Arc of Gunfire

Arvik on the east bank of the Suhayaveli River is the easternmost big city in the entire Suhayaveli River Basin. Further east is the vast grassland with few villages.

The entire three hundred kilometers are all prairie. Originally, the church had a plan to dig a canal to connect the Suhayaveli River and the Valdaichu River, but during the demonstration, it was found that construction on the grassland was too difficult.

At that time, Ant did not have the ability to guarantee such a construction project.

So the church chose to keep developing for 20 years. When Ant was able to produce 20,000 tanks and arm 96 tank divisions, the church once again came up with the dusty canal plan.

However, before the preliminary preparations were completed, the war began, and the canal plan had to be completely shelved.

In this way, Yarvik became the last large transportation hub and settlement on the edge of the steppe, and it was also the supply center for the Suhayaveli Front.

Once this place is captured, the front army will soon run out of ammunition and food.

Originally, the industrial zones on both sides of the Suhayaveli River were more than enough to supply a front army with hundreds of thousands of ammunition, but last year most of the factories were moved back, and now only the shells of various factories remain on both sides.

So ammunition had to rely on railways.

Early in the morning of July 11, Prosen's bombers bombed the train station and train dispatching yard in Arvik, trying to disrupt the logistics supply of the Suhayaveli Front.

The front air force made heroic interceptions, but several bombs still managed to fall into the dispatch yard, causing fires.

At 10 noon, the fire was under control.

At this time, the station master came out of the telegraph room and found the foreman of the platform workers: "Get ready to pick up the train."

The foreman looked puzzled: "We have been picking up vehicles. We arrived at the 12th military column this morning. The workers have been working very hard to carry supplies and have not been affected by the fire."

"This is different!" The stationmaster looked nervous, "It's different! I just learned that the train that will arrive later is the advance team of a new group army!"

The foreman was overjoyed: "That's great. They can unload the truck by themselves, and I can arrange for the exhausted workers to take a rest."

"No!" The stationmaster's voice rose an octave, "No! Do you know who is coming on the bus later?"

The foreman hesitated for a moment and guessed: "His Majesty the Tsar?"

"Almost! It's General Rokossov!"

The foreman was stunned for a moment: "Eh? That Rokosov?"

The stationmaster glared at him: "Who else could it be? Now when it comes to Rokossov, it can only be that Rokossov!"

Foreman: "So, are yesterday's rumors true? The front line has really collapsed? Otherwise, Rokossov wouldn't have come to the rescue."

Stationmaster: "Don't worry about the front line, let the workers be energetic."

"Don't worry, I'll show you." The foreman turned to the porters who were taking a nap and shouted, "Everyone, General Rokossov's train is coming into the station later!"

The workers were chatting about spanking, but when they heard this, they all turned around.

"Is it the Rokossov who killed 41 General Prosin?"

"right!"

"I heard that he held a bloody red flag in one hand and chopped up five Prosen tanks with a machete in the other?"

"I heard there were seven!"

Foreman: “Yes, that’s that Rokosov!”

So the workers stood up one after another and stopped resting.

"You can fight it now, I was worried yesterday for nothing!"

"Yes, I wanted to take my wife and children on horseback to the grassland yesterday! Proson wouldn't chase me into the grassland, right?"

There are really very few villages on the grassland. During the civil war, the Chongsheng sect gangsters hid in them. After the civil war, they were wiped out several times but still not all - because the place is really too big and the population is really too small. Now, the gangs have hundreds of guns roaming around and make a living by hunting.

Later, the church began to supply large sausages, caviar and sparkling wine to the villages on the prairie, while charging high prices for the meat and milk produced by the villagers' cattle. The former villagers in the bandit gang saw that their families were living such a prosperous life, so they gave up being bandits and ran back.

Then the gang grew smaller and smaller, and eventually disappeared.

The locals have basically heard this story told by the older generation, so running into the grassland is an option.

Of course, whether it actually works is another matter.

"Pull him down, do you know how to hunt? Don't starve to death and become food for wolves!"

"Are there any jackals on the grassland?"

While the workers were all talking, the foreman turned to look at the stationmaster: "Look, don't worry about enthusiasm, everyone wants to perform well in front of General Rokossov. After all, the church is almost promoting him as a saint. "

This was heard by the workers, and immediately one of them said: "Isn't that a saint? I heard that General Rokossov ate the same food as the soldiers, and gave his beautiful horse to the wounded to ride when he retreated. These are terrible things." These are things that only appear in the stories of saints!”

"Yes, yes! You see, there is no such thing in Suvorov's story, only the story of St. Andrew!"

"Not even in Kutuzov's story! Kutuzov is just a noble gentleman!"

Foreman: "Then what shall we do to this good gentleman, the Great Sage, later?"

"Then there's no need to ask!"

"If they didn't finish unloading their car in thirty minutes, we're being considered as negligent!"

The foreman looked at the stationmaster again: "Look, don't worry."

The workers were so excited that the soldiers guarding the station heard it.

The company commander on duty today asked the chaplain accompanying the army: "Do you know Rokosov is coming?"

"I don't know. How could we be told this kind of thing in advance? What if it spreads to the Plosen people? Then it's not the dispatching plant that was bombed today. The enemy is definitely waiting to bomb Rokossov." The priest replied road.

The company commander was speechless: "You're right, we really can't let the news out so early."

At this time, the sergeant standing guard next to him said: "Yesterday, the ground staff at the airport said that an attack group equipped with fighter jets from the United States came in. It's very strange. The fighter jet has more bombs than the Il-2, and the engines are all air-cooled. , I don’t know what air cooling is, anyway, the airport ground staff haven’t repaired it.”

Company Commander: "Then how do these fighter jets fight? I know that aircraft need to be inspected once a day."

The first class soldier sounded like he was telling stories in a tavern: "Don't you know? That attack group also brought its own ground crew. The cockpit of the United States aircraft is spacious and can fit one more person. They just crammed a few people in there. Ten people, the rest came on a passenger plane.”

The company commander shook his head: "This is obviously wrong. Can't we just send more passenger planes?"

"It's true, the airport ground staff said it..."

At this time, the priest coughed and intervened in the conversation: "Ivan, you went drinking yesterday, right? You climbed over the wall from the back of the barracks, right?"

The superior soldier's face suddenly turned pale.

The priest asked kindly: "Who are you going with?"

Private Ivan: "I won't even say anything if you kill him."

Priest: "Do you think I don't know? But if you don't tell them, their punishment will be borne by you."

Ivan was shaken.

Just then, the bell rang, indicating that the train was about to enter the station.

The switchman has finished checking all the switches and is standing next to the switchman's hut with a green light.

The train whistle sounded from afar.

The priest gave up questioning for the time being and turned his head like everyone else to look in the direction where the whistle came from.

The train appeared in the distance and gradually approached the platform. The front of the car started to brake just before entering the station, and the wheels rubbed against the rails and sparks flew out.

The train, which was gradually slowing down, slid into the platform: first the track repair car, then the front of the car, then the coal car and the anti-aircraft gun car.

Behind the anti-aircraft guns is the tanker truck. There is a red flag on the top of the first tanker truck.

The workers became excited when they saw the red flag: "Look, there are words on it!"

The young workers, many of whom had graduated from the tenth grade, recognized the words above and read out: "A gift from the textile workers of Shepetovka, a gift from the workers of Shepetovka!"

"This must be the general's carriage!"

"The general actually lives in a tank truck!"

"Look, is that the general?"

In order to ensure ventilation, a tanker truck usually has one door open when driving.

The door of the tank truck with the red flag was also open, and there was a dense crowd of people. It can be seen that half of the people are officers and the other half are soldiers.

The young man who stands as the dividing line between soldiers and officers has three general stars on his collar badge.

"Three stars means you are a lieutenant general, you are a general!" a worker shouted.

"He really stands with ordinary soldiers!"

Unlike the workers, the guards on duty focused on the weapons in the hands of the soldiers on the general's right.

The superior soldier who had just been questioned by the chaplain narrowed his eyes: "What is that? It looks... quite beautiful."

The company commander was also looking at the weapon: "What's the matter with such a thick barrel? Is it covered with a water jacket like Maxim?"

"How heavy is that!" Although the priest accompanying the army is a priest, as a priest of a first-line company, he also knows weapons and combat skills. "But looking at the posture of holding the gun and the tear marks on the shoulder strap, the gun does not feel heavy."

The company commander continued to comment sharply: "Such a large magazine looks like 20 or 30 rounds. Is it a submachine gun? A new submachine gun?"

Private: "I think Poposa is pretty good, why do you need a new one?"

Company Commander: "Look at the width of the magazine. It's obvious that the bullets used are longer than Bobosha, and maybe have a longer range? In short, General Rokosov is also the chairman of the Ordnance Review Committee, so the items used by his troops will not be bad."

At this time, the car stopped. The lieutenant general jumped out of the car and turned to look at the company commander and the priest.

"Are you interested in the new weapons equipped by our department?" General Rokossov asked.

The company commander, priest, and private nodded together.

The general gestured to the senior sergeant major behind him: "Grisha, demonstrate."

When the workers heard "Grisha", they were all shocked, because it was obviously unusual for a lieutenant general to call the sergeant major by a nickname - not to mention that the workers did not recognize the rank of the sergeant major. They could only tell that he was not an officer. , is a "big soldier".

At this moment, the descriptions in the church's propaganda such as "being on an equal footing with soldiers" suddenly came true, became tangible, and became extremely credible.

The soldiers were paying attention to the weapons in the hands of the sergeant major.

The sergeant major looked up, suddenly raised his weapon to the sky and pulled the trigger.

The gun made a sound like a stick being used to spank a disobedient child.

Everyone looked up in confusion, not knowing what the sergeant major was shooting at, and two pigeons fell on the platform.

The superior soldier looked at the sky with his mouth wide open: "How can a flock of pigeons fly so high and be shot down?"

The company commander looked at the sergeant major: "Or a waist shot?"

The sergeant major smiled and said: "Yes, this weapon is very easy to use. An experienced shooter can definitely hit someone by splashing water 200 meters away."

"Two hundred meters!" the superior soldier exclaimed, "The impact point of Bobosa's waist shot at 100 meters is already as big as a building!"

When he looked at the weapon in the sergeant major's hand, his eyes were different.

The Bobosha in my hand suddenly no longer smells good!