Munitions Empire

In the basement beneath a ruined area within Fengjiang City, General Feng Kezhi looked at a confidant and commanded, "Just do as I told you..."

The confidant nodded slightly and then turned to leave the basement. General Feng Kezhi glanced around the somewhat empty headquarters and sighed deeply.

He knew that the Dahua Empire's military had members of the Royal Family mixed in like grains of sand, and he had even had to tolerate it before.

Now, he couldn't possibly be unaware of what some people were preparing to do; after all, he was the Great General of the Dahua Empire, and he was all too familiar with some of the unique operational modes within the Empire.

If at this time the Emperor didn't set a trap for him, that would have been truly surprising. He even felt relieved because he knew some information.

Only this familiar rhythm could calm him down: the Dahua Empire really didn't plan to keep him, and he could only honestly wait here to die.

However, for General Feng Kezhi, there was a difference between waiting to die and really waiting to die; it was completely different whether he sat and waited for death or showed his value here.

For a Great General, appearing utterly incapable, even in death, would ultimately be a joke.

So, even for his own sake, he had to perform brilliantly in the last battle of his career, showing his worth.

"Now, I have played all the cards in my hand. It's up to you, Your Majesty The Emperor, whether you are more cunning or I have the better move," General Feng Kezhi closed his eyes and murmured, then fell silent again.

...

On a defensive position within Fengjiang City of the Dahua Empire, a Dahua soldier at a commanding height of the ruins spotted a team of Soldiers he had never seen before moving in single file.

These Soldiers he had never seen were all wearing a type of steel helmet he hadn't seen before, dressed in light-colored camouflage, seemingly designed specifically for urban ruins.

Compared to the ordinary Soldiers of the Great Tang Army, these men were carrying more equipment, some even equipped with devices that had antennas.

All the Soldiers moved cautiously, the bodies of several slain Soldiers of the Dahua Empire lying at their feet.

"Hiss..." the Dahua soldier retracted his head, preparing to alert his comrades at the other position. However, a man dressed like the squad below slowly stood up behind him.

The man had a deep gray mask on his face, featuring the lower jaw of a shallow skull. The area around his eyes was painted black, giving him an unfathomably deep appearance.

Before the Dahua soldier could turn around, the masked man sliced open his throat with a dagger. The Soldier clutched his throat and fell, while the man with the skull mask stepped aside.

He gave a thumbs up to his companion behind him, then looked down at the struggling Dahua soldier beneath his feet, found a good position, and expressionlessly began guarding the surroundings.

On the other side of the ruins, at a Dahua Empire position, a soldier seemed to realize there was a problem with the flank of his position.

He frowned, looking at the disturbance on that position, and his hands involuntarily began to raise his rifle. But before he could complete the motion, his head was penetrated by a bullet.

"Bang!" A crisp gunshot sounded, and the Dahua military position immediately became chaotic. Many ducked their heads, then one after another yelled, "Sniper! There's a sniper!"

They dared not raise their heads again, nor gauge what had happened. With no sniper scopes, Dahua Empire's snipers dared not confront Tang Country's snipers head-on.

Dahua's military could only form some sharpshooters, barely learning Tang Country's sniping tactics, ambushing Tang Army Soldiers under certain circumstances.

Once Tang Country's real snipers arrived, all these so-called sharpshooters of the Dahua Empire had to run. Those who didn't flee were essentially hunted down.

Under Tang Country's fourfold, even sixfold, sniper scopes, they were just prey, naive prey at that.

The sniping tactic, the experience level of the snipers, and the quality of their equipment in Tang Country were not something the Dahua Empire could match.

To date, apart from Tang Country's high-precision optical instrument factory, other countries could barely produce usable telescopes—sniper scopes were far inferior.

In complex battlefield environments, vibration and bumps could affect the precision of these optical instruments, so most countries' snipers had to make do with ordinary rifles that lacked optical scopes.

And in the Endless Sea, over sixty percent of the optical scopes were imported products exported from Great Tang; their own domestically produced items were likewise inferior in precision.

As chaos erupted on one position, another flank, already breached by special forces, saw military vehicles speed by on a road, seemingly not at all like charging into an enemy camp.

Inside the carriage, the man dressed in a Dahua military uniform tossed his cigarette butt out the window, his arm resting on the rolled-down glass, watching as the Dahua special forces by the roadside gave them a thumbs up.

These vehicles were all used by the Dahua Empire, adorned with the insignia of the Dahua Empire, and inside the carriage, the soldiers, all dressed in Tang Country special forces gear, were arranging their weapons.

After driving forward for two blocks, the small convoy encountered a checkpoint. A barrier of barbed wire blocked the front, and beside it stood an old-fashioned 76 mm caliber anti-aircraft gun pointing upwards.

"Stop the car! Which unit are you from?" A Dahua military squad leader stopped the vehicle, while the machine-gunner beside him aimed his Maxim machine gun at the unfamiliar trucks.

They hadn't heard the front lines had been breached, so they weren't sure if these trucks were enemies; they could only ask them to stop for confirmation.

"We are the Imperial Guards... here on a special mission," the man in the passenger seat casually handed over his credentials.

Obviously, the Dahua squad leader had never seen such credentials. He looked at them suspiciously, even doubting their authenticity because of their fine craftsmanship.

The commander of the Tang Country special forces sitting in the vehicle also felt awkward; those credentials were clumsily made, and now it seemed... they were a bit too deceiving.

"Let them through." At this moment, a Dahua officer walked out from a building on the side. The soldiers around the checkpoint, hearing their commander say this, immediately returned the credentials and lifted the barrier to let the trucks pass.

"Sir, are they really Imperial Guards?" The inexperienced squad leader looked at his superior with confusion. He had never seen credentials printed so exquisitely; they appeared very high-end.

The officer glanced in the direction the vehicles were heading and sneered, "Whether they are real or not, what does it have to do with you? In a few minutes, we will be raising the white flag to surrender. Why bother with such trivial matters?"

The reprimanded Dahua squad leader quickly shut his mouth. Following the commander in surrendering was a life-saving act with which no one would disagree, and he couldn't change anything anyway.

...

At another position, a major general was discussing the details of the upcoming surrender with his confidants.

According to the agreement, as long as they surrendered their weapons, they could safely depart and return to the territory of the Dahua Empire.

He had even received a telegram from inside the Dahua Empire, stating that if he brought his troops back, he would be greatly commended and not face any punishment.

In their view, surrendering their weapons was the best choice; if they fought to the death, at least half of them might end up dead here.

"There's nothing we can do; this is a decision from those above us. We can't change anything," the leading general said, shifting the blame away with ease.

His subordinates also sighed in relief because if they really had to fight to the death, they too might lose their lives in the process.

Just as everyone was easing up, sudden intense gunfire erupted outside the door. Everyone was stunned, not even having the time to react before the headquarters' door was kicked open.

A group of Dahua soldiers stormed in, led by a colonel who was holding a shotgun and coldly surveyed everyone in the room.

"How dare you! What are you trying to do? Revolt?" An officer in the room, upon seeing the other's rank, immediately began scolding.

His words had barely left his lips when he was shot through the head. The colonel shook his pistol and shouted angrily, "It is you who are revolting! Fleeing the battlefield and surrendering to the enemy! Disrupting our military heart! Your deaths are deserved!"

"Feng Kezhi! You bastard! Even in death, you drag us down with you!" Knowing his chances were slim, the leading general erupted into curses.

But gunfire erupted, and everyone in the headquarters was thrown into chaos. Soon, all was silent again, and the colonel walked out of the headquarters.

He looked at the silent soldiers and lower-ranking officers outside, then shouted loudly, "Dahua soldiers! There are no cowardly traitors who surrendered here! From now on, I am in command! For the Empire, for His Majesty! We fight to the death!"

The soldiers following him raised their arms and echoed his shouts. Soon, more joined in, and as the voices grew louder, the colonel began issuing orders to reorganize the defenses.

While chaos reigned within half of Fengjiang City under Dahua's control, with friendly fire breaking out, on the Tang Army's positions, the cannons were raising their barrels.

Bolton checked his watch; the attack time he had agreed with the bartender was fast approaching, and his troops were ready to commence their assault.

Actually, he was quite nervous now, not nervous about whether the attack he was about to launch might falter, but nervous about whether those unseen Tang special forces could complete their mission.

If they accidentally fired on their own people, would he regret it, would he blame himself...