Munitions Empire

In the ruins of Beiyuan City, a child was hunched over, searching for some valuable trinket. He had already picked up quite a few shell casings and just needed a few more to exchange for his reward.

For the civilians remaining in Beiyuan City, this was a unique benefit to them. They had suffered too much here, and now, at last, it seemed that their hardships were coming to an end.

The civil affairs officials of Tang Country assured that every native resident living in Beiyuan City would be provided with housing free of charge.

This was a policy aimed at soothing the hearts of the people of Beiyuan City while also encouraging those natives to resume production and construction.

The natives, or rather, the survivors, were very cooperative. They were doing what they could, especially tasks like searching through ruins—a group of children were particularly good at this.

The little boy stopped walking. He stared at a piece of broken stone for quite some time, then looked around at some of the surrounding broken walls.

He was more than familiar with the area, as he passed through it every day. He knew it like the back of his hand, and no change would escape his eyes.

He knew that someone had been here, and that they had moved some stones, which made him alert, carefully inspecting everything around him.

Scavenging was restricted to certain areas, and the other children wouldn’t come here to cause trouble. Everyone had many things to keep them busy, so who would come back to play pranks?

After looking around, the boy discovered some disordered footprints. They were inconspicuous and wouldn’t have been noticed if one didn’t look closely. After navigating some rubble and broken stones, he found a very hidden passage.

This passage in the ruins was not obvious. If one didn’t frequently walk here, they wouldn’t even notice that there was a walkable path.

Its location was quite concealed in a difficult-to-navigate area. If the boy hadn’t deliberately come to search, he would have never found it.

Because of frequent foot traffic, the ground here even had traces of movement. The boy looked down at his feet, shuffling forward bit by bit, moving towards the end of the narrow passage.

His heart was racing. After swallowing a gulp of saliva, at the end of the path, he saw a door.

The door was part of a slanted wall that had not completely collapsed. Compared to the surrounding rubble and dust, the door seemed too clean.

The boy did not approach the door. He took slow steps back, retreating step by step, until he reached a relatively safe area. Then he turned and ran at full speed.

The troops stationed in the city had just reiterated the scavenging rules the day before, saying if they encountered anything strange, they must report it immediately.

The boy would not forget the gentle reminder from the young officer. He hurried through the ruins effortlessly.

After climbing over a collapsed wall, the boy saw the military truck parked at the corner of the street and the familiar, mild-mannered young officer.

"Officer! Officer!" The child waved at the young officer, then dashed across the road bustling with cars, straight to the young officer’s side.

"Be careful! Mind your safety!" the young officer shouted with a smile, then signaled for the passing cars to wait a moment and let the boy cross the street.

Cars honked and whizzed by, and the boy reached the young officer, panting heavily and pointing in the direction he had come from, "Officer! I’ve discovered, I’ve discovered a suspicious place!"

"Take it easy," the young officer said, his smile fading.

"In the area I’m responsible for, I found a door! Someone was definitely there last night!" the boy explained.

The officer narrowed his eyes, knowing that this area should have been cleared already, theoretically leaving no civilians hiding.

It was unlikely to be hidden enemy forces, and if there were any, they would definitely be just a few scattered stragglers.

"Are you sure?" the officer looked into the boy’s eyes.

The boy nodded earnestly, "There’s a door, very hidden!"

The officer nodded slightly and looked behind him, "I need a few men! Come with me and take a look! It could be civilians too scared to show themselves, or it could be people from Qi Country! Bring good weapons, don’t be careless!"

"Got it!" Several soldiers immediately began to check their weapons, two fiddling with submachine guns while another two removed rifles slung over their backs.

These troops stationed inside Beiyuan City were part of General Tagg’s Southern Command. Most of these troops were infantry divisions, a large part of which had not yet completed rearmament.

Their weapons were Mauser 98K rifles, with a few equipped with Thompson submachine guns and snipers using G43 semiautomatic rifles—quite a mix of arms.

This was inevitable. The Tang Army was also in the midst of a large-scale rearmament, so it was normal for the weapons and equipment to be somewhat mixed up.

Five people quickly arrived near the ruins under the boy’s guidance. They carefully surveyed the terrain and found that it wasn’t a good ambush spot, so they proceeded and reached one end of the hidden path.

"A house that hasn’t completely collapsed, looks like it could be a rich family’s mansion," the young officer said, gun in hand, leading his men into the concealed passage.

Moving ahead, the officer’s boots made light crunching sounds on the rubble. He walked up to the door and noticed that the wooden door really didn’t match the surroundings.

The officer turned around and gestured for cover; two grenadiers raised their submachine guns, ready to coordinate their next move.

The leading officer kicked open the wooden door and rushed into the dimly lit room; as he peered inside, he saw a man lying on the slanted floor and a dark figure crouched in the corner.

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The room reeked of a nauseating stench, and flies buzzed ceaselessly, flapping their wings.

Several soldiers stormed into the room. The figure in the corner struggled to stand up, pulling a PPK pistol from his bosom.

Unfortunately, before he could resist, one of the entering soldiers smacked him across the face with the butt of his rifle.

In pain, the figure clutched his face and screamed as he fell; the pistol in his hand also dropped to the floor with a thud.

"Don’t! Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot! It’s me! It’s me! I am Jiang Zhi! I am the Second Prince of Qi Country, Jiang Zhi! Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me!" the man lying on the floor raised his hands and yelled loudly, his voice full of despair and trembling.

He was genuinely afraid, his voice becoming shrill. He held up his hands, not even managing to stand in the gloomy room.

This Qi Country Second Prince, who should have been above it all, now had a face covered in beard and disheveled hair, indistinguishable from an ordinary prisoner.

He stank, his once valuable clothes stained all over, and the attendants who once followed him were nowhere to be seen.

"Jiang Zhi?" The young officer from Tang Country hadn’t expected to inadvertently capture such a big fish.

He picked up the pistol, walked over to the fallen man, and stepped on his hand asking, "And who might you be?"

"Ah! Ah! I’m just... the lowly commander of Jiang Zhi’s guard! I am the Guard Commander!" cried the skinny guard, his frame nothing but skin and bones.

"He is Jiang Zhi?" The officer looked down at the man on the ground and continued to ask.

"Yes! Yes! He is Jiang Zhi! He is the Second Prince! The Second Prince of Qi Country!" the Guard Commander answered loudly.

"Take them away!" commanded the leading young officer, waving the pistol in his hand.

The accompanying soldiers, thrilled, swarmed forward and tied up both men tightly. They didn’t care about the wails and howls as they dragged them out of the room.

The young officer searched the room and found some ammunition and some worthless documents.

As for food, there was none at all. So the officer guessed why the two had to venture out at night.

Their supplies had run out, so they had to look elsewhere to fill their stomachs, which had exposed them.

Realizing this, the young officer turned to the child, still not willing to leave: "You did well! Thanks to you, we caught this bad guy so quickly."

He went over, took out a Gold Coin from his pocket, and pressed it into the boy’s palm: "This is your reward, don’t let the other kids see it, alright?"

In these times, a Gold Coin was a fortune, which is why the officer took a moment to remind the boy of the wisdom of not flaunting one’s wealth.

The boy nodded vigorously; it was the first time in his life he had ever seen a real Gold Coin, and that Gold Coin was now in his palm.

So he carefully clenched the Gold Coin in his hand and left the filthy hideout with the officer.

...

"Your Majesty!" More than an hour later, Li’ao reported to Tang Mo in his office, "We’ve found Jiang Zhi, the Second Prince of Qi Country."

"Oh?" Tang Mo did not even lift his head, clearly uninterested in Jiang Zhi. Frankly, Tang Mo disliked Jiang Zhi, finding him no better than a pig or dog for failing to protect his subjects.

"He says he’s willing to abdicate, to hand over Qi Country to you rightfully and legitimately," Li’ao explained his purpose: "I think it’s feasible, at least..."

"What does he want?" Tang Mo still didn’t look up.

"He hopes to live," Li’ao replied.

"Impossible! Li’ao. Whether the rule over Qi Country is justified or not is for the people of Qi Country to judge... not for him to bestow with a mere word! He is not worthy!" Tang Mo raised his head: "Got it?"

"Yes! I understand, Your Majesty!" Li’ao bowed his head, casting aside any trace of pity he had just felt.

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Dragon Spirit owes updates and will make them up after recuperating. Let me recover first, and then I’ll catch up.