Arc of Fire

Chapter 647: Chapter 89 “Christmas” (Extra 35/81)

On the evening of December 24, 915, Wang Zhong signed his name on the last casualty notification and breathed a long sigh of relief.

Those who had their casualty notifications personally signed by the Front Army Commander were warriors who had performed outstandingly in battle and would be posthumously awarded medals for bravery.

That’s why Wang Zhong always made a point of carefully reading the accounts of the fallen warriors before signing his name, leaving a brief personal comment between the printed document and his signature.

At first, he would shed tears while reading about these deeds, but as time went on, his eyes became dry and sore because there were so many heroic tales that he had run out of tears.

Having finally signed the last one, Wang Zhong felt a great weight lifted off his shoulders.

Pavlov’s voice suddenly rang out, “You’ve worked hard. In total, there are over eleven thousand medals to be awarded. I only had you personally sign for those above the George Cross level; I took the liberty of signing the rest.”

Wang Zhong looked at the thick stack of notifications on the desk with confusion, “This many above the George Cross?”

Pavlov said, “391 Venus Crosses were awarded.”

Wang Zhong stood up and walked over to the window, gazing into the night outside. It took him a long while to quietly utter, “For the spirit of great aspirations, we dare to teach the sun and moon to shine anew.”

Pavlov asked, “What?”

Wang Zhong replied, “Nothing, just a moment of emotion. By the way, today is the Prosians’ Christmas, isn’t it?”

"Yes,” Popov, who had been busily writing condolence letters, stopped his pen and looked up, “What, do you want to have a Christmas truce?”

Wang Zhong shook his head, “No, we don’t celebrate this Christmas. Since the dates of Christmas are different for us, a truce won’t work. But we could send the Prosians some rockets to wish them a happy holiday.”

Pavlov said, “I was wondering why the rocket artillery wasn’t fired today; they were waiting here.”

He stood up and picked up the phone, “Near Guards Rocket Artillery Brigade, is it you? You’ve been waiting for a while, fire away.”

As soon as he put down the phone, the whistling of rocket artillery could be heard outside. With each launch, the light and shadow in the room shifted from left to right.

Wang Zhong went straight to the liquor cabinet, poured several glasses of vodka, and handed them to Popov and Pavlov, then raised his glass toward the window, “Happy Christmas to them!”

Popov said, “How nice, they get fireworks for Christmas. We just have to make do with a little drink.”

Pavlov said, “Is it really okay for the Military Bishop to start drinking? Oh, but this is good stuff.”

"Do I get some as well?”

At the sound of that voice, Wang Zhong jolted, turning his head sharply to see Ludmila standing at the entrance of the command room, smiling at him.

"Liu Da!” Wang Zhong downed his glass in one gulp, ran over in three steps, and embraced his fiancée — no, wrong, they had been engaged for nearly a year and had a child, she was his wife.

"Easy there, you’re making it hard for me to breathe! Lighten up!” Ludmila complained, patting Wang Zhong’s back.

Wang Zhong finally took a step back, creating some space to take a good look at his wife’s face.

"You’ve lost weight,” he said.

"Given the emergency of the war, I’ve had no chance to eat properly. But you seem to be glowing.”

Wang Zhong said, “Because I got myself a Ceres chef. Even with just a cabbage and a potato, he can still create something beautiful, making the food taste fantastic. The culinary culture of Ceres is truly exceptional!”

"I’ll have to taste it for myself then,” Ludmila said with a laugh.

Wang Zhong called out, “Vasily! Go tell the chef to prepare something special, my wife is here!”

Vasily appeared, “I’ve already informed the chef. He’s just lit the stove and started juggling!”

Many considered the tossing skills of Wang Zhong’s Ceres chef to be a kind of juggling, akin to circus performing, but Wang Zhong couldn’t be bothered explaining to them.

Wang Zhong said, “Alright, we’ll just wait then. What about Nelly, now you’re here?”

Ludmila said, “Nelly insisted I come quickly; she said she was fine. The doctors also said the infection has been contained and now it’s just a matter of resting and waiting for the wound to heal. Additionally, I’ve found the best artisan of glass eyes and have placed an order for one.

"The artisan initially insisted on going to the front line, but he was too old, so the army never approved it. So, I made a deal with the old man — he crafts the eye, and I let him do some clerical work with the troops, contributing to the war effort as much as he can.”

As she spoke, Ludmila suddenly laughed, “At first, the craftsman didn’t know I was your wife and stubbornly refused my commission, sitting at the recruitment office every day, pleading with the staff.

"Then I went and spoke with the recruitment station, agreeing to let the old man enlist and assign him some secondary tasks. Only then did he agree to make the final eye.

"When the eye was finished, and the craftsman saw the name on the military note I gave him, he realized that I was your wife. He slapped his thigh and said, ‘Oh my, how could I set conditions with the wife of someone like Kutuzov!

Wang Zhong chuckled as she finished the story, “When the war is over, I must meet this charming old gentleman in person and thank him for making Nelly’s prosthetic eye.”

"You certainly should,” Ludmila said earnestly, “but before that, let’s win this war, my dear.”

"Of course,” Wang Zhong replied.

He embraced his wife once again.

It was then he suddenly realized that the spacious command room was empty; Popov, Pavlov, and Vasily were nowhere to be found.

Switching to the top-down view, he finally realized that the whole bunch was hiding in the next room, drinking and chatting about something.

Wang Zhong, “These guys

Ludmila, “Since they’re all like this, we should thank them for their kindness.”

With that, she kissed him.

Even though Wang Zhong had been in this world for a year and a half, he still wasn’t used to such forthright behavior from the ladies here. All that stuff about needing to speak their language to save face is just wishful thinking from guys who are living the good life!

When a lady here likes you, she’ll just flip you over her shoulder and pin you to the ground, yes, just like that, oh my back…

Half an hour later, Wang Zhong’s personal chef from Ceres came pushing a cart with food, but upon entering the command center, he was taken aback and asked in his broken Antenese, “Eh, the Prosens are attacking?”

Wang Zhong, “Uh, no. There was a wolf attack, a she-wolf, I was wrestling with it, just leave the food, thank you.”

The chef glanced at Ludmila hiding under the carpet with only half her head showing, “Ah, a she-wolf. Ah, I’ll go find the sergeant to catch a hedgehog then, or a deer, do you need one?”

Wang Zhong, “Don’t hedgehogs hibernate?”

The chef, “You don’t need to worry about that, the sergeant can definitely catch one.”

That’s for sure, after all, it is Grigori, the high-ranking sergeant who is proficient in everything from manure scooping to hunting to killing Prosensian soldiers.

Wang Zhong, “No need for hedgehogs or deer at the moment, thanks.”

The chef nodded, left the room and closed the door behind him.

Ludmila, “You should have eaten.”

What’s she mean, I’ve done my share for today!

Afterward, Ludmila stayed at the Headquarters, serving as the Prayer Hand for the anti-air Divine Arrow Team.

Besides her role as the Prayer Hand, she also took great care of Wang Zhong’s daily life, effectively taking over all of Nelly’s duties.

From the 25th to the 31st of that six-day period, Wang Zhong’s Front Army, besides continuously stockpiling ammunition, also actively carried out deception operations—not that you could really call them deceptions, given that constantly sending out reconnaissance planes to scout from Yarvik to Bolsk and so on would greatly benefit the subsequent offense.

However, these actions combined with a series of deceptive operations executed by Vasily before made up a clever ruse, specifically targeting the Plathen Emperor and the high-ranking generals.

Of course, Wang Zhong was always careful not to overdo it, so he also sent out some reconnaissance planes to check the situation across the river from Yeisk to Shepetovka while continuously sending out aircraft to bomb the road from Yeisk to Yarvik.

Despite this, in those ten-plus days, the Southern Front battlefield still seemed very calm, with the number of casualties even dropping to 2,000 per day at one point.

Almost everyone knew that it was the calm before the storm.

January 1, 916, Heart of Prosen, Eagle’s Nest.

The Court Chamberlain pushed open the door with a smile on his face, but upon seeing the expressions of everyone in the war room, his smile froze.

"All… New Year

The Emperor exclaimed, “Impossible! He must be deceiving us! We should reinforce Bolsk! If we pull the defense troops from Shepetovka to Bolsk, it’s just what he wants us to do!”

"But,” the Celtic Marshal, Chief of General Staff, said, “if he attacks Bolsk, he could surround Army Group A and massively annihilate our forces.”

The Emperor, “How will he annihilate, with the White Sea under our control! Do you think some Federation pilots will take back sea control? Even if Army Group A is surrounded, we can easily escape by sea!

"Besides, Shepetovka means a lot to him, he left Kazarlia from Shepetovka back then, leaving his best friend and his father in his homeland.

"Their propaganda also says that he carries a box of Kazarlia’s black soil with him. Look at the geological survey report of Bolsk, is it black soil? No! Bolsk was only included in the Kingdom of Kazarlia recently, legally it’s not part of Kazarlia!

"Rocossov’s wish is to strike back at his homeland, back to the land of black soil! I understand him; no opponent knows him better than I do! He will definitely attack Shepetovka!

"Definitely! Hmm? What are you here for?”

The last sentence was addressed to the Chamberlain.

Chamberlain, “Your Majesty, it’s 916 now, you ordered the preparation of cake and champagne.”

"Oh, right, then gentlemen, let’s toast to the new year! This year we must, we must end this damned war!”

January 7, 916, Christmas for the Anteans, 0600 hours.

Wang Zhong watched the second hand of his watch pass the number 12 and turned his head to nod at Pavlov.

Pavlov had already grabbed the telephone receiver, “Artillery, attention, fire!”

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