Red Moscow

Chapter 2637 A familiar figure from behind

Yakutsk is located in the hinterland of the Siberian continent. Because the city is built on permafrost, it is also called the "Ice City." It has a continental climate, with severe and long winters. The average temperature in January is -38.6°C, the lowest extreme. The temperature is -64.4℃. The summer is short and warm. The average temperature in July is 19.5℃, the extreme maximum temperature is 38.4℃, and the absolute temperature difference exceeds 100℃. It is the most typical city in the world with continental climate.

Just on the outskirts of this city, several prisoner-of-war camps were established, holding prisoners of war from Germany and the Sakura Kingdom, with a maximum number of about 100,000 people. However, due to the harsh climate and insufficient food supply, many prisoners of war died every day, and the total number of prisoners of war continued to decline.

The train arrived in Yakutsk on the afternoon of the fifth day.

As soon as Sokov took his Vaselgov and others out of the car and stepped onto the platform, an officer wearing a long military coat and a cotton military cap, with a face that was purple from the cold, came to Sokov , asked respectfully: "Comrade General, are you General Sokov from Moscow?"

"Yes, I am Sokov." Sokov looked at the unfamiliar officer in front of him and asked warily: "Comrade officer, who are you?"

"I am Captain Yasenko, and I am here to greet you on the orders of General Lukin."

"Please lead the way."

Under the leadership of Yasenko, the group left the train station and got into two jeeps parked on the roadside.

Yasenko sat in the passenger seat of the first car, Sokov and Vaserigov sat in the back, and the other two fighters sat in the second car.

After the car started, Vaserigov couldn't help but say: "Comrade Captain, it's really cold here. Although it's still winter in Moscow with ice and snow, the temperature every day remains at several degrees below zero."

"Comrade Major," Yasenko half-turned around and said, "The coldest months here are in January and February, and the temperature every day is around -35°C. Today's temperature is -20°C. Compared with last month, it's already... It’s quite warm.”

Hearing that the weather here was so cold, Sokov couldn't help but worry about Lukin. He asked tentatively: "Comrade Captain, how is Lieutenant General Lukin's health?"

Yasenko hesitated for a moment, and then replied: "It's not good. After the winter, he often coughs. After the doctor checked his body, he said that he should go to a relatively warm place to recuperate, otherwise his body will not be able to support it." a few years.”

Sokov felt that what Yasenko said was very reasonable. Not long after Lukin was rescued from the German prisoner of war camp, he went to the Far East with him and participated in Operation August Storm. Now he is sent to a bitter cold place to take care of the prisoners of war of the Kwantung Army, which is very detrimental to his health. He began to consider whether, after he returned to Moscow, he should suggest to Zhukov that he transfer Lukin back to Moscow and give him a relatively free time. Otherwise, with his physical condition, he would not be able to survive in this cold place. several years.

Because there was snow and ice everywhere on the road, vehicles were traveling very slowly, no more than 30 kilometers per hour.

Sokov turned his head and looked out the window, only to find that there was a thick layer of ice on the window glass, making it impossible to see what was going on outside. He took off his gloves and used his fingernails to press the ice on the glass. It took a lot of effort to open an area as big as his palm, and he could barely see clearly the people walking on the street outside.

Among these pedestrians were soldiers and civilians. They all wore thick cotton-padded jackets, cotton hats or dog-skin hats, and their faces were covered tightly to prevent frostbite. There was snow and ice on the sidewalk, so they didn't walk very fast, they moved forward slowly.

Vaserigov glanced out the window, and then said with emotion: "The climate here is always cold, and it's really hard for the residents."

"Yes, when I first came here, I couldn't stand the severe cold here, but as time went by, I gradually got used to it."

"The prisoners of war detained here, can they adapt to such a climate?"

"If you don't adapt, you have to learn to adapt, otherwise death will be waiting for them." Yasenko said: "Last December just entered, the temperature suddenly dropped to -38°C. Those Kwantung Army prisoners of war from the Far East lived in They were ordinary wooden houses with no fire, and more than four thousand people froze to death overnight.”

"How many?" Sokov, who was looking at the street scene, suddenly became interested when he heard what Yasenko said: "Comrade Captain, how many prisoners of war do you think froze to death?"

"More than four thousand." Yasenko couldn't help but feel a little nervous when he heard Sokov asked about this: "To be precise, 4,652 people froze to death. When Lieutenant General Lu Jin learned about this, he was furious and immediately arranged for people to house the prisoners of war. Even so, hundreds of people still froze to death every day. It was not until March that the number of prisoners of war basically disappeared as the temperature rose. "

Hearing what Yasenko said, Sokov couldn't help but secretly lamented that it was a pity. If the severe cold lasted for another two months, it is estimated that thousands of little devils would freeze to death. It would be too cheap for them to survive like this. .

"So many Kwantung Army prisoners of war died, how did you deal with them?" Sokov said casually: "By burying their bodies in potato fields, can the potato production double next year?"

Unexpectedly, after hearing this, Yasenko showed a surprised expression on his face: "Comrade General, it is too cold here to grow crops at all. The food the residents need is shipped from other places."

This time it was Sokov's turn to be curious: "Since you can't grow crops here, how do people here live?"

“Yakutsk city is mainly based on the building materials processing industry, wood collection and processing industry, leather manufacturing industry, food processing industry, coal mining industry, water conservancy and energy development, electric power industry, fishery processing industry, hunting industry, in addition to horse breeding. Industry and animal husbandry.” Yasenko explained to Sokov: “Due to the cold climate, the corpses buried in the soil do not decay all year round. Even the corpses of mammoths tens of thousands of years ago are as fresh as ever when they are unearthed.”

While Sokov and Yasenko were chatting, they accidentally turned around and saw a soldier walking towards the front of the car. Although the other person was wearing a military coat and a cotton military cap, and his face was covered tightly, Sokov felt that this person's figure looked familiar.

Just as Sokov was thinking about why this man's figure looked so familiar, the man had already passed by the jeep and was walking towards the back of the car. Sokov quickly turned his head and looked at the window glass behind him, wanting to confirm again whether the figure of the man looked familiar, but he found that the windows here were also covered with ice, making it impossible to see what was going on outside. Sokov pressed it twice with his fingers, but only a small piece of ice came off, and he still couldn't see clearly what was outside the car.

"Stop!" Sokov turned around and shouted loudly to the driver: "Hurry up and stop the car!"

The driver didn't know what happened. Since it was the general who ordered the car to stop, he naturally stopped the car.

As soon as the car stopped, Sokov opened the door, jumped out of the car, and looked behind the car, trying to find the familiar figure and figure out who the other person was. I saw the man just ten meters away, walking slowly along the sidewalk. Sokov quickened his pace to catch up, wanting the other person to turn around and take off his face covering so that he could see who he was. Unexpectedly, he had just taken two steps when he stepped on a piece of ice on the ground and was thrown onto his back.

"Comrade General, are you okay?" Seeing Sokov fall, Vasergov, who had just got out of the car, was frightened. He quickly came to Sokov's side and squatted down, helping Sokov to sit down. He stood up and asked with concern: "Are you injured?"

Sokov looked up at the man in front of him, and saw his back turning into an alley. He quickly pointed his hand forward and told Vaserigov: "Major, there is a man in a military coat who has just turned into the alley in front. You should bring someone over immediately."

"Okay, Comrade General." Vaserigov straightened up, called a guard who had just got out of the car, and told him: "Take care of the general!" Then he said to another guard, "You Come with me!"

At this moment, Yasenko also came to Sokov's side, helped the guards lift Sokov up from the ground, and asked with concern: "Comrade General, are you not injured?"

"No." Sokov shook his head and said, "I just fell, but I wasn't injured."

"Comrade General, who did you see just now?"

"There was a soldier passing by the car just now," Sokov explained: "Although he was wearing a hat and covering his face with a cloth, I felt that his figure was familiar, like someone I knew, so I got off the car and came out to take a look. After I fell, he turned and walked into the alley in front, and I was already leading people to chase him."

Just as he was talking, Sokov saw Vasergov walking out of the alley with the guards. After the two of them came out, no one else appeared around them. Sokov immediately realized that they definitely did not catch the person they were looking for.

Sure enough, when Vasergov came to Sokov, he said apologetically: "I'm sorry, Comrade General, when we chased him into the alley, we didn't see anyone."

"How deep is this alley?" Sokov asked, "Did he disappear in the blink of an eye?"

"Comrade General, this alley is about fifty or sixty meters deep." Vaserigov replied: "There are many households in the alley, but the doors are closed. I estimate that after the person enters the alley, he may We entered a private house. There were only two of us, and we didn’t know what the person looked like, so we couldn’t find him.”

When Sokov heard what Vaselgov said, he could only sigh secretly, then waved his hand and said: "Everyone, get in the car. I think Lieutenant General Lukin should be waiting impatiently."

The vehicle got back on the road and drove for more than half an hour before entering a yard and stopping next to a three-story building.

After the car stopped, Yasenko turned to Sokov and said: "Comrade General, we are here!"

"Lead the way."

When Sokov followed Yasenko into the building, the two sentries standing at the door saluted him with guns and did not stop Vaselgov and others who were following him.

Under the leadership of Yasenko, Sokov and others arrived at the door of an office on the second floor.

Yasenko raised his hand and knocked twice on the closed double doors. Before any sound could be heard from inside, he raised his hand to push open one of the doors, walked in directly, and closed the door behind him.

After a while, Yasenko walked out of the door, opened it wide, and then said to Sokov respectfully: "Comrade General, please come in!"

Sokov turned to Vaseligov behind him and said: "You guys stay back here and wait for me." Then he walked into the office.

As soon as he entered the house, Sokov was stunned by what he saw. Lukin, who usually used a wheelchair at all times, was standing steadily in the middle of the house.

Seeing Sokov enter, Lukin opened his arms and said enthusiastically: "Misha, welcome to Yakutsk!"

After Sokov stepped forward and gave Lukin a warm hug, he asked curiously: "Lukin, how can you stand up?"

Hearing Sokov's question, Lujin laughed twice, and then said: "After you and Yasha left the headquarters, Marshal Vasilevsky once inspected our troops and saw that I was sitting in the After receiving him in the wheelchair, he said somewhat unhappily: "How can we keep our hero in a wheelchair?" After that, he called an officer and gave me a few instructions in a low voice. I received the prosthesis sent by Vasilevsky. After more than half a year of practice, I have basically got rid of the wheelchair and can walk freely without crutches.”

Although Lu Jin said that he could walk on his own, Sokov knew very well that no matter how exquisitely made the prosthetic limbs of this era were, the user would still not be able to walk as freely as a normal person, so he helped Lu Jin sit down on the sofa. .

"Misha, I really didn't expect you to come here so quickly after receiving my telegram." Lu Jin said with some surprise: "I thought you had to wait until the weather warmed up in June or July before coming here. "

Sokov is mute at the moment and can't express his pain. He can't tell the other party, "I didn't know it was so cold here in Yakutsk, otherwise I would definitely wait until summer to come visit you again." But he could think about these things in his mind, but he couldn't say them out, so he found a high-sounding reason: "Lu Jin, the situation is like this. Our army will hold a large-scale military exercise in Europe in late April, and I may I also want to participate in this exercise. If I don’t come to visit you before the exercise, I will have to wait until July or August. I don’t want to wait for Nanchang.”

Lujin heard Sokov say that a large-scale military exercise would be held in Europe in late April, and he couldn't help but curiously asked: "Misha, the war is over, why is our army conducting military exercises at this time?"

"Lukin, you may not know that this military exercise is to frighten the West." Sokov knew that Lukin had no chance to hear Churchill's speech, and put forward the "Iron Curtain" theory that would throw Churchill out. I told him about it and finally said: "Think about it, if we don't take a tough attitude to deal with this matter, Western countries will think that we are weak and can be bullied, and they will deal with us even more harshly in the future."

"Misha, I think Marshal Zhukov's approach belongs to the opponent." Lu Jin nodded and said: "When the opponent waves his fist at us, we should not show a smile to the opponent, but pick up an ax and swing it a few times. Next, let the other party know that we are not easy to bully.”