Cannon Fire Arc

Chapter 730: Chapter 68 The Atmosphere at the Front Army Headquarters Is Quite Relaxed

July 27th, 10:00 PM sharp, Kazarlia First Front Army Headquarters.

Due to the Front Army Headquarters being too far from the frontline, Wang Zhong and Pavlov were discussing the relocation of the new headquarters.

Wang Zhong, “I am thinking of setting it up in Orachi. Back in the day, we used one division to withstand the enemy’s entire armored assault Army Group, and were bullied terribly. Now, establishing the headquarters there, would carry a lot of ceremonial significance.”

As he spoke, he looked towards Popov, “We need this kind of ceremonial significance, right?”

Popov, “No, even the staunchest of the surrender faction now clearly see the situation. We all know that the ultimate victory is just a matter of time. In fact, many in our Front Army believe that you will enter Plowsonia with the help of General Winter by the end of this year.”

Wang Zhong, “Why emphasize General Winter’s help?”

Popov spread his hands, “You achieve every major victory in winter, and some of the elders are already saying that you are the embodiment of General Winter, the guardian of the winter; the Melianians even call you the Wild Hunt that comes with the north wind. You know about the Wild Hunt, right?”

Wang Zhong thought to himself that he knew too well, having raced the Wild Hunt for his daughter throughout the entire Witcher 3 game — and occasionally played a game of Gwent.

But he had to pretend he wasn’t particularly familiar with Melianian culture, so he said, “I don’t know, what’s that? Something like a Nadam festival?”

“No, it’s more like the Melianian version of Ragnarök. The Wild Hunt brings extreme cold, destroying the world. Now they think you are the Wild Hunt, that you will bring extreme cold to demolish Prosen and bring rebirth to Melania.”

Wang Zhong’s eyebrows twisted together, “Do they really think so?”

“It’s just what a part of the Melianian soldiers believe. After all, less than half of the Melanie Forces are followers of the Secular faction, and they are considered quite superstitious throughout the whole army.”

Wang Zhong did not initially find anything wrong with Popov, an Archbishop, sharply criticizing the Melianians for being superstitious.

Popov continued, “Overall, there is no need for this ceremonial significance now. Even the Prosens probably know that they are about to fail. That’s why I am against placing the headquarters in such a frontline location as Orachi.”

Pavlov clapped his hands happily, “Great! Now it’s two against one, you can’t ignore our opinion anymore!”

Wang Zhong shrugged.

Pavlov added, “When we liberate Argesukov and push the front to along the Dibo River, we’ll then set up the headquarters directly in Argesukov, in your family’s old home. That would be really ceremonious, wouldn’t it?”

“That makes sense.” Wang Zhong suddenly felt nostalgic. He placed his hands behind his back and walked to the window of the headquarters, looking out at the night sky, “We’re about to go home, after losing Argesukov for a full two years, we’re finally going to take it back.”

Popov, “With that, you’ll finally achieve a major victory in summer.”

Wang Zhong, “Really? I didn’t have any victories in summer before?”

“There were victories, but none were major ones. It was just constant defense,” Vasily replied. “I’ve heard a funny saying while drinking at the officers’ club—they say in summer, Rocossov is the shield of Ante, but in winter he becomes the spear of Ante.”

Wang Zhong looked towards Pavlov, “It seems like the staff department isn’t busy enough. Time to seriously pile on the work.”

Pavlov, “I think the workload is already enough. Officers’ rest should be managed by the Archbishop.”

Popov, “Ah? Indeed, but I believe at this jubilant time, we should allow the troops to drink a little as long as it does not interfere with their duties. Vasily, did you see anyone abusing alcohol at the officers’ club?”

“None at all, just light drinking, light drinking!” Vasily gestured with his fingers.

Popov, “Really?”

Vasily, “For an Antean’s alcohol tolerance, anything less than half a bottle is just light drinking.”

Popov cursed, “Sukabule, I got it. It’s time to have the Judge regularly inspect the officers’ club. Anyone drinking more than one glass should be intervened.”

Wang Zhong, “Next thing you know, the club glasses will just get larger and larger.”

“Then we’ll stipulate the size of the glasses!” Popov said. “I’ll draft the regulations right away.”

Wang Zhong gave a thumbs-up.

Having crossed over for nearly three years, Wang Zhong had realized one thing—you can’t stop Anteans from drinking. They will always find ways to drink, the key is to make sure it doesn’t cause trouble.

As the headquarters staff chatted casually, the phone rang.

Pavlov saw it was the red phone and directly said to Wang Zhong, “I bet it’s Her Majesty again; she’s the only one who would call us at this time.”

Wang Zhong glanced at his watch, “Indeed.”

He picked up the red handset, “Kazarlia Front Army Headquarters, this is Rocossov.”

“Big brother!” Olga’s voice came through, faintly audible even to the others in the headquarters, “Tugenev told me you’re about to liberate Shepetovka!”

Wang Zhong, “Yes, we’re about to liberate Shepetovka. The enemy is now in full retreat, and we expect to occupy Orachi tomorrow, blocking their route to retreat towards Argesukov. They will have no choice but to retreat towards the Central Army Group, then form a new defensive line around Lienesk and Imulich.”

“”

“Once we liberate Argesukov, the area occupied by the Central Army Group will become a huge salient.”

Olga was very excited, “So you’re planning to uproot this salient during the winter?”

Wang Zhong shook his head, though Olga couldn’t see on the other end of the phone, “I’m afraid not, my Front Army has a large number of cavalry and armored troops, the quality of our infantry is not as high as that of the Western Front Army. We’re not at our strongest when fighting in woods and swamps.

“This winter we are planning to break through the Dibo River defense line, capture Bogdanovka, retake Ronied, and liberate the whole territory of Kazarlia.

“The entire route is made of open plains, which presents fewer difficulties than attacking the enemy’s Central Army Group.”

While speaking, Wang Zhong had already picked up the landline and walked over to the large map at Headquarters.

Olga, “Is it really okay for you to lay out future plans so openly?”

“It’s fine because even if the generals from Prosen were to devise battle plans, they would make the same choices. They know we’re going to fight like this,” Wang Zhong said.

Olga, “What about their countermeasures?”

Wang Zhong immediately answered, “Firstly, they might fortify Argesukov since there are many fortifications we left behind. But at the moment, I believe the Prosenians don’t have enough manpower for defense.

“That General Xiplin will surely retreat across the Dibo River and revert the front to its pre-August 1914 state, except this time they will be the ones fortifying along the Dibo River.

“I think we will capture Argesukov relatively easily.

“Then they will try to resist us by relying on the Dibo River.”

Vasily interrupted, “They probably imagine that before the Dibo River freezes over in winter, we won’t be able to cross. But the General will definitely try to act before the freeze.”

Wang Zhong, seemingly forgetting he was still holding the receiver, switched to speaking to Vasily, “The freezing will be mid-December, even if winter comes early like last year, it’s unlikely to freeze by the end of November.

“Their training for reinforcements is slow, but the quality is high. We can’t let Prosen’s army get replenished, understand? The more reinforcement battalions that reach the front, the greater our casualties.

“So, we need to attack as soon as possible, while using bombers to continuously attack their supply nodes, even bombing train stations and the Train Dispatch Yard inside Melania across the border.”

Olga, “Did you forget you were on the phone with me? Was that last bit for Vasily? I heard he got married?”

Wang Zhong, surprised, “Vasily got married?”

Vasily raised his hand, “Haven’t you noticed the wedding ring since I came back? It saddens me, I thought you were just too busy with commanding the battles to notice.”

Wang Zhong, “Which blind girl took a fancy to you?”

Vasily, “General, I’m not bad looking.”

Popov, “He’s still a musician.”

“It has nothing to do with this!” Vasily immediately said, it seemed that even after getting married, he had not reconciled with his musician father.

Wang Zhong looked at Vasily again, “I didn’t expect the Emperor to tell me about this.”

“Bro, can’t you just call me your sister?”

“Alright, sis.”

Olga changed the topic, “When will your Headquarters move into Shepetovka? The Grand Patriarch Belinsky thinks we should hold a grand entrance ceremony, as it’s the first major city with a population of a million that we’ve liberated.”

Previously, Wang Zhong had liberated a series of cities, all with pre-war populations of only several hundred thousand, and after two years of fighting, some cities were left with only 200,000.@@novelbin@@

But Shepetovka still had a population of a million and would become a critical logistical node.

Wang Zhong, “An entrance ceremony…”

Pavlov, “Deliberately moving Headquarters to Shepetovka is impractical and would waste a lot of effort. I suggest Headquarters should keep moving towards Argesukov. So if there is to be a ceremony, you personally will have to make a trip.”

Popov, “Bring the new model of heavy tank named after you.”

Olga, “I heard that! I’ll send a new tank over. Ke Jing reported that the new tank has solved the problem of the driveshaft breaking, and the transmission failure rate has also been lowered. It’ll be just in time for you to give it a test drive.”

Wang Zhong, “Sure. Let’s set the date for the city’s entry for July 31st then.”

Pavlov, “Good, that will give the troops a chance to rest outside the city for two days. We can’t have them entering looking like beggars.”

Popov, “After all, it’s the first liberated city with a population of a million. It calls for some grandeur!”

Vasily, “But we’ll be liberating Argesukov soon, followed by Bogdanovka, Ronied—”

Wang Zhong, “The first one always calls for a celebration!”