Munitions Empire-Chapter 955 - 878 Orc Empire

Chapter 955: 878 Orc Empire Chapter 955: 878 Orc Empire Deserts always leave a deep impression on people, embodying the spirit of robust heroes and adventurers. In ancient Huaxia, there were many poems that praised the wilderness and showcased the majestic beauty of masculinity.

However, in the real world, deserts are not friendly to life; they lack water sources and are unsuitable for basic infrastructure development—everything is desolate, and it seems civilization has stopped its march forward here.

In such places, water is everything, which is why the most prosperous cities are always near water sources and continuously change with the shifting of these water sources.

The Orc Empire is not, in most times and respects, an actual empire. It much more resembles a tribal alliance.

Every village has its Shaman Priest, whose duties are essentially no different from those of a village chief. Many villages form a basic alliance called a tribe, and sometimes the tribal leader is also referred to as the Chieftain, a relatively high decision-maker in Orc society.

Further up are the Great Chieftain and the Orc God, similar to a Minister and Emperor, but they only have authority over warfare and foreign affairs, with no say in economic matters.

Because in earlier times, the Orcs barely had any economy to speak of; most of the time, they wandered through nomadic and simple farming activities, seemingly without the need for much management.

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Some Orc tribes have their own iron mines, their own gemstone mines—the lives of these Orcs are not good either. The ores they mine are generally sold cheaply to the human traders who exploit them, in exchange for some urgently needed food and other supplies.

Although all tribes revere the Orc God and follow the primitive religion of the Orc God, this loose tribal alliance system is actually incapable of impacting the organized and disciplined societies of humans, elves, and dwarves.

Especially after the Shireck Consortium improved firearms and ushered the world into the Flintlock Era, the already not very dominant Orcs truly became easy prey for others.

Their war machinery and mobilization mechanisms are more antiquated than those of other races, and their weapon strategies are not cutting-edge, so over the years, they have always been at a passive disadvantage.

The only thing protecting them now is the terrain: the desert and wilderness, and the oases scattered within them, are areas other races cannot occupy for long.

The cost of expeditions is just too high, and so there’s no essential need for the countries to attack. This is the fundamental reason why the Orc Empire has continued to exist.

But with the emergence of a consortium known as the Great Tang Group, this status seemed to have been broken. When some traders who had dealings with the Orc race brought back information about the railroads, all Orc administrators instinctively sensed danger.

If a convenient and fast mode of transport became widespread, then places previously almost unreachable would no longer be so marginal.

For the dominant side, any place that is no longer marginal… might be an option for expansion. Especially when the powerhouses discover that the original inhabitants of those places are easily defeated.

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The Orc Empire also quickly realized the severity of the problem: their losses near Iron Fist Fortress were increasing day by day, and the rate of population decline had already exceeded their tolerable limit.

In the past, they would launch attacks against Qin Country’s western wall defenses to reduce their own population. But now, in a state of passive defense, they’ve almost achieved the goal of controlling the population.

What does this indicate? It signifies that the dynamics of offense and defense are starting to change! Once what is called the “railroad” starts to appear in large numbers in Qin Country, they might reconsider taking Iron Fist Fortress.

And this time… if Qin Country succeeds, the Orcs may never be able to take back that fortress again. If Iron Fist Fortress is lost, it means that the villages, cities, pastures, and water sources behind it… will all be lost one after another.

While the Orcs were anxious, they suddenly discovered that merchants coming from Shu Country were increasing at an astonishing rate.

The Shireck Consortium, which had originally controlled this trade line, had always been wary of selling goods to the orcs, but now this taboo seemed to have been completely broken.

As long as the orcs were willing to pay, whether it was food or steel, rifles or bullets… the Shireck side could provide.

Moreover, the weapons and equipment provided this time were simply incomparable to the trinkets of the past!

After the orcs tested the Shireck Model 1 bolt-action rifle, they immediately purchased 300,000 units. To the orcs’ surprise, they hardly had to wait before these weapons were delivered into their hands.

There were reports that Shu Country had repaired a railway for the purpose of connecting to the Orc Empire, supporting trade transportation between Shu Country and the Orc Empire.

That was a staggering 300,000 rifles! In the past, when the Orc Empire bought Shireck flintlock guns, a trade involving a few hundred was considered a huge deal.

Following the delivery of the 300,000 rifles, salesmen from the Shireck Consortium made a visit, presenting the magnificent performance of the Maxim machine guns to the generals of the Orc Empire.

The orc generals and officials who were present at the demonstration couldn’t believe their own eyes: they truly couldn’t believe that humans were greedy enough to sell such powerful weapons.

In their view, if their troops were equipped with these new weapons, it would not be impossible to break through the western wall defenses of Qin Country.

But soon they realized they were thinking too much, for the western wall defenses of Qin Country had been strengthened. The troops of Qin Country had not only upgraded in warfare tactics first but had also obtained weapons and equipment more advanced than those of the orcs.

The orcs quickly encountered Qin’s large-caliber artillery, formidable crossfire machine gun positions, and armored vehicles…

After getting a nosebleed and looking for their teeth on the western defense line, the orcs suddenly realized that it wasn’t that the Shireck Consortium was too greedy to sell advanced weapons to them, but that the Shireck Consortium’s weapons and equipment apparently were no longer the best available.

It was then that they realized the world seemed to have undergone tremendous changes, and they, the orcs, almost missed this round of development.

The Orc Empire, thinking itself well-armed and provisioned, had no choice but to join an arms race they were destined to lose but had to participate in nonetheless.

The Orc Empire, all at once, made an additional purchase of 200,000 Shireck Model 1 rifles, bought 3,000 Maxim machine guns, and stockpiled over 200 million rounds of ammunition.

At the same time, they spared no expense in buying 100 outdated biplanes and 2,000 vehicles of various models from Shireck businessmen.

To support these high-tech devices, they hired many human maintenance technicians and established a bit of basic industry in some cities near Shu Country.

As Shireck was willing to sell anything and dared to sell everything, the orcs could purchase the most basic low-precision machine tools, acquire some simple tools, and thus were able to enhance their own strength more easily than before.

Long-term clandestine trade with Shu Country had influenced the orcs of the Southern Region. The orcs didn’t dare to harass Shu Country lightly, fearing they might affect the only trade route. This was an interesting circumstance: in the Southern Region where conflicts were more likely to erupt, Shu Country and the Orc Empire maintained peace and even traded, while in the Northern Region, where war was less likely, Qin Country fought unceasingly with the Orc Empire.

What the orcs didn’t know was that the Shireck Consortium they were trading with had, in fact, come under the actual control of the Great Tang Group. The products they bought from the Shireck Consortium were actually sold to them by the Great Tang Group at high prices.

Not only that, but even the expansion and smooth operation of this trade line… were ensured under the guidance and consent of the Great Tang Empire.