Red Moscow

Chapter 2512

After Sokov and Yakov chatted for a while, they planned to go back to the room to rest and let the curator wait for the engineer troops to arrive before calling him again. Unexpectedly, as soon as he reached the door, Agelina, who followed him, grabbed his sleeve and said, "Misha, come to my room and sit down."

Facing Agelina’s invitation, Sokov hesitated, not knowing whether he should refuse or agree.

Agelina saw Sokov's hesitation and quickly added: "Don't worry, I'm just chatting with you, I won't eat you."

Since Agelina had already said this, it was obviously inappropriate for Sokov to continue to refuse. He laughed twice, and then walked into the next room with Agelina.

“Misha,” Agelina closed the door and asked Sokov, “When do you think the engineering troops will arrive?”

Sokov understands the Russian way of doing things. Even if Ustinov personally negotiates the matter, it will probably be two or three hours before the engineering troops arrive here. It will be dark by then, so naturally it will not be possible. The demining operation can only be postponed until tomorrow. And tomorrow, they will still procrastinate and wait until ninety o'clock to appear on the high ground of Borodino, and the demining will not last long, so they will find a place to sit down, drink tea and eat, and continue to procrastinate.

Because of Agelina's question, Sokov hesitated for a moment, and then slowly said: "The engineer force is not under the jurisdiction of Comrade Ustinov. If he wants to mobilize this force, he needs to negotiate with the relevant parties. , this will take a lot of time. In addition, the war is over, and the troops can no longer be on standby at any time like during the war. There may be many people who have left the team to go home to visit relatives. Gather the remaining people. It also takes a lot of time to get up.

 It’s winter now, and it usually gets dark at four or five in the afternoon. Even if they can arrive within two or three hours, they will not be able to carry out demining work because of darkness. They will have to wait until tomorrow at the earliest to carry out demining work. "

“How long do you think it will take them to clear the Borodino Highlands of mines?”

"It's hard to say," Sokov shook his head and said, "In order to resist the German attack, our army laid a large number of landmines in this area. Although many of them were destroyed during the battle, due to the enemy's shelling, bombing, and The infantry and tank charges have been detonated, but there are still a large number of landmines remaining, and they are scattered in scattered locations. Even if the people who originally planted the mines come over, they may not be able to find the location where the mines were laid."

"If that's the case, that's troublesome." While Agelina and Sokov were talking, people were looking around the room, even bending down to look under the bed, and stepping on the chair to look above the lampshade.

Seeing her actions, Sokov was shocked at first, but soon understood that the other party was an agent. After arriving in a strange environment, he must check carefully to see if there was any hidden eavesdropping equipment. If there was no Only then can you speak with confidence and boldness.

Sure enough, after some inspection, Agelina did not find any eavesdropping equipment in the house. She thought about it carefully and felt that this was normal. She came here to stay overnight as a last-minute decision, and she had no idea that the relevant departments had installed monitoring equipment in the house to monitor her.

“Misha, there is nothing special here. I want to ask you a key question.”

"Well, you ask." Seeing Agelina's serious expression when she spoke, Sokov knew that the question she wanted to ask must be very important, so he said cooperatively: "As long as I know something, I will definitely know it." There’s nothing left to say.”

"I heard that Marshal Zhukov once invited you to Berlin to serve as his assistant. And in my conversation with you, I also confirmed the authenticity of this news." Agelina looked at Sokov and asked: " Why did you refuse?"

Sokov did not answer her question immediately, but asked: "In your opinion, why should I refuse his invitation?"

"I don't know." Agelina replied truthfully: "If I were you, I would definitely agree to Marshal Zhukov's invitation. You know, he is now the deputy commander-in-chief. Even if a purge similar to that of previous years occurs in the future, You can also have his protection.”

 After listening to Agelina’s words, Sokov laughed twice, and then said: “Agelina, have you seen oysters?”

"Of course, of course I've seen it, and I've even eaten it." Agelina didn't understand why Sokov brought the topic to oysters, and said with some displeasure: "I was discussing your future with you, but you Tell me some oysters and seafood."

Sokov sighed softly, and then said faintly: "The oyster never thought that the shell that protects it would eventually become the bowl that holds it."

Regarding Sokov's philosophical words, Agelina looked confused at first, but soon understood what he meant, and asked in a tentative tone: "Misha, you mean, Maybe something will happen to Marshal Zhukov?"

"Yes, that's what I mean." Sokov said with a serious expression: "Although Marshal Zhukov performed outstandingly in the Great Patriotic War and was called an invincible commander, it is precisely because of this that he He has also become a thorn in the side of many people. As long as they have the opportunity, these people will use various methods to slander Marshal Zhukov in front of the Supreme Commander himself. In the past, when there was a war, the Supreme Commander himself could not do without Marshal Zhukov, so he was very hostile to him. These slanderers were ignored.

Now that the war is over, Marshal Zhukov's status in the heart of the Supreme Commander is naturally not as important as before. I believe that it won’t be long before a series of actions will be taken against him..."

Agelina shivered, and then asked tremblingly: "Will Marshal Zhukov be dealt with like Marshal Tukhachevsky?"

"That's not the case." Sokov shook his head and said: "In any case, Marshal Zhukov's performance in the Patriotic War is obvious to all. He is a hero in people's hearts. If he is like dealing with Marshal Tukhachevsky In that case, purging him will definitely cause some bad consequences. Therefore, I think he may be demoted and then transferred to a small military region to hold a position to keep him away from the Kremlin circle."

After listening to Sokov's explanation, Agelina looked unconvinced: "Misha, I think you are worrying too much. In any case, Marshal Zhukov made a decisive decision during the Patriotic War in which we defended our motherland. He has achieved immortal feats. Although with his current status, he cannot go any further, it is also impossible to demote him as you said, or even arrange him to serve in a small military region. This is simply a fantasy. "

Seeing that Agelina expressed doubts about what he said, Sokov did not defend himself and just said lightly: "Agelina, whether what I said is right or not can be proved by the facts. We might as well make a bet. Within a year, Marshal Zhukov will definitely be ostracized or even demoted. Do you dare to make this bet with me?"

"Why don't you dare!" Agelina asked back: "I just want to ask, what is the stake?" "If one loses, how about agreeing to a condition?"

"Okay, I agree." Agelina grabbed Sokov's right hand with her left hand, and then used her right palm to high-five the other party: "We are limited to one year, if by today next year, and If what you said didn’t happen, then you have to agree to a condition.”

"Don't worry, Agelina, I always keep my word." Sokov said and stood up: "I'm a little sleepy, so I'll go back to my room to rest. If you're hungry, remember to go to the cafeteria for dinner, and I'll I won’t go with you.”

When Sokov returned to his room, Yakov was leaning against the bed and reading a book. Seeing Sokov come in, there was a surprised expression on his face: "Misha, you ended it so soon?"

After hearing this, Sokov blushed and retorted dissatisfiedly: "Why do you mean it's over so quickly? I just chatted with Agelina. After the chat, I came back naturally."

Yakov put down the book in his hand and asked with interest: "Tell me quickly, what did you talk about?"

"Yasha, when did you become such a gossip?" Sokov did not answer this embarrassing question, but changed the subject in time: "What book are you reading?"

"Days and Nights," Yakov turned the cover of the book to Sokov: "Simonov's novel about the Battle of Stalingrad. Have you read it?"

"I have read it, but not finished it." Sokov said: "When you finish reading it, show it to me. Anyway, there is nothing much to do in the past two days. I will try to finish reading the book to the end."

Yakov closed the book and threw it directly to Sokov: "You read it first. I don't know what happened now. I feel sleepy when I read the book." After saying that, he moved and lay down directly. He covered himself with a quilt and said, "I'm going to sleep for a while, and then call me when the engineering troops arrive."

The engineer troops arrived faster than Sokov expected. He had just read more than fifty pages and the beginning of Chapter 5 when he heard someone knocking on the door. At the same time, he heard someone outside shouting: "Comrade General, Comrade General, you Are you there?"

　　Sokov heard that the person speaking outside was the curator, so he quickly put down the book in his hand, walked over, and opened the door.

 In addition to the curator, there was also a captain standing outside the door.

Seeing Sokov go out, the curator quickly laughed and said: "Comrade General, this is Captain Naumenko of the Engineer Corps!"

"Hello, Comrade General, I am Captain Naumenko of the Engineer Corps." Naumenko raised his hand to salute Sokov, and said respectfully: "I was ordered to come here to clear mines."

Sokov looked out of the corridor window and saw that it was not yet dark outside. He couldn't help but said with emotion: "Comrade Captain, you came very quickly."

“After receiving the notice from my superiors, I rushed over immediately.” Naumenko asked expressionlessly: “Comrade General, where is the mine you mentioned?”

"Follow me, I'll take you there." Sokov took a few steps with the book and felt something was not right. He was taking Naumenko to the minefield, so he quickly returned with a book in his hand. He walked into the room, threw the book on the bed, and shouted to Yakov who was sleeping on the bed: "Yasha, the comrades from the engineering army are here. I will take them to the high ground to have a look." After that, Yakov was ignored. Did you hear what you said, turned around and walked out of the room.

 After walking out of the building, Sokov saw a tarpaulin truck parked outside, with four or five soldiers chatting beside it. Seeing Captain Sokov and Naumenko coming out, they quickly stopped talking, stood at attention, and paid attention to the two men.

“You guys, take your tools and follow us to the high ground!”

After watching the soldiers take out minesweepers, pickaxes, shovels and other tools from the carriage, Sokov couldn't help but frown slightly, and then asked Naumenko: "Comrade Captain, how many of you are here?" "

"Yes, Comrade General." Naumenko explained to Sokov with a smile: "We received a notice from our superiors that we would come here to clear mines, but they did not explain how many mines needed to be cleared, so I just brought so many people here first. But I think we are enough to clear the remaining mines on the high ground."

But after listening to Naumenko's answer, Sokov frowned. He thought that in China's southern Xinjiang, the engineer commanders spent more than ten years clearing the landmines buried on the border, and they also It took a lot of sacrifice. Although the number of landmines on the Borodino Highlands cannot be compared with that in southern Xinjiang, it is definitely not something that a few engineers can clean up. Out of this consideration, he said with some dissatisfaction: "Comrade Captain, although I don't know how many mines remain on the Borodino Highlands, I think it is far from enough for you just to do it. If possible, you should bring the entire engineer force over."

Hearing what Sokov said, Naumenko disagreed. He felt that it would be too much to make a fuss about transferring all the engineering troops over just a few mines. If it were an ordinary officer, he might have argued with the other party, but now the person standing in front of him was a general, a senior officer seven or eight levels higher than himself. He could only laugh and say: " Comrade General, due to time constraints today, I have only summoned so many people. Let’s go to Borodino Heights to have a look first. If we still need more people, I will send them over tomorrow.”

"Okay." Sokov knew very well that it was unrealistic to ask Naumenko to send people over at this moment. It might be delayed until tomorrow, so he could only do the next best thing and take the other party to the high ground to see the situation first. Then decide how many manpower should be mobilized: "Captain, take your people with me to the Borodino Highlands. Then use your professional eyes to see how many manpower are needed to clear the remaining mines on the highlands."

Sokov took Naumenko and his men to the Borodino Highlands and followed the footprints left by himself and Adelina to the vicinity of the explosion point. He pointed to the newly blasted crater in the distance and the corpse of the fox that was mangled with blood, and said to Naumenko: "Comrade Captain, that's right there. I was walking here with a friend, and suddenly I met a fox. . After the fox was scared away by me, it fled in that direction, and ended up stepping on a landmine and was killed."

Naumenko looked at the explosive spot with a disapproving expression on his face. He pointed his hand at the two soldiers behind him and ordered them: "You two go over and check to see if there are any remaining mines there. If there are any, mark them with a small flag. I will wait for you Take someone to clean up."

 (End of this chapter)