Arc of Fire

Bucephalus, upon seeing Wang Zhong approaching, immediately broke free from the soldier leading him and galloped straight towards Wang Zhong, opening his mouth as if to nibble on his hair.

But the horse abruptly came to a halt, snorted in front of Wang Zhong, and then began to nudge his shoulder with its nose.

Wang Zhong patted the horse’s neck, “Don’t do that; you’re making me uncomfortable.”

The horse forcefully blew its nose.

————

Five minutes later, Wang Zhong set off with a dozen or so riders.

On the map, Shostka appeared as a city spanning the Duva River, but in reality, the buildings on the west bank were concentrated around the railway bridge, and mainly, there was just the row of houses on the west side of the riverside street, and further west were fields.

Apart from the railway tracks, the railway bridge had only a narrow path wide enough for one person at the edge, impossible for riding horses.

To repair the bombed railway bridge, they had to deploy engineering vessels from the east bank docks.

The docks were guarded by a battalion of Naval Infantry, whose black uniforms plus sailor’s shirts inexplicably gave Wang Zhong a sense of reassurance.

He stopped in front of the entrance to the docks and asked a Naval Infantry lieutenant who was on guard, “Whom do you take orders from here?”

The lieutenant saluted, then pointed to a four-story building by the dock shore, “General, that’s the headquarters of the Inland Fleet. The entire Duva River fleet is under its command, and so are we.”

Wang Zhong let out an “Oh” and turned back to ask Popov, “Did you establish a good relationship with the Inland Fleet?”

Popov, “I wrote a letter to the commander of the Inland Fleet saying that General Rokossovsky’s 151st Division will be relocating here, that you would arrive today.”

“A letter?” Wang Zhong raised his eyebrows.

“Yes, this is a more prudent approach. The navy and Naval Infantry generally take orders from the Front Army headquarters. It’s better for us at the division level to observe some formalities.”

Wang Zhong nodded, dismounted, and then tied the reins to a hitching post outside the entrance.

Having done this, he turned to the sentry and said, “I’d like to pay a visit to the commander of the Naval Inland Fleet, may I pass?”

“Your identification, please,” the lieutenant at the gate said.

Wang Zhong took out his identification and handed it over.

“Aleksei Konstantinovich Rokossovsky, Major General… Is it that Major General Rokossovsky?”

Wang Zhong, “Yes.”

The lieutenant immediately returned the identification to Wang Zhong and then shouted, “Attention all, salute!”

The two Naval Infantrymen on guard snapped their rifles off their shoulders and switched to the rifle salute.

The lieutenant saluted ceremoniously, “General, I salute you.”

Wang Zhong returned the salute, “The navy knows of my deeds too?”

“Of course, General. Please come in.”

Wang Zhong nodded, walked into the docks on foot.

As he headed to the headquarters, he noticed two sailors cleaning the deck on the gunboat and another painting the vessel anew.

The armament of this inland gunboat reminded Wang Zhong of the famed “Yellow Water Battleship,” but instead of the twin 57mm guns mounted on the Yellow Water Battleship, this gunboat was armed with an 85mm naval gun on the foredeck and two twin 37mm machine guns on the aft deck.

With this firepower, seemed pretty good for fighting the Prussian tanks, didn’t it?

Too bad there was only one of them.

To go to the capital… maybe assemble a few more?

If there were larger inland gunboats available, they could also be brought over, but it was uncertain whether the Duva River’s navigation capacity could support larger ships.

As Wang Zhong contemplated these matters, he arrived at the headquarters entrance and saw a navy colonel with several senior officers coming out from inside.

Wang Zhong thought they were heading out on business and intended to make way, but instead, they came straight to him and saluted.

“I am Kozelsky, commander of the Inland Fleet. Major General Rokossovsky, the gatehouse called to say you have arrived. We thought you would go straight to the headquarters; we were planning to visit at an opportune time.”

Wang Zhong returned the salute, “I’m surveying the terrain, after all, the High Command has instructed me to build defensive works here.”

“We’ve been notified that your division will be establishing defenses here, and that we are to cooperate. Let me show you the defenses we’ve already built,” offered Kozelsky.

“That would be excellent,” Wang Zhong smiled.

Kozelsky gestured invitingly, then took the lead, explaining as they walked, “Though it’s called the Inland Fleet, we actually have just one vessel, which you’ve seen. The Duva River’s navigational capability is weak; these small ships occasionally run aground even during low water levels.

“Apart from this ship, the main force at our command post is a Naval Infantry regiment. One battalion is stationed in the port area, and the other two battalions are positioned at the ferry crossings up front. We’ve built concrete fortifications at the crossings and have relocated the locals from the opposite bank, flattening the buildings to ensure a clear field of fire.”

As Kozelsky explained, Wang Zhong could see the flattened buildings on the opposite bank, greatly opening up the field of view.

Wang Zhong turned to ask Popov, “Are there still locals on the other side? Move as many as possible over here, then flatten the buildings to secure a clear field of fire.”

Popov, “I’ll ask around. We should be able to flatten most of the buildings.”

“Most?” frowned Wang Zhong.

Popov, “Some people just don’t like leaving their homes and are quite stubborn about it.”

Wang Zhong, “Even with Prosen’s troops bearing down on them?”

“Right. However, I’ll have the parish priest do the work. You don’t need to worry too much; what if it all goes smoothly and everyone is persuaded?”

Wang Zhong nodded.

Having seen Wang Zhong finish speaking with Popov, Kozelsky joined the conversation, “Aside from having the Naval Infantry build fortifications, we’ve also had our dredging engineers deepen all the river channels, so the enemy tanks won’t be able to ford the river.

“We’ve received many reports that when the enemy first started their attack, they used a new type of equipment that allowed tanks to cross the river from the bottom. Now, that situation will be eradicated.”

The method of river crossing that Kozelsky described is quite common in later eras, as modern tanks are equipped with NBC protection systems that maintain positive pressure inside the tank to prevent the entry of poisonous gases and radioactive dust from nuclear explosions.

The “bonus” that comes with this NBC system is that tanks can enter water with a snorkel attached, and as long as the depth doesn’t exceed the limit, they can avoid water intake and drive to the opposite bank from the riverbed.

Tanks from this era do not have such advanced equipment for maintaining positive pressure, and in order to cross underwater, they must seal all potential water entry points.

The Earth’s Sturmtigers used this method to cross the Bug River.

Clearly, the Prussians of this timeline adopted the same approach to cross the rivers on the Prussian-Ante border.

Kozelsky: “We’ve pretty much done everything we can think of, do you have any additional instructions?”

Wang Zhong: “I… Is it appropriate for an army officer to instruct the navy?”

Shouldn’t there be an insurmountable barrier between the army and the navy?

“The order we received is to assist you in defending Shostka,” Kozelsky said.

Wang Zhong: “Well then, we are delighted to have a battalion of Naval Infantry joining us.”

“And an inland gunboat,” Kozelsky reminded.

“Oh, yes, and an inland gunboat.”

At that time, the air raid alert sounded.

The gunboat crew, who had just been painting the deck, immediately sprang into action, moving to the two 37 mm machine gun mounts on the aft deck and cranking the guns up to aim at the sky.

Wang Zhong turned his head to Popov and said, “Replenish the Divine Arrow troops as quickly as possible, and join the air defense operations.”

As soon as the words fell, eight Lag 3 planes swept across the city skyline and flew westward.

Kozelsky exclaimed, “The fighter squadron launched so quickly today.”

Wang Zhong, however, frowned, “Are all the local fighter squadrons equipped with Lag 3? Aren’t there any MiG-3s or Yak-3s?”

Kozelsky asked in confusion, “I know about MiG-3, but isn’t Yaklyev just designing the Yak-1?”

“Uh…” Wang Zhong was embarrassed, “I misspoke, Lag 3, MiG 3, and then I just blurted out Yak 3. I meant to say Yak-1, I mean the Yak-1 modification. Yak 3 isn’t so easy to come by.”

Kozelsky accepted Wang Zhong’s explanation readily, “Yes, sometimes I misspeak too, calling the Il-2 the Il-3 or something like that.”

While speaking, Wang Zhong extended his hand, “Now I am clear about the situation of the inland fleet and the Naval Infantry. I need to inspect other places, so I will take my leave.”

Kozelsky shook Wang Zhong’s hand, “Goodbye, General Rokossovsky.”

Just as Wang Zhong was about to leave, he suddenly remembered something and asked, “Apart from the ferry in the city, are there other crossings over the Duva River?”

Kozelsky immediately answered, “If you go downstream thirty kilometers, there’s another crossing, but that has already left your defensive zone, and there should be other units stationed at that crossing, right?”

Wang Zhong: “What about iron bridges? There can’t be just this one bridge, can there?”

“There are three more bridges, all quite far from here. The Prussians would have to make a big detour to cross the river there,” Kozelsky gestured, “I mean, if the enemy’s target is Yekaterinburg.”

He paused, seeking confirmation, “The enemy’s next move is to attack the capital, right? I mean, after taking out Argesukov’s troops.”

Even the navy was aware of Argesukov’s situation now.

Wang Zhong nodded, “Yes. High Command estimates it will be mid-September, we still have a month to establish defenses.”

Kozelsky nodded, “Okay, I will have the Naval Infantry continue to reinforce the fortifications. Thankfully, there’s a cement factory in the city, so we can build more permanent cement pillboxes.”

Wang Zhong was surprised, “There’s a cement factory in the city?”

Popov: “Yes, I also found out after arriving. The church is currently organizing workers to produce cement around the clock and has specifically dispatched transport teams to bring in raw materials from the surrounding areas.”

Wang Zhong: “That’s excellent news, we can finally proceed with building cement pillboxes freely.”

In Orachi, the enemy’s heavy artillery had made a profound impression on Wang Zhong; if they hadn’t managed to squeeze out enough cement for those strongholds, Orachi would likely have fallen.

Wang Zhong muttered to himself while slapping his palm with a riding crop, “Cement, good, cement is good.”

Popov: “I need to remind you, we only brought people with us, almost all technical equipment was lost. Cement alone is not enough.”

Wang Zhong: “Let Pavlov handle that.”

Popov: “I believe Pavlov will do his utmost. However, you could also try hard tomorrow when you go to the capital.”

At that moment, Colonel Kozelsky, who had already said his farewells, turned back and asked, “Your Excellency General, is it true that the princess is your lover?”

Wang Zhong was shocked; what was this now?

That’s not right. Hadn’t Ludmila said that the princess was out of his reach and that he had struck out with her?

It must be a rumor!

Wang Zhong: “No, the princess and I merely have a nodding acquaintance.”

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