Munitions Empire-Chapter 898 - 821 Intelligence is very important

Chapter 898: 821 Intelligence is very important Chapter 898: 821 Intelligence is very important National power is sometimes an overt strong presence. When a country’s national power is robust, its subjects tend to unconsciously display a rightful dominance in their external actions.

On the Great Tang Empire’s destroyer, as single-barreled 127mm caliber cannons pointed toward a distant fishing boat, the gunners were genuinely prepared to fire.

This was not a timid threat but a sincere desire to execute orders and achieve merit.

All soldiers had rushed to their battle stations, and sailors, wearing orange life jackets, looked through the anti-aircraft gun sights at distant targets under the rims of their steel helmets.

They were just waiting for the command to unload their ammunition on the target until the inconspicuous little fishing boat was sunk.

To their regret, before the command to attack was issued, the distant boat began to turn and constantly repeated the light signal “We mean no harm.”

Even other countries’ warships would steer clear of the aggressive Tang Imperial destroyer like avoiding a mad dog, let alone such a fishing boat.

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Soon, the fishing boat became nothing more than a small blip on the radar screen. The Tang destroyer remained vigilant, following the fishing boat from behind until it was far from the fleet before turning back.

The Tang destroyer, capable of reaching a super-high speed of 60 kilometers per hour at critical moments, had no trouble catching up to the fleet.

After escorting the fishing boat away, the destroyer once again whipped around like a bolt of lightning, tracing an elegant arc across the sea.

On the departing fishing boat, a sailor fiddled with a still costly camera, and the captain, sweating profusely, stood silently on the deck looking in the direction of the stern.

Indeed, they were a fishing boat, but before setting out, they had taken a side job, carrying several “gentlemen” from the Laines Empire along the way.

As for what these gentlemen were doing or how significant their positions were, he didn’t know—he was only responsible for taking orders and trying to inch closer to the Tang warships here.

“Did you get it?” a nervous Laines intelligence officer asked his subordinate. They were using a more advanced camera equipped with a long-focus lens.

Long-focus lenses capable of capturing distant scenes were rare at the time, and expensive precision cameras were mostly used for aerial reconnaissance and weren’t yet widely available.

Nevertheless, to capture images of the Tang destroyer, the Laines Empire had managed to acquire such a camera and had sent somebody with it to this mysterious sea zone.

“Got it!” the intelligence officer disguised as a sailor nodded confidently. “I took several shots in one go; there should be a usable one.”

Taking photographs in the unpredictable sea, where the subject was also a rapidly moving, shaking target, was mainly a matter of luck.

If lucky, one could capture a clear photo of the destroyer—if not, the resulting blurry photos might naturally include a ghostly effect.

“Ah… It’s a pity; we don’t even know what these Tang warships are guarding,” the leading commander sighed, somewhat helplessly.

They had always wanted to get past the outer warning line of the Tang fleet to take a closer look at the core. There were always rumors that the Tang had built a new type of warship, and not confirming this was unsettling.

But no matter how hard they tried, they were always blocked by Tang warships: these vessels seemed to sense nearby approaching enemy ships and always appeared in the most accurate positions.

“You could try coming with a warship next time; then they wouldn’t be able to stop you,” suggested the fishing boat’s captain to his country’s intelligence officers.

“It’s not that easy… Last time we did bring a cruiser, but… well, it’s better not to mention it,” the commander shook his head as if recalling some unpleasant memory.

Indeed, after being intercepted several times, the Laines Empire did dispatch a cruiser, chanting the slogan of freedom of navigation, intending to get close to the Tang fleet.

However, the Tang destroyer that rushed to intercept was indeed taken aback by the larger size and more numerous cannons of the Laines Empire cruiser.

But the captain of the Laines cruiser quickly became frustrated when they soon spotted the second Tang destroyer, followed by the third.

Adding to their annoyance, the enemy opened fire at close range, launching a series of shells toward the cruising path of the Laines cruiser and creating a row of water columns in front of the Laines cruiser.

Ultimately, after much consideration, the captain of the Laines cruiser decided to abort the reconnaissance mission and angrily chose to turn away.

“What else could we do? Were we supposed to open fire and engage in a naval battle with the warships of Tang Country? Let’s not joke about that, all right? If we truly caused trouble, it would not have been easy to clean up.”

Bearing the residual influence of a war victoriously fought, the power of Tang Country was at its peak, and the Laines Empire dared not provoke such a fierce tiger alone.

This was also an important reason why the Tang warships dared to actively fire and provoke: the opponent was stronger, which allowed them to act more recklessly. Clearly, the Laines Empire was not ready to fight a war; hence, they could only reluctantly accept defeat.

Moreover, could they have won if a battle truly ensued? The captain of the Laines Empire’s cruiser had his doubts—the Tang destroyers appeared weak but were armed with torpedoes.

During the previous naval battles against Tang, there were several instances where Tang destroyers had sunk various nations’ naval warships with torpedoes; therefore, it was uncertain who would have the advantage in a sudden close-range exchange of fire.

Imagine if they had opened fire only to have their own ship sunk in such a deserted place; that would really turn into quite the spectacle.

As a result, up to now, when intelligence departments of various countries came here for information, they mostly arrived on fishing boats and disguised themselves as civilians, which was somewhat safer.

After all, if they were caught, they could simply throw cameras and some documents into the sea and pretend to be innocent fishermen to get through the situation.

Of course, since the Tang Navy was exceedingly dominant in international waters, often performing expulsion and interception actions, it was not uncommon for foreign diplomats to come knocking, protesting against the domineering and rude actions of the Tang Navy.

Yet such protests hardly bothered the diplomats of Tang; they would scold a bit and engage in verbal spar when in good spirits, or not even bother to respond when in a bad mood.

So what if they’re not content? If dissatisfied, declare war, for if they can defeat the elite forces of Great Tang, there’s nothing more to say, right?

To avoid the trace of international spies and keep the airplane operations more covert, the Tang Imperial Fleet’s aircraft carriers had always been maneuvering irregularly around Dragon Island.

They shifted northwards and then southwards, essentially untraceable. It was precisely because of this that they managed to remain undetected by many people.

In fact, they weren’t genuinely circling a large ring, but avoiding the crowded civilian air routes near Weigang, and operated as much as possible on the outskirts of Dragon Harbor where civilian vessels were prohibited.

Additionally, with the surveillance and patrolling of Flying Fortress Reconnaissance Aircraft and the radar detection warning from destroyers, under normal circumstances, no one would discover this massive fleet.

However, nothing is absolute; inevitably, because of the aircraft’s take-off and landing training, Stuka Dive Bombers or Pirate Fighters had been spotted by some country’s fishing or spy ships occasionally.

Due to the Pirate Fighters still being confidential, remaining unmentioned in these countries’ intelligence, most intelligence reports mistakenly identified the Pirate Fighters as Stukas due to similar wing designs.

After all, the Stuka was just too famous and had appeared extensively in wars, leaving a profound impression on many participants.

As for the occasional notice of some inverted gull-wing planes seemingly lacking landing gears, this was ignored by intelligence departments of various countries.

The reasons varied: it could have been a modified version of a Stuka or possibly a visual misjudgment due to the angle of view.

In any case, the armies of various countries were still unaware of the emergence of the new type of Tang fighter jet.

And as for the matter of aircraft carriers, due to a lack of enough imagination, the intelligence departments of various countries did not even consider this possibility.

For them, airplanes were still distant and unfamiliar concepts; they had only been conceptualizing these flying machines for a few years. Thus, they could not even dream that there already existed a superweapon that allowed airplanes to take off and land at sea.

Not willing to say much to the fishing boat captain, the intelligence officer of the Laines Empire waved his hand, contemplating his next specific plan for reconnaissance.

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In his view, this kind of desperate close reconnaissance was bound to yield no results; they lacked submarines that could bypass destroyers for direct infiltration, and there were no places nearby capable of launching airplanes…

Therefore, the most reliable option was to try to activate an undercover network embedded within Dragon Island, seeking an opportunity to get close to Dragon Harbor and see exactly what the Tang People were up to there.

What he did not know was that many were considering the same issues, with numerous intelligence departments of the empires trying to spy on every move of Tang.

Because in the last war, they had suffered too many losses due to a lack of clear intelligence. If they had detected the emergence of submarines earlier, if they had known the real strength of the Tang Army sooner, would they have so easily engaged in a war against Tang Country?

For these rulers of empires, waging war required no reflection, but losing a war forced them to seriously reconsider. Because losing a war… cost money!