The Fourth Calamity never believed in the steel torrent!

Chapter 13 Captain, were you held back because of the smoke bomb?
"Boris, what time is it now?"

Looking at the sky, Andrei could not see the sun clearly because of the smoke from the battlefield, so he could only ask Boris.

Upon hearing this, Boris's eyes widened in surprise.

"Sir, I'm just an ordinary sergeant, where would I get a pocket watch? You're a nobleman, don't you have a watch on you?"

Boris said with a hint of self-deprecation, glancing at the gold chain around Andrei's neck.

Such a valuable item is not something an ordinary soldier like him could obtain. He couldn't even buy a watch like this even if he spent a year's salary!

Hearing this, although Andrei felt somewhat embarrassed, he remained outwardly composed and said:
"There's nothing I can do. I'd like to look at my pocket watch, but it's broken!"

"This damn bombardment! I should have known better than to bring this delicate equipment to the battlefield; it was destroyed in just a couple of hits!"

As he spoke, he took out his pocket watch to show it off. Although it didn't look bad on the outside, the gears inside were completely stuck and wouldn't move. Perhaps it could be fixed with some repairs.

"If you can't tell me the exact time, it would be helpful if you could tell me approximately how long it will take to get dark. I'm so dizzy from all the noise that I don't know when it will get dark!"

However, Andrei was also strange. On the cover of other people's pocket watches, they usually put a picture of their lover. American soldiers in war movies always liked to do this, as a way to express their feelings.

But for some reason, the pattern on his pocket watch was an ice-blue hexagonal snowflake with a cross-shaped sword stuck in it. The pattern was very complicated and seemed to have some symbolic meaning.

He didn't quite understand whether it was his family's medal or something else, but based on his previous behavior and guesses, he roughly figured out that he must be a nobleman.

Otherwise, putting everything else aside, although he didn't have a mirror to look at his face, he was certain that his body was only in his early twenties, which was considered young among these new recruits.

So why is it that everyone else is just a regular soldier, but he gets to be a captain?
How could this be possible without some family background?

Boris was unaware that Andrei was still pondering his true identity. When Andrei asked how long it would take for nightfall, he estimated and replied:
"It'll be soon, it shouldn't be long. It's not summer yet, so it doesn't get dark that late!"

Damn it, how long is "not long"?
Although Andrei really wanted to ask him what the hour and minute were, considering that he didn't know the unit of time measurement in this world, he decided to keep quiet and just calculate it as one hour for darkness to fall!

Andrei nodded, feigning composure, then pointed to the extremely crude hand-drawn map on his body and said:

"Next, we'll try to break through to the north, try to get into the nearby woods first, and find a way to cross the woods to reach the other side of the road!"

"As long as it's dark, and the enemy soldiers aren't completely insane, they're unlikely to go into the woods to chase us. That would give us a chance to escape!"

After hearing Andrei's plan, Boris frowned, thinking it was really unreliable.

Running into the woods is indeed safer. Enemy armored units can't penetrate the woods, and their infantry wouldn't risk going into unfamiliar woods under the cover of darkness.

The problem is, how can they break through the encirclement and get into the forest?

There was still quite a distance between this trench and the distant woodland! After saying a few words to Andrei and Boris, they turned around and began to speak to the players.

"Soldiers, does anyone have a smoke grenade? Take it out!"

"Next, we'll hide in the trenches to the north and wait for the enemy to get close. As soon as they come up, we'll throw smoke grenades and then engage them in hand-to-hand combat!"

"As long as we can engage them in hand-to-hand combat, their artillery will be rendered ineffective, and their machine guns will be hesitant to fire indiscriminately. If we have enough smoke grenades, we will definitely be able to break through!"

Upon hearing Andrei's words, the surrounding soldiers looked puzzled, wondering who would be carrying a smoke grenade?
Although smoke grenades are cheap, it's clear that they're not standard equipment for infantry; none of these reinforcements carry them!

However, upon hearing Andrei's words, the players immediately smiled excitedly, took out their smoke grenades, and said in the chat:
"Hehehe, everyone, our important NPC is quite something! He even knows about the evil spirit in the smoke!"

"Smoke grenades are great! I know smoke grenades like the back of my hand! As a five-year veteran of the battlefield, I can say I'm an expert on this!"

Although not all players carried smoke grenades, a significant number of players did.

After all, the player template that Andrei chose was based on the Battlefield 1 template, and how could these veteran players with Battlefield experience not know about the Smoke Ghost tactic?
Seeing a group of players pulling out smoke grenades, the other ordinary soldiers were momentarily confused, not understanding what was going on.
What's going on? Why are all these people carrying smoke grenades? Have they become widespread?
Seeing the others' puzzled expressions, Andrei simply waved his hand and said:
"Don't be surprised, I had thought of a tactic using smoke grenades before, so I specially brought a batch of smoke grenades from the rear. I didn't expect that there would still be quite a few left when we retreated!"

But as soon as Andrei finished speaking, the other officer remaining in the ranks looked at Andrei with a suspicious expression and asked:
"So, Captain, back when you were at the military academy, you went against the grain, didn't follow the textbooks, and instead created your own tactics based on theoretical knowledge, which even led to you being held back a year, was it all because of this smokescreen tactic?"

What the heck? What does "repeating a grade" mean?

Andrei blinked. How come he didn't know he had such a glorious record at the military academy? He had even been to a military academy?

But Andrei just waved his hand dismissively and said rather awkwardly:
"Enough, that's not important! Lieutenant, if you have any questions about my tactics, you can come up with your own plan!"

"If you have any ideas on how to get everyone out of here safely, please share them!"

Upon hearing this, the lieutenant who had spoken earlier waved his hands repeatedly and said:

"I'm sorry, sir, I was just saying it offhand; it's just a rumor I heard from somewhere else!"

Just then, the artillery bombardment that had filled the battlefield in the distance ended, and the sudden silence caused Andrei's heart to race.

He quickly shouted to the people around him:

"Soldiers, get ready! All those with smoke grenades, charge ahead and use the smoke to cover our advance!"

"Whether we can get out of here alive depends on this battle!"

(End of this chapter)