Munitions Empire-Chapter 978 - 900 Civil War

Chapter 978: 900 Civil War Chapter 978: 900 Civil War Fengjiang was very close to the border, which was not good for the Dahua Empire: the artillery and bombers of the Great Tang Empire could cover the city.

But now, with Fengjiang backing the Great Tang Empire and establishing its own faction, it gained some advantages: the fighter jets taking off from the Great Tang Empire could actually provide cover for Fengjiang.

Even though the Butcher Fighter Jets of the Great Tang Empire were very easy to recognize, in times of need, the Great Tang Empire’s jets taking off to lend a helping hand was highly feasible.

Another benefit was the anti-aircraft radar deployed on the side of the Great Tang Empire, which in fact could provide early radar warning for Fengjiang City.

This meant that Fengjiang City’s air defense capabilities were unprecedentedly strengthened, and to some extent, Fengjiang’s air defense was even tighter than that of the Dahua Imperial Capital.

Since they were not ready to attack and did not intend to escalate the situation, the Dahua Empire had not shown any intention to launch an offensive for many days.

They were patiently waiting, waiting for their troops to gather completely, and then with an overwhelming momentum, to end this farce directly.

...

Unfortunately, Zhao Yu did not think so. He was even arrogantly preparing to attack Hezhe, so he had been waiting for the frontline commanders to report back that the battle had commenced.

In order to take the initiative and trigger this upheaval early, the military advisors of the Great Tang Empire, after completing their defensive fortifications, took the initiative to start the conflict.

12 old bombers deployed in Fengjiang took off under orders, wearing a new identification coating, and bombed the Hezhe City train station.

Unfortunately, these planes really performed poorly; they were intercepted by the urgently launched Dahua Type 2 fighter jets from the direction of Hezhe, and all were shot down without exception.

Even before they were shot down, they had not managed to drop a single bomb, so the entire mission ended in failure, and the former Dahua Empire’s Air Force Commander in Fengjiang was even held accountable and removed from his position.

War had already erupted, and of course, Zhao Chen could no longer maintain restraint; he immediately ordered the artillery to fire and bloodily cleanse the defensive positions outside Fengjiang.

The Fengjiang garrison, still living comfortably in their shelters with good food and drinks, were stunned by the bombardment of more than 400 artillery pieces; for the first time, they realized how powerful their own country was.

The artillery shells fell like raindrops, and the defensive line that had just been built less than a day earlier was nearly destroyed by the intense shelling.

The concrete bunkers that hadn’t completely dried were hit by artillery shells and were completely blown up into the air; the war had just broken out and instantly entered the most fierce phase.

Seeing the front-line defensive positions being devastated, the advisory groups of the Great Tang Empire didn’t care at all—the one thing they were never short of was probably cement and steel rebar.

The Great Tang Empire didn’t provide arms to Fengjiang’s defenders, but the other materials were shockingly plentiful—especially the steel rebar and concrete materials for building defensive structures, which almost instantly filled all of Fengjiang’s warehouses.

Originally, part of Fengjiang’s defending army was going to be pulled south, so the front line could only rely on solid defensive fortifications for support; this was a pre-arranged strategy.

Since it was arranged, investing massive amounts of cement to build defensive lines became a plan that had to be executed: these days, the Fengjiang garrison had constantly been building various steel rebar concrete defense lines, almost filling the entire west side of Fengjiang City with fortifications.

The thick cement was piled up everywhere, as if it cost nothing; trenches were reinforced, bunkers were reinforced, and many underground defensive works were also reinforced with cement.

Interestingly, to counter the tank troops of the Great Tang Empire, Fengjiang’s defenders equipped a large number of anti-tank guns, which were initially substandard anti-aircraft guns converted, mostly with a caliber of 76 mm.

Such artillery might be too outdated for use as anti-aircraft guns, but they were still sufficient for use as anti-tank guns.

They had good ballistic performance and sufficient armor penetration capabilities, still more than enough against the Dahua 3-type tanks equipped by the Dahua military forces.

Dahua military’s 3-type tank was an improvement on the 2-type tank, with added frontal armor, and firepower increased to a medium-caliber 90 mm gun, greatly enhancing its potency.

The biggest improvement in this tank was the installation of a radio inside, allowing these tanks to communicate with each other.

Originally, the 3-type tank was designed with the Great Tang Empire’s No. 4 tank as the hypothetical enemy, but unfortunately it had not yet been manufactured, and the war between the Dahua Empire and the Great Tang Empire had already ended.

And the Panther Tanks that appeared in the war from the Great Tang Empire completely overpowered the still-on-paper Dahua 3-type tanks, so the Dahua Empire immediately invested manpower and resources to develop the 5-type tank.

The reason it’s called Type 5 Tank is to distinguish it from the Great Tang Empire’s Type 4 Tank, to avoid confusion in terminology.

The Dahua Empire’s Type 5 Tank is indeed a heavy tank. Like other countries opposing the Panther Tanks, Dahua relies on stacking up heavy armor to enhance its tank’s combat capacities.

However, the downside is that the Dahua Empire’s Type 5 Tank is very slow and its field maneuverability is limited, making it not a very practical tank.

Therefore, over the years, the most equipped tank in Dahua remained the Type 3, a medium tank with balanced performance—even if it is somewhat inferior to the Panther Tank, it’s still far more practical than the Type 5.

Inside the trench, the Fengjiang soldiers, covering their ears, could still hear the clicking sounds of stones falling on their heads. They could feel the pebbles hitting their steel helmets and the ground under their feet continuously trembling.

The Dahua Empire actually had a substantial number of artillery units. During the previous engagements with the Great Tang Empire, their ammunition reserves had been destroyed, and their artillery positions had been demolished, so their true combat power couldn’t be utilized.

Now, with the air forces of both sides in a sorry state, Dahua’s artillery immediately became heroic, starting their jovial singing.

“Damn it! Why can’t they exert this much effort when they’re supporting us?” an old soldier who had survived the Tang-Dahua War cursed loudly from the trench.

As he cursed, a shell landed on the flat ground behind his position, lifting a sky-high cloud of dirt.

Countless bits of rocky debris fluttered in the air, then fell on the soldiers in the trenches, bouncing off the concrete trench edges.

The crater on the ground was more than five meters in diameter, even though it was made by a relatively small-caliber shell. Dahua’s artillery bombardment continued incessantly, but the losses of the Fengjiang troops stationed at the positions weren’t significant.

On one hand, they had strong defensive fortifications to rely on, and on the other, their main forces were stationed at the second-line positions, not covered by the artillery fire.

In fact, Fengjiang’s artillery had also started a counter-barrage immediately, but it seemed somewhat feeble due to their insufficient numbers.

Compared to Dahua’s army, which possessed 400 large-caliber cannons, the Fengjiang military only had a mere 120 large-caliber cannons, so they were more conservative in returning fire.

However, despite their timidity, Fengjiang’s artillery still managed to cause trouble for Dahua’s troops: they didn’t have concrete defensive structures, so their ability to withstand attacks was slightly inferior.

More frustrating for them was the fact that with reinforced concrete defensive structures, Fengjiang’s artillery couldn’t be quickly suppressed, forcing Dahua’s forces to endure the enemy’s artillery strikes.

Thus, the battle quickly turned into an artillery duel. One side leveraged their artillery numerical superiority recklessly, while the other relied on their robust defenses to continuously counterattack, creating a back-and-forth battle.

Worried about delayed reinforcements, Zhao Chen did not order an infantry assault, so both sides just kept up the artillery fight, transitioning from the first day’s intense bombardment to sporadic fire and random coverage on the second day.

The artillery from both sides fired scattered shots across a front more than 60 kilometers wide—here a couple of shots, there a couple of shots, suddenly reducing the intensity of the conflict by several orders of magnitude.

Initially, everyone thought that Dahua would soon launch an offensive, but as the artillery duel calmed down, it seemed the attack wouldn’t proceed.

Stationed in a position that had been bombed once, the Fengjiang forces returned to a comfortable life, drinking tap water directly supplied to their position by water pumps, cooking delicious instant noodles transported from the Great Tang Empire, and writing safety letters home.

This was a level of comfort they had never experienced before; they had never seen so many pieces of writing paper, nor encountered officers willing to help write letters home.

The Great Tang Empire’s consultants at the front lines didn’t participate in the battles, but they supervised the distribution of military resources, chatted with Fengjiang soldiers, helped them write letters home, and helped send the soldiers’ collected chocolates and candies back home along with the letters.

The most uptodat𝓮 n𝒐vels are published on freёnovelkiss.com.

Of course, they also played cards with the soldiers, sang songs to showcase their talents, and even shared their cigarettes with these Fengjiang soldiers.

Occasionally, they would squat together in the trenches, looking up at the sky where not-so-intense air battles took place: sometimes it was a Dahua Empire reconnaissance plane flying over, then chased by Fengjiang’s Dahua Type 3 Fighter Jets; then Dahua’s similar fighter jets would fly back, entangling in the sky.

Frequently, a plane would trail long black smoke as it glided away, and sometimes an air battle would end without any results.

In any case, accompanied by intermittent, faint echoes of artillery fire, this civil war within the Dahua Empire had fully erupted. Apart from the first day’s thunderous barrage, it seemed… not as ferocious as one might imagine.

———

Today, two updates