Wang Zhong had no idea that his song had already made its way to the church.
He only knew that after Oshanin played the song with some enthusiasts, his own speaking rights suddenly increased.
He even felt that after every music piece ended, everyone was waiting for him to say a few words.
The presence of Grand Duchess Olga only strengthened this feeling.
At the end of every song, the host would anxiously watch Wang Zhong, checking if he intended to make a sharp critique.
However, Wang Zhong himself was quite self-aware, so he only spoke up to scold the effeminate tunes when the performance of a song was obviously poor, to uphold the solemnity of his good brethren and his father’s funeral.
By the time the two and a half hour audition finished, Wang Zhong’s legs had nearly gone numb.
Ludmila smiled, pulling him up, and said, “Are you really the fierce general who gallops across the battlefield?”
Wang Zhong: “When I gallop across the battlefield, I mainly rely on my little tank.”
After saying this, Wang Zhong seemed to hear the neighing of horses and quickly added, “And my beloved horse.”
Ludmila sighed, “Your answer reminds me that on the battlefield, you cared more about tanks and horses than me!”
“That’s a misunderstanding!” Wang Zhong said seriously, “My concern for you is the same as that for my horse and tank!”
Ludmila looked at Wang Zhong with a teasing smile, while the surrounding young noblewomen already looked at her with sympathetic eyes.
Only then did Wang Zhong realize something seemed off, so he corrected himself, “I care about you more than the horses and the tank!”
“Hahaha, I don’t believe you.” Ludmila said after a dry laugh.
Just as Wang Zhong was about to make amends, she sighed deeply, “Oh well, it seems all men are the same. When Uncle Connie and my father gathered, they would be bursting with enthusiasm talking about what phase of the campaign, which general’s unit arrived where on what date… You will probably be the same in the future.”
Wang Zhong looked aside because he also felt that he would become just like that.
It was then that Professor Vladimir Bradsky approached with some trepidation and asked, “Er, General, do you… really think I should go to Shostka to see Vasily?”
Wang Zhong: “Don’t hesitate, go quickly. Shostka is normal for now, even running a regular civilian passenger train each day. But it won’t be this relaxed for much longer.”
Wang Zhong had intended to say that it wouldn’t be this relaxed by mid-September, but at this time, it wasn’t appropriate to leak military judgments, so he could only say so much.
Bradsky, holding his hat, rubbed it nervously, “There’s a great war coming, right? Would it be taboo to visit my son in the army at such a time?
“I’ve heard that the army is a very superstitious place, where some people carry amulets into battle, believing that if they lose them, they’ll never return—stuff like that…
“So is there any superstition that if you see your family before a war, you’ll be doomed in the future?”
Wang Zhong: “No, not at all. Rest assured. War doesn’t take such kind considerations, death arrives without warning and it doesn’t relate to your actions.”
Ludmila quickly poked his waist, then smiled and said, “What the Lieutenant Colonel means is, just ease your mind and go. Bring whatever good food you should.”
The professor nodded repeatedly, ready to leave, then suddenly remembered something, and asked, “Does Vasily… hate me?”
Wang Zhong: “He’s always grumbling that you forced him to be a composer, nothing else beyond that.”
The professor heaved a sigh: “I’m different from other parents. I saw his talent and steered him in that direction! As you can see, he really has the talent!”
Wang Zhong had to admit that Vasily did indeed have the talent to make something of a song after hearing it just once, the father before him wasn’t wrong.
So he said, “Maybe you should have a proper talk with him? Not as a father or an elder giving instructions, but as a friend, just a good, friendly chat?”
The professor was shocked, “But I am his father and elder! How can I possibly become his friend? I’ve discovered his talent and shown him the best path! As a father, I have a clear conscience! Your Excellency, if you were a father, you could…”
“I am not a father yet.” Wang Zhong smiled slightly, “Though I look weathered, it’s the imprint of war, I’m actually not even 30 years old. I have no experience as a father, so… I’m sorry, I can’t relate to you. All I can tell you is that Vasily hopes you can respect him, wanting to share a drink with you as a friend.”
Actually, here, Wang Zhong was expressing his own wish.
Before he crossed over, he had hoped to have a drink with his father, to chat as friends.
But now that was a wish that could never be fulfilled.
Thinking this still brought a bit of sorrow.
The empathetic Liu Xia looked at Wang Zhong tenderly.
The professor sighed, “Alright, alright, I understand what you mean. I’ll bring a bottle of wine and have a good chat with him.”
Wang Zhong: “As friends.”
“I’ll try.” The professor smiled, turned to leave, but then had another thought and asked, “Can I bring my wife along, too? Is there any taboo in that?”
Wang Zhong laughed, “No, rest assured.”
After saying this, Wang Zhong suddenly thought, if Vasily were to die this time, would the couple think it was because they had violated some taboo and caused his death?
In such a case, it would be better to concoct a taboo for them to be mindful of at all times. Just as sailors shouldn’t flip fish over while eating, and other such superstitions.
But before Wang Zhong could spin such a tale, the professor had already left, walking away while putting on his crumpled hat.
Ludmila said softly, “What a lovely father. You can tell he loves Vasily very, very much.”
“Yes.” Wang Zhong nodded.
It was at this moment that Grand Duchess Olga appeared: “Finally, it’s over. I heard that tonight you will be inviting young officers to a dance at the estate?”
“A dinner party.” Wang Zhong corrected.
Ludmila said jokingly, “Alyosha doesn’t want to entertain the ladies; he only wants to entertain the young men.”
Wang Zhong didn’t deny it.
Olga sighed, “That means you are definitely not coming to the court ball tonight.”
“Definitely not,” Wang Zhong answered.
“Then the ball is going to be very boring,” Olga pouted. Suddenly, as if she had thought of something that pleased her, she said, “Then I will have the orchestra play ‘The Holy War’ during the interlude between two dances!”
Wang Zhong was shocked. He could already imagine how someone was going to have high blood pressure tonight.
Ludmila changed the subject, “Is His Majesty the Tsar still the same?”
“Still the same, locked in his room all day long; the good news is that he is eating.”
Wang Zhong nodded, trying hard to appear concerned for His Majesty the Tsar.
The Grand Duchess Olga said, “Well then, I’m going back. I hope you have a good time tonight.”
————
That evening, in the outskirts of Ye Fort, at the Rokossovsky Estate.
A large number of young military officers gathered in the garden set up for an open-air banquet.
Many were familiar faces from the previous experience sharing session, like Kashuk.
There were also officers like Kiriyenko, who could hardly be considered young, but weren’t old either, mingling among them. If there was one thing that united all the officers gathered at the estate at that moment, it was that they had all personally faced off against the Prussians at the front.
Due to blackout regulations, only the food area was illuminated by candlelight; the rest of the venue was bathed in moonlight.
In these circumstances, if this had been a dance, many indecent things were likely to happen.
But this was not a dance.
The young officers were not discussing women but war.
Wang Zhong discovered a smoked herring salad at the food station which smelled terrible, but after one bite, he fell in love with the taste.
As he was enjoying the food, several Armored Troops officers arrived at the food station. It was so dark that they didn’t notice Wang Zhong and were chatting among themselves:
“The content of the session the day before yesterday was very useful, but those who went up to share were all people who had won battles, or at least held their ground and then retreated in one piece, so they only introduced how they won, not how they lost.”
“Yeah, I think how they lost would be more valuable to share,” one said.
Wang Zhong, upon hearing this, was very interested and asked, “So how did they lose?”
He intentionally blocked his own major general’s epaulettes and changed his voice to be somewhat different from “Rocossov.”
The Armored Troops officers glanced at Wang Zhong, and, seeing that he was infantry, spoke openly: “How we lost? You infantry would definitely not understand, but we are all too familiar with it.
“My unit, the First Tank Army, is the rich army of the entire Western Front Army. We have a large number of new tanks. Just KV-1s alone we have 40, and 20 KV-2s! Do you know the KV-2? We call it ‘toilet bowl head,’ that thing is equipped with a 152mm heavy howitzer!
“Our army also has 80 T-34s, you understand? 80! The moment there was armored contact, the Prussians were dumbfounded. They had never seen such terrifying tanks! And so many of them!
“Guess how we got finished?”
Wang Zhong thought of the fate of the Sixth Tank Army and said, “88 guns?”
“No no no,” the officer from the First Tank Army shook his hands repeatedly, “Guess again.”
Wang Zhong: “Stukas?”
“Those indeed destroyed a few, but not many. Actually, the efficiency of Stuka attacks isn’t as high as the Prussians advertise. Guess again!”
Wang Zhong: “I can’t guess. You tell me.”
The officer sighed deeply: “We lost because, other than tanks, we lacked everything! How many support troops does a Prussian tank division have? Each armored battalion has three battalions, and some divisions even only two. The rest are all support troops.
“Armored grenadiers, artillery, anti-air battalions, logistics regiments, maintenance battalions… They have everything! An armored battalion can even be directly supported by a grenadier battalion, with half-tracks outnumbering tanks!
“And us? It would be good if a platoon could get a squad of infantry, sometimes a tank platoon could only get an infantry squad. We may not have enough infantry, but that’s not all—our equipment is also poor. Buddy, how many machine guns does your infantry battalion have?”
Wang Zhong: “Depends on which battalion, but my Guard 31st Battalion has 114 light machine guns. Mainly because we captured a lot of enemy light machine guns.”
“See! 114! The entire Tank Army’s affiliated infantry only has 81 light machine guns. Our infantry’s firepower can’t compare with the enemy’s armored grenadiers; we get suppressed as soon as we engage and then we’re shattered.
“Then the enemy’s infantry can deal with our tanks in close combat! The enemy also likes to throw smoke! As you know, with smoke everywhere and no infantry to accompany, tanks are just sitting ducks!
“We also lack tractors. My division, the entire division has only seven tractors, and they are all the artillery’s, used to tow cannons! If a tank gets stuck in a ditch, there isn’t a tractor to pull it out.
“Many tanks were abandoned on the battlefield like this, without even fighting!”
The division commander was speaking passionately when he suddenly stopped, “Wait a minute, what did you say about your unit just now?”
Wang Zhong: “Guard 31st Battalion.”
The division commander: “Are you Major General Rocossov?”
“Correct. I will reflect all your grievances to the Ordnance Department. We will also try to push for more combined arms units, to fill up other technical service branches for you.”
The division commander shook his head, “It’s no use, unless General Sergey, the head of the Ordnance Department, is replaced, he will only continue to expand the tank forces, endlessly creating disabled tank armies that lack everything except for tanks, and then they will be farmed by the enemy as battle achievements.”