Arc of Fire

Wang Zhong frowned at the sight of the list, wondering when he’d get through it all! So, he asked directly, “Do you have any mines?”

In the upcoming defensive battle, he definitely couldn’t rely on having a superior force or equipment; hoping to annihilate the enemy was unrealistic, his only choice was to cause delay.

And when it came to delaying the enemy’s advance, there was nothing better than mines.

Wang Zhong still appreciated mines; before he crossed over, he played a WWII RTS competitive game “Company of Heroes 2,” and during 1V1 ranking matches, he’d habitually lay mines, letting the engineers bury them where the enemy’s light armor might come without even caring if he hadn’t scouted them.

His impression of mines was: cheap to bury anywhere, and one would profit from the enemies’ misfortune.

So now, the first thing he asked was whether there were any mines or not.

"As far as I remember, no,” the logistics commander shook his head, “these things are taken away as soon as they are delivered. You can ask the defense battalion, they received a batch of mines before setting up the defenses and arranged minefields in the southwest of the city, there might be some left over.”

For fuck’s sake, Wang Zhong thought, why is it that whatever I want is missing! Yet there’s no shortage of pickled cucumber cans!

At that moment, he caught a glimpse of Vasily sneaking into the room, standing behind Staff Sergeant Grigori.

Wang Zhong: “Vasily Aleksandrovich!”

Vasily snapped to attention: “Present!”

Wang Zhong: “Do you know why I’m calling you?”

"To continue picking manure tonight!” the young man replied with clear enunciation.

Wang Zhong: “Well, very clever. You’re knowingly committing a mistake!”

Just as he was about to scold him further, Popov interjected between him and Vasily, seriously saying, “Did you falsely order the troops to assemble?”

"I thought we might need more manpower to transport equipment, Your Holiness!”

Popov: “Go write a self-criticism report, no less than five hundred words, and while you’re at it, carry out today’s manure too.”

"Yes!”

Wang Zhong: “But now, I have another honorable task for you! Do you speak Prosen?”

Vasily: “Yes.”

"You can?” Popov was greatly surprised, “What does your family do?”

"My father is a university music professor, Your Holiness! He speaks both Prosen and Carolingian, so I do too.”

Wang Zhong nodded: “Very well, I want you to find two familiar classmates, go to the logistics motor pool to get a jeep, and then fetch some wooden signs.”

Vasily looked puzzled: “What is this for, General?”

"You three will drive the jeep, make a round in the southwest part of the city, and whenever you see a suitable place for laying mines, place a sign that reads in Prosen, ‘Caution: Minefield.’

Vasily brightened up at this: “Alright, I like this kind of job!”

The guy really did like this sort of task!

Vasily added: “I would also like to request some explosives and detonators to set up pull-activated explosives under the signs, to give the Prussians a little surprise!”

Wang Zhong, liking the proposal, also became interested and said: “Then I suggest you get some firecrackers and white phosphorus. If the enemy knocks over the sign, the phosphorus will naturally ignite the firecrackers, to liven up the Prussians’ spirits!”

Vasily laughed even harder: “Perfect, perfect! You’re full of ideas, General!”

Wang Zhong kept a straight face: “Go on, then.”

Vasily turned and ran off.

Popov called out to his retreating figure: “Remember to write the self-criticism and pick manure when you come back!”

Wang Zhong looked at the bishop, ready to speak but hesitated.

Popov: “What is it? This is my job. I don’t interfere with military command, and you shouldn’t interfere with me either.”

Just then, the logistics commander spoke up: “Will this be effective?”

Wang Zhong: “I don’t know. But it’s certainly better than doing nothing.”

The logistics commander asked further: “Then why write in Prosen?”

Wang Zhong: “Because the Ante People can’t understand it, so they won’t pay attention to the sign.”

"Makes sense.”

Wang Zhong: “Enough about this, no mines then, what about cannons? I guess there aren’t any, right?”

"Right,” the logistics commander spread his hands, “now with the Prosen tanks being hyped up to the skies, everyone is crazily demanding anti-tank guns. Of course, if transportation were smooth, the 45mm guns would suffice, but transportation is problematic right now.”

"As for the ZIS-3, those are already rare as it is.”

The 76mm anti-tank gun ZIS-3 was indeed a scarce item at that point in time.

Just then, Wang Zhong suddenly remembered something and said: “I remember now; you sent me 76mm shells that were pickled cucumber cans! Get me the real 76mm shells!”

The logistics commander remained calm: “That was an issue with the rear packing. Before, there were cases where 82mm mortar shell boxes contained 60mm mortar shells, nobody knows how they managed to fit them in despite the incorrect caliber.”

"Where are the real 76mm shells then?”

"They are plenty of them with the supplies for Bogdanovka.”

Next, Wang Zhong began to enumerate: “I also want submachine guns, flamethrowers, anti-tank grenades, empty bottles, and alcohol…”

The logistics commander: “How about this, I’ll open the warehouse, you’ll issue an IOU for each warehouse, and you guys can go in and take what you need. Your men are already in place anyway.”

"That’ll do.”

————

As Wang Zhong was having the trucks loaded up, Yegorov drove into the logistics command’s courtyard in a jeep, and before the vehicle had even stopped, he called out loudly, “What’s going on?”

Wang Zhong: “Bogdanovka…”

He suddenly realized it wasn’t appropriate to discuss such news loudly and cut himself short, waiting for Yegorov to approach before whispering, “The enemy is coming soon.”

Yegorov: “I guessed as much. I saw lots of countrymen with their families on the run at the southwest junction.”

Wang Zhong: “We’re going to move into positions today and start building fortifications, selecting the fertilizer factory we saw before as the defense point.”