The drinking party in the office was still going on, but the topic changed to something that Wei Ran was interested in after a few glasses of wine.
"Gusen, Zoya and I have a small gift for you." As Mikita spoke, she also winked at the female nurse Zoya sitting opposite.
Without waiting for Dr. Gusen's response, Zhuo Ya put down her cup, opened the door and walked out. She stood at the door of the opposite ward and lit a cigarette. She paid close attention to the locked push-pull anti-theft door not far away.
Door.
Inside the office, Mikita glanced at Wei Ran and then at Dr. Gusen. With a smile, he reached out and picked up the medal-encrusted wine bottle from the desk next to him, opened it, and pressed the spout of the wine bottle against the enamel.
The wall of the jar poured out all the wine inside.
At the same time, Wei Ran and Gu Sen also clearly heard some gurgling noises coming from the wine bottle.
Putting the enamel jar filled with wine aside, Mikita stretched out his hand to pick up the remaining slices of ham on the plate and threw them into the plate with pickles, then put the wine bottle over and shook it.
Immediately afterwards, four small green stones, only the size of soybeans, were shaken from the wine bottle onto the plate.
It wasn't over yet, Mikita put the wine bottle aside, turned around and took out a cylindrical hand warmer from the desk.
After he opened the inner pot of the hand warmer and pulled out the cotton inside, he shook out a green stone about the size of half a peanut.
"These are the five purest gemstones recently discovered in that mine."
While Mikita was speaking, he stuffed the cotton ball filled with kerosene back into the inner pot of the hand warmer, then picked up a revolver from the desk, and while removing the bullets, he said, "Gusen, I'll wait for you.
After returning to Kazan, when you are not busy, you can take time to go to Omsk to find my father. If you know his address, you must also know that my father used to be a jewelry craftsman, and he taught me my craft."
"Do you need me to bring these small stones to him?" Gu Sen asked as he picked up the wine glass and took a sip.
"certainly"
Mikita nodded and said to himself, "Let him help you use the largest stone and two small ones to make a necklace for my sister Sasha, and then use the other two to make a wedding necklace for each of you."
Quit.”
Having said that, Mikita also pulled out three bullets from the pistol. Then, he took out a screwdriver only the size of a finger from his pocket and easily unscrewed the warheads of the three bullets.
.
Gently picking up a bullet that was obviously much longer, Mikita whispered, "Gusen, this bullet is made of gold. It's enough for each of you to use to make the main body of the ring."
"Where did you get the gold?" Gu Sen asked in surprise.
"Before you came, I went to a mine to suppress the rioting German prisoners of war. There was gold in the associated mine there. I spent a lot of effort to make this bullet."
While Mikita explained in a low voice, he had already screwed the golden bullet back onto the shell. Then he picked up four small green stones the size of soybeans from the plate and stuffed the other two in groups of two.
In the bullet casing.
After reloading them with bullets, Mikita turned around and took another brand-new Nagant revolver from the desk. In front of Wei Ran and Gu Sen, he skillfully removed the upper part of the handle.
The wooden patch was inserted into the gap between the trigger springs with a stone about the size of half a peanut, and then the patch was reinstalled.
Looking up at the direction of the office door, Mikita stuffed the bullet with a golden bullet into the bullet nest, and then stuffed one of the bullets with two gems into it.
This was not over yet. He took out a box of countersunk bullets from his pocket, and while loading it, he reminded, "These are real bullets. In other words, the first five bullets are all real, and the last two are real."
Fake."
After handing the loaded pistol to Dr. Goson with a strange expression, Mikita took out another leather cord from his pocket, passed it through the small hole drilled in the only remaining bullet on the table, and connected it with
The pistol was handed to Gusen together, "I have engraved your favorite quote from Comrade Stalin on this bullet. When you go back, give it to Sersi as a gift."
"How long have you been preparing these things?"
Dr. Gusen took the pistol, looked at it, put it back on the desk, and then took the bullet casing with a leather cord. Sure enough, the bullet casing was engraved with a famous saying of Stalin - "Thoughts are more powerful than weapons."
, we don’t allow our enemies to have weapons, so why should we allow them to have ideas?”
Seeing the other party hanging the bullet casing necklace around his neck, Mikita smiled proudly, "I started preparing it since I knew Comrade Political Commissar was helping you apply for a medal. Even the revolver was made by the Political Commissar and I.
I propose to reward you."
"Did you already know that I would leave?" Gusen asked as he stuffed the bullet casing into his collar.
"Since you applied to send my sister to Kazan to wait for childbirth, I guessed that you would definitely leave here too."
After Mikita said this, he took out a Soviet medical encyclopedia that Wei Ran was very familiar with and handed it to Gusen, "I asked you to borrow the book at that time. Sorry, Victor borrowed it and read it."
A few days, and then he accidentally damaged a few pages."
"I broke a few..."
Dr. Goosen grinned after opening the book. How many pages were damaged? This good book had a big hole dug out, and there were 14 bullets with primers fixed in it.
.
Seeing Gu Sen looking at him, Wei Ran quickly spread his hands and accepted the blame with an innocent look, "I'm sorry, I really broke it accidentally."
"Forget it, thank you for the gift."
Dr. Gusen shook his head helplessly, picked up the pistol placed on the table again and put it into the groove dug out in the medical encyclopedia, "Mikita, Victor, are you planning to just use those gems you secretly obtained?
Transport it out bit by bit? Sooner or later it will be discovered."
"We have no intention of shipping those gems out."
Mikita explained in a low voice with a hint of excitement, "When you went to Kazan to give your report, I heard someone from the exploration team say that the iron ore in Mine No. 52 will be exhausted soon.
Starting next winter at the latest, production here will begin to be gradually reduced, and the two-legged livestock will be transferred to an aluminum mine on the west side of the Ural Mountains to continue working. At that time, we will also go to that mine to continue working.
.”
"So this place will be abandoned soon?" Gu Sen asked in surprise.
"After all the magnetite here is mined, it will definitely be abandoned," Mikita replied affirmatively.
"Then the associated mine you discovered..."
Before Dr. Gusen finished speaking, the door of the office was pushed open. Zhuo Ya leaned against the door frame and whispered, "Comrade Political Commissar is here."
"Anyway, if you have the chance to go back before Christmas, be sure to remember to send us photos. I can't wait to see what Selsi looks like now." Wei Ran raised his voice slightly and changed his voice at the right time.
While chatting, he also stuffed the plate that still smelled of kerosene under the desk.
Mikita patted Wei Ran's shoulder approvingly, and said in a slightly louder voice, "And my sister Sasha, bastard Gusen, if you let me know that you dare to bully my sister, I will definitely send you to the mine.
The cave was closed for a whole month!"
"Which bastard dared to send our Doctor Gusen into the mine?"
Before he finished speaking, a man in military uniform with the rank of captain also walked into the office carrying a bottle of wine.
"Comrade Political Commissar!" Mikita stood up faster than Wei Ran and saluted, "It's me!"
"I knew it must be you, bastard"
The political commissar returned the favor perfunctorily, sat down in the seat that originally belonged to Zhuo Ya, and asked, "It seems I'm late? I thought I would be the first to come to Comrade Gusen for a drink to celebrate."
The female nurse Zoya, who was still leaning against the door frame, said with a smile, "Unless you drive these two bastards Mikita and Victor out of Mine No. 52, you will never be the first to find him no matter what day.
Dr. Goosen is a drinking man.”
"Then I'll leave it to you, Comrade Zhuo Ya."
The political commissar, who seemed to be easy to talk to, unscrewed the wine bottle and said, "When you and Mikita have children like Gusen and Sasha, I will definitely find a way to send you back to the civilized world."
Zhuo Ya rolled her eyes, went to the table, picked up her own cup, and let the political commissar pour herself half a cup of vodka, "Forget it, rather than that, I'd rather live in this world full of beasts.
I will work until retirement."
"In this case, Mikita can't even think of leaving this hellish place."
The political commissar smiled and poured wine for Wei Ran and others without any pretense. Finally, he picked up the cup, clinked it with everyone, and drank it all.
"Comrade Political Commissar, do you know when Gusen left Mine No. 52?" Mikita asked with concern.
"That's what I'm here for"
The political commissar put down the cup and said, "Comrade Gusen, please make preparations and leave with the transport team on January 2nd, so that you can be reunited with Sasha and your children before Christmas."
"So early?" Dr. Gusen raised his eyebrows.
"Your receiving unit has just sent a telegram. They want you to report after Christmas."
As the political commissar spoke, he took out a telegraph newspaper from his pocket and handed it to Gusen, "Considering your contribution to the medical field and your family situation, your wife Sasha has also been assigned a new job. In the future, she
He’s the ticket collector at the passenger railway platform.”
"This is really good news worth a drink!" Mikita happily picked up the wine bottle on the table.
"It seems that I can't spend Christmas with you." Dr. Gusen also picked up the cup as he spoke.
With this political commissar joining the drinking party, the content of the chats at the wine table also changed. More often than not, it was the political commissar who humbly asked Dr. Gusen about issues related to the management of prisoners of war.
After the half bottle of wine on the table was drunk, the female nurse Zhuo Ya also exited the drinking party and staggered out of the office that was filled with the strong smell of alcohol. Immediately afterwards, Mikita and Wei Ran also said goodbye and left.
This gave Dr. Goosen and the political commissar room to talk.
He was two steps slower than Mikita without leaving a trace. Wei Ran, who was following behind, also recognized after leaving the office. This seemed to be the second floor of the abandoned hospital in later generations, because it was right in front of them, not far away from the stairs.
At the location, there is also a sliding security door painted with silver white paint.
Following Mikita down to the first floor and out of the hospital, Wei Ran's eyes widened in shock at what he saw.
Wherever you look, the most eye-catching thing is the two two-story-high statues in the center surrounded by surrounding buildings. There is a circle of lights emitting beams of light around the statues.
Looking beyond the lights, through the barbed wire fence and sentry towers erected on the edge of the trench, Wei Ran could also see the dim light bulbs hanging on the light poles at the entrances of the shacks, as well as the rows of chimneys emitting smoke under the surging aurora.
group.
Just from the on and off status of the street lights and whether there is smoke from the chimney, it can be seen that the shack where the prisoners of war lived is divided into two parts: the left and the right.
In the half with the lights on, an endless number of prisoners of war were lining up under the street lights, seemingly receiving food from a passing truck. The half with no lights on, however, was exceptionally quiet at this time.
, even the chimney is obviously out of work. It is obvious that the prisoners of war here are working in shifts.
However, when Wei Ran focused his attention on the end of his sight, he discovered something was wrong. At the foot of the mountain, there were five mines lined up in a row. The entrance to each mine was brightly lit, and from time to time, there were also
You can see the mine cars pulled by trucks busy going in and out of the mine entrances.
"Mikita, how many prisoners of war do we have here?" Wei Ran looked back and caught up with Mikita who was walking in front and asked.
"I remember that according to the statistics before the polar night, there were more than 2,600 people left." Mikita burped, "Why do you ask about this?"
"I just suddenly wanted to count how many people died," Wei Ran replied calmly.
"If it were just this year, there wouldn't be many deaths."
Mikita slowed down slightly and replied with a hint of pride, "I remember that only more than a hundred people were shot in total, and less than two hundred died of illness and cold. This is all Gusen's credit. Since then,
After the mine adjusted its management methods according to his suggestions, many fewer people died, and the work efficiency was also much higher."
"One person dies a day..." Wei Ran muttered to himself, and then echoed, "That's what I want to say. Those prisoners of war will definitely thank him."
“I really have to thank him”
Mikita said as he walked, "Now they only have to work 12 hours a day to rest. They work 4 hours less than before. What else do those two-legged animals want?"
“The treatment is really good”
Wei Ran twitched the corner of his mouth. In fact, despite the nonsense of unscrupulous marketing accounts in later generations, the Japanese prisoners of war took 500,000 and only had a few million left. In fact, the Soviet Union's policy towards Japanese prisoners of war at that time was really good.
.
Since the end of World War II in 1945, the Soviet Union has implemented an 8-hour work system for this group of free laborers. By 1947, these prisoners of war were even receiving wages.
The most important thing is that in theory they are not too different from the food standards of Soviet soldiers. Prisoners of war engaged in heavy manual labor theoretically consume 3,000 calories of staple food every day, while the average Japanese citizen at the same time
The intake is less than 2,000 calories.
In other words, in a sense, these prisoners of war are actually much better off than returning home. After all, with the urinary nature of the Japanese, after they return as prisoners of war, they will most likely be forced to perform a show like seppuku to apologize for their sins.
of.
Of course, of course, of course, what I just said is theoretical. And there is always a small gap between theory and reality.
In fact, in the years after the war, the Soviet Union itself was not really rich. Their soldiers and citizens were still hungry. It was too difficult to provide the prisoners with food in accordance with regulations.
Since no one has enough to eat, we have no choice but to starve together.
On the other hand, even if you think about it with a skin swallow, you will know that half a million people were suddenly thrown into freezing Siberia like dumplings, even if these people have been divided into several groups due to the needs of various walks of life.
Ten portions were divided into groups of almost 500 people, but for the wilderness of Siberia, it was far more than it could accommodate.
Not to mention Siberia, even today, if you suddenly cram one or two thousand people into a small village and ask the village to provide these people with food, drink, clothing, and housing immediately, I am afraid there will be a lot of chaos.
Due to poor care, these thousands of people were left hungry for a day or two and slept on the road for a few days.
What's more, this has to be a Chinese village with a few hundred households and a permanent population of two to three thousand. But in Siberia at this time, the large gathering areas that the prisoners of war may pass through may not necessarily have thousands of people.
scale.
More often than not, they are sent directly to the wilderness, and everyone happily plays the kind of wilderness survival game where "you are born with only a handful of strength, and you rely on fighting for all your equipment."
Not to mention them at this time, even the people guarding them are probably still hungry. In this hellish place of ice and snow, it is simply not normal for a hundred and eighty people to freeze to death in one night.
Among the hundreds of thousands of captured prisoners of war who did not survive, at least half must have fallen to the ground directly into boxes like this.
As for the remaining ones who did not survive, the main reason was the lack of medical treatment and medicine. There was no way to cure the illness. Humanitarian physical salvation was the kindest way the Soviets could think of at that time.
To put it simply, if you want to survive, it's best not to get sick, and if you get sick, it's best to get over it on your own. If you can't get through it, it will affect labor production, so I'm sorry, our Soviet doesn't support idle people, and we don't have that kind of idle medicine.
It is precisely because of this small gap between theory and reality that Mine No. 52, which houses more than 2,000 prisoners of war, only allows these prisoners of war to work for a few more hours, which is really not unjustifiable.
And besides, the Japanese also have a tradition of working overtime in later generations. I guess they won't care about this. After all... they don't even have a watch now, right?
While Wei Ran was following behind Mikita, thinking and having fun, the executioner walking in front also continued, "Although their rest time has become longer, in fact, the things they need to do have not decreased at all."
Having said this, Mikita raised his hand and pointed to the forest in a certain direction and said, "You know, logging was part of their job in the past. After all, if the fireplace is not lit, these prisoners of war will definitely be killed unless they sleep in the mine.
Frozen to death."
"I know shit..."
Wei Ran muttered to himself, nodded in agreement, and vaguely agreed, "It's different now."
“It’s definitely different”
Mikita spread his hands and said with ridicule and disdain in his tone, "If they don't want to freeze to death, they can just chop down the trees themselves after the work is done. Not only can the mature trunks be replaced with coals that are more resistant to burning, but the remaining
They can also use the branches to make beds or make fires."
"Gu Sen is such a genius, he really should have come here earlier." Wei Ran continued to compliment, while guiding the conversation by making insinuations.
"What I admire the most is his ability to persuade comrades in political commissars."
Mikita took Wei Ran into another building closest to the trench, "Of course, I admire him even more for being able to tolerate my sister's bad temper. Before he came here, I never thought that my sister would get married so quickly.
people and have children.”
"Speaking of this, Mikita, I have always been very curious about how you and your sister came to work in the same correctional camp?"
"She used to be the escort of Mine No. 52, responsible for the handover of materials and minerals."
Mikita took out the key and opened a door. As he walked in, he said, "I was injured during the Battle of Prague. A bullet from an unknown source slightly injured my lungs."
, and it also cost me forever the opportunity to enter Berlin. After I recovered from the injury, my sister recommended me to work here."
"So you've been working here for six years?"
Wei Ran saw that Mikita had already sat down on a single bed against the wall, and then he walked to the only other bed in the room and sat down.
"certainly"
Mikita rummaged through a dirty towel and said as he walked out, "It has been six years since I came here at the age of 19. At the beginning, I was just a sentinel, but soon after, there happened to be someone
The executioner went crazy, so I took the initiative to apply for the job.
Actually, I originally wanted to be a jewelry maker like my dad, but I didn’t expect that before I became a jewelry maker, my dad had already become a prison guard. Well, that’s my story, I’m going
It’s time to take a sauna, do you want to join us?”
"I won't go." Wei Ran waved his hand and watched Mikita walk out of the room and close the door. Only then did he have time to look at his clothes.
There is nothing unusual about a Soviet uniform, an iconic woolen coat, and thick sheepskin gloves. The 24-hour Rocket polar pocket watch on the wrist and the hand warmer in the jacket pocket seem to be standard here.
.
In addition, there is a Nagant revolver and 14 spare rounds in the holster on the waist.
Look at the table next to your bedside. In addition to a Kiev camera produced in the Soviet Union, there are also two red plastic leather notebooks and a very familiar one specially used for storing pictures.
Wooden box for bullets.
Picking up one of the notebooks and opening it, the first page read: Mine No. 52 - Victor
