An Ante man dressed as a farmer was brought into the room.
Giles scrutinized him for a moment and praised, “Farmers are most familiar with the conditions of rainfall and the earth, very good. Ask him how much autumn rain can affect transportation.”
The lieutenant who brought in the farmer immediately asked in the Ante language.
The farmer didn’t hurry to answer and instead looked curiously around, showing no sign of fear at all.
The lieutenant cursed in the Ante language, “Suka! Answer the question!”
The farmer glanced at him and then at Giles, “The impact of the rain is just that, isn’t it? Mule carts can’t carry too much, or the mules won’t be able to pull. Also, you must reinforce the axles of the carts in advance, or there might be accidents.
“The hooves of horses always have a variety of problems, and sometimes horses sprain their legs. Such horses prone to spraining cannot be used for breeding, as they might pass the defects to the foals… In the end, all you can do is kill them and eat their meat…”
“Enough!” the lieutenant cursed, “Answer the question!”
The farmer widened his eyes at the lieutenant, “Aren’t I answering the question? Isn’t this the impact of the rain that you asked about?”
The captain sighed and began to translate for Giles.
Giles listened seriously and said, “It seems that the rain has quite a severe impact on transportation…”
The chief of staff said, “This might be because the Ante people are too negligent in the care of their livestock. For instance, the part about horse sprains seems like a problem caused by poor care. This just shows that inferior races are like this.”
However, Giles didn’t pay attention to the chief of staff and continued, “Is the circulation of goods still normal during the rainy season? Can you normally purchase goods?”
After the lieutenant translated, the old farmer laughed, “Buy normal goods? How could that be possible! Before there were no church stores, all sorts of goods were incredibly expensive during the rainy season and the grain-mashing period.
“Now the good people of the church sell goods at fair prices, and the Judge even had that hoarding Lord Boye shot!”
Once the lieutenant translated, the chief of staff scoffed coldly, “Hmph, just the church’s way of buying people’s hearts!”
Giles angrily said, “Don’t speak!”
Then he turned to Feliz, “It looks like the impact of this rainy season might be bigger than we anticipated.”
Feliz said, “Our contingency plans already have a twenty percent redundancy. Can a little rain reduce our transport capacity by twenty percent? Moreover, the old farmer also said that mule carts could be used; they just need frequent axle maintenance.
“Our mule carts are much more sophisticated than those of the Ante people. How about we increase the redundancy to thirty percent?”
Giles nodded, “Yes, thirty percent.”
At this moment, the old farmer asked, “What, you can’t attack anymore, waiting for the rain to come?”
The others, who could not understand the Ante language, looked curiously at the old farmer.
The lieutenant, who understood Ante, promptly slapped the farmer, “That’s none of your business!”
Giles said, “Don’t hit him! What did he say?”
“He asked if we can’t advance and if we are waiting for the rain,” the lieutenant replied.
Giles said, “Answer ‘yes’.”
Once the lieutenant translated, a smile appeared on the corners of the farmer’s mouth.
Giles asked, “Ask him why he is smiling.”
(After translating)
The farmer replied, “I just thought of something pleasing, Colonel sir.”
Feliz was about to get angry, but Giles stopped him, “Let it be. Our Knight Order’s generals don’t have red collar patches; the Ante farmer doesn’t recognize them. Saying the highest military rank is fine.
“Take him away, give him some gifts and food.”
Feliz nodded and then, with a stern voice, gave the orders, while the lieutenant who did the translation roughly dragged the old farmer out of the room.
Feliz turned back, seeing Giles with a serious face.
“Don’t worry,” he reassured, “even if the Ante people can maintain transportation during the rainy season, it just proves it’s not that scary. Intelligence shared by the High Command also mentioned rain, which might affect transportation.”
Giles replied, “Remember the big traffic jam at the start of the war? High Command wasn’t reliable last time.”
At this moment, the Air Force Major General present—who also didn’t have the red collar patch—said, “We have already established modern airports. Even if ground transportation is hindered, we can airdrop supplies.”
Giles nodded and turned to the map of the war zone, “We will still proceed with the earthwork. Meanwhile, let all units start stockpiling ammunition and other supplies.”
Feliz asked, “Should we reply to the enemy?”
After thinking it over, Giles said, “Send a clear telegram, state that we are aware and appreciate the warning. Sign my name at the end of the telegram.”
————
Inside the bunker of Ante Army’s elite mechanized infantry division headquarters.
Wang Zhong looked at the enemy’s reply, his face long with disappointment, “The enemy didn’t fall for it!”
Pavlov looked worried, “Have they really prepared for the muddiness? If so, General, your war concept has flaws!”
For a moment, Wang Zhong truly felt as if Prosen, being Jude, might actually have some impressive countermeasures. But then he thought that although Prosen had rolled out some equipment that Sturmtiger on Earth would only be able to have in a few years, their overall level wasn’t too far beyond Sturmtiger.
Moreover, Prosen had basically stepped in all the traps Sturmtiger had encountered in the Earth’s war history without missing any.
There shouldn’t be too much of a problem.
Wang Zhong, “Since the enemy doesn’t accept our kind advice, let’s just play trench warfare with them. Tonight we’ll organize a night raid squad, sneak over, and give them a surprise to slow down their digging.”
Pavlov: “Okay.”
Wang Zhong: “Grigori!”
The sergeant major entered the bunker: “What’s up?”
Wang Zhong: “Tonight, you’ll lead the raid team. Don’t cross the bridge to get there; it’s too conspicuous. Have the Naval Infantry row you across quietly—the key is to be silent.”
Grigori: “Understood. Am I to select the troops for the assault myself?”
“You pick them yourself,” Wang Zhong nodded.
Pavlov: “Should we coordinate with the Naval Infantry? They’re continuing to send people over tonight to cover the technicians dismantling the radio station. Why not send them together?”
Wang Zhong: “That’s fine too. You contact the Naval Infantry. To cover the raiding troops, we’ll provide artillery preparation tonight. With our current fire support plan, the raiding troops can get as close as thirty meters without worrying about our own fire.”
“Fine.” Pavlov picked up the handset, then suddenly laughed, “This thing is becoming my tool of the trade, like a farmer and his hoe.”
Wang Zhong: “What are you talking about? That’s clearly your weapon! Just like my little tank.”
Pavlov frowned: “What ‘little tank’? Your way of putting things is kind of disgusting.”
It was you who started it!
————
At two in the morning.
Wang Zhong, more tense than during the day, lay beside the observation window, watching the opposite bank.
Thanks to external support, he could clearly see that the enemy’s trenches had advanced 100 meters and were now 1,200 meters from the bank.
At this rate, they would reach the bank in another twelve days.
Wang Zhong’s external aids were many times more powerful at night than during the day. Under this visibility, the fact that he could see Prosen troops making coffee in the distant trenches was terrifying.
Wang Zhong even thought, if he hadn’t joined the Ante People but instead gone to the United Kingdom, he probably would have been part of the Allied Forces’ daredevil squad, causing trouble for the Prussians with that hero who played the bagpipes and brandished a longsword and longbow.
At this moment, he saw the Naval Infantry’s boats setting off.
Originally, Wang Zhong thought the boats would be rowed with oars, but the sailors placed ropes in the water, stretching straight to the opposite bank, and, like tug-of-war, pulled themselves across.
Wang Zhong didn’t know when the Naval Infantry had placed the ropes; maybe they did it on the first day when they landed to flank the enemy, left the ropes there just for nighttime raids.
One had to admit, the initiative of the Naval Infantry was terrifyingly high.
Wang Zhong watched as Grigori led the commando team ashore and was surprised to find an entire company of Naval Infantry moving with them.
It appeared that the Naval Infantry also planned a night raid and had readily agreed to join forces.
Now, from Wang Zhong’s vantage point, there were three of our army’s markers landing at the crossing point. A Naval Infantry company halted in place, likely in charge of covering the technician’s dismantling of the radio.
The other two markers slowly approached the enemy trenches.
Due to low visibility, Wang Zhong could only see the units’ markers and not the specific actions of the people.
On the other hand, the enemy was quite clear because of the highlighting feature—no, that’s not right. Only those within Wang Zhong’s line of sight were highlighted, just one section of the trenches. The target of Grigori’s raid was just out of Wang Zhong’s highlighting range.
Wang Zhong sighed, “Send me two more guards, I need to get closer to observe the situation.”
Pavlov was shocked: “Are you planning to cross the river?”
Popov was off catching up on sleep, not in the bunker, but he probably would have had the same reaction if he were present.
Wang Zhong: “No, I’m just walking along our positions. A walk. I overate tonight.”
Nelly: “Overeat? But you didn’t eat much, did you?”
Wang Zhong: “I had a lot of pastries, and they expanded with water. Now I need to walk it off, that’s all.”
Pavlov: “But the artillery preparation is about to begin, is it okay for you to leave the command post at this time? The enemy might retaliate too.”
Wang Zhong had to give up. He had enough experience with enemy shelling over the past few days; without solid concrete fortifications, the barrages would have been sufficient to break the Guard Division.
He had no desire to face the shelling outside the bunker.
If he thought about it, even if he made it to a position where he could highlight the target location, he wouldn’t be able to help. After all, this wasn’t him personally commanding tank combat, where he could immediately direct tank fire upon highlighting the enemy.
Just then, music suddenly drifted from across the river.
Because the sound was too faint, Wang Zhong couldn’t clearly make out the song and asked Vasily: “Musician, what song is that?”
Vasily listened intently for a few seconds, then said, “It seems to be ‘Katyusha’.”
Wang Zhong: “The enemy is playing ‘Katyusha’?”
Vasily listened again and nodded, “Yes, it’s ‘Katyusha’, and a woman is singing it. Probably played on a captured phonograph.”
Wang Zhong’s mouth formed an O-shape.
At that moment, Pavlov said, “It’s time, shall we start the artillery preparation?”
Just as Wang Zhong was about to say “Fire,” he suddenly saw the two units making their way towards the enemy lines speeding up their movement.
Wang Zhong: “Don’t, don’t fire! There’s a change in the situation!”