Munitions Empire

Warships as massive as mountains sailed across the sea; this was an ultimate maritime weapon built by Shireck, comparable to Dongwan-class battleships.

The cruiser was longer and wider than Dongwan-class battleships, with larger-caliber guns and, of course, slower speed. Shen Hai had purchased this type of battleship to counter the Dongwan-class battleships of the Tang Navy.

At this moment, commanding this warship was Shen Hai's naval commander, Shen Hai Yinan. This naval general had previously provoked the Great Tang Group and was still living quite comfortably.

However, he now faced a dilemma: his fleet simply couldn't cover the entire shipping route between Beiyuan and Shen Country, resulting in a significant loss of transport ships recently.

Three or four Tang cruisers operated alone, active on this route; they would strike and then flee, leaving the Shen Navy exhausted and unable to capture any Tang naval warships.

Looking at the bodies of Shen sailors floating on the sea, Shen Hai Yinan's face became extremely unsightly.

He possessed the world's largest-tonnage battleship, yet his enemies refused to engage him in an honorable battle.

"These bastards, all they do is hide and seek," he stood on the bridge, watching his sailors despondently recover the bodies from the sea, searching for the pitifully few survivors.

Indeed, there were survivors, although the temperature of the sea water was already very low near the North Sea, some people were still lucky enough to stay alive.

However, those lucky enough to survive were few and far between; sometimes, there would be hundreds of bodies floating densely on the sea, with only a few still breathing when brought onboard.

The actual number of casualties was far from the true losses of Shen Country: in fact, there were even more army soldiers that sank with the ships—not everyone from the Island Nation knew how to swim, and going down with the ship wasn't rare. Not to mention, some were weighed down by their equipment when they fell overboard, sinking even faster.

The loss of lives was secondary to Shen Country; what truly pained the leaders was the loss of the not-so-easily produced weapons and equipment.

With each transport ship sunk came the loss of hundreds of cannons of various models, tens of thousands of shells, and millions of bullets.

These munitions were supposed to be sent to Beiyuan City for the battle, but now they had all sunk to the bottom of the unfathomably deep sea, never to see the light of day again.

The true number of losses had not yet been tallied, but just by roughly calculating the total number of troops and munitions that left shore, minus the portion received by Beiyuan City, the navy's higher-ups were already seething with anger.

They couldn't stand to see such losses. Army generals cursed the navy for betraying the country in meetings, leaving the navy leaders unable to lift their heads.

As a front-line combat commander, Shen Hai Yinan had actually been risking his life trying to locate the main force of the Tang Navy, preparing for a decisive battle.

He believed that only by annihilating the main fleet of the Tang Army could he possibly protect the entire shipping route and no longer worry about enemy warships' harassment.

However, lately, he led the Shen Navy fleet on a wild chase across the seas like a headless fly, failing to find any Tang warships.

The enemy had higher speeds and always acted individually, which also led to the Shen Navy wasting lots of fuel and time.

Just as Shen Hai Yinan was frustratingly sinking the Tang warships in his mind for another time, a subordinate brought some good news.

"General! We found some survivors!" an officer announced, pushing forward those who had fallen into the water, still in their wet clothes, his face filled with excitement.

"They went south! I saw it clearly!" a Goblin survivor, upon seeing Shen Hai Yinan, immediately spoke up, "They are all devils! A pack of devils!"

Nearly all the survivors they found said similar things, because the enemy did not accept surrenders, nor did they take prisoners; they simply attacked and then fled.

Leaving behind a group of helpless wretches, floating on the sea, either drowning or freezing to death, or being eaten directly by sharks... an utterly inhumane sight.

"South? ... To the south," Shen Hai Yinan furrowed his brows, stroking his chin, carefully pondering the enemy's movements.

Before, he had asked a survivor who adamantly claimed they saw the enemy ships heading north. Now he heard a different statement, claiming the enemy went south.

His fleet had been chasing the enemy warships for three days, and during this time, the enemy changed their course several times, this time most dramatically.

"They've returned to the southern route again?" the executive officer inquired of Shen Hai Yinan.

Shaking his head, Shen Hai Yinan replied, "If calculated correctly, the enemy's warship supplies should be running low. This time they headed south, perhaps truly to leave the combat zone and return to port for resupply."

In fact, he guessed correctly because that Weigang-class cruiser was indeed returning to resupply. Although there were still plenty of shells left for combat, its fuel and food supplies were running low.

This Tang warship, having achieved the glorious feat of sinking seven Qi Country transport ships, was now jubilantly heading toward Linshui Port.

It must be said that despite Shireck of Shen Hai committing many evils, he was still a very professional naval general. With just a few confessions, he almost caught up to the Tang cruiser.

Meanwhile, at the docks of Beiyuan City, Shenwu Sanlang was foolishly staring at the destroyed harbor in a daze.

The port in front of him had been bombarded continuously for days and had almost lost its capacity to offload goods. The enemy seemed to have no desire for the city any longer, dropping countless bombs daily.

With the docks out of commission, offloading troops became a troublesome issue. Many ships had to stop at a distance, using small boats to ferry back and forth to bring reinforcements and equipment ashore.

This made it manageable for soldiers, light weapons, and ammunition, but heavy weaponry was nearly impossible to bring to shore.

At this moment, Shenwu Sanlang couldn't afford to blame the navy fools for not covering his retreat because his port had been destroyed, something he couldn't possibly shift the blame for onto the navy.

"General, it seems we are no longer able to receive large-scale supplies," an officer stood by Shenwu Sanlang's side, reminding him.

"I know, now we can only rely on ourselves," Shenwu Sanlang sighed and said, "Soon, our ammunition reserves will begin to decrease."

"General, since we can no longer obtain sufficient supplies, should we consider reducing some of the consumption of materials?" the officer suggested with a cruel expression on his face.

"Hmm?" Shenwu Sanlang glanced at him and grunted in acknowledgment.

"The two hundred thousand Qi people in the city consume a large amount of food daily. They will compete with us for food, might guide the Tang People, reveal our defense secrets, and necessitate us to divide our forces to monitor and guard against them..." The officer rattled off his thoughts and then stopped.

Shenwu Sanlang nodded, internally agreeing with the officer's idea. They indeed shouldn't waste any more manpower and supplies, so it was time to reduce the burden.

Then, pretending to contemplate, he ordered, "We must not arouse a civil uprising, which would cause us trouble! Do it gradually, try not to stir up too much commotion."

"Yes, General!" The officer, seeing that Shenwu Sanlang accepted his suggestion, wore a sinister smile, "I know what to do."

"We have to deal with the people who are consuming food, and also find a way to get the food out of their hands!" Shenwu Sanlang quickly added another instruction.

In his eyes, the lives of Qi people were worthless; killing them was just killing them, but the food was his capital to continue holding Beiyuan City, which he had to collect and control as much as possible.

The officer who offered the strategy immediately stood at attention and saluted, responding once more, "Yes, General! I understand."

Shenwu Sanlang waved his hand, signaling the officer could go about the task, then he continued to stand by the docks with his guards, watching the Qi strongmen repairing the pier, pondering whether to let these people go.

Killing them would surely affect the progress of repairing the docks, and it would be even harder to capture such a large free labor force next time. So he hesitated, but this hesitation did not prove he had the slightest shred of humanity left.

From that day on, a systematic massacre began in Beiyuan City. The Shen troops moved from block to block, gathering civilians and cruelly slaughtering them with bayonets. Explore hidden tales at My Virtual Library Empire

Unwilling to waste bullets, they mostly used bayonets to kill, but as resistance grew fiercer and more people became aware of the truth, they later employed machine guns in the slaughter.

Records show that the people of Shen Hai killed more than 310,000 local civilians during the battle of Beiyuan City, nearly wiping out all the Qi people in the city.

After the war ended and a recount was done, Beiyuan City, which originally had gathered people from surrounding towns and included the defeated Qi troops, had a population close to 400,000. In the end, fewer than 40,000 survived.

Only one tenth of the city's population survived, with the rest falling to war, starvation, and massacre.

Smoke rose everywhere in the city as the Shen troops looted block after block and set fire to some buildings. They burned bodies and evidence, and even managed to prevent the potential spread of plague within the city.

What was even more unexpected for them was that the dense gun smoke also obscured the field of vision, affecting the bombing accuracy of some Tang bombers...

As for this blood debt, Tang Mo was certainly going to demand repayment.

In his eyes, the goblins of Shen Hai no longer had any right to exist; they would be eradicated by the Tang Army from this planet, leaving no trace behind!