Arc of Fire

When Wang Zhong entered the sanctuary, his hair was still dripping.

Su Fang saw him entering, and was about to speak when she suddenly remembered she was in communication, and gave a meaningful glance to the female Guardian Army beside her.

Wang Zhong was puzzled, “What does that mean? She can’t talk now?”

The female Guardian Army explained, “She is currently synced with the Hymn Monk in the capital. Whatever she says, they will say the same thing there, and vice versa.”

Wang Zhong nodded, then asked, “What did she say just now?”

Another member of the Guardian Army brought over a notebook to Wang Zhong.

Written on the notebook was, “Princess Olga Nikolayevna Antonovna is asking General Rokossovsky if his unit needs assistance, and what kind of assistance is needed.”

Wang Zhong turned his head and exchanged glances with Pavlov.

He decided to ask first when this support could arrive.

Even if the princess were to send two hundred T34 tanks, that would still take time — and they would likely be intercepted by the enemy’s airforce en route.

Wang Zhong, “Your Highness, may I ask how long it will take for our reinforcements to arrive?”

Su Fang immediately repeated Wang Zhong’s words, parroting them exactly.

Then she fell silent, obviously the other side was discussing how to respond.

One could anticipate the current situation; sending reinforcements to Orachi would be quite a challenge.

While waiting, Wang Zhong gradually formed an idea of what kind of reinforcement to request — a kind that could disregard the battlefield situation, reach Orachi by tomorrow, and be effective.

When Wang Zhong had made up his mind, the response came from the other end, and Su Fang spoke, “Your Excellency, considering the current battlefield situation, we can only send reinforcements to Shepetovka first, and then have Duke Meishikin organize the transport. If we leave immediately, we can reach Shepetovka by dawn the day after tomorrow.”

That meant no matter what, they would arrive only the day after tomorrow — after all, even the princess couldn’t instantly get what Wang Zhong needed and immediately organize a train. After organizing the train, loading it would take additional time.

Wang Zhong was about to speak when Su Fang said, “Additionally, I’ve intercepted 30 newly produced T34 tanks from the factory. They are being loaded onto a train, which should depart by tomorrow.”

See, Wang Zhong thought, it sure wasn’t possible to send them immediately. Waiting for these 30 T34 tanks to reach Shepetovka would also take until the day after tomorrow.

Indeed, what he should request was precisely the kind of reinforcement he had just considered!

Effective by tomorrow!

Wang Zhong, “Your Highness, we urgently need airforce support. I’ve received airforce support in Loktov and Upper Peniye. I need MiG-3s to tackle the enemy’s high-altitude reconnaissance planes, and I need IL-2s to clear the enemy on the ground.

“I hope they can appear above Orachi by tomorrow! Additionally, I need reconnaissance planes to scout the enemy’s artillery positions!”

After Wang Zhong finished speaking, Su Fang almost had recited in full, and the sanctuary quieted down again.

The response came quickly this time.

Su Fang, “Is that all you need?”

Wang Zhong, “Those are the most urgent at the moment! I’m facing two armored divisions, two! And we’ve just been shelled by 21cm heavy artillery, which is the enemy Army Group’s level of heavy artillery. Tomorrow, we might face the enemy’s Army Group main force!”

As he said this, Pavlov and Popov both widened their eyes because there was no intelligence report indicating that the Army Group main force would attack tomorrow.

Wang Zhong was bluffing, exaggerating the situation to be as dire as walking on eggshells, to more conveniently demand supplies.

The reply also came very quickly: “Understood, I will immediately make a request to the Air Force. I guarantee you will have our planes covering you tomorrow. Do you have any other requests?”

Wang Zhong signaled to Pavlov, “I need the following supplies!”

Pavlov took out his little notebook and began to read.

Su Fang repeated as she read, but halfway through, she suddenly stopped.

Wang Zhong urged her, “Keep reading!”

“It’s cut off,” Su Fang answered, “It’s been too long.”

Wang Zhong, “Can such a connection be established again?”

Popov answered on behalf of Su Fang, “This type of connection requires a lot of resources for the mass, which we can’t manage right now.”

Su Fang added, “And having just done such a synchronous communication, I estimate I won’t be able to chant hymns for a while.”

As she spoke, she yawned a long yawn and visibly showed signs of fatigue.

It was evident that maintaining that kind of connection took a heavy toll on her spirit.

In this world, these supernatural things were useful, but somehow not “that” useful.

Is Divine Arrow powerful? It is, but when targeting ground units, the opponent’s use of smoke can blind it. In targeting air units, if the enemy flies at an extremely low altitude, they can still escape, since besides Ekaterina, the others need to maintain continuous visual contact.

Is Brother Peter’s hearing amazing? That’s also impressive, but that’s about it.

And so it goes with Su Fang’s communication as well; is it powerful? Definitely, if it weren’t for Su Fang in Upper Peniye, Wang Zhong’s small unit would have already been annihilated.

But the reason they could summon a KV last time was because Wang Zhong’s brother was a staff officer at the Front Army headquarters.

Then there were so many limitations to this means of communication.

In the current situation, one cannot ask for more, and Wang Zhong nodded to Su Fang, “Get some good rest, you’ve been a great help.”

Sufang laughed, looking very happy.

Nelly stared at her intently, like a cat sensing a threat, bristling and hissing menacingly.

Wang Zhong completely ignored this little fray, turned to Pavlov and said, “As long as His Highness can muster the Air Force, tomorrow will be much easier. Simply driving away the enemy’s reconnaissance planes would be a huge help.”

Pavlov laughed, “Of course. But I’m really worried that the lie you just told will come true, and if we face the main force of the Second Armored Group tomorrow, even with the Air Force, it will be very difficult.”

Wang Zhong waved his hand, “No worries, Duke Meishikin is holding up well! He will attract the main force of the enemy’s Second Armored Group!”

Pavlov nodded, “Indeed, thank goodness for Duke Meishikin. I’m almost ready to toast to the Duke’s health.”

“Great, there’s something to celebrate, let’s drink a little.” Wang Zhong turned to Nelly, “How about a small drink today?”

Nelly: “A little drink helps with sleep, I have no objections.”

Wang Zhong burst into laughter, looking genuinely delighted, since the Air Force might come to their support tomorrow.

He hugged Nelly and vigorously rubbed her head.

Nelly recoiled in alarm, grabbing her askew boat-shaped hat with her hand.

But Wang Zhong had already turned away to speak to Pavlov.

“We’re going to attack Orachi with full force,” said General Heinz Wilhelm von Mauch to the division commanders, “leaving behind two armored grenadier divisions to tie down the heavy forces at Shepetovka. They are mainly infantry, lacking the ability to advance in the open field.”

The Army Group Chief of Staff added, “Aerial reconnaissance indicates that they also have a mobile tank force, but we can leave that to the bombers and 88mm guns to deal with.”

General von Mauch: “Thank you for that addition. Tomorrow, we will commit the remaining forces of the Amphra Division and the 16th Armored, as well as the 23rd and 12th Armored Grenadiers.

“Whether we take Orachi or not, the main force of our group will pass south of Orachi.

“The ‘brilliant idea’ from His Majesty the Emperor has significantly delayed our rush to the enemy’s capital. We can’t waste any more time. Being held up by the enemy for two days here is already too long! Too long!”

At this point, a communications staff officer entered the conference room, saluted, and reported, “The artillery brigade reinforcing the Amphra Division was hit by enemy fire, losing two 21cm heavy guns and one 17cm heavy gun. There are several casualties, and they are currently changing positions.”

General von Mauch: “What happened? Did the enemy have aerial reconnaissance? How did they discover our artillery positions?”

“The artillery brigade deployed by the roadside, and the Ante Army used Xu Jin barrages to cover the entire road. Additionally, the 23rd Armored also came under enemy artillery fire while on the march.”

General von Mauch’s eyebrows furrowed, “What’s going on! What are the losses?”

“Minor, because it was a Xu Jin barrage. It didn’t repeatedly bombard the same segment of the marching column, and there was time to scatter and avoid shelling. However, the 23rd Armored reports that their deployment in Orachi will be later than scheduled.”

General von Mauch cursed, “Unacceptable! Have them deploy on time as planned! I left redundancy in the plan to deal with such things! Tomorrow morning, we must surround Orachi! We need to completely annihilate this small enemy force, just like smashing a walnut with a hammer!”

After a brief pause, he added, “Do not fear the enemy’s bombardment! Continue advancing on the road; as long as we move quickly enough, the enemy can’t inflict significant losses on us!”

At 04:30 on August 5th, inside the city of Orachi.

Wang Zhong, though he drank a little yesterday, woke up at this time due to his biological clock.

Whether it was the alcohol or the reassurance of Air Force support, he had slept very well, and when he opened his eyes, he felt more energized than ever.

Just as he finished dressing and was about to call Nelly, the whistling of artillery shells pierced the air.

Without a word, Wang Zhong hit the deck; the next moment, a barrage of shells fell upon the city.

“Dammit!” shouted Wang Zhong, “Didn’t we hit the enemy’s artillery positions yesterday? How can there still be so many heavy guns?”

Of course, because that was an artillery brigade.

The intense bombardment lasted about an hour.

When the explosions subsided, Wang Zhong stood up, and Nelly entered at that moment, “You’re alright!”

“What, you were hoping something happened to me?” said Wang Zhong, slipping on his shoes haphazardly and striding out of the bedroom.

Nelly: “Aren’t you going to eat breakfast?”

Wang Zhong: “If they’re shelling this early, there must be something happening.”

Saying this, he dashed down to the first floor and barged into the map room.

Pavlov, with a grave expression, was holding the phone, “How many troops? What amount of troops did you see?”

Wang Zhong grabbed the receiver abruptly, “This is Rokossov, what did you see?”

As he asked the question, he switched to a bird’s-eye view and realized that the observation from Hill 153 was alight, indicating the call was from the artillery observation post on Hill 153.

He immediately checked the situation and was stunned.

It wasn’t his own vision that highlighted the enemy, but there were so many of them that he could see, without any highlighting, the overwhelming number of the enemy.

A “tidal wave” of enemy armored forces and infantry lines was surging toward Hill 153.

Over the phone, shouts came through, “This is the observation post on Hill 153, a massive number of enemies is heading our way! A massive number! Commence firing immediately! Commence firing immediately!”