Sokov felt that what Sidorin said was very reasonable. After laughing, he got up and went to the next room. He planned to find a place where no one was around to call Asya, so as not to have any worries about speaking in front of everyone.
After the call was connected, Asiya's angry voice came from the receiver: "Are you willing to call me?"
"Asia, I'm so sorry just now." Sokov said apologetically: "I shouldn't have any doubts about you..."
"Okay, there's no need to say anything." Asiya interrupted Sokov before he could finish his words, "How is your injury? Does it affect your walking?"
"Don't worry, the injury has healed a long time ago." Sokov said with a smile: "Marshal Zhukov came to inspect the defense area a few days ago. I followed him for two or three hours, and there was no problem at all."
"You should be more careful and don't get hurt again." Asiya said, "If you get hurt again, I'm afraid you won't be as lucky as last time."
"Well, I understand."
"There's nothing wrong, so I'll just hang up. I've been very busy at work recently."
"oh."
"Remember to call home when you have time. I'm at home every night."
"OK."
"Bye!"
Sokov held the microphone from which the blind tone came. After being dazed for a while, he returned to the war room.
Seeing Sokov come in, Sidorin asked with a half-smile: "The phone call is over."
Sokov did not answer, but nodded. Seeing that Ponedelin was not in the room, he casually asked: "Where did the deputy commander go?"
"Colonel Kirillov called and said something happened." Sidorin said: "He went out after answering the phone." Perhaps because he was worried about Sokov, he specifically added, "I think
It shouldn't be anything serious, otherwise he wouldn't have left without even saying hello."
Koshkin came in from outside and said to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Miresiev, the commander of the 25th Guards Regiment, wants to see you. Will you let him in?"
Miresiev is the first regiment-level commander personally appointed by Sokov after he became the commander of the 48th Group Army. According to Sokov's thinking: He came to him because he must have encountered some trouble at work.
There is no missing reason.
Thinking of this, he said to Koshkin: "Let him come in."
Soon, Koshkin came in with Milesiev.
After Miresiev saluted, Sokov did not talk in circles with him, but asked directly: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, did you come to me because you encountered any difficulties at work?"
"No, Comrade Commander." Unexpectedly, Milesiev said unexpectedly: "I have something very important to report to you, so I came here in a hurry."
"whats the matter?"
"Comrade Commander, it's like this." Miresiev explained: "There was a soldier in my regiment who was an employee of the Minsk State Bank before the war. After the war broke out, they were ordered to transfer one hundred dollars in the treasury.
Eighty tons of gold transferred..."
As soon as he heard about the transfer of gold in the vault, Sokov suddenly became interested: "Then what?"
"Comrade Commander, I was about to say something." Miresiev said with some embarrassment, "but you interrupted me."
"Keep talking."
"When we retreated to a nearby location, we were bombed by enemy planes and the road ahead was blocked by the outflanking German troops." Miresiev said: "Under the circumstances, we continued to follow the original plan and headed toward Moscow.
Transferring gold was already an impossible task. The bank leader who led the team decided to hide the gold and wait until the German troops were driven away before digging it out.
However, due to the urgent situation, there was no time left for them to dig a hole, so the bank leaders ordered people to throw the gold into the swamp. After doing all this, the bank leaders continued on their way with the empty truck to avoid the Germans discovering this place.
There is gold they hide."
After listening to Meresyev's story, Sokov turned to Sidorin and said: "Comrade Chief of Staff, what do you think I thought of after listening to the lieutenant colonel's story?"
Sidorin pondered for a moment, then said with a smile: "Comrade Commander, if I guess correctly, you are thinking of the missing Tsar's gold."
"Yes, I did think of the missing Tsar's gold." Sokov said: "After the Aurora's cannon was fired, a large amount of Tsar's gold did disappear. Among them, the Tsarist Russian Admiral Kolchak led
That batch of gold mysteriously disappeared in the Siberian snowfields."
Sidorin nodded and added: "Kolchak's army was completely wiped out when it crossed Lake Baikal. Kolchak himself was betrayed by the Czech Army and handed over to our army. Since then, the whereabouts of the gold has become a mystery. Our government
It is believed that some of the gold may have sunk into Lake Baikal and the rest fell into the hands of Kolchak's allies, but unfortunately there is not enough evidence to make the other party admit the fact."
"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," Sokov said to Miresiev, "What happened to the bank leader? Did he report a batch of gold that sank in the swamp to his superiors?"
"No, Comrade Commander." Miresiev shook his head and said: "I heard from the bank employee that they were bombed again by German planes during the transfer process. The bank leaders and most of the people were bombed.
He died, and he was also injured and fainted on the spot. When he woke up, he found that there were corpses all around and there was no living person. He struggled to escape into the forest and hid there for two days. Later,
Encountering a fleeing refugee force, he followed them back to the rear."
"Then did he report the gold matter to the relevant parties?"
"No." Miresiev shook his head again and said: "He fled to Smolensk with the refugees. As a result, the city fell into the hands of the Germans not long after, and he lived there incognito.
He keeps the secret of gold in his heart."
"Is he a new soldier or a veteran?" Sidorin asked unexpectedly.
"He is a veteran, Comrade Chief of Staff." Miresyev said: "When our army liberated Smolensk, he joined the army and is already considered a veteran."
Sidorin waited for Miresyev to finish and raised his question again: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I am very curious about one thing. Since he is not a new recruit, why did he not keep this secret after staying in the army for so long?
Tell anyone. But after you became the leader, he couldn't wait to tell you the secret. Isn't there some conspiracy in it? "
"No, Comrade Chief of Staff." Seeing that Sidorin was suspicious of the soldier who provided the information, Miresiev quickly explained to him: "I am also a Belarusian. After the war broke out, I followed the troops to retreat to the rear.
The soldier who provided the information was called Timofe, and he was my former neighbor. We had a good relationship. When he saw that I had served as the commander of the 25th Guards Regiment, he told me this secret. I felt that this matter was of great importance.
, it is necessary to report to you in person, so I came here."
"You did a good job, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Sokov nodded at the other party and said: "If this information is true, I believe that it won't be long before you have an extra star on your shoulders."
Today, Miresiev is a lieutenant colonel with two bars and two stars. With one more star, he is a colonel. So when Sokov said this, his eyes became bright with excitement: "Comrade Commander,
I can assure you that this information is absolutely true. If we send out manpower to search, we will definitely find the batch of gold that sank into the swamp."
"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," Sidorin asked, "do you know where the gold sank?"
"I only know the approximate location." Milesiev said, walked to the table, pointed to the map spread out on the table and asked: "Is that okay?"
After getting permission, he lowered his head and checked the map for a while, then pointed to a location and said to Sokov and Sidorin: "The vehicle carrying gold at that time was retreating along this road to the rear.
Due to the bombing by planes, the convoy deviated from its original route of action and passed through this swamp area. Under the emergency situation, the gold was sunk into the swamp."
After listening to Miresiev's words, Sokov couldn't help but frowned: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, does that soldier still remember the specific location? You know, this swamp is quite large, and a comprehensive search is required.
, is not an easy task.”
"Comrade Commander is right." Sidorin added on the side: "Moreover, some areas of the swamp are in the defense zone of friendly forces. If we want to conduct a search, it is not enough for us to dispatch troops alone. We must also get the cooperation of friendly forces."
OK."
Ponedelin came in from the outside at this moment, saw Sokov, and Meresiev outside Sidorin gathered around the table. He thought they were discussing some combat plan, so he couldn't help but ask: "Comrade Commander,
Hey, what are you discussing?"
Sokov turned around and saw Ponejelin coming back, and quickly greeted him: "Comrade Deputy Commander, you came back just in time. We have something to discuss with you."
"whats the matter?"
"Here, look here." Sokov pointed to the golden silent area and said to Ponedelin: "Comrade Deputy Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Miresiev told me that there was a soldier under his command.
It turned out that they were employees of the Minsk State Bank. Shortly after the war broke out, they were ordered to transfer a batch of gold to the rear. As a result, they were bombed by enemy planes and intercepted by enemy troops on the road. The leader of the bank ordered people to move the gold they carried.
The gold was thrown into the nearby swamp."
When Ponyjelin heard this, he couldn't help but interrupt and said: "Comrade Commander, you won't tell me that the place where the gold sank happens to be within our defense zone, right?"
"You can say that." Unexpectedly, Sokov nodded and said, "But some areas are within the defense zone of friendly forces. If we want to search for this batch of gold sunk in the swamp, we need to join forces with friendly forces.
action."
When he learned that if he wanted to search for gold, he needed to cooperate with friendly forces, Ponejelin asked cautiously: "Do you know the specific area? You know, the swamp area is so large, if there is no specific direction, even if thousands of people are involved,
Even if people search for it, it may be difficult to find this batch of gold.”
"Yes, I think about it this way too." Sokov continued: "I plan to report this matter to the front army headquarters, and they will come forward to coordinate our cooperation with friendly forces..."
"Wait a minute, Comrade Commander." Unexpectedly, before Sokov had finished speaking, he was interrupted by Ponejelin raising his hand: "Is this news reliable?"
"Reliable, completely reliable, Comrade Deputy Commander." Seeing that Ponedelin also questioned the authenticity of the matter, Miresyev quickly explained: "The soldier who provided me with the information was involved in the
Transportation work. He is my neighbor and has a good relationship with me. I believe he will never deceive me about this kind of thing."
After Ponedelin learned what he needed to know, he nodded to Sokov and said: "Comrade Commander, since Lieutenant Colonel Miresyev can guarantee that this matter is true, I think we can report it to the Front Army Headquarters.
Report and ask them to come forward to coordinate our cooperation with friendly forces."
Now that everyone's opinions were unified, Sokov did not hesitate and immediately picked up the phone and called the front army headquarters. He knew that Rokossovsky was still in Moscow at the moment, and the call was made to Chief of Staff Malinin, Commander
Although the official is not here, Ma Lining can make the decision on many things.
After receiving the call from Sokov, Malinin was a little surprised: "Comrade Sokov, do you know about that?"
Hearing Ma Linin ask this, Sokov was stunned for a moment. Then he understood that the other party was talking about the battle plan. He quickly nodded and replied affirmatively: "Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, Comrade General has already called me to tell me about this matter."
."
"Did you call just to verify the accuracy of the information?" Malinin asked and answered his own question before Sokov could speak: "You can rest assured about this, since the commander personally called you to inform you, that
The combat plan will definitely be implemented. As soon as the commander returns from Moscow, we will start making preparations for the war."
"Well, Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, actually the reason why I called you today was not about this plan." Sokov said with some embarrassment: "It was about other things."
"Something else?" Ma Lining asked with some confusion: "What is it?"
"That's it, Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army." Sokov glanced at Meresiev standing next to him, and said into the microphone: "One of my regiment commanders reported to me that he had a soldier
, was an employee of the State Bank of Belarus before the war. Shortly after the war broke out, he was ordered to transfer the gold in the vault. Unexpectedly, he was bombed and intercepted by the German army on the way. In order to prevent the gold from falling into the hands of the Germans, they had to
Instead of sinking the gold into a nearby swamp."
Malinin is also a smart man. When he heard this, he immediately realized that since Sokov called him, it must be related to this batch of gold, so he tentatively asked: "Comrade Sokov, where did this batch of gold sink?
Is it in your defense zone?"
"There are still some parts within the range of friendly forces." Sokov said straight to the point: "Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, I am calling you because I want you to come forward to coordinate the search work between us and friendly forces."
"How much gold is in this batch?"
"180 tons!"
This amount made Malinin take a breath: "How did such a large amount of gold sink into the swamp?" He was worried that Sokov didn't understand what he meant, and specifically explained: "It was thrown into the swamp piece by piece.
Or was it put in a wooden box and sunk in the swamp?”
How to throw the gold into the swamp, Sokov really didn't know. He quickly covered the microphone with his hand, looked at Miresiev and asked: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, should this batch of gold be scattered and thrown into the swamp, or should it be packed in
Throw it in a wooden box?"
"Of course I put it in a wooden box and threw it away."
"Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army," Sokov said into the microphone after figuring out how the gold was thrown into the swamp: "The gold was put in wooden boxes and thrown into the swamp. In other words, our search work has become easier.
."
Sokov's statement is correct. If gold is thrown into the swamp piece by piece, even if you know the specific location, it may not be easy to fish out so many gold bricks piece by piece.
But if it is put in a wooden box, the matter will be much simpler, and salvaging it will be very trouble-free.
This chapter has been completed!