Arc of Gunfire

Chapter 259: Drinking the Celebration Wine Today (Update 18/33)

Jules On November 20, 914, Wang Zhong looked at his watch.

Group Army Commander Kirinenko complained at the side: "Obviously I am the commander-in-chief, but you are the one looking at your watch. This scene is a bit strange."

Wang Zhong made an invitation gesture: "Then come!"

Kirinenko shook his head repeatedly: "No, no, no, you made the plan and you take the credit. If you come, I won't leave this name in history."

At this time, Kirinenko's old unit and the new commander of the 7th Cavalry Corps, Nikolai Andreyevich Oskov, asked cautiously: "Has His Excellency General Rokossov always been so approachable?"

Wang Zhong: "Otherwise? I'm just an ordinary person."

Andrievich looked as if there were millions of mysteries behind Wang Zhong's words, and fell into deep thought.

Wang Zhong looked at his watch again. When he saw the minute hand pointing to 12, he said: "Fire."

At eight o'clock in the morning on November 20th, the Antesi Front Army's annihilation battle against the heavily armored Kalanskaya Plosen Group began.

One minute after the bombardment started, the communications staff entered the wooden house that served as the temporary attack group headquarters: "The Prosen Army in the encirclement sent a telegram in the international aviation code."

Wang Zhong looked at the communications staff officer.

Everyone in the audience looked at him.

Wang Zhong: "Ah? Shall I give this order? No, no, Lieutenant General Kirinenko, you are here!"

The way he said this was a bit like the classic Soviet joke: Come on to the stage so-and-so.

Kirinenko was speechless, waved his hand and said concisely: "Read it!"

The communications staff officer looked at the message: "Major General Joseph, commander of the 5th Armored Division, on behalf of all the Prosin troops in Kalanskaya, would like to extend sincere greetings to Prince Rokossov. We are willing to surrender to heroes like you."

Wang Zhong snorted: "Return the call, there is no Prince Rokossov in the Ant Empire, and no such person has been found. That's it... uh..."

Wang Zhong thought about it for a while. Everyone surrendered to him by name. It seems that there is no need to go into that situation again, right?

So he waved his hand: "Just reply like this! No need to polish the sentence, that's it."

The communications staff officer took the message and left.

Pavlov: "Is this good? If they all surrender, there will be more prisoners left alive to show, right?"

Wang Zhong: "You don't understand, there is nothing that Prince Rokossov doesn't have. You are also forbidden to talk nonsense like this. It will not be good for His Majesty's reputation if it spreads. Moreover, it will not be good for Lyudmila. She She is my fiancée.”

Vasily: "But His Majesty is obviously interested in you. Everyone saw her kissing you passionately at the station."

Wang Zhong was very calm and had already thought about how to deal with it: "I am equivalent to her brother. That is her way of expressing her longing for her relatives."

"In that way?" Vasily asked in surprise.

At this time, the communications staff came back: "The enemy calls back."

Wang Zhong: "Why so fast?"

Communications staff officer: "Because there is no need for decoding, just use the international aviation code to send it directly."

Wang Zhong: "What did the enemy say?"

"Major General Joseph, commander of the 5th Armored Division, on behalf of all the Prosin troops in Kalanskaya, extends sincere greetings to General Rokossov and hopes that the general can accept the surrender of our army."

Wang Zhong did not follow the procedure directly: "Call back, they can and can only surrender to the people of Ante, otherwise we will blow them to pieces."

Just as the communications staff officer was about to leave, Wang Zhong stopped him:

"Can the whole world receive this message? Or is it only us?"

Communications staff officer: "Judging from the signal strength, only the nearby radio stations two hundred kilometers away can receive it. Judging from the signal wavelength, it's about the same."

Wang Zhong: "Then, how far away can our machine allow people to receive telegrams?"

The communications staff did some mental math and replied: "We can cover Fort St. Andrew here. If we use this configuration to send, there are also some provinces in Prosin that can receive it."

Wang Zhong: "Change the message to this: The defeated Prosen army in Kalanskaya's encirclement can and can only surrender to the Ant people, otherwise we will blow up every one of you.

“Then I will compose a song called The Rainy Season in Kalanskaya, telling people that there were once tens of thousands of Prosin soldiers huddled in Kalanskaya, but now the heavy rain falls, but only the lonely ghosts can listen.

"Every time I conquer a Proson city from now on, I will play this song and tell you about your tragic experiences."

After finishing writing, the communications staff officer looked at the long message and said, "Are we going to send so many messages?"

"Yes, go ahead and make sure the entire Ant receives the message."

The communications officer left.

Bishop Popov muttered: "Can and only surrender to the people of Ant? You still have the ability to be a priest accompanying the army. No, I have known for a long time that you have this ability. You never need me to inspire the soldiers to fight in the war. Will makes me feel like a waste."

Vasily replied: "Just get used to it."

Popov looked at Vasily maliciously.

Wang Zhong listened to the sound of artillery fire from the artillery position in the distance. There was no need to worry about the matter in front of him. The enemy was short of food and clothing and did not have much ammunition. He would probably surrender after the bombing.

Wang Zhong began to use his privileges as a time traveler to think about the future.

After destroying Kalanskaya's enemies, it's time to pursue them. At this time, you will encounter a new enemy weapon: the PAK40 anti-tank gun.

Although it was only a trial production model, this anti-tank gun was indeed put into use at this time.

This thing is likely to penetrate the T34 at a distance of 1500. Coupled with the consistently excellent sights and soldier quality, it will cause huge damage to the counterattacking Ant army.

As the enemy retreats, logistical problems will gradually disappear, and new anti-tank guns with sufficient supplies of shells have to be guarded against.

What's even more terrible is that next year, in March of the second year of the war, the enemy will invest in No. 4 F2. This thing can penetrate the T34 at a long distance. Moreover, the enemy's armored soldiers are of high quality, and their sights are also one level advanced. The T34 driven by rookies often has a bad record.

Then in September of the following year, the Tiger entered combat.

At the beginning, the failure rate of new cars was very high, so the combat effectiveness was not so high. But after the shortcomings were almost repaired, this thing became the dominant one on the battlefield.

The last Soviet army on earth won with huge casualties. But in this time and space, Proson is stronger than Santoku. Maybe these new weapons will cause the front to collapse and eventually lose the war.

After all, just like Earth, Prosin in this time and space did not mobilize at all, nor did it adopt a wartime economy.

Wang Zhong thought about the future, and increasingly realized that what he urgently needed to do was not to obtain many frontal results, but to quickly conduct industrial surveys, interfere with military production, and preferably interfere with the composition of the troops and even combat doctrine... …

Just as I was thinking about it, the communications staff came in: "A clear telegram from the enemy."

Wang Zhong: "Read it."

Communications Staff Officer: "All the Prosin soldiers in Kalanskaya request to surrender to the people of Ant."

Wang Zhong nodded: "It's almost the same, but they have to send it with maximum power and send it repeatedly until 20 o'clock tonight. We can stop the shelling and send envoys to discuss surrender, but this transmission must not stop. Once it stops, Our army will attack by force. This is how we notify the enemy.”

This time the communications staff member didn't leave long before he came back: "Report, the enemy agreed."

Wang Zhong: "Then stop the shelling. But the artillery troops remain on alert."

Pavlov: "I think the enemy will no longer act like a monster. How about we have a drink to celebrate our victory? This is the first real defeat of the enemy in the six months since the war began. It is not the beginning of another retreat."

Yegorov became interested as soon as he heard this: "Okay!"

Wang Zhong thought for a while, nodded and said: "Of course, let's drink the celebration wine today!"

————

November 20, Fort St. Andrew, Headquarters of the St. Andrew Front of the Ant Army.

The commander of the front army, General Gorky, was studying the enemy's latest developments with senior officers. The door of the headquarters was suddenly opened, and the communications staff came in: "A telegram sent using the international aviation code was received. The content is: 'Kalanskaya all generals' Soldiers of Losen, request surrender to the people of Ante.'"

After hearing this, Gorky immediately turned around to check the entire battle line map, and then asked: "Why did Rokossov launch an attack? Shouldn't he surround the enemy and wait for the enemy to try to relieve the siege? In this case, the enemy will run away!"

Bishop of the Front: "It may be political... and diplomatic considerations, Gorky Konstantinovich. Especially this telegram, if we can receive it, the weather stations of the United Kingdom and the United States in the Arctic can also receive it." This is telling the world that we won.”

General Gorky stared at the map for a few seconds and said, "Rokossov said that we cannot win quickly. Did you see that statement?"

"Of course. In fact, efforts have been made within the church to spread this view. I think this should have become the official attitude of the Archbishop and the entire Cardinals' Chamber."

General Gorky nodded: "It's a bit far-sighted, but how will he deal with the subsequent demands of the quick-victory faction? Promoting him as the commander of the Western Front would have caused a lot of dissatisfaction. He can only attack, if he attacks and is defeated How great is his glory now, how miserable he will be when he is scolded!"

Unlike General Gorky, who looked serious, the Chief of Staff of the Front Army Ivan Stepanovich came to the wine cabinet: "We won't worry about this kind of thing later. Let's drink to victory now!"

Gorky thought for a while and nodded: "Yes, cheers to Rokossov, the iron wall of our empire, and his crucial, first victory in the battle of annihilation!"

————

In the territory of Prosen, the Eagle's Nest.

"All the Prosen soldiers of Kalanskaya request to surrender to the people of Ante." After the confidential secretary read this sentence, he looked at the emperor with his neck curled up.

The emperor waved his hand: "You all get out."

Everyone crowded in the room looked at each other, then turned and walked towards the door.

"Ziege, you stay," the emperor said.

So Siegfried Gilais stayed.

After everyone had left, Emperor Reinhard slammed the table: "How could they do this! Even if they surrender, can't they surrender quietly? Now we are passive internationally!

"Our intelligence network in the United States is working hard to prevent the passage of the Lend-Lease Act! Now this telegram will make this effort a failure! A failure!

"If they are glorious Prosen warriors, they should die for the empire! Fight to the end!"

After the outbreak, the emperor of the Prosens and the conqueror of Uropa sat in a chair dejectedly.

Siegfried: "They are human beings too and want to live. I don't think there is anything wrong with that."

The emperor raised his head and looked at his friend: "Isn't it wrong?"

Siegfried: "We were wrong to underestimate the enemy. I think we still have a chance if we start a general mobilization now, put all factories into wartime production, and switch all civilian factories."

The emperor was silent for a few seconds and shook his head: "No, we still have some new weapons that have not been put into the war, such as the 88mm artillery carrier developed after the Carolingian was hit hard by the enemy's B1 heavy tank. I have seen the test of the prototype, and there is no need to mobilize now."

Siegfried sighed.

At this time, Reinhard stood up: "Bring some wine, Sieg. Although it was an enemy, he did win. According to your story, I admit that he is an excellent defense expert. Let's have a drink on the deck after the battle, like the captains of the sailing warships a hundred years ago."

Siegfried Giles nodded: "Yes, we should have a drink."

————

United Kingdom, First Residence, 10 Fleet Street.

Prime Minister Leonard Spencer is reading a scary-looking document provided by the Admiralty, which discusses the possibility of landing behind the Mamluk battlefield.

At this time, his chief secretary Bernard and the chief secretary of the cabinet, Sir Appleby, came in together.

Bernard put a document in front of Leonard.

"What is this?" The Prime Minister looked up.

Sir Appleby said: "Just received a clear message from the Plosson Army, 'All Plosson soldiers in Kalanskaya request to surrender to the people of Ant.'"

Prime Minister Leonard was delighted: "Have you confirmed the authenticity?"

Bernard: "Sir Cumming's department has analyzed the intelligence currently coming from Plosson and believes that it is very likely to be true."

Leonard was overjoyed: "Bring the wine! Have a good drink! This is a great thing!"

Sir Appleby: "But, just now, the House of Lords of the United States rejected the Lend-Lease Bill. They will not provide free material assistance to us and Ant for the time being."

Leonard's interest suddenly dropped: "Damn Plosson lobbying group!"

Secretary Bernard: "Do you want more wine?"

Leonard waved his hand: "Yes! I have to drink more now!"