Arc of Fire

On the morning of August 28, Wang Zhong got up early.

After washing up, he grabbed a quick bite and headed straight for Headquarters.

As soon as he arrived at Headquarters, he saw Pavlov leisurely reading a telegram.

Wang Zhong, "How is it? Is it a telegram from the front lines?"

Pavlov pulled out his pocket watch and said, "Patience, the paratroopers have just landed, and the naval infantry should have just boarded the landing craft.

"This is a report on enemy movements sent by High Command last night. From today’s developments, it seems the enemy has done exactly as you and General Gorky predicted—they’re focusing their attack on the Southern Front. Although the North and Central fronts have also launched attacks, they are minor offensives meant to realign the battle lines."

Wang Zhong, "They’re doing this because, compared to the Northern Front, which is all dense forests and swamps, and also endures harsh winters, and the Central Front, which is full of cities, the Southern Front with its vast grasslands is more suitable for the Armored Division.

"And the Southern Front just happens to have the oil they desperately need."

Pavlov glanced at Wang Zhong, "Oil, right, oil. I’ve always wondered, in the past, Prosen and the United Kingdom severed relations, but it still had us and the Federation selling them oil. So, their war machine operated for three years until they completely annihilated Carolingian.

"After they declared war on us, they could still buy oil from the Federation, but now...where are they getting their oil? Since last year when the Empire of Fusang attacked the Federation, Prosen shouldn’t have been able to buy any oil, relying only on their domestically produced oil. Can that supply sustain their war machine for such a long time?"

In this timeline, Prosen is what’s known as Jude, and it has also annexed Romania, so it does have its own oil. However, that amount of output truly isn’t enough to supply Prosen’s significantly larger military.

Not to mention, Prosen’s navy alone is much larger than Earth’s Sturmtiger and needs more oil, especially since ships burn through oil crazily once they leave port.

Of course, Wang Zhong knew what was going on. Back on Earth, when the oil fields in Romania, controlled by Sturmtiger, were bombed into oblivion, there was still an oil supply, all thanks to the advanced synthetic oil industry.

Given that Jude emphasizes technological nation-building, it’s probable that their synthetic oil industry is even more developed and larger in scale.

It’s just unclear if there are still "anti-Jude partisans" who have unearthed Prosen’s synthetic oil factories for the Allied Forces to bomb the hell out of them.

Seeing Pavlov looking puzzled, Wang Zhong hesitated, but then spoke, "They might be using synthetic oil."

The Chief of Staff was shocked, "That stuff can be synthesized?"

"Of course. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and I had noticed related papers a long time ago, many of which were published in Prosen’s academic journals."

Actually, that wasn’t true, but since the Crown Prince had already passed away, he probably wouldn’t mind having a bit more of a halo attached to him.

The Chief of Staff, "Has synthetic oil matured to the point where it can supply such a massive army?"

"Not just synthetic oil, they also have oil from their own wells. Once we push to the border, we can let the Allied Forces launch from our airfields to bomb those oil fields and refineries," Wang Zhong confidently said, "Next year, or the year after at the latest." ℝ₳𐌽ỘᛒÈs

At that moment, the communications officer came in with a telegram, "Report! We’ve received a telegram from the United Kingdom’s paratroopers! The attack was successful, and the airport is now under control."

Wang Zhong checked the time, "Later than expected, did they mention encountering any issues?"

"Yes, the telegram states they encountered an organized unit of Prosen troops, at least two companies!"

Wang Zhong immediately sat up straight, "What the hell? Prosen troops? Damn, I need to sit up and get into this."

Pavlov laughed, "Weren’t you already sitting? Just a bit hunched over."

Yakov, "Is this some kind of code?"

Wang Zhong, "Never mind, I just like to joke around like this sometimes."

Yakov looked at the broad-shouldered and bald Pavlov and asked skeptically, "With the Chief of Staff?"

Wang Zhong, "It’s normal to banter among friends, it’s not only reserved for interactions with women, my dear Yakov."

Without waiting for Yakov to respond, Wang Zhong asked the communications officer, "Anything else?"

"Nothing more, all we know is that everything is going smoothly. The first batch of transport planes will soon land at the airport, and everything is proceeding as planned, with just about a half-hour delay."

Pavlov, "This time I planned for a twelve-hour buffer, which should be enough."

Wang Zhong nodded, then suddenly realized someone was missing, and asked, "Where’s Popov? I remember before I went to sleep, he said he would stay through the night shift, where is he?"

Pavlov, "I saw him vomiting so miserably last night that I got him drunk on vodka, so he’s currently sleeping in bed. Don’t worry, I specifically instructed his orderly to keep a close eye, so he doesn’t choke on vomiting."

"That so."

Pavlov, "His file mentions he gets seasick, but I didn’t expect it to be this severe."

Wang Zhong, "Neither did I."

Wang Zhong, a person who before crossing over never experienced motion sickness, either in 3D or in vehicles, seemed to have a naturally high resistance in his brain.

I remember back in the day when I took a boat from my hometown for a little trip, it nearly took three days at sea. During the crossing of the strait we encountered strong wind and waves, everyone on board was throwing up and having diarrhea, except for Wang Zhong, who was so hungry that he sneaked into the ship’s kitchen to eat.

At that time, his whole family thought Wang Zhong had what it took to be a pilot, but as soon as it was time for his university entrance exams, he failed the vision test and lost his chance to become a pilot.

Later, Wang Zhong became obsessed with aerial combat in War Thunder and DCS simulations, probably for that reason.

Thinking of the past, Wang Zhong subconsciously touched his eyes. In this world, he didn’t have nearsightedness at all, which made up for a bit of that small regret. After the war, he definitely planned to get a pilot’s license and fly his own plane.

After all, he wasn’t black, nor did he wear a number 24 jersey, so there should be no problem!

While thinking this, Pavlov suddenly nodded towards someone behind Wang Zhong.

Wang Zhong turned around and saw Amelia yawning as she entered.

Today, the Witch of the United Kingdom wore a tube dress, showing off her shapely legs.

Looking at her legs, she really would look great in black stockings, but unfortunately, it seemed like the thin stockings of later times hadn’t been invented yet.

Amelia noticed Wang Zhong’s gaze, glanced down at her legs to make sure there was nothing odd, then teased, "I heard that you’re married, isn’t it a bit inappropriate to stare at a single woman’s legs like that?"

Wang Zhong was shocked, "You’re still single?"

"It’s not about that! I mean, even if I weren’t, you shouldn’t be looking, where are your gentlemanly manners?"

Wang Zhong replied, "Maybe our two countries have a different understanding of what constitutes gentlemanly manners. But, Miss Amelia, why are you on my ship?"

Amelia responded, "I’m the seaplane pilot on your ship. If the enemy Air Force attacks, I’ll be piloting the seaplane to counter them."

Wang Zhong doubtfully said, "But...the performance gap between a seaplane and modern mainstream fighters is quite big, isn’t it?"

Seaplanes either need floatation devices or need to be designed like a boat, both of which do not help improve their flying performance.

Trying to win an aerial battle with a small single-engine seaplane against a conventional land-based single-engine fighter is basically wishful thinking.

Thus, seaplanes tend to develop towards larger sizes, equipped with plenty of self-defense firepower to confront attacking enemy planes.

But these larger seaplanes can’t be launched from a ship using a catapult.

Curious, Amelia looked at Wang Zhong, "I’ve heard rumors that you know quite a bit about flying?"

Wang Zhong thought to himself, duh, have you not heard of a War Thunder aviation Brahmin? But he humbly answered, "Just a little, it was mainly taught to me by my previous deputy officer, Vasily."

Amelia’s expression slightly sank, "He sacrificed himself, did he? My condolences."

"No, no, no, don’t kill off my musician, ah! He went off to study to advance to a higher military rank. Before, he was just a student at an ordinary infantry school, being trained to lead a platoon."

Amelia replied, "You... brought a deputy officer with only the skills of an infantry platoon leader? I thought deputies for generals of your caliber were all top graduates of staff college."

Yakov proudly lifted his head, nostrils flaring.

Wang Zhong stated, "Vasily was very capable, he received the Ante Heroic Star for excellently performing a deception mission. Plus, he’s also an outstanding musician, having helped me finish ’The Holy War’ and—no, it’s called ’The Last Courage.’"

Pavlov laughed, "You almost forgot the name of the song!"

Wang Zhong ignored Pavlov, "Anyway, he’s outstanding."

Amelia inquired, "Can he also fly?"

"Uh... yes, he can fly planes too!" Wang Zhong went all in; after all, Vasily wasn’t there, and he could make up whatever he wanted.

"Oh, really?" Amelia stared at Wang Zhong for a few seconds and said, "Wait a second."

She turned and walked briskly away, her footsteps sounding like Nelly’s "tap-tap-tap".

Pavlov teased, "You think your luck with the ladies just keeps coming wave after wave?"

Wang Zhong thought it might be because he was a virgin in his previous life, and now it was compensating. Of course, it also could be because Rocossov was indeed handsome.

As they were talking, Amelia returned with a big box.

She placed the box on the table in front of Wang Zhong, smiled sweetly, "General, it must be boring waiting for news from the front, so how about we exchange our understanding of aerial combat?"

Then, Amelia opened the box, took out two model planes, and handed the one with a yellow nose to Wang Zhong.

It had been a long time since Wang Zhong had played with planes, and he was itching to try, so he stood up and took the yellow-nosed plane, "Alright, what are the rules? Do we fly them face-to-face or… should I give you a thousand meters of altitude?"

Amelia narrowed her eyes, "You seem very confident! If that’s the case, then let’s do as you said."

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