Wang Zhong fought until all of his ammunition drums were empty; by then, there were no resisting enemies left on the battlefield.
Apart from the dead, there were only soldiers who had surrendered.
Wang Zhong stopped, the massive amount of adrenaline made him want to shout “Who else is there?”
Was this really a natural reaction…
However, as the battle drew to a close, the effect of adrenaline visibly subsided at a rapid pace.
Wang Zhong calmed down again.
During the heat of battle, he had completely forgotten about the bird’s-eye view and was solely relying on his eyes to spot enemies. Luckily, under the influence of adrenaline, it seemed as though his eyes had become as sharp as a hawk’s, allowing him not to miss a single foe.
He checked his Suomi submachine gun and then looked at the board on the inside of the turret used for storing “life’s little necessities.”
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The T34’s turret was extremely cramped, leaving hardly any room to store personal belongings.
The size of the turret could actually be intuited from the diameter of the turret ring, as a portion of the bodies of those inside the turret would be in the hull, so the ring sat around their waists like a band.
The diameter of the turret ring for the two-person T34 turret—note that it is the diameter—was only 1420 millimeters. This turret ring size definitively ruled out the possibility of cramming in a third person.
Inside this ring wasn’t just space for human bodies, but also all kinds of mechanical devices.
In comparison, the parade model of the T34W had a turret ring diameter of 1670 millimeters, basically on the same level as America’s Sherman tank (Sherman ring diameter was 1753 millimeters).
If it wasn’t for the larger size of the T34W turret, Wang Zhong would not have been able to have so many “little necessities of life” by his side.
At least the two-person turret T34s of the 77th Division definitely couldn’t fit them.
In a two-man turret T34, it would be pretty decent to have even just a Papasha submachine gun.
Wang Zhong surveyed the entire battlefield to confirm that the position had been thoroughly captured. Cavalrymen were pursuing the fleeing enemies, while the tank units that had been maneuvering on the flank were now turning back towards the main position.
After observing the situation, Wang Zhong called to a cavalry lieutenant colonel passing by, “Wait a moment! Lieutenant Colonel, dispatch a cavalry company to dismount and secure the equipment on the position. The enemy left so much behind; it would be bad if they came back to reclaim and use it against us.”
“Yes, General.” The lieutenant colonel saluted and added after seeing the Suomi in Wang Zhong’s hands, “Happy hunting, General.”
Wang Zhong: “Thank you.”
The lieutenant colonel turned back to his subordinates and ordered, “First Company dismounts, takes custody of prisoners, manages the spoils of war, and awaits the arrival of reinforcements to take over.”
Wang Zhong: “Have them look for the commander of this position. I want him alive or his body if he’s dead.”
“Yes, General.”
The enemy commander was quickly brought before Wang Zhong; he was a major with an injured leg, sitting on a stretcher and looking at Wang Zhong, who was loading submachine gun magazines, with an awed expression.
Perhaps it was while looking at the red flag fluttering above Wang Zhong’s antenna.
Wang Zhong: “Do you speak Antian?”
Although the enemy major looked puzzled, he seemed to guess what was being asked and shook his head.
At this point, the lieutenant colonel who had spoken earlier said, “I speak Prussian, I can translate for you.”
“That would be excellent,” Wang Zhong was delighted, “Which division and what unit are you from that’s defending this place, and where is your main force?”
After listening to the translation, the major began to speak, and the lieutenant colonel beside him started to “simultaneously interpret,” “We are from the 37th Armored Grenadier Division, the 331st Infantry Battalion, and the 204th Anti-Aircraft Battalion. We were ordered to delay your forces here until the main body of the division could retreat.”
Wang Zhong was taken aback, “Where else could you retreat to? I’ve cut off the only road.”
The major waited to hear the lieutenant colonel’s translation before replying, “West, across the permafrost.”
Wang Zhong looked towards the boundless snowfields to the west, “Are you mad?”
Under such harsh conditions, and with the Prussians not having enough winter gear, it’s likely they were short on provisions as well—going out across such snowfields?
If one out of ten made it out, it would be a show of General Winter’s mercy.
The major’s expression was solemn, “That’s why many volunteered to stay and resist. You can surround us resisters.”
He paused, waiting for the lieutenant colonel to finish translating before he added another sentence, “I haven’t eaten since yesterday; do you have any food?”
Wang Zhong pulled out one truly mundane “little necessity of life” from his own stash: a quarter of a Doctor’s sausage and tossed it to the Prussian.
“It’s frozen solid, warm it up and eat it with water.”
However, the Prussian bit a chunk off the rock-hard sausage and began to chew it vigorously.
Wang Zhong knew this was an enemy and reminded himself not to feel pity.
This was all to boost Antian morale, for the legitimacy of the princess—legitimacy ensured there would be no rebellion.
As a seasoned player of “Crusader Kings,” Wang Zhong had a rather intuitive understanding of legitimacy, as each time an heir in the game lacked enough legitimacy, there would be massive revolts.
Of course, the Russians had a simpler take on this matter; basically, whoever had the biggest fist and won was legitimate.
This victory could be over their own people or foreigners, as long as you won.
And Wang Zhong had just won a victory—how convenient!
Victory belonged to the great Catherine the Third!
Wang Zhong had initially fought not for personal glory but to survive; now, his goal was to damn the Prussians.
As long as it was against the Prussians, he was willing to do any job.
Of course, what he loved most was what he had just been doing: riding a tank through forests and across snowfields, personally becoming a powerful punch landed on the teeth of Prussian invaders.
Wang Zhong glanced at the Prussian major gobbling the food and told the cavalry lieutenant colonel, “Keep a close eye on him; he’ll need to be sent to the rear later. I’m off to catch some more. Also, ask him where their division headquarters is located.”
The Prussian major, who was busily gnawing on a ham, used one hand to unfasten the map case from his body and handed it to the lieutenant colonel.
The lieutenant colonel opened it, took out the map to look, and said pointing at a symbol, “The division headquarters is three kilometers to the northeast of this position.”
Wang Zhong: “Let’s go! Beliyakov, stop checking the engine, we’re moving out!”
Beliyakov revealed a bitter smile: “General, it wasn’t me who stopped the tank just now. If I had stopped it, I wouldn’t have left it leaning to one side.”
Only then did Wang Zhong notice that the tank was indeed slightly tilted. On closer inspection, one side of the track was on the enemy’s sandbags, which had collapsed under the weight, but not completely, leaving the tank at an angle.
Great, the tank was broken!
But when he thought about it, it made sense. They had covered nearly a hundred kilometers of motorized movement that day, and had been fighting continuously for over a week, driving back and forth across the battlefield.
It was fair to say that it was doing well just to break down now.
After all, field maintenance in Ante relied solely on individual Tank Operators. There were no field maintenance factories, no repair or maintenance vehicles, and the tractor factory workers Wang Zhong had previously recruited were all taken by the factories to produce tanks.
Wang Zhong scratched his head: “I still need to catch a division commander!”
Alexandria: “You’ll have to switch to another tank. But… I suspect they’ll be breaking down soon too. The tanks of Division 77 are new, but… uh…”
He glanced at the three T-34s stopped near the 88mm gun position. The enemy had been completely obscured by smoke; surely the tanks hadn’t been stopped by enemy machine-gun fire, right?
Wang Zhong: “These tanks don’t have a commander’s position either. The turret is so cramped, it can’t fit a third person.”
Now that the weather was so cold and everyone was wearing thick military coats, the problem of the T-34s’ limited space was even more pronounced.
At that time, the cavalry lieutenant colonel suggested, “Ride a horse. We’ve captured the Prussians’ radio. I’ll have a staff officer who understands it bring the radio with him, along with a company to follow you.”
Wang Zhong: “Fine, I can ride a horse, and I will complete the encirclement on horseback! Someone bring me a horse—”
Suddenly, Wang Zhong raised his eyebrows, a thought crossing his mind: Could it be?
He put his hand to his mouth and whistled sharply.
Then from a great distance, a horse’s whinny echoed back.
He looked in that direction, but as far as he could see, the forest and snowfield lay calm and peaceful.
Suddenly, something burst through the piled-up snow, leaping up high.
A white figure dashed forward like lightning, carrying a cloud of billowing snow.
It was the king among horses, Shadowswift. No, wait, not Gandalf’s steed, but my nincompoop Bucephalus!
Bucephalus dashed past many of the cavalrymen, whose mounts seemed to shy away from it, making room as it passed.
In this way, Bucephalus ran all the way to the disabled Tank 422, gave its tracks a kick, and then bared its teeth at Wang Zhong.
Wang Zhong facepalmed: “You could have brought your saddle.”
He had already guessed that likely, the Stables had been bombed again, it had survived unaffected, and had followed them here on its own initiative.
The cavalry lieutenant colonel said, “We can spare you some tack.”
“Alright, hurry up, I still need to catch that division commander.”
————
Mounted on Bucephalus, Wang Zhong galloped across the plain as the night began to fall.
The staff officer carrying the radio asked worriedly, “Shouldn’t we rest first? It’s getting so dark, what if we’re ambushed?”
Wang Zhong switched to a third-person perspective and thought to himself that it couldn’t be; the enemy was highlighted two kilometers away. What ambush?
So he said, “The enemy is already like a startled bird, there’s no chance they’re lying in ambush. Move out!”
The three kilometers were covered in no time, but all Wang Zhong found were discarded equipment and vehicles.
Strangely, they were all half-tracked vehicles with not a single wheeled vehicle in sight.
Wang Zhong walked to the largest tent, dismounted, and rushed inside to see a group of officers huddled around a barrel, filled with burned documents.
The enemy division commander had even changed into full dress uniform and stood up to salute Wang Zhong, then said in clumsy Antean, “General Rokossovsky, I have long admired your name.”
Wang Zhong: “Aren’t you going to put up a fight?”
“The units that could have fought you have already been destroyed. We have fulfilled the mission assigned by the empire, and now we choose to be responsible for our own lives.”
Wang Zhong felt his nostrils flare with anger; damn it, they had killed his good buddies and family, and now they wanted to be responsible for their own lives?
Be responsible by not invading!
But these people were needed for display, and it wouldn’t look good if they had scars on their faces.
And personally hitting them didn’t seem right, either.
So Wang Zhong said, “Alright then, after you.”
As he stepped aside, he caught sight of Bucephalus and gave the horse a look that said: go easy.
Bucephalus chomped away, seemingly chewing on something.
Just then, the commander of the 37th Armored Infantry Division emerged from the tent.
Bucephalus gently raised its front hoof and sent him tumbling back into the tent.
Wang Zhong burst into hearty laughter.
He had never laughed so freely since the start of the war.