Chapter 892: Chapter 19: Leading Personally_2
Duke yer erupted in a furious tirade, the flesh on his cheeks quivering with residual shadows.
At this mont, General Moochi unexpectedly remarked, “I thought your claid victories of two or three hundred aircraft were exaggerated.”
“You!”
“Enough!” The head of the Imperial Ministry interjected, “In tis like this, we should unite and think about how to change the course of the war!”
This statent plunged the temperature in the lounge to freezing point, silencing everyone.
Just then, the bunker guards led two strangers into the lounge.
“Please wait here for a mont, we will report to His Majesty at once—”
Before he finished speaking, the door on the other side of the lounge opened, and the Prosen Emperor entered the room.
The officers hastily stood up, raising their right hands: “Long live His Majesty!”
The Emperor waved his hand, his eyes fixed intently on the two people the guards had just brought in: “Have you brought it?”
“Yes, Your Majesty, it’s in this suitcase. It’s the culmination of more than ten years of our efforts.”
“Good, good, co in quickly, and explain it to in detail!”
Everyone watched in amazent as His Majesty the Emperor personally welcod the two into his study.
General Moochi looked at the head of the Imperial Ministry: “Who are these two? Scientists who designed so kind of doomsday weapon? Let’s hope they aren’t just charlatans peddling death rays.”
The head of the Imperial Ministry: “As far as I know, they are archaeologists.”
“What?” Everyone in the room widened their eyes.
Celtic Marshal: “The thing they’ve been working on for ten years, is it the devasting weapon from the Bhara Historical Mahabharata, or the Holy Grail guarded by the Templar Knights? Will our soldiers beco invulnerable after drinking the water from the Grail?”
Everyone in the room laughed, but the smiles failed to mask the bitterness on their faces.
————
Wang Zhong put the bottle in his hand into the box Vasily was holding: “That’s all there is. Send it imdiately by plane back to Yeburg—His Majesty the Tsar, His Excellency the Grand Patriarch, and the ambassadors of the Allied Nations will each get a bottle. This is, after all, sea water from the Baltic Sea!”
Vasily: “Yes! But is sending only sea water enough? How about we send back so Baltic Sea breeze as well? It would be more romantic.”
Wang Zhong: “You, huh, no need for that. Although it’s quite romantic, it’s too much of a formality. Sending sea water is already formality enough, sending wind would be overboard.”
Vasily chuckled: “I thought the Marshal would like the idea.”
Ludmila: “Of course he would like it. You saw his expression earlier. Others might not understand, but I do. He just didn’t think of it first—you did. If he had thought of it, you’d all be out with plastic bags ‘catching the wind’ now!”
Wang Zhong did not refute his wife’s words.
At this mont, Pavlov ca over with a telegram: “Kashuk is asking how long we can rest after this.”
Wang Zhong’s expression froze. After a brief silence, he asked in return, “How long do you think we need to rest?”
Pavlov: “Three months, we can only continue the offensive in winter.”
Wang Zhong clasped his hands behind his back, walked silently towards the breakwater.
Popov: “The lania People’s Army’s ideological work is done. They’re also exhausted, so they can understand our decision not to advance towards lania Capital for now.”
“Can they really understand?” Wang Zhong asked back.
Popov: “…Probably not. There’s also a view that since the enemy hasn’t recovered from their retreat and morale is still very low, we should seize the opportunity to pursue aggressively.”
Wang Zhong: “Can our current supply situation and logistics sustain an attack?”
Pavlov: “If we mobilize only five hundred thousand troops, logistics can still hold. We can concentrate our better-equipped tank and motorized artillery forces to form a fifty-thousand-man assault force, attempting a—push.”
Wang Zhong, his hands behind his back, walked along the breakwater, not replying.
Other senior generals and staff officers followed.
Ludmila didn’t follow directly but returned to the Divine Arrow launch vehicle, instructing the vehicle to follow slowly.
After walking for about ten minutes, Wang Zhong stopped and asked Pavlov: “How long will it take for these fifty thousand n to be ready?”
“Twenty days.” Pavlov answered instantly, clearly having had this plan and done the research long ago.
Wang Zhong: “Prepare according to twenty days.”
Popov: “Should we reply to the lania insurgent forces’ inquiry? We’ve been stalling for days, perhaps it’s ti to give them so hope.”
Wang Zhong: “These fifty thousand n might not be able to reach lania Capital, it depends on the cooperation of the Prosens.”
Pavlov: “Indeed, the good news is that we only need to advance 150 kiloters. The bad news is, this 150 kiloters is highly urbanized, especially the last 30 kiloters, much more urbanized than the last 30 kiloters of Abawahan’s defensive periter.”
“Even if we break through, the casualties among these fifty thousand will be enormous.”
Vasily added: “Not to ntion, the units covering them will probably suffer heavy casualties too. Of course, it’s possible that Prosen morale collapses, and we liberate all of lania while singing.”
Wang Zhong resud his silent pacing, and the crowd could only follow.
Ludmila stood on the launch vehicle, watching Wang Zhong’s back with concern.
After walking about five hundred ters, Wang Zhong stopped: “In 914, when the war just broke out, I only thought about surviving through the chaos.”
This was the truth, and if it hadn’t been for Ludmila back then, things could have been very different, because initially, Wang Zhong simply didn’t want Ludmila to die.
Wang Zhong: “But outside of Ronied, I witnessed the enemy’s atrocities. At that ti, I thought, I cannot let such atrocities occur in my country, I must stop these demons.”
“Now, the sa choice is before .”
“I know our current situation, the most appropriate course would be to watch the lanians die. I also know my decision now may cause many more not ant to sacrifice to do so.”
“But, I cannot stand by, I cannot remain indifferent while atrocities occur.”
“I will personally command this special campaign group and advance with them.”
Pavlov widened his eyes: “No! Seriously, is that what you’re planning!”
Wang Zhong: “Our biggest advantage now is morale! My personal command can make the most of the morale advantage!”
Pavlov: “Are you also planning to personally drive a tank? That would also maximize morale advantage! You just want to race tanks! I disagree! Unless you imdiately show a tank that the enemy absolutely cannot penetrate, I won’t let you go!”
Wang Zhong: “Chief of Staff, do not worry excessively. Sacrificing myself is not on the agenda!”
“You just want to race tanks!”
In fact, with Wang Zhong personally commanding the special campaign group, it’s possible he could truly turn the tide with micromanagent, after all, he’s one with complete battlefield awareness, flying over it daily, directing operations firsthand, miraculously making things work.
If there were additional layers of command in between, and he were to issue orders bypassing those levels daily, what would those stuck between think?
Wang Zhong looked at Pavlov seriously: “I promise you, I won’t go to the frontlines to drive a tank. My direct command of the special campaign group is to fly and surveil, finding opportunities to direct troop advances directly. If too many layers of command were placed in between, what would those commanders think?”
Pavlov: “You—uh…”
Wang Zhong: “You know the effect of my direct command! You’ve seen it before!”
Finally, the Chief of Staff let out a long sigh of relief: “Okay, you can personally command the special campaign group. I’ll write it into the operational plan, and if the High Command approves, I have no objection.”
Wang Zhong clapped his hands enthusiastically: “Excellent!”
————
On August 12, as soon as Yegorov arrived at his office, the telephone on his desk rang.
“This is Yegorov!” he said loudly as he picked up the receiver.
“Yegorov!” A familiar voice, Eugene, ca from the receiver.
“Oh, I wondered who it was, the digging guy.” Yegorov casually called out Eugene’s nickna, “What’s up?”
“Haven’t you heard? They’re forming a special campaign group to reinforce lania’s capital, Marshal Rocossov is personally commanding it!”
Yegorov was stunned: “Huh? The Division Commander is personally commanding? What scale is this group?”
“Seems like fifty thousand n.”
“Huh? Just that many? Why?”
Eugene: “Can your troops be moved?”
Yegorov clicked his tongue: “They can move, but…I’ve lost forty percent of my core non-commissioned officers, they’re all recovering from injuries. What about you?”
Eugene: “A bit better off than you. You rushed too hard, and your subordinates followed your lead! But we can’t move either, that’s why the Marshal cobbled together fifty thousand from troops that can still move.”
“How can that work? The troops that can move now are either second-line or slackers, no, no, no, I—”
Just then, Yegorov’s desk phone rang.
“Hold on a minute.” He set down Eugene’s call briefly, and picked up another receiver, “Hello? Who is this?”
“Commander!” The voice of the lania People’s Army corps commander ca through the receiver, “Have you heard?”
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