Arc of Fire

Ludmila nodded, “Alright. He was hit by the main gun of an enemy battleship, directly hit, so he lost some memory. His personality has also changed.”

Wang Zhong couldn’t tell for a moment whether Ludmila was covering for him or really thought that.

Duke Loktov frowned, “A concussion, perhaps? It’s possible. I’ve already seen my fair share of personality changes due to shelling in the civil war, but all those changes were for the worse.”

But the old man immediately shook his head, “But such things are unpredictable, although I still doubt whether a concussion can turn an uneducated troublemaker into a shrewd and capable general. Yet the fact is right in front of us.”

“Compared to him being possessed by St. Andrew, a concussion seems more reasonable.”

Wang Zhong pursed his lips, unable to explain the matter; he thought it might deepen the suspicion to lie about it, so he chose to stay silent.

Duke Loktov sat down behind his desk, picked up a letter, “This is a letter to the Front Army headquarters. It says that my son is uneducated and may lead to the unnecessary sacrifice of many soldiers, causing the empire to lose a large amount of technical equipment, requesting that he be sent to an insignificent place to guard pickles.”

Having said that, the duke took out a match, struck it, and lit the letter, throwing it into the ashtray on his desk, watching it burn slowly to ash.

The old man unbuttoned his military tunic’s disciplinary buttons, opened the collar wider, and looking at Wang Zhong, asked, “How many men are left in your unit?”

“914, including logistics, artillery, armored troops, and the non-combatant staff of the headquarters.”

“Only that many,” Loktov mused. “I’ve been retired for a long time and am not too familiar with the latest military equipment or this blitzkrieg thing. I have no immediate plans to return to the army and cause trouble for everyone. However, as a retired general, I can still offer some help within my capability, go ahead.”

Wang Zhong, “Please tell the Front Army headquarters that Argesukov is at risk of being encircled. The enemy’s Second Tank Group is to the north; if they complete the encirclement, it’s over.”

Duke Loktov shook his head, “The decision to hold Argesukov is His Majesty the Tsar’s. The Grand Patriarch has even come here personally to boost morale. Even if the enemy is indeed likely to encircle from the north, the Front Army headquarters will surely say that we should fight the enemy here.

“It’s the only way not to provide others with an excuse and to make His Majesty the Tsar happy. Do you understand? Unless someone can persuade the Tsar, or someone can make the Grand Patriarch decide to give up Argesukov, the army won’t retreat from here.

“Besides, in my personal experience, it’s difficult for the enemy to complete such an encirclement. Do you know how large an arc that is?”

Loktov indicated on the map.

Wang Zhong, “It might have been impossible before, but technology has improved. Didn’t you see the actions of the Prussian Army in Carolus?”

Duke Loktov frowned, “I’ve seen it, but all the generals believe that result was due to the lack of will to resist from the Carolus Army.

“All the generals.

“You better not worry about this; you can’t influence it, and neither can I.”

The old man said with a sigh and a touch of helplessness in his smile.

Wang Zhong, understanding, changed his request, “My unit needs replenishing, including experienced veterans, technical weaponry, everything… I lack it all.”

Duke Loktov shook his head, “Even if there are veterans recovering from hospitals now, the number is certainly not enough to replenish your forces on a large scale. Reservists have mainly been mobilized according to the organization during the winter training each year; they are already formed into units, so temporary reinforcements of reservists are not possible for you.

“As for military school students, when things got hectic, all the students were mobilized. Now the top believes that we’re about to counterattack, so they won’t mobilize students.

“If you want to replenish your troops, you can only select those with shooting experience from the inexperienced Guardian Army—”

Wang Zhong interrupted the duke, “These Guardian Army troops haven’t received training in grenade throwing; throwing grenades might even blow themselves up.”

Loktov, “Right, you could promote all your veteran soldiers to squad leaders, one leading 7 to 8 recruits. This might help them survive a little longer.

“Of course, you could also choose not to engage in brutal meat grinder battles. From my experience, in trench warfare on the plains, as long as the enemy doesn’t breach the trenches, the survival rate of new recruits is quite high.

“Most importantly, if you want to maintain the integrity of your troops while replenishing with new soldiers, this is the only way right now.

“By around January next year, the new recruits currently being conscripted will have completed their training, and the veterans will have recovered from the hospitals too. At that time, it will be possible to replenish you with a large number of high-quality new soldiers.”

Wang Zhong said solemnly, “Next January… Alright, fill up with new recruits for me, and I’ll have the veterans train them as best they can. Although I don’t know how long it will be before we are back on the battlefield.

“My regular soldiers are warrant officers who haven’t yet graduated; they should be able to teach them some life-saving skills.

“And technical weaponry! I need technical weaponry! I need T34 tanks, anti-tank guns, La-3 or MiG-3, and Il-2!”

Wang Zhong’s strategy was to ask for the moon, after all, as Lu Xun once said, to open a window you must propose to take off the roof.

Duke Loktov laughed heartily, “Look at you! The way you talk! Only at the Front Army level can you command Air Force troops; you’ll have to be promoted to general first.

“However, we can try with tanks and cannons. You’ve commanded several types of tanks on the frontline – which type do you hope to replenish with?”

Wang Zhong, “T34, but the parade-type T34, without a separate tank commander and radio. Without those, an excellent tank’s combat effectiveness drops by at least fifty percent!”

Old Rokossov shook his head: “I can get you tanks that have already been produced, but I have no way to make the factory produce other tanks. T34s, you say? I’ll see if I can manage to get you two battalions; more than that is probably not possible.”

Wang Zhong: “I hope to get company command vehicles equipped with radios.”

“That’s not possible,” Old Rokossov flatly shook his head, “But you can do this: focus on using the company command vehicles, all fitted with the best tank operators, to form a special tank company. For the rest, if you think their combat effectiveness is inadequate, have them carry out lower-intensity missions.”

Wang Zhong thought it over and it made sense. In fact, in Loktov, half of the remaining tanks in his unit were radio-equipped due to being pressed by the battle conditions; it was basically a forced “popularization” of radios. It would be better to concentrate their use from the beginning.

Old Rokossov: “Anti-tank guns… hmm? Petrov, if you’re tired, sit down.”

Petrov, who had been standing sweating to the side, sighed with relief and plopped down onto the sofa.

The sofa protested loudly.

“You need to lose weight,” Old Rokossov said and then turned to Wang Zhong, “What kind of anti-tank gun do you want?”

“ZIS-3! The 45mm anti-tank guns cannot effectively penetrate the front armor of enemy tanks; they must shoot from the side, which severely limits the choice of anti-tank positions.”

The old Duke nodded: “Heavy artillery, then? Is the 203 too slow to load?”

Loading a B4 heavy gun required a small crane, and even the Russian Giants known for their brute strength were unable to load it by hand.

Wang Zhong: “It is indeed slow, and the accuracy isn’t that great either.”

He remembered all too well the feeling of having to “play the lottery” the first time he had to use it.

“Then let’s replenish your 152 heavy artillery instead—better precision, faster shooting speed, and the range isn’t too bad. The mobility is faster too. With B4, if there’s no railway nearby, it could only crawl.”

“All right, I’ll think of a way to get you a regiment of 152 artillery.”

At this time, Petrov, who had finally recovered, said: “Father, what’s most important is to promote Alyosha, give him a division’s establishment, and then resupplying him will be much easier.”

“You think I don’t want to?” Old Rokossov cursed, “Those pig-headed fools are still using a court struggle mindset to think about issues. I believe in Alyosha, but they don’t! They’ll oppose promoting the ‘foolish son of the Rokossovsky family’ to the rank of Major General!”

Saying this, the old man began to bang on the table, almost to the point of tearing off his shoe to smash it.

After knocking, he sighed: “Forget it, such things can’t be rushed. I have to write to some old friends. It should be settled in three to five days. I’ll first bring your brigade up to strength. Infantry, T34s, heavy artillery, anti-tank guns, get them all. I’ll handle this matter, and you two brothers can catch up.”

Wang Zhong looked at the chubby Petrov, who seemed quite content; he got almost everything he had wanted except for the planes.

Staying here wouldn’t bring him any more goods.

The matters such as modifying the BT tank chassis to upgrade the SU76 self-propelled gun, the Old Duke already said he couldn’t do it.

That would have to wait until he met someone who could.

With that, Wang Zhong turned around and walked happily towards Ludmila, who was waiting by the door.

However, Ludmila reminded him with her lip movements: “Pavlov!”

Wang Zhong slapped his thigh: “Oh right, I also need staff officers! And clerks, accountants! Try to get me a sixth-grade civil servant!”

Old Rokossov was shocked: “What do you need a sixth-grade civil servant for? That’s the level of a Vice Chancellor of a university! Well… fine, I’ll see what I can do. Hurry up and go!”

The old man waved his hand.

Wang Zhong turned and left.

Petrov, with some effort, stood up and followed his brother’s steps.

————

After the younger generation had left, the Duke Old Rokossov pressed the button on the desk.

Ten seconds later, the side door opened, and the butler who had just welcomed Alyosha at the door came in: “My lord.”

Old Rokossov laughed: “Mikhail, my old buddy, can you believe it? Alyosha has become an excellent soldier.”

“Really?” The old butler looked surprised, “How is that possible! Although indeed this time he came back, he didn’t slap the maids’ bottoms or grope around.”

Old Rokossov clicked his tongue: “I don’t know what changed him, maybe he was really concussed by the heavy artillery. Mikhail, bring out the liquor!”

“The doctor said you can’t drink any more.”

“To hell with the doctor! Ante people should die drinking at the table, to hell with the doctor! Bring the vodka! And open a can of fish for me!”

Using fish as a drink snack, that’s an Ante tradition.