Arc of Fire

August 10th, as soon as Wang Zhong opened his eyes, he dashed out of the room in his pajamas, and immediately ran into Nelly.

Nelly directly pulled out a thick stack of newspapers, "Today’s papers, the intelligence department has already translated all the Prosen newspapers they provided."

Wang Zhong said thanks and immediately began flipping through the papers, pulling out the front page of the Prosen newspaper and muttering, "There’s no headline about capturing Alexandria, no photos of Admiral Erwin showing off his might, good. At least this means Alexandria hadn’t fallen by the 5th."

These papers were allegedly obtained by Antean spies lying low in embassies of Neutral Countries, first flown back to Neutral Countries, then transported over through a network of spies, typically arriving three to five days late.

Wang Zhong then took out The Times from the United Kingdom, which was much timelier, first flown to the Federation, then channeled through the Federation’s air transport to Ante, finally landing at the Capital airport.

Of course, as soon as The Times landed, it was translated immediately.

The front-page photo of The Times on the 7th was of General Margo sticking his head out of a tank to observe the distance. Wang Zhong recognized at first glance that it was an M4 Sherman and immediately noticed General Margo wasn’t wearing headphones nor the throat microphone used for the M4.

Posing for pictures, are we?

Wang Zhong was someone who had personally commanded tank charges, and he knew that without headphones, you couldn’t hear what other people were saying, even in a tank with good human-machine ergonomics like the M4.

Especially when the tank was moving, the clatter of the gearbox and the sound of a wrench banging on the tank’s inner wall could drown everything else out.

Observing Wang Zhong’s expression, Nelly asked, "What’s wrong? Is the situation bad?"

"No, if they used this photo for the front page, I guess they won."

While saying this, Wang Zhong looked at the title—translation in small letters next to it, which read: The Seventh Armored Division inflicts heavy damage on the Prosens, Alexandria Port is safe!

It seems that even Jude couldn’t cut off the canals.

Wang Zhong read the headline article carefully and found that the African Legion led by Admiral Erwin had not been severely damaged.

The title said that the Seventh Armored Division had inflicted heavy damage on the Prosens, but in reality, the Seventh Armored Division’s attack was stopped by the 88mm guns, and by the time they attacked again, the poor mobility of the Matilda and Churchill tanks meant they couldn’t catch up with the Prosen Army.

Moreover, reading to the end, Wang Zhong realized that what had actually played a key role was likely the Commando special forces; these tough guys blew up the Shallow Draft Gunboat the Prosens had captured and destroyed the supplies the Prosens had obtained with great difficulty. They even nearly killed the Prosens’ commander, Admiral Erwin.

Why does the United Kingdom excel in special operations in every reality?

I really want some of these tough guys for special operations too!

Unfortunately, Ante couldn’t systematically mass-produce tough guys now, they just scattered a bunch of unevenly trained recruits onto the battlefield to see if any tough guys would emerge, and if they did, award them the Antean Heroic Venus medal.

Wang Zhong had thought about recruiting the Venus Heroes together for a devilish week of training to become a special forces unit.

But no commander would let go of their combat backbone who had received the Venus, and Wang Zhong himself would never agree to let his combat backbone be transferred away.

Besides, with the Antean regular units performing so poorly, taking away the combat backbone would definitely make things worse.

Thus, Wang Zhong had vetoed the idea of establishing special forces for special operations several times.

Now, seeing the United Kingdom’s special operations, the idea of engaging in special operations surged again in his mind.

Maybe... I could rough up a unit of Naval Infantry and form them into a special operations brigade, then find a seasoned instructor from the United Kingdom to train them for a year?

After a year, all the planes and whatever else needed for special operations would definitely be sorted out, and they could be airdropped behind enemy lines to cause chaos.

Wang Zhong held the newspaper, mulling over these thoughts.

Suddenly, Ludmila’s voice burst from the bedroom, "Alyosha! Hurry! Come here!"

Wang Zhong dropped the newspaper and rushed back into the room.

Nelly turned and ran, shouting while running, "The madam is going to give birth, get ready! Find the doctor! Also, call Auntie Prenina! Hurry!"

Aunt Prenina was a professional midwife who had come to live in the Rokossovsky family’s mansion from a month ago.

Wang Zhong burst into the room and saw Ludmila clutching her belly in pain, "What’s wrong?"

Ludmila, "What do you think? The little one wants to come out!"

"I’ll take you to the hospital now!"

"No, there’s no time, just like this. Help me up, change to a proper position!"

As Wang Zhong was about to move, the door flew open, and Nelly led a group of maids rushing in.

The maids directly pushed Wang Zhong aside, started adjusting Ludmila’s position, and placed essentials like a basin directly in front of her, with towels, gauze, and other various items all prepared.

Wang Zhong was anxious by the side, but as he had no idea what to do in childbirth, he could only try to offer some help verbally, "Be careful with her, and is this really reliable?"

A middle-aged maid turned around and gave Wang Zhong a reassuring smile, "Don’t worry, General, we’ve all been through childbirth, we know what to do."

Wang Zhong pointed at Nelly, "She’s been through it too?"

"Oh, except for your personal maid, all of us have. Just rest easy."

As the seasoned maid finished talking, the door swung open again, and in burst a woman who looked like she could take down two bears, rolling up her sleeves as she entered saying, "Everything is ready. Madam, please take a deep breath, calm yourself, being too tense makes it harder for the baby to come out. If you’re too nervous, have some vodka!"

Wang Zhong was alarmed, "Vodka? Is that appropriate?"

Vodka for a woman about to give birth? What kind of practice was that?

Even Russians can be too tough, huh?

No, I can’t allow such unscientific nonsense!

The midwife seemed to guess Wang Zhong’s thoughts and smiled reassuringly, "Don’t worry, General, I’ve delivered thousands of children. Your wife is in the best of conditions, and there definitely won’t be any problems."

Wang Zhong nodded, still somewhat doubtful, and asked, "So what can I do?"

"You," the midwife beckoned Wang Zhong over, parted the maids, and pulled him to the bedside, "crouch down, hold her hand and smile at her. That’s all you need to do, and something only you can do."

Hence, Wang Zhong crouched and took Ludmila’s hand. Experience exclusive tales on empire

At this time his mind was filled with various soap opera childbirth scenes, but none of them matched the current situation. In those dramas, childbirth scenes usually took place in hospital corridors, with the operating room lights flashing "in surgery," and, after a while, a doctor would ask, "Do we save the mother or the child?"

Wang Zhong had already made up his mind; he’d definitely choose to save the mother.

But the scene before him now lacked a doctor. The midwife was a robust dame who looked strong enough to wrestle two bears, making him feel she would pull out the child regardless of the mother’s well-being.

At that moment, Ludmila chuckled, "Alyosha, you look more nervous than when you charged at a group of Prosen Tanks!"

Wang Zhong: "Ah? Is it that exaggerated?"

Ludmila nodded, and as she did, a drop of sweat fell from her temple onto her collarbone.

Wang Zhong gripped Ludmila’s hand tighter, "Don’t be nervous, I’m nervous enough for both of us. Just relax and let the little one—"

"Here it comes!" the midwife shouted.

Wang Zhong: "What thing?"

Ludmila couldn’t restrain her laughter, "Seeing you so tense, thinking that I’m scarier than the Prosen Army, just makes me laugh uncontrollably."

Wang Zhong: "And then you’re not nervous?"

Meanwhile, the midwife was cleaning the baby’s nose and mouth, cutting the umbilical cord, and the maids were busy cleaning Ludmila.

The Rokossovskys were in their little world, oblivious to others.

Ludmila: "Actually, I felt much better when you held my hand. I didn’t expect it would go so smoothly; some people have to endure such pain until the baby is born and it can last for ages."

Wang Zhong: "True, it took you only a short while, it came out with a plop, just like taking a big dump."

Maybe the child’s nickname should be Poop; I wonder if the Anteans believe in the tradition of using an embarrassing nickname to ensure easy upbringing.

Ludmila: "How can you say that! If the child finds out you said this, he’d be so heartbroken."

"No problem, if anyone tells him that, I’ll have them executed by firing squad," Wang Zhong joked.

Ludmila pushed him playfully, "The maids are all listening! You can’t make such jokes!"

At that moment, the baby’s vigorous cries resounded, similar to an air raid siren. The midwife let out a huge sigh of relief, "Okay, okay, he is finally crying! If he didn’t start soon, I’d have had to take measures."

Suddenly, Wang Zhong remembered, when he was in elementary school, he met the doctor who had delivered him. The doctor said, "When you first came out, you wouldn’t cry no matter what we did. Finally, I flipped you over and slapped your feet hard, and that pain made you wail."

It seems the child is definitely mine.

Wang Zhong, holding Liu Da’s hand, locked eyes with her, and the air raid siren-like wailing started to sound agreeable.

Finally, the baby tired of crying and quieted down, and then the midwife brought the bundle wrapped in a blanket over to the couple.

"Congratulations to you both, it’s a boy, weighing 4022 grams, and very healthy."

As she spoke, she placed the baby in Wang Zhong’s hands.

He cradled the child, staring at his face.

Ludmila: "Look how you’re holding the baby; he’s not a shell."

Wang Zhong: "This... how should I hold him?"

Ludmila took the "shell" from him, demonstrating the proper way to hold a baby, "Like this, your hand should support the baby’s head..."

At that moment, the baby stared at Wang Zhong and suddenly raised his hand, fingers outstretched, reaching for the Venus on Wang Zhong’s uniform.

Wang Zhong: "You want this? Here..."

He was about to remove the Venus when the midwife scolded sharply, "Don’t let sharp things near the baby! Not even the Venus!"

Wang Zhong reluctantly put the Venus back.

Nelly approached with a calendar and Scripture, "Today’s date is August 10th, and according to Scripture, the young master should be named..."

Anteans named children based on the saints’ names corresponding to their birth dates.

Wang Zhong raised his hand, stopping Nelly from flipping through the Scripture.

The Secular faction had long been committed to breaking the tradition of naming newborns after saints, but to no avail.

Wang Zhong planned to set an example: "No, I want his name to be Lev, which means lion. He will become the master of the plains."

And not a coward with the heart of a lion—he finished the sentence in his mind.

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