Cannon Fire Arc

Wang Zhong shoved the walkie-talkie back into Vasily's hand, snatched a thread cutter from the guard, and mounted Bucephalus, charging straight ahead.

Seeing this, Vasily hurriedly ordered the others to get in the vehicles and follow.

Hearing the engine noise behind him, Bucephalus looked back, then bolted like mad, nearly throwing Wang Zhong off.

Vasily, seeing this, desperately urged the driver, "Faster, faster! Can't your internal combustion engine outrun a horse? How ridiculous!"

So the driver also pushed the vehicle to nearly lift off the ground, which, eighty years later, would surely be featured on a "Traffic Accident Compilation".

At this moment over at the manor, Grigori was directing his men to concentrate the lightly wounded prisoners, so the prisoners inside the low stone walls of the manor saw this scene:

A white horse galloped furiously, with a red flag flying amidst the dust behind.

The Willis jeep, being a small vehicle, was hidden in the dust raised by the white horse, invisible, with only the red flag fluttering in sight.

Then the dust from the jeep obscured the following convoy, and from the front, only billowing dust was visible, as if a large force of heavy cavalry was charging down the dirt road.

A prisoner exclaimed, "'A pale horse, named Death, and Hell followed with him, the vine of the Earth is cast into the great winepress of the wrath of God, and the grapes are trodden, and blood came out of the winepress, up to the bridles of the horses... Those who worship the beast and its image will drink the wine of the wrath of God, and be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb...'"

The others heard the phrase but had no reaction, since the prisoner was reciting in Latin.

Only the Military Chaplain with Grigori frowned in puzzlement, warily eyeing the prisoner.

Grigori noticed the Chaplain's expression and asked with confusion, "What's wrong?"

"That's from the Book of Revelation, the classic text of the Sanctified Faction."

The prisoner continued to mumble, "'He returns from darkness, like lightning that cleaves the clouds, bringing death and illuminating everything!'"

Just then, Wang Zhong reached the entrance of the courtyard. Bucephalus reared up, its front legs high, letting out a loud whinny.

The jeep behind, braking while sharply turning the steering wheel, drifted to avoid Bucephalus, which had suddenly stopped, and only came to a halt after crashing into the manor's low wall.

Vasily stood up, walkie-talkie in hand, and shouted to the ones behind, "Stop, stop, stop! Don't crash into us; there will be an accident."

Thus amid the sound of brakes, more dust rose as if to blot out the sky.

Eight vehicles stirred up the dust of a hundred in march!

All the prisoners' eyes were wide, watching Wang Zhong, while the one who had previously recited scripture continued on.

Wang Zhong, having slipped his gun strap from his shoulder to his waist during the wild ride, hoisted it up, and also pulled the gun from his leg to his waist, then asked the Prussian soldier who kept murmuring, "What is he reciting?"

"I can't understand him; it's not Prussian," Vasily said.

"It's Latin; General, you've scared him into thinking you're of the Sanctified Faction," said the Military Chaplain.

"Ah? Are there members of the Sanctified Faction among the Prussians?" asked Wang Zhong.

"Some, but they've been almost wiped out by the Plathen Emperor, who intends to replace the grace of God with the enlightenment of technology," said the Military Chaplain.

Wang Zhong suddenly realized a blind spot: the Prussians believed that the light of technology would triumph over the grace of God, and the Secular faction thought that miracles were actually quantum mechanics—could these be so similar?

He decisively decided to act as if he hadn't noticed this matter, and to wait until Prussia was defeated before discussing it was not too late.

"Make him shut up," Wang Zhong said. "Dragging me into the Sanctified Faction is absolutely malicious!"

"Yes," Vasily immediately scolded the prisoner in Prussian, and the man closed his mouth.

Although Wang Zhong could clearly see from his higher perspective that there were no casualties on his side, he still had to maintain appearances, "Do you have any losses?"

"No, the enemy basically didn't notice where our attack came from, since this gun really does make less noise when fired. But it's not great for taking prisoners; the few light injuries were from ricochets, anyone hit directly by a bullet is at least seriously injured," Grigori said.

Wang Zhong nodded, "It looks like the first combat test went rather well."

"Of course, we didn't expect the advantage of the low noise to be so significant," said Grigori.

Suppressors had been invented a long time ago but had not been a military requirement in previous wars. Suppressors were used as sporting equipment on civilian firearms to reduce nuisance.

It was only when the United Kingdom formed the Commando Special Forces that the benefits of silent firearms were discovered, and silent weapons began to be widely used.

However, Wang Zhong's troops were using the thread cutter for its performance and not for its quiet operation.

"It's a pity about the production capacity issue; we can't fully replace the Papasha with the thread cutter," Grigori said.

The Papasha and its sibling weapon had their manufacturers well up to speed; the daily output of the two guns combined was a terrifying six thousand units.

The Ante troops were now everywhere with submachine guns.

The Ante forces also particularly liked to issue new recruits with Papashas, since there's no need for aiming, just spray and pray. Giving new recruits the Mosin-Nagant was less effective. So now, Ante new recruit training starts with cleaning and troubleshooting the Papasha, and once the recruit can ensure that they can shoot all the rounds they carry on the battlefield, they are deemed ready, aiming isn't necessary at all.

On the opposite side, the Prussian Army did exactly the opposite; the MP38 and MP40 were only for experienced soldiers, while new soldiers had to handle the 98K rifle.

Of course, this was also because the main firepower of Prussian infantry squads relied on machine guns; it wasn't important whether the conscripted soldiers could hit their targets or not.

But clearly, the thread cutter is not meant for use like the Papasha, and it's a waste of its capabilities in the hands of a new recruit.

Wang Zhong keenly realized that his previous pursuit of equipping the entire division with thread cutters was wrong, and that the thread cutters should be treated as rewards for seasoned soldiers and non-commissioned officers. In the future, new recruits and ordinary soldiers would carry Papashas, while experienced sergeants would be armed with thread cutters.

Wasn't that the case just now? Twelve veterans armed with thread cutters rendered the enemy with armored forces utterly powerless. New recruits certainly wouldn't be able to utilize the weapon to such effect.

As Wang Zhong was contemplating these issues, Grigori interrupted his thoughts, "General? We are still waiting for your decision on how to deal with the prisoners!" Read exclusive adventures at empire

Wang Zhong immediately snapped out of his thoughts, glanced at Grigori, and directly sought his opinion on the idea in his mind, "Grisha, your earlier comment 'it's a pity production isn't high enough to replace the Papasha' reminded me. I am now pursuing the goal of arming the entire Guards Motor Rifle with thread cutters, but is that really appropriate? Can ordinary soldiers maximize its capabilities?"

Grigori was astonished, "I doubt it. Indeed, the weapon should not be given to inexperienced ordinary soldiers; there might not be much difference between them using it and using a Papasha."

Wang Zhong, "So, my thought is to treat the thread cutter as a reward for veterans, proving themselves before they can use it, while recruits can only carry Papashas. What do you think of this?"

Grigori did not respond, but the soldiers next to him began to holler excitedly, "That would be awesome! We all get to have one, imagine walking into a pub slinging that beauty."

Can you stop obsessing over your damned pubs!

Wang Zhong suppressed the disdain in his heart and said to Vasily, "Vasily, take note, we need to treat the thread cutter as a reward for seasoned soldiers, not as a standard issue weapon. Veterans will be able to maximize its performance advantages, while new recruits should use Papashas or Tokarev semi-automatics to accumulate experience.

"Moreover, this distribution method can enhance the veterans' sense of honor, while also motivating ordinary soldiers to strive for progress."

Vasily hurriedly scribbled down notes and nearly stopped writing the moment Wang Zhong did.

Wang Zhong, "Recite it back to me!"

Vasily immediately recited it back swiftly.

Just then, a concerned soldier from the guard company asked, "The Guards Motor Rifle has already been issued so many thread cutters, do we have to take them back?"

"No, tell the soldiers, if they are lost by accident, they will only be available through military achievements in the future," Wang Zhong stated.

At that moment, a medic from the guard company came up to salute Wang Zhong, "Report: eight seriously injured, one dead after unsuccessful resuscitation; six lightly injured have already been bandaged."

Wang Zhong pointed to an M3 half-track truck, "Have the seriously injured carried onto the truck for evacuation, I'd like to interrogate the lightly injured."

The medic saluted and turned to organize the troops to carry the wounded.

Wang Zhong then approached the lightly wounded, only to find that there were no officers among them.

"Where are the officers?"

As soon as he asked the question, Grigori handed him a set containing a document bag and a map case, "Dead, but I seized his document bag and map case."

Wang Zhong gestured to Vasily, "Take a look at what's inside."

Vasily quickly scanned through the titles of the documents in the bag and identified one important document to skim through rapidly, reporting, "This unit belongs to the Prosen Asgard Knight Order's Sedd Division Motorized Reconnaissance Battalion. Their mission is to advance towards Yarvik for reconnaissance."

Wang Zhong, "Sedd Division, huh? Is there any mention of new model tanks?"

"Nothing. Wait, this seems to be the radio call-sign list! Let me check, the call sign for this recon group is Shepherd, and there are two other units also called 'recon groups' with call signs Husky and Hound…"

Wang Zhong, "Two more, huh? We should call the Air Force and see where they are, just the thing to let the fourth dive bomber regiment get some practice."

Vasily, "This mentions a unit called the Busse Combat Group, they are the direct superiors of these recon groups."

Wang Zhong, "Sounds like they are the vanguard of the Sedd Division."

Vasily didn't respond, instead, he took out a map from the map case, unravelled it and said, "I think, 20 kilometers ahead of us, the city of Yeisk might have been captured by the enemy's Busse Combat Group. This city is 55 kilometers from Yarvik and seems to be an ideal central supply depot for our Army Group."

Wang Zhong, "Whether we should proceed that way still depends on the reconnaissance results, we have just left. Grigori, next time we encounter an enemy recon group, try to capture an officer; some things can't be clarified by documents and maps alone."

Grigori, while smoking, replied, "Understood."

Wang Zhong, "Vasily, if there's nothing of value in the documents, we'll move on to interrogate the prisoners."

"Wait," Vasily suddenly pulled out a letter from the document bag, "the officer had a family letter in his document bag. Let me see."

He unfolded the letter and began to translate sentence by sentence, "My dearest Katherine, in your last letter, you expressed concern about the prospects of the war, and I share that feeling. The Ante people are learning how to war and becoming increasingly difficult to deal with. The more challenging the fight, the less tenable the theory that Prussians are a superior race becomes.

"But today, a brand-new weapon has shattered my worries. It is so powerful, effortlessly tearing through the Ante lines. I watched as it crushed Ante soldiers and tanks, and buried the trenches.

"The Ante people have no weapon that can penetrate its armor, nor any armor that can withstand its main gun! Katherine, we may well win the war.

"I am now in a city called Yeisk, and my combat group has been reinforced with twelve of these new tanks! It's a pity that nine of them broke down before they got to us. Logistics just managed to fix four and brought them up; the three that followed us into battle all broke down again.

"Even so, this cannot conceal the fact that it is an excellent tank! Tomorrow we will set out for reconnaissance, and the main body of our combat group will be led by four new combat vehicles! We will undoubtedly crush all enemies——"

Wang Zhong frowned, as he thought he heard the roar of engines.

He switched his view and at the farthest end of his vision, roughly 2500 meters away, he saw the boxy body of a Tiger tank.

Fuck!

The largest caliber weapon I've got is the 12.7mm M2 Browning!