Munitions Empire

"Boom!" Far from Beiyuan City, on the coast of the Goblin's territory, a tattered little fishing village unexpectedly received a shell, blowing the roofs off several houses.

On the distant sea, a Weigang-class cruiser belonging to Great Tang was playfully lobbing its main gun at the entire village.

The Goblins, frightened into a clumsy flee by the cannon fire, glared at the warship on the sea, cursing and shouting, yet notably not daring to take a single step onto the beach.

The King of Great Tang Kingdom had ordered the Tang Navy Commander to attack any target within range in Goblin's territory, including coastlines, harbors, vessels, fortifications, or even the unlucky souls walking on the beach.

In short, slay gods should they block the way, slay Buddhas should they stand in the path!

Therefore, Bernard, aside from leaving a few destroyers and cruisers to blockade Beiyuan City, had taken the main fleet out to the seas surrounding Goblin's territory, except for Dongwan No.1 battleship which returned to Linshui for repairs. The other two battleships had been sent to the offshore waters of the Goblin Kingdom.

The never-before-seen events shocked the entire Goblin Nation. The largest port in the southern Goblin territory, Great Southern Bay, had been left in utter ruin.

When a battleship attacks a harbor, the precision of its cannons becomes less important. Targets are stationary and large, making it easy for Bernard's fleet to accomplish their mission.

The outdated Great Southern Bay fortifications, which hadn't seen renovations in nearly 100 years, were armed with Shireck muzzle-loading cannons of 100mm caliber...

At the time of their purchase, these were monstrous guns, with wooden structures for turning mechanisms, considered very advanced weaponry.
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Alas, they belonged to an era a hundred years past. What threat could a solid shot from a 100mm caliber muzzle-loading cannon pose to armor more than 200mm thick?

In fact, there was no need to guess, as the range of these cannons wasn't even sufficient! Great Tang's two destroyers, using their 150mm main guns, fired salvo after salvo and Great Southern Bay's fortifications became history.

Following that, the Tang main fleet entered the harbor, and the battleships' main cannons began to pour down their shells.

Those were 305mm high-explosive shells! That was the roaring fury of 16 main guns firing simultaneously! That was a spectacle the old men and women of the Goblin Kingdom, having lived sixty years, had never witnessed!

The local officials holed up in the city were so terrified that they couldn't speak, realizing what sort of enemy their nation was fighting against only when they saw a smoking chimney blasted off into the sky by a shell.

The children's cries and the desperate screams sounded so insignificant and helpless against the overwhelming explosions tearing everything apart.

Violence can never be forgiven, so to repay cruelty with kindness remains just a beautiful wish. To stop killing with killing proves the most effective method!

Unless you slit your enemy's throat and bleed them dry, chopping them into pieces on a butcher's block, the remnants will never learn a word called "awe."

"He who kills my kind shall be executed!" Muttering this slogan shouted when the King of Great Tang issued his orders, the loaders once again operated the machinery, winding the chains to load a huge dark green shell into the gun's chamber.

After all the procedures were completed, there was a moment of silence. Then a new round of salvo began, and countless shells crossed the distance, raining down upon the city of Great Southern Bay.

The fishing boats docked in the port were turned into sieves by the 150mm caliber secondary guns, leaving only the masts standing above the water.

A coal transport ship, its bow raised high, was slowly sinking into the water due to the flooding, with coal debris staining the surrounding sea like ink.

Bernard didn't find the Goblin's main fleet in Great Southern Bay; he sank merely three destroyers and one cruiser that tried to flee.

After suffering massive losses, the Goblin's main fleet had fled north to avoid battle. What was left behind was essentially a token force, quite insignificant in size, even negligible.

While sinking these remaining warships, some were even seen with unrepaired damage from the previous naval battle, clearly bearing the scars of past engagements.

The Goblins had neither the time to repair these injuries nor the confidence that the wounded ships could make it north without capsizing en route, so they were left behind to chance their survival.

As it turned out, the luck of the Goblin Navy seemed to have run out after they damaged Dongwan No.1 battleship; all four ships were sunk in the harbor, unable to even struggle against the battleships.

If the cruisers and destroyers had been equipped with torpedoes, a devastating weapon, Bernard would naturally not dare to let his fleet enter the bay for close ranged combat.

Unfortunately, the few torpedoes in the world were still undergoing testing in submarines near Dragon Island; thus, cruisers and destroyers in this world stood no chance of retaliating against battleships.

Inside Great Southern Bay, Goblin officials sent out news of their attack, and soon after, the higher echelons of the Goblin Kingdom learned that their "hometown" had been hit.

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For an island nation, this was an absolute disgrace and an absolutely fatal situation.

Suddenly, notices to mobilize troops were issued everywhere, only to find that these hastily conscripted troops probably didn't even have a decent rifle to their name.

Without warships, without heavy artillery. They couldn't possibly expect these soldiers to swim with Shireck Model 1 bolt-action rifles to fight against the enemy's warships with bayonets, could they?

So, while a massive number of troops were being conscripted, negotiations for peace also began immediately within the court of the Shenguo.

Initially, because of Tang Country's harsh conditions, Shenguo's government and people were unwilling to bring up the matter of negotiation.

But as the situation on the battlefield continued to deteriorate, broaching the topic of negotiation became less embarrassing.

...

In the distant Dahua Empire, within the Imperial City, Emperor Zhao Kai watched as a group of ministers argued endlessly about something.

It was well known that the relationship between Dahua Empire and Tang Country was extremely tense. As a result, Dahua Empire had even conscripted some military forces temporarily to fill up the borders next to Qi Country.

Even at the most critical moment of Qi Country's desperate struggle, the upper echelons of Dahua Empire had seriously discussed attack plans against Tang Country.

Unfortunately, the sudden death of Qi Country's King Jiang Xian caused the situation to deteriorate too quickly, and as a result, Dahua Empire swiftly missed the opportunity to deploy troops.

As the Tang Army showcased various types of new weaponry on the battlefield, the generals of Dahua Empire grew increasingly pessimistic about waging war against Tang Country and so, the declaration of war against Tang kept being postponed, leading to the current stalemate.

The situation was a bit like when Tang Country annihilated Zheng, with a group of ministers clamoring every day about insufficient preparations and inadequate military strength, making Zhao Kai quite irritable.

He wanted to use the military to attack Tang Country, but he also worried that going it alone could genuinely lead to defeat. Thus, he once again found himself caught in this endless argument between him and his ministers.

However, an advisor from Shireck soon brought some good news, news that was also confirmed by the ambassadors of the Ice Cold Empire and other countries.

Tang Country was prepared to sell airplane technology, which Dahua Empire greatly feared, and they were also willing to sell battleship technology!

This immediately made the military faction of Dahua Empire drool with anticipation, and they hoped Emperor Zhao Kai would spend money to acquire these technologies to catch up and, like the Tang Army, have a powerful air force.

Compared to the slow-moving airships, this seemed to be the ultimate solution for aerial weaponry—even if it was outdated, it indeed pointed out the correct direction for development!

"A billion! That's a billion! We simply don't have that many Gold Coins!" Minister of Revenue Wang Yucái complained with a frown, standing on Zhao Kai's side. This time, he really couldn't come up with that much money.

But he wasn't as poor as he made out to be. With the ongoing industrialization, countries in this world were clearly much wealthier than before.

Countries had started issuing paper money to varying degrees, although none as stable as those issued by Great Tang Group. In the course of trade, everyone couldn't help but use the paper money issued by Great Tang Group. In this smokeless currency war, Great Tang Group seemed to hold the winning hand.

"It's okay, it's okay! We can use some of the previously accumulated Tang Country banknotes, or we can compensate with ore... it's all fine! All doable!" General Feng Kezhi said with a smile, after all, he was the one asking for money from the Ministry of Revenue.

"Tell me, purchasing tanks and cannons from Shireck, building our own factories to produce machine guns and cars... how much money have you spent?" Zhao Kai slammed the table in anger. "What's the result? After spending so much money, you still say you can't win when it comes to war! What use are you to me? What use at all!?"

Minister of Rites Zhou Qiang, who stood with the ministers, felt the pinch as well: "Can it be less... a whole billion Gold Coins..."

"You may think it's expensive, but Shireck's envoys are already on board!" Minister of Rites Chen Jing, this time, stood on the military's side because if airplane technology could be secured, it would certainly enhance the Ministry of Industry's various production technologies.

Spending the military's money to score points for the Ministry of Industry was naturally something Chen Jing, as a minister, was willing to do.

Indeed, after a series of collaborations with Tang Country, Minister Chen Jing increasingly felt that the technology of the Great Tang Group was unfathomably deep. He had now completely changed his attitude and no longer supported waging war against Tang Country.

But just because he didn't support it, didn't mean others didn't. At least Emperor Zhao Kai was a proponent of the war; had the ministers not intervened, Dahua Empire would have declared war on Tang Country months ago.

"If Your Majesty wishes to wage war against Tang Country, then we must purchase this airplane technology," Minister of War Shen Chuan took a step forward and explained, "If we don't do this, our million-strong army would be vulnerable to enemy attacks from the skies, wouldn't they?"

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