Arc of Fire

Chapter 58

July 2, 914, in the Julian calendar.

The third day since the Rokosov Battle Group arrived in Loktov.

Wang Zhong, leading the exceptionally lean command team of his battle group, waited on the platform of Loktov train station for the guest scheduled to arrive today.

The guards and logistics personnel on the platform were all very tense, after all, a Brigadier General was present.

Brigadier General was previously called a brigade-level general, but after the Civil War, to "align with international standards," the title from the United Kingdom was adopted, calling it Brigadier General.

Wang Zhong, this Brigadier General, had only five people by his side.

The first was Colonel Ivan Panteleyevich Yegorov, the Regiment Commander of the 31st Guards Infantry Regiment.

Although the designation of the unit he commanded had changed, it was still essentially the remnants of the 3rd Amur Regiment, granted the Guards title, yet without a Guards flag or the iconic rainproof capes of the Guards, and not a single piece of the special weapons supplied to the Guards had been issued.

The second was Lieutenant Colonel Alexei Sergeyevich Pavlov, formerly the staff officer of the 3rd Amur Regiment, now the Chief of Staff of the Rokosov Battle Group.

After being promoted to Chief of Staff of the battle group, Pavlov's staff team still consisted of only one temporarily recruited local accountant, without even a communications officer, and logistics were managed by an old quartermaster poached from the local garrison.

In short, it was also just an empty shell.

The third person was Su Fang Batu Wendusu, a monk who had just been promoted to chief sacrificial monk, responsible for commanding the hymn choir of the battle group, which currently had only-one person.

The fourth person was Brother Yatsemenko, currently holding the position of deputy knight and company leader of the Divine Arrow company of the battle group. At present, the entire company had only one launcher, 10 Divine Arrows, one truck, and one Prayer Hand.

However, the Divine Arrow company had at least been replenished with ten Divine Arrows, the sole launch team was fully staffed, and they even had an extra truck and a driver, making it the best-equipped unit in the entire battle group.

These were all the senior officers of the Rokosov Battle Group at the moment.

The others had either sacrificed themselves or were lying in the hospital.

The last person was Sergeant Major Grigori, temporarily serving as the Brigadier General's guard, watching the surroundings with vigilant eyes.

Loktov was not only a railway transfer station and supply center but also the largest hospital location in the nearby combat zone. Most of the wounded soldiers were sent here, and the Ronezh field hospital, which had moved here with the 3rd Amur Regiment, had also been integrated into the local hospital's structure.

Wang Zhong paced back and forth on the platform, making small talk as he walked: "The 3rd Amur Regiment was reorganized into a Guards regiment, so why is the number 31? The war has only been going on for less than two weeks, and they've already created 30 Guards regiments?"

The senior officers of the battle group, as well as the guards nearby who heard this, looked at Wang Zhong with surprised expressions.

Wang Zhong frowned: "What's wrong?"

Yegorov: "There were already thirty Guards infantry regiments before the war started."

"Oh, is that so?" Wang Zhong had already gotten used to playing the role of someone lacking common sense. Anyway, since the original owner was so incompetent, no one would find it strange. "I see, got it. So, we're the first infantry regiment to receive the Guards title after the war began?"

Yegorov nodded: "Yes."

Wang Zhong: "That's fantastic. No matter what happens in the future, we've made our mark in history."

If it had been two days ago, Wang Zhong would never have said something like this, because this Guards honor was earned at the cost of immense sacrifices, and he wouldn't have mocked the new designation in such a flippant way.

But Wang Zhong was probably the kind of person who adapted easily to circumstances. No matter what happened, no matter how sad it was, a few nights of sleep would make him forget.

This morning, Lyudmila even teased him, saying: "The old Alyosha is back, though only halfway."

In other words, the original Rokosov and Wang Zhong shared some similarities in personality.

Of course, it had now been proven that Wang Zhong definitely wouldn't wet his pants on the battlefield, which was a significant difference between the two.

At this moment, the sound of a train whistle came from the distance.

Wang Zhong had already confirmed through the Overhead Perspective that the train wasn't the one they were waiting for, but he still had to pretend, so he asked Pavlov: "Is this the one?"

Pavlov looked toward the switchman's shed at the northeastern end of the platform and shook his head: "No, the switchman hasn't gone to adjust the tracks. This train is just passing through."

As soon as he finished speaking, the train sounded its whistle again, showing no sign of slowing down, barreling straight through on the tracks far from the platform.

At the front of the train was a railway repair car, and behind the coal car was an anti-air car, with three gun positions on the car all equipped with quad-mounted Maxim guns.

The railway repair car had rails mounted on both sides, clearly prepared to immediately repair the tracks on the spot if the Prossenian air force bombed the line ahead.

The soldiers in the anti-air car looked tense, after all, it was already dawn, and Prossenian planes could come at any moment.

Further back were boxcars, each with its doors open, and rookies crowded at the edges, curiously looking out at the world.

One rookie shouted: "General, sir, how's the front line?"

Wang Zhong: "It's terrifying! You'd better be ready to wet your pants!"

The young men, completely unaware of what awaited them ahead, laughed bravely and fearlessly.

Only after speaking did Wang Zhong realize that the original owner of this body seemed to-

He glanced at Yegorov and Pavlov.

Now, no one would mention the pants-wetting incident, but those who came out of Ronezh had more or less heard about it.

The two officers started pretending to admire the scenery.

Damn it, this won't become a famous meme in the future, will it? I don't want that kind of thing!

To cover up his embarrassment, he asked Yegorov: "Can Guards units get special equipment?"

"Yes, rainproof capes, which are very useful in muddy seasons and heavy snow. And then there's the Tokarev Model 8 rifle."

In this timeline, the Tokarev semi-automatic rifle was finalized in 908 of the Julian calendar, so it's called the Model 8.

Submachine guns are only suitable for close combat, while the Tokarev semi-automatic would theoretically have an advantage over submachine guns on open plains.

The ordinary Prossenian infantry are still using bolt-action rifles, so the firepower boost from the Tokarev will give the Guards an edge over the Prossenian forces at medium range.

Theoretically, that is. However, Prossenian infantry squads are generally organized around a machine gun, with one per squad, so the firepower advantage of the Tokarev over bolt-action rifles is completely negated.

But having an advantage is always a good thing. Wang Zhong now dreamed of getting more good equipment for his troops.

Although the outcome of a war isn't determined by the quality of equipment, having good gear is definitely better than using lousy gear and can reduce a lot of losses.

Wang Zhong asked again: "So, when can we get these Tokarevs?"

Pavlov chimed in: "The bullets have already been delivered; we're just missing the guns and the people to use them."

Wang Zhong rubbed his forehead. These past few days, he had truly experienced the chaos caused by the collapse of the front line.

The good news was that everything was currently recovering; the bad news was that the recovery wasn't fast enough.

Wang Zhong continued pacing on the platform.

Brother Yatsemenko said to Pavlov: "More than guns, I hope we can get more manpower soon. The base is so empty and quiet now that I even have nightmares when I sleep at night."

The orders given to Wang Zhong didn't specify the scale of the Rokosov Battle Group, but since the commanding officer was a brigade-level general-that is, a Brigadier General-the local logistics department allocated a base according to the standard of a brigade.

The vast base could accommodate three thousand people at once, along with their assigned vehicles, ammunition, and fuel.

However, Wang Zhong and his group totaled less than two hundred people, of whom only fifty-five infantry were completely uninjured.

Of all the troops that retreated from Ronezh, only this unit remained so far.

It was unclear whether the other scattered soldiers had turned to guerrilla warfare on the spot, been captured, or been executed by the Tribunal. In any case, they hadn't made it here.

After the lightly wounded soldiers who moved with the unit were all admitted to the rehabilitation center of the field hospital, the huge camp area had only fifty-five able-bodied men, plus some miscellaneous logistics personnel like the field cooking team and field laundry team, totaling just over three hundred people. One could imagine how empty it was.

There were far more sparrows in the barracks than people.

These fifty-five fully intact men had all been promoted to sergeants, theoretically each meant to lead at least a squad in the future, but right now, there were simply no soldiers.

Wang Zhong paced on the platform, muttering to himself: "I thought the future would be constant fighting, fighting, and more fighting. I didn't expect to be given such a period of leisure."

Yegorov laughed: "This is your first time on the battlefield. Actually, this is the norm. Battles usually last about a month, or even just one or two weeks if they're intense, and then there's a long period of rest."

That's how it was during the Civil War.

"Only the air force engages in passionate combat with the enemy every day."

Wang Zhong actually knew about this, as he had read a lot of war history because of his fondness for war games.

For instance, he knew that before Kursk, both armies on the southern front rested for over three months waiting for the muddy season to pass, and some units had been resting since February of that year.

But things are like this: "Knowledge gained from books feels shallow." Despite reading so many war histories and memoirs, Wang Zhong still hadn't imagined there would be such leisure time before arriving in Loktov.

Fortunately, Yegorov and Pavlov were experienced. They managed to get bayans and balalaikas for the troops, playing music during meals, and even brought in a film projection team from the church's propaganda office to screen movies every night.

It was only then that Wang Zhong learned that what he had always thought was an accordion was actually a folk instrument called a bayan, with a sound quite different from an accordion.

And the balalaika was a triangular stringed instrument, also a folk instrument.

Yegorov continued: "During the Civil War, I took up fishing. It's a first-rate way to pass the time. Sit by the lake, and a whole day goes by. At night, you can even eat salmon."

Wang Zhong thought to himself, don't say that. Making plans to fish for salmon at Lake Baikal is unlucky.

He was about to say so when several trucks drove into the station, stopping on the side of the platform without tracks. A large number of stretcher bearers and nurses jumped out of the trucks.

Wang Zhong and the others saw them and silently made way on the platform.

Soon, the sound of a train whistle came from the west.

The switchman emerged from the shed, performed a series of operations, and then raised a green lantern.

The sound of train brakes came from the distance.

At the same time, several jeeps drove into the train station, each carrying three doctors.

Wang Zhong greeted the director of the field hospital, Losonov: "Doctor, good morning!"

Losonov nodded, his expression unusually haggard.

At this moment, the slowing train slid into the platform and gradually came to a stop.

The people on the train immediately sprang into action, carrying one wounded soldier after another off the train.

There were no lightly wounded soldiers, likely because all of them had been kept at the front line to continue fighting.

The doctors dispersed, checking each wounded soldier lined up on the platform and placing classification tags on their chests.

Behind each doctor followed a nurse, whose sole task was to administer anesthetics to those classified as "abandoned."

The stretcher team continuously loaded the wounded classified as priority onto the trucks.

Everything proceeded in an orderly manner, precise as a machine, with everyone wearing expressionless faces.

Wang Zhong also watched all of this with an expressionless face.

All the earlier thoughts about leisure on the battlefield were washed away.

That was just an illusion; the cruel war was still ongoing.

At this moment, a wounded soldier classified as "abandoned" reached out toward Wang Zhong and the others: "Father!"

Yatsemenko walked toward him, taking out an old, faded scripture book as he went.

He squatted down, took the severely wounded soldier's hand, pressed it onto the cover of the scripture book, and softly said: "Speak, child. I'm listening, and He is listening too."

Perhaps the anesthetic had taken effect, as Wang Zhong couldn't hear the soldier's voice; he could only see the monk bending down, pressing his ear close to the soldier's mouth.

Su Fang watched all of this and suddenly said: "You know, the wounded at the recovery center all prefer female nurses, but these dying men trust male priests like Brother Yatsemenko more, even though as a hymn monk, I'm supposedly more favored."

Wang Zhong didn't respond.

At this moment, Yegorov, having completed a round of inspection among the wounded, came over and whispered in Wang Zhong's ear: "Many bayonet wounds. Yesterday, it was all shrapnel and blast wave injuries. Today, gunshot and bayonet wounds are increasing."

Wang Zhong: "Hand-to-hand combat has begun. I wonder if Bogdanovka can really hold for fifteen days. We need to hurry."

"The problem is, even if we hurry, we can't get more men. All reinforcements are heading to Bogdanovka," Yegorov said, frowning. "It's like we've been forgotten."

At this time, the train station master came out of the dispatch office and shouted to Wang Zhong and the others: "Brigadier General, sir, the train you've been waiting for is almost here. However, due to the situation, it can only stop at a farther platform. Sorry for the inconvenience, but please walk over. The overpass is that way!"

(End of Chapter)