industrial lord

Chapter 765 Don't Talk to Him

While Frederick and Maria were on their honeymoon, the Duchy of Wessen continued to function normally.

Wei Senjun has been strengthening its standardization efforts, with operational documents being one of the key focuses, striving to institutionalize them from top to bottom.

As required, commanders at all levels and departments below the regimental level must write a detailed combat report within half a month after the battle, regardless of victory or defeat, describing the course of the battle, recording enemy and friendly casualties and attrition, identifying existing problems and proposing improvement suggestions.

At the division level, a command report, along with reports from subordinate units, is submitted monthly to the higher command.

These reports not only provided accurate information for the compilation of war history, but also laid the foundation for reviewing battles and teaching.

In a sand table room at the Wessen Military Academy, Pavel, an international student from Bohemia, and his classmates recreated the battle of the 11th Regiment of the 1st Division in the "Battle of the Red Waterwheel".

In this battle, the artillery of the 1st Division fired a barrage of progressively advancing bullets, and the 11th Regiment launched an attack.

However, many questions arose regarding the details of the battle.

Therefore, Frederick listed this battle as a typical battle for discussion and study throughout the army.

Pavel has been formally studying at the military academy for less than a year. Today, like other first-year students, he is listening from the sidelines as senior students review and discuss their experiences.

He glanced from time to time at the special guests sitting beside the sand table.

Military academies occasionally invite active-duty officers to participate in such discussions, mainly to comment on the ideas put forward by the cadets, correct some unrealistic and whimsical ideas, and avoid the final conclusion that requires all soldiers to have the same abilities as Richard Nal to achieve it.

Today we have invited a company commander from the 3rd Division, Metzger, who is famous despite being only a company commander.

There is now a rumor that the principal sent the 3rd Division, where "Emperor Killer" Metzger was stationed, to the eastern front far from Redwaterwheel Village, and only recalled it at the last minute, mainly for political reasons, to spare the lives of those three kings.

Even so, King Casimir of Piast, who was facing the 3rd Division at the time, was so frightened that he abandoned his army and fled by ship. He was so frightened that he fell ill and almost died.

Metzger listened intently as the trainees reviewed the 1st Division's battle, while simultaneously considering how he would command in that situation.

After the debriefing was over, he looked up and his eyes met Pavel's.

Metzger said to Pavel, "Hey student, could you summarize the key points of infantry-artillery coordination from the battle we just fought?"

Pavel paused for a moment, then pointed to himself and asked, "Me?"

Metzger nodded and said, "Yes, it's you."

Pavel suddenly tensed up. He had just finished taking notes and was waiting to record his seniors' summaries. How did it become his summary?
“Don’t be nervous,” Metzger gave him a reassuring smile. “Take your time, say whatever comes to mind, and don’t be afraid of making mistakes.”

The instructor next to him nodded in agreement.

Pavel had no choice but to bite the bullet and go for it.

He quickly skimmed through his notes and stammered, "The key points of infantry-artillery coordination are as follows."

"The first step is to concentrate firepower and disperse troops. Artillery firepower needs to be concentrated to strike key targets, while infantry should disperse to reduce casualties."

"Secondly, command must be clear, with infantry forward observers guiding artillery to correct the point of impact and avoid friendly fire."

"The third is target designation and real-time correction. Infantry need to accurately mark their own positions and provide artillery with real-time enemy information to adjust fire distribution."

……

Pavel finally finished speaking, his back soaked with sweat. He looked nervously at Metzger, afraid of being scolded for saying something wrong.

Metzger nodded and said, "Let me add something."

"While concentrating firepower, the allocation of firepower should follow the principle of 'prioritizing key issues and addressing secondary issues,' concentrating firepower to resolve the main contradictions while preventing the expansion of secondary contradictions."

"At the tactical level of command, the current system involves reports from frontline observers, followed by artillery commanders directing artillery and mages to launch attacks."

“This command chain is too long. The next direction is to integrate observation and command, with the commander directing operations from the front lines.”

"There are four objectives for infantry-artillery coordination."

"The first is to strike at the enemy's offensive forces, such as magic crystal cannons, mage groups, and enemy artillery. At the very least, we must destroy the known firing points."

"The second is to strike the enemy's defensive nodes, such as fortresses and obstacles, to open up channels for our attack."

"The third is to suppress the enemy, so that the enemy cannot attack at will, suppress the counterattack, and reduce our casualties."

"Fourth, paralyze the enemy's command system, making it impossible for the enemy to carry out effective command."

"What the student just said and what I added have all been demonstrated in the battle." The students all took notes, recording what the two had said.

Modern military doctrine mainly relies on Frederick, a half-baked expert, to put forward a lot of general ideas, which are then summarized and rebuilt bit by bit by professionals through practice.

After today's class, the instructors assigned homework to the trainees, asking them to conduct detailed case analyses of the content covered in class.

Pavel was both excited and troubled.

What excited him was that he learned things he hadn't been able to learn in the war in Bohemia before, and many things he hadn't understood before suddenly became clear.

The real problem is homework. In traditional education, reading and writing are not important; as long as you can recognize characters, that's enough. Official documents are handled by someone else, and you just need to sign them yourself.

Now I have to do my homework myself, but I can't write down what's in my head. It's like my brain knows it, but my hands don't. The things I write down can be quantified by "坨".

"Is there anything bothering you?"

Pavel suddenly came to his senses and found himself in the cafeteria, having gotten his food, with Metzger sitting in front of him asking questions.

"N-nothing...it's nothing." Pavel was a little nervous in front of Metzger.

Metzger said, "I see you're frowning. You can tell me what's wrong, whether it's something to do with your studies or something to do at home."

Pavel hesitated for a moment, but finally told everyone that he couldn't do his homework well.

He was prepared for Metzger to laugh at him for it.

Metzger nodded seriously and said earnestly, "Your problem is common. Don't worry, there are solutions."

"The simplest way is to read more and write more."

"Besides books for studying, you can read more literary works in your spare time, including novels and poems, whatever you like."

"I personally recommend Ms. Qingju's recent collections of essays and Psyche's Detective Holmes series."

“I remember there’s a literary salon here; you can attend if you have time.”

"The salon often holds essay contests with prizes; you can try participating."

"The principal often said that excellent officers are forged on the battlefield, and the same is true for writing."

"So you don't need to worry about not writing well now. You definitely won't improve if you don't try. You can only get better and better by doing it and constantly improving in the process."

Pavel seemed to think it made a lot of sense.

Metzger recommended a bookstore in Wesenberg City, saying that mentioning his name would get you a discount.

Pavel continued to nod, then noticed several instructors watching him nervously from a short distance away, wondering if something was wrong.

Metzger ate very quickly, and Pavel hadn't finished eating when he left.

At this moment, several instructors came over and hurriedly asked, "What did Metzger just say to you?"

Pavel didn't know why the instructors were so nervous, so he told them what he had just said.

The instructors breathed a sigh of relief.

One of the instructors told him, "There are many taboos passed down in the Weisen Army, the number one of which is not to talk to Metzger while eating."

Pavel asked, puzzled, "Why?"

"Don't ask," one of the instructors said. "Just remember this."

Pavel was completely baffled, not understanding what was going on.

The instructors are also suffering.

Rumors suggest that military academies will undergo further reforms, dividing them into three levels: primary, intermediate, and advanced. The primary level will train sergeants, the intermediate level will train junior and intermediate officers, and the advanced level will train division commanders and other senior officers.

The principal planned to transfer Metzger back to the military academy for a period of time to be in charge of the education of junior cadets, while also receiving further training.

As we spend more time together, I might just fall for his words someday.

(End of this chapter)