artillery arc

Chapter 491: "Barbarians" at the Consultation Meeting (Update 16/81)

In the afternoon, there was a special consultation meeting of the United States Congress.

Speaker Douglas knocked on the table with his gavel: "Silence. Next, please allow the famous general, Marshal Rokossov to speak. Mr. Marshal, may I ask... um? Is it the admiral?"

The secretary whispered in Douglas' ear with an embarrassed look on his face.

"Well, why is he still an admiral? I thought he should be a marshal with so many military achievements. What? And a first-class general? Oh, don't worry about it. Anyway, please, His Excellency Admiral Rokossov, accept the consultation!"

Wang Zhong was wearing headphones, so he could hear the simultaneous interpretation. Unfortunately, it was a man's voice, and he couldn't choose his own voice, so he had to make do with it.

He sat up straight after listening to the translation: "Am I ready, Mr. Speaker, or should I stand up?"

"No, a war hero has the right to sit and be questioned. Admiral Rokossov, may I ask how much of a role did the United States' aid play in helping Ant resist Proson's attack last year?"

Wang Zhong: "Your question is not quite accurate, because the aid only started after the Fusang Empire attacked the United States, and I also participated in the negotiations related to the aid. At that time, I was no longer a front-line commander, but worked at the Suvorov Military Academy and the Equipment Review Committee.

“By that time we had driven the Prosen people hundreds of kilometers away from our capital.

"So if you're asking how the aid helped the victory in the defense of St. Ekaterinburg last year, my answer is that it did not help."

Wang Zhong noticed that many people in the United States were already frowning.

He hurriedly continued, "However, the aid has played a vital role in Ant's survival until now. Last year, a severe cold disaster occurred throughout Ant, freezing to death a large number of livestock. Without the aid of Spam cans, many Ant people would not have survived that winter.

“At that time, our industrial production lines had just completed their relocation and were far from restoring their original productivity, so the industrial raw materials obtained through aid helped us and allowed the production of key equipment such as tanks to continue.

“Then there were the direct support aircraft, tanks, trucks and jeeps, which played a huge role in restoring our military’s strength.

"Especially trucks and jeeps, as well as the M3 half-track vehicle. Currently, the industrial production in Ante is basically producing various tracked vehicles and trucks. There is no production capacity for jeeps and half-track vehicles at all."

Speaker Douglas nodded seriously. "Very good. Your speech can be summarized as follows: the aid played a vital role in Ant's survival last year? Is that right?"

Okay, you just have to emphasize last year, right?

Wang Zhong guessed that some members of the parliament who supported the aid might need to gain some political bargaining chips, so he nodded: "Yes, that's what happened."

Douglas looked very satisfied: "Thank you for your professional advice. Next, I would like to ask you: If you decide to provide assistance to Ante this year, what aspects will you pay special attention to?"

Wang Zhongxin thought about it, so he cheered up and answered seriously and solemnly: "I particularly value machine tools and the transfer of various patented technologies. We hope to obtain the authorization of the United States' latest piston engines, including air-cooled and liquid-cooled ones, and we need the authorization of tank engines.

"We also hope that the United States can send experts to help us train industrial workers so that they can produce higher quality products. On the front line, the T34 equipped with inferior armor and inferior engines has killed many Ante fighters."

"Quiet." Douglas knocked the gavel to suppress the whispers that were gradually growing louder because of Wang Zhong's words. "Admiral Rokossov, you misunderstood me. I meant, if you could decide on various kinds of in-kind assistance, what would you particularly value? Tanks?"

Wang Zhong: "I think our current demand for tanks is not that great. Although the M4 Sherman and M3 Grant Lee are both excellent tanks, we already have enough T34s, as well as KV heavy tanks that are organized into breakthrough heavy tank regiments.

"The Vortex tank destroyer has also performed well on the battlefield recently. I don't think we particularly need tanks."

He paused and continued, "We need planes, trucks, and Willys jeeps. We especially need the Dragon heavy-duty trailers that are widely used in the United States Army."

The river network in Khazaria is dense, and an army without the ability to cross the river will inevitably have difficulty moving forward on the Khazaria grassland. When the Prosen attacked last year, they specifically sent combat engineers to build pontoon bridges everywhere.

And Ant's combat engineers were better at using engineer shovels or miner's hoes to crack open the heads of the Prosen people than at building pontoon bridges.

So Wang Zhong needed a "dragon tug", which could be loaded onto a light landing craft and sail on dry land on the road.

The U.S. military on Earth has done this before, using land boats to force their way through the river network on the European plains.

Wang Zhong also wanted to do this, and it was definitely not because he was a history fan and liked to play the game of sailing on dry land.

Speaker Douglas discussed with the people around him and asked solemnly: "Don't we really need more tanks? We have a lot of Grant Lee tanks and a lot of Stuart light tanks here."

Wang Zhong shook his head: "No, we have enough light tanks. There is a lot of demand for M3 tanks. I hope you can continue to provide them, but please don't use up precious transportation capacity to give us light tanks."

"Okay." Douglas looked disappointed. "What about the planes? We have a Flying Snake fighter with excellent performance. Can we reduce the amount of assistance for P47 and use Flying Snake fighters instead?"

Wang Zhong finally understood that this consultation meeting was to provide Ante with the things that the United States did not need. So he firmly refused and said, "We still need the things that were in the agreement we signed last year. We can accept fewer M4 Sherman tanks, but we cannot accept so many inappropriate things that we do not need."

Douglas scratched his head: "Then... do you still need light weapons? We have..."

Wang Zhong: "We produce thousands of PPSh submachine guns every day, and almost the same number of Tokarev semi-automatic rifles, and even more Mosin-Nagant rifles.

"We are not short of light weapons at the moment. Let me repeat: we need trucks, jeeps, half-tracks, advanced fighters and bombers. Please give them to us. We also have machine tool and engine production licenses!"

Douglas scratched his forehead. "This... of course can be discussed, but we have to first determine the material aid for next year..."

Wang Zhong: "I know. Please continue asking."

Douglas: "Do you need textiles like clothes? Or agricultural products like soybeans?"

Wang Zhong wanted to hold his forehead with his hand. He realized that this meeting would probably take a long time. These congressional elders would force him to give in again and again so as to change the aid agreement into a state that suits their own ideas.

So, he stood up unable to bear it any longer.

Douglas: "You can sit down and answer. This is our tribute to the war heroes..."

"You have no respect at all!" Wang Zhong interrupted him. "Don't think I don't know what you are doing. You are using the name of aid to fight for the interests of the big companies that helped you get elected as senators! You don't care what Ant needs, or what can help Ant win the war quickly, efficiently and cheaply! What you care about is how much money you can get after this incident!"

Wang Zhong recalled the trailer for the DLC of the game World in Conflict, in which a Russian general waved his hand and said, "The vultures are already too full. Clear the sky now."

Then a Shilka self-propelled anti-aircraft gun drove out of the transport ship and tore apart the media helicopter that was shooting hard in the sky with its four-barreled anti-aircraft gun.

Wang Zhong then said, "You are a group of vultures! You have grown fat and big-eared by eating the flesh and blood of the soldiers who died on the battlefield. The war is still going on, but in a few years, when the war is won, you will abandon all those meritorious veterans!"

Douglas knocked on the table with a small wooden hammer: "Silence! This is no longer the content of this consultation meeting!"

Wang Zhong continued, "Silence! Ask me what I did in Ant! I tell you, because of my identity, I am allowed to carry a gun into this room!

"This is a gun blessed by Patriarch Belinsky, and it once killed two generals! Think about it carefully. If you try to cram things we don't need into the aid agreement again, I will blow your head off.

"Don't think I don't dare to do this. I know that in your United States, even if it is the president, as long as he violates the will of the big trusts and cartels, he will be killed on the street by crazy gunmen. I was hit by a 380mm artillery shell from the Prosen people in Roniezh, and no one can guarantee that I am not a psychopath.

"Of course, you can ignore this threat. After all, according to common sense, in order to avoid a diplomatic crisis and a rift in the alliance, I cannot do this.

"But do you dare to bet on this odds? No, you don't. Because you are different from those warriors on the battlefield. You are a bunch of cowardly bastards! If you want to refute me, just keep recommending potato chips to me!"

Douglas's lips trembled for a moment, and he said, "I wouldn't recommend potato chips. I don't have ..."

Wang Zhong: "It could be Coca-Cola, children's toys, or something else. It depends on what company sponsors you, right?"

Douglas pushed his glasses awkwardly: "Well, your speech just now made us see Ant's brutality and barbarity. I think you don't need some things from the civilized world. Then please tell me what you need!"

Wang Zhong: "I need Dragon trailers! I need a lot of trucks! Studebakers are good, our maintenance workers are already familiar with them. And Willys Jeeps, and M3 half-tracks! The more of these, the better!
"And advanced bombers! I know you have a bomber to replace the B17! We want one too!"

After Wang Zhong finished speaking, he realized that asking for B29 was indeed a bit too much. That thing was too good and too powerful, and the United States might not give it to him.

Moreover, it is still a bit far to take off from Ant to bomb Proshen.

Unlike the United Kingdom mainland, you can just take off and cross the sea to get there.

But he changed his mind and realized that if he wanted to open the window, he would have to lift the roof. What Lu Xun taught him could not be wrong.

So he looked at Douglas with a straight face.

The Speaker was helpless: "We will consider it. Really."

It seems that they really don't dare to test the determination of Wang Zhong, the barbarian, to pull out his gun.

(End of this chapter)