August 26, zero five hundred hours, Shostka.
With the help of Ludmila and Nelly, Wang Zhong dressed himself and, after taking a satisfactory look at his own reflection in the dressing mirror, nodded approvingly.
Ludmila: “Today, I’m heading back to the unit.”
Wang Zhong: “Ah? What about my hugs every morning?”
“You can find Nelly for that.”
As soon as Ludmila finished speaking, Nelly took a step back, her displeasure evident on her face.
Pointing at Nelly, Wang Zhong said, “Look! You’ve scared Nelly now!”
Ludmila laughed and gently ruffled Wang Zhong’s hair. “Alyosha, haven’t you always slept on your own before?”
“It’s hard to go from luxury to frugality, you know?”
“Alyosha.” Ludmila simply called Wang Zhong’s name, then gazed at him.
Wang Zhong sighed. “I’m just showing how hard it is for me to part with you. Shoot down a few more enemy planes, okay?”
With those words, he embraced Ludmila, allowing the girl to rest on his chest while he gently stroked her hair.
After several dozen seconds, Wang Zhong reluctantly pulled away and said to Nelly, “See Ludmila off.”
“Mhm.” Nelly nodded.
Wang Zhong turned and left the dormitory, speaking to Grigori outside, “Saddle Bucephalus and gather a competent squad, all armed with submachine guns.”
“A reconnaissance mission?” Grigori, flicking the cigarette he was holding to the ground and stamping it out, replied, “I’ll assemble the troops right away.”
Ludmila chased after him. “Alyosha, as the commander of the entire division, why are you going on the reconnaissance yourself?”
“It’s precisely because I am the commander of the whole division that I must go on a reconnaissance mission,” Wang Zhong patted his fiancée’s shoulder, “Don’t worry, I have a pair of eyes that can spot the enemy from two kilometers away.”
This was true.
Ludmila: “But what if you don’t spot the enemy? What if you get surrounded? Would you really be willing to hand over the troops you’ve trained so hard to someone else’s command?”
At that moment, Grigori quietly slipped away, clearly not wanting to get involved in the couple’s quarrel.
Pavlov emerged from the division headquarters building, peeking over this way, and was promptly seized by Ludmila. “Chief of Staff, talk to him. He wants to go on the reconnaissance himself!”
Pavlov: “He pulled the same stunt at Orachi, but when the enemy’s motorized troops turned up near us, I wouldn’t let him go. But now, our patrol units are still patrolling the western bank as usual, so it’s fine if he wants to have a look.”
Ludmila was shocked. “You support him going?”
“If the commander personally scouts the enemy, it will greatly boost troop morale. That’s what the military academy taught us, right? It has been like this since the days of Suvorov,” Pavlov shrugged.
Ludmila: “But he is the last in our class!”
Before the words fell, Wang Zhong picked up Ludmila and gave her a nibble.
Nelly couldn’t help but comment, “It’s like gnawing on a pork knuckle.”
Wang Zhong stopped only when Ludmila pushed against his chest with both hands, and, as his fiancée gasped for air, he smacked his lips.
Nelly: “Salty?”
Wang Zhong looked at Nelly. “You’re quite humorous.”
“You flatter me,” Nelly replied modestly.
Wang Zhong looked back at the now-recovered Ludmila and said, “Ante women won’t stop their men from fulfilling their duties, will they?”
Ludmila sighed. “Yes, I’m just discussing the necessity with you!”
“It’s necessary, trust me.” Wang Zhong looked her straight in the eyes.
“All right, go on then.”
Wang Zhong turned and hurriedly ran downstairs.
Then Bucephalus appeared, snorting through the bit in his mouth, unable to nibble on Wang Zhong’s head and instead blowing air around his face.
Gently stroking the horse’s neck, Wang Zhong asked with a smile, “Miss me?”
The horse whinnied and pranced its hooves.
At this moment, Grigori and the assembled guard unit appeared.
Mounting his horse, Wang Zhong nodded to a worried-looking Ludmila and was about to turn the horse around when Vasily appeared, carrying a captured field radio. “I’m going too, otherwise if something happens, you all won’t be able to contact division headquarters.”
Wang Zhong: “That’s fine. But why bring the captured one?”
Vasily: “Its battery is reliable; I just charged it this morning. Our batteries aren’t trustworthy, and we’d have to carry a hand-cranked generator. Get me a horse.”
Grigori told a soldier, “Go pick another one from the stables, this one is for the lieutenant.”
The soldier immediately dismounted and handed the reins over to Vasily.
A few minutes later, the small unit was ready. Wang Zhong waved to Ludmila and led the unit out of the division headquarters compound.
Bucephalus, cheerful, sprinted particularly fast and soon galloped along the road to the riverbank. He then rushed toward the riverbed and started drinking at the water’s edge.
Wang Zhong: “Hey! You’re too free-spirited, you know!”
Just then, the Naval Infantry patrolling under the bridge spoke to Wang Zhong, “General, although it’s the dry season, the middle can still be over a person’s head! Crossing by swimming requires caution.”
Wang Zhong: “Are all the river sections we defend impassable by swimming?”
“I only said to be cautious. We can swim across, armed with light weapons and grenades. I just don’t know if the Prosen infantry has as good water skills as we do,” said the Naval Infantry, tugging at his dark uniform to show a bit more of the sailor shirt underneath his collar.
Wang Zhong thought for a moment, then asked, “What if we were to spray the river with oil and set it on fire, would that stop the enemy from crossing?”
“Certainly, it could. But think of the amount of gasoline that would require, plus it’s a one-time thing. It’s better to set up a few more machine guns.”
Wang Zhong, “For use in a critical moment. I mean, when the machine guns aren’t quick enough to block off the river.”
“Then it’s your decision,” the Naval Infantry said. “Really, there’s no need to worry too much. With the river being so wide, the enemy would likely consider crossing over the bridge first. If not, they might use engineering troops to build a pontoon.”
Wang Zhong nodded. At that moment, Bucephalus finished drinking, neighed softly, and then started to run on its own, quickly reaching the stairs next to the river, then onto the riverside avenue, and finally turned onto the large bridge.
The main body of the bridge was a railway bridge, consisting only of tracks without a floor, but there was a small path with wooden planks laid down next to it.
Bucephalus ran along the path all the way to the bridgehead fort.
The troops guarding the bridgehead fort saluted Wang Zhong.
Wang Zhong stopped to look over the bridge surface, muttering, “If the enemy sets up machine guns next to it to seal off the bridge, the troops on the west bank would be isolated.”
The soldier standing guard next to the bunker laughed, “Then the enemy’s machine guns would have to withstand our artillery fire first. Look around, where is there any cover for the enemy to use? You might as well worry about the wooden planks on the bridge being lifted by the enemy.”
Wang Zhong turned his head and nodded, “True, we’ll replace them with iron plates and secure them with bolts.”
“Then on behalf of everyone, thank you, Your Excellency,” the soldier said.
Wang Zhong then asked, “Are our supplies of food and ammunition sufficient?”
“Enough to last about a week or so. You can rest assured.”
Wang Zhong nodded again, spurred Bucephalus once more, and the horse began to gallop.
————-
It was half an hour later when they encountered the enemy.
And it wasn’t the enemy’s reconnaissance troops, but Prussian Infantry stationed on the high ground.
From a great distance, Wang Zhong had his troops dismount, leaving a few men in the woods to watch the horses, and took the rest to a spot a few hundred meters from the enemy position.
Unlike the endless Kazarlian plains, this area had many trees, which made it possible to conceal their approach and engage the enemy.
Wang Zhong switched to an overhead view to observe the enemy on the high ground.
There was a platoon of enemy troops, and they were not in a state of combat readiness.
Wang Zhong turned his head to ask Grigori, “If we call for artillery fire, can you take the high ground with our current forces after the shelling? There might be a platoon up there.”
Grigori, “My suggestion is to not use artillery fire, so as not to startle the enemy by hitting the grass. We can crawl over and launch a surprise attack. Those who followed are all veterans, and they’re all equipped with submachine guns—we have the advantage in close-quarters combat.”
Wang Zhong, “Okay. Go ahead.”
Just as Grigori was about to crawl forward, he suddenly remembered something, turned back to a sergeant and said, “You stay behind with Lavrov to protect the general.”
The sergeant frowned, “Doesn’t the general have Vasily with him?”
Grigori, “Follow orders. You must not let the general die, even if you do, understand?”
“Leave it to me,” the sergeant saluted.
Then Grigori led the men out of the hidden bushes.
The sergeant left behind looked at Vasily, “The sergeant major doesn’t trust you, musician.”
Wang Zhong, “Musician?”
“Ever since my dad went on a drinking rage, that’s what they’ve called me,” Vasily said with a bitter face.
Wang Zhong, “It’s not a bad nickname. You are indeed a great musician.”
Vasily, “Stop making fun of me.”
“I’m not making fun of you,” Wang Zhong said, then turned his attention back to the high ground.
With the naked eye, it was almost impossible to see where Grigori and his men were, but switching to the overhead view showed they had advanced to a spot separated from the enemy by only a row of hedges; Grigori was assigning tasks to his soldiers, inaudible in the overhead perspective.
In any case, they spread out quickly, advancing towards the high ground in pairs.
Grigori crawled to the vicinity of the enemy’s machine gun position, and when the enemy turned away, he dashed out and quickly eliminated the two men at the machine gun with his knife.
The other groups also began their movements, and in the blink of an eye, several sentries on the outpost were silently taken out.
However, one of the sentries managed to fire off a shot before dying, alerting the enemy.
Several Prussians immediately rushed out from Grigori’s cover, only to be mown down by his submachine gunfire.
A corporal following him threw a grenade into an opening, and the next moment, the blast wave surged out of the entrance.
The others seized key positions and opened fire, the sound of submachine guns and grenades incessant.
Grigori charged to the front of the enemy command post, sweeping two guards with a burst of gunfire. He then ordered the corporal to set up the gun as he held a grenade.
Wang Zhong thought despairingly, don’t do it, capture an officer!
However, Grigori had already thrown his grenade.
Inside the command post, several were stunned, about to be obliterated, when the enemy commander’s adjutant tackled the commander to the ground.
Wang Zhong, “Good!”
Vasily, “?!”.
After the explosion, Grigori charged in first. The enemy commander drew his pistol, only to be kicked flying by Grigori.
Facing the barrel of the submachine gun, the enemy had no choice but to surrender obediently.