Munitions Empire

"Why did you order the turret to stop turning?" In the camp, an officer glanced at Liu Guozhu sitting in his position and asked.

"Based on the contents of the tactical manual regarding cover fire sectors, if the enemy exposes their side armor on an open battlefield, they must have flank cover..." Liu Guozhu could only respond truthfully.

He had indeed thought at that moment that the opponent would definitely have cover on the flank, which is why he took that gamble.

"What if you were wrong?" The officer looked up at Liu Guozhu and then continued to ask.

"Impossible. The enemy is familiar with the terrain; otherwise, they wouldn’t dispatch a single tank specifically to block the narrow path...

It was Vehicle 1 that was ambushed in this manner." Liu Guozhu thought for a moment and then said, "To be able to set up a machine-gun position on the path to harass us and deliberately arrange for a tank to ambush indicates that the commander would not neglect the front."

"Hmm..." The officer conducting the debriefing nodded slightly, then smiled and gave Liu Guozhu an additional question, "What if the enemy is well camouflaged and you don’t find the target right away?"

"If the enemy really fires, I would be able to see the muzzle flash and the gun smoke." Liu Guozhu insisted that he was right: "I can find the target faster, and I might not even need the coaxial machine gun..."

"I understand," said the debriefing officer as he looked down at Liu Guozhu’s exercise results, wrote a "superior" on it, and then signed his own name.

Outside the camp, the tank platoon acting as the mock enemy, with five tanks lined up in a row, were all camouflaged with leaves.

Four tank commanders were surrounding one, continually teasing the unfortunate one: "Heard you got taken out by a rookie?"

"It was just an accident!" The tank commander who had been hit by Liu Guozhu was a bit downcast as he explained to his comrades.

"No need to explain! An explanation is just a cover-up! Hahaha!" His platoon leader rubbed the unlucky commander’s head and teased him: "You were really showing off there, shooting once and then pulling back!"

"I just didn’t expect him to come right at me... I thought he would turn the turret towards Vehicle 5," he said.

"Speaking of which, that brother is pretty good too, guessing our tactical deployment." Another tank commander, seeing Liu Guozhu coming out of the tent, praised him.

"Yeah! A newbie, it’s not easy." The platoon leader also smiled and pulled out a cigarette, putting it in his mouth: "Want to go over and meet him?"

"Forget it! Let’s wait until he might be transferred to our troops," the commander taken out by Liu Guozhu obviously had no desire to cozy up to the one who took him down.

The platoon leader lit the cigarette: "Look at you, acting like a child. Forget it then, if you don’t want to go, you don’t have to."

As Liu Guozhu left the camp and returned to his own tank platoon, the mock enemy platoon leader, in a cloud of smoke, lamented with a cigarette in his hand: "These new recruits are getting more impressive."

...

"Brother, what is this thing for?" A farmer, leaning on a hoe and carrying a straw hat, asked the young man who was fiddling with an instrument on a tripod.

After adjusting the focus, the young man looked away and smiled as he explained to the old farmer: "It’s nothing, just a small mirror. Just point it at that flag over there and make sure it’s clear."

What he said sounded detailed, but essentially he didn’t reveal anything. He neither explained what the device was for nor what he was here to do with it.

The old farmer seemed to understand but actually didn’t. He had no idea what these people who had come from far away were doing here: they rode in carts, brought some strange equipment, and had been staying here for two days now.

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During these two days, these people had been running up and down the mountain every day, setting up these odd devices everywhere, but nobody really knew what they were doing.

If it weren’t for their generous spending, the local farmers would’ve reported them to the local authorities long ago. However, these people were giving them five silver coins a day as compensation, which was a considerable sum that immediately dissuaded the local farmers from causing any trouble.

These people who had come from afar were truly generous, giving money to everyone in the village, and if they ate meals at someone’s house, they paid extra for it.

"What would you like for dinner tonight? I heard that Old Kang still has two chickens..." Because they could sell for a good price, the simple farmers were willing to share all the good things from their homes.

The young man raised his arm towards his companions halfway up the hillside and then looked at the farmer, regretfully saying: "Sorry, our work here is finished, so we’re leaving."

"Leaving today?" The old farmer was clearly reluctant. Although his days were quite comfortable, the extra income was still very tempting.

In Qi Country nowadays, the remaining farmers were doing quite well: the refugees who used to compete with them for land were nearly gone.

With vast land and few people, there was no worry about finding cultivable land. Having land meant stability, then making a living for themselves.

This was thanks to the Great Tang Kingdom, which had purchased so many refugees. Without that, the remaining people could not have started to live well so quickly.

"Yes, we’re leaving this afternoon and probably won’t be here for dinner," the young man said, his face full of smiles as he declined the old farmer’s kind offer.

"Ah..." With a sigh, the old farmer’s thoughts went to Kite... uh... no, to their benefactors departing, "With your leave, this old man will feel a bit heavy-hearted."

"We must part ways eventually," the young man seemed to understand, as he pulled out a stack of silver coins from his pocket and, without counting, pressed them into the old farmer’s palm, then smiled, "Sorry for the inconvenience, I feel bad about it."

"Huh? What do you mean by this! No! No! You’ve given enough! More than enough!" the old farmer quickly declined, displaying a demeanor of not accepting rewards without merit.

However, the young man clearly had no intention of taking the money back; after a brief struggle, the money went into the old farmer’s pocket.

Ashamed, the farmer’s wrinkled face blossomed like a flower, filled with smiles from the center to the corners, "You’re too kind."

If I weren’t polite, you probably would have taken me to the authorities for a reward by now. The young man smiled too, but couldn’t help inwardly complaining.

They had encountered all sorts of people on their journey here: some officials would take bribes, while others were incorruptible. Some locals cooperated for money, and some even tried to rob them.

In short, they had braved countless risks along the way and seen all facets of life. To say these local civilians were just an ordinary group was an understatement.

Their mission, deep within Qi Country, was actually to draw maps, and not just any maps, but military-grade maps.

They had taken countless photographs with their cameras, catalogued them, and compiled them with the maps to form firsthand geographic material.

With this information, the troops could be sure not to get lost while advancing—if they had to rely on the maps drawn in earlier years, the field commanders of the Great Tang Kingdom would probably have cried.

Those maps, where a drawing of a mountain meant a mountain, a drawing of a city wall merlon meant a city, were heartbreakingly inaccurate.

As for what exactly those lines marked as roads represented, only heaven knew—if the rugged terrains could actually be called roads, that is.

Just like with the attack on Zheng Country, infiltrating and drawing a precise map was a critical prerequisite before any military action.

Only a sufficiently accurate map could enable commanders to grasp the battlefield situation and deploy their forces rationally.

Compared to Qi Country’s border defenses, which sounded formidable, the commanders of the Great Tang Kingdom cared more about an accurate map of the entirety of Qi Country’s hinterland.

Nobody cared about those defenses! Everyone believed that with the new weaponry in their hands, the formidable defense line relied on by Qi Country was as good as paper.

All the medium and high-ranking commanders of the Great Tang Kingdom were contemplating a series of swift maneuvers to be executed after breaching the defenses.

Nobody considered Qi Country’s defensive line a threat, even though the expert Shireck had arranged it based on the trench-warfare experiences between Dorne and Gobur.

In the afternoon, several horse-drawn carriages left the village, leaving behind a group of reluctant local farmers. These farmers had earned more money in the past two days than they would in an entire year.

After bidding farewell to the youngsters with their odd equipment, the farmers returned to their habitual way of life.

Meanwhile, far to the south near the Northern Region border of the Great Tang Kingdom, a large group of military experts was compiling maps delivered by dozens of teams.

They were integrating the relevant landmark photos with the nearby maps as thoroughly as possible to compile a volume, which would then be distributed to all combat units.

Staff officers meticulously confirmed every potential encampment site, choosing cautiously the villages and cities where command posts could be stationed.

Every soldier involved in combat operations was to memorize special landmarks they might encounter to ensure that they would not get lost due to disorder or straying from the march route.

The 2nd Armored Division had recently loaded all their equipment onto vehicles, arriving at their designated base in the northern part of the Kingdom.

Some high-ranking staff members also knew that the Kingdom’s stockpiles of ammunition and supplies were being shifted towards the Northern Region—including shells and bullets, as well as spare barrels and parts.

Three large field hospitals had been secretly built on the border, and five big barracks with bathhouses and canteens had been set aside.

Even more, an airstrip had been constructed that could immediately host Air Force units ready for relocation in case war broke out.

As the preparations for war reached this stage, many of the high-ranking officials already knew that their King had chosen the next target for attack—Qi Country!

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Sorry, I’ve yet to repay old debts, and yesterday I incurred new ones... I fear Dragon Spirit will never be able to repay them all... Sigh...

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