Munitions Empire-Chapter 635 - : Fall into the trap on one’s own accord

Chapter 635: Fall into the trap on one’s own accord

“Originally it was us who had blocked the Shenwu army, and then cut off their supply lines. Now look, the Navy can’t come up, and we even have to worry about these Shenwu people running away,” complained a military general at the meeting.

His words reminded Tang Mo of a rather unpleasant memory: Dunkirk. The German Army at the time had let slip away what should have been an army completely annihilated—the United Kingdom forces.

So Tang Mo’s expression was not good, but he still remained silent, listening to reports from his subordinates. The Army was caught off guard by the recent changes, and it seemed all their attack plans needed redrafting.

“Previously we were afraid they wouldn’t come, now we’re afraid they might run, this is indeed a frustrating change,” Luff pressed his hand down, trying to soothe the agitated mood of the Army’s logistics department.

He, too, was helpless. Since ground attacks were back in order, the already scarce railway supplies, which were mainly provided to the Air Force, took priority.

Otherwise, from where would the bombers get so many bombs and fuel to throw so recklessly at the enemy’s positions?

...

But now, with ground forces needing to expedite the attack, the logistics department just remembered there’s a whole host of problems yet to be solved.

The supply share for the Armored Corps had never been fulfilled, and most of the transport was of modified parts—not much in the way of fuel and ammunition, so urgent replenishment was needed.

Infantry ammunition and fuel supplies also needed to be expedited, and the Air Force needed reserves of bombs and fuel to support the troops.

All of these issues combined, could you blame the logistics commanders for cursing? Anyone would be driven mad by such recklessness.

“We’re currently attacking the remnants of the First Prince’s forces, hoping to open up a second railway line to improve our logistics,” said Tagg, who was responsible for the eastern frontline attack and was reporting the situation in Anpu, thus joining the meeting.

From the fact that the commander-in-chief was still at the rear, one knew that the Tang Army hadn’t been prepared to launch a large-scale ground offensive.

But the situation had forced them here, and the Tang Army had to speed up and change its strategy.

“The ground military operations will target the First Prince first! On one hand, it’s to open up a new supply line; on the other hand, it’s to begin a thorough clean-up,” Tang Mo declared. “One must eat one bite at a time; you have to finish one dish before moving to the next, so let’s start with this dish—the First Prince of Qi Country.”

After finishing, he continued, “All plans to air-raid Beiyuan City are canceled! Let’s just leave that be for now. If the Shenwu people run off, we’ll settle the score with them slowly. If they don’t run, isn’t that exactly what I want?”

“The Dahua Empire has condemned our attack on Shenwu territory,” a diplomat began, offering a reminder. “This condemnation came 3 days later than the one from Chu Country.”

“I suppose even Zhao Kai himself is reluctant to say that Beiyuan City belongs to Shenwu, right?” Tang Mo sneered, utterly unconcerned about the Dahua Empire’s condemnation.

A condemnation, if effective, would have seen his Great Tang Kingdom obliterated countless times already. More than the condemnation from the Dahua Empire, he was worried about the several countries on the Eastern Continent.

Whether it’s the Ice Cold Empire or the Laines Empire and Dorne Empire, they all have powerful navies; assembled, they would definitely put pressure on Dragon Island. Reluctantly, Tang Mo did not want them to truly unite.

Turning back to the Dahua Empire, with the comprehensive reinforcements of three divisions from Northern Ridge plus the newly conscripted soldiers having completed basic training, Tang Mo wasn’t worried about any country starting a war with him on land.

“Let them come if they wish. After all, the Great Tang Kingdom is fighting defensively at the border. How many lives will the enemy expend before they actually threaten my core regions?”

Conversely, if the Dahua Empire really had the courage to attack Tang Mo, his strategic Air Force would definitely cause vast trouble for the Dahua Empire.

Indeed, Tang Mo’s guess was not far off the mark; Zhao Kai genuinely did not want to recognize Beiyuan City as belonging to Shenwu. If not for the sake of making things difficult for Great Tang, Zhao Kai might have been the first leader to oppose selling Beiyuan City to Shenwu.

This was quite interesting; Tang Mo even found himself somewhat fond of this little dissident. Regardless of his abilities for the time being, the young man at least had a bit of backbone.

“If the Shenwu people retreat, at least we can easily fulfill the established strategic goal, occupy Beiyuan City, secure the northern front, and conserve manpower…” Tang Mo forced a smile, trying to comfort his gathered generals. “So, it’s just a few fleas getting away.”

Since he couldn’t prevent the Shenwu forces from turning tail and fleeing Beiyuan City right now, he had become a bit more philosophical about it. As for the bad omen of Dunkirk, Tang Mo decided to ignore it.

Actually, the situation was completely different from what Tang Mo had anticipated. When the Great Tang Kingdom was forced to send its naval fleet to the southern waters to guard Dragon Island, the Shenwu Navy assured their king that they could control the seas and even launch fleet attacks on the Tang coastline.

After receiving this assurance, the Shenwu Army had to send more troops to Beiyuan City, and this time, they even dipped into their reserves.

Shen Country had no intention of fleeing; they even took this opportunity to continuously send more forces to Beiyuan City.

This time, they planned to dispatch a force of 150,000, effectively going all in.

If Tang Mo had known that the Shen Country people were so cooperative, he might have laughed out loud. However, by the time he learned that not only had the Shen people not left, but had also increased their forces, three days had already passed.

Far from leaving, Shen Country also dispatched another general, Shenwu Sanlang, to Beiyuan City to take over the duties of the fallen Shenwu Liang.

At the same time, Shen Country also transported more heavy artillery and sent some tanks imported from the Ice Cold Empire to Beiyuan City.

They believed that the Tang Army, having bombed Beiyuan City day and night in the previous days, had already exhausted its ammunition, and those deadly and annoying airplanes could no longer be deployed.

Shenwu Sanlang’s mistaken assumption was that the Tang Army had depleted its resources and could now no longer send out the Air Force—the cessation of the bombing was proof, and another piece of evidence was that the Tang Army had even stopped the relentless shelling.

In fact, the main reason the Tang Army had stopped military operations was that they feared the Shen people would flee; the secondary reason was that they were preparing to stockpile supplies for a ground assault on the Shen Military’s already battered defensive positions.

In this way, the precious window of opportunity was wasted by Shen Country’s misjudgment; not only did they not retreat, but they also kept sending troops to Beiyuan City.

Meanwhile, in the skies above the southern part of Dragon Island, Tang Army pilots, almost blinded by the endless expanse of sea, still had not found their intended target.

They did not spot any airships in the sky, nor did they see any suspicious vessels on the sea. They searched in vain within that elliptical area, only to come back empty-handed.

Just as everyone was beginning to grow impatient, a gunner stationed at the rear of the cockpit on a Stuka Dive Bomber, who was temporarily doubling as a navigator with a pair of binoculars, finally saw the target he had been searching for over ten minutes.

“Target spotted! Target spotted! One airship! 2 o’clock!” He immediately opened the communication channel and shouted to everyone, “Coordinates… 173, 821.”

The distant Dragon Island command center and the frontline pilots almost simultaneously heard this pleasant voice!

“Received!” “Received!” Calls of acknowledgment echoed through the channel as one plane after another began to tilt its wings and race towards the target.

At nearly the same moment, a crew member inside the airship, leaning against the window, also spotted the approaching specks. His face turned pale as he turned around and yelled loudly, “Enemy attack! Enemy attack!”

The airship actually had weapons for self-defense. Mounted on each side of the airship was a Maxim heavy machine gun, providing suppressive fire for the vessel. They could fire at ground targets to strike back at ground-based anti-aircraft fire, and they certainly were capable of attacking approaching aircraft as well.

However, compared to the gondolas, the larger and more vulnerable airship gasbags were in greater need of protection. Coincidentally, the approaching Tang Army pilots had also chosen these gasbags as their preferred targets.

“Don’t miss this time!” The lead plane’s pilot reminded his wingmen as he gained altitude.

The wingman pilot glanced at the huge gasbags below and smiled, “This time, it’d be hard to miss even if I wanted to, Sir!”

The leading Stuka tried to maintain its course as much as possible, making minimal maneuvers to ensure the accuracy of navigation.

There was no choice, the system wasn’t yet fully mature, so everyone was very careful; no one wanted to end up ditching dozens of planes in the water.

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But the Butcher Fighter Troops had already spread out and launched their attack on these enormous targets. At that moment, someone noticed that there seemed to be a ship under the airships on the sea.

“That ship looks suspicious!” The Stuka pilot, looking at the ship below, warned his navigator behind him.

“That’s not a warship, nor is it our target!” The navigator took one look and lost interest in the unidentified vessel, “You guess how these airships are able to fly so far without getting lost? They had arranged navigation ships in advance! They provided the course!”

“They really know how to play!” On another plane, an instructor couldn’t help but blurt out his criticism.

No sooner had he spoken than the giant gasbag of a Shireck airship in the distant sky burst into flames, the explosion momentarily reddening all the nearby clouds.

“Wow!” An excited cheer rang out on the radio channel. And so, the slaughter began!