Steel Soviet Union

"Comrade General, can I sit here and dine with you?"

Before Malashenko could close his mouth and bite the bread, a young and familiar face appeared in front of him holding a breakfast plate.

"Long time no see, Kalashnikov, please sit next to me."

"Okay, Comrade General."

On the left is Kotin, on the right is Kalashnikov, and further around are workers who have come to have a meal after the night shift and shift change, and then prepare to return to the dormitory to wash up and rest.

Malashenko likes this kind of environment. The early morning light shines outside the window, and the strong fragrance of breakfast milk still echoes in his nose and lips. Everyone around him and around him gathers under the same red flag, for the same cause. A comrade who fights for goals and ideals together.

This place is no different from his own troops, or as Kogin said in that joking tone.

Coming back here does feel a bit like returning home.

"I have been concerned about the condition of the work, and of course I have not been idle these days. I started the design of subsequent improvements according to what you told me before you left last time. Now there are several plans. I would like your opinions. To a great extent, I believe the design of these sub-models will help a lot.”

Kalashnikov, whom he hadn't seen for a while, had a lot to say to himself. Malashenko, who was sitting next to him, could feel this, and what followed was Kotin's quiet words on the other side.

"He didn't lie, I can testify to that."

"From the last time you returned to the front line to now, he has spent almost ten hours a day in the drawing room, or tinkering with his prototype gun in the workshop. If you say that people are addicted to something, Kalashnikov must have Being addicted to building guns is not a bad thing, he is a great young man like you."

In terms of age, Kotin has no problem being Malashenko's big brother. The relationship between the two has indeed reached the point where they can be considered brothers, so there is nothing wrong with what Ke Jin said.

"Then you didn't tell him to pay attention to rest? We all know that the body is the capital of revolution."

"I told you, of course I told you, why didn't you remind me?"

"But, young people who can listen to the advice of the elders are not called young people. Aren't you also letting others command the war on your behalf all day and night? And you are still on the front line. If the Germans How would they feel if they knew that the notorious Steel Butcher was sitting in the tank that killed them? Ha, maybe they would feel that they deserved their death."

Kogin, who was in a good mood, still had the leisure and elegance to joke here. Malashenko, who was amused, picked up the napkin on the table, wiped his mouth and smiled.

"If things go well, I guess Kalashnikov will have to move away from you soon. He has a place where he really wants to go, a place where he can truly realize his dreams and future."

As soon as Malashenko said this, before Kotin, who was holding a spoon in his mouth, could react, Kalashnikov looked stunned.

"Leave? Where will I go? Comrade General."

Seeing that something was obviously wrong with Kalashnikov's expression, Malashenko, who had not told Kalashnikov the details of the new gun after it was put on the front line, knew that his words were probably out of confusion. The young man was frightened.

If you can stay well, who would want to experience a Siberian farmhouse and never come back for a lifetime trip?

The answer is of course no.

"Don't worry, there's nothing wrong with that."

"The new gun you designed performed well and everything went smoothly, just as we expected. Although it was rushed, the quantity was a bit small, and the craftsmanship was a bit poor, the damage it caused to the enemy was substantial. , a very heavy blow!”

"Once the new gun is approved, you have to prepare to pack your bags and leave here. The people above will not allow a talented young firearms designer to continue to stay in a place like this. When the time comes, you have to go to where you really should be. A place where I can join a large group of like-minded comrades to figure out how to design better firearms.”

"What do you mean? What do you mean by a place like this? What's wrong with my place? It can build heavy tanks at the top and new rifles at the bottom. There is no problem that my machines and workers can't solve."

Malashenko, who had just finished speaking, looked at Kogin, who was pretending to be displeased. Since he got acquainted with Kogin, he has discovered more and more that the dirty words in his mouth are really comparable to half of Iushkin. .

"I mean"

There are always things that happen suddenly and unexpectedly. For example, before Malashenko could finish speaking in the middle of his speech, he was interrupted by Secretary Kogin who suddenly jogged over.

""

Malashenko could hardly hear what the secretary was saying, speaking very fast and muttering in front of Kogin with his mouth covered, but he did see the secretary after a few words gradually send an email. The newspaper was handed to Kogin.

Everyone has secret conversations that cannot be spoken out loud, let alone someone as powerful as Ke Jin.

So Malashenko didn't mind what was happening in front of him. He just collected the tableware in front of him, put it on the plate and waited quietly.

If there is any news or situation that he needs to know, then Malashenko is sure that Kotin will let him know it.

"I understand, go and call Moscow back and say I will do it and execute it immediately."

"Yes, I'll do it right away."

The secretary, who was running as fast as he came, left quickly. Behind him was Kotin, who was transferring the telegram he had read to Malashenko.

"Take a look, it just came from Moscow."

"You guessed it right. Kalashnikov was asked to leave for Moscow immediately to report that he has a new task assigned to him. The review status of the new gun is also written on it. I guess he knew you were here and sent it to me. You see, if you just sent it to me, I probably wouldn’t write it in such detail.”

The signature of the telegram was none other than Zhukov, who had just finished reporting to Comrade Stalin yesterday.

With Zhukov's authority, it is not difficult to find out where Malashenko is now, send an instant telegram and send it to Malashenko as soon as possible.

The content of the brief telegram informed Malashenko that the new gun had been approved and approved by Comrade Stalin.

In this matter of a special nature, Stalin finally personally decided to make a special decision and directly transfer this light weapon, called a new assault rifle, into formal production. At the same time, he established a production line for supporting accessories and new specifications of ammunition.

The telegram also officially informed Kogin of a piece of news: Moscow had sent people to obtain the ammunition specifications and technical parameters for the batch of adapted new rifle ammunition that he had asked an acquaintance to order at the Tula Arsenal, which would be used as supporting production materials. Some of them will be transferred to formal mass production.

Fortunately, the telegram did not mention that Kogin secretly used the cover of "new vehicle-mounted small arms test ammunition" to find acquaintances to secretly manufacture a batch of new ammunition at the Tula Arsenal.

If even a person of Zhukov's status did not mention this matter after meeting Stalin in person and fully describing the entire incident, but only picked up the good news.

Then Kogin, who has rich experience in political struggle and class struggle, can basically be convinced that his mess is basically over, and he can just move on and pretend it never happened.

No reward, no punishment, sometimes that's the best way to deal with it for the big guys above.

The mass production of the new gun will soon be launched, but to the outside world, it has to be said differently.

A perfect statement that Stalin personally ordered Beria to watch and do well without destroying the existing rules and systems, convincing everyone, and finding no flaws.

As for whether it was a new weapon developed in secret, or the golden young designer Kalashnikov suddenly shined.

It was up to Beria to think carefully and make arrangements for the specific external rhetoric. Comrade Stalin did not have time to think about these too detailed issues. He only needed to issue orders and make decisions.

In addition, Zhukov also mentioned it at the end of the telegram.

Considering the different specifications of ammunition, even if the production priority is very high, the actual delivery and installation quantity of new guns will inevitably be restricted by ammunition reserve factors, and it is impossible to increase it to a very high level in the short term. The entire army has changed its equipment, not to mention that this is a fully automatic weapon that consumes a lot of ammunition.

It can only be reorganized and re-equipped one unit after another, and the number may not be large, and it can only be mixed and matched with existing firearms. This needs to be done step by step and slowly.