Chapter 134
On Wang Zhong's side, after confirming the enemy had fully retreated, he took the opportunity to clean up the battlefield, seize weapons, and tally losses.
He first located Vehicle 430's crew.
The four were receiving bandaging, and when they saw Wang Zhong approach, they immediately stood up and shouted: "General, sir!"
That roar, like Zhang Fei bellowing at the Changban Bridge, made the back of Wang Zhong's head go numb.
The nurse said: "Their hearing has all suffered irreversible damage, and they might have concussions. They can't fight anymore-possibly not ever again."
Damn, after being focused down by so many enemies, all four of them were injured by 500KG aerial bombs-and friendly 152mm and 203mm shells?
Wang Zhong nodded and took out a notepad, writing with a pencil: "Thank you for your dedication and bravery."
Then he handed the note to the tank commander, gesturing for him to pass it along to the others.
The tank commander handed the note to the loader, then loudly said: "We can still fight! As long as the tank is fixed-no, we can be reassigned to other crews, serve as backup crew!"
Because the tank commander's voice was too loud, the nurse nearest to him had to turn her head, but she didn't show even a trace of annoyance.
Wang Zhong pulled out another note and wrote: "The rest of the empire needs you too. Please recover well and then train new tank crew."
He tore off the note and stuffed it into the tank commander's hand.
The tank commander stared at the note for a long time before handing it to the loader. He didn't say anything, just sat down and let the nurse continue bandaging, until the bandage covered his entire ear.
At that moment the Battalion Commander of the armored battalion came running over and saluted: "Reporting, General, inspection of damaged vehicles completed-four total losses, four repairable, and one can be recovered. All crew perished, but the tank is intact."
Wang Zhong: "Recruit volunteers from the survivors of destroyed tanks and form new crews."
Just then, the commander of Vehicle 430, who had just lowered his head, shouted: "I volunteer!"
Wang Zhong glanced at the nurse.
The nurse: "He can't fight anymore! I suspect minor bleeding in the brain-he needs treatment! The rest of his crew too! They're receiving treatment now and still have a chance to recover-at least to live normal lives! Without treatment, they'll be completely deaf!"
So Wang Zhong placed a hand on the tank commander's shoulder and gently shook his head.
"Your war is over. Leave the rest to us."
Wang Zhong turned his head toward the west-that was already lost territory, and the sinking sun was setting.
Behind him, on Vehicle 422's antenna, the wind whipped the red flag.
--
Just like Wang Zhong predicted, the enemy was unable to launch an offensive during the remaining daylight.
At 2030 hours, the 2nd Battalion of the 31st Guards Infantry Regiment arrived at the position, relieving the 1st Battalion that had fought all day, and assumed night defense-letting the enemy sneak-attack the hard-held preset positions at night would be terrible.
Additionally, a volunteer emergency repair team of 200 tractor factory workers arrived at the battlefield to begin repairing four damaged tanks.
After inspecting the tanks, the workers reported that two were relatively easy to fix, while the remaining two were better off being stripped for parts.
On the first day of battle, six T34s were lost-even with an ambush at preset positions, such losses were significant.
The enemy was quite elite.
As Wang Zhong rode Vehicle 422 back to the third ambush position, his face remained solemn the entire way.
That night, the armored battalion would camp at the third ambush position-not returning to the city was mainly to reduce the chance of mechanical failure in the tanks.
Stationed at the third ambush position was the 3rd Battalion of the 31st Regiment, which had served as reserve forces there all day and was already stretched to the limit.
When they saw Wang Zhong's tank force approaching, the entire battalion rushed out of the trenches and shouted to Wang Zhong: "General, let us go to the battlefield!"
Wang Zhong: "Don't worry! You'll get your turn in battle! Don't rush!"
Today, they only encountered one armored division of the enemy. The second armored cluster moving south had seven divisions like that-originally six, now reinforced by two especially powerful Asgard Knights divisions.
Wang Zhong wasn't worried at all about his unit having no battles to fight.
In fact, the problem was how many would still be alive once this campaign ended.
Just as the tank units rolled into the tank emplacements, the girls-and older women-from the field cooking team arrived with horse-drawn carts.
On the carts were large pots full of thick soup, and the delicious smell drifted from afar.
Wang Zhong had originally planned to return to Olachi to check the front line, but seeing the carts coming made him suddenly feel hungry.
He shouted at the lead cart: "Do you have a portion for your commander?"
The old woman driving the cart shouted: "Yes! We've cooked enough for three battalions!"
As she spoke, the old woman pulled the reins: "Whoa!"
The cart slowly came to a stop.
A girl holding a bread basket jumped down from the cart and shouted to Wang Zhong: "Major General, did you take out a lot of enemies today?"
"Yes, we took out a lot of enemies!" Wang Zhong replied confidently.
That was the truth-just the ambush in the morning nearly wiped out an entire armored battalion.
Although the afternoon battle had many surprises, they still destroyed 27 Type 3 and Type 4 tanks.
In terms of results, it already surpassed Wang Zhong's armored assault at Loktov-where over 100 kills were recorded, most of which were thanks to infantry.
This time, the infantry's main role was cleaning up the battlefield and eliminating scattered enemies on the positions. The major results were achieved by the armored forces and anti-tank artillery units.
At that moment, an old soldier from the 3rd Battalion who had participated in Loktov shouted: "The General had a blast fighting, but we didn't get our fill!"
The 1st Battalion soldiers quickly echoed: "Yeah! The armored units and artillery got all the meat-we didn't get anything!"
The old woman and several girls worked together to place the soup pot on the ground, then turned to the complainers and shouted: "Be content! You're standing here with your limbs intact. There will be plenty of chances to kill enemies later! Come, eat meat!"
"We've been waiting for this!" The soldiers all raised their mess kits.
Someone even started clanging the bottom of their kit with a spoon.
"Stop that!" the regimental chaplain shouted, "What kind of manners are those!"
Wang Zhong: "Alright, we just finished a battle-let them relax a bit."
That was like receiving a royal decree from His Majesty the Tsar- the soldiers all erupted: "The Major General said we can relax!"
"Third Battalion Commander, where's your balalaika? Play something!"
The battalion's chaplain walked up to Wang Zhong and complained: "Is this really okay, Major General? Letting them slack off could cost them their lives."
Wang Zhong: "Lighten up, Father. High morale is a good thing. Things are only going to get tougher from here, and by then you'll probably be begging them to sing and dance."
The chaplain thought for a moment: "You're a seasoned warrior, I'll defer to you."
At that moment, Wang Zhong noticed the Third Battalion Commander trying to avoid it, so he shouted: "Third Battalion Commander! Where's your balalaika!"
With a resigned expression, the Third Battalion Commander pulled the balalaika from his field bag and started assembling it.
Wang Zhong: "Everyone, enjoy the music!"
......
--
Ant Army 31st Guards Infantry Regiment, 2nd Battalion, late night.
Due to the blackout policy, fires couldn't be lit, so Private Ivan and Sergei sat in the trench in the dark, drinking tea that had already gone cold.
"You heard?" Sergei said, "The 1st Battalion discovered something-if you pee on the enemy's pants, you gain endless courage. That's the General's secret to bravery!"
Ivan frowned: "Seriously? You're messing with me, right?"
"For real! You remember that coward from the 1st Battalion? The one from the drummer's squad? He was about to wet himself, but the drummer told him to piss on the enemy-and suddenly his knees stopped shaking!"
Filippov was good at drumming, so among the soldiers he had the nickname "Drummer."
Ivan frowned, showing he didn't believe it.
Sergei: "I saw it myself-those Prossenian corpses haven't even been cleaned up yet, let's go piss on one too!"
Just then, Stepan, who had been dozing in a nearby anti-air dugout, crawled out and said to the two: "What do you know? It only works if it's someone you personally killed. Didn't you see the 1st Battalion arguing during the rotation? They were fighting over who killed which enemy."
"Those who haven't pissed on one are afraid they'll die in the next battle."
Ivan frowned: "Does bravery really affect whether you die?"
"Didn't you hear the veterans say it? The more cowardly you are, the faster you die. The bold ones are hard to kill." Stepan said mysteriously, "That's why the General is still alive. I heard it from a veteran from the Third Rear Amur Regiment-one 381mm shell! You know how big that is? Thicker than your waist! One round wiped out Duke Vladimir and hundreds of staff! The General survived!"
"That's not right." Ivan objected again, "It was the General and the Duchess's lover who survived. And I heard that lover wasn't brave at all?"
Stepan sighed: "You're so dull, can't you hold a conversation?"
Saying that, he lay back down in the anti-air dugout.
A second later, he spoke again: "Just watch-tomorrow I'm gonna kill one. Nobody take it from me!"
Just then, the three of them heard a sharp shout in the darkness: "Who goes there? Identify yourself!"
Then came gunfire.
The three were stunned-they were all rookies on their first battlefield and had no idea what was happening.
At that moment, the platoon leader came running: "Prepare for battle! The enemy is launching a night raid!"
No sooner had he spoken than the company leader began blowing the whistle.
As the whistle blew, machine guns began firing, spraying tracer rounds into the darkness.
The platoon leader grabbed Ivan by the shoulder, yanked him up, and threw him into the firing port: "Prepare for battle! Quick, get into shooting position! Don't worry about seeing them-shoot at anything that looks human!"
Ivan blankly stared into the darkness beyond the trench. Though his eyes had adjusted somewhat, letting him make out faint outlines-
Suddenly, Ivan saw something move and immediately fired in that direction-rapid shots from his Tokarev!
Beside him, the others were firing too-the gunfire was nonstop.
After emptying a magazine, Ivan heard the platoon leader shout: "Cease fire! All units cease fire!"
The shooting gradually died down.
Sergei nudged Ivan's side: "Did you hit one? I think I got one-let's check in the morning."
Ivan: "I don't know-I think I might have hit one too."
"Then let's go together tomorrow."
The day's Extra update ends-see you tonight.
(End of Chapter)