Arc of Fire

Having dismissed Duke Rorsha, Wang Zhong then met with several more visitors, all of whom were strangers to him.

Well, not exactly strangers—after all, the lowest-ranked among them were Barons. Nowadays, most Barons on Earth were either dead or in Prosen’s prison camps, so Barons certainly weren’t commoners.

However, Wang Zhong had no interest in these people and dealt with them perfunctorily.

By the time he finally finished with his visitors, it was already eight o’clock in the evening. He hurried back to the delivery room—which had likely been turned directly into a nursery by now.

Upon entering, he saw Olga sitting beside Ludmila’s bed, whispering something to each other.

Wang Zhong was puzzled, "When did you two become such good sisters?"

"After you went off to war on the seventh day?" Olga looked at the ceiling, trying to remember.

"The sixth day," Ludmila said.

Olga slapped her thigh, "Right, the sixth day! That day I thought, my brother has gone to the front lines, I should take good care of my pregnant sister-in-law. Besides, the Court Chamberlain said that a woman’s emotions become more volatile close to her due date, so I came over."

Ludmila laughed, "Actually, we already had great chats at tea parties before, right?"

Olga: "Right!"

Wang Zhong: "Given how close you sisters are, I’ll go back to my duties then..."

Olga immediately changes her expression, "You’re going to busy yourself with duties when your son was just born?"

Before Wang Zhong could speak, Ludmila said, "It’s all thanks to Chief of Staff Pavlov that he could come back to see his son born. The war is still ongoing, and frankly, this isn’t the best time to have children. It all happened out of passion that day."

Wang Zhong: "I actually feel that bringing new life into the world during times like these represents confidence in the future. With my current reputation, if we don’t defeat Prosen in the future, imagine what kind of Hell awaits this child."

Olga beamed with joy, "Good, let’s use that angle for the propaganda! Alyosha, you’re so smart."

Ludmila also smiled, "Come to think of it, that does make sense."

"Well then, I’m off," said Wang Zhong, waving his hand before turning to leave, but then he immediately turned back to the baby’s cradle to glance at his child, who had cried himself to sleep.

Ludmila: "Alright, go on then, Dad. Go save the world."

Wang Zhong smiled too, filled with a sense of responsibility and happiness, and left the nursery.

Moments later, Wang Zhong pushed open the door to his study and immediately noticed the extra stack of paperwork on the desk.

Wang Zhong: "As expected, it’s been delivered. Aunt Gabriel really doesn’t give me a day off."

He sat down at the desk and began to flip through the first document.

At this moment, Nelly opened the side door of the study, bringing in a cart loaded with the night’s snacks.

Without looking up, still reading the document, Wang Zhong said, "You’ve been so tired today, you needn’t have prepared the snacks."

Nelly: "I wasn’t very busy today; it was mainly the midwives and other maids doing the work."

Wang Zhong: "I saw you running up and down the corridor, holding things. Your maid’s blouse was soaked with sweat, and there were large dark patches on the apron—probably sweat as well."

Nelly frowned, "You were looking at the maid’s sweat-soaked uniform when your son was being born?"

"I was concerned about you," Wang Zhong stopped looking at the document and earnestly looked at Nelly, "You’re my family, too."

Nelly stared at Wang Zhong for a second, then opened the cart’s lid to introduce tonight’s snack, "Tonight we have waffles and yogurt cheese, and pickles."

Wang Zhong: "Isn’t today supposed to be fish day?"

"It’s almost past midnight; I don’t think the Grand Patriarch would mind," Nelly said while placing a plate of waffles, cheese, and pickles at the edge of Wang Zhong’s desk, then went back to pour a cup of coffee within his reach.

Wang Zhong immediately took a sip of the coffee, "Huh, it’s so sweet this time?"

Nelly: "I read that sugar can help stimulate the mind."

"Sounds like you’re insinuating I’m not very smart," Wang Zhong teased.

Nelly: "If you really think so, then you should definitely have more sugar."

Wang Zhong burst into laughter, signing his name at the back of the completed document, then pressing down hard with the seal on the ink pad and stamping it onto the signature.

He placed the signed document aside and opened the next one, instantly frowning in confusion, and muttered, "What is this, such ridiculous targets can’t possibly be met!"

While saying this, he began to furiously write his remarks on the side of the document, the comments getting longer and longer.

Nelly watched for a while, then turned to open the window wider to let the night air in before taking a fan and gently fanning Wang Zhong.

The remaining time on August 10, as well as the first two hours of August 11, passed in this manner.

On August 13, the Equipment Review Committee held its fifth design review meeting.

Although he had a son who was just three days old at home, Wang Zhong still rushed to attend the meeting.

He had to come, for the lives of the soldiers at the front, he had to ensure that those designs filled with the designers’ personal desires were killed off at the blueprint stage.

However, this time’s submissions were unexpectedly normal; out of the ten designs, there were eight that Wang Zhong felt could be produced for trial.

After reviewing the ninth design, Wang Zhong raised his hand, "Let’s have the next one come in later; let’s all take a sip of water first."

"Yes, General," the office clerk said before opening the door and leaving.

Wang Zhong turned to the Air Force representative beside him and asked, "Have you noticed that this time’s designs are much more reasonable? None of that impractical, fanciful stuff, right?"

The Air Force representative stared at Wang Zhong for a few seconds and said, "Perhaps the designers don’t want to be demoted to common technicians at the factories. Everyone has seen what happened to the former Ordnance Department head’s son-in-law."

Another representative from the Navy interjected, "It could also be that everyone has grasped your preferences, or otherwise, it’s because the design parameters you have reviewed are more sensible."

Wang Zhong, "So you all think it’s related to me?"

Everyone had the same expression as they looked at Wang Zhong and didn’t say a word. That expression summarized was, "Don’t you know this yourself?"

Wang Zhong shook his head and rang the bell on the table, and the guard who had left earlier re-entered, "General?"

"Let the designer of the last design case come in."

"Yes."

Moments later, the designer of the Whirlwind, Ke Jing, entered with head held high, followed by an assistant carrying blueprints.

The assistant immediately stuck the blueprints onto the room’s blackboard upon entering.

Wang Zhong, "Ke Jing Davarish, you’re a bit more showy than last time, eh? I still prefer that chief engineer who carries his own blueprints."

Ke Jing, "Ah? Oh! Get going, get going..."

Ke Jing turned around and hustled the assistant out, then unfolded the blueprints himself and fixed the corners with magnets.

Wang Zhong closely inspected the three-view drawings on the blueprint and asked, "Looks like an improved version of the Whirlwind?"

Ke Jing nodded, "You’re correct. I saw the design parameters issued by the committee for the city combat assault gun and immediately modified a plan based on the Whirlwind.

"The advantage of this plan is that it’s easy to manufacture; basically, the current production line of the Whirlwind just needs some adjustments to start mass production. It is based on the Whirlwind but has enhanced side armor to deal with the complex environment of street fighting.

"The performance requirements in terms of mobility in the design are easy to meet, and as long as the weight increase is controlled, there won’t be too many reliability issues, ensuring that the assault gun can travel from the train station at the front line to the combat zone on its own."

Wang Zhong raised his hand, "Wait a second, its side armor has been strengthened?"

Ke Jing, "Yes, we’ve increased the side armor to 80 millimeters, which can resist the light anti-tank firepower of the Prosen, such as the PAK38 or various 20 mm autocannons. Experience new stories with empire

"Of course, its defense against the PAK40 and 88 cannons is a concern, but we believe that to defend against these heavy weapons would greatly reduce reliability, which would not be worth it."

Wang Zhong nodded, "Okay, heavy firepower like that is not easily moved in the city, infantry can handle it. What about firepower? I don’t remember us having a rocket artillery that meets the requirements."

"We don’t. But as you know, the rocket artillery doesn’t demand much from the firing apparatus, the Katyusha rocket launcher is just a series of rails. Our Guards rocket artillery battalion even came up with a makeshift method of launching rockets from a trench they dug out.

"So the key is to develop 380 millimeter or even 400 millimeter caliber rockets. I don’t think that’s a difficult task, especially since the required range is only about 500 meters. Considering the practical scenario of street fighting, I estimate even a range of 200 meters could suffice."

Wang Zhong nodded, "You make a good point."

On Earth, the Sturmtiger had developed a series of large caliber rockets, all launched from very simple installations. For example, the Land Stuka self-propelled rocket artillery, which was essentially a 251-type half-track armored vehicle with six gas cylinders attached, and the firing mechanism was just a rectangular metal frame.

Ke Jing continued, "So for this thing’s main weapon system, we designed a 400 mm launch rail, which is mounted on the outside of the main armor of the combat room, making the main armor of the combat room a complete piece, even eliminating the mantlet, thus the vehicle is even more balanced than the Whirlwind, we believe its off-road capability could even surpass the Whirlwind..."

Wang Zhong, "No, that’s not right, you’re too fixated on placing the weapon directly in front of the combat room. Think about it, this thing fires rockets, which are very slow, even if it’s only over a distance of 200 meters, you would need to increase the elevation for indirect fire."

Wang Zhong had used the engineering version of the Churchill and its twin, the engineering version of the Centurion, in "War Thunder," and had a deep impression of the "garbage can launcher" (the nickname for its main gun) which had to elevate in order to fire.

He stood up and came over to the blueprint, adding a few strokes on the back of the paper, "You can place the launcher on the back, adjusting the elevation at the tail end of the launcher to determine the firing angle. This way the combat room can protect the launch mechanism from frontal fire."

Ke Jing’s mouth gaped open, "This... looks a bit odd!"

Wang Zhong, "So what if it looks strange? As long as it’s functional. Moreover, this way it’s easier for you to balance it. And the frontal defense capability is stronger."

Ke Jing, "That is true..."

Wang Zhong, "Follow this train of thought for Revision. Don’t rush, first design the rockets properly. I will be leaving for war soon, to deal with some minor issues, just have it ready by the time I’m back. That will be all, this design review meeting is adjourned!"