Munitions Empire

The Thunderbolt Attack Aircraft roared and circled in the sky, much like an eagle watching over its domain. Rüdeler looked down at the ground, where the black highway beneath him resembled the vein of a dead giant.

The highways were black because of the sheer amount of destroyed equipment on them. Charred bodies and melted steel were piled together, a visualization of hell itself.

He quickly spotted an anti-aircraft position of the Qin Country, which was fairly well camouflaged. However, it was clear that to gain a wider firing arc, it inevitably had to expose some parts.

The lifted barrels were pointed at the sky, seemingly preparing to ambush Rüdeler as he descended, thinking he hadn't noticed them.

This was the only chance for the anti-aircraft guns; if they failed, disaster awaited them.

"Interesting!" Rüdeler, who had destroyed countless similar anti-aircraft positions, smiled. This was not his first time facing such enemies.

The opposition would set ambushes in any possible overlooked corner, luring hunters like him into traps. But unfortunately for them, the hunter remains the hunter, and the prey remains the prey.

"Check the surroundings! They're sure to have an ambush with crossfire! Find the trap, and let's each take one!" Rüdeler instructed his wingman while circling back in the sky, realigning his nose towards the suspicious location.

Sure enough, besides another patch of dry bushes, there was another anti-aircraft position concealed under camouflage netting.

"Found it!" Rüdeler disengaged the safety on his control stick, aiming his nose at the anti-aircraft position he had initially spotted.

The wingman also got to work; with Rüdeler's guidance, he aimed his fighter towards the later discovered anti-aircraft position.

"Come on! Teach them a lesson!" Rüdeler began his dive, his nose cannons aimed at the target.

Intense gunfire engulfed the anti-aircraft position, and the white smoke from the shells quickly swallowed everything nearby.

The wingman also began his dive, unleashing cannon fire onto the Bofors anti-aircraft gun before it could fire.

The dense machine-gun fire swept away everything in its path, including the camouflage net covering the anti-aircraft gun and the Qin Country's anti-aircraft gunners who were ready to fire at any moment.

The artilleryman with a rangefinder was not spared either; shrapnel pierced through his body, instantly staining his clothes red with blood.

The Qin Country's officers tried every possible method to restore a road to allow their troops a quick retreat.

However, until they were nearly surrounded, the passageway was not restored. A large number of infantry retreated towards the Imperial Capital, but the vehicles, tanks, and other heavy weapons could not leave Dongqing.

Qin Country lost nearly half of its armored strength within less than a month of the war, or more precisely, in just under 20 days, the Qin Army lost more than half of its heavy weapons.

The painstakingly accumulated heavy artillery, tanks, anti-aircraft guns, and even missile launchers, such valuable assets, all became scrap metal piled on the roads, serving as the most worthless barricades.

Even worse, the Air Force couldn't escape either; the Qin Country's fighter jet troops lost over 400 pilots and more than 460 aircraft were shot down.

The problem is, so many planes were shot down, but the Qin Country didn't glean any useful experience at all.

Despite many reports indicating that the Tang Army had a kind of maneuverable rocket, or an air-launched missile, used to strike Qin Country planes,

the Qin Country's intelligence department has not yet managed to obtain an analysis of similar weapons, and the Air Force pilots haven't figured out a countermeasure against such missiles.

Although there were dozens of instances of Thunderbolt Missiles missing their targets, most of those locations are now under the control of the Great Tang Empire, so the Qin Army has no way to find the missile wreckage to analyze how these missiles achieved "tracking."

Because too many aircraft were lost, especially the valuable jet fighters, the Qin Country Air Force is now reluctant to engage in aerial combat.

The Tang Army's J-7 was incredibly fierce, its speed too fast, its maneuverability too good, completely overpowering the Qin Army's Type 183 fighters at all altitudes and speeds.

The attempted night raid by Qin Army's DO-17 bombers was detected and intercepted. Imagine the spectacular scene of J-7 fighter jets, capable of all-weather combat, intercepting World War II planes.

In just one night, over 130 Qin Army bombers were shot down, and since then, the Qin Army bomber units have nearly withdrawn from the battlefield.

On the ground, the Qin Army battalion commander hiding in the woods witnessed his soldiers being riddled by machine gun fire.

The precious 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft gun didn't have a chance to fire before being shredded into parts by the Thunderbolt Attack Aircraft's 30mm nose cannon.

The firing rates were entirely different, and with the attack aircraft having the high ground, the attack power was not on the same level at all.

When a Bofors anti-aircraft gun emptied a magazine, the Thunderbolt's machine gun fire had already riddled the area around the Bofors gun with holes.

Seeing the camouflage net on the anti-aircraft gun being blown away, watching as his subordinates were knocked around, the Qin Army battalion commander cried out as he ran over, embracing a fallen soldier and shouting loudly.

The Thunderbolt Attack Aircraft soared away, the noise of the jet engines making the surrounding air tremble. The loader hit by shrapnel had already breathed his last.

Next to him lay a dropped magazine, and some scattered shells were nearby. Many officers from the battalion headquarters rushed over, trying to find survivors on the wrecked position.

Unfortunately, their efforts were nearly in vain, white smoke pervaded the position, and the anti-aircraft gun they used for air defense lay tilted on the ground, still bearing the bullet holes. All the soldiers operating the anti-aircraft gun were killed, with only a torso and two bloody legs left where the gunner sat.

On the other side, there was no sound from the anti-aircraft position near the bushes; lacking cover, the Qin Army in the woods didn't even dare to take a look.

Winter had arrived, most of the leaves had fallen, and the original forest cover had become increasingly ineffective. The situation seemed ever more unfavorable for the Qin Army, as at least their cover was diminishing.