Chapter 40: Chapter 36 The Calm Before the Storm
After provoking the enemy and declaring his resolve, Wang Zhong decided to make the most of his time by bundling up and sleeping off a sweat.
It was his general approach to dealing with a cold and fever: sleep under a heavy blanket, sweat profusely, and the fever would often subside significantly.
This method was certainly not scientific, but after so many years, it had become habitual behavior.
So Wang Zhong returned to his command post, drank a lot of water, wrapped himself in the thickest blanket he could find, and went to sleep.
He was convinced that when he woke up, his condition would be much improved, and his mind would be clearer.
Ludmila had been wanting to talk with Count Rocossov, but she didn’t expect him to go straight to the command post, bundle himself in a thick blanket, and lie down.
The girl stood frozen next to the map table in the command post, wondering if this was the same Alyosha who stuck to the girls at the dance and salon like glue?
At that moment, someone patted her shoulder, and she turned to find that it was that Eastern girl with the surname Batuvindasu.
“What’s wrong?” Ludmila asked, puzzled.
“Don’t you need to return to the Divine Arrow group? Aren’t the Divine Arrows unfinished? If the enemy attacks now, you might be too late to return,” she said.
Ludmila replied, “What about you? Don’t you need to be at your post?”
“I am a Hymn Monk, I’m supposed to stay right beside the supreme commander,” the girl spread her hands.
Just as Ludmila was about to respond, Monk Yeca Neiko walked in, and as soon as he entered, he said loudly, “Captain Mailehovna, there you are! We were worried that you couldn’t find the group’s current location since you haven’t returned.”
Ludmila felt somewhat embarrassed since she had indeed been away from her combat post for too long.
Without a prayer hand to guide them, the Divine Arrows were just oversized rockets, capable of traveling far but with low accuracy. Without the prayer hand, the Divine Arrow group was useless, unable to fulfill any purpose.
“I’ll return immediately,” said Ludmila, and she took one more look at Rocossov curled up in the blanket.
Monk Yeca Neiko also glanced at the count and said, “Without him, we would have been sacrificed. He saved us twice, once from going up to the bell tower, and the other time when we were trapped.”
“Yes,” Ludmila responded softly.
Yeca Neiko continued, “You knew him from before, right? Did you know he was such a hero?”
“No,” Ludmila answered truthfully, “though he’s always had a high opinion of himself, to my knowledge, not a single girl liked him. No, actually, all the noble girls in Saint Ekaterina Fortress treated him as a joke.”
“He’s not one anymore. And did you see those soldiers just now? Anyone who treats him as a joke will have their skin peeled off by the soldiers. Come on, let’s go. I’ve given you plenty of time. It’s time to get back to business, Captain Mailehovna,” said Yeca Neiko.
Ludmila nodded her head.
Yeca Neiko turned and walked out, and Ludmila followed his steps, looking back every three steps.
The Hymn Monk stood beside the sofa that Count Rocossov used as a bed and waved at Ludmila.
Wang Zhong slept soundly this time.
Perhaps after resolving the internal hesitation, one can sleep soundly.
When he opened his eyes, he was surprised to see that it was still light outside. His second sensation was thirst, after all, he had soaked the blanket with sweat.
He threw off the blanket and sat up, grabbing the large glass he had placed on the table earlier and gulped it down, feeling his brain come alive afterwards.
He must still have had a bit of a low fever, but the ringing in his ears was gone, and the explosive headache from the morning had almost disappeared.
His head was just a little heavy.
Wang Zhong carefully stood up, moved his body a bit, and then looked to his side.
Sufang was standing next to him, holding a kettle: “Need more water?”
Wang Zhong pushed the empty cup toward the girl: “Fill it up.”
After the second cup of water, Wang Zhong finally sat down, pulled up the overhead view, and surveyed the battlefield.
The defensive fortifications of Peniye village had obviously improved a great deal compared to when they were resisting the enemy in the morning, with many sandbag barriers erected.
Support points like windows and balconies had also been reinforced with sandbags.
It was clear that Yegorov was doing his best to strengthen the village’s defenses, but unfortunately, the Third Rear Amur Group was already on the run and didn’t bring much in terms of defensive supplies.
The village lacked common defensive installations like barbed wire and landmines.
When they had seized trucks from the enemy supply depot, Wang Zhong had asked about what kinds of supplies the enemy had there. The answer he received was that there were only ammunition and fuel. The enemy didn’t think there was a need to stop and defend, so they hadn’t allocated transport for any frontline defensive materials.
In short, although Yegorov was experienced, a good wife can’t make a meal without rice; the defenses of Peniye were as good as nonexistent.
The good news was that it was already six o’clock in the evening, and they just needed to hold out for another 26 hours before they could make their escape.
Wang Zhong shifted his viewpoint to the enemy.
Then he realized that their field of vision could barely make out the top of the western hill but couldn’t see the enemy behind it at all.
It seemed it was up to Wang Zhong to personally climb up for a better look.
So, Wang Zhong switched back to his original perspective and stood up again.
The bell tower had been half destroyed by an enemy shell, but the water tower of the distillery was still standing and probably not any shorter than the bell tower.
Seeing Wang Zhong walking out, Su Fang hurriedly followed him, “Please rest a while longer. The enemy hasn’t attacked yet. Take advantage of this time to rest, have a meal or something…”
“I am indeed hungry, bring me some bread and meat.”
Wang Zhong said this as he left the distillery manager’s office and entered the courtyard of the distillery.
Panzer 422 was parked in the courtyard, with the tank operators busily maintaining the vehicle.
Upon seeing Wang Zhong, everyone immediately stopped what they were doing, stood to attention, their backs straighter than if the Great Emperor had come for an inspection.
Wang Zhong: “At ease, carry on. Wait, where’s your commander?”
The tank operators exchanged glances, and finally, the gunner spoke on behalf of everyone, “He… he didn’t dare to be the commander any longer, and went to check on your horse.”
“My horse?” It took Wang Zhong a second to remember that he had inherited a white horse from Captain Lubokov, “Oh, that horse. Do you know its name?”
“Ah? Oh, the horse? The Captain called it Bucephalus.”
Wang Zhong was taken aback; he knew the name Bucephalus. It was the name of Alexander the Great’s beloved horse, akin to “Red Hare” in Chinese culture.
Although Captain Lubokov had given the horse such a name, he had unfortunately fallen in the first battle, prompting Wang Zhong to sigh.
The cowardly private had gone to look after the horse, so had Panzer 422 become his personal vehicle?
Wang Zhong glanced at the three-turret tank.
Frankly, the tank was ugly, and its performance was terrible. If he’d had any other choice, Wang Zhong would never have considered it as his personal vehicle.
However, with his limited resources, he had to make do with what he had.
This wasn’t a game, where a soldier could just turn a wrench a few times to fix up an enemy’s abandoned Panzer IV. In reality, tank repair would require an entire maintenance factory with hundreds of mechanics.
So, he had to make do with the unattractive Panzer 422.
Wang Zhong: “Make sure it’s well-maintained; it might carry a heavy burden soon!”
“Yes, sir!” the tank operators answered with spirit.
Wang Zhong nodded and began to climb the stairs of the water tower.
Luckily, the water tower had stairs instead of a ladder that would have required climbing by hand, so Wang Zhong ascended quite smoothly to the tower’s summit.
Standing at the top, he raised his binoculars.
From this height, he had the illusion that he was even higher than the hill to the west.
Then he switched to an overhead view.
The enemy on the reverse slope behind the western hill was all lit up.
Wang Zhong took a sharp breath.
He saw trucks descending from the highway and a large number of infantry moving into battle formations.
He also spotted at least a full battery of infantry guns being unloaded from the trucks, each with a barrel that looked thicker than that of a demolished Panzer IV’s tank gun (in fact, they were all 75mm).
Not only that, but he saw a supply truck parked next to the enemy’s self-propelled mortar battery, with gunners moving shells onto the mortar vehicles!
Enemy reinforcements had arrived!