

Hearing Sokov's question, Yakov nodded and replied: "I called General Antonov to find out if there is any news about disarmament."

“What did Comrade Chief of General Staff say?”

"This is indeed the case." Yakov said: "And the disarmament has started with the troops stationed in Germany. First, some division-level or brigade-level infantry units have been abolished. A large number of school-level officers have transferred back to Moscow and Kiev to wait for their superiors. Reassign local jobs to them.”

Hearing this, Sokov nodded slowly and said: "So that's it. It seems that General Zakharov arranged for us to return to Moscow now for our benefit."

 “I think so.”

When Sokov's motorcade arrived at the train station, Political Commissar Tang and Liu Dongmei took a jeep from the Autonomous Army Garrison Headquarters and arrived at the entrance of the Imperial Hotel.

After political commissar Tang got off the car, he came to the door and said to the officer on duty: "Comrade Captain, I am the political commissar of the Autonomous Army Garrison Headquarters. I have something to see General Sokov!"

After listening to Liu Dongmei’s translation, the officer on duty shook his head and said, “I’m sorry, Comrade Political Commissar, the commander has now been relieved of his duties.”

Political Commissar Tang couldn't help being shocked after hearing this, and quickly asked: "Why?"

“I don’t know. I heard it was an order from the Front Army Headquarters.”

Seeing that he couldn't get what he wanted to know from the officer on duty, Political Commissar Tang was ready to start with other people and quickly asked: "Is your chief of staff here?"

 “I’m sorry, he has also been relieved of his duties.”

Political Commissar Tang was stunned after hearing this. How come such a big change happened after not seeing each other for more than ten hours? The commander and chief of staff of the 53rd Army were dismissed from their posts?

After a while, he regained his composure and asked tentatively to the officer on duty: "Comrade Captain, please tell me, who is in charge now?"

"Lieutenant General Lu Jin, deputy commander of the group army." The officer on duty replied: "The current 53rd Group Army is commanded by him."

“Can you let me go in and see him?”

"Please wait a moment." The officer on duty said reasonably: "I'll make a call."

 A few minutes later, the officer on duty who finished the call said to Political Commissar Tang: "Comrade Political Commissar, our deputy commander invites you to come in. He is now in the commander's original office."

After political commissar Tang thanked the officer on duty, he took Liu Dongmei into the Imperial Hotel and found Lu Jin's new office with familiarity.

"Hello, Comrade Lieutenant General." When political commissar Tang saw Lu Jin, he took the initiative to greet him: "I am here to inform you of the investigation results of yesterday's ambush."

“Comrade Political Commissar, if I guess correctly, this thing should have been done by Kwantung Army prisoners of war, right?”

“Yes, Comrade Lieutenant General, you guessed it right, it was indeed planned and implemented by the Kwantung Army prisoners of war..."

Just when Political Commissar Tang was about to report the investigation results to Lu Jin in detail, he was interrupted by him raising his hand: "Comrade Political Commissar, I just took over the 53rd Army and I am very busy. If you have finished what you said, you can leave now. ”

The purpose of Political Commissar Tang's trip was to inform the Soviet side of the investigation results of yesterday's incident. Seeing that Lu Jin didn't seem enthusiastic about the matter at this moment, it was difficult for him to continue talking. But before leaving, he still asked tentatively: "I heard that General Sokov and Major General Yakov were dismissed from their posts?"

"Yes, the superiors dismissed them from their posts with the intention of using them in other ways." Lu Jin replied coldly.

“Comrade Lieutenant General, can you tell me where they are now?”

Lukin raised his hand and looked at the time, and then said: "They will return to Moscow today. In half an hour, the train they are taking will leave."

 After political commissar Tang thanked Lu Jin, he turned and left the office.

 When he came to the lobby of the hotel, he found a phone and called the garrison headquarters directly.

When he heard Commander Zeng's familiar loud voice coming from the microphone, Political Commissar Tang said bluntly: "Old Zeng, something happened. I just learned that General Sokov was suddenly relieved of his duties and will take the train today. Return to Moscow."

"What, Lao Suo was dismissed from his post?" Commander Zeng asked in surprise: "Do you know the reason?"

"I don't know. I asked Lieutenant General Lu Jin, who is the acting commander, but he was unclear." Political Commissar Tang reminded Commander Zeng: "Old Zeng, General Sokov has provided a lot of help to our army. He will take the train today. When we return to Moscow, should we see him off?" "It goes without saying," Commander Zeng said, "Lao Suo is our friend. If he wants to leave, we have to see him off anyway. When will he set off? ?”

“The train he is taking will leave in half an hour.” Political Commissar Tang said, “If we leave now, we should be able to catch up.”

"What, the train he is taking will leave in half an hour?" Commander Zeng said calmly: "I'm going to the train station now. Old Tang, you also need to be quick and move quickly. We will meet at the train station later."

Although Political Commissar Tang set off after making the phone call, when he arrived at the train station, he found that Commander Zeng had already arrived and was talking loudly and energetically to a Soviet officer at the entrance of the train station. Due to the language barrier between the two parties, the Soviet officer could not understand it at all. He just kept shaking his head and said in Russian: "Sorry, I don't understand."

Political Commissar Tang quickly brought Liu Dongmei forward, and Liu Dongmei translated for both parties. Only then did the officers understand what Commander Zeng wanted to express. He pointed toward the station with his hand and said: "The train that the commander and chief of staff are riding is on platform two and is about to leave. If you move quickly, you can still catch up."

Since the Soviet army took over Shenyang, the train station has canceled the ticket gate. Passengers can go directly to the platform after entering the train station. After giving the ticket to the conductor for verification, they can board the train directly. It is much more convenient than before. Commander Zeng and Political Commissar Tang quickly ran into the station and found the No. 2 platform the officer had mentioned. But unfortunately, they arrived a step too late. The train had already started slowly, causing them to miss the opportunity to say goodbye to Sokov and Yakov.

Looking at the train going away, Political Commissar Tang said regretfully: "Hey, what a pity, we arrived a step too late."

"What the hell, what's going on?" Commander Zeng said angrily: "Lao Suo was fine yesterday, why was he dismissed from his post overnight?"

Political Commissar Tang comforted him and said: "Old Zeng, although I don't know the real reason for General Sokov's dismissal, I heard Lieutenant General Lu Jin say that their superiors asked him to return to Moscow in order to prepare a new appointment for him. Stop worrying about him."

"I hope so." Commander Zeng said regretfully: "It's a pity that we came a little late and couldn't say goodbye to him. I don't know if he would complain about us in his heart."

 At the same time, in the moving train, Sokov and Yakov were chatting in the single room assigned to them.

Yakov said: "Misha, I really didn't expect that when you left Shenyang today, Commander Zeng and Political Commissar Tang didn't come to see you off."

After hearing this, Sokov shook his head and said with a smile: "Yasha, have you forgotten that when we left the headquarters, there was no one to see us off, let alone Commander Zeng and Political Commissar Tang."

But Yakov said unconvinced: "That's because we didn't announce our departure in public, otherwise there would have been a lot of people seeing us off."

"If you think about it, not many people in the headquarters even know that we are leaving, let alone Commander Zeng and Political Commissar Tang." Sokov said with emotion: "I believe that if they knew that we were leaving, they would definitely He rushed to the station to see us off."

“By the way, Misha, when I called General Antonov yesterday, he also told me an important piece of information.”

"what's the message?"

"Our army sent troops to the Far East and captured a total of 600,000 Kwantung Army prisoners." Yakov said: "According to the intention of the Supreme Command, these prisoners will not be sent back to the island country for the time being, but will be sent to Siberia to work to make up for our country's There is insufficient labor. He also hinted to me that if I want to stay in the army, I have two options: one is to go to Germany and serve as the commander of the garrison..."

Before Yakov could finish speaking, Sokov rushed to say: "The second point is to establish a prisoner-of-war camp in Siberia to hold these Kwantung Army prisoners of war, and let you be responsible for taking care of them, right?"

 “That’s right, and that’s not right either.”

Sokov was confused by these words: "Yasha, what do you mean, I didn't understand?"

"Let's put it this way, the two of us are now one." Yakov explained to Sokov: "If you want to serve as the commander of the German occupation forces, then I will serve as your deputy; if you want to go Siberia is in charge of prisoners of war, and I will go there with you."

Sokov did not expect that his superiors would arrange such two places for him. He did not hesitate to choose to go to Siberia to manage the Kwantung Army prisoners of war in the future. In real history, only about 100,000 little devils were buried in Siberia. If you go there yourself, you can at least increase this proportion by more than 50%. After making up his mind, he said to Yakov: "Yasha, if possible, I hope to go to Siberia and manage those prisoners of war."

Unexpectedly, after he finished speaking, Yakov's face showed a disappointed expression: "Misha, I thought you would choose to go to the garrison in Germany, but I didn't expect you would choose Siberia. You know, this However, this bitter cold land was a place where prisoners were exiled during the Tsarist era. My father was arrested by the Tsar seven times, exiled to Siberia six times, and successfully escaped five times. He now suffers from hypertension, atherosclerosis and Rheumatic myalgia and many other diseases were caused by the harsh environment during the exile in Siberia."

“Oh, your father still has such a rich life experience?” This was the first time Sokov heard about this, and he couldn’t help but said with emotion: “This is the first time I heard about it.”

But Yakov frowned after hearing this, "Misha, your joke is not funny at all. You know, you can understand my father's experiences by buying a book about him. How could you not know? Woolen cloth."

Sokov couldn't help but feel ashamed after hearing this. He only knew that Lenin was exiled to Siberia, but he really didn't know that Stalin was also exiled to Siberia. In order to resolve the embarrassment, he could only say perfunctorily: "Gorky seems to have also been exiled to Siberia."

"Misha, you are wrong again." Yakov said displeasedly: "The place where Gorky was exiled is called Arzamas, which is a southern city in what is now Gorky Oblast, the original Nizhny Novgorod Oblast. , only 500 kilometers away from Moscow, and still far away from Siberia."

It may have been discovered that Sokov knew nothing about this history, and he also popularized science about him: "From May to September 1902, Gorky was exiled to Arzamas. The residents here, except for retired civil servants and priests, , and the rest are businessmen. The reason why the Tsarist government exiled Gorky here is because profit-seeking businessmen will not be interested in the ideas that Gorky claims."

"Oh oh oh, so that's it." Sokov realized that he had to change the topic. If he continued to talk, he would probably betray the gang and arouse Yakov's suspicion. Then he would not be able to ask him Explain clearly. He raised his hand to look at the time, and then said: "Yasha, we left too early in the morning and haven't had time to have breakfast. I'm so hungry now. How about we go to the dining car to eat something now?"

When Sokov brought up the topic of going to eat, he succeeded in diverting Yakov's attention: "Well, if you don't say it, I don't think so. When you say that, I do feel hungry. Let's go. Let's go now." Just go to the dining car. If you have any questions, we can chat over food later."

The two left the room and were about to go to the dining car when the door of the box next to them opened. Bezikov poked his head out and asked curiously: "Comrade generals, where are you going? "

“Comrade Major,” Sokov replied, “We are going to the dining car to have something to eat. I think you must be hungry too. Are you interested in coming with us?”

“Comrade Commander, my mission is to protect the safety of you two.” Bezikov replied: “Wherever you go, as a security guard, I will definitely follow you.”

"In that case, let's go." Sokov called to Bezikov and said, "After eating later, you can bring back something to eat for the soldiers in other boxes."

 (End of this chapter)