On September 30th, after experiencing a very exciting early morning, Beria slept all morning. It was not until noon that he hurried back to his office to eat a simple meal.
"Is everything done?" he asked Merkulov, who came to report.
"It's all done. That Grishenko has assembled all the sample guns and placed them flatly in the conference room No. 3."
"Well done, now our job is to wait."
Merkulov was very happy to get his boss's approval. He said more: "That Grishenko is really a talent. When I picked him, I never realized that he seemed to have changed after following that general.
people."
"Oh? How can you see it?" Beria raised his head.
"Maybe because he stayed at the Academy of Sciences for three weeks, his knowledge level has improved, and he is not afraid at all when he sees me."
"Afraid? Why be afraid." Beria sighed: "Be nice to your subordinates, and they won't be afraid of you. My eyes are so sharp, I'm afraid Grishenko has already become brothers with Belekov.
.Let’s not talk about this matter for now, Merkulov, your people caught a few spies this morning.”
"Sorry, there are none."
"Let them keep an eye on them. It's best to catch a few for me. I need spies now, whether they are alive or dead. By the way, have you caught the wild deer?"
"There were two, but unfortunately they both died. I don't dare to eat this kind of venison."
"Idiot, this venison must be reserved for Comrade Stalin to enjoy."
"ah……"
Just when Merkulov was puzzled, Beria waved his hand: "You continue to do things, you don't need to participate in the afternoon."
"As commanded."
The weather is sunny today, but the only drawback is that it is too cold.
The minimum temperature at night hovers around zero, and this winter seems to be colder than last year.
The cold can't dampen the experts' enthusiasm for the new weapons at all. What's more, Novosibirsk has boasted too much, and it has whetted everyone's appetite.
Yang Mingzhi rarely took a late nap, lying on the soft big bed that once belonged to the nobles in the Kremlin Palace. No matter how excited he is, he will quickly fall asleep after lying down.
One lazy morning, he woke up and the time was approaching eleven o'clock in the morning.
After he changed his clothes, he just opened the door and saw the heroine who checked the bug a few weeks ago. The scene was very embarrassing for a while.
Both parties must have known about the bugs. In order to contain the embarrassing development, Yang Mingzhi simply pretended to be confused, including with the waitress.
He had reason to imagine that there must be a bug embedded in the room where he slept. It was definitely not him. He was afraid that some VIP guests who happened to stay in the Kremlin during the Great Purge might cause the night shift to murmur a few words of criticism against Stalin, so early in the morning
Just a few NKVD guys with blue hats came in, holding documents with gray faces, and said: "You are under arrest."
To hell with bugs and all that!
After regaining consciousness, Yang Mingzhi had a simple lunch in the palace canteen with the personnel dispatched by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
While eating, his mind had completely wandered to Lubyanka next door.
Have the experts arrived? Is the new gun in good condition?
The young internal affairs personnel sent there had no idea what happened in the early morning, but their perfunctory "everything is fine" answers made Yang Mingzhi a little worried.
Why not worry? As early as when I set off from Siberia, I was mentally prepared. Beria, a thoughtful and cold-blooded old guy, asked him not to open the box, and it was as if he didn't say anything.
Then, Yang Mingzhi dressed up his clothes, because he was going to meet the experts. If he didn't do well on the surface, it would be too timid.
"Dobrov."
"arrive."
"are you full?"
"I think it's okay, but I didn't expect that what we ate in the Kremlin cafeteria wasn't anything fresh."
"Ha! You are a man, and you still want to eat cream cake." Yang Mingzhi rolled his eyes at him and pointed out the crumbs on the corner of the entourage's mouth. "They are a group of experts, and we are experts too. Let's go and meet them."
While Yang Mingzhi was getting ready, the leaders of various design bureaus appointed by Stalin had already arrived at the Lubyanka office building first.
Although Beria did not show up, they received warm hospitality from Security Chief Merkulov.
This is truly warm hospitality! The heated lounge is on, and warm black tea is freely available. But this is Lubyanka, and too many people have been convicted here and taken to a prison not far away to serve their sentences.
,even death.
Some colleagues came here a few years ago and were detained as prisoners.
Now, he actually entered the mysterious Lubyanka office building as a guest. Is it considered an honor?
"Bah! A ghastly and dark place." The old Fedorov suppressed the curse in his heart.
Fedorov is the pioneer of automatic firearms in the Soviet Union. Look at the experts who have arrived, Tokarev, Simonov, and others who have not yet come here. Which one of them is not his friend and which one is not his student? Including
Ustinov, who already holds an important position, is also his student.
He does have a high status, but he still can't bear to be persecuted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
"These bastards treat slander as truth, and you have made me suffer. Beria, sooner or later you have to enjoy the bad things that happened to me."
Fedorov rushed back to Moscow this time, completely following Stalin's orders. At first he reluctantly agreed, but after learning the true purpose of his actions, he became interested.
Ustinov came earlier than these experts. Although he was already a People's Commissar of Defense and the minister in charge of ordnance production, his authority had no meaning within the boundaries of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
"I want to see a sample gun now."
"No." Security Director Merkulov said with a face that deserved a beating, and he was determined to show off the power he now had. He was even more convincing: "Comrade NKVD ordered again. Without his order, all of you will
No sample gun is allowed to be seen."
Ustinov just thought about it. When Beria feels rested and today's protagonist Belekov comes over, he can play with the sample gun himself and even dismantle it into parts and analyze it carefully.
The boring wait was short-lived. As experts arrived one after another, Ustinov soon had something to talk with them.
Smoke quickly filled the lounge, and Simonov, who was over fifty years old, became a small focus. Why? The soul of a gun is the bullet, and the bullets used in the assault rifle were developed by Simonov himself.
Fedorov was so curious about this issue that he chased Simonov and asked him carefully.
"Why do you keep asking me whether I helped him? My answer is very clear! I just provided some technical parameters."
"Is it that simple? That Berekov made a bullet based on just a few parameters of yours?"
"Is there any other explanation?" Simonov shook his head helplessly, "Are there not many strange things about Belekov? He was the battalion commander when he participated in the war last year, and this guy actually shot the German armor with his own hands.
The division commander is the division commander. He is such a strange person. He developed a new gun in five or six days. How can I question anything? What on earth are we standing here for?"
Fedorov couldn't help but tugged on his beard, "Anyway, it's a matter for you young people. I'm already old. From my understanding, developing a new gun in a few days is either impossible or the performance of the new gun is absolutely
Oops. They haven't been tested in actual combat, just a target practice test."
"Are you questioning it?" Ustinov intervened in the chat, "The intelligence has made it very clear. Even "Pravda" published relevant articles."
"Does it mean that what the newspaper says is the truth?" Fedorov shook his head deeply and murmured: "The introduction in the newspaper was so wonderful, so wonderful that it is incredible. I have also read those reports, and the content is too bizarre. Unless, I personally
Only after seeing the prototype gun and personally witnessing its target practice can I draw a conclusion."
"It is very correct to believe in your own judgment rather than hearsay." Ustinov agreed very much, but could not suppress his dissatisfaction; "What on earth is this Beria doing?"
"Don't worry about that hypocrite!" Fedorov patted young Ustinov on the shoulder, "The future belongs to you young people. Wait until Belekov arrives, and you and I will get a result today.
.But please be mentally prepared. As an old man, I warn you not to be overly optimistic."
"Thank you...teacher..."
A minister called his teacher? Fedorov felt warm in his heart. He didn't say anything more. He held a cigarette he took from Ustinov between his fingers and stood beside the bed and smoked comfortably.
Suddenly, I saw three cars approaching the Lubyanka office building outside the window.
"Comrades, it seems Berekov has arrived."
…
Yang Mingzhi held his head high, and with a victor's attitude, he met with all the visiting firearms research and development experts under the guidance of the Ministry of Internal Affairs personnel.
There were multiple pairs of eyes looking at him for a while, and Yang Mingzhi couldn't tell their faces apart. Ustinov was the only one he had met before.
"Comrades, I am the Lieutenant General Commander of the 63rd Group Army, the Director of the Pripyat Weapons Design Bureau, and the Honorary Academician of the All-Soviet Academy of Sciences..." Yang Mingzhi saluted the military salute and listed all the positions he held and the honors he had received.
After a while.
He felt that it was very necessary to do this. After some words, they, who were strangers to each other, had a basic understanding of him.
After all, I have been here in the Soviet Union for two years. They are not a nation that likes modesty, and their status will be immediately displayed. They prefer talents who are more flamboyant, that is, they worship heroic epics more.
Yang Mingzhi's self-introduction did not shock them. On the contrary, his young follower Dobrov's eyes shone with admiration.
The oldest person in the room is the elderly Fedorov. You can feel the weight of this man from the exaggerated beard hanging on his lips.
Now, after learning that this short old man was Fedorov, Yang Mingzhi's admiration was beyond words.
The rest of the staff are also very well-rounded.
Simonov, Tokarev, and even Deggarev. They all left their illustrious names in world history, and now it’s a magical feeling to see them in person.
Yang Mingzhi was in a very excited mood. He would tremble all over and become chatty only when he saw his colleagues.
Now that he had become more talkative, Fedorov immediately interrupted Yang Mingzhi's words and asked a very sharp question without any hesitation: "Young general, I just want to know one thing now. Are you really going to do it in a week?"
Within the period, the research and development of the new gun to the production of prototype guns were completed.”
"Yes, Novosibirsk has a lot of documented records in this regard."
"Okay, I believe what you say."
The words were spoken by Berekov himself. Seeing that this man had good prospects, Fedorov made his own judgment. Obviously, this young man, like Ustinov, is a rare genius in the league. What a pity!
The only fly in the ointment is that this person is not a native Russian.
Fedorov continued to ask: "So, the data at the shooting range are also real?"
"Yes. You...are you doubting me?" Yang Mingzhi asked with a smile.
"No. You should understand that the people here are all machinists and are experts in developing firearms. You are really excellent. It seems that your level is higher than ours."
Huh? There is a bit of sarcasm in this? Yang Mingzhi thought about it carefully and found that there should be no sarcasm. The suspicion was obvious.
Yang Mingzhi made a serious face: "I can responsibly say that I personally held a gun and shot, and got very good target shooting results. Now it has snowed in Novosibirsk, and we even conducted experiments in heavy snow, and the results are still very good
.”
"In other words, your new gun is fearless in ice and snow?" Fedorov asked.
Yang Mingzhi's answer was also straightforward: "It is indeed fearless of wind and snow. Even in the Arctic, Novaya Zemlya, and in the extreme cold of the polar night, my firearm can still be used without applying antifreeze oil."
Fedorov shook his head deeply. The young Belekov was so crazy. He learned Simonov’s new bullet data on the phone and completed the production in a week. He achieved excellent results during target shooting in the wind and snow. Now, he Belekov
The husband began to be optimistic, thinking that the new gun can withstand temperatures as low as minus 30 degrees without applying antifreeze oil?
too crazy!
However, this Berekov is too confident, not the kind of stupid and blind confidence. This Asian man with only two inches of hair has a good belly.
Then I thought about it, if what he said was true, then it would really be an eye-opener for me.
Ustinov approached Fedorov: "What General Berekov said should be true. Today's times are developing very fast, and the speed of scientific and technological progress is faster than before."
"Oh? Do you think I am too old to keep up with the times?"
"No, I didn't mean that."
"Hahahaha..." Fedorov laughed indulgently, and then faced everyone: "You are all my students! You all admit that the automatic firearms you developed are all based on the works of my youth.
, and added my own ideas.”
Even Deggarev, who was only ten years younger than Fedorov, had to admit this.