The car continued to drive forward. When a small alley appeared on the side of the road, the driver turned the steering wheel and turned directly into it.
"Yasha!" Although Sokov had been to Lenin Street many times in his past life, this was the first time he saw this alley. He asked Yakov curiously: "What are we doing in this alley?"
After hearing this, Yakov smiled slyly and said, "Misha, don't worry, you will know when we get there."
The car passed through one brick-concrete building after another, and soon a group of buildings surrounded by walls appeared in front of them. There was actually a sentry standing guard at the entrance of the yard.
Seeing this, Sokov asked curiously: "Yasha, the place you want to take us to will not be inside the wall, right?"
"Yes, our destination is inside."
Sokov looked at his surroundings. In addition to the sentries standing guard at the door, he could also see patrols with military dogs patrolling the walls. He couldn't help but frowned: "Yasha, the security here is so tight, I'm afraid it's not
A place where ordinary people live, right?”
Yakov smiled and said: "Misha, you are right, the generals live in the courtyard. The new house arranged by the superiors is in this courtyard."
Hearing that all the generals living in the courtyard made Sokov feel a little flustered. Although he was also a general, living in such a place still put a lot of psychological pressure on him: "The generals who live here, no matter who they are, are
He should be higher than me in terms of seniority and status. Is it appropriate for me to live in the same place as them?"
"What's inappropriate?" Yakov said: "Although you are young and your qualifications are not as senior as theirs, in our army, you have been promoted from an ordinary soldier to a general by virtue of your outstanding military exploits. If you
If you are not qualified to live here, then who is qualified to live here?”
Sokov's heart warmed up after hearing this. Although Yakov's words were loud and full of pretense and unreasonableness, they were very considerate and made him feel very comfortable after hearing them. While he was talking, the car had arrived.
Arrive at the gate of the courtyard.
The sentry at the door stopped the car with his hand, bent down, looked into the car, and asked Yakov politely: "Comrade Colonel, what can I do for you?"
"I am Colonel Yakov, and I was ordered to send General Sokov here."
The sentry glanced at the back row and immediately saw Sokov sitting with Asiya. He quickly straightened up and took a step back. After raising his hand in salute, he gestured to the other sentry at the door, telling him to lift the railing.
lift it up.
After the car drove into the courtyard, the driver turned to Yakov and said, "Comrade Colonel, where are you going next?"
"Go to Building 17." Yakov said to the driver: "General Sokov's new residence is in Building 17."
When the car came to a stop next to Building 17, Sokov discovered that it was a two-story stone building. Even if it was directly hit by a 105mm artillery, it would not collapse. He said with emotion: "Ya
Sha, this house looks old."
"Yes, this house has a history of more than a hundred years." Yakov nodded and said: "It was originally a shantytown. Shortly after Napoleon's army occupied Moscow in 1812, a war broke out that forced them to abandon it.
The fire caused the city to retreat, and this place was burned to ruins. When reconstruction began in 1817, it became a residential area for dignitaries."
Yakov led the two of them to the second floor of the building, opened one of the doors and walked in. Then he opened his arms and said with an exaggerated expression: "Misha, this is your new house. Let's see if it suits you."
!”
The living room in front of him is more than thirty square meters, with a couch and a coffee table. Near the kitchen door, there is a long dining table and twelve matching chairs.
Sokov raised his head and looked at the ceiling. There were actually paintings on it. He checked the distance visually and found that the ceiling was almost five meters high. Seeing that the ceiling in the living room was so high, Sokov couldn't help but think of what a good friend said in the past.
If so, the other party said that the ceiling of a house he rented was so high that when he first moved in, every time he woke up in the middle of the night and turned on the lights, he felt as if he was sleeping under a telephone pole on the roadside.
.
Thinking of this past event, the corners of Sokov's mouth couldn't help but turn up slightly. His expression happened to be noticed by Yakov, who misunderstood him and thought that the other party felt happy after seeing the new house.
Then he asked: "Misha, how are you? Are you satisfied with this new house?"
"Satisfied, very satisfied." After Sokov said, he walked through the living room. He wanted to see if the height of the bedroom was as exaggerated as the living room.
Yakov followed closely and said to him: "Misha, this house has three bedrooms. You and Asiya live in the master bedroom. If you have a child in the future, you can let him live in the second bedroom. As for the remaining one,
, just use it as a guest room. When guests come, you can stay here."
After casually pushing open the door of a bedroom, Sokov looked up at the ceiling. The height here was indeed the same as that of the living room. However, there was a bed with four beds and curtains fixed on the pillars.
As long as it is put down, a small space will be formed, so that the person lying on the bed will not be affected by the height of the house at all.
"That's great, Misha, this house is really great." Asiya walked into the room, looked around, and said with great emotion: "Does this house really belong to us?"
"It goes without saying, Asiya." Before Sokov could finish speaking, Yakov said first: "This was assigned to Misha by the superiors. It was assigned two months ago. I took advantage of Misha's
Sha was still hospitalized, so I found someone to clean up the house and add necessary furniture so that you can move in with your bags."
When he heard Yakov say the word "move-in", Sokov couldn't help laughing. But he quickly stopped the smile on his face, looked at Yakov and asked: "Yasha, help me clean up the house and buy new things."
Furniture must be expensive, right? You have helped me so much, I have no reason to ask you to help me pay for it. How much it cost, I will ask Asiya to transfer it to you later. "
"No money." Yakov pointed to the various furniture and decorations in the house and said to Sokov: "The bed, wardrobe and table in the house, as well as the tapestries on the walls and the carpets on the floor, are all from us.
It was moved from the warehouse at no cost at all.”
Yakov walked to the closet, reached out and opened the closet door, turned around and said to Sokov: "Misha, we have prepared some casual clothes for you here, basically all new. If you don't want to wear military uniforms when you go out, just
You can wear these clothes to go out."
Seeing the clothes hanging full in the cabinet, Sokov said gratefully to Yakov: "Yasha, thank you so much for thinking so carefully about me."
"Misha, don't be so polite." Yakov raised his hand and patted Sokov on the shoulder, and said with a smile: "We are not only good friends, we were also good brothers who shared life and death. Let me help you do this.
Things are as they should be.”
There was a knock at the door, and Yakov said to Sokov: "The administrator should be here!"
Opening the door, there was an elderly lieutenant standing outside. Seeing Yakov appearing at the door, the lieutenant immediately smiled and said, "Are you Colonel Yakov?"
"Yes, I am Yakov." Yakov nodded and said, "Are you the administrator?"
"Exactly, Comrade Colonel. I am the administrator." The lieutenant replied: "I am here to deliver the pass to General Sokov. Is he here?"
"Hello, Comrade Administrator." Sokov took two steps forward and stood side by side with Yakov: "I am Sokov."
After the administrator saluted Sokov, he handed two hard cards to Sokov: "Comrade General, this is the access card for the community. Please keep it properly. If you accidentally lose it, please contact our management office in time.
, we will reissue it for you in time."
"Comrade Administrator," Sokov saw that the administrator had been standing at the door, so he turned to the side, stretched out his hand and made a gesture of invitation: "Please come in and sit down."
"No, no, Comrade General." The administrator waved his hands and said in a panic: "I have other things to do, so I won't go in."
Seeing that the administrator was unwilling to come in, Sokov did not force himself, so he casually asked: "Comrade administrator, do you have anything else to explain?"
"That's it, Comrade General." The administrator said to Sokov: "Someone will come to help you install the phone tomorrow. Please be sure to leave someone at home, lest the employees of the Post and Telecommunications Bureau come and cannot get in."
"Don't worry, Comrade Administrator." Sokov replied with a smile: "There will be someone at my house at any time tomorrow."
After the administrator left, Sokov closed the door and said to Yakov: "Yasha, it's dinner time now, why don't you have something at my place?"
Asiya interjected from the side and said: "You guys sit and chat first, I'll go out to buy something."
"No, no, no," Yakov waved his hands and said, "The necessary ingredients have been prepared for you in the kitchen, Asiya, you don't need to buy them."
"Okay!" Asiya took off her military coat, hung it on the cloakroom at the door, rolled up her sleeves and said to the two of them, "I'm going to cook, you guys chat for a while first."
Sokov also felt that the heating in the room was turned on enough, so he took off his military coat, hung it on the coat rack, and then said to Yakov: "Yasha, it's too hot in the room, you can also put it on
Take off your coat."
When Yakov took off his coat, Sokov took it and hung it on the coat rack. Yakov said jokingly: "Misha, it's a great honor for you, a lieutenant general, to help me, a colonel, hang my clothes.
"
After the two sat down on the sofa in the living room, Sokov said apologetically: "Yasha, I'm so sorry. I don't have anything at home. I don't even want to buy you a cup of tea."
"If we can't drink tea, we can drink." Yakov said, standing up and walking to a closet by the wall. After opening the door, he took out a bottle of whiskey and two goblets.
After returning to sit down next to Sokov, Yakov placed the two goblets on the coffee table, opened the bottle cap of the whiskey, and poured some wine into each of the two glasses. He picked up the two glasses.
, handed one of them to Sokov, then raised the cup in his hand and said to Sokov: "Misha, to celebrate your discharge from the hospital and your move to a new home, let's have a drink."
Sokov and Yakov clinked glasses, raised his head and poured the whiskey in the glass down his throat. Because he drank so hard, he choked and coughed violently.
"Drink slowly," Yakov said with a smile while patting Sokov on the back, "No one will compete with you."
Hearing Sokov's violent coughing, Asya, who was busy in the kitchen, immediately rushed out and asked with concern: "Misha, what's wrong with you? Why are you coughing so hard!"
"I, I'm fine." Sokov coughed and explained to Asiya: "I drank too fast and accidentally choked. You go back to the kitchen to cook."
Knowing that Sokov just choked while drinking, Asiya warned uneasily: "Your injury has not completely healed. If you cough too hard, it may cause local wound rupture, which will cause trouble.
When you drink later, you have to drink slowly, you know?"
After admonishing Sokov, she turned to Yakov and said: "Yasha, Misha's injury has not completely healed yet, don't let him drink too much."
"I understand." Although Asiya did not say that she was not allowed to drink anymore, the meaning in her words had clearly stated her attitude. Yakov quickly put away the wine glass on the table and said apologetically
Said to Asiya: "That's it for today, we won't drink anymore."
Sokov knew that Yakov had a good drinking capacity, and the glass of wine just now was just to quench his thirst. So after Asiya left, he said apologetically: "Yasha, I'm really sorry for causing you this."
You can't drink anymore. If you want to drink, please feel free to drink, but I can't accompany you."
"There's no need." Yakov capped the bottle, stood up and put the unfinished whiskey into the cupboard. He turned back to Sokov and said to him: "Wait until your injury is completely healed.
After that, let’s have a good drink.”
"Okay then, wait until I recover from my injury before drinking."
"Misha," since they can't drink and the two of them can't sit idle in the living room, Yakov takes the lead and asks, "When will you graduate?"
"The intermediate commander training class ended yesterday." Sokov replied: "According to the original plan, I will stay in the academy for half a year to participate in the senior commander training class and special training classes."
"That's such a pity." Although Sokov and himself were the only ones in the living room, Yakov still lowered his voice and said: "The day before yesterday, the troops of the 1st and 2nd Ukrainian Fronts used east-west assault tactics to attack the German Army Group South.
11 divisions and brigades formed an encirclement. If you return to the army now, you can still catch up with this battle."
Sokov knew that the battle Yakov was talking about was the Korsun-Shevchenkovsky battle jointly launched by the Vatutin and Konev forces. In this battle, the Soviet army fought internally and externally.
It fought head-on against the powerful German counter-attacks and counter-assaults, annihilating more than 70,000 enemies, and even killed the commander of the German 11th Army, Wilhelm Stemermann. In order to crush the German southern flank and completely liberate the right-bank Ukraine, it created
favorable conditions.
"Yes, it's a pity." Sokov felt very regretful that he could not participate in this battle: "Judging from the combat area, the German Viking Division is also among them. You must know the combat effectiveness of this unit.
The 300th Infantry Division under my command was once defeated by them. In this battle, our army used millions of troops from two fronts. Even if the Viking Division was not defeated,
Even if they are completely wiped out, they will suffer heavy losses. I don’t know how long it will take before I have the opportunity to fight this army again.”