Chapter 74: Chapter 5: The Dispute Over the Cannon
Loktov City isn’t large; walking from the northernmost to the southernmost end takes just half an hour, and if you walk a bit faster, it might take only a little over twenty minutes.
If you had a bicycle, you could ride from any point in the city to just about anywhere else within fifteen minutes.
Wang Zhong sat in the jeep, leading the third platoon in a jog, and it took less than fifteen minutes to reach the repair shop, including the time they gathered.
Before they arrived at the repair shop, Wang Zhong could already see another group of people blocking the entrance from afar.
This group, led by a Priest, was clamoring at the entrance, “Why won’t you let us in!”
“The cannon is first come, first served!”
“These cannons were supposed to be resupplied to us!”
Pavlov’s driver, who had also survived from Peniye, showed no fear and shouted with his pistol in hand, “Nobody is allowed to touch the cannons! Staff Officer Pavlov has already requisitioned them!”
The other side retorted, “We don’t know which Pavlov you’re talking about! Is it the one who raises dogs?”
Wang Zhong was shocked, what, there is also a Pavlov known for raising dogs in this world?
But this isn’t surprising, as Pavlov is a fairly common surname.
Sergeant Major Grigori was very adept, directly driving the jeep so close to the Priest leading the opposing group that he almost crashed into him before braking sharply, even pulling a tailslide and almost hitting someone.
The kicked-up dust went straight into the faces of that group of people.
Wang Zhong straightened his clothes, about to get out of the car, when Vasily got out ahead of him and opened the car door.
Vasily: “Your Excellency General!”
The previously noisy crowd suddenly quieted down, all looking towards the jeep.
Seeing the general’s stars on Wang Zhong’s epaulettes, everyone hastily snapped to attention and saluted.
Under everyone’s gaze, Wang Zhong got out of the vehicle and casually returned the salute, “At ease, what’s all the noise about?”
Pavlov got out of the car on the other side, hurriedly walked around the vehicle to stand behind Wang Zhong, and signaled to his own driver.
The driver immediately reported, “Reporting to the General, these people are trying to take our artillery!”
The opposing Bishop immediately said, “Where’s the order that assigned these cannons to you? Show it to us!”
Wang Zhong glanced at the Priest.
Though Wang Zhong’s general uniform was brand new, it couldn’t hide the imposing aura honed on the battlefield.
The Priest immediately toned down his arrogance.
Wang Zhong: “Which unit are you from?”
Actually, Wang Zhong could see the allied forces’ unit numbers with his external device, but it was more proper to ask at this moment. Besides, the device showed only numbers and no further detailed information.
The Priest answered, “We are the Fifth Byshensk Infantry Division, retreated from Anlisovka.”
Anlisovka, to the northwest of Bogdanovka, it seems the front lines of Prosen’s offensive have fully advanced to the Bogdanovka to Voznesenye line now.
Wang Zhong suddenly realized, since when was he so intimately familiar with maps?
It seems pondering over the map these past few days has borne fruit!
No, can’t get distracted, must deal with the matter at hand first.
Wang Zhong glanced at the soldiers of the Fifth Byshensk Division and asked, “Where is your commanding officer? How come only a Priest has led you here?”
There aren’t Bishops at the regimental level in the Ante Empire. Each regiment should have a military commander and a chief of staff, and now with only a Priest leading the group, it was very likely that both the regimental commander and the chief of staff were casualties.
But Wang Zhong still needed to ask, what if when they heard there were cannons, both the regimental leader and the chief of staff were in the lavatory, and only a Priest could lead the troops over for the time being?
The Priest’s expression darkened, “All have been sacrificed, I am now the highest-ranking officer of our regiment. According to the command hierarchy, I have taken over command.”
Wang Zhong: “Sorry. How many of you are left?”
The Priest answered, “There are still three hundred seventy able-bodied soldiers.”
Pavlov remarked, “So you all are deserters…”
The Priest immediately got angry and raised his voice, “We are not deserters! After completing our blocking task, we retreated in good order! Give us orders, and we can build defenses and continue to resist anywhere!”
Wang Zhong: “In the view from above, that’s still desertion. We have been labeled deserters too.”
“Your Excellency General!” The Priest looked solemnly at Wang Zhong, “I cannot accept this characterization! We fought as bravely as the third rear Amur Group at Peniye! It’s just that we didn’t have tanks or Divine Arrows, so we didn’t destroy as many enemy tanks, that’s all! We need these artillery pieces; in the next battle, we will surely achieve better results!”
With a stern face, Wang Zhong nodded, “Hmm, I believe you can. But my troops can do better.”
The Priest and his soldiers all looked unconvinced.
The Priest: “Your Excellency General, what unit is your troop?”
Wang Zhong: “The Imperial Guard’s Thirty-first Infantry Division.”
“Hmph, the Imperial Guard all have their signature capes, and you… which division?” The Priest suddenly paused, eyeing the soldiers lined up neatly behind Wang Zhong with suspicion.
Wang Zhong: “The Imperial Guard’s Thirty-first Infantry Division.”
The Priest raised an eyebrow, “Is that the Peniye Hero Division that destroyed sixty tanks at Peniye?”
Wang Zhong was taken aback for a moment, as that number probably included the half-tracks that were counted as tanks.
But it was not the time to puncture the propaganda of the Church Propaganda Office — in this kind of desperate situation, with morale failing, heroic deeds were needed to inspire the troops.
So Wang Zhong solemnly nodded: “Yes, that’s us.”
The Priest took a step back and scrutinized Wang Zhong, “Then you are the esteemed Count Aleksei Konstantinovich Rokossovsky, the White Horse General?”
What the hell is a White Horse General?
Wang Zhong glanced at Pavlov, who whispered, “It was reported in the newspaper yesterday, or perhaps it was an enemy communication passed back by the followers of the Eastern Holy Church in Prosen.”
An intelligence report passed back by the followers of the Eastern Holy Church in Prosen?
In these past few days, Wang Zhong had learned about the local situation; Prosen did not follow the Eastern Holy Church, and the war also had a bit of the flavor of the Crusades.
Perhaps because of the existence of mystical things like Divine Arrow, the power of the church here was far stronger than on Earth.
Wang Zhong, “The enemy says I am the White Horse General?”
“Yes, they say you specifically ride a horse to provoke Prosen’s armored troops, arrogant and domineering!”
Wang Zhong laughed, he had only ridden a horse to scout too far ahead; he originally intended to stop as soon as he reached the smoke but found the overhead view difficult to control the horse, and Bucephalus ran fast, charging out of the smoke.
So in the eyes of the enemy, he had gone out specifically to taunt them.
Wang Zhong, “Actually, I was just on a reconnaissance ride. The driver of the 422 vehicle I was in was injured and couldn’t drive, so I had to mount a horse to scout.”
This was the truth, the absolute truth.
But to others, it might seem like modesty.
At this point, the attitudes of the people from the Fifth Blyatensk Infantry Division changed completely, looking at Wang Zhong with added respect.
Wang Zhong struck while the iron was hot, “Now that you know I’m the White Horse General, are you still thinking of taking this artillery piece?”
The Priest clenched his teeth, looking like he still wanted the artillery. After all, he had been through bloody battles and knew how important a gun was for the next fight, how an extra gun might mean much less bloodshed. It was true that he couldn’t give it up easily.
At that moment, Wang Zhong had an idea and asked, “Which division do you belong to?”
“The Eighty-first Infantry Division,” the Priest answered.
Wang Zhong, “Where is that division now?”
“Don’t know, we’ve been out of touch with division headquarters for a long time,” the Priest’s voice lowered.
Pavlov said, “Although there is no notice of the division’s number being revoked, there’s no supply for this division in the logistics transportation plan anymore. The supply for this group should be separately allocated.
“It’s the precursor to disbanding the number.”
Wang Zhong, “Then it’s simple; you no longer have a division above you, and my Rokossovsky Battle Group is missing a group. Pavlov, prepare the documents, apply to have them incorporated into our battle group.
“This way, if we take the gun, it’s as if you’ve got it!”
The Priest scratched his head, “This… doesn’t follow the usual procedure, does it?”
Wang Zhong, “During wartime, you handle special cases in special ways. Plus, the orders I received were to incorporate the routed soldiers here, and while you don’t count as routed, your division is gone. You from the Eighty-first Division count as routed, right?”
A division that’s been annihilated is certainly routed, logically.
Pavlov looked tired as he glanced at the sky, murmuring in a low voice, “Damn, do you know how much paperwork this involves?”
Wang Zhong pretended not to hear and continued looking at the Priest, “So, what do you say?”
The Priest slapped his thigh, “Alright, that settles it. We’ll go back and wait for the orders!”
————
After the Fifth Blyatensk Group left, Pavlov’s driver finally opened the door.
An old craftsman had already been waiting inside, and as soon as he saw Wang Zhong come in, he immediately greeted him.
“We’ve been waiting for you! We’ve greased the big guns, just waiting for you to take them to continue firing on those Prosen devils!”
As he spoke, the old craftsman made a welcoming gesture, then while leading Wang Zhong to the factory building, continued to say:
“We actually don’t know how to repair big guns.
“But look, with so many guns, each with different parts broken, you can compare and figure out the overall structure, so we assembled three guns.
“Two of the 45s are original parts. The 76 is missing parts, but we turned them ourselves on a lathe; they’re passable.”
Wang Zhong wanted to inspect the gun thoroughly but soon realized he didn’t understand artillery at all and wouldn’t be able to tell good from bad, so he thought it best to let those who knew how take a look.
So he turned back to the young soldiers of the third platoon and asked, “Are you from the Artillery School?”
The leader of the young soldiers glanced at the NCO leading them.
The NCO said, “The Brigadier General is asking you a question, so answer it. Don’t look at me.”
“Yes! Brigadier General, sir!”
Wang Zhong, “Send out the two with the best grades to inspect this gun.”
All the new recruits turned to look at a curly-haired youngster.
The young man stepped out of the rank and saluted Wang Zhong.
Wang Zhong nodded, “Dmitri Ivanovich, tell me right away if this gun can be fired successfully.”
Surprised to hear his own name, the young man was slightly taken aback, “You really remembered our names?”
“Of course, now check the gun.”
Wang Zhong did try to remember everyone’s names yesterday, but he hadn’t succeeded yet; he still relied on his ‘external aid’ for help.
But now, he knew there was a young man who was great at handling guns called Dmitri Ivanovich.