Red Moscow

Chapter 2608

After arriving at the place mentioned by traffic policeman Misha, Sokov saw a duty station and a traffic policeman standing at the door, looking around anxiously.

Seeing Sokov driving over, the traffic police officer quickly raised his hand in salute and gestured to Sokov to drive into the yard of the duty station.

When Sokov passed the traffic policeman, in order to confirm whether the other party was waiting for him, he stopped the car and asked tentatively: "Comrade traffic policeman, are you waiting for me?"

"Yes, Comrade General." The traffic policeman said respectfully: "My colleague told me that a general who drives a barrel truck needs to find a place to refuel his car. And you are a general, and the car you drive happens to be A bucket truck means you are the one who needs to refuel.”

In this way, Sokov drove into the yard of the duty station.

There were a lot of oil drums piled in the yard. When Sokov's car drove in, a traffic policeman with the rank of lieutenant ran forward quickly, raised his hand and saluted Sokov who had just got out of the car, and said respectfully. : "Comrade General, please go to the room to rest first. I will arrange for manpower to take care of the refueling."

"No need, I'll just wait here." Lieutenant Sokov said politely: "I have something urgent and I need to return to Moscow immediately. I will set off immediately after the car's fuel is filled."

After hearing this, the lieutenant did not dare to neglect, and quickly asked his men to take out the gasoline from the oil barrel and add it to the oil tanker of the barrel truck.

It didn't take long for the traffic police to complete the refueling work. After thanking them, Sokov drove the vehicle away from the traffic police duty point, and soon left Vladimir and drove along the road in the direction of Moscow.

Some people in later generations said that there was no defense force near Moscow, and an army composed of prisoners could easily attack the city. In fact, people who say this are ignorant. Moscow is a city built in a forest. There are only a few fixed roads that can enter the city through the forest. The defenses along the way were quite tight. Sokov discovered at least three anti-aircraft artillery positions and some armored troop stations along the way. Not to mention a small prisoner army, even elite troops such as the German Imperial Division and the Skeleton Division would not be easy to break into Moscow.

It was already two o'clock in the afternoon when we arrived at Zhukov's villa.

When Sokov entered the villa, he was greeted by Zhukov's adjutant. He politely said to Sokov: "General Sokov, Comrade Marshal is taking a nap and will not get up until about three o'clock. You can sit in the living room and rest for a while. I will prepare tea and cakes."

"Then please hurry up." Since this is Zhukov's territory, Sokov naturally doesn't have to be polite: "I haven't eaten anything today, and I'm so hungry that my chest is touching my back."

"Okay, just wait a moment, the food will be brought to you soon."

After the adjutant brought the food, Sokov used the shortest time to destroy all the food, then leaned on the sofa and closed his eyes to rest.

Originally he just wanted to rest his mind, but he accidentally fell asleep and didn't even know when Zhukov appeared in front of him.

In his sleep, Sokov felt someone shaking his shoulders. He opened his eyes with difficulty, trying to see which unscrupulous guy dared to disturb his sleep. When he saw the familiar face clearly, his sleepiness was suddenly frightened away. He stood up in a hurry, stood upright unsteadily, and raised his hand to salute: "Hello, Comrade Marshal!"

Seeing that Sokov had woken up, Zhukov said displeasedly: "Where have you been in the past two days? Why is no one answering the phone to your home?"

"Comrade Marshal, Asia has gone back to her parents' home. She won't be back until the fifth at the earliest."

"I'm asking you, where did you go and why didn't you answer the phone?"

Sokov replied awkwardly: "I'm going to visit Vladimir."

"Vladimir, what are you doing there?" Zhukov just finished saying this, and suddenly thought of a piece of gossip he got: "I heard that you have a female friend in Vladimir, and it is said that the relationship is not bad. Is this rumor true?"

Seeing that Zhukov had figured out the reason why he went to Vladimir, Sokov did not dare to hide it and could only nod his head and said: "Yes, Comrade Marshal, this rumor is true. I am going to Vladimir this time. Mir, just go to see her."

"It's nonsense, it's just nonsense." Zhukov said with a sullen expression: "You have an Adelina in Berlin and another one in Vladimir. If Asia knew about it, how would she react? , have you considered this issue?"

Faced with Zhukov's rebuke, Sokov did not dare to refute. He could only stand there and bow his head to accept the criticism. Fortunately, Zhukov did not get entangled in this matter. He walked to the sofa and sat down, then waved to Sokov: "Sit down too, I have something to ask you."

Sokov quickly sat down in his original position, staring at Zhukov intently, wondering what he would say?

"Misha, on New Year's Day, you told Comrade Khrushchev in front of me that there may be a drought in Ukraine this summer, resulting in a large reduction in crop yields. Therefore, you suggested that he arrange manpower to plant more corn and potatoes. Cold-resistant crops. Am I remembering it correctly?"

"Yes, Comrade Marshal, that's what I said." Sokov did not deny this at all. He even took the initiative to say: "You also know that every mid-to-late May, residents in Moscow will go to villas in the suburbs for vacation. At the same time, they will clear up the open space in front of the house, and then put potatoes, corn, tomatoes, carrots and cabbages. Sow the seeds and water them twice, then leave them alone and just wait until early September to harvest.”

"Well, I know about this." After Zhukov waited for Sokov to finish speaking, he expressed his opinion: "Do you think this planting method of Moscow residents is suitable for promotion in Ukraine? Also, spread these Do you know how much crops they produce every year?”

In later generations, Sokov had dealt with some people who came to Russia to farm, and heard a lot of things from them. For example, the vegetables grown by Russians and Chinese in the same area have vastly different yields during harvest season. At the beginning, the Russians thought it was a problem with the seeds, but they asked the Chinese to grow vegetables and continued to grow them according to their original methods. When the season came to harvest, the yield was still so low that people were speechless.

The real reason for this situation is that Russians are too lazy. After they planted the seeds, they basically ignored them, while the Chinese stayed in the fields and worked hard every day. No matter how hard you work, you will gain. When the harvest season comes, it is self-evident who can get a better harvest. When he heard the question Zhukov asked himself at this moment, Sokov didn't know how to answer. Although he had been to Ukraine, he was commanding operations there, and he only had to think about how to defeat the enemy every day. But now that the war is over, the issue to be considered is no longer how to defeat the enemy, but how to rebuild the city as soon as possible, how to resume work in factories and enterprises, and how to re-produce food from land that has been abandoned for several years.

"I think you don't know." When Zhukov saw that Sokov was silent, he continued to criticize him and said: "You are indeed very good at fighting. But agricultural production is not about fighting. If you use the skills of fighting, you will not be able to fight. If used in agricultural production, there will be problems.”

Sokov felt a little confused and said to himself that he just suggested planting more drought-tolerant potatoes and corn to prevent a possible famine this summer. Why did you drag me into a war? However, when Zhukov spoke, he did not dare to refute and could only listen to the other person's teachings quietly.

After Zhukov spoke for a while, he took a sip of the tea on the table and then said, "Misha, do you have anything else to say?"

"Comrade Marshal, please listen to my quibbles, no, listen to my explanation." Sokov finally waited for a plan that allowed him to speak, and said quickly: "I have a hunch that Ukraine may encounter a once-in-a-century event this summer. A severe drought will lead to a large-scale reduction in grain production or even no harvest, so preparations need to be made in advance to avoid serious situations in the future.”

"You mentioned a serious situation." Zhukov looked at Sokov and asked, "Then tell me what kind of serious situation there will be."

Sokov hesitated for a moment, feeling that Zhukov should be someone he could trust, and then said decisively: "I think there may be a serious famine, similar to the serious famine in 1932~1933."

"Misha, do you know what you are talking about?" After hearing this, Zhukov said angrily: "If your assumption is heard by people from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, someone will send you to Lubyan tonight. Card’s cell, let you reflect deeply inside.”

"I know, Comrade Marshal." Sokov nodded and approved Zhukov's statement: "But I cannot choose to remain silent despite knowing the possible serious consequences. This will make my conscience difficult. ”

"Misha, a famine like the one in 1932-1933 will never happen again, never again." Zhukov said confidently: "Even if Ukraine will suffer a severe drought this summer, resulting in large-scale crop losses , but there will still not be a famine as you mentioned, because there is a sufficient amount of food stored in Ukraine’s granaries to help the people survive the famine.”

"Comrade Marshal, what you said is a normal situation, but what if an accident occurs?"

"Accident, what accident?" Zhukov asked.

"You also know that since the end of the war, there have been several more countries protected by us." Sokov explained: "They also paid a huge price in this war, and the people's lives were extremely difficult. . I think that after understanding their difficulties, the superior leaders may take the initiative to provide them with material assistance including food.

You also know that Ukraine is the breadbasket of our country. If we want to provide food to those protected countries, the first choice place to collect food must be Ukraine. If it's a normal year, it doesn't matter, but if they really encounter a drought and their own food is seriously insufficient, if they collect a large amount of food, the consequences will be very serious. "

"I have discussed this matter with Comrade Khrushchev." Zhukov said: "He told me that if Ukraine encounters a once-in-a-century drought this summer, then when the season of grain collection comes, the superiors will definitely take appropriate measures. A certain amount will be reduced. Tell me, will the famine you are worried about happen again after the tax amount is reduced?

Sokov remembers very clearly that the 400 million poods of grain levied from Ukraine in 1946 were all set by Stalin after taking into account the serious reduction in grain production in Ukraine just after the war. It was these 400 million poods of grain that became the straw that broke the camel's back, leading to the inevitable famine.

"Comrade Marshal, please believe me." Seeing that Zhukov didn't believe him at all, Sokov became a little anxious: "What I'm worried about now is that this year's summer grain collection standard, even if it has been reduced, is still more than Ukraine can afford. It’s so bad that the people have no food left.”

Zhukov was very angry when he saw Sokov being so stubborn. I wanted to scold the other party a few more times, but then I thought about it. The other party has always been very discerning in judging situations. Since he has repeatedly emphasized this matter, it seems that the problem he is worried about may actually happen.

After thinking about this, Zhukov asked: "Misha, tell me, is there any way to deal with it?"

"I think we should seize the time to mobilize manpower. After the arrival of May, we will plant a large number of drought-resistant crops such as potatoes and corn on those abandoned lands. Even if the wheat production is reduced or the harvest is eliminated, there will be enough food to help Ukrainians survive. Hard times to avoid famine.”

"Whether famine will happen, I cannot discuss this with you for the time being. After all, it is still early in May, and whether there will be a drought is also unknown." Zhukov said: "I want you to tell me, if we really want to do that in those countries Planting cold-resistant potatoes and corn on the abandoned land will definitely require a lot of manpower. I wonder where these manpower will be drawn from? "

"Siberia, of course."

"Siberia?!"

"Yes," Sokov nodded and said, "As far as I know, many of the released prisoners of war from our army were sent to Siberia. I think we can let them go to Ukraine to grow potatoes and corn, and that will solve the problem. Short-staffed situation.”

After he made this proposal, seeing that Zhukov was silent, he said cautiously: "Comrade Marshal, since you do not agree to use the prisoners of war released by our army, you can consider German prisoners of war."

"What, German prisoners of war?" Zhukov frowned: "You mean, let those German prisoners of war detained in Siberia be sent to Ukraine to grow potatoes?"

"That's right, Comrade Marshal, that's how I think about it." Sokov said: "Since the Far East Campaign of August Storm, we have captured more than 600,000 Kwantung Army soldiers and sent them to Siberia one after another. So many The influx of prisoners of war must have put great pressure on the management of the local prisoner of war camps. If we can take the opportunity to transfer all the German prisoners of war to Ukraine, the pressure on the prisoner of war camps can be relieved."

"Misha, you are just fooling around. Have you ever thought about it?" Zhukov said angrily: "If we really transfer all the German prisoners of war in the Far East to Ukraine, it means that we still need to build a lot of buildings in the area. Prisoner of war camp to hold these German prisoners of war from Siberia. Do you think Comrade Stalin would agree?”