Munitions Empire

Bai Fei felt a bit nervous, standing in the crowd, almost retracting his head into his chest. It was only in moments like these that he desperately wished he were a tortoise, one that could retreat into its shell.

Even though he was a knight, and a knight of the mighty Tang Kingdom, he still didn’t dare to show off in this setting because standing beside him was Lu Qianshan, and the rest of the big shots, none of whom he could afford to provoke.

A General who had lost his kingdom, he always seemed out of place on occasions like these. Every detail here, every glance from every person seemed to tear at his old scars.

Only at times like this did Bai Fei once again remember that he once commanded an army of fifty thousand as a Great General.

He didn’t dare to harbor any resentment, nor did he have the standing to be angry. He just stood at the dock, idly staring as the cold sea breeze blew.

Even because the occasion was so grand, he didn’t dare to chat idly with Lu Qianshan standing beside him, foolishly standing still as if he were a clay statue.

Seagulls circled in the sky, occasionally crying out, as the vast port was nearly cleared. Far away at the dock, warships and the Liberty ship had docked, and the once-bustling port workers were nowhere to be seen.

The first to dock was the battleship Jade City No. 2, which anchored at the neighboring dock, and even separated by a dock, one could still feel the battleship’s majestic grandeur.

Just by looking at the giant steel cannons on the deck of the warship, one could understand the formidable power of such a leviathan at sea.

The soldiers unloading goods at the neighboring dock were unlike any he had ever seen. The cargo they handled was varied, even including luxurious Rolls-Royce cars.

Bai Fei had seen Rolls-Royce cars before, like the time when they were prepared in advance to welcome Princess Yulin.

It was after that occasion that Bai Fei realized there were such luxurious cars in the world, extravagant to the extreme.

The Gobur cars he greatly admired turned out to be just ordinary merchandise that the Tang Kingdom didn’t bother to produce. The truly luxurious car brand in this world was the Rolls-Royce from the Great Tang Group.

But now, at this moment, Bai Fei saw another truly luxurious car, a brand-new Rolls-Royce made especially for the royal family of the Tang Kingdom, a super-luxurious safety model.

Just by looking at the size of the car, one could tell it was exceedingly valuable; Bai Fei had never seen such a large sedan before.

From its size alone, it seemed to be a small truck, with long hood sides where the engine’s exhaust ports were situated, and one needed only a rudimentary understanding of engines to comprehend the terrifying horsepower of this car.

If the oppressive aura of this car weren’t enough to keep Bai Fei from even breathing deeply, the personnel arriving to meet it would definitely make him keep his head down.

Standing in the front row was Princess Yulin of the Tang Kingdom, beside her was Li’ao, head of the Tang Kingdom’s intelligence department, next to him was Chang’an’s governor Dino, and Generals Tagg and Redman.

All of the big names of the Tang Kingdom had arrived today, none were absent; they stood neatly, even their clothing without a single wrinkle.

Although due to the secrecy of the itinerary for those not of sufficient rank, Bai Fei had no idea who he was here to welcome today, the scale of the preparations was enough for him to guess who it was.

The battleship Jade City No. 1 slowly docked at the port, and at that moment, Bai Fei finally realized just how spectacular this monster, with its side towering over four meters high, truly was.

He had to tilt his head up to see the sailors looking down at the dock from the ship’s side, these sailors standing with their hands behind their backs at the railing, with a resolute and serious expression.

"Attention!" The officer of the honor guard drew his Longsword, held it upright in front of him, and barked the command loudly.

"Play the music!" The conductor of the military band also started to wave his baton, and the robust military music began to play. The gangway descended slowly to the military tunes, finally resting upon the dock.

The first to descend the gangway was a military officer in white naval dress uniform. The ceremonial officer announced his rank loudly, "General Bernard, the Commander-in-Chief of the Kingdom’s Navy!"

The man saluted, then stepped aside, clearing the way. Next, a man in an army uniform descended the gangway, saluting the welcoming crowd. The ceremonial officer continued with the introduction, "General Luff, Chief of Staff of the Kingdom!"

Then, a man around the age of fifty, dressed in a Zhongshan suit, descended the gangway. Everyone on the scene stood at attention and saluted, even Princess Yulin bowed slightly. The ceremonial officer went on to introduce loudly, "Prime Minister of the Kingdom, Sir Roger."

At last, raising his voice and using all his strength, the ceremonial officer declared loudly, "His Majesty the King has arrived!"

Tang Mo, setting foot on his homeland for the first time, waved gently to the crowd from the top of the gangway, before walking briskly down.

He was just over twenty years old, at the prime of his youth, his handsome face complemented by exquisite attire, creating an imposing aura that made everyone present feel an inexplicable compulsion to submit.

Having started Great Tang Group from scratch in his teens and ascending to the throne of a mighty kingdom in his twenties, how could anyone not marvel at his rapid rise?

As Tang Mo descended the gangway, everyone saluted, and Bai Fei and Lu Qianshan finally caught sight of the young king through the crowd.

Unfortunately for them, His Majesty the King showed no intention of lingering; he merely waved to the crowd before slipping into the bulletproof car that had been prepared in advance.

Following him, Princess Yulin also got into the vehicle. Surrounded and protected by many cars, the convoy slowly drove out of the dock and left the port.

Owing to the need for secrecy, there wasn’t even a welcoming crowd on the streets; the cars drove all the way to the residence of the governor of Linshui.

"How are things progressing?" Tang Mo took off his white gloves and tossed them onto the table, asking the group that had followed him into the hall.

Tagg certainly knew what Tang Mo was referring to and immediately began to report on the preparations for war: "Our main troops have been quietly moved to the northern war zone, such large-scale assembly is a first for us."

Even with advance preparation and the cultivation of relevant technical talent, such a large-scale assembly of troops was still a major project for the Tang Army.

Trains were constantly transporting strategic materials day and night, including food, ammunition, weapons, equipment, and even timbers and hardware parts...

In this process, all disciplines played a crucial role, including dispatching calculations, statistics and sorting, and distribution management.

"10 divisions, over 200,000 soldiers, plus 50 military exclusive train sets, 5 transport truck battalions, and 2 independent heavy artillery battalions." Tagg made simple annotations on the map he had prepared in advance and briefed Tang Mo.

"Given another two months, we could deploy 2 more newly formed infantry divisions, which would increase our offensive force to 250,000." Redman added from the side.

"That doesn’t even include the strength the Navy and Air Force could commit to the war," Luff explained, "We already discussed this on the ship, Your Majesty."

"I know, the best scenario is Qi Country’s army clashing with ours head-on, and the worst is them breaking up into small groups to harass our military logistics..." Tang Mo looked at the map, then turned to Li’ao: "Intelligence and secrecy... how are they going?"

"Secrecy is difficult to manage, with the movement of hundreds of thousands of soldiers. There are seven or eight trains leaving every day. It’s impossible to control everyone involved, including the laborers, managers, merchants, and travelers." Li’ao complained.

Though he had arrived here in advance, his work was not going smoothly. In fact, due to a severe shortage of manpower, concealing a military mobilization of war level was simply impossible.

Stay connected through

Unless the other side was all blind and foolish, if they made even a minimal effort, they could obtain some intelligence.

It’s not necessary to infiltrate Tagg’s office and gain access to the entire campaign plan to get accurate information.

In fact, it’s easy to discover that Great Tang Kingdom is reinforcing the north by merely investigating the frequency of military trains, observing the transportation of equipment and personnel, watching the convoys of trucks by the roadside, and counting the cannons they tow.

The atmosphere was already so charged, and given Zheng Country’s previous experiences, it would be truly unbelievable if Qi Country weren’t at all prepared. They might be slightly behind, but they certainly weren’t idiots.

"Eight days ago, the traffic of people between Qi Country and ours began to decrease, and many checkpoints closed due to troop redeployment," Li’ao briefed Tang Mo on the current situation: "Commanders of the Qi Country border forces familiar to us decreased by seventy percent, their border troops also increased."

"They only started reacting eight days ago?" Tang Mo looked at Li’ao beside him in disbelief.

Li’ao shook his head: "Increasing troops and fortifying defenses began at least six months ago, but frequent troop movements started only in the past half-month."

"Clearly, they have also started making real preparations for war," Tang Mo nodded slightly: "Then, how’s the investigation of their defense line going?"

"We have largely grasped the enemy’s defensive setup, knowing more than half of their troop deployments." Despite the shortage of manpower, the intelligence organization under Li’ao’s command was one of the most efficient in the world, making it not difficult to investigate the defense deployment of Qi Country.

"Have arrangements been made for the weak areas?" Tang Mo then turned to Tagg and Redman.

Tagg and Redman immediately nodded: "All set up. As soon as the war begins, we will focus on these weak points for breakthroughs."

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!