Chapter 66: Creepy
This man who smiles so warmly that he even makes people feel like he is bathed in spring breeze is well-known to everyone today and even in the Soviet Union in the future: in the Soviet Union today, he is called "Comrade Stalin's closest and most trusted comrade-in-arms" and "the indestructible iron fist that defends the Soviet workers' and peasants' regime". On the party flag, he is both the sharp edge of the sickle and the hard steel that makes the hammer. In the future, he is synonymous with traitors, terrorists and rapists.
Lavrenti? Pavlovich? Beria, the person Yuri least wanted to see after his rebirth, let alone meet, finally stood in front of him inevitably.
At this time, Beria was only in his early forties and did not look old at all. Although he was a little bald, it was not very serious. His forehead just looked big, rosy and shiny, without any wrinkles.
"Yuri Arkhipovich? Comrade Major Kulyokov?" Yuri was a little tall, and Beria had to tilt his head slightly when he got close to him. He looked Yuri up and down and said with a smile.
"Comrade People's Commissar, good evening!" Yuri quickly stood up straight, saluted with a standard military salute, and said loudly.
"Good evening," Beria motioned him to put his hand down, then shook Yuri's hand warmly, shaking it up and down gently, and said, "Welcome to Moscow, Comrade Major Yuri Arkhipovich. Your performance in Shaws is very good, no, it should be said that it is much better than very good."
"I just strictly carried out the combat tasks arranged by my superiors. This is my duty, Comrade People's Commissar." Yuri said loudly.
"Nikita? Is this the combat mission assigned by Sergeyevich?" Beria's eyes were full of ridicule. He smiled meaningfully and said, "If that's the case, then your performance is even better."
Yuri couldn't respond to this, he could only remain silent.
"Okay, don't be so serious." Fortunately, Belia didn't dwell on this issue. He patted Yuri on the shoulder and said with a smile, "Relax a little. Well, you can treat this meeting as a casual chat with an old friend."
It seemed that only then did he remember that Yuri was still outside the door. Belia smiled and greeted him, "Come in and sit down. Don't stand outside the door. I heard that you like to smoke and drink tea. Yes, it's Chinese tea. I specially prepared some for you."
Yuri had only taken two steps into the door when he heard Belia say this. He paused, but quickly recovered.
Many people know that Yuri likes to smoke, so there is nothing strange about it. But what is disturbing is that very few people know that he likes to drink tea, especially Chinese tea. At least in Yuri's memory, he has never mentioned it to anyone.
How did Beria know that I liked Chinese tea? Thinking back carefully, I seemed to have bought it a few times in the supply store during the training period in Moscow, and once in Lutsk... I asked in a store but didn't buy it. It seems that there was no other purchase.
Sitting down on a sofa against the wall in the lounge , Yuri sat up straight, his eyes following Belia, but his mind was trying hard to recall these things, but unfortunately, he could only remember a few things.
Beria was like a hospitable host. He was busy putting two packs of cigarettes on the coffee table next to Yuri. Yuri took a look and saw that the brown cigarette box had a big red circle on the front with the English letters "luckystrike" marked inside. It turned out to be American Lucky Strike cigarettes.
Beria put down his cigarette and went to make tea. He didn't ask the orderly or secretary to come, but did it himself, washing the cups and looking for hot water. When he got the water, seeing that Yuri didn't move, he came over to open his cigarette and handed it to him.
"I've never drunk Chinese tea. Is it necessary to put so much in it?" Beria asked as he pinched a handful of tea leaves from a paper bag beside the table.
"Let me do it, Comrade People's Commissar," Yuri could no longer sit still, he quickly stood up and said.
"No, no," Belia waved his hand, motioning him to sit down, then he put the tea leaves into the cup, poured water in it, brought the cup over, and placed it next to Yuri's hand. "I asked someone before, and I heard that you can't put too much or too little . Too much will make it very bitter, and too little will make it tasteless. Haha, it's a pity that I don't like it, so I don't know if it's true."
Yuri didn't say anything. He felt that there seemed to be something else hidden in Belia's words, but unfortunately he couldn't figure it out.
"Did you have a smooth journey from Kiev?" Yuri didn't respond, and Beria didn't care. He just asked casually.
"It was going smoothly, but we encountered an air mass and it was bumpy for a while," Yuri replied hastily.
"It was indeed a bit hasty to ask you to come here from Kiev this time," Beria put one hand on his leg and tapped his knee lightly with his index finger. "However, Comrade Stalin attaches great importance to Shaw's matter. He has asked about it six times this afternoon, four times by phone, and twice by sending people here specially."
Yuri nodded to show his understanding. In fact, he had no idea why Beria told him this.
"Considering that Comrade Stalin will definitely ask about some details when we meet later, I hope you can first give us a detailed account of Shaw's battle situation, so as to avoid any omissions when Comrade Stalin asks about it."
"Okay, Comrade People's Commissar," Yuri's heart beat faster and he could even hear the sound of his own heart beating.
Based on his intuition alone, Yuri felt that Beria wanted to do more than just understand the situation. He was most likely looking for loopholes. Of course, Yuri didn't think that Beria was going to deal with him. He knew that he was not qualified yet. The person who truly had this qualification was undoubtedly Khrushchev.
Now, Yuri could do nothing. He could only speak according to the report that he had submitted at the beginning, because Khrushchev must have read the report and must have memorized it and understood it thoroughly.
Just as it was written in the previous report, how Yuri formulated the battle plan, how he arranged the counterattack, how he considered attracting the attention of the German army, how he arranged two small teams to launch a raid, and so on.
But Beria was not so easy to deal with. What he wanted was obviously not a simple and rough military report, but every detailed detail. Such as: how to select the members of the assault team, who selected them, roughly from which company, what time did the assault team set off, how many rubber boats were used, how much firepower was equipped for the team? How many machine guns, how many mortars, how much ammunition the soldiers had, etc. He even asked Yuri why 121 soldiers were selected to form two teams, what was the necessity of the extra person, and what was Vasily, who was brought to Moscow as a combat hero, responsible for in the two assault teams, whether he was a mortar gunner, a machine gunner or an ordinary soldier.
There were many questions that Yuri had no way of answering, not because he couldn't remember, nor because he hadn't agreed with Khrushchev, but because he simply didn't know. Just like which company the soldiers were selected from, come on, he was the brigade commander, a mid- to high-level commander, did he have to personally select members of the assault squad?
However, Belia's attitude was very strange. He asked a lot of detailed questions, and whenever Yuri couldn't answer or even hesitated, he would readily ignore the question. Not only would he never ask further questions, but he would also show an understanding attitude.
This question-and-answer game lasted for more than ten minutes. Just as Yuri was becoming more and more uneasy, Beria finally stopped asking questions. He closed the notebook on his knees and put the pen he was taking notes on the coffee table. Then he stood up and said to Yuri with a smile: "Comrade Major Yuri, thank you very much for your cooperation. In addition, I have to repeat, welcome to Moscow."
As he spoke, he walked to the table and placed the notebook on it. When he turned around, he said to Yuri, "Let's go. I believe Comrade Stalin should be here soon. As a hero, it would not be good if you were not here."
Yuri stood up dazedly and was about to walk towards the door, but Beria asked him to take the two packs of cigarettes with him.
Following Beria out of the lounge, there were obviously more people in the corridor at this time. Some of them were officers and soldiers of the Internal Guard, and many were so-called "big shots" who were specially notified to attend the banquet.
As far as Yuri knew, Beria's position in the central government was not very high. He was not even a member of the Politburo, and he was only a deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers. However, in the corridor, anyone who saw him would rush to say hello, and Beria would act as an introducer. For everyone who greeted him, he would say a few simple words of greeting, and then introduce Yuri to the other person. From this point of view, Beria was very good at dealing with people. At least his approach would not make Yuri feel embarrassed in front of those big shots.
The most important thing is that Belia also has the habit of saying weird things about people behind their backs. Before he introduces someone, he will always say some bad things about that person to Yuri after the person leaves.
"Don't pay any attention to him, he's just an old sly guy who thinks highly of himself but can only sit on the bench." This is talking about Maxim Zaharovich Shaburov.
"This guy is very good at it. Oh, of course, I don't mean transport work, but repair work. After all, he is a leatherworker who started out as a bootmaker." This is about Lazar Moiseevich Kaganovich.
"His son is courting Malenkov's daughter Volya. He has been Malenkov's deputy for so many years that he seems to be addicted to it." This is referring to Mikhail Abramovich Schamberg, the son of Solomon Abramovich Lozovsky and Malenkov's deputy (this guy takes his mother's surname).
