Arc of Fire-Chapter 752: Among Allies

Chapter 752 -9: Among Allies

Wang Zhong looked at the name of the United Kingdom general speaking—it was “Bernard Lau Margo.” Wang Zhong remembered him; he seemed to have appeared on the front page of The Times, resembling Montgomery from Earth in that photo peeking out from a tank.

So Wang Zhong said, “General Margo, I’ve long admired your reputation. After seeing your photo in The Times, I’ve been wanting to meet you. General, I wonder why you haven’t appeared in The Times since then?”

General Margo snorted, “Because I feel I could perform better in Mamluk. Do you think I’m like that guy from the Federation who uses a corncob pipe, shameless? My pipe is a real one!”

No, that last sentence isn’t related to what you said before!

Wang Zhong: “So you refused to be featured in The Times.”

"Yes, although I eventually won, it wasn’t something to boast about. Prime Minister Bernard kept persuading me, saying it would boost morale, but I said it would be better to feature Jack, the lone hero everyone prefers,” General Margo said.

...

Wang Zhong: “The guy with the longbow and longsword?”

"Yes.” After a brief pause, General Margo glanced at Wang Zhong. “Actually, I wanted to be on it. My plan was flawless; I could have trapped the entire Prosen African Corps in Mamluk, not letting a single one return! But… damn, my troops came from different nations, and coordination was a mess!”

General Margo spat, clearly filled with resentment.

He wiped the spit with his boot before continuing, “Marshal, can you imagine? A tactical cluster with troops from four different nations, each chief officer with the same rank. So, in the morning one chief officer commands, at noon another takes over, and by the afternoon, it’s a third chief’s turn!”

Wang Zhong wanted to laugh. The Commonwealth’s forces on Earth were similarly abstract, and Rommel, the Desert Fox, had exploited such chaos in changing commanders to break out.

He could only look at General Margo with sympathy, which led Margo to think he had found a kindred spirit, raising his voice: “Because of this terrible command transition, the whole tactical cluster moved clumsily, and all my subordinates were from such groups.

"You think Rommel ran fast? No, it was us moving like tortoises! So I suggested to the High Command that they should not mix troops from different colonies together anymore and also, if they want me to lead, please give me troops from the United Kingdom itself, just as Wellington had demanded more redcoats for himself!”

Wang Zhong thought to himself, you haven’t even won yet, and you compare yourself to Wellington?

At that moment, the ceremony had concluded, and President Luo turned to the generals and said, “Alright, the formalities are over; let’s head to the palace, and continue our discussion over ice cream.”

Prime Minister Leonard and Olga returned to their seats. Leonard looked at General Margo and said, “I knew it; old Margo has been quite the complainer.”

Margo: “We let the African Corps escape, which led to our failure in the Kingdom of Sardinia! It’s all connected, like dominoes! Now, we can’t open a front in West Yuloba, and Ante will face much more pressure! Although the Anteans have a large population, their manpower isn’t limitless!”

Wang Zhong was moved. A general from the United Kingdom was worried about Ante running out of manpower.

However, Ante’s manpower situation was much better than that of Earth’s Russians, even though General Gorky had squandered quite a bit. The whole Southern Front had lower human losses than on Earth, and they had managed to create many elite units.

Veterans from the Southern Front had replenished the Central and Northern Fronts.

Once the new tank—referred to as T54, replacing T34 everywhere—the overall manpower pressure would lighten.

Leonard couldn’t hide his frustration: “We won’t stop our efforts to open a second front. The United Kingdom is a maritime nation, the Royal Navy controls the entire Aegean Sea, and we can choose where to land at any time. The Prosens can’t deploy heavy troops along the entire coast; we will surely find a breakthrough. 𝔯â𐌽ốВÊs̩

"The Allied Nations won’t put all the pressure to counter Prosen on Ante.”

Wang Zhong: “Then you need to hurry, Prime Minister Leonard. My troops plan to launch an offensive this winter to completely recover Kazarlia. Next year we will break through the Carpathian Mountains and sweep across all of Moravia, and the White Sea will become an inland lake for Ante.”

Actually, Wang Zhong planned to attack in September and didn’t intend to advance south along the coast of the White Sea next year; he said this because there might still be Prosen spies lurking in Balas, so secrecy was necessary.

Yet Wang Zhong always felt that being straightforward might not matter; perhaps the Prosens would not dare believe it.

Leonard looked at Wang Zhong: “Really? My generals always think that after you reclaim Kazarlia, you will attack the Baltic Sea, especially since you have nearly two hundred thousand troops from the Melania People’s Army still under your command!”

Wang Zhong: “We will certainly liberate Melania, but if even a general from the United Kingdom, far from the Eastern Front, can guess this, then the Prosens surely can too. I won’t launch an attack when the enemy anticipates my intentions!”

Leonard: “I see

President Luo: “Alright, the sun is so hot, let’s go to the palace in Balas and talk over ice cream!”

Upon arriving at the Balas Royal Palace, President Luo did not immediately get his ice cream.

Because the organizers wanted to take a group photo of the attendees first.

Three chairs were moved into the courtyard of the Balas Royal Palace.

Olga asked Wang Zhong in a low voice, “Is it really appropriate for me to take this photo?”

Wang Zhong replied, “You are the modern-day Ekaterina, be confident, and go for it.”

"Okay.” Then Olga walked towards the other two people who were already seated, and sat down between the two gentlemen.

"I heard that the seating arrangement is based on the number of Prosen Army troops eliminated,” General Margo’s voice reached Wang Zhong’s ears.

Wang Zhong turned his head and noticed that Margo was eating ice cream.

Lucky you, you’ve started already!

At that moment, Ludmila came over with two ice creams, “Here you go.”

"Thank you.” Wang Zhong took one and licked it, immediately feeling blissful, as the last time he had ice cream in Ante was when US Navy pilots stationed there made it using aviation fuel tanks.

General Margo continued, “Leonard just said we could land anywhere, but actually, that’s boasting. Organizing a landing is very complicated, and with our current capacity, we can only land near Rome at Anzio or only in Sicily and then move on to attack Genoa or the southern coast of Carolingian.

"Empire of Prosen will definitely be guarded.”

Wang Zhong asked, “What about landing in Greece and then advancing by land?”

"That’s too far,” Admiral Eck, who had also joined them with his ice cream, said, “Landing there, we might fight for two years and still not threaten the core areas of Prosen. Leonard and Teddy both favor an attack on Carolingian. Leonard even has a crazier plan to land in Hamburg, huh, Hamburg!”

Wang Zhong knew all too well how difficult it was to land in Hamburg, and he just gave a bitter smile in agreement.

At that moment, the “Big Three” had already struck their poses, and the photographer began continuously snapping photos, with the flash firing non-stop.

Eck commented, “I thought Marshal Rocossov would go and take a picture.”

Wang Zhong replied, “It wouldn’t be appropriate, would it? To insert myself in military attire between two gentlemen in suits. I guess I’ll join in the group photo with everyone instead, right?”

"Of course, after they’re done, it’s our turn, the soldiers.” Eck licked his ice cream again.

After the Big Three’s photo session concluded, Lao Luo came by in a wheelchair, “Ice cream, is there one for me?”

The President’s secretary pushing the wheelchair said, “You can only have one-third of one.”

"Damn the doctor’s orders,” Lao Luo waved his hand dismissively, “Get me a full ice cream!”

Then he stared at Wang Zhong, “When our troops were chased into the sea by the Prosen people, I realized how outstanding your continuous victories have been.”

Wang Zhong said, “I don’t really understand; no matter how strong Prosen’s offensive is, can they really withstand battleship firepower?”

President Luo responded, “At first, the battleship guns did stop the Prosen people, but then they used a new type of weapon. We had two cruisers damaged, the Royal Navy was afraid of more casualties and stayed away from the coast. The Federation’s navy suffered heavy losses in the battle with the Empire of Fusang, and new aircraft carriers and battleships had not yet become combat-effective.

"The Royal Navy, well, they had only a few of their precious possessions left.”

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Wang Zhong asked, “The Rodney and King George V class?”

"Yes, losing any more pride of the navy in these times would be hard to explain at home,” President Luo looked towards the portly Leonard.

Leonard explained, “We’re already studying those new weapons that hit the cruisers, and once we find a way to jam them, the fleet will move closer to the coast again to provide fire support with the battleship guns.”

Wang Zhong said, “Remember to share that intelligence with us.”

Though sharing wouldn’t really help since Ante currently didn’t have the capacity to research any guided weapons.

However, President Luo mentioned, “Our guided weapons are also in testing, but frankly, most of them are still far from actual combat readiness.”

Wang Zhong thought to himself that something was wrong. Weren’t self-guided torpedoes supposed to be close to being combat-ready?

In the history of Earth, the US self-guided torpedoes and Sturmtigers were deployed almost simultaneously, but both sides were afraid of revealing their possession of autonomous weapons, so they set very strict rules.

For instance, US patrol planes were required to drop bombs only after the last Sturmtiger submarine had submerged.