Red Moscow

Chapter 2476

“Comrade screenwriter,” Sokov waited for Werner to finish and quickly reminded him: “Don’t forget, I still have three movie scripts to write.”

 “Oh, yes, yes. You have three more movie scripts to write.”

 But Xie Keluo asked in confusion: "What movie script?"

“It’s a movie script about three snipers.” Werner explained to Shecoro: “A female sniper, a male sniper, and an elderly sniper.”

Hearing what Werner said, Xie Keluo couldn't help but frown slightly: "Since they are all snipers, they can be written into the same movie, why should they be divided into three scripts?"

"Comrade Editor-in-Chief, you should know two of these three snipers." Sokov said to Sekoro: "One is the female sniper Lyudmila, and the other is a famous Stalingrad Vasily."

"Yes, yes, I have heard about their deeds." Xie Keluo nodded, and then asked: "Then who is the other old sniper?"

“The old sniper’s surname is Morozov.” Sokov said: “He is ninety years old now!”

“What, he’s ninety years old?” Hearing what Sokov said, Shekro said in shock: “How could the people at the recruiting office allow him to go to the battlefield at such an old age?”

"This Comrade Morozov is very famous," Sokov told Sekoro about Morozov's resume, and finally said: "The recruiting officer at the time did not agree with his enlistment, but the old man He moved the Supreme Commander himself out and said that if he was not allowed to join the army, he would call Comrade Stalin and ask Stalin to say hello to the officers at the recruitment office. It was learned that if the old man and the Supreme Commander knew each other, the officers at the recruitment office could only Let him enlist in the army. But in order to take care of him, we just let him be in charge of logistics and try not to let him go to the most dangerous places, lest someone will make irresponsible remarks if something happens to him. "

Although Werner knew that Sokov was going to write three movie scripts about snipers, this was the first time he heard about Mr. Morozov’s deeds. As soon as Sokov finished speaking, he asked with some urgency: "Since we let him stay in the logistics, how did he become an excellent sniper?"

"Once, our army's position was shelled by the enemy. All the soldiers hid in the trenches, waiting for the **** shelling to end." Sokov said to the two men: "But at this moment, a soldier discovered Carrying a rifle on his back, the old man quietly climbed out of the trench and crawled towards the front. He quickly shouted loudly for the old man to come back. Perhaps because the sound of the cannon was too loud, the old man did not hear his shout at all and continued to move towards the front. Climbing forward, we soon climbed into a crater.

 After the shelling stopped, the German infantry immediately moved towards our position in skirmish formation. The soldiers in the trenches saw with their own eyes the old man placing his gun on the edge of the crater and shooting at the approaching German soldiers. His marksmanship was very accurate. After every gunshot, a German fell down, both an officer and a machine gunner. Anyway, as long as he felt that an enemy posed a greater threat to our army, he would shoot him. In just a few minutes, he fired all the twenty rounds of ammunition he carried and defeated the same number of enemies.

After this battle, the views of him from the commander to the soldiers below have changed. In everyone's mind, he is no longer an old man who needs everyone's care, but a hunter with superb marksmanship, and the enemy It's his prey. In order to give full play to his strengths, the commander of the army set up a sniper training class and asked the old man to give lectures to train our army's snipers so that they could eliminate more enemies on the battlefield. "

"What a legendary old man." After listening to Sokov's introduction, Xie Keluo said with emotion: "Comrade General, you are right. If you want everyone to know the stories of these snipers, It would have to be a separate movie for each of them.”

 “That’s right, that’s what I was thinking about at the time.”

Xie Keluo nodded, and then asked: "Comrade General, do you have any plans to write a novel recently? If so, you can introduce the situation to me first. When we discuss your remuneration at the meeting tomorrow, I will mention this by the way. Bring things up too.”

Sokov began to think about what other novels he could write related to the Patriotic War. The author was not well-known, which meant that his writing skills were mediocre. Even if he wrote the book, the sales would not be very good.

After some thinking, Sokov settled on a writer named Alexander Borisovich Chakovsky. He was born in a doctor's family in St. Petersburg. He graduated from the Gorky Academy of Literature in 1939 and worked as a war correspondent during the Great Patriotic War. From 1955 to 1963, he served as the editor-in-chief of the magazine "Foreign Literature". From 1962, he served as the editor-in-chief of "Literary Newspaper" and the head of the Soviet Writers Association. In 1971, he was elected as an alternate member and in 1973, he was elected as a labor hero.

He began to publish works while still studying at the Gorky Academy of Literature. In 1944, he published the first part of the trilogy of novels, "It Happened in Leningrad", the second part, "Lida", in 1945, and the third part, "Peaceful Days", in 1947, reflecting the During the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet soldiers and civilians fought against the German fascist invasion when Leningrad was besieged.

 After publishing the trilogy, he published the novel "It's Morning Here With Us" in 1949, and won the Stalin Prize in 1950. Then, he created "The Age of Living" in 1956, "The Road We Choose" in 1960, the novella "The Glory of the Distant Stars" published in 1962, and "The Fiancée" in 1966. "wait.

 But his most famous novel is called "The Siege", which consists of five volumes. It was written from 1968 to 1975, which lasted seven years. In 1978, he won the Soviet State Prize. This book describes the struggle life of Soviet soldiers and civilians when Leningrad was besieged during the Great Patriotic War, but it mainly writes about major battles and the activities of the Supreme Command of the Soviet Union and Germany, and also involves major diplomatic activities of the Soviet Union at that time.

 His last novel "Victory" was written from 1978 to 1981. The content revolves around the Potsdam Conference and the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, reflecting the foreign policies and activities of the Soviet Union.

Among Chakovsky's many works, Sokov's most promising is naturally the book "The Siege", which has more than one million words. If I could have made this book available twenty years earlier, I might have won a literary award.

Thinking of this, Sokov said to Shekoro: "Comrade Editor-in-Chief, I do have an idea for a book."

When Xie Keluo heard this, he immediately became interested and asked quickly: "Comrade General, please tell me quickly. What do you plan to write this time?"

 “In the new book, I plan to write about Leningrad.”

Hearing what Sokov said, Sekoro was silent for a moment, and then said: "Comrade General, I wonder if you have heard of the writer Chakovsky?"

Hearing Shekoro mention Chakovsky, Sokov couldn't help but feel a little bit in his heart, and then said with some lack of confidence: "I've heard of it, but I have never read his book. Comrade Editor-in-Chief, how did you think of it? Mention him?" "That's right, Comrade General." Shekro said: "It just so happens that this writer wrote a novel "This Happened in Leningrad" last year and published another one this year. A novel called "Leda". According to him, he may write a third novel next year to complete a war trilogy. In the novel you mentioned, there is a female soldier named Leda. , made me instinctively think of these two books by Chakovsky. If you really plan to write a story about Leningrad, I suggest you read his books, maybe they can add some inspiration to you. indefinite."

"Okay, Comrade Editor-in-Chief." Sokov nodded after hearing this. "I will go to the bookstore tomorrow to see if I can buy these two books."

"No need to go to such trouble, I have ready-made books here, I can just give them to you." After saying that, Xie Keluo picked up the phone on the table, dialed a number and said: "Akshara, could you please help me?" I brought in two Tchakovsky books. Last year’s “It Happened in Leningrad,” and “Leda,” which was released this year.”

 A few minutes later, Akshara opened the door, walked in from the outside, placed the two new books in his hand in front of Shekro, and then turned around and left.

"Comrade General." Shekro picked up the two books on the table and handed them to Sokov: "These are the two books written by Chakovsky, both related to the defense of Leningrad. Yes, I think it should be helpful to you."

 Sokov took the book from Shekoro and expressed his heartfelt thanks to him.

“Comrade General,” Werner asked curiously, “How long will it take you to write this book?”

Sokov thought for a while and replied: "I plan to write more than one million words for this book, and I'm afraid it will take a year at the earliest."

 “Ah, one year?”

Seeing Werner's surprised look, Sokov said with some embarrassment: "Comrade screenwriter, writing a book with a million words a year is already my limit. It is obviously impossible to speed up the process. of."

"No, no, no, Comrade General, you misunderstood me." But Werner waved his hand and said, "I don't think you write slowly, but I think you write too fast. You know, I know For some writers, if they want to write a work with millions of words, it will take at least two or three years. You said it takes one year, which is already considered very fast."

“Comrade General, I wonder what the new book is going to be called?” Xie Keluo asked.

"Siege!" Sokov replied without hesitation: "This city named after Comrade Lenin persisted in the siege of the enemy for 872 days, and many touching stories emerged. I must write them all. "

If Shekoro had not read the book "The Dawns Here Are Quiet" and heard Sokov say this, he would definitely sneer at it. But after reading the manuscript, he was full of confidence in Sokov, and even took the initiative to say: "Comrade General, if you need to find any information during the writing process, just contact me and I will do my best to help. Your."

"Comrade Editor-in-Chief," although Sokov already had the complete content in his mind, he was still very willing to accept the kindness shown by Xie Keluo, "Since you said so, what do I need to find? I will call you when I need to provide you with the information. I hope you don’t think I’m too annoying by then.”

Xie Keluo burst out laughing after hearing this: "Comrade General, I cannot help but ask for your help."

The more they chatted, the more they became more and more speculative. Xie Keluo accidentally looked up and found that it was already past six o'clock. He said to Sokov and Werner: "It's getting late. I think you are all hungry. Why don't we How about we go somewhere to have something to eat and have a couple of drinks?”

Faced with Xie Keluo's proposal, Sokov was naturally unwilling. First, he was not very good at drinking and would get drunk after two glasses of wine. Second, he promised Asiya that he would go home for dinner, so he couldn't break his promise. . It was out of this consideration that he said apologetically: "I'm sorry, Comrade Editor-in-Chief, I think I can't go drinking with you. I have other things to do, so you two can go."

"Comrade General, you just returned to Moscow today, what can happen?" Seeing Sokov rejecting his offer, Shekoro showed an unhappy expression on his face: "Don't you look down on me and even have a meal with me? Don’t you want to eat?”

"No, Comrade Editor-in-Chief, you misunderstood." Sokov quickly explained: "I really have something to do."

"Xie Keluo, I think you should not embarrass Comrade General." Fortunately, Werner came out in time to smooth things over: "Just now when we were in the lounge, I heard General Sokov calling his wife and saying I have to go back to have dinner with her tonight."

Perhaps because he was worried that he would not be able to convince Xie Keluo, he deliberately added: "By the way, his wife is pregnant now. If Comrade General does not keep his promise and go home to have dinner with her, she might be angry."

Russia is a strange country. Although women are often abused at home by their alcoholic husbands, in public places, everyone shows enough respect for women. No matter how important the gathering is, once someone says he wants to go home to be with his wife, the others will deliberately try to keep him or her away, instead letting the other person leave at will.

At this moment, Xie Keluo learned that Sokov was going home to have dinner with his pregnant wife, and immediately changed his attitude: "Comrade General, since you want to go home to have dinner with your wife, I will not invite you to our party today. . When I have the opportunity in the future, I will specially treat you to dinner."

“Okay, Comrade Editor-in-Chief.” Sokov responded with a smile: “I will not refuse your invitation next time.”

"By the way, Comrade General." When he saw Sokov about to walk out, Shekro stopped him again: "You have just returned to Moscow, so you may not have the tools to travel. So, I will let my The driver will take you back so you don’t have to squeeze into the subway.”

Sokov was having a headache and had to squeeze into the subway when he went home later. When he heard Xie Keluo said that he would be sent a car to take him, he was overjoyed and quickly expressed his gratitude to the other party: "Comrade Editor-in-Chief, thank you very much." .”

 (End of this chapter)