Cannon Fire Arc-Chapter 674 - 12 "The Days You Were Gone, I Thought of You Daily

Chapter 674: Chapter 12 “The Days You Were Gone, I Thought of You Daily

Wang Zhong spent some more time playing with the children before reluctantly returning to the front of the manor’s main building, where Nelly was already waiting for him.

Nelly looked at Wang Zhong, sizing him up, then her gaze locked onto his feet.

Wang Zhong looked down and noticed a large number of mud spots on his pants, acquired during his play with the orphaned children. He explained, “I was just playing with those war orphans, and, well… the weather, right?”

The muddy season was almost over. As the temperature rose, the dampness of the soil had significantly decreased, but not to the point where it wouldn’t dirty the hems of pants.

Nelly: “Why do you need to make excuses like a child? I wasn’t scolding you.”

“Uh…” Wang Zhong stalled for a few seconds before forcibly changing the subject, “How are your eyes feeling? Still itchy?”

The humidity had been high in the previous days, and Nelly had been complaining of an itchy prosthetic eye. It was only natural for Wang Zhong to show concern.

Nelly: “It’s not so itchy anymore. You should hurry and change your clothes so I can wash your pants.”

“Okay.” Wang Zhong nodded. “Where is Liu Xia?”

Updat𝓮d from frёewebnoѵēl.com.

“In the nursery.”

Ever since Ludmila returned, she had been spending all her time in the nursery. Even though the Rokossovsky family’s “little lion” was nearing weaning age, she insisted on breastfeeding.

It was as if she wanted to make up for all the missed feeds from before.

Wang Zhong: “I’ll go have a look…”

“Wait!” Nelly grabbed Wang Zhong’s belt and said word by word, “Change! Your! Clothes! First! You’re not allowed to enter the nursery with pants covered in mud!”

Wang Zhong sighed: “Alright, alright, I’ll change right away.”

Suddenly, he felt a touch of sentimentality; without Nelly by his side, nobody seemed to manage his daily life.

So he said to Nelly, “It’s nice, this familiar feeling. I missed you every day when you were away.”

Nelly was stunned, but only for a moment before her expression turned fierce, much like the strict sister-head Balalaika: “Go change, then take a bath. You’re not allowed in the nursery until you’re done.”

Wang Zhong: “Yes.”

————

April 25th, Yeburg, Supreme Command Department of the Ante Army.

As soon as Wang Zhong entered the conference room, he saw General Gorky and General Ivan Stepanovich chatting quietly in a corner.

So, he approached them and asked, “Any new updates?”

Both generals were smoking, and when they saw the non-smoking Wang Zhong approach, they silently snuffed out their cigarettes together and tossed them into the nearby trash can.

General Gorky: “The latest aerial reconnaissance confirms your prediction for the summer campaign; the enemy is undoubtedly targeting you, and they’ve made no effort to conceal their intentions.”

General Ivan Stepanovich chimed in, “Because it’s so obvious, the High Command is wondering if they’re engaging in a deception operation.”

General Gorky: “After all, you have tricked the enemy so many times, it’s possible they’ve learned something.”

Wang Zhong: “But apart from the Southern Front, they have no other places they could attack. The Central and Northern Fronts are even less viable. Especially the Northern Front, they’ve been besieging Saint Andrew Fort for three years without being able to take it, and they’ve even been pushed back a considerable distance.”

General Gorky: “The marshlands have been a great help.”

General Gorky had spent some time organizing defense operations in the Saint Andrew Regional Army during the first year of the war, evident in his deep understanding of the northern jungles and marshland terrain.

General Ivan Stepanovich: “As for the Central part, it could be worth a try, but the front has been stable for so long. The enemy has strong fortified positions; so do we. And with the chain of cities in the Central part, it’s hard to imagine that after suffering so many setbacks last year in the city cluster around Abawahan, the enemy would continue to insist on these urban battles.”

Wang Zhong: “So only the great plains of Kazarlia remain. The enemy might also think such an overt strategy is meaningless, which is why they’re gathering troops so brazenly. So how many have they assembled?”

General Gorky: “The intelligence bureau of the High Command has analyzed the photos and estimates the enemy has added three hundred thousand troops to your front, concentrated on the vast plains on both flanks of Orel.”

Wang Zhong: “Looks like they are gearing up to throw a left hook at me. I wonder if there’s any sign of the enemy’s Marine Corps attempting a seaside landing?”

“Not at all. It could be that the enemy doesn’t know the Federation’s carrier-based aircraft squadrons have returned home,” General Gorky shrugged.

Wang Zhong laughed: “That’s because the lads from the Federation left their planes behind. The Air Force of the Front Army sends these Federation carrier-based planes out for a spin from time to time, leading the Prosens to think they’re still around.”

The Federation had left behind the VF squadron’s F6Fs and VB squadron’s SBDs, suggesting the pilots were due to switch to F4Us and SB2Cs upon their return. The TBFs, although new torpedo planes, were of little interest to the wealthy Federation, and they left those behind, too.

Now, Ante pilots were leisurely patrolling the sea in these planes, deterring the Prosen fleets from venturing out, relegating them within the operational radius of their own Air Force.

Of course, even if Prosen knew that the Federation’s carrier aircraft pilots had already returned home, organizing a landing operation was a complex matter, one that couldn’t be completed in just a few months.

Last year, during the battle of Balas, the Ante Army prepared for so long despite facing the weaker Balas Army.

General Gorky, “It seems all you have to do is put all your effort into blocking this left hook, and the difficulty is lower than expected.”

Wang Zhong, “Indeed. My troops started building fortifications in March. By the time I returned to Yeburg, we had already used thousands of tons of concrete, and now we’ll use even more.”

General Gorky laughed heartily, “The Prosens probably never expected to encounter concrete fortifications on the plains!”

Wang Zhong, “We also used rebar, because many in our troops were originally engineers.”

At this point, General Tugenev and a group of High Command senior officers entered the room.

Wang Zhong and the others heard the noise and looked towards the door, then, as if by agreement, turned and walked back to their seats.

Others chatting around the meeting room also returned to their places.

General Tugenev didn’t take the main seat directly but had an orderly bring another chair and sat to the right of the main seat. Then the Chief of General Staff, who had been sick at home, also appeared and sat opposite Tugenev in a chair added on the spot.

Shortly after, the Court Ceremonial Officer’s voice could be heard from outside, “Tsar Olga Nikolayevna Antonovna has arrived!”

All the generals stood up.

The door opened, and Olga, with her dignified stride, entered and walked straight to the main seat and sat down, “Please, be seated.”

Only then did Wang Zhong sit down with a thud.

Olga, “General Tugenev, please brief everyone on the current situation.”

General Tugenev stood up, “Gentlemen, the war has entered its third year, and we have achieved glorious victories in the past two years. Last year, we annihilated a total of 1.7 million Prosen troops, and we captured 700,000 of them, most of which is credited to General Rokossovsky.”

Wang Zhong leaned slightly forward and nodded to those present.

General Tugenev continued, “However, we must also recognize that in the past year, 1.7 million of our soldiers were killed, 1.6 million went missing, and another 1 million were injured and unable to return to their troops.”

By unable to return to their troops due to injuries, it meant they were disabled and could no longer fight.

Hearing these numbers, Olga’s expression turned extremely sad, but Tugenev’s face was stoic as he read off the numbers, “These figures are a significant improvement from last year, and we have effectively preserved our living forces. Thanks to this, the pressure to conscript troops everywhere has drastically decreased, allowing us to provide longer training periods for new recruits.

“Moreover, based on the suggestions made by General Rocosov following his visit to the Federation, we have established a veteran rotation system. Veterans who have served on the front line for four months are pulled back to serve as instructors in training camps for new recruits for six months before they can return to the front.

“The effectiveness of this mechanism still needs to be evaluated, as some troops on the front line are complaining that the removal of combat backbones affects combat effectiveness.

“We have also established a front-line rotation system, hoping that each unit can rest and retrain in the rear after serving four months on the front line.”

Wang Zhong was pleased with these numbers because the casualties of the Ante indeed were significantly less than those of the Earth’s Russians. During last year’s counter-offensive phase, he had felt that the growth rate of the Ante troops was faster than that of the Russians, with a number of units bearing the title of Guards being very reliable in combat.

Perhaps the war of defense for this world could end earlier.

General Tugenev took a sip of water, flipped through the documents in his hand, and continued, “Our total military strength has now reached 13 million, with 2 million deployed in the Far East to prevent a sudden attack from the Empire of Fusang.

“The remaining 11 million are basically deployed on the Eastern Front, with 5.7 million on the front lines and 4.3 million resting and training.”

As he finished speaking, a full map of the Eastern Front unfolded behind Tugenev, powered by an electric motor. He put down the documents, picked up a long staff that looked like a knight’s lance, and began to point and gesture on the map.

“On the front line, from north to south, there are five Front Armies: the Saint Andrew Regional Army, the Belix Front Army, the Western Front Army, the Shepetovka Front Army, and General Rokossovsky’s Kazarlia First Front Army.

“Each of our Front Armies has more troops than the enemy they are facing, and after two years of fighting, our soldiers’ quality has gradually caught up with the enemy. Currently, only the Armored Troops show a significant difference in quality between the two sides.

“This is because the enemy’s Armored Troops have rarely suffered devastating blows. Their tanks have large interior spaces, and even if they are destroyed, often half of the crew survives. However, our tank units always suffer tremendous losses, with experienced Tank Operators often perishing along with their tanks.”

General Tugenev paused and glanced at Wang Zhong, “Only General Rocossov’s tank units have a higher tank operator survival rate, but even Rocossov’s troops had examples like the 51st Tank Army that was completely wiped out last year.

“The good news is that thanks to the efforts of General Rokossovsky, Chairman of the Equipment Committee, our deficiencies in military equipment are about to be resolved. We have completely stopped producing the flawed T34 dual-turret model, and since February this year, the new tanks received by our troops are all three-man turret T34W models.

“And the brand new tanks will also be put into use soon. I can predict that in the year 916, the situation between us and the enemy will fundamentally reverse, and our army will move from the strategic defense phase to the strategic offensive phase!”

With his speech concluded, Olga led the applause, and the entire meeting room thundered with clapping.

Because Olga clapped while looking at Wang Zhong, everyone turned their heads towards him.

Wang Zhong thought for a moment, and considering the circumstance, he simply stood up and saluted everyone.

The applause became even more enthusiastic, as if it were going to lift the ceiling off.