Previously, wh Wang Zhong led his troops from Bogdanovka to Loktov, they took a direct train and, since the unit was small, they arrived without any hitches.
Therefore, he had no actual understanding of the various difficulties countered during a march that Pavlov had spok of; his knowledge was purely theoretical.
But two hours after departing from Argesukov, he gained a clear understanding of the “troubles on the road.”
The accidts that occurred wh the troops passed through the urban area of Argesukov alone amounted to two, consuming at least five clerks from the headquarters staff to deal with the aftermath, and probably cost the division some Rubles in compsation.
After leaving the city, there were bunches of soldiers who fainted from heatstroke or fell behind due to lack of stamina; the medics and the horse-drawn ambulance carts were never idle.
During a rest after walking for three hours, a soldier wt to defecate and stepped into a hole dug by a field mouse, breaking his foot.
What stretched Wang Zhong’s patice to the limit was the accidtal discharge of a rifle that occurred in the afternoon.
During a march, it’s customary to keep the ammunition separate from the firearms to prevt accidtal discharge if the safety mechanism fails due to jostling. However, one recruit played with his gun and loaded a cartridge while resting, ev chambering a , and forgot to remove it wh they assembled.
Wh the gun fired, the veterans reacted swiftly and immediately hit the g, while the recruits looked a bewildered and at a loss.
Wang Zhong, not far from the discharge, distinctly heard the scream of the person hit by the bullet—this turned out to be the division’s first firearm injury case since its establishmt.
That was just an accidt within Wang Zhong’s line of sight; within a marching column of twty thousand m, the number of such incidts was beyond imagination.
Fortunately, Pavlov was very professional and had organized a small team of staff officers, clerks, and doctors to ride along the column and deal with emergcies.
The long march reminded Wang Zhong of something he read before his time travel, a critique of the “grand battle”: if Baldy’s troops could really march like in the movies, he wouldn’t have be defeated so miserably.
Damn, he had thought that commt was somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but it turned out to be true!
That’s how they continued until 4 p.m., wh the troop countered a horse-drawn cart driv by a local farmer.
The driver was an old man who, upon seeing the advancing troops, immediately steered his cart into the roadside bushes to let them pass.
As Wang Zhong passed by the old man, he made a point to nod and thank him: “Thank you, grandpa.”
“Look at this, what a polite geral! Geral, where are you headed? There ar’t any Prussians over there, are there?”
In the ordinary villager’s mind, there indeed were no Prussians in the direction his troops were headed—the Army Group was still hundreds of kilometers away from Argesukov, and ordinary people were completely unaware of this.
Wang Zhong: “We’re off to garrison. Do you know Orachi?”
“Yes, I know! There’s a big market there twice a month. You can buy horses, iron pots, and ev young cows there!”
That was the first time he’d heard of it.
Wang Zhong couldn’t resist asking further: “Can’t you get these things anywhere else?” ƜѴԼƎᎷρҮƦ.ƇՕƜ
“Of course, you can! You can buy anything in Argesukov. See, I am going to my daughter’s place in the city to work and need to bring some things back home.”
Wang Zhong: “Has the war not affected your life?”
“Of course, it has! All the young m in the village have rushed off to Argesukov, and few have returned; th, the girls wt too. Old Ivan at the pub has a radio, and it says we’ll defeat the Prussians in a few months!
“Just think about it, with so many good kids gone, surely we will defeat the emy soon!”
Not having the heart to burst his bubble, Wang Zhong agreed: “Yes, grandpa, that’s right. By the way, do you have any distant relatives? Ones who live far away, preferably to the east of Mount Raoul.”
The old man laughed: “Who has relatives that far away? Nobody in our village does! What’s going on, Geral? Could it be… that things are actually very bad?”
Yes.
But Wang Zhong said, “We will be victorious, grandpa. It’ll just take a little longer than expected.”
Grandpa: “No worries, it’s all right if it ds before the spring plowing next year. This year, the wheat harvest is already troublesome ough!”
Wang Zhong siltly bid farewell to the old man and rode off on Bucephalus in a cloud of dust.
————
That eving, the camp was set up in a village called Relyinsky, much smaller than Bilokotov but larger than Karlinovka, which Wang Zhong had visited before.
In fact, Pavlov had selected four such villages along the route for billeting, with the tire division’s units camping in order according to their position in the column.
The village where Wang Zhong stayed was at the very front of the marching column, sharing the space with the Fifth Bieshsk Regimt.
The reason for placing the Fifth Bieshsk Regimt at the forefront was because it had the most new recruits and the fewest expericed non-commissioned officers, which could lead to many falling behind during the march.
This way, the nearby Guards 3st Regimt could pick up those who straggled.
The technical servicem, dispersed amongst the infantry units, meant that if anything happed, there were plty of hands available to push carts and cannons.
Ludmila and the Divine Arrow Company were in the middle of the column, so Wang Zhong should be spding the night alone with just his guards for company—for the first time in a while.
That’s what he thought, but wh his staff officer led him to where he was staying that eving, he saw a maid.
Wang Zhong immediately asked the guide: “Why is there a maid?”
Staff Officer: “Isn’t she your orderly?”
Wang Zhong: “I don’t have an orderly, do I?”