Arc of Fire

October 15, Abawahan, Ante Abawahan Front Army Headquarters, 1347 hrs.

Pavlov turned pale when he heard the news, "Shot down? Where? Who did it?"

The communications officer shrank his neck, obviously intimidated by the Chief of Staff’s rage, "It... happened 30 kilometers north of us by the coastline, by our own anti-aircraft artillery. The escorting Royal Air Force reported that the General is fine."

Pavlov grabbed the arm of the communications officer, "Are you sure? Are you sure the General is alright? Did the Royal Air Force confirm it while flying low enough?"

Communications officer, "She’s said to be some kind of witch who can clearly sense that the General is still alive, so there’s absolutely no problem; they asked us to send a vehicle to pick him up. I don’t know how she sensed the General’s condition."

Pavlov breathed a sigh of relief, "If it’s Lady Emilia, then it should be credible."

After all, in Balas, Pavlov had witnessed indirectly how Emilia had taken down a falconer three kilometers away with a machine gun; he was quite aware of a witch’s abilities.

At that moment, Monk Peter rushed into the headquarters wearing one shoe, yelling, "Pavlov! It’s terrible, I think I heard that the General crash-landed into the sea! Quick, send a naval patrol boat to pick him up! No, search and rescue! Search and rescue!"

Pavlov, "The General is still alive, and he landed by the seaside, Miss Emilia of the Royal Air Force confirmed he’s fine."

"Oh, Miss Emilia confirmed he’s fine, then that’s good," Monk Peter sighed, "Wait a minute, why does my foot hurt?"

He looked down and noticed his bare foot seemed to have stepped on broken glass, so he began to howl.

"Medic!"

Pavlov, meanwhile, turned and ordered, "Have the navy send patrol boats north along the beach, and also send troops on land..."

Monk Peter, "Wait a minute! I hear horses neighing!"

Pavlov frowned; he hadn’t heard anything.

Immediately after, the coachman ran in, "Reporting, the General’s horse has bolted from the stables!"

Pavlov, "Never mind about that, are the stables okay? No explosions or fires? What damage did it cause to break out?"

Coachman, "No, we were just letting it relax and grooming it when it snapped the rope and ran; the coachman who was brushing it got thrown on his buttocks and fractured it."

Pavlov, "Alright, treat the injured coachman as a combat casualty; don’t bother with the horse, it will come back on its own, and it’ll bring the Commander with it."

Popov, "And chewing on the Commander’s hair."

Pavlov looked at his old comrade, "Back from the local church? What’s the word?"

Popov, "The local can organize at least twenty Guardian Army camps, but they’re all working overtime producing arms and equipment in the factories, impossible to get them to halt production."

Pavlov walked quickly to the city schematic in front, "Twenty camps is a bit few, the area we have to defend is too large; with twenty camps and our eight temporary infantry divisions, it might not be enough to hold such a large urban area."

Popov, "What about letting the Tank 51 Army into the city? They’ve also rested for a month..."

"Letting tanks into the city? But there are no places like Loktov suitable for armored ambush or firepower deployment. Plus, although Tank 51 Army has combat experience, it’s with the Balasians; facing elite Prosen troops would be disastrous." ℝαŊȱᛒÊŠ

Popov, "But out in the open, facing elite Prosen troops, they’d face even quicker destruction. We’ve seen it, the enemy’s tankers can hit our tanks from more than a kilometer away on their first shot, whereas our troops might not spot the enemy even within 300 meters."

"Tank 51’s tanks are all dual-turret T34 base models, not usable like the T34W!"

Pavlov, "Then keep them in the city?"

"At least they can serve as street barricades and fire points!" Popov said.

Chief of Staff shook his head, "Forget it, the General is still 30 kilometers away. Let him decide when he gets back."

At that moment, another communications officer came with a telegram, "High Command telegram, the First Mobile Group Army will be ready to depart within three days and begin loading."

Pavlov, "Finally some good news. That gives us another hundred thousand troops. But still too few; when the General arrives, we should request more troops from the High Command."

Popov shook his head, pointing to the war map, "Look at this long serpentine formation, all the mess created by the recently dissolved Valdai Hills River Front Army, those guys only thought about relying on the big river for defense, which is why things are such a mess!"

Pavlov, "When the General arrives, he should be able to tighten up the serpentine formation, using fewer troops in easy-to-defend sections, with the main force concentrated in Abawahan."

Popov, "I think we should issue that order."

Pavlov, "No, we need to clarify the river defense situation first; I have already ordered my most trusted staff to inspect along the river. Once the General arrives and rests, the investigation results should be delivered tomorrow."

Pavlov, indeed, was outstanding in handling matters without a flaw. Read exclusive content at

The Chief of Staff, with his hands behind his back, turned toward the windows of the headquarters, looking at the blue sky outside, "Just waiting for the General to return now."

Wang Zhong sat on the beach, looking at Yakov, "Why are you so uneasy? If the co-pilot’s navigation hadn’t been wrong, we would now be just about ten kilometers from Abawahan. Miss Emilia confirmed our situation, and the people picking us up will be here soon."

Yakov sighed, "General, are you always this calm?"

Wang Zhong laughed, "Yes, after all, I’ve been to Hell so many times."

"But, you got burned by a meatball that wasn’t even hot—speaking of which, that meatball was delicious, it’s called ’Lion’s Head’. Is it made from lion?"

Wang Zhong, "No, it’s made of pork."

"Uh... So why is it called ’Lion’s Head’?"

Wang Zhong, "How would I know? Maybe the person who shaped the meatballs had lions in their eyes."

He truly didn’t know why ’Lion’s Head’ was called ’Lion’s Head’, despite having eaten it for so many years.

While they were chatting, engine noises approached, and Wang Zhong saw Miss Emilia’s clipped-wing jet fly back, sweeping over the head of Wang Zhong’s squad.

Then, a steam whistle sounded from the sea, everyone turned their heads to see, and saw an Ante Gunboat speeding towards them, looking to be one of the several "Destroyers" that had previously provided fire support for the landing.

Wang Zhong pointed at the destroyer, telling Yakov, "See, didn’t I tell you they were coming?"

"General, you’re right; I was too impatient."

At that moment, Wang Zhong heard the whinnying of a horse.

He thought to himself, it couldn’t be, but looking toward the direction of the sound, indeed, he saw Bucephalus galloping towards them, neighing, with several Willys Jeeps following behind.

"See, even the landlubbers have arrived!"

Wang Zhong waved at Bucephalus, who ran even happier towards him, but since it had no saddle, Wang Zhong couldn’t ride it back to the headquarters.

When the horse reached Wang Zhong, it screeched to a sudden halt, panting heavily under his helmet.

Resignedly, Wang Zhong took off his helmet, and the horse immediately started licking his hair happily, leaving it wet with saliva.

The Willys Jeep arrived a bit later; it fishtailed to a stop right in front of Wang Zhong, and the driver, Sergeant Grigori, stood up in the driver’s seat and saluted, "General, we’re a little late!"

Wang Zhong, "Not late at all."

Grigori, "So, was there a spy again? It looks like Yeburg is in for another cleansing…"

Wang Zhong, "Whether to cleanse or not is for His Highness Belinsky and Cardinal Ravkid to consider. What I saw was just the enemy’s bomber units mistakenly running into me. Believe me, if it had been Prosen’s assassination plan, they wouldn’t attack me with a heavy bomber as an aerial warship."

"Heavy bomber?" Grigori pondered, "That doesn’t seem like an assassination."

"Exactly. Plus, we have the Royal Air Force’s Miss Emilia to escort us, who is the top ace of the Royal Air Force. All their pilots are monsters."

While they spoke, Miss Emilia’s clipped-wing jet flew over their heads yet again.

Wang Zhong, "Alright, enough talk. Now that you’re here, I trust your driving skills."

By then, the Navy’s rubber boats had also reached the shore, and the Naval Infantry jumped down from the boats, saluting Wang Zhong, "General! We’ve been ordered to pick you up!"

Wang Zhong, "No need, my motorcade and my most trusted sergeant are here. You guys can go back."

Just then, several more Willys Jeeps approached from the north, hearing the engine noises, everyone scrambled to find cover and armed themselves.

Wang Zhong, having identified from the elevated view that these were not enemies, waved his hand and said, "Don’t be afraid! It’s just the anti-aircraft artillery units who mistakenly targeted me that have come to apologize."

As he said this, he walked towards the approaching jeeps.

The jeep’s co-pilot, a captain, stood up, took off his hat, and from afar began muttering, "My God! Oh heavens! Buddha! Look what mess I’ve made!"

After the vehicle stopped, he leapt out and saluted Wang Zhong, "Report! General, execute me! I almost harmed you! Execute me! The others are innocent, it was my order to fire!"

Wang Zhong waved his hand dismissively, "No, no, your mistake was just not identifying the target properly. You need to be punished for this, but military law doesn’t say you must die for not identifying carefully. According to military law, I’ll just... damn it, where’s our Military Chaplain? How much should the penalty be according to military law?"

Being second-to-last in the rules, Wang Zhong truly didn’t know what the penalty should be according to military law.

From the second jeep, a Priest spoke, "General, according to military law, a failure in target identification warrants fifty lashes and intensified target identification training. They can’t return to their unit until they pass the test."

Wang Zhong, "Then let that be carried out. Except for this captain, everyone else undergo intensified target identification training, and assign different anti-aircraft units to replace them."

"Yes!" The captain saluted Wang Zhong, "I will sincerely reflect on my errors."

Wang Zhong patted his shoulder, then turned to Grigori and said, "Alright, let’s go!"

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