Munitions Empire

This was the latest model of general-purpose hand grenade produced by the Great Tang Group, smaller than the previously used stick grenades to facilitate soldiers carrying them and reduce the logistical support pressure.

Although stick grenades could be thrown farther and could prevent rolling upon landing, they were far too large compared to the egg-shaped grenades, taking up a significant amount of transport volume and increasing usage costs.

Moreover, for individual soldiers, carrying egg-shaped grenades was obviously easier than carrying stick grenades, and they could carry more of them in relative terms.

The troops of Zheng Country had clearly never seen such a round explosive, so when one soldier saw something fall at his feet, his first reaction was to look at the object engraved with horizontal and vertical lines.

The next second, as the fuse ran out of time, the grenade exploded inside the trench, creating a storm of metal.

Flames and shock waves mixed with the splintered grenade casing, rampaged through the trench, and engulfed the crowded Zheng Army soldiers.

A few seconds after the explosion, a Great Tang soldier somersaulted into the trench, holding his Thompson submachine gun at the ready, and warily scanned for movement within the trench.

"Ah..." moaned a Zheng soldier overturned by the grenade, lying in the trench with a shrapnel-pierced leg, blood gushing profusely. Discover exclusive content at My Virtual Library Empire

In fact, he could no longer hear his own cries, with only buzzing in his ears. But he knew he was wounded and hoped to exchange with a comrade to save his dying self.

Unfortunately, most of his comrades could not hear his groans anymore, with bodies lying haphazardly in the trench, the living dazedly trying to regain their senses.

"Help!" Farther away, a Zheng soldier called for help, his injuries less severe as he had already sat up.

But his cries only drew bullets from the already trench-penetrating Tang soldiers. At the other end of the trench, the Tang assault trooper who had just rolled in raised his submachine gun and began to fire indiscriminately.

"Ratatatat!" As the gunsmoke had not yet cleared, the Thompson submachine gun breathing fire spat out bullets like rain into the chaotic crowd of Zheng soldiers.

Instantly there was a scene of chaos!

The Zheng soldier who had just sat up took a bullet to the chest and lay down promptly; those squatting at a distance couldn’t even stand before they too were felled by gunfire.

Seeing the enemy approaching, the Zheng soldiers frantically worked the bolts of their weapons, only to be cut down before they could complete the action.

The most unlucky of the Zheng soldiers raised his hands in fright but was not spared by the merciless bullets; blood mist sprayed from his chest as he fell.

Finally, the gunfire ceased, and the remaining Zheng soldiers all raised their hands. They dropped their weapons and could only watch as their enemies changed magazines and as more enemy troops entered the trench, cornering them.

On the battlefield, the sound of artillery fire continued, but it was gradually moving away from this location. Elsewhere, the battle was still ongoing, and the adaptation to new tactics created a stark divide in casualties between the two sides.

Though the Zheng Army had managed to learn trench warfare at the last moment, they hadn’t truly adapted to such tactics.

Huddled in the trenches, the soldiers had no tactical experience to counter and were completely outmatched by the Tang Army troops, who had always been trained in modern warfare.

To make matters worse, these Zheng soldiers lacked the support of heavy weapons; their artillery, both in number and quality, were not capable of helping them hold the line and maintain trench stability.

In parts of the battlefield without automatic weapons, the Zheng Army was entirely outmatched, lacking machine guns to provide continuous fire support, rendering soldiers hidden in trenches like rats in sheer survival mode.

Even in close combat within the trenches, soldiers just equipped with new rifles for a few months were no match for Great Tang soldiers armed with submachine guns.

At best, they might get off a shot if they were lucky in the trenches; if not, they had to rely on bayonets to counter the Great Tang Group’s submachine guns.

The disparities in firepower density were like night and day; by the time the Zheng Army managed one shot, the Great Tang Group could have fired dozens of bullets and several artillery shells...

Facing an imposing force built upon a foundation of gold coins against natives who were entirely unaware of modern warfare was essentially a cakewalk of capturing prisoners.

The Zheng Army stationed in the workshop area outside the city was also elite, with brave individuals who, armed only with their bayonets, inflicted casualties on the Great Tang Troops.

During the capture of a bullet factory on the outskirts of King City, hundreds of Zheng Army soldiers holding bayonets were ready to engage the Great Tang Group in a melee. In fact, they did succeed.

Surrounding several factories, at the cost of their entire force, they wiped out an infantry squad from the Great Tang Group... Once the main force of the infantry company this squad belonged to arrived, the battle became utterly one-sided.

Furious, the Great Tang Troops subsequently employed more conservative machine gun follow-up push tactics and advanced 400 meters in one breath, capturing not a single prisoner.

This battle, more like bloody retribution, made the Zheng Army shudder in fear. After fighting intensely all day, by evening, the Zheng Army had completely withdrawn from the battle zone, retreating close to the city walls.

More forces deployed around King City from Zheng Country ultimately chose to surrender. The several units of the Tang Army besieging King City captured nearly 10,000 Zheng Army prisoners after just one day of combat.

In the battle, the Tang Army also killed at least 3,000 Zheng soldiers, which meant that on the first day of fierce combat, about a quarter of the Zheng Army defending King City had been annihilated!

Inside King City, when Zheng Tong learned about the severity of the battle situation, he became somewhat hysterical. He couldn’t believe that in just over a month, he had gone from a revitalizing leader to a monarch of a perishing nation.

Just over a month ago, he was still clutching at tax revenues he dared not even think about in the past and had many more new recruits than before, dreaming of his grand ambitions...

But in the blink of an eye, he was now trapped in a besieged city, with the Royal Palace already bombed into ruins, and enemy blades and guns were mere kilometers away!

"How long... how much longer can we hold on?" asked Zheng Tong, who would tremble with each nearby artillery blast, looking towards Li Jun, whose face was equally pale, with an irritating question.

Li Jun, rubbing the back of his hand, stared at the map of the city’s defense deployment and replied with difficulty, "Morale could collapse at any moment, so it’s hard to say... However, we could hold out for at most seven more days."

"So soon?" Zhang Ming was shocked, looking at Li Jun. He and Li Jun had fought over power and profit all their lives, but at this moment, he found that it was still this old rival who could be of some use at a critical time.

The rest of the ministers had either fled or hid, and now there were few to be found! Some had long since taken their families and turned to the enemy, while others had disappeared among the chaotic civilians.

Yesterday, while it was not yet so disordered, Zhang Ming tried to gather some confidants to discuss how to deal with the situation at hand, only to find that only one came.

The rest either made excuses of being sick or were simply gone without a trace! These people had all set up private residences within the city, at the very least owning a hidden abode for their mistresses, and now that they were in hiding, they were not easy to find.

"It’s not that short! Maybe things will be a bit better tomorrow, but Your Majesty, you need to be prepared for the city walls to be breached and the enemy forces to enter the city," Li Jun explained realistically, "Judging by the enemy’s artillery, the city walls cannot be held, at most until tomorrow morning..."

"What? The city walls will be lost tomorrow?" Zhang Ming was startled again. Not being a military expert, in his view, once the city walls were lost, it was pretty much over.

"Didn’t you say we could hold out for seven days?" Zheng Tong was also startled by this statement, having thought that Li Jun meant they could defend behind the solid city walls for seven days.

Li Jun shook his head and explained to these two military laymen: "Your Majesty, Prime Minister! When I said at most seven days, it actually would be remarkable if we can hold out for five days—that would mean the soldiers are fighting with their lives,"

He paused, then continued, "The enemy’s artillery fire is fierce, and the city head cannot be defended, so the city wall defensive line will soon be breached. But within the city, with the houses and streets, we can still hold up, and with the civilian chaos... the enemy won’t dare to attack recklessly, so we can barely hold for two more days in the confusion."

At this point, he swept his hand across the map, sighed, and went on to say, "After a maximum of three days, the troops who have lost oversight and commands will collapse, and what remains will only depend on how much resistance our soldiers have left, and when the enemy decides to come for us..."

Even during World War II, in the Battle of Stalingrad, the Soviet Army and the German Army still fought amid chaos, with many small units completely disconnected from higher command, battling brutally in the narrow confines, a tremendous test of morale and will.

These were clashes between two highly modernized forces with strong combat wills. Any non-modern military that requires officers to lead the charge would quickly fall apart in urban combat.

Li Jun, as a leader of troops, naturally knew the true capability of his forces. He was very aware that once upper command was lost, small, cut-off forces of the Zheng Army would immediately fall into disarray and then begin to collapse.

Although the troops deployed around the Royal Palace were the most elite of the Zheng Army, the principle was the same. Even the most elite forces could not alter the inevitable outcomes.

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