Munitions Empire

Despite the loud cries from these countries, the reality was that Qi Country, which was busily preparing for war, was at the forefront.

Qi Country was not as corrupt as Zheng Country. While leveraging the power of Great Tang to industrialize, they also absorbed many technologies from Shireck.

Moreover, the country’s leadership keenly sensed the imminent threat of war. They were trying every means to assemble their troops and build as many defense fortifications on the border as possible.

To withstand the pressure from the Great Tang Kingdom, King Jiang Xian of Qi Country sent his three most valued sons out, each leading troops to block the possible northward advancement of the Great Tang Kingdom’s military.

Shireck went even further to assist Qi Country by sending a large military advisory group to help the three princes train new troops and set up defenses.

The entire defense line stretched along the border between Tang and Qi, from the seaside all the way into the mountainous regions near the borders of the Dahua Empire. For the construction of this line, Qi Country mobilized 300,000 laborers who had been busy since half a year ago until today.

Initially, the entire line was required to have at least 4 machine gun pillboxes per kilometer for fire support.

However, after completion, and as Great Tang was not yet ready for war, Qi Country continued to crazily strengthen the line, eventually increasing the number of pillboxes to 9 per kilometer!

In other words, on most of the line, there was about one machine gun pillbox every hundred meters, some reinforced with wood, sandbags, and soil, and some even with concrete.

Most machine gun pillboxes were fortified with wood on both sides of the trenches, and underground shelters were built at intervals in the trenches, with even hidden camps dug out for troop garrisons.

To support this meticulously arranged defense line, Qi Country purchased a large number of Maxim machine guns replicas manufactured by Shireck, further increasing the density of machine gun fire.

The three princes each led 150,000 troops and were deployed in three sections of the defense line. They stayed entrenched and did not need to move, holding in their hands a vast reserve of troops.

According to Shireck’s experience in the wars of Dorne and Gobur, the Great Tang Kingdom’s attack might involve more artillery and the deployment of better armored vehicles.

Combining the analysis of the mark1 tank released by the Great Tang Group, Shireck’s military advisors were sure that the Great Tang Kingdom had more advanced tanks to break through Qi Country’s defenses.

To prevent their defenses from being breached, Qi Country employed nearly all of Shireck’s available anti-tank technologies.

Firstly, on some main positions, Qi Country deployed anti-tank guns modified from anti-aircraft guns supplied by Shireck—a clearly derived experience from Dorne.

Secondly, Shireck also laid out mines with heavier charges in some areas, specifically designed to destroy vehicles. These were almost the first anti-tank mines to be used on a large scale in actual combat.

Then, for added security, Qi Country dug anti-tank trenches and installed stone obstacles in front of some positions, also based on the lessons learned from Dorne’s anti-tank operations.

Last, in some steep areas, Qi Country laid out barbed wire and other obstacles to hinder the fast passage of the Great Tang Kingdom’s troops.

To support this defense line and ensure its invulnerability, Qi Country also deployed two thousand cannons of various models and calibers behind the line, with the largest caliber reaching 350 millimeters—these were heavy guns produced by Shireck.

This too was an improvement based on lessons learned from the Gobur war, as Shireck believed that only with powerful suppressive artillery could the enemy’s tank advance be stopped.

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Dahua Empire and the Poplar Kingdom were also providing more shells for Qi Country’s artillery. Under Shireck’s support, these two countries had established modern military industrial systems and had no problems producing ammunition.

With plenty of shells at their disposal, Qi Country was quite confident in stopping the advance of the Great Tang Kingdom.

After preparing the defenses, Shireck considered creating some trump cards for Qi Country! Transporting tanks a great distance to Qi Country might be a challenge, so Shireck provided a sufficient number of airships instead. 𐍂áΝÖＢĘṧ

After helping Qi Country to establish an airship inflation factory and construct airship base facilities, Shireck almost freely provided 70 airships for Qi Country to form an air force.

With these airships, the Qi Country Air Force believed they could find an opportunity in the first few days of the war to cripple Tang Country’s frontline battle preparations near the border.

Moreover, Shireck assured that if Qi Country could hold off the Tang Army’s attack, Shireck would then build factories in the Dahua Empire to produce tanks and other heavy weaponry, helping Qi Country to turn defeat into victory!

Encouraged by these many promises, everyone in Qi Country took this war very seriously and was optimistic. They believed that with nearly 500,000 troops deployed on the border, they might not be sufficient for an offensive, but were more than enough for defense.

If the Tang Army dared to come, they would surely be battered and bloodied against Qi Country’s sturdy southern defense line! By then, when the Tang Army would be exhausted from the offense, Qi Country, backed by the Dahua Empire with the support of the whole world, would certainly achieve final victory.

...

Harry pinched the telegram from Tongcheng, and broodingly rubbed his brow. The message was from Tang Mo, and it was quite direct, ordering him to organize an evacuation from Brunas and abandon the industrial zone at a critical moment.

Although the Great Tang Kingdom had put up a strong front of attacking Qi Country, the reality of their thinly stretched military forces was still a serious issue.

In the Brunas direction, the Tang Army only had one division of garrison troops; whether they could withstand the onslaught of the Laines Empire was a question.

The pressure from the Northern Ridge was equally formidable. In the direction of Ice Crystal City, Northern Ridge’s three divisions had to face threats from both Suthers and Laines. They simply couldn’t spare any troops.

Considering Dorne had entertained thoughts it shouldn’t have, Tang Mo knew his side probably couldn’t continue to control Hotwind Port and Winterless City with just a small number of garrison troops.

Losing these two places, the supply of rubber for Tang Mo became a problem. Luckily, he had a substantial reserve earlier, otherwise, he really would have been put in a passive position.

The problem was, reserves aside, if the war couldn’t be quickly won, the reserves would eventually run out. Now, all the pressure had come down to the main force of the Tang Army. Only they could swiftly defeat Qi Country and turn things around for Tang Country.

Similarly, Poplar Kingdom chose this time to make their move, clearly aiming for Osa Port. Should Tang Mo lose Osa, his supply of rare metals would also decrease.

The good news was that there were rare metal mines near Tongcheng, and the vast lands of Zheng Country also provided a substantial amount of strategic resources, giving Tang Mo some room to maneuver.

Finally, having no need to keep up appearances, Tang Mo returned to Chang’an, took charge of the central headquarters, and declared a state of emergency nationwide.

What followed was time for verbal battles, as various nations took turns warning Tang Mo not to be obstinate and overzealous in his military pursuits.

They hoped Tang Mo would prioritize the greater good, maintain the precious peace, and not further escalate the situation.

Seeing the condemnation and warnings from these countries, Tang Mo almost thought they were truly standing on the side of justice.

In reality, while Tang Mo had designs on Qi Country, both Dahua Empire and Laines Empire were plotting against Great Tang. None was better than the other, so why was he the villain and they the saints?

Finding it both boring and amusing, Tang Mo didn’t bother dealing with these verbal attacks and had always expressed his stance through actions.

As soon as Dahua Empire’s 30,000 troops reached the border, Tang Mo immediately announced military drills involving 10,000 troops near the border.

Five days after Tang Mo’s return to Chang’an, Laines Empire declared it would gradually phase out the currency issued by Great Tang Group and would adopt "Laines Golden Yuan" as its national currency.

With the situation reaching this stage, it was clear it had become a dire, do-or-die struggle. Leines I seized the assets of Prime Minister Simon’s family, who were attacked en route to Jade City.

If it weren’t for the sacrifice of dozens from the underworld forces affiliated with Great Tang Group who provided cover along the way, Simon and his family might have died near the border.

The scent of gunpowder grew stronger. The Prime Minister of Suthers Kingdom suddenly passed away, his son-in-law, also the actual leader of the kingdom’s reforms, disappeared, and the Prime Minister’s granddaughter and her three children vanished as well, which infuriated the Suthers King.

Suthers announced that the Prime Minister was assassinated by spies with poison, and they were determined to find the murderer. It looked like they were about to pin the blame on the Prime Minister’s son-in-law.

At that moment, the wind suddenly shifted again. The actual ruler of Northern Ridge, Earl Alice, suddenly issued a decree to officially relocate the Northern Ridge population to Brunas.

Anyone willing to go—men, women, the elderly, and children—would leave their Northern Ridge homeland and move to Brunas—this was tantamount to openly betraying the Laines Empire.

As a result, around the same time, both Leines I and the Suthers King received a telegram from Northern Ridge, promising that if both would allow passage, the Earl of Northern Ridge pledged not to destroy the industrial facilities there.

Following that, a mass migration involving nearly a million people began. With trust in their Earl and aspirations for a better future, many joined the migration without a second thought.

Within a few days, Northern Ridge’s rural cities were almost half empty! And Earl Alice kept her promise not to harm any of Northern Ridge’s industrial facilities.

As the Northern Ridge citizens started their migration, the civilians from Osa Port, Hotwind Port, Winterless City, Brunas, and Jade City also began relocating.

The Great Tang Kingdom mobilized all of its transportation capacity to continuously move the population of these areas to Dragon Island. They even used warships as transport vessels when necessary.

While the Great Tang Kingdom’s Navy was busy relocating civilians, the Shireck Navy’s warships, ordered from Gobur, were delivered to the port.

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