In September of 914, at 0330 hours, Wang Zhong arrived early at the division headquarters bunker.
Clutching a large steel cup, Pavlov saw Wang Zhong enter and asked, “Fancy some tea? Today is likely to be a long day.”
Wang Zhong, “No, I’ll pass on your tea. Nelly, make me some tea.”
Popov, “Me too!”
Nelly promptly left.
Wang Zhong picked up the binoculars and went to the bunker’s observation window to look outside. The field of view from this observation window was much worse than the one from the windows of the division headquarters’ map room, but Wang Zhong had a cheat; a simple switch of perspective granted him a clear field of vision.
In the dim morning light, the west bank was silent.
Even with Wang Zhong’s cheat perspective, there were no highlighted units.
Wang Zhong, “Is the enemy completely foregoing reconnaissance?”
Pavlov answered, “After you went to sleep last night, there were enemy reconnaissance squads. Didn’t you hear the machine-gun fire?”
Wang Zhong shook his head, then realized something, “You didn’t sleep?”
Pavlov, “I did for a bit, about two hours. Don’t worry, it won’t affect my ability to perform my duties. I’m the chief of staff; much of my work is mechanical, and sometimes it’s sufficient to leave it to the staff officers.”
Wang Zhong involuntarily switched back to using his own eyes to look at Pavlov’s dark circles, “This is really worrying.”
At that moment, Nelly came in with a large platter not only containing teapots and cups but also some pastries. She placed everything on the map table.
Wang Zhong, “Um, don’t put it on top of the detailed fortification map, put it on this one. We won’t be using the overall front line map today.”
Nelly shifted the platter and then poured Wang Zhong a full cup of hot tea.
Popov handed over his own teacup, “More for me.”
Nelly poured all the tea from the pot into his cup, then walked away with the empty pot.
Vasily, “Well now, there’s none left for the rest of us.”
Wang Zhong laughed and continued to observe the west bank.
Suddenly, in his bird’s-eye view, enemy reconnaissance troops appeared on the west bank.
Wang Zhong, “Here they come!”
Vasily hurried to a nearby gunner’s scope, “Where? I don’t see anything.”
Wang Zhong, “Phone, connect to the Anti-tank Battalion.”
Pavlov immediately picked up the receiver and shouted “Anti-tank Battalion,” then handed the receiver to Wang Zhong.
Wang Zhong took it, just as he heard a voice from the other side, “Anti-tank Battalion, go ahead.”
“Enemy reconnaissance troops have appeared on the opposite bank. I’ll have the bridgehead fire illumination rounds; you load up the howitzers. Don’t use towed guns, let ZIS30 fire and then relocate after engaging.”
“Understood, ZIS30 to fire and relocate after engaging.”
Having said that, Pavlov had already used another phone to reach the bridgehead, “Fire the illumination rounds, take care not to expose the MG positions, engage with individual weapons.”
10 seconds later, an illumination round soared up from the bridgehead, illuminating the enemy scouts crawling forward on the opposite bank.
The ZIS30s, deployed in position number 7 on the riverbank, opened fire immediately, and high-explosive shells burst open upon the flat terrain of the west bank.
Subsequently, gunfire burst out like popping beans, all from rifles.
Unfortunately, the light was poor, and the distance to the enemy was too far, limiting the accuracy.
The second round of high-explosive shells arrived.
After the first wave’s adjustments, this round landed directly in the center of the enemy, sending them tumbling to the ground.
Then they began to retreat.
Popov had also arrived at the bunker’s observation port and was watching the other side with binoculars, “They’re only conducting reconnaissance now, isn’t that a bit late? Could the enemy be falling into a state of complacency? Think about the behavior of the prisoner we captured yesterday.”
Wang Zhong, “Isn’t that a good thing? Arrogance leads to defeat; let’s leave them strewn across the battlefield today.”
Pavlov joined the conversation, “I’m more concerned about the bridgehead. If you ask me, we might as well pull our men back and blow the bridge.”
Wang Zhong, “Then the enemy would disperse along the riverbank, and it would be harder for us to eliminate them efficiently. Our purpose in leaving this bridge intact is to draw the enemy’s attention and inflict maximum casualties, and the bridgehead is the bait we’ve laid out.”
After speaking, Wang Zhong took a sip of tea then reached for a pastry, only to find that they were slices of cucumber.
Wang Zhong, “Where are the pickles?”
Vasily, “We opened all of them a few days ago to use the lids as fake landmines. We discovered something: real mines would detonate upon being hit by enemy artillery, but the lids of pickle cans don’t, so we buried them shallowly. After an artillery attack blows away the soil on top, the enemy engineers have to come and deal with the mines.”
Wang Zhong looked at Vasily, “Not bad, musician. This clever use is pretty good.”
Vasily, on hearing the nickname “musician,” showed a face as if he had eaten a
Vasily: “Sure, anything as long as I don’t have to write music.”
At this moment, the alarm clock on the table went off.
Nelly had just carried in a new tray of tea when she was startled by the alarm clock.
Pavlov stopped the alarm clock: “Is it time to start the counter-fire preparation?”
Wang Zhong looked at the time: “Let’s start.”
Pavlov picked up the phone receiver: “Connect to the artillery corps. Artillery corps, begin firing.”
————
Major General Siegfried Gilais had just arrived at his own forward command post when he heard a sound like rolling thunder in the distance.
He frowned and asked his adjutant, “What’s going on?”
The adjutant replied, “I’ll find out right away.”
The adjutant, who was much older than Siegfried, turned and left.
Within the Asgard Knights, it was common to see commanders younger than their subordinates, reflecting Emperor Reinhard’s will: to replace the old Junker officer corps rapidly with new, younger officers more familiar with the latest military technology.
Ironically, without these Junker officers, the massive military machine would grind to a halt.
Even in the Asgard Knights, which aimed to employ as many officers of civilian background as possible internally, this was true.
In Reinhard’s plan, the whole “blood transfusion” process was to last ten years. By the time the blood transfusion was completed, Prosen would have set foot on Federation land, becoming the true world hegemon.
The adjutant returned quickly: “The enemy is shelling our assembly areas and supply centers.”
Siegfried: “Is it the usual shelling?”
“Unlikely, the timing is wrong. Plus, the enemy didn’t shell last night, resulting in many people not sleeping well.”
Siegfried frowned deeply: “Has our attack plan been exposed?”
“Possibly, the soldiers have been openly talking about quickly annihilating Ante and spending New Year’s Day in Ye Fort. It’s possible that the enemy captured some prisoners who relayed this information.”
Siegfried: “Can our artillery suppress the enemy’s?”
“Yes, aerial reconnaissance has located the enemy’s artillery positions.”
Siegfried: “Then open fire.”
————
Pavlov was the first to look up: “This whistling sound is wrong.”
Wang Zhong looked puzzled. Since the beginning, all he had heard was the whistling of their own artillery shells flying over, and he was unable to distinguish which was wrong.
However, the sound of explosions came from behind them, and Wang Zhong quickly shifted his perspective, seeing the enemy’s shells continuously falling.
They were falling on the fake artillery positions made of wood and camouflage nets.
Did you not expect that? Not shooting down your scout planes was so you could see the fake positions! This is called deception in warfare. You Prussians have much to learn! Sun Wu of Ceres is way ahead of you!
Without any cheats, Pavlov could only make phone calls to confirm where the enemy was bombing. It took him three calls to get accurate information, which he reported to Wang Zhong: “The enemy is bombing our fake artillery positions.”
Wang Zhong: “Add a meal for the deception troops today. Have them quickly set up new fake positions after dark.”
Vasily muttered, “Fake artillery positions, fake landmines, Rocossov’s warfare is all about fakes.”
Wang Zhong: “This is called deception in warfare! The enemy is stronger than us, so we have to use our brains to fight them, understand?”
After speaking, Wang Zhong realized, damn it, the fake landmines weren’t even my doing!
Before he could explain to Vasily, the phone rang again.
Pavlov, as usual, picked it up: “Headquarters. How many planes? Has the Air Force been notified? Good, understood.”
After hanging up, the bear-like chief of staff told Wang Zhong, “Brother Peter heard a lot of three-engined transport planes, probably paratroopers. The Air Force has been informed and is taking off to intercept.”
Wang Zhong: “Three-engined transport planes, Junkers 52, right?”
Vasily exclaimed, “General, you really know your Prosen weaponry.”
Wang Zhong thought to himself that of course he did, most military enthusiasts were initially drawn in by German military wear, and over time they gradually shifted to other types of military hobbies. Hence, most enthusiasts were quite familiar with Sturmtiger’s equipment.
Wang Zhong: “I’ve long been aware that we would inevitably clash with Prosen, so I’ve made it my business to covertly learn about them!”
The others at headquarters exchanged glances, tacitly not mentioning the least favorite topic.
Even Nelly didn’t bring it up.
Just then the phone rang again. After Pavlov answered, he reported to Wang Zhong, “The anti-aircraft observation post has spotted enemy planes flying in this direction.”
As he spoke, he drew several lines on the map with a pencil.
Wang Zhong: “It looks like the drop zone is between Karlinka and Seneca. Call Army Group headquarters, notify Kiriyenko.”
As Pavlov made the call, Popov said, “The Tribunal’s internal security forces will take care of them. They are better equipped than the regular infantry and are all soldiers of steadfast faith. Plus, they now have tank support.”
Wang Zhong: “I trust Kiriyenko. I had a heart-to-heart with him at Ye Fort; he’s a commander you can rely on.”
Popov stared at Wang Zhong for a few seconds: “Is that so.”
Just then, the enemy’s preparatory artillery fire against the defenses officially began.
The heavy artillery shells sent dust drifting sparsely from the bunker’s ceiling, which had been well-built for just over twenty days.