The instigator of everything on this side, General Moochi, was cursing, “Why has the bombing stopped? We should flatten the Summer Palace!”
“Report, General, we’ve run out of shells,” said the Infantry Division commander with a face of helplessness, “this is our last stock.”
Moochi cursed in Prosen, then changed the subject, “Can we enter Ye Fort by tomorrow?”
Infantry Division commander: “No, General. You’ve seen it yourself, the area from here to Ye Fort, it’s all fortified zones, covered densely with Ante People.”
“But what I see are just militiamen! Their equipment is very rudimentary!” General Moochi exclaimed.
Infantry Division commander: “General, in my personal opinion, the militiamen lack only combat literacy and equipment, but their fighting will is very strong.
“Of course, under normal circumstances, we could beat these militiamen by ten to one. But this isn’t a normal situation, General, we only have enough ammunition for small arms now, all the artillery, even the ammunition for the 20mm machine guns is insufficient.
“Moreover, the troops are very hungry and are looting—I mean, foraging. Unless we get resupplied, we can’t possibly attack Ye Fort.”
Moochi sighed: “Fine, send a message to headquarters, say that if we put in one more division of reserves, we could take Ye Fort!”
After speaking, he turned around, facing the wintry landscape of Ye Fort outside the window, and fell silent for a long time before he picked up the binoculars, “Let me take one last look at this city. My very last.”
————
At the Central Army Corps Headquarters of the Prussians, Field Marshal Von Bock and his officers were studying the map.
Just then, the doors of the headquarters were opened by someone, and a staff officer came in with a sergeant who was holding a radio.
The Field Marshal looked at the two curiously, “What is it?”
Staff officer: “I think you should listen to this.”
He motioned with his hand, and the sergeant placed the radio on the table, then plugged it into the generator car’s power supply and pressed the switch.
Amid the static noise, a voice could be heard reading something in Ante.
Field Marshal Von Bock: “Do translate.”
The staff officer who brought the sergeant in translated, “This morning, His Majesty the Tsar died of illness due to overwhelming grief for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.”
The translation made the old Junker nobility generals present frown slightly because the wording seemed too casual, even for an enemy emperor.
But no one raised the issue.
The staff officer continued to translate: “Given the current special circumstances, the Tsarina Olga Nikolayevna Antonovna will succeed the throne, with a simplified ceremony.”
The Prussian generals looked at each other.
Field Marshal Von Bock took off his monocle, “This couldn’t be… killed in action, right? Contact the Second Armored Army Group immediately, confirm whether they have shelled Ye Fort!”
————
Wang Zhong was currently trying to plan a counterattack, so he approached Gunner Alexandria: “What’s the condition of the armored battalion?”
Alexandria pointed at the tanks stopped in the woods, “You see for yourself, only eight can be deployed, the rest are being repaired. Although the enemy is in bad shape, counterattacking with just eight tanks is still a bit shabby, isn’t it?”
Wang Zhong: “Did you guess that I want to counterattack?”
“Why else would you ask how many tanks are available?”
Wang Zhong looked around and noticed Eugene roasting his leggings, so he went over to ask, “How’s the situation with the infantry?”
“Defending is tough enough. We have a soldier who likes to collect arm badges from the Prussians he’s killed, from different troops. He has gathered nine different ones. We are sitting here now because the enemy’s artillery is not powerful enough,” Eugene said, spreading his hands.
Captain Andre, who was sent to act as a military advisor to Eugene, the miner, spoke up, “We’re all the same, any other troops would have collapsed by now. Those Prussians are now advancing solely on a single obsession, extremely fanatical.”
Wang Zhong: “So you mean you can’t spare any troops to coordinate with the tanks for a counterattack, right?”
Eugene pointed to the 31st Regiment’s 3rd Battalion which had just come up to rotate, “You can ask them, they’ve only withstood two charges and should still have some strength left.”
Wang Zhong shook his head, “No, you stay here and hold this position. I’ll head back to headquarters and see if I can get some troops from above.”
Saying this he whistled, and Bucephalus came galloping over. Discover exclusive content at m,v l’-NovelFull.net
Wang Zhong jumped onto the horse and started to gallop at full speed.
Truly, galloping at full speed on horseback in this weather was terribly cold.
Even if one wrapped up the whole body tightly, the face was still exposed, and right now Wang Zhong felt his face was being struck by knife blades, constantly being baptized.
If this continued, he would certainly become weather-beaten.
Upon reaching the division headquarters, Wang Zhong felt that the atmosphere was strange.
He handed the reins to the Coachman, entered the division bunker, and saw everyone in the headquarters very serious, surrounding a radio that was broadcasting something.
Wang Zhong joked, “What, is Ante disintegrating? Nikolai the Fifth has decided not to be Tsar anymore based on principle?”
Pavlov: “More or less.”
Wang Zhong: “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you… Huh? More or less?”
Vasily: “His Majesty died from missing the Crown Prince too much.”
Wang Zhong frowned, “This… was it from being shelled, or killed by a bomb?”
Or was it…
The phone rang at that moment.
Pavlov reflexively reached for it but stopped himself and made a “please” gesture to Wang Zhong.
Wang Zhong picked up the handset: “This is Rocossov speaking, go ahead.”
“Alyosha!” On the other end was Olga, “Did you listen to the broadcast?”
Wang Zhong: “I am listening. What exactly is going on?”
From the other side came Olga’s voice asking someone else, “This call won’t leak secrets, will it?”
Then a voice answered: “No, everyone along the line is one of ours.”
Olga: “Here’s what’s happening, my father has gone mad—he’s ranting and raving that we can’t win anymore and wants to surrender. Just as the Summer Palace was being shelled, and many people came to the rescue, he began shouting like mad, and everyone heard him.”
There was a faint sound from Olga’s end as someone added, “At least two thousand people heard him, five thousand might have, it’s basically impossible to keep it secret.”
Olga: “So the strategy now is to first announce a death from grief, I’ll make a speech later to steady the troops’ morale. The most important thing right now is, will the counterattack you promised come?”
Wang Zhong: “Give me troops, and I can counterattack right now. The enemy has even run out of shells; if we launch a counteroffensive now, we can annihilate all the enemies in Karanskaya. When the temperature drops to minus forty degrees, the enemy’s condition will get even worse.”
Olga, sounding relieved: “You can counterattack? That’s wonderful! Once we’ve repelled the enemy from the gates of Ye Fort and gathered a significant number of prisoners, boosting morale by widely distributing photos of these captives, then we can formally announce my father’s cause of death.”
Wang Zhong: “The nobility aren’t opposing this?”
“That’s exactly the problem, Ye Fort is now under martial law, and they are hunting down the surrender faction everywhere. Please, you must drive the enemy away from the gates of Ye Fort! As for the details, I’ll let General Tugenev speak with you.”
————
Central Army Corps Headquarters.
Field Marshal Von Bock was full of spirit: “Gentlemen! Victory is in sight! Although more difficult than Carolingian, it is just a bit more challenging.”
“And this difficulty mainly comes from distance, bad weather, and cold. The Ante People are nothing to be afraid of.
“Now we just need to commit our last reserves, and the war will be over!”
“We can pull three divisions from Walter Mendel’s Ninth Army Group to transfer to the Second Armored Army Group, they’re in the perfect position,” the Army Corps’ Chief of Staff said.
Field Marshal Von Bock nodded: “Even if Mendel is reluctant, we must pull these three divisions. When can these divisions be deployed for the offensive?”
“The day after tomorrow afternoon,” the Chief of Staff said.
Von Bock nodded: “Good, the final blow. The outcome of the war depends on who commits their last reserves battalion, we are deploying three divisions, and Ante, currently in chaos, is definitely unable to resist!”
————
General Tugenev: “We have two Army Groups here reorganized from routed soldiers, and as for armor, we have the newly formed First Assault Army Group.
“Of course, in principle, a Major General shouldn’t command so many troops, so we’ve decided to appoint you as the acting commander of the First Assault Army Group.”
Wang Zhong, a Major General, typically commanded a division, or served as a staff officer or deputy for an army, but by adding an ‘acting’ role, he could command an army.
Incidentally, due to heavy losses among senior officers, the newly formed Army Group does not have an army-level organization; it’s all divisions.
For Wang Zhong, someone on the verge of promotion to Lieutenant General, using the acting title to command was no problem.
But there was a problem.
Wang Zhong: “Without my staff, I’d struggle to command a division.”
“You don’t want to command the First Assault Army Group?”
Wang Zhong: “What I’m saying is, I don’t need so many troops. Just give me a tank division and an infantry division. We’ll use our artillery here. We guarantee that we’ll break through the enemy’s defenses and cut off the supply lines to the enemy entrenched in Karanskaya.
“The remaining troops can be given to Kiriyenko; his staff is big enough to manage.”
Tugenev was silent for a second: “You’re more outstanding than I imagined, let’s do as you say. We were already planning to return the replenished Cavalry Army to him. The tank division you need will be sent to you, and as for the infantry division, use your own Guard’s First Red Banner Mechanized Infantry Division.”
Wang Zhong: “We’ve already suffered heavy losses in the meat grinder, and our division originally had only two infantry regiments.”
Tugenev: “Your division’s reinforcements will arrive tonight, remember to receive them at the train station. Good luck with your counterattack tomorrow. Also, I suggest you have an extra meal today, eat some potato stew with beef, so you can entertain an old friend tonight.”
Wang Zhong frowned slightly: “Old friend?”
The line had already gone dead.
Wang Zhong put down the phone, looking at everyone in the bunker.
Vasily: “Are we supposed to salute you now? Your Highness the Prince.”
Wang Zhong: “No, stop messing around. Tonight, we’ll get reinforcements, and a tank division is coming. I expect it’s the kind of division that has nothing but tanks. We counterattack tomorrow.”
As soon as Wang Zhong finished speaking, he frowned: “Why is the wind so strong? What’s up with this wind?”
Vasily: “No, isn’t a strong wind around this time normal? After all, it’s the 16th.”
No sooner had Vasily spoken than a snowflake the size of a goose feather drifted into the bunker and, as everyone watched, spun to the ground.
Wang Zhong turned and ran out of the bunker, looking up at the goose feather-sized snowflakes swirling in the sky.
General Winter had arrived.