On the morning of December 31, Wang Zhong woke up and reached out to find that, unusually, the space beside him was empty, and the sheets had completely cooled, indicating that Ludmila had gotten up a long time ago.
He threw back the covers and sat up, only to see Nelly adding wood to the fireplace.
Wang Zhong, “Ludmila’s not here to give me my daily morning hug. Nelly, could you… fill in for her?”
Nelly patted her chest, making a thumping sound, “Are you sure?”
Wang Zhong, “I’m fine with a hard one, it’s the feeling of being cared for that’s important.”
Nelly looked at Wang Zhong with a very “caring” expression.
Caring for a fool is still caring.
Wang Zhong gave up on being coddled and flipped onto his feet, “Bring me my clothes.”
Moments later, dressed and tidied up, Wang Zhong left the room, only to take a few steps before he saw through the corridor window that outside, Ludmila was directing servants to bring a tree into the courtyard.
Wang Zhong, “Why are you cutting down a tree?”
Nelly, “To make a Christmas tree.”
“Christmas isn’t… oh.” The Ante People celebrate Christmas on January 7, not December 25, and so they mix New Year’s and Christmas together, decorating the Christmas tree on December 31.
No wonder Ludmila had gotten up so early.
At that moment, Wang Zhong faintly heard the telephone ringing from the study and hurried away from the window, quickly making his way to the study, only to see the old butler had already picked up the receiver.
Seeing Wang Zhong come in, the old butler said, “General Rokossovsky has arrived; I’ll let him listen.”
After saying that, he passed the receiver to Wang Zhong.
Wang Zhong took the receiver, “This is Rokossovsky.”
“General,” the other side said, “This is the director of the Ordnance Department’s weapons testing center. Two… er, strange things have just been delivered, saying that you instructed them to be produced overtime and that we have to suspend the ongoing test firing of the 76mm self-propelled gun.”
The 76mm self-propelled gun, also known as the SU76, had been fast-tracked before the establishment of the review committee, aiming to make use of the already produced T70 tank chassis.
After all, light tanks had proven their ineffectiveness on the battlefield since June, but the chassis were already produced, and the production lines were still running. Switching production to something else would be a hassle, so they decided to use it to build assault guns.
On Earth, not only the Russians adopted this idea, the Sturmtigers too. The mark III tank was quickly proven outdated, but changing the production line of the mark III chassis to produce something else would waste a lot of time, so it made sense to use it to make the Sturmtiger assault gun instead.
The mark III tank might have been obsolete from the start of Barbarossa, but the Sturmtiger assault gun was a valuable piece of equipment that could be used right up until defeat.
Wang Zhong, “Was the plan today to test the SU76?”
“Yes, just two more items and the testing would be complete.”
“Okay, finish the testing first. Tell the designers they can take a holiday. We’ll resume testing and improvement after the New Year. It’s not about these one or two days,” Wang Zhong said.
“Yes,” the testing center director replied, “thank you for your understanding.”
Wang Zhong, “The SU76 is very important to our army as well.”
As a mobile light gun, the SU76 played a significant role, and not just from repurposing the light tank production line.
The issue with the SU76 was that, being converted from a light tank chassis and mounting a 76mm gun, there was no weight left for defense.
In contrast, the Sturmtiger’s defense was even stronger than the mark III tank itself.
And now, the concept for the 100mm carrier vehicle that Wang Zhong was nodding to was also using the Earth’s Sturmtiger approach, mounting a large gun on a tank chassis with relatively reliable frontal defense.
However on Earth, the Sturmtiger initially really was an assault gun, mainly supporting infantry in bunker busting, before later being modified with a longer barrel for anti-tank use.
Wang Zhong skipped the assault gun phase and directly went to making tank destroyers.
Testing center director, “Then, I wish you a Happy New Year.”
Wang Zhong, “And I wish you all a Happy New Year too.”
After finishing the call and hanging up, he noticed that Mikhail, the butler, was looking at him.
Mikhail, “Is this okay with you? The master has already notified us to continue working today. Is it really okay for you to celebrate New Year’s here?”
Wang Zhong thought it over; it didn’t seem right to be enjoying life at home with a formidable enemy at the gates.
Suddenly, he had a great idea: Before traveling through time, he often watched the Spring Festival Gala, and military units would have their commanding officers join the soldiers at the grassroots to celebrate the New Year.
Why not learn from advanced experiences?
So, Wang Zhong snapped his fingers and said to Mikhail, “Tell Ludmila that we’re going to Kubinka today to have the New Year’s Eve dinner with the soldiers — I mean, the New Year’s dinner. Let the kitchen prep today’s ingredients in advance and then load them onto trucks, and have the chefs get on board.”
Mikhail was astonished, “This… I have never heard of such a practice!”
Wang Zhong, “Well, now you have. I’m going to call Pavlov first to avoid any confusion.”
————
Two hours later, at Kubinka.
Pavlov blinked at the trucks rolling into the training ground.
Wang Zhong hopped off a truck and asked, “Did you spread the word?”
Pavlov, “I… to be honest, we have never hosted such an event. There were New Year’s salons in the past, mainly dinners for officers, and bonfire parties for the soldiers… never organized one like this.”
Wang Zhong, “You’ll have to get used to it because there will be more and more events like this in the future. For now, let’s get the ingredients to the cooking team over there. My chef has come too, we…”
Pavlov, “Did you forget that we have a French chef here?”
Wang Zhong slapped his thigh, “Right, he got it from Loktov. He… he didn’t sacrifice himself, did he?”
Pavlov replied, “It’s said that when Orachi broke through, he used a frying pan to fight his way out and smashed several Prussian skulls.”
Wang Zhong said, “I only knew Italian chefs smash a head or two while cooking, I didn’t realize French chefs could do the same.”
Pavlov asked, “So who’s the head chef now?”
Wang Zhong answered, “We haven’t had any French cuisine along the way, right? It’s all been typical Ante food, like sour cream and pickles, chanaki stew…”
Pavlov just shrugged his shoulders.
Wang Zhong turned to Nelly, who had followed them, and said, “So, tell our chef… eh, why are you wearing that boat-shaped cap again?”
Nelly had switched back to a maid’s headband while at the Rokossovsky Estate.
Nelly said, “Now that I’m in the military camp, I’m once again a soldier.”
And so she evolved into a subspecies of Maid Beast, a Military Cap Maid Beast? Her special move was pulling a DShK heavy machine gun from under her skirt to initiate a Ripple Rush?
Nelly said, “I’ll let the head chef know we have a French chef taking over for today. But the French chef might have to win a wrestling match against our head chef before getting the right to cook.”
Are Ante chefs really that hardcore?
Nelly had already turned and run off.
Watching Nelly leave, Pavlov said, “If I had a daughter, I’d want her to be like that.”
Wang Zhong asked, puzzled, “Don’t you have a daughter?”
Pavlov shrugged, “I would like to, but I’ve only got a bunch of little rascals. They drive me crazy, especially when they hit seven or eight years old. They’re just like my old husky when he was young, destroying every mechanical device in the house that can be taken apart.
“Do you know the pain of looking up to see the time and finding the clock dismantled? Or wanting to listen to the radio only to find its semiconductor ruined… Oh God.”
While telling this, Pavlov’s expression showed his agony.
Wang Zhong asked, “How are they now?”
Pavlov answered, “Now? They spend all day writing me letters asking for your autograph. I took some paper, signed your name under your picture on the front page of a newspaper.”
Wang Zhong inquired, “You… signed for me?”
“Yeah, better than bothering you, right? They’ve never seen your signature anyway.” Pavlov spread his hands.
Wang Zhong said, “Next time, let me do the signing.”
“No, no, no, that would give away the previous signatures,” Pavlov shook his head repeatedly, “Let’s just leave it as is.”
Wang Zhong laughed.
————
After all, it had just been the winter solstice, and nightfall came quickly.
It is said that in Saint Andrew Fort, the day had now shrunk to just a moment.
Now stationed in Kubinka, nominally, were three divisions:
The first was the replenished Guard First “Red Flag” Mechanized Infantry Division, which was the main force in Wang Zhong’s developing mobile army.
The second was the 225th Mechanized Infantry Division, built as a model division. This one hadn’t even been filled with recruits, was missing many technical specialties, and although the tank battalion was complete, other vehicles were bizarrely absent, with only one tractor for tank recovery and fifty transport trucks.
Last was the First Division of the Melania People’s Army, which currently only had a quarter of its soldiers. The good news was it had plenty of technicians. The bad news was the technicians had no equipment, be it tank guns, anti-aircraft guns, anti-tank guns, or howitzers—they lacked everything.
Now, with these three divisions gathered together, dozens of bonfires were lit on the parade ground, encircling the officers and soldiers.
Wang Zhong was puzzled why no food was being served at mealtime. Read exclusive chapters at M-V-L
But he didn’t dare to ask, since as an Ante it would be odd not to know Ante customs.
He was battling hunger when Ludmila came over, handing him some crackers, “Eat these to fill up for now; dinner won’t be served until ten tonight.”
The cooking squad’s girls came out with poles carrying baskets, which seemed to hold little snacks, presumably to tide everyone over.
Ludmila continued, “Also, don’t just let everyone sit around, get some entertainment going.”
Wang Zhong asked, “Shall we start with a Flamenco dance?”
Ludmila cursed, “Look around, we don’t have a band here. Who’s going to play Flamenco for you? And why would soldiers dance something usually danced at noble balls?”
It dawned on Wang Zhong what dance the soldiers should do: the knee-destroying dance, of course!
So Wang Zhong had an idea. He knew Yegorov was great at this dance, so he stepped forward and shouted, “Yegorov!”
Pavlov interjected, “He and Nurse Katya went to the city, and they probably won’t come back tonight.”
Damn, this was not the time to be without Yegorov.
Wang Zhong looked at Pavlov, “Can you dance the leg breaker?”
Pavlov replied, “Me? Do I look like I can do that dance? I’d break my knees before I show you.”
Wang Zhong frowned, but then he saw his adjutant Vasily and had an idea, “Vasily, I have a task for you. Get the crowd warmed up.”
“Eh?” Vasily was startled, “Me?”
Wang Zhong insisted, “Of course, you’re the musician. Sing something!”