Wang Zhong finished speaking, stood up, and called for a guard: “Grigori!”
Rectly, some saboteurs had attacked sior military officers in the city, so ev in his own manor, Wang Zhong now required the accompanimt of guards.
Fully armed, Grigori pushed the door op and saluted Wang Zhong: “Geral.”
As Wang Zhong was about to leave, Pavlov said, “Since we’ve confirmed the defse position is at Orachi, I’ll start drawing up the marching plan.”
“So soon? What if we’re not allowed to go to Orachi? Wouldn’t it be better to wait for the orders?” Wang Zhong asked.
Pavlov sighed, “At times like this, I feel you truly deserve to be at the bottom of your class, constantly hopping betwe gius and idiot.”
Wang Zhong thought to himself that Pavlov was overestimating him; he had never systematically studied military theory, only dabbling in bits and pieces here and there.
Without the cheat, he would have be finished long ago.
As Wang Zhong was thinking this, Pavlov dutifully explained, “Before, we could move out whever we wanted to because our troop composition was simple, mostly infantry, with very few accompanying laborers.
“But now, with so many people, just organizing the non-combat personnel who accompany the army will consume a lot of effort. We need to devise a detailed marching plan.
“Otherwise, you can expect half of these people to get lost on the way. Ev with a detailed plan, we’ll still have considerable casualties route, and we’ll need to reorganize the troops once we reach our destination.”
After Pavlov finished, Popov added, “Only the strongest of troops can be immediately thrown into battle after a long march.”
I do indeed know of such a strong force, but unfortunately, it’s not from this world.
Wang Zhong: “Th we’ll rely on you, especially since you have a level-six bureaucrat. I’m sure you can handle it!”
As he said this, a staff officer happed to be passing by from the administration side, and just as the door oped, a series of very loud sneezes sounded out, three in a row.
Pavlov: “See, you’re praising someone to their doom, causing a 65-year-old school director to sneeze.”
Wang Zhong shrugged his shoulders and slipped out of the map room.
————
In the square in front of the division headquarters, a large group of new recruits from the Fifth Belssk Regimt were training — which was actually the former Guardian Army’s 5th Infantry Regimt.
The subject of training was the disassembly and maintance of firearms — the veterans insisted this was most crucial because if the new soldiers couldn’t ev clear a jam on the battlefield, they would be sitting ducks.
Wang Zhong walked along the edge of the square toward the parking lot while watching the new recruits struggle with their Mosin-Nagants.
At that momt, a frail-looking Colonel approached Wang Zhong with a rather unstandard salute.
Wang Zhong returned the gesture and asked, “Are you Colonel Euge of the Fifth Belssk Regimt?”
“Yes, that’s me.” The Colonel sighed, “Looking at me, don’t you understand? I’m not a military man; I’m just a factory director. Wh I agreed to a rank transfer, I never thought I would become a Colonel!”
Wang Zhong: “How many people did you manage before on the local level?”
“Over a thousand, I guess. I was the mining chief of East Kazarlia, running a mine that consisttly employed over a thousand miners.”
Wang Zhong: “Th that’s just right; the Fifth Belssk Regimt has roughly the strgth of one regimt now, about ,500 people, about the same as the mine you used to manage, right?”
“This is differt!” Colonel Euge began to list the downsides earnestly.
Wang Zhong’s attitude was one of not listing, turning a deaf ear as if listing to nonssical prattle.
But he couldn’t say that outright. He patted Colonel Euge on the shoulder, “Everyone has a first time, me included! Just take the first step, and you’ll be fine!”
Having said that, Wang Zhong admired his own ability to spout such high-sounding nonsse.
“But…”
Wang Zhong put on a stern face, “Don’t say anymore! This is the military. If you drop the ball, I’ll have you shot! So just do the best you can!”
Euge looked like he had more to say but finally sighed, “I was just hoping to get better treatmt for my family in anticipation of a pottial rationing system being implemted!”
Wang Zhong suddly felt a bit of pity for Colonel Euge, but the good news was that the Ante Empire’s food production was very sufficit. Ev losing Kazarlia, its largest grain-producing region, the Empire could still obtain ough meat and grain from the fertile pastures of the eastern border areas.
At least, the common people of the Ante Empire did not need to worry too much about hunger.
After parting with the Colonel, Wang Zhong took two steps at a time to reach the jeep, got in without waiting for Grigori to help op the door.
Grigori started the jeep and drove along the manor’s tree-lined path towards the main building.
Just setting off, Wang Zhong saw on the roadside lawn, the gunner Alexander from tank 4 sharing his experice with a new tank crew: “Because we don’t have a tank commander, once we hit the battlefield, our field of view is basically fixed to the front.
Therefore, whether it’s charging in formation or defding and shooting from a position, the squad leaders must sure their tanks cover differt directions to compsate for each other’s blind spots in their field of view.”
Wang Zhong frowned slightly. Alexander was indeed correct, but he had overlooked a crucial point: ordinary T34s didn’t have radios. Without them, ev if their field of view could overlap, the ordinary T34s couldn’t receive warnings from allies — what were they supposed to do, “play music” by machine-gunning fridly tanks?
After passing the armored battalion, there was the artillery training g where the 55th Heavy Howitzer Battalion was simulating rapid loading for their guns with practice s.
A bit further on was the Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion. As Wang Zhong’s command had previously lacked this type of unit, there was no one to share their expertise with them, so the anti-aircraft gunners had to rely on training manuals for their pre-battle drills.
Nearing the main building, Wang Zhong saw his assigned Anti-tank Artillery Battalion. Dimitri, along with a group who had actual experice with anti-tank guns, was explaining the Pros Tank’s weak spots to the gunners using a detailed diagram.
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Wang Zhong watched with satisfaction as everyone was busy with their duties. Just th, the jeep came to a stop.
Grigori: “We’ve arrived, Geral.”
“I know, this is my home!” Wang Zhong said.
————
Old Rocossov’s study, Jules 94 July , 0 hours.
After listing to Wang Zhong’s analysis, Old Rocossov nodded, “Your reasoning is sound, I’ll try to get you a redeploymt order so you can move to the Orachi region for garrison duty.
“However, are you really that certain that Major Geral Skorobo’s counterattack will be completely ineffective?”
Wang Zhong th repeated his theory that the emy would use tanks to lure the attacking forces into an ambush laid by 88mm guns.
Old Rocossov: “This 88mm anti-aircraft gun, is it the one you reported being destroyed by explosives during an attack on a pottial anti-tank position with the B4 as stated in your report?”
“Yes. At this stage, it is the nemesis of all our tanks, it can ev petrate the KV series from a great distance.”
What Wang Zhong didn’t say was that the gun was not just petrating but also had first-rate destructive effects; basically, a single hit meant a sure kill, could survive.
Old Rocossov: “Have you reported this to the Front Army headquarters?”
“I have.” Wang Zhong was not going to hide the lessons learned for his own befit—these were things that could save lives; to keep the experice to himself was irresponsible to the tire army.
Old Rocossov: “Indeed, Skorobo is a very stubborn man. I hope that after he loses those three tank armies, he will come to his sses and issue the order to retreat in time.”
Wang Zhong: “Whether he comes to his sses in time or not, we will hold at Olga for at least four days, giving the troops four more days to break out of the circlemt.”
Old Rocossov sighed, “I always feel it’s unlikely he will come to his sses in time. I know him too well.”
Wang Zhong scratched his head, not ke on discussing the infuriating Geral of the Front Army, and changed the subject, “Wh are you planning to evacuate, Your Excellcy the Geral?”
“I don’t plan to evacuate,” said Old Rocossov. “You have your old unit, and I have mine. I’ll stay and lead them to break out wh the momt is critical. You can understand that, right?”
Wang Zhong nodded.
He could understand, but he still had mixed feelings.
He was supposed to have little emotional attachmt to his “family” in this world—that’s how it should be.
But wh he thought about the old man possibly dying in the upcoming siege, it made him quite troubled.
Thus, Wang Zhong decided to try persuading a few more times, but the old man countered with a question, “Put yourself in my shoes, facing a hopeless situation, th receiving an order from above telling you to abandon your unit and flee alone, would you do it?”
Wang Zhong: “Of course not. I would fight with my unit until the very last momt. But…”
Old man: “You’ve accepted it rationally but not emotionally, hav’t you?”
Wang Zhong hesitated a momt before nodding.
The old man laughed heartily and pressed an electric bell on the desk.
T seconds later the old butler appeared: “Master!”
“Bring the wine! My ingrate of a son will be worried for me! Hurry, bring the wine!”
The butler: “The doctor said… I’m going to get the wine.”
Having said that, he bowed to Old Rocossov, th to Wang Zhong, before leaving.
The old man th stood up, took out several wafers from a tin can on the coffee table, and threw one to Wang Zhong: “Here, these are my attempt at making them, trying to recreate the taste of the ones your nanny used to bake that you liked so much as a child, see if they taste right!”
Wang Zhong took a bite, his brow instantly furrowing: “This is terrifyingly sweet!”
“Oh? Is it?” The old man tasted one for himself, his brow also creasing, “Oh, how can it be so sweet? It tasted normal wh I had it?”
Wang Zhong: “How would I know?”
The old man thought for a momt and slapped his thigh: “I’ve got it, I added sugar and th honey, and I only tasted it after the sugar! I forgot honey is sweet! What a waste.”
He tossed the wafers back into the tin.
At that momt the butler brought the wine and glasses.
Old Rocossov: “Come, let’s drink, father and son! To your triumphant advance!”
Wang Zhong: “And to your successful breakout.”
“Ha-ha, if you hold firm, I will definitely break out. You should worry less about your old dad, look after yourself!”
With that, Old Rocossov stuffed a glass into Wang Zhong’s hand, snatched the bottle from the butler, filled it up for him, and th did the same for himself.
“To the mother of Ante,” he said, raising his glass.
Wang Zhong: “To the mother of Ante.”