Arc of Gunfire

Wang Zhong glanced at Lyudmila, who smiled and said: "Go quickly, you can't help if you stay here."

"Okay." Wang Zhong stepped forward and kissed her lips gently, then turned and nodded to the school officer who came from the Summer Palace.

Then the group quickly left the shooting scene.

Lyudmila watched him go, holding the long staff that the angel of St. Andrew had once carried.

————

The atmosphere in the summer palace seemed a bit tense. When the guards saw Wang Zhong's appearance, they all looked "as expected".

Wang Zhong was led all the way into the lounge, and then he saw a general in the room, standing by the window with a Coke in his hand, looking at the snowy scene outside.

The general originally raised his right hand, preparing to take a sip of Coke. When he heard Wang Zhong's footsteps, he maintained his posture of holding the Coke bottle and looked over sideways.

Wang Zhong saw the general's customary salute.

The general drank up the Coke in one gulp, put down the bottle, and returned the favor to Wang Zhong.

After both sides put down their hands, the general spoke: "Is it Lieutenant General Rokossov? I've heard his name for a long time."

Wang Zhong used the plug-in to look at the general's name and said, "General Gorky, I thought you were guarding Fort St. Andrew."

General Gorky: "The situation in Fort St. Andrew has stabilized. The enemy should not be able to launch a large-scale offensive until February next year. Our counterattack drove the enemy away from the edge of the ice lake, so that the enemy's artillery could not threaten the ice." road over the lake.

“That’s all we can do at this stage.”

Wang Zhong: "At least the city has been saved for the time being."

"Yes. For the time being. The enemy can't attack us, and we can't drive the enemy away. The situation in Fort St. Andrew will not fundamentally improve until we receive sufficient reinforcements next year." General Gorky picked up another bottle He opened the Coke and took a sip.

Wang Zhong: "So you will come to report on your work?"

"No, the order given to me the day before yesterday told me to come back. It took me more than a day to leave the city and come by plane." General Gorky finished the Coke and put down the empty bottle, "I guess I was asked to clean up the mess of the Western Front. .Why did you come here?”

Wang Zhong: "I was called here this morning as soon as I got the news of the Plosen attack."

General Gorky: "What do you think of Prosin's attack?"

Wang Zhong: "I heard that the Pulosen people regained some of their previously lost positions. If the enemy planned to surround and annihilate a large number of our troops in a pincer offensive, they would not bother to seize the jagged positions on the front.

"I judge that this is not a large-scale offensive, but just to gain a better position and prepare for a large-scale offensive next year."

General Gorky nodded: "Well, that makes sense. If the enemy has really regained a lot of the positions it lost before and 'levelled' the battle line, it does not seem like a precursor to a large-scale attack."

General Gorky walked around the lounge twice and suddenly asked: "Lieutenant General Rokossov, where do you think the enemy will attack next year? Or the Yebao?"

Wang Zhong: "They attacked Yebao in order to end the war as soon as possible. Now this plan has been ruined. Even if they take Yebao, we will continue to resist. Although Yebao is the general intersection of all railway trunk lines in our country, there are still extreme High strategic value, but..."

In fact, Ant's railways rarely intersect. There are only three relatively large intersections in total. Agsukov has been occupied by Prosen. Fort St. Andrew is now under siege by the enemy. Only Ye Fort is left. .

If Yebao Ant is lost, many railways will be cut off, so it cannot be said that there is no strategic significance for the enemy to occupy Yebao next year.

But investing so many troops for this goal may not be worth it.

Wang Zhong: "I think Proson may shift his strategic focus to the south next year. After taking the coastal fortress, he will go straight into the vast grasslands to seize iron ore, coal mines, rare metals and, most importantly, Kuba's oil."

General Gorky nodded: "Riding on the grassland is indeed very suitable for their mechanized army. The area around Ye Fort is not suitable because there are too many woods."

Vasily finally couldn't help but interjected: "Why do you two just say that you don't have a map?"

Wang Zhong and General Gorky stared at him together.

Wang Zhong: "Vasily, go and stay in the adjutant's lounge nearby."

"My adjutant is also there, you can chat with him." General Gorky agreed.

Vasily left angrily.

General Gorky: "Although we all judge this, there is no guarantee that Emperor Prosen will not continue to attack Yebao."

Wang Zhong: "Then let him come. This will be the burial place of Prosen's army. When they run out of fuel reserves, it's time for us to counterattack.

"No, I don't think Emperor Proson is so stupid. What he wants to ensure now is that the war can continue. He must get Kuba's oil. Moreover, we will be the ones who suffer after they take over the oil fields, although there are also the United States. support, but the United States itself also has to supply their huge army.”

As soon as Wang Zhong finished speaking, General Gorky said: "I heard that the United States is about to lose their main oil fields in Asia?"

Wang Zhong nodded: "Yes, the Borneo oil field is almost finished."

General Gorky was speechless: "It sounds like Kuba will be a key point that neither of us can give up in the next year."

Wang Zhong nodded.

At this time the door opened, and the palace protocol officer came in and announced loudly: "General Gorky Konstantinovich, Lieutenant General Alexei Konstantinovich, please follow me!"

General Gorky: "I understand. Let's go, Lieutenant General Rokossov, it's our turn."

————

The court etiquette officer led Wang Zhong and General Gorky directly into the meeting place of the imperial meeting.

As soon as Wang Zhong entered the door, he looked at the map and confirmed that the enemy was indeed retaking the positions occupied by the Western Front one by one, and then he breathed a sigh of relief.

It was indeed not a large-scale attack.

At this time, General Gorky, who was walking in front, saluted Olga first.

Wang Zhong hurried to catch up.

Olga: "No need to be polite. I called you two here to ask how you judge the situation? The enemy just launched a counterattack before we launched the attack."

General Gorky glanced at Wang Zhong and made a "you come" gesture.

Wang Zhong did not refuse, picked up a long pole of almost two meters and gestured on the map: "The enemy's counterattack only seized the positions lost before and "flattened" the entire front, which can save troops on the defensive front.

"I guess the enemy will let the troops who have been replaced start to rest next. ”

Olga’s eyes widened: “So, this is not another large-scale offensive?”

Wang Zhong: “If it is a large-scale offensive, why do we need to seize these insignificant positions? If we launch a pincer attack directly, break through our defense line and cut off our logistics, we will abandon these ‘dog teeth’ on the front line by ourselves.

“But the enemy did not launch a pincer attack, but threw the counterattack troops evenly on the front line and launched attacks in multiple places.

“No, no, your majesty, this is not a large-scale offensive.”

Wang Zhong put down the two-meter long pole and gave the right to speak to General Gorky.

The general took over and said: “Although it is not a large-scale offensive, if some of us are scared and the troops are shaken, the enemy may also switch to the offensive. The top priority is to stabilize the troops and tell them that this is not a large-scale offensive by the enemy.

"Then let most of the troops build fortifications and rest in place to prepare for the next battle next year."

Olga nodded: "Okay, I know. General Turgenev!"

Turgenev stood up and picked up the order in front of him: "Now appoint General Gorky Konstantinovich to take over the post of commander of the Western Front and take office immediately to take thunder-like actions to stabilize the morale and the front line."

Gorky saluted: "Guarantee to complete the task."

Wang Zhong was very curious at this time. This called General Gorky and Lieutenant General Rokossov together. There was no reason to give General Gorky a new position.

Are you going to put me in the Western Front as chief of staff? The lieutenant general is indeed very suitable to be the chief of staff.

Don't do that! I don't want to become a bald man like Pavlov!

Fortunately, Admiral Turgenev continued to read: "Appoint Lieutenant General Alexei Konstantinovich as the Tsar's special envoy to inspect the situation at the Western Front and punish incompetent officers."

Wang Zhong frowned. He knew that the higher-ups were planning to use the reputation of the "White Horse General" to stabilize the military's morale, but——

Wang Zhong: "Are you sure you want to give me this appointment? After I arrive at the Western Front headquarters, many people will be scared to death."

Olga smiled and said, "This is the goal of this appointment. If they are scared to death directly, the officers of the aristocracy can't say anything. But remember, for Tukhachev and others, let them come back first, and convict them in a procedurally just way. Don't just execute them like last time."

Wang Zhong raised his eyebrows: "Yes, sir."

Olga urged: "Then you two should set off quickly. The situation of the Western Front is not very good now. Even the front headquarters reported that there is a clear wavering situation."

Wang Zhong nodded.

General Gorky asked, "Are we both on the same plane? If we want to boost morale, it would be best if we both appeared together."

Olga looked at Admiral Turgenev.

The Admiral replied, "Indeed, you were arranged on the same plane, and the escort was the MiG-3 of the 11th Fighter Regiment."

Marshal Boris, Chief of Staff of the High Command, added, "You should set off now. The plane is waiting at Yeburg Airport. It will land directly on the makeshift airfield next to the front headquarters, and you can reach the front headquarters immediately after landing."

Wang Zhong and General Gorky responded in unison, "Yes, sir."

Then the two left the imperial meeting together.

When leaving, General Gorky said directly to the palace guards, "Go and call me and Lieutenant General Rokossov's adjutant, we are leaving."

The guards left in response, and Wang Zhong and General Gorky stood in front of the window in the corridor and talked about the new appointment.

"First, let the troops realize that this is not a large-scale attack and they cannot lose their composure." General Gorky said.

Wang Zhong: "First, inform the entire Western Front that General Gorky and General Rokosov are here." General Gorky shook his head: "I don't have your high appeal, so I'll just promote you to the front line. Speaking of which, I've read the documents you submitted to establish a model division. I think this elite division is useless in a war of this scale that we are currently conducting. "Do you know how many casualties were recorded on the entire front line in the past two days, not counting the Western Front that is launching an offensive?" Wang Zhong asked Vasily not to report the casualty figures a long time ago, because he couldn't get used to such cold numbers now. So he answered truthfully: "I don't know." General Gorky: "Six thousand five hundred people, these are the recorded casualties. Half of the division is gone now. Not to mention the attacking Western Front. "

Wang Zhong: "So I will gather these elite divisions for use, and I will personally decide where they should be invested."

General Gorky curled his lips: "Then I look forward to your performance."

At this time, the two adjutants arrived, so General Gorky waved his hand: "Let's go to the front line and see what happened to the Western Front. They can't tell that the enemy is not attacking on a large scale? It's unbelievable!"