The officer took the gun, weighed it in his hand, and then said: "Mr. General, if you just shoot these damn escapees, one gun is enough. But if you want their death to make other people afraid, I
Need more guns."
"How many guns do you want?" Sokov asked.
The officer counted the Kwantung Army prisoners of war opposite who were about to be punished, and said: "I need 11 pistols, each with three bullets, and a gramophone."
"Lukin," Sokov turned to Lukin and said, "Please find him 11 more pistols and a gramophone."
"Misha, what are you doing?" Lu Jin frowned and said, "Giving prisoners of war so many guns, aren't you worried that something will happen?"
"Don't worry, Lukin." Sokov said with a smile: "I believe this SS officer will be able to play some new tricks for us."
Now that Sokov had said this, it was useless for Lukin to object, so he simply found 11 more pistols and a gramophone, placed them in front of the officer, and then stepped aside to take a look.
What kind of tricks can this officer do?
The officer walked up to the prisoners of war, selected 12 of them, asked them to form a circle, gave each of them a pistol, and said loudly: "I am going to play music on the gramophone now. When the music stops
, you just pull the trigger in your hand. There are three bullets in each gun. Whether you can survive depends on your own luck."
A Japanese translator standing next to him kept translating what the German officer said to the 12 selected prisoners of war.
After Sokov understood the rules set by the officers, he always felt that he had seen such a death game somewhere before.
Soon, the game begins.
As the music played, the Kwantung Army prisoners of war gathered in a group, each holding a pistol in their hands and pointing the gun at the head of a companion in front of them. Although there were several fires burning around them, they could clearly see
Everyone was trembling.
After the German officer waited for the music to play for a while, he suddenly moved the needle away, and the music from the phonograph suddenly stopped.
At the same time, two dull gunshots rang out in the field, and then two prisoners of war fell softly to the ground. The blood flowing from the back of their heads soon dyed the snow on the ground red. The soldiers surrounding them
Immediately step forward, drag the body out, shrink the circle with gaps, and continue playing the death game.
After three rounds of the game were played, 3 of the 12 prisoners of war were left. Two of them were so frightened that they peed their pants, and one was so frightened that he went crazy.
"Good job." Sokov nodded to the German officer, and then ordered a soldier, "Give him another 500 grams of bread and 100 grams of sausages."
"Misha," Lu Jin looked at the group of prisoners of war. He felt that killing a chicken to scare the monkeys should have the effect of a small punishment but a big warning, so he asked Sokov: "How about we let those prisoners of war return to their respective barracks?"
"Don't worry, the show has just begun." Sokov turned to Lukin and said: "The Germans used many tricks to treat the Jews and our prisoners of war in the concentration camps. Today I asked them to use these tricks in Guandong.
Go to the military prisoners of war and let them understand what the consequences will be if they try to escape again."
After saying this, Sokov came to the German prisoners of war again and asked them: "Do you have any other ways to play the game?"
As soon as the translator translated his words, all the German prisoners of war raised their hands. They wanted to exchange their performance in front of Sokov for food to fill their stomachs.
After scanning the prisoners of war, Sokov pointed at a corporal and said: "Corporal, come out."
The German corporal whose name was called by Sokov walked out of the queue happily and looked at Sokov expectantly, wondering when the other party would reward him.
Sokov asked someone to give the corporal a piece of bread, and then asked: "What method do you plan to use to punish these prisoners of war? Let me remind you that the method just used cannot be repeated. Do you understand?"
"Understood, Mr. General." The corporal swallowed the small piece of bread into his mouth as quickly as possible and assured Sokov: "I will not let you down."
After saying that, the corporal ran to the remaining ten or so Kwantung Army prisoners of war and shouted loudly at them for a while.
Due to the distance and the corporal's speaking speed, neither Sokov nor Lukin could clearly hear what the other party was shouting.
But at the next moment, they saw five Kwantung Army prisoners of war leaving the queue waiting to die and walking towards the brigade not far away.
After a while, they walked out of the crowd, each holding two prisoners of war, and returned to the queue waiting to die.
"What's going on?" Lu Jin asked in surprise when he saw this.
After a brief moment of astonishment, Sokov immediately remembered the history he knew, and explained to Lukin: "I think the German corporal must have told those Kwantung Army prisoners of war who were destined to die that each of them must pick two from the queue.
Prisoners of war with whom you have a good relationship, come and die with me."
"How could the prisoners of war of the Kwantung Army be so obedient?" Lu Jin asked in surprise.
"If I'm not wrong," Sokov continued: "The German corporal should tell them that each person must pick two companions to die together. If anyone doesn't do this, he will randomly capture ten times as many people.
Come out and execute them. These Kwantung Army prisoners of war had no choice but to go to the queue to pick people to prevent more people from dying."
"But how come only five prisoners of war went to pick someone, and the rest just stood still?"
"I think the corporal only picked five people."
Sure enough, the fifteen prisoners of war were quickly driven aside.
The German corporal ran over and said respectfully: "Mr. General, please order these 15 people to be shot."
For Sokov, only dead enemies are good enemies. He turned to Lukin and said: "Let someone shoot these 15 prisoners of war."
Next, the German prisoners of war proposed many disposal plans, but they were all rejected by Sokov.
The only plan that interests Sokov is to dig holes and bury all the Kwantung Army prisoners of war who are to be executed in the soil, leaving only one head outside, and then use a wooden stick to smash their heads like watermelons.
Smash it. But unfortunately, in this cold place, it is not easy to dig a hole. You have to use a howitzer to blow up the frozen soil, so the remaining Japs can only be dealt with in other ways.
.
Returning to Lu Jin's headquarters, not long after he sat down, an officer came in from the outside and reported to Lu Jin: "Comrade General, the commander who took over your post has arrived and is outside."
"Quick, please invite him in quickly."
After the officer left, Sokov stood up and said to Lukin: "Lukin, I will go sit next door first so as not to affect your handover work."
"Okay, Misha." Lujin felt that what Sokov said made sense, so he nodded in agreement: "I will come to you after I hand over the work."
Sokov came to the next room, and Seryosha and Vaserigov who were chatting quickly stopped talking and stood up.
"Sit down, sit down, sit down." After Sokov asked the two of them to sit down, he asked curiously: "What are you two talking about?"
"Misha, we are talking about the methods you just used to deal with Kwantung Army prisoners of war. Wasn't it a bit too cruel?"
"Seryozha, you have to remember that the Kwantung Army held in prisoner-of-war camps are not prisoners of war, but just a group of enemies who have laid down their weapons." Sokov said with a serious expression: "We must use everything we have to deal with the enemy.
You can use any means to send them to hell."
"Misha, when will Lieutenant General Lukin hand over the work?" Seryosha said with some urgency: "I don't know why, but since I saw you appearing, I can't wait to return to Moscow immediately."
"Don't worry, Seryosha, it won't take long for Lukin to hand over the job." Sokov comforted the other party and said: "Tonight at the latest, we will be able to return to Moscow."
"It will take five or six days by train." Seryosha sighed and said, "It would be great if we could take a plane. It only takes half a day to reach Moscow."
Sokov laughed heartily, "You've waited for so long, do you still care about a mere five or six days?"
"Misha, I'm thinking about one thing. My original home must be gone." Seryosha said with a look on his face: "You still don't know where to live after you go back?"
"It's okay, you can stay at my place." Sokov said with a smile: "The place I live in is big, even if there are a few more people, it can be accommodated."
"Really?" After Seryosha and Sokov reunited, they have been busy reminiscing about the past and haven't had time to ask Sokov about his current situation. Now that he heard that the other party let him live in his home, he naturally had to be more cautious: "
If you can’t live in it, don’t force it.”
"It's not forced at all. My family has a large enough territory." Sokov said: "Major Vaserigov can vouch for me. He and his subordinates are now living in my home."
Seryosha asked in surprise: "Misha, how big is the house you live in now? Can it accommodate so many people?"
"I live in a villa now, with two floors and a basement." Sokov said with a smile: "It can accommodate more than ten or twenty people."
"Oh, you have now moved into the villa." Seryosha said in surprise: "I never thought that I could enjoy the feeling of living in a villa in my lifetime."
After the three of them chatted here for a long time, Lukin walked in from the outside and said to Sokov: "Misha, my work has been handed over. You can leave at any time. I wonder what time you plan to take the train to leave here?"
"Of course, the sooner the better." It's really too cold here. Even if he stays in a heated room, Sokov feels chilled all over, so he hopes to leave here as soon as possible.
"I just checked the train timetable," Lu Jin said with a smile: "There is a train to Moscow at four o'clock this afternoon. If you have no objection, we will take this train back to Moscow."
"Well, I think the four o'clock bus is good, so I'll choose this one."
A few hours later, when the train started and slowly left the station, Lu Jin, who was sitting beside the bed, sighed softly: "I have been working here for more than half a year, and I am still somewhat reluctant to leave."
"The weather here is too cold, which is very bad for your health." Sokov said: "Now that the war is over, don't you want to live a few more years and take a good look at the changes in this country?"
"Of course I want to see it, but I don't know how long I can live."
Sokov remembered that Lukin later lived in Moscow for more than 20 years and did not die until May 1970. He lived longer than Rokossovsky. He quickly comforted the other person and said: "Don't worry, Lukin.
I believe you will live a long time."
"I hope so."
After a week of telegrams, the train finally arrived at the Moscow train station.
As soon as everyone got out of the car, a colonel officer came over, raised his hand and saluted Lu Jin, and said politely: "Hello, Comrade General, I am sent by Marshal Zhukov to pick you up. The car is already waiting outside, please
You come with me."
"Comrade Colonel," Sokov, who was standing nearby, interrupted and asked, "Do you need me to also see Marshal Zhukov?"
After hearing this, the colonel shook his head and said: "I'm sorry, General Sokov, Marshal Zhukov didn't say he wanted to see you. You'd better go home first."
Since Zhukov did not want to meet him, Sokov naturally would not force him. He walked up to Lu Jin, shook hands with him, and then said: "I have told you my home address. Please come to me when you are free."
You must come to my house as a guest."
"No problem, no problem." Lu Jin nodded and said, "When I have time, I will definitely visit your home."
After Lukin left with the colonel, Sokov turned to Vaserigov and Seryosha and said: "We have a lot of people. Let's find two cars and go back."
"Comrade General, leave this matter to me." Vaserigov said: "I will arrange a vehicle to pick us up."
As Zhukov's subordinate, Vasergov had a wide network of contacts. After making a phone call, within twenty minutes, two black cars drove directly to the platform.
Seeing the car coming, Vaserigov walked out of the station duty room. After chatting with the driver, he turned to Sokov and said: "Comrade General, the car has arrived. We can set off now."
The two cars left the train station and drove directly to the villa area where Sokov's family was located.
When the car stopped at the door of the villa, two soldiers in the duty room quickly ran over, opened the door of the villa, and invited everyone in.
Seryosha looked around and said with envy: "Misha, I really didn't expect that you live in such a big villa and have such a big yard. It would be a waste not to plant some flowers and plants in the yard.
"
"Seryozha, you don't know that there were originally a lot of flowers and plants planted in the yard, but because the original owner evacuated to other places, no one took care of them for a long time, and they all withered." Vaserigov said: "Wait a minute.
After spring begins, plant a new batch of flowers and plants, and then the yard will be even more beautiful.”
The speaker is unintentional but the listener is intentional. When Vaserigov told Seryosha to plant flowers and plants in the yard, Sokov was thinking about whether he could use the open space in the yard to plant some as the famine was coming.
What about potatoes? This way, even if the supply decreases in the future, there will still be potatoes to eat. The only regret is that there are no crops like sweet potatoes here, otherwise we must plant more varieties.
"Comrade General," Vasergov said to Sokov, "I know people in the Garden Bureau. Do you think you need them to come over and help you plant some flowers and plants after the weather gets warmer?"