Munitions Empire-Chapter 997 - : 919 Roulette

Zhao Kai was feeling quite good now; after Zhao Zheng retreated to defend Shanping, he heard for the first time definite news of victory.

The armored corps of the Dahua Empire charged forward for more than 100 kilometers in one breath, demonstrating a momentum comparable to the armored corps of the Great Tang Empire, pinning down the Fengjiang defenders to the ground.

Since the last defeat by the Great Tang Empire, he had not experienced such a liberating and invigorating feeling. Because he was too excited, he even showed a smile in the court.

In his view, Zhao Chen’s troops were now only a little over 20 kilometers away from Fengjiang, and if they pushed a little harder, the war could possibly end within a week.

To make Zhao Chen attack even more vigorously, Zhao Kai even granted him the title of Great General—a title that the Dahua Empire had not had for a long time since the “killing” of General Feng Kezhi.

In other words, Zhao Kai got ahead of himself again. In his opinion, Zhao Chen, who could advance crazily more than 100 kilometers in two days, was much, much better than that bastard Feng Kezhi of the past.

Zhao Kai even began to prepare a rather flashy operation, popping champagne halfway through: he ordered the preparation of a banquet to celebrate the great victory at the front.

However, those in the know, such as Chu Muzhou and Shen Chuan, had no interest in this banquet. They were now worried that the increasing appearance of the foreign legion on the battlefield could affect the outcome of the battle for Fengjiang.

Whether willing to admit it or not, there were indeed many troops from Mirage Country already present on the Fengjiang front: these Mirage Country units had taken over part of Fengjiang’s defensive lines and naturally blocked Dahua’s probing attacks.

The battlefield now was completely different from three days ago, with Elf race pilots whizzing through the skies in Butcher fighter jets, thrashing Dahua military planes that came to adjust artillery fire into searching the ground for teeth.

Even with launching more than three times their aircraft, the Dahua troops still could not shake Fengjiang’s air supremacy.

One reason is the irreconcilable difference in aircraft performance; the Dahua Type 2 and Type 3 fighter jets, from any aspect, aren’t as formidable as the Butcher fighters. The gap in equipment is indeed a chasm that cannot be ignored.

The second reason is the difference in pilot quality; the promising pilots of Dahua were all sponsored by Fengjiang to study, and after their education, most naturally served for Fengjiang. With the best personnel in Fengjiang, the rest would naturally be less capable.

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The third reason was the difference in the distance to the airport: planes taking off from Fengjiang airport only needed to fly tens of kilometers to join the battle, while Dahua’s fighter jets had to fly nearly 200 kilometers to reach the battlefield.

Of course, bombing the Fengjiang airport and train station was possible, but Dahua Empire’s air force commanders posed a very serious question to Zhao Chen: If they mistakenly bombed the Great Tang Empire’s trains or planes, could they afford the consequences?

Zhao Chen, of course, had no answer to such a question. He was well aware of how busy the Fengjiang train station was and knew how many planes from the Great Tang Empire landed and took off from Fengjiang’s airport each day.

But the problem was, these constantly landing and taking off planes from the Great Tang Empire actually served as amulets for the Fengjiang train station and airport…

Should Dahua Empire carelessly destroy a train or plane from the Great Tang Empire, or even cause injuries, they could indeed spark an incident.

If matters reached that point, the Great Tang Empire could easily find some pretext to make more excessive demands of the Dahua Empire.

This was not a matter of reason or logic; it was completely about the disparity in national strength: If the Dahua Empire were stronger, they would simply notify the Tang Ambassador, citing a timeframe, informing that they would bomb train stations and airports during that interval, and Great Tang would have to face the consequences.

But now with the Great Tang Empire stronger, such talks were utterly pointless: you inform the Tang Ambassador that you’re going to bomb, and the Tang Ambassador could simply respond with ‘trade freedom, step aside’, what could the Dahua Empire do?

A hoodlum never reasons with a lady; by the same logic, a policeman doesn’t reason with a hoodlum—those who can sit down and reason together are either two ladies, two hoodlums, or two policemen.

Strength must be equal! Only then can one reason! Why is Lighthouse Country becoming more willing to reason with the Rabbit? Isn’t it because the Rabbit has more “reasonable” tools at its disposal now?

After understanding that he could not bomb Fengjiang on a large scale, nor did he have a suitable opportunity to destroy Fengjiang’s train station and airport, Zhao Chen could only place his bets on a ground attack.

Although he knew it was a gamble, it was the only option he had, so he had to hastily launch another attack without air superiority, while his follow-up troops were not ready.

Some people gamble Russian roulette, removing five out of six bullets from a Left-Wheel Handgun, and take one shot to their own head, betting on the one-sixth odds. Some bet on a miracle with one bullet left. Yet, there are those who play Russian roulette with a Glock, betting the first of seventeen bullets will jam… How could such betting not end in tragedy?

Zhao Chen’s current feeling was like playing Russian roulette with a fully automatic Glock at his head.

He knew well that Dahua’s defense lines were already quite complete, and they had reinforced with at least 2 to 3 divisions of troops, but he still had to bite the bullet and continue to launch attacks.

There was no way around it, Zhao Kai was pressuring him from behind to end the civil war as soon as possible, so no matter what, he could only hasten to organize a new offensive.

The exhausted Dahua troops once again began their bombardment, using up the artillery shells that had been so difficult to transport to the front, attempting to crush the enemy’s spirit with their firepower.

But this time, the Fengjiang defenders had no intention of retreating: since they were at their doorstep, it seemed they had more weapons at their disposal.

For example, along the coast of Fengjiang, many giant gun towers had been deployed to counter the artillery batteries of the Great Tang Empire, which were 350, 360, and even 380 caliber ship cannons imported from Shireck at the time.

These gun towers could fire in 360 degrees, installed within thick armor, as if they were battleship turrets stationed on shore.

Now, because of the long range of these guns—roughly over 20 kilometers—they were able to participate in the battle.

With the support of these super heavy cannons, Fengjiang’s outer defense line held firm in the artillery duel—land artillery simply could not compare with naval guns, whether in rate of fire or in range.

These coastal defense guns also outclassed the Dahua army’s field artillery in power, and with even more cannons on the positions, the Fengjiang artillery, outnumbering Dahua’s, finally began to exert force.

After a day-long artillery duel between Dahua’s army and Fengjiang’s forces, it ended when Dahua’s side had to stop due to ammunition supply issues, which further dampened the morale of its troops, leaving little desire to attack.

While Zhao Chen was gloomily at a stalemate outside Fengjiang City, bad news came from Zhao Zheng: after encountering orcs and goblins on the battlefield, dwarves appeared, and the pressure on Shanping City was now truly mounting.

In fact, Zhao Kai was also very concerned about the safety of Shanping City, or rather, he cared a great deal about Guiguang behind it.

Only with Guiguang in hand could Sword Pavilion and the southern storehouses be safe; this was common sense, so the Dahua Empire had always been transferring troops and dispatching generals, trying to increase the defensive forces in the direction of Guiguang.

But after all, the efficiency of the Dahua Empire was evident, and many places along the way were rather uncooperative, so the transportation of Dahua’s troops was actually quite slow.

A large number of troops were now assembling near Guiguang, with insufficient ammunition and fuel, because the main focus of the offensive was Hezhe; a large amount of fuel, manpower, and equipment were all being transported to Hezhe, leaving resources near Guiguang significantly weaker.

To ensure the absolute defense of Guiguang, Zhao Kai simply hoarded a large number of troops in Guiguang, ordering only a few to go to Shanping for support.

This directly led to increasing pressure on Shanping City, making Zhao Zheng’s defense there less secure.

Despite this, Zhao Zheng still tried hard to hold Shanping, realizing that the loss of a major city at such a time would have an immeasurable impact on morale and the situation.

Both sides engaged in fierce combat near the outskirts of Shanping City, with the Dahua defenders unwilling to give an inch, while Fengjiang’s attacking troops, reinforced by the Foreign Legion, fought valiantly.

In the back-and-forth fighting, casualties for both Dahua’s defenders and Fengjiang’s attackers soared. Around 1000 people perished daily, with the attackers suffering approximately 700 casualties and the defenders around 300.

Gradually, it seemed that the Dahua Empire might not be able to hold out: Fengjiang’s planes bombing Shanping were increasing in number, and without air superiority, the ground troops’ losses began to grow.

At the start, the ratio of losses between the attackers and defenders was about 2 to 1, but now it had nearly reached 1 to 1.

If the battle continued this way, Zhao Zheng, already short on troops, would truly lose Shanping: knowing he was close to being overwhelmed, on this day, he finally sent a telegram to Zhao Chen requesting reinforcements.

Because Zhao Zheng knew that now in the eyes of Zhao Kai, the victorious Zhao Chen would definitely carry more weight, and as a second-tier player, his words certainly wouldn’t hold as much sway as those of Zhao Chen.

He was right, his previous telegrams to Zhao Kai did not attract Zhao Kai’s attention, so a large amount of Dahua’s forces were still dallying around Guiguang, unwilling to advance.

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The update will be very late, everyone watch it tomorrow morning, please.