"Hell, what kind of emergency is this? You can't even have a quiet meal." Sokov muttered to himself, and said to Koshkin who was standing at the window: "Lieutenant Koshkin, ask him what the matter is.
?”
Koshkin nodded and asked the driver downstairs: "Do you know anything?"
"I don't know." The driver downstairs shook his head like a rattle: "Comrade Lieutenant, please hurry up and ask the general to come downstairs."
"Comrade General," Koshkin saw that he couldn't get any useful information from the driver, so he turned to him and said, "It seems that the driver who came to summon you doesn't know what is going on. It seems that you may need to rush back immediately.
.”
Sokov knew very well that if there was nothing particularly important, Lunev would not send someone here to find him, so he stood up: "Let's go down first and see what's going on."
Sokov came to the outside of the building with the support of Asiya and Koshkin. Seeing this, the driver quickly stepped forward and saluted: "Comrade General, the deputy minister ordered me to pick you up and said that he has important matters to discuss with you.
.”
"Asiya," Sokov turned and asked Asiya: "Are you going back with me, or are you staying with your mother?"
"Misha," Asiya thought for a moment and replied, "Mom and I haven't seen each other for a long time. I want to stay here tonight. You can pick me up tomorrow."
"Okay, I'll pick you up tomorrow." After Sokov said this, he asked Koshkin: "Lieutenant Koshkin, you have drunk, can you drive?"
"No problem." Koshkin replied without hesitation: "I can drive."
Sokov stared at Koshkin, thinking to himself that as long as he found him a little drunk, he would let him stay and drive Asya back tomorrow, so that he would not have to make another trip.
However, after looking at it for a long time, I found that Koshkin's expression was as usual and there was no sign of being drunk at all, so he nodded and said, "Okay, let's set off now."
Although Sokov found no sign of Koshkin being drunk, he did not get into his car but got into the car driven by Lunev's driver.
The two cars left the family area one after the other and drove along the road toward the city center.
After driving for a while, Sokov suddenly realized that the car was going in the wrong direction and quickly reminded the driver: "Comrade driver, the route you are driving seems to be wrong. This road is not going to the Ministry of Internal Affairs."
"You are right, Comrade General." Unexpectedly, the driver replied calmly: "Comrade Vice Minister is not in the Ministry of Internal Affairs at the moment."
"Not the Ministry of Internal Affairs?!" Sokov asked in surprise: "Then where is he?"
"Weapons and Equipment Department." After the driver answered the question, he glanced at Sokov and added: "He is with Colonel Yakov at the moment."
As soon as the driver mentioned Yakov, Sokov immediately had the idea in his mind that the person who wanted to find him emotionally was not Lunev, but Yakov. Maybe he couldn't contact him, so he asked Lunev
Nev asked for help, and Runev, who happened to know his whereabouts, sent a driver to find him.
But one thing puzzled Sokov. He curiously asked the driver: "Comrade driver, I want to ask, how do you know where we are?" You know, not only Sokov followed Nina back.
After returning home, I found out where my father-in-law’s home was. Even Asya saw her new home for the first time, but Lunev’s driver found this place easily. Unless Lunev sent someone to monitor this place,
Otherwise it would be impossible to find a place easily nowadays.
The driver turned to look at Sokov and said with a smile: "Comrade General, do you think that I can easily find this place? There must be something wrong. Maybe someone has been monitoring this place?"
Seeing that the driver guessed what he was thinking, Sokov did not hide it, but nodded and replied: "Yes, that's what I thought. Can you give me an answer?"
"Comrade General, to tell you the truth, before I came here, I had no idea where your wife lived." The driver told Sokov truthfully: "When I came here, I originally wanted to ask the police to help search, but I didn't.
Thinking about the moment I entered the family area, I saw Lieutenant Koshkin’s car..."
When Sokov heard this, he suddenly realized that the reason why the emotional driver could find his location so quickly was entirely because the black car driven by Koshkin exposed his target.
Koshkin, who was following behind, also noticed something was wrong, and he quickly accelerated to catch up. When the two cars were parallel, he asked the driver loudly: "Hey, let me tell you, where are you going to drive the car?"
go?"
"Go to the weapons and equipment department." The driver remembered that he did not communicate with Koshkin before getting in the car, which may have caused a misunderstanding, and quickly explained loudly: "Comrade Deputy Minister is also there."
Hearing that Lunev was also in the weapons and equipment department, Koshkin stopped talking. He slowed down the car and continued to follow the car in front, keeping the necessary distance and driving towards the weapons and equipment department.
After arriving at the weapons and equipment department, the sentry at the door saw the license plates of the two vehicles clearly, and opened the door to let them through without checking them at all.
Seeing that the sentry at the door didn't even check, he just let him go. Sokov couldn't help but frowned, thinking that the security force of the weapons and equipment department was too lax. He saw a car coming, but he didn't even check it.
It was released directly.
"Comrade General." The driver next to him saw Sokov's performance in the rearview mirror and asked with a smile: "Do you think the security here is too lax, and they let in and out vehicles without even checking them?
"
"Yes, that's what I think." Sokov didn't hide his true thoughts.
"You misunderstood, Comrade General." The driver explained to Sokov: "Since the second half of last year, the sentries on duty at the weapons and equipment department have been replaced by people from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Their biggest characteristic is that they have good memories.
They knew which vehicles were coming in and out without checking them. When we first entered, the sentry saw the license plate of the car clearly and knew who was coming, so naturally they would not check it again."
"Oh, so that's it." Sokov turned his head and glanced behind him, and said apologetically: "I wrongly blamed them."
When the two cars stopped at the door of the building, an officer waiting here immediately came forward, opened the door for Sokov, and said respectfully: "Hello, General Sokov, this is Deputy Lunev.
The minister ordered me to wait for you here."
After speaking, he stepped forward to support Sokov and called to nearby soldiers: "Come here and help me support General Sokov."
"No need, I'll do it." Before the soldiers came over, Koshkin, who had just walked over, waved his hands to them and said, "I'll help the general in."
Sokov walked into the building with the support of the officer and Koshkin. He asked the officer curiously: "Do you know that General Lunev called me here in a hurry for something important?"
"It's just some dispute over work." The officer replied disapprovingly: "The two sides are still arguing. It was Colonel Yakov who proposed that you come to the meeting. I hope that through you, the dispute can be brought to an end."
After listening to this, Sokov was confused. He thought that the dispute over the work within the weapons and equipment department had nothing to do with him. Why did Lunev personally send a driver to pick him up? But he knew that he would have to ask the officer again.
After getting more answers, he continued to move forward with the help of the two people.
Before entering the room, I heard a fierce quarrel coming from inside.
A lieutenant guarding the door saw the arrival of Sokov and his party, and quickly stepped forward to open the door and made a gesture of invitation to Sokov. Sokov nodded to him, then leaned on his cane
He limped in.
The person sitting at the head of the conference room was Ustinov, Runev sat on his left hand, and Yakov sat on the right. There were seven or eight other people, all of whom Sokov didn't know.
Seeing Sokov enter, the entire conference room fell silent. Ustinov smiled and said: "Comrade Sokov, I finally waited for you. If you don't come, our meeting will not be held until
Only then can it be over.”
"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry." Sokov felt that he was quite innocent. There was a dispute at work within your weapons and equipment department, and we have half a kopeck relationship with me? But due to Ustinov's status
, he could only say apologetically: "I was temporarily delayed by something, which kept everyone waiting for a long time."
Ustinov had always admired Sokov very much and said with a smile: "Comrade Sokov, come and sit next to me."
Yakov quickly moved a seat to the side so that Sokov could sit next to Ustinov. But Sokov waved his hands and said: "No, no, I still want to sit in Colonel Yakov's seat."
around."
Yakov laughed dumbly: "Misha, even if you sit in this position, you are still sitting next to me."
The conference room suddenly burst into laughter, and the tense atmosphere just now disappeared without a trace.
"Comrade Sokov," Ustinov began to explain to Sokov after the laughter stopped: "Before you came, we were discussing what kind of equipment should be produced for our army's landing operations?
"
When he heard the word "landing operations", Sokov first thought of the hovercraft that had been used in the Battle of Kharkov. After turning his head and looking at Yakov, he again focused on Ustino.
I was looking at my husband, wanting to hear what he would say next.
“Today, there are two different views.” Ustinov continued: “One is to produce amphibious ships, which combine the dual functions of cars and ships into one, and can travel on land like a vehicle.
, and can sail on the water like a ship."
"What about the other one?"
"The other type is naturally the hovercraft you used in the Battle of Kharkov." Ustinov said to Sokov: "You are the only force that has used this equipment. How is its performance?
He is the one who has the most say."
When Sokov heard this, he finally understood. Before he came in, the two sides were working on what kind of river-crossing equipment to produce to help the troops carry out landing operations. Needless to say, Yakov was probably the one who supported the production of hovercrafts, while the opposition group,
It was the engineers opposite who were meeting for the first time.
"Misha," Yakov said after Ustinov finished speaking, "We all know that your troops are not only the first to use this kind of river crossing equipment, but you are also the inventor of this kind of river crossing equipment.
Tell me, if our army equips a large number of hovercrafts, what will it look like during beach landing operations?"
"Comrade engineers," Sokov said to the people sitting opposite: "I think you all know how fast the hovercraft can travel and how many troops and equipment it can carry, right?"
After saying this, Sokov paused for a moment to observe everyone's reaction. Seeing everyone nodding to show that they understood the data of the hovercraft, he continued: "Imagine if you want to cross a large river up to a kilometer wide.
, a high-speed hovercraft can deliver our commanders and various equipment to the other side in just a few minutes. This is an advantage that cannot be replaced by other river-crossing equipment."
"General Sokov," as soon as Sokov finished speaking, a gray-haired man stood up and said with a straight face: "I don't deny what you just mentioned. So far, you have indeed found
There is no river-crossing equipment that is faster than a hovercraft. However, I would like to remind you that the cost of building a hovercraft is high, and the subsequent maintenance is also very troublesome."
"Misha," Yakov tilted his head and explained to Sokov: "This is senior engineer Foining, who took the lead in opposing our putting the hovercraft into mass production."
Sokov nodded after hearing this, and after Foining finished speaking, he said calmly: "Senior Engineer Foining, I agree with your point of view. Although the hovercraft is suitable for fighting in complex terrain, its only shortcoming is
The cost is high and maintenance is difficult. For example, if we have to invest a large number of hovercrafts in landing operations on a vast front like the Dnieper River, I am afraid that after a battle, the consumption of hovercrafts alone will be equivalent to the loss of one or two tank brigades.
.Therefore, under the current circumstances, it is obviously inappropriate to mass-produce hovercrafts."
Foining originally thought he would have a verbal argument with Sokov, but he didn't expect that the other party actually agreed with his point of view, and he couldn't help showing a proud expression on his face. He even glanced at Yakov provocatively.
, I said in my heart that the ally you found turned against me in just a few words.
Yakov, on the other hand, frowned. He originally thought that after Sokov understood the ins and outs of the matter, he would choose to stand with him without hesitation, but he did not expect that the other party actually supported Foining's point of view. Yakov
The husband felt a little regretful and felt that he might have made a mistake by calling Sokov here today.
Sokov knew that what he said would definitely cause Yakov's displeasure. But in order to solve the problem at hand, he looked at Foining opposite and asked: "Senior Engineer Foining, I wonder if you can connect the two waterways?"
Can you show me the drawings of the ship?"
"Okay." Seeing that Sokov was on his side, Foining generously pushed the drawings in front of Sokov and said enthusiastically: "Comrade General, this is
Our design drawings. If you think there is anything that needs improvement, please feel free to point it out."
Sokov pulled the drawing in front of him and lowered his head to examine it. The amphibious boat in the picture is very simple. It has the shape of a boat on the top and four wheels on the bottom. It can be used to float on the water or on land.
walk.
After reading the drawings, Sokov raised his head, looked at Foining opposite, and asked slowly: "Senior Engineer Foining, I would like to ask, how many people can your amphibious ship carry?