Cannon Fire Arc

Chapter 263: Chapter 53 Sudden Attack

Wang Zhong began to push forward, only to discover the enemy's defensive line was meticulously dug, with a reserve trench behind the first trench, followed by the second trench.

All the trenches were dug in a W shape, which made it difficult for the armored train to effectively use its firepower, requiring the infantry to clear it bit by bit.

Luckily, Wang Zhong's car had plenty of Naval Infantry.

When they reached the communication trench, a platoon of infantry voluntarily went down and advanced along the trench.

The Prussians hadn't placed any soldiers in the communication trench, but the Naval Infantry still advanced cautiously and searched vigilantly.

After crossing the third trench, the enemy's regimental headquarters and the sapper brigade's headquarters were just ahead.

They were completely out of sight, clearly, the Prussians had reinforced their camouflage after yesterday's Air Force bombing.

But from Wang Zhong's viewpoint, the Prussian officers inside the bunker were highlighted in red, making them hard to miss.

Wang Zhong immediately ordered, "Turret, turn thirty degrees to the left! You'll see a cluster of chopped-down birch tree stumps, the entrance to the enemy bunker is right next to it! Fire!"

The KV1 tank gun spat out flames.

Because the train was moving, the first shot hit next to the entrance, sending the guard at the door skyward.

Wang Zhong: "Vasily, reduce by one eggplant!"

The next moment, the train started braking.

Only upon actually arriving did Wang Zhong realize how many enemies there were: apart from two command centers, there were a large number of the enemy's logistical units, and even a battery position within view.

His view was crowded with red humanoid icons, reminiscent of the Forbidden City during a long holiday!

No, that was an exaggeration; after all, the Prussians adhered to the principle of dispersal, spreading out quite widely. It was only because Wang Zhong had a raised perspective that it seemed so crowded.

Seeing so many enemies, Wang Zhong instinctively ducked, pulling the turret hatch down, retracting his upper body into the turret, with only his eyes looking out and the hatch resting on his head.

But as he looked around, it seemed like the enemy hadn't even bothered to target him, their commander.

The Naval Infantry disembarked; they didn't like to shout "hurrah" and just silently charged forward, efficiently eliminating the enemy.

All machine guns were firing.

The sole 72K anti-aircraft gun was also in action, its shells continuously landing amidst the enemy.

Wang Zhong popped his head out again, watching the scene and feeling a sense of déjà vu.

Oh, right, there's an American movie called "Pearl Harbor" by Michael Bay, in which the Japanese air raid scatters American soldiers chaotically—a scene that became a popular meme among military enthusiasts.

The Prussian soldiers now resembled the panicked American troops from the film exactly.

The Naval Infantry, clad in black, herded them like sheepdogs chasing a flock.

Looking at the scene, Wang Zhong suddenly thought: Isn't this going a bit too smoothly? Usually, when things go this smoothly, shouldn't a Tiger tank suddenly emerge from the woods?

Where's the Tiger tank? Oh, it hasn't been developed yet, never mind then.

At that moment, Wang Zhong noticed something else—the color of the surrendered enemy highlighted in his vision would change, turning to a lighter shade of red.

He hadn't noticed this before, either because there were too few surrendered enemies or they were isolated individuals.

Now it was obvious, patches of bright red turning into lighter shades.

Just like damn neon lights.

Then something even more ridiculous happened; the force Wang Zhong had brought with him wasn't that large, at most a reinforced company, so he couldn't possibly control the entire frontline.

Yet, he had illuminated a whole four kilometers of the frontline, controlling perhaps only a kilometer on either side of the railway.

But the entire enemy line began to collapse.

It started with the nearest units abandoning their positions to flee, and like an avalanche, the wave of collapse spread north and south.

Wang Zhong fell into thought: Could it be that the enemy wasn't as elite as I imagined, determined to fight to the death?

This Asgard Knights unit should be on par with the Sturmtiger's X-Guard troops on Earth, right? They could break too?

At that point, Naval Infantry Commander Major Galinin approached Wang Zhong's tank and saluted: "The organized resistance of the enemy has been crushed. We're capturing prisoners; how should we deal with them?"

Wang Zhong was about to proceed as he used to, but then he remembered something.

Previously, he didn't take prisoners, but simply shot them in the shoulder and let them go because there was no choice.

Now, why not take these prisoners and send them back?

The enemy was collapsing; let those at the bridgehead come out and give assistance. Couldn't they cover a few kilometers on foot?

Send these prisoners back, stuff them into sealed wagons to Ye Fort, and let the locals have some joy!

No, first let the supportive locals in Shostka have their fun, to see that we, too, can win battles! Make these prisoners parade the streets, indulging in the people's rotten eggs and piss mud; wouldn't that be splendid?

Wang Zhong's expression wasn't visible since he wasn't using a picture-in-picture screen. If he'd seen it, he surely would have asked, "Whose grandad are you?"

Yes, his expression was just like that of an old grandad in classic films who sees a pretty girl.

Chinese audiences seeing this expression would instinctively imagine the line: "Yo-ho!"

Of course, Wang Zhong didn't see this, missing the opportunity for self-mockery. He sternly told Major Galinin, "Disarm them, and send absolutely reliable soldiers to escort them across the bridge. I'll notify Shostka to be ready to receive them."

Major Galinin: "Yes, sir!"

As the Major went to carry out the orders, Wang Zhong directly addressed Shostka plainly: "Headquarters, headquarters, I have crushed the enemy's defenses. Preparing to send back the prisoners, be ready to receive."

After a moment's thought, he added, "Tell the armored units, prepare for a counterattack, straight to the heart."

Having given the order, he put down the handset and shouted to a Naval Infantryman beside him, "You, run fast! Tell headquarters, no armored counterattack! That was just to deceive the enemy!"

The Naval Infantryman saluted and jumped off the train.

He didn't start running immediately but looked around for a bit and found a motorcycle to ride off on.

Wang Zhong was stunned as he watched the Naval Infantry leave: I didn't even think of riding a motorcycle.

As he rode the motorcycle, the large lapels and streamers on the Naval Infantry's cap danced wildly in the wind.

————

Pavlov put down the radio headset and looked at Popov.

Popov, "Armor counterattack?"

Pavlov, "I think this might be a ruse to deceive the enemy. He likes playing these little tricks. Someone should come running with orders soon, telling us not to counterattack."

Popov, "Let's still prepare for it. Anyway, it will take an hour to organize an armored counterattack."

"Alright," nodded Pavlov.

————

At this moment, a captain of the Naval Infantry came to report, "Report to the General, we have captured twelve heavy cannons; judging from the numbers on the ammunition boxes, they are likely 150mm."

Wang Zhong, "Do we have enough mules and horses to haul them away?"

"We do."

Wang Zhong, "Then haul them away!"

The captain also reported, "We also found eight 50mm mortars."

Wang Zhong, "Haul them away...hmm? How many millimeters?"

"Fifty millimeters."

"That's garbage, blow it up so the enemy can't use it."

In theory, any weapon should be utilized, but those 50mm mortars of the Prussians were truly garbage with a short range and low power.

On Earth, the Sturmtiger had tried them and found them unsatisfactory, so they stopped producing them and even decommissioned the ones already in service, handing them over to the rear-guard troops for fighting insurgencies.

Then the rear-guard troops also didn't like using this stuff against insurgents because it was simply too crappy.

Not long after the captain left, a squad of Naval Infantry escorted a large group of Prosen officers over.

The leading ensign stood at attention and reported, "General, these men want to see you and refuse to march to the other side of the river."

Wang Zhong looked at the group of officers, recognizing their insignia one by one.

Then he remembered, shouldn't I be able to use an "external plugin"?

Forget it, identifying insignia also has its own charm!

Among these captured men was unexpectedly a colonel, who according to intelligence should be the brigadier of an engineer brigade.

Wang Zhong, "I am Rokossovsky, you wanted to see me, and now you have."

He then looked at the ensign, expecting him to translate because he thought the ensign knew Prussian.

However, the ensign remained silent, only gesturing with his mouth to one of the majors among the captives.

The major immediately translated Wang Zhong's words for the others.

Well, it turned out they had a translator among the enemy.

Then the colonel reached for his pocket.

All the surrounding infantry were alarmed, "Don't move, hands up!"

Wang Zhong, "Let him go for it."

The colonel stared at Wang Zhong for a second before he took out a monocle from his pocket and clipped it to his eye socket.

Only then did he carefully observe Wang Zhong, who was sitting in the tank gun turret.

He then scanned the tank's tactical number and the red flag atop the radio antenna.

He spoke, "Truly as formidable as your reputation, a man of fine presence."

Wang Zhong, "You speak the language of Ante?"

The colonel seemed to be taken aback by Wang Zhong's crude expression, his brow furrowed, but he continued, "Deploying irregular forces to break the norm is unconventional but an excellent offensive tactic. We were all fooled by you, General Rokossovsky."

Wang Zhong, "After being night-attacked yesterday, you should have been more vigilant."

Colonel, "We were vigilant, and surely, your night attack tonight would not have succeeded!"

And then you forgot to be vigilant during the day, huh.

The colonel continued to make excuses, "Our mission was to perform civil engineering work! Nobody told us we had to resist an elite infantry raid. Moreover, both the infantry and artillery had no idea what they were doing! What could a single engineer brigade do?

We only have one battalion of combat engineers with fighting capability, but our main task now is civil engineering, there's no use for combat engineers!"

Wang Zhong, "Where is your combat engineer battalion stationed?"

"It makes no difference now, they must have retreated with the other units."

The colonel sighed, "Now that you've captured all the military engineering experts of the entire army, I suppose the progress will be significantly delayed until the new experts arrive."

Wang Zhong chuckled, "Isn't that a good thing? Alright then, gentlemen, you have seen me, it's time to cross the bridge obediently, isn't it?"

The colonel nervously asked, "What kind of treatment can we expect?"

Wang Zhong, "First, you will be paraded through the streets. I guess as soon as you are escorted over, the parade will commence, and your pretty uniforms will likely be covered in rotten eggs and urine mud. Ah, urine mud is when children pee in the dirt and then pick up the soil."

The colonel's eyebrows twisted tightly, "That's against international conventions!"

Wang Zhong, "Be grateful! I've witnessed the atrocities you have committed with my own eyes. I won't bother to distinguish who did what. All these acts of brutality must be borne by your entire army. International conventions are made for humans, not beasts."

"Take them away!"