On December 12, 914, Wang Zhong went out as usual.
His first stop was the audit committee, where he had to complete the review of documents—since the establishment of the various department heads of the committee, the number of documents Wang Zhong had to deal with each day had dropped to 20, and most of them were related to the first weapon audit in mid-December.
At this audit, the committee would for the first time exercise its function to decide which modified weapons could be put into production.
Of course, since the committee was only set up this month, these modifications weren’t proposed by the committee’s technical specifications, but rather were the troops’ feedback scattered to the designers, with the chief designer of each project “making changes as they see fit.”
In the future, the committee would summarize the front-line needs, propose technical specifications, and then pass them to the relevant designers. Whichever designer could modify the product to perform better would have their design produced.
After clearing the documents at the committee, Wang Zhong had to go to the Kubinka training ground to inspect the training of the guards’ first mechanized infantry and the establishment of a new division.
Since the composition of the guards’ first mechanized infantry was quite complex, it was difficult to use it as a blueprint to form two divisions. Even Tugenev could only strive to assemble the structure of one division first.
The main difficulty lay in the fact that the basic education in Ante wasn’t widespread enough. At first, Wang Zhong thought that graduating from tenth grade was common in Ante, but now he knew that only the more developed areas could have so many people finish tenth grade, while the majority of the Ante civilians’ children only attended a few years of church school before entering the workforce.
As for high school graduates, they were exceedingly rare in the current Ante infantry, with most high schoolers being supplemented into technical military branches. Even so, high school graduates constituted less than twenty percent in the technical branches of Ante’s army.
In a large branch like the Armored Troops, the majority were tenth grade graduates, and there was even a tenth who hadn’t attended tenth grade, having only learned to read and write at church school.
Wang Zhong finally understood why the combat effectiveness of the Naval Infantry was so high. Damn it, at least the Naval Infantry were tenth grade graduates, with many being high school students.
No wonder in the Earth movie “*** Defense War,” the actors even have a specific line pointing out, “A low level of culture limits the performance of technical weaponry.”
Knowing the crux of the problem made it manageable. Enjoy exclusive content from mvl
Earth had an existing template that could be followed.
Wang Zhong decisively decided to comprehensively carry out night school studies in the guards’ first mechanized infantry to improve the cultural level of the soldiers.
The soldiers would train during the day and learn about culture and technical knowledge in the evening.
The good news was that at least everyone in Ante could read, so there was no need for each soldier to carry a board for learning to read, like that template army on Earth.
The bad news was that the Ante People really didn’t like to study. They preferred to drink at night, dance the knee destruction dance by the bonfire, and play the Bayan and balalaika.
Wang Zhong could only try to get these rough men to learn some cultural knowledge while coordinating with the navy: “You don’t have ships anymore, can we get some high school students, please, just give us some!”
Fortunately, the church was trying hard to send high school and tenth-grade graduates to Wang Zhong. It seemed that the church also thought it would be better to give these culturally-aware youths to Wang Zhong than to let those inept generals waste them.
Anyway, the first model division Wang Zhong was forming was half-built, just waiting for the officers who had returned from the front lines to complete their theoretical studies at the military academy and be supplemented into the troops.
After getting things in order at Kubinka, Wang Zhong had to go to school to teach. His major class was the most popular at the military academy. Those students who haven’t missed a single lesson are now called “Rokossovsky’s faction.”
Although Wang Zhong had already written a pamphlet, printed and distributed at the school, this seemed to only increase the students’ enthusiasm to attend the lecture.
In short, that was General Rokossovsky’s daily schedule.
But today’s schedule encountered a slight problem at the beginning.
The audit committee was right next to the Civil War Memorial Hospital, the largest hospital in Ye Fort, and it boasted the best trauma surgery in Ye Fort.
Today, just as Wang Zhong’s small motorcade arrived at the entrance of the Civil War Memorial Hospital, it was blocked.
One truck after another was inching along the road, advancing slowly.
As soon as Wang Zhong rolled down the car window, he smelled a strong scent of blood. These trucks were likely carrying wounded soldiers from the front lines.
The slow progress of the truck convoy was probably because the hospital was already operating at full capacity.
Wang Zhong waited for a while, sighed, and got out of the car directly.
Vasily hurriedly called out, “General? Where are you going?”
Wang Zhong, “We’re walking over, otherwise we won’t be able to make it to this morning’s work.”
Vasily hurriedly took the briefcase and got out.
Grigori also got out and followed Wang Zhong.
Wang Zhong had only walked a few steps when a soldier on one of the trucks spotted him and shouted, “Your Excellency the General!”
“Good to see you,” Wang Zhong waved his hand.
The soldier started crying, “Your Excellency the General! We did not listen to you, we thought the Prussians were doomed, we even mocked you! We hope you can forgive us!”
Wang Zhong, “It’s not your fault, it’s those who are for a swift victory who have deceived you! They deserve to die a thousand times.”
As one soldier cried and Wang Zhong responded, all the fellows on the truck discovered Wang Zhong.
And this news spread along the convoy backwards and forwards.
More wounded joined the outpouring of complaint:
“The Prussians built strong bunkers! My entire company collapsed in front of the bunkers!”
“They’re cunning! They deliberately set traps, and as we charged in, we were surrounded by firepower points!”
Wang Zhong frowned, this defensive position with firepower points all around it, somehow felt like it had something to do with me, didn’t it?
Did the Prussians just learn the defensive positions I brought from trench warfare?
Such strong learning ability!
Wang Zhong had only walked a few tens of meters and it seemed the entire convoy knew of his arrival.
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Moreover, the news spread with a significant distortion, and now everyone is saying, “General Rokossovsky has come to visit us.”
By now, it was impossible for me to say I was just passing by on my way to work.
Wang Zhong could only keep shaking hands with the arms stretching out from the trucks, allowing the wounded soldiers to touch his face and uniform at will.
Finally, when he managed to reach the entrance of the hospital, Wang Zhong thought to himself, might as well go in and visit now that I’m here.
As soon as he entered the hospital, he startled the nurse at the door, “Your Excellency the Lieutenant General! What happened to you? Were you attacked? I will call the head of the gunshot wound department immediately!”
Wang Zhong, “No no, this isn’t my blood. It’s the soldiers’ wishes for me.”
He looked down at the bloodstains on his body and said solemnly, “They are using this way to remind me that blood debts must be paid in blood.”
The nurse’s expression could be summarized as “I don’t understand, but it seems very impressive.”
She asked, “Do you need me to inform the dean of your inspection?”
Wang Zhong, “No, I’ll just take a look and leave.”
In the following two hours, Wang Zhong talked with over a hundred wounded soldiers, obtaining a lot of first-hand information.
For example, the ones conducting the defensive operations might be Prosen’s Ninth Army Group and Asgard’s First Army of the Asgard Knights, where the commander of the Ninth Army Group is Lieutenant General Walter Mendel, and the commander of Asgard’s First Army is an old acquaintance of Wang Zhong, Siegfried Gilais.
Furthermore, the enemy indeed has a type of long-barreled tank, but they are few in number.
A battalion commander assured Wang Zhong that there might be only one battalion of these long-barreled tanks and that all the tanks bore a skull emblem, suggesting it is the emblem of their combat unit.
After Wang Zhong gathered enough information, the dean finally arrived.
“I’m sorry, Your Excellency the General, I was delayed by a surgery,” the dean said with a face full of apologies.
Wang Zhong, “It’s all right, go back to your surgery. The more wounded you save, the happier I am, and greeting me is never a priority.”
The dean nodded, “You haven’t changed at all.”
Wang Zhong was somewhat surprised, “Eh? Have we met before?”
“In Loktov, I was also the head of a field hospital,” the dean said as he pushed up his glasses.
Wang Zhong delighted, “You’re Dr. Losonov! You survived as well.”
The dean, “I did survive. I almost got trapped in Argesukov, but once I got to Ye Fort, it just so happened that the dean of this hospital had been killed by Prosen’s bombing, so I took up the position.”
Wang Zhong, “You’ve worked hard.”
The two shook hands.
The dean, “Then I’ll go back to the surgery.”
Wang Zhong, “Please do, I’ll stay a little longer with the soldiers.”
The dean nodded and left.
Wang Zhong then looked at the wounded soldiers crowding the wards.
All the soldiers were looking at him.
Wang Zhong felt this was the moment to say something and started to speak, “Right now, I don’t want to act like I know it all and say ‘this is what happens when you don’t listen to my advice.’ I understand your desire to quickly return home to fight.”
Wang Zhong took off the lunch box that he always carried, “This lunch box! Inside is soil from my homeland of Kazarlia. I dug it up when I left Kazarlia at an unnamed station.
“On the same day, my father, together with my best buddies, all died in battle—alongside countless ordinary soldiers.
“I, Rokossovsky, want to liberate my homeland more than anyone else! My feelings are no different from yours! So I will not mock you!
“Absolutely not!
“I will only tell you that liberating our homeland also needs to be based on facts and logic. We can’t divorce ourselves from reality and make grand claims! Boasting won’t drive away the Prosen devils!”
Wang Zhong put away his lunch box and looked around the room again.
“Defeating the Prosen devils is a long-term and arduous process that will require enormous sacrifice. But I can guarantee you, the final victory will come!
“For this victory, apart from braving sacrifices, we also need to use our brains, understand the enemy’s strengths, know ourselves and the enemy, and then choose our tactics accordingly!
“You should know that I am a general who likes to charge at the forefront myself, and I do this to understand the enemy and find their weaknesses!
“In the future, I assure you that I will continue this approach, even if one day, I should fall on the battlefield!”
Wang Zhong stood among the wounded soldiers, his body covered in blood from the soldiers.
The bloodstained soldiers looked at him.
Who says we have no clothes? We share our robes. When I muster the soldiers, I repair my spears and shields. We share a common foe!
At that moment, there was suddenly the sound of a flash.
Wang Zhong turned his head towards the direction of the flash and saw Reporter Mike and his partner.
The joyous photographer Robert Capa muttered, “I’ve captured another great shot! This one will be titled ‘General Rokossovsky Is with Us.’
Wang Zhong was flabbergasted and said to Mike, “You Federation reporters, faster than anything!”
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