Arc of Fire

Chapter 8

On Wang Zhong's side, he could only hear the sound of "Ura" without seeing the situation, feeling nothing but anxiety.

After a moment of worry, he realized: I only wanted to provide cover for the advancing Divine Arrow squad to protect Lyudmila, and when the smoke fell, that goal was already achieved.

He immediately turned his attention to Lyudmila's team under Brother Yatsemenko, noticing that the team had stopped advancing.

A burly man was leaning against the wall, futilely trying to observe the situation with binoculars.

Wang Zhong guessed that this man must be Brother Yatsemenko.

Lyudmila was also leaning against the wall, still holding that rifle.

At this moment, Captain Sergei beside Wang Zhong said: "Communication with the Third Rear Amur Regiment at the front line has been restored."

Wang Zhong had no idea which regiment the Rear Amur Regiment was, so he asked: "Is that the regiment launching the counterattack in the smoke?"

"What?" Captain Sergei's voice carried a tone of confusion.

Wang Zhong: "Didn't you hear the 'Ura' shouts?"

He thought the battle cries had reached the position where his physical body was.

Sergei: "What 'Ura' shouts?"

Well, it turns out that with this overhead perspective, he could hear sounds-loud enough sounds.

No wonder the gunfire and explosions were so clear in the overhead view; Wang Zhong had previously thought it was the sound he heard in person. Having never been on a battlefield, he couldn't distinguish the distance of gunfire.

Wang Zhong: "Never mind, give me the phone."

He switched back to his physical perspective, taking the receiver from Sergei: "This is Wang... Count Rokosov, go ahead."

"Count Rokosov? Where's the Duke?" The person on the other end had a booming voice, shouting so loudly that it hurt Wang Zhong's ears.

"The Duke has passed away. Just now, the enemy warships' heavy artillery on the sea destroyed the headquarters, and most of the staff are dead. I am now the highest-ranking commander." Wang Zhong tried to make his voice sound as authoritative as possible, thinking it might intimidate his subordinates.

The other side asked: "Who ordered the smoke shells?"

Wang Zhong: "My order, what about it?"

"Well done! With one countercharge, we crushed the enemy in front of us, took out one of their tanks, and at least two armored vehicles! That was a great order, Your Excellency Count! No, sir!"

Wang Zhong glanced at Sergei, who, without the receiver, naturally couldn't hear the words on the other end and only returned a puzzled look.

The person on the phone continued with flattery: "My staff officer said he never heard of such a thing even at Suvorov Military Academy! Your Excellency Count, give us another wave of smoke, and we can hold the line!"

Wang Zhong frowned: "There's no more smoke. The enemy is almost at the artillery position; that was their last round of supporting fire. From now on, we're on our own."

On the other end of the phone, the loud voice that had been full of flattery suddenly fell silent.

A second later, the voice asked: "If the artillery has been reached, doesn't that mean we're about to be surrounded?"

Wang Zhong's heart sank.

He hadn't even considered this point earlier, as the situation was too sudden, and he was in a rush to cover Lyudmila.

At this moment, another voice came through the phone: "This is the person who just led us to a brilliant counterattack; how could he not have thought of this?"

Sorry, I really didn't think of it.

Wang Zhong could only keep a straight face, trying hard not to let Captain Sergei beside him notice any flaws.

Being surrounded is no joke; even if a surrounded army resists stubbornly, it's just a slow death.

Although Wang Zhong felt that surrendering wouldn't be a big deal, with the atmosphere already at this point, it was impossible to mention surrender now.

He could only put on a show of resistance, fight hard, and then consider other options later.

Wang Zhong switched to the overhead mode, and then noticed an additional unit token; focusing his attention on the token revealed its description:

Third Rear Amur Regiment, mostly new recruits, but the core sergeants have participated in the Civil War and the Winter War.

Civil War? Winter War?

Wang Zhong really wanted his cheat ability to explain these two terms, but unfortunately, the cheat ignored him.

Besides the added unit token, Wang Zhong also gained the field of view of the Third Rear Amur Regiment, greatly expanding the visible range.

Wait, for a regiment, isn't this range a bit small?

Wang Zhong: "Your regiment... has it suffered heavy losses?"

"Yes," the loud voice on the other end lowered, "Most of our regiment are newly recruited soldiers, not even fully trained. Most of these recruits don't survive their first hour on the battlefield. The good news is, now they're all veterans."

What kind of good news is that!

Wang Zhong borrowed "everyone's" eyes to observe the battlefield, and at this moment, he noticed something.

After the enemy in front of the Rear Amur Regiment was crushed, it seemed there were no troops behind them.

Could it be that the routed soldiers took the follow-up echelons with them?

Wang Zhong carefully confirmed again.

At this time, the commander of the Rear Amur Regiment on the phone said: "How about this, I'll withdraw to the starting position and have the engineers leave mines and tripwires in the occupied area..."

"No!" Wang Zhong interrupted him, "There's a gap in front of you now. I order you to abandon the current defensive line and continue the attack. Headquarters will follow you, and if we can contact other regiments, they will follow as well."

There was a full second of silence on the other end of the phone: "Attack the enemy? That's bold! But I like changing plans!"

As the loud voice spoke, Wang Zhong also heard someone muttering: "This doesn't make sense! At a time like this, we should fall back and reorganize the defensive line! Blindly attacking is suicide!"

Wang Zhong thought: This isn't a blind attack. With my cheat, I can see clearly that there are only scattered soldiers in front of you, no organized enemy forces at all.

Push forward with full force, then find a way to return to our own lines.

Thinking carefully, as the attacking side, the enemy's follow-up echelons probably didn't expect to be attacked.

Wang Zhong didn't understand military tactics, but he knew that mercenaries fight by catching the enemy off guard and striking where they're unprepared. Maybe this really could work.

Rather than being surrounded, it's better to break out and figure things out later.

After confirming once more that there were no organized enemy forces in front, Wang Zhong ordered in a firm tone: "I, Alexei Konstantinovich Rokosov, Count Rokosov, command the Third Rear Amur Regiment to advance forward-no, to attack westward. Do you understand?"

"Understood." Just from the response on the phone, Wang Zhong could imagine a burly Russian man rubbing his hands together in anticipation.

At this moment, on a whim, he added: "Then repeat the order!"

What the heck, why ask him to repeat it? A side effect of watching too many epic battle scenes?

But there was no hesitation on the other end; the person immediately repeated Wang Zhong's order verbatim.

Wang Zhong: "Very good, begin. Time is of the essence; you must act quickly!"

After hanging up the phone, Wang Zhong was surprised to find that he had lost the field of view of the Third Rear Amur Regiment.

So, I can only see their perspective when I'm directly speaking with them?

However, the unit token on the interface remained, so it seems that as long as a unit accepts my command, it will appear on the token list.

While Wang Zhong was studying his cheat ability, Captain Sergei beside him said: "There's a problem. It's about the field hospital; there are many severely wounded who definitely can't keep up with us, this..."

With severely wounded soldiers, let alone breaking out, even moving would be a problem.

Wang Zhong pondered for a moment and said: "Give me paper and a pen. I need to write a letter to the enemy commander who will take over."

Sergei: "You... plan to leave them behind?"

Wang Zhong: "We definitely can't get out with them. Recruit volunteers among the nurses to stay behind and care for the wounded. The lightly injured who can move will break out with us."

"Don't argue anymore; the enemy isn't made of beasts."

Wang Zhong said as much.

(End of Chapter)