Munitions Empire-Chapter 637 - : I dare not gamble with 596.

Chapter 637: I dare not gamble with 596.

Shireck actually couldn’t muster so many airships anymore; among the many that came here, over 30 were borrowed from Gobur Kingdom just to make up the numbers.

Unfortunately, this surprise attack on Dragon Island was doomed to failure from the start: even if these airships managed to breach the aircraft interception line, they still had to face the defenses of searchlights and anti-aircraft guns, making it impossible to inflict any damage on Dragon Island.

Tang Mo was never really afraid of these airships; what he truly worried about was Shireck being able to persuade several countries of the Eastern Continent to unify their navies and launch a sneak attack on Dragon Harbor and Weigang.

In Earth’s world before Tang Mo’s transmigration, countries were divided into maritime and continental nations. Each had its own advantages and disadvantages.

Continental nations possessed more abundant resources and had the massive size and potential for development. Maritime nations enjoyed convenient transportation and relatively safe environments.

In comparison, continental nations had to contend with more complex geopolitical situations and lacked the pioneering capabilities and flexibility of maritime nations.

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On the other hand, maritime nations faced their own challenges of limited developmental potential and the inability to control the seas the way they controlled land.

Among Earth’s civilizations, the United States, the so-called geographically favored nation, was almost the only entity globally that possessed characteristics of both maritime and continental nations. Hence, for quite a long time, it became the wealthiest and most powerful country in the world.

What was more infuriating was that the geographic advantage of the United States allowed it to avoid the disadvantages of both types of nations almost simultaneously: it did not have to worry about the complex regional situations continental nations face, nor did it concern itself with the lack of control over the oceans due to its land spanning two oceans.

The unfortunate one was Tang Mo’s Great Tang Kingdom, which was also a “dual-form” nation that combined characteristics of both continental and maritime nations.

But his kingdom was not the chosen nation like the United States; instead, whilst incorporating the advantages of both types of nations, it also retained all their disadvantages.

The Great Tang Kingdom indeed had vast territories, but unfortunately, its neighbors were full of hostility: the Dahua Empire, Chu Country, Qi Country, and Shen Country were all covetously lying in wait, and wars had already erupted.

At the same time, by controlling many islands in the Endless Sea, including the lucrative Dragon Island, the Great Tang Kingdom was indeed a maritime nation that needed to maintain a strong navy.

The crisis at Dragon Island was a reflection of the inadequacy of the Tang Imperial Navy’s power: without a navy strong enough to suppress all enemies, it fell into a passive state, hindered at every turn.

But Tang Mo didn’t have a good solution either because as a continental nation, the Great Tang Kingdom needed to maintain a strong army, so it was impossible to tilt all resources towards the navy.

And on the naval front, it was a gold-devouring behemoth. No matter how much money was thrown at the navy, they could easily spend it all!

The most infuriating thing was that even if a fortune was spent on building the navy, or rather no matter how much money was given to the navy, it was the only force that could lose all its assets in a single morning.

A decisive battle at sea determined the victor: the winner took it all, and the loser was left with bankruptcy.

Bernard had been drifting at sea for so many days and was already quite irritable. Previously, his fleet had been used merely as a transport, which already annoyed him a great deal.

Now that the transport task was finally complete and he could rightfully engage in the activities a navy should, he was called back to Dragon Island to watch the house…

This was downright humiliating! In his opinion, only if the naval forces were doubled now could they barely manage to accomplish the two diametrically opposed tasks of defense and offense.

At this very moment, Bernard was leaning over the chart table, measuring his fleet’s position over and over again. He was steadily moving away from the battlefield and continuing to waste expensive fuel.

After an entire fleet had gone north and then south again, making such a huge detour without sinking a single enemy ship, wasn’t that a colossal waste?

If these supplies were converted into the corresponding support for the army or the air force, they might have already shattered the enemy.

However, his navy had made such a big circle without even catching a glimpse of the enemy: even now, there was no conclusive intelligence proving the existence of a fleet intending to attack Dragon Island.

The gathered information was all very vague—the Laines fleet seemed to have left the port, but whether it had gone to Brunas or headed south to rendezvous with Dorne’s fleet was unknown.

Dorne’s fleet had also left port, but their destination was unclear. The fleet directly under Shireck had also left its stationed port, and some of Gobur’s fleet was missing too.

So many warships had slipped away from the sight of the Great Tang intelligence officers, which couldn’t help but raise Tang Mo’s vigilance. Combined with the pressure from the already annihilated airship troops, Bernard, even though annoyed, did not think the order to have himself sail back was superfluous.

What he worried about now was that once his fleet reappeared near Dragon Harbor, the safety of ports like Linshui and Dongwan Fengshun would be compromised.

After all, the enemy’s intelligence agents weren’t merely for show. They would report the specific movements of the Tang Kingdom’s naval fleet and create opportunities for their own fleets.

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With the expansion of the Tang Kingdom over the past two or three years, Shireck had actually managed to infiltrate some intelligence agents into Tang Country, barely maintaining some basic intelligence channels.

Lately, because Tang Country was eager to relocate the population of Northern Ridge and Brunas to Dragon Island, Shireck finally succeeded in planting spies in places like Dragon Island and Dongwan Island.

These spies couldn’t gather core intelligence, but they could still provide Shireck with the most basic information. This information was often delayed and low in timeliness, failing to meet the demands. But having some information was better than none at all, which, relatively speaking, was already progress.

If it weren’t for the weakening combat strength of the Great Tang Kingdom’s intelligence department due to rapid expansion, and acute shortage of personnel that could only protect key areas, it was a question whether these spies of Shireck could survive even a few days.

Recently, the higher-ups of the Qi Country’s navy had always sought intelligence on the main movements of the Tang Country’s naval fleet, and their main source of information relied on Shireck’s intelligence network.

There was no helping it—a goblin trying to sneak into Tang Country for intelligence was truly a bit fantastical. The most successful goblin in Tang Country was called Shenwu Bear, and this guy was currently in charge of more than a hundred thousand goblin miners—a ruthless figure indeed.

However, this goblin boss now dared not have any contact with Qi Country; he had personally betrayed at least fifty thousand restless goblin workers to save his own skin… and still dare to be a spy?

According to Qi Country’s rhetoric, both Shenwu Bear and Shen Wenmao had their hands stained with the blood of Qi people; they were but faithful dogs sitting at Tang Mo’s feet, demons that licked Tang Mo’s shoes!

So, the little intelligence Qi Country had about Tang Country mainly came from Shireck and the Dahua Empire, as only they were capable of planting some intelligence agents within Tang Country to gather news.

Now, the intelligence fed back to Qi Country was: the Tang Army’s main fleet had been sighted near Dongwan Island, where they replenished coal and fuel, and then their whereabouts became unknown.

They did not know whether this fleet had headed north or south. Whether it was making for Linshui or had returned to Dragon Harbor.

This message was just too vague; vague to the point where the Qi naval forces dared not make any rash moves: they too feared that the Tang naval forces might suddenly appear in the offshore waters of Qi, destroying their ports and smashing everything in their homes.

Therefore, before getting the movements of the Tang fleet, they also dared not deploy their forces to threaten the ports of Linshui and Dongwan.

There was no choice; stick-swinging to beat a wolf menaced both ends—Tang Mo worried for the safety of Dragon Island, while Qi Country also feared their ports being attacked by the Tang Army.

But if Qi Country found out that the Tang fleet was not in the north but had returned to Dragon Island… then they would gain the courage to take action. They could directly attack Linshui Port and cause trouble for the Great Tang Kingdom.

Bernard knew his battleships were a core strength, so he had to concentrate their use. If they were spread thin, they might be individually destroyed by Qi’s fleet, which would be an even bigger problem: he trusted in the combat power of the battleships, but if an accident happened, the Great Tang Kingdom could lose its supremacy at sea, something he could not tolerate.

“News just in from the Air Force, General!” his adjutant came over with a telegraph and said, “It’s good news! They have shot down all the airships approaching Dragon Island, and at least half of the enemy’s plan has failed.”

“It’s the remaining half that’s the real headache,” Bernard replied without lifting his head or putting down his compasses, “We still haven’t found any trace of the enemy’s fleet!”

“I actually prefer the idea that the enemy doesn’t have such a fleet,” the adjutant once again expressed his opinion: “Does Shireck really have that much influence to convince the nations to give up their most expensive, invaluable warships for his use so casually?”

In fact, many people had thought of this. The likelihood of Shireck’s fleet attacking Dragon Island was, in fact, very low. It was highly improbable for nations to hand over their warships to an unfamiliar commander, as these represented naval dominance.

Who would not fear that at the crisis moment, their precious warships would be used as cannon fodder? What fairness could there be in an allied fleet? If in the end only Shireck’s own fleet remained, wouldn’t the Endless Sea once again belong to Shireck?

So, the probability of such an allied force emerging was indeed very low.

“But we still dare not take the risk,” Bernard scratched his head helplessly and sighed, “Especially now that we have already lost Brunas.”