Arc of Gunfire

United Kingdom, Prime Minister's Official Residence.

Leonard was pacing back and forth in the office when the confidential secretary opened the door and came in:

"Emperor Prosen just issued a power transmission."

Leonard trembled: "He won't surrender, will he?"

"No. He invited Rokosov to a fair one-on-one duel."

Leonard opened his mouth wide and looked at the confidential secretary, unable to speak for a long time.

Confidential Secretary: "His caller really said that."

Leonard held his pipe in his mouth and walked around the room several times before asking the MI6 director in the room: "Is Emperor Prossen crazy?"

Sir Cumming from the Sixth Department nodded: "It's possible. Considering some recent suspicious reports, Emperor Prossen may have been stimulated."

Leonard: "Suspicious report?"

"Plosen troops mutinied one after another, gave up their positions, and went to the place designated by the Ant people to hand over their weapons."

Leonard's eyes widened: "How is that possible? Didn't we analyze before that the Proscenians were afraid of Ant's retaliation and would resist desperately?"

"We did speculate this, but now more and more Proson troops are leaving their positions. The advancement of Ant troops has accelerated a lot.

"Now only the armed forces of the Asgard Knights are still resisting tenaciously. It may be because these people have committed many crimes in Ant."

Leonard: "How could this happen? What happened?"

Sir Cumming: "It is said that the Ants released some captured Plosen officers. These officers formed a secular church, promoted secular doctrines in Plosem, and prepared to establish a secular church in Plosem. nation."

"That's it?" Leonard looked in disbelief, "That's how Proson's troops can mutiny? No, this is not mutiny, this is treason!"

Sir Cumming spread his hands.

Leonard: "This is wrong! I don't believe that just this can make the Prosin army treason. There must be something - by the way, is it that the Ants have finally mastered the technology of brainwashing? Brainwash all the Prosin troops "

General Mago couldn't help but said: "Your speech really sounds like crazy. How can such a thing exist? If it really does exist, why would it be used on such a small scale?"

"But is there any other explanation?" Leonard asked.

Mago: "Then how do you explain that we all met Rokossov but were not brainwashed by him?"

“Don’t answer rhetorical questions with rhetorical questions!”

"No, I am reminding you to pay attention to logic, Your Excellency Prime Minister. We, as well as Ike and President Luo, have all met the marshal and had close contact, but we have not been brainwashed."

Leonard: "Maybe it requires some complicated conditions, or a large number of processes!"

"Then it's impossible for them to brainwash so many Prosin troops so quickly." General Mago continued, "Admit it, that St. Andre's Holy Book is so capable of bewitching. Maybe there are also some in the United Kingdom. People in key positions secretly pray with St. Andrew’s scripture every night.”

Leonard's eyes widened: "It would be terrible if this were true."

Mago: "Why should you be afraid? We are on the same side. If Rokossov can make Proson surrender as soon as possible, we will sacrifice many fewer people. Those are all good guys!"

Leonard didn't answer, just paced the room with his pipe in his hand.

————

November 30, Halloween, the third prisoner of war distribution center in Melania’s territory, 91 kilometers away from the center of Prosonia.

Sergeant Hans looked at the priest in the blue hat, hesitated and asked: "Will my crime affect my family?"

"No. Just tell me the truth."

Sergeant Hans sighed and began to recall: "On the first day of the offensive-invasion, I killed one..."

"Were they killed on the battlefield?" Blue Hat interrupted him.

"Yes, on the battlefield."

Blue Hat: "There is no need to explain. Tell me whether you tortured civilians, shot or robbed prisoners."

Sergeant Hans: "Don't you have to explain yourself on the battlefield?"

"Yes, this is Marshal Rokossov's instruction. All you need to do is confess your crimes outside the battlefield. Remember, if you don't confess now, someone will report you later and you will be finished."

Sergeant Hans nodded, thought for a while and began to say: "It was near Roniezh. We occupied a farm. We were ordered to clear the farm because the logistics troops wanted to transform the farm into a military station.

"I ordered the whole family to be pulled out and executed."

Blue Hat: "Did you torture them to death?"

"Yes, I have been having nightmares these years, dreaming about-"

Blue Hat: "How many people are there in total? Are there any children?"

"I can't remember exactly. There were children, two children."

Blue Hat picked up the writing board on the table and looked through the documents on it: "Children were tortured and killed, and an entire family was killed without fighting... It's a pity, Sergeant Hans, we You must be shot."

The sergeant breathed a long sigh of relief, but asked nervously: "It won't affect my family, right?"

"No. Also, if you can identify other people with major crimes, we can change it to life imprisonment. You will be reformed through labor in Siberia forever, but you can correspond with your family."

Sergeant: "I want to identify them. When I was about to execute them, Lieutenant Clausa appeared and took the women and boys to the second floor. We waited for a long time before he came down, and then ordered us to change the shooting to pushing into the cesspit. "

Blue Hat: "Krausa? His full name, and the unit he belongs to."

The sergeant told exactly what he remembered.

Blue Hat: "We will verify it. Before that, you must go to the labor camp. If we can't find the lieutenant, or he has died in the battle, you will be executed. We guarantee that your relics and verdict will be Deliver it to your family, if they are still alive."

After saying that, the blue hat took the interrogation record from the clerk next to him, stamped it, and pushed it in front of Sergeant Hans: "Tag your fingerprints!"

The sergeant pressed his fingerprints, and then was picked up by two sturdy blue hats and dragged out of the room.

"Next!"

A new prisoner was brought in, a corporal.

Blue Hat: "Name!"

Corporal: "Gruz Fernando, corporal. He joined the army one year before the invasion. He once shot a Colonel Ant while escorting prisoners outside Agsukov."

Blue Hat: "Corporal Grutz, do you know the name of the colonel who was shot?"

Corporal: "I don't know, I didn't search him. He kept looking at us unruly, so I let go of the rope on him and said, 'Since you are not convinced, go back to your place and we will I'll catch you again later'.

"Unexpectedly, as soon as he got free, he flew up and kicked me in the crotch, and also took away my subordinate's gun. I pulled out my pistol and shot him, hitting him in the back.

"I threw the body where it was and left with my men."

Blue Hat: "What else? Have you tortured and killed other people?"

"No."

"Lie!" Blue Hat slammed the table and stood up, "Gruz Fernando, someone has reported you a long time ago! You are full of evil! Tell the truth!"

Corporal: "I didn't."

The blue hat walked around the table between the two and punched the corporal in the face: "It seems you need memory recovery! Maybe this can help you wake up!"

After the 30-minute long memory recovery operation, the corporal still said firmly: "I no longer torture prisoners, nor do I kill civilians! At most, I just took the gold jewelry from the empty house!"

The blue hat glanced at his companion and returned to his position: "The beating just now was for the colonel who was killed by you."

Corporal: "Who reported me?"

"No one is reporting you, they are just making sure you have no other crimes." Blue Hat picked up the writing board and flipped it over. "According to the sentencing rules promulgated by the church, you have to go to a labor camp for 15 years of reform. You can live with your family Correspondence - if they are still alive, good behavior can lead to a reduced sentence or a pardon."

The corporal breathed a sigh of relief.

After signing and stamping the interrogation record, he was pulled up by two sturdy men with blue hats.

Interrogator: "By the way, if you have anything else to confess, you can always go to Stas's priest. And this is our parting gift to you."

As he spoke, the interrogator took out a copy of St. Andrew's Holy Book from the table behind him and handed it to the corporal.

The corporal was taken out of the room and stood outside in the sunlight.

Although it was almost December, Corporal Grutz still felt a little warm. Someone among the Plosen uprising soldiers gathered nearby asked: "Gruz, how many years?"

Please...you...collect 6...books...!

Gruz looked towards the direction where the sound came from and found that it was his subordinate, Private Szeik, and replied: "Fifteen years!"

Shuai Ke: "As a veteran who fought since the beginning of the invasion, it's quite short!"

Gruz: "What about you?"

"I'm free! After all, when I joined the war, we were already in retreat, and there were veterans like you who taught us not to do bad things all day long.

"I have two choices now. One is to help them carry goods until my hometown is liberated, and they will give me food and accommodation. The second is to attend Stas's evangelistic meeting and learn the theories of St. Andrew! Which one do you think I should go to? "

Gruz: "Go to Stas. Maybe you can help take care of my family in the future. I mean, if they are still alive."

"Listen to your corporal. I have been in the war for two years and it is always right to listen to you!" Private Shuike saluted Gruz.

Around him, there should be young soldiers who were acquitted, all of them with smiles on their faces.

Gruz waved to Shuike: "Let's go, see you in fifteen years!"

"Don't be discouraged. Maybe you will come back in a few years!" Shuike shouted.

Gruz smiled and walked forward facing the sunshine.

At this time, I don’t know who started to sing the Stassian song in Prosen language:

Stand up from the ruins and look forward to the future.

Let us fight for you, Father Prossen of the unified motherland...

————

On December 2, the position of the Asgard Knights was 27 kilometers away from the center of Prosennia.

Andreas: "Change the barrel!"

The deputy shooter immediately grabbed the barrel of the gun with his asbestos-gloved hand, pulled out the fixture with one force, and threw it into the sink nearby.

There was a layer of ice on the sink, and the moment the hot gun barrel was thrown into the sink, it pierced the ice and stirred up a lot of water vapor.

The deputy gunner picked up the new barrel and inserted it into the machine gun——

Andreas grabbed the deputy shooter's arm and flew him to the ground.

The tank shells came and instantly blasted the machine gun with a tripod into the sky.

Ant's grenade charge was so shocking that it took away Andreas' hearing and made his head buzz.

In a daze, Andreas saw the deputy shooter talking to him, but couldn't hear what he was saying at all.

The only sound he could hear was ringing in his ears.

Suddenly, he noticed that his nose was bleeding.

While wiping the nosebleed, the deputy shooter pointed at Andreas' ear.

Andreas touched it and grabbed another handful of blood.

By this time, he had partially regained his hearing and heard the deputy shooter yelling, "What do we do?"

Andreas grabbed the deputy shooter and ran along the traffic trench.

Tank machine gun fire continued to hit the wall of the traffic trench behind them.

Deputy shooter: "Where else can we run? We are surrounded from the front, rear, left and right!"

Andreas: "We are not going anywhere, we are here to hold on. This is the duty we have been given! The Asgardian Knights will never retreat!"

While talking, the two came to the ready machine gun position.

Andreas checked the machine gun on the position and grinned: "If the enemy attacks again, we will use this guy to teach the enemy a severe lesson!"

However, the Ants fell silent.

At this time, there was a sound in the distance, which sounded like Ant's propaganda loudspeaker.

A loudspeaker was playing Prosen children's songs.

At the end of the song, the announcer said: "Our column is dedicated to playing children's songs for children on the battlefield, hoping that they can also have a relatively normal childhood."

The deputy shooter suddenly became hysterical: "Isn't this just an obvious taunt?"

Andreas: "It's the enemy's power, they defeated us."

The deputy shooter was silent.

After a moment he asked: "Do we still have a chance of winning?"

Before Andreas could speak, Kosrek's voice came: "Of course there is a theoretical chance of winning, but as you can see, we don't have much supplies anymore. So this chance of winning should always remain theoretical.

"I will fight here until the end, but you all have to follow Andreas."

Andreas looked at Kosrek and saw that he was holding an unlit cigarette.

So Andreas took out the matchbox, pulled out a well-stocked match and struck it, and a bright flame appeared in his hand.

Kosrek stared at the match, watching Andreas use the flame to light his cigarette.

"Where did you get the matches?" Koslake asked.

Andreas replied: "I don't know, maybe I got it in a dream."

Kosrek stared at Andreas for a while and then said: "That's good, at least it can ensure that more people survive. I'll leave them to you!"

Andreas nodded: "Leave it to me."