Munitions Empire

As time ticked by second by second, the naval warships of Shen Country indeed made their way into the landing zone. However, the trouble they caused for the naval transport fleet of Great Tang Group was not as much as imagined.

The three remaining Brunas-class ironclad warships were currently battling against three Ming Wheel Ships and fifteen sail warships, and were actually gaining the upper hand.

In front of them, the numerically superior fleet of Shen Country's navy was already enveloped in thick smoke and virtually incapacitated.

However, due to the sheer number of enemy ships, five sail warships managed to slip through the chaos and into the formation of several freelance wheel ships anchored near the shore.

These freelance wheel ships hadn't warmed up their boilers yet, so all they could do was sit there and take a beating—in fact, the landing fleet of Great Tang Group had never expected the enemy to break through their warship defense line and get so close.

For a moment, the fleet sailors who were still washing up were stunned and could only watch as these towering sail warships wreaked havoc on the outskirts of the fleet.

Of course, they couldn't just stand there and watch; soon enough, soldiers picked up their rifles and began to fire from the deck to stop these enemy sail warships from approaching.

The sound of gunfire quickly spread across the sea surface, followed by the booming of cannons, making it seem like the landing fleet was in grave danger this time.

But in fact, the damage the five sail warships of Shen Country did to the freelance wheel transportation fleet of Great Tang Group was far less severe than imagined.

Watching their main fleet suffer heavy losses, the Shen Country warships didn't dare to rush into the freelance wheel fleet, which was of unknown depth, so they could only fire from the periphery.

You should know, in the eyes of Shen Country's navy commanders, just by size alone, these massive wheels moored on the sea surface were enough to intimidate them.

Merely by looking at these colossal vessels, which were twice the size of the warships, the goblin sailors of Shen Country felt such awe that they became hesitant and did not dare to advance.

Also, because of the gunfire on the ships, they didn't dare to recklessly board and risk close quarters combat; therefore, firing solid shot with muzzle-loading cannons became what they deemed as the most prudent method of attack.

As a result... these solid shots hitting the tall sides of the freelance wheels had little effect.

Most of the cannonballs were deflected right away, and the few that embedded into the hulls failed to penetrate.

On the other side, the brief window of attack desperately bought by the Shen Country's main fleet moving southward was thus squandered in vain.

By the time Bernard led two Wolf-class cruisers back to the landing zone, the five sail warships hadn't been able to do much damage to the freelance wheel fleet...

Immediately following that, they were met with a fierce onslaught from the cruiser fleet of Great Tang Group, turning the whole sea battle into a massacre at sea in an instant.

The naval commanders of Shen Country watched helplessly as the five sail warships hovering on the periphery of the enemy's stationary fleet were obliterated in the blink of an eye, almost choking on their fury.

He stood on the deck, squinting through the drifting black smoke, and pointed at the distant sinking sail fleet, cursing loudly, "Damn it! Cowards! Why didn't you board and fight? Why didn't you get close and make a last stand?"

In reality, just minutes ago, he had already ordered signaling flags for the five sail warships to engage in boarding combat.

But for some reason, be it the thick smoke or something else, those five warships... clearly did not carry out his command.
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"The only chance... the only chance!" lamented the despondent navy commander as he struck the ship's railing.

He had already sent out the message that the enemy had more powerful ironclad ships, and in his view, there was no longer any chance of turning defeat into victory in this battle.

The naval fleet of Shen Country, including his flagship and three Ming Wheel Ships, were now completely paralyzed, merely drifting on the sea in their last gasps.

Of the remaining twenty sail warships, two-thirds had already sunk, and those that remained were simply waiting to die.

The enemy's warships were nearly unscathed, utterly dousing any hope the naval commander had of turning the tide of battle.

All he could do now was to send the message back to his country as quickly as possible, to warn the ruler of Shen Country to carefully consider this sudden war!

In his view, Shen Country stood no chance of winning this war. With the navy defeated, Dongwan Island was beyond saving—an inevitable result, unchangeable by the bravery of a few individuals.

The only trouble they could cause for the opponent was the 130 mm main guns on the Ming Wheel Ships; the rest of their weaponry was almost laughable.

The 75 mm breech-loading cannons, though rapid in firing, were weak in power and couldn't damage enemy warships... not to mention the numerous, but utterly useless, Shireck muzzle-loading cannons.

Thinking of this, the Shen Country navy commander couldn't help but feel a surge of despair, and as he looked at his smoke-engulfed fleet, tears involuntarily began to flow.

With the enemy possessing such a powerful fleet, it was almost as if Shen Country's vast maritime borders had become defenseless.

The ostensibly formidable naval fleet had become ineffective, with only the remaining less than thirty Ming Wheel Ships barely able to contend in battle.

"To defend their own territory, they would need to purchase a great number of new warships and more artillery... Could Zheng Country really afford all of this?"

After his wild thoughts, the General slammed his hand heavily onto the ship's railing and cursed loudly, "Was this damn war provoked by that bastard of Dragon Spirit? He deserves to be killed! The bastard should commit suicide to apologize!"

As he cursed loudly, a cannonball came flying and directly hit where he was standing, swallowing him and the deck beneath his feet in a massive explosion, leaving only the bisected warship stubbornly floating on the sea surface.

Although there were minor losses, Bernard ultimately managed to repel the invading enemy fleet without too much danger, securing the landing site.

At the same time, the battle on land had also erupted.

The Troops of the 1st Battalion in the south of the landing site engaged in fierce combat with three legions of Zheng Country's forces.

With the aid of a large number of automatic weapons, the 1st Battalion's defensive line was established on the highlands on both sides of the road, using overlapping fields of fire to effectively block the road and forming an interdependent in-depth defensive position.

The attacking troops of Zheng Country had never seen such a defensive line; during their first assault, they were repelled before they even figured out where the enemy was.

Leaving more than 200 corpses scattered haphazardly on the road, the goblin soldiers of Zheng Country retreated from the battlefield wailing and howling.

The enemy then began to bombard, aimlessly. Since Great Tang Group's defensive positions were on the highlands, those lobbed shots from muzzle-loading cannons caused hardly any damage.

Frankly, the enemy was just shelling to bolster their own courage, which had little strategic value. Such tactics were forbidden within the Great Tang Group, as precious ammunition was not to be wasted in such a manner.

Both sides were in a stalemate for over half an hour. Then, the commander of Zheng Country, Shenwu Shen, consulted with Shengwu Yuan and sent out two battalions of soldiers for another fierce attack.

Zheng Country's forces unfolded in layers upon layers and charged recklessly towards the defensive positions of Great Tang Group's defending army.

And then... then they were routed without even coming into machine gun fire! Guided by an observation post, the battalion's mortar unit gave the enemy a lesson in what modern artillery was all about.

The artillerymen of Great Tang Group, with precise firing tables, were accurate and powerful. With just two rounds of volley fire, they introduced the attacking forces of Zheng Country to a barrage of artillery fire.

Dozens of shells fell almost simultaneously, exploding among the crowd of Zheng Country goblins, a sensation that was incredibly satisfying.

Without even reaching the forward positions of Great Tang Group, the enemy suffered more than 500 casualties. Shenwu Shen and Shengwu Yuan finally realized the gravity of the situation.

Even they could see that the force they faced had nothing to do with Zheng Country and was not an enemy they could deal with by themselves!

So they decided... to wait a bit!

Yes, to wait! They planned to stay put for two hours, waiting for their northern allies to launch an attack and divert the strength of the enemy forces before making their move.

In Shenwu Shen's view, the reason why this force was so strong was that they had put their main strength right in front of his own.

As long as the northern allies, the troops commanded by Shenwu Xiong, arrived and began their attack, this enemy force would naturally be unable to take care of both fronts. Then, when that time came, his attack would meet much less resistance than now.

But what he didn't know was that after repelling two attacks and noting that Zheng Country's troops were stationary, the commander of the 1st Battalion immediately began moving his own forces.

The 2nd Battalion started to maneuver along the edge of the battlefield towards Fengshun City, effectively encircling the forces of Shenwu Yuan and Shenwu Shen.

On the other side, in fact, over an hour earlier, Shenwu Xiong's forces had already launched a fierce attack against the 3rd Battalion.

Unfortunately, like Shenwu Shen's experience, Shenwu Xiong's forces also suffered significant setbacks in their attack, similarly losing hundreds of soldiers.

Under such circumstances, Shenwu Xiong made almost the same judgment as Shenwu Shen—he believed that the enemy's main force was in front of him, and he could wait a bit for Shenwu Shen to launch an attack and disrupt the enemy's deployment before making his own move.

Thus, due to poor communication, Zheng Country's advantage of a pincer attack vanished into thin air, resulting in passive and separate battles on both sides.

Even more laughably, in doing so, Zheng Country's attacking troops wasted over a precious hour just standing idly by.

What's even more tragic is that they still didn't know the news of their own fleet's crushing defeat. They were still hoping that if their fleet achieved victory, the enemy would be thrown into disarray.

After all, what's the point of being alive without dreams? That would be no different from a salted fish.

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Thank you to reader "Better Than Insufficient, Richer Than Destitute," and "YangyangO_o" for the rewards. Dragon Spirit still owes more updates. I'm ashamed and thank you both for your support. Thank you very much.