Munitions Empire

However, the current problem that needs to be resolved is the vacillating alliance between the duplicitous Laines Empire, which seeks some form of strategic security, and Gobur Kingdom.

The Gobur Kingdom is thoroughly under the sway of the Shireck Consortium, a fact well known to all. As a quasi-enemy force that has always stood opposite to the Great Tang Group, the alliance between the Shireck-controlled Gobur Kingdom and the Laines Empire must be dissolved.

This is the second purpose of the envoy from the Great Tang Kingdom for this visit.

"I understand what you mean... We will consider it seriously," seeing his Emperor remaining silent with a gloomy face, the Prime Minister of Laines hurried to step forward and speak, "However, the Laines Empire will not be threatened by anyone! This point must be clear to you!"

The first part of this statement reflects the stance of the Laines Empire, indicating that the side of the Laines Empire has already felt the threat from the Great Tang Group and will seriously consider the will of the Tang side.

The latter part is just a formality, a way for them to save face, maintaining the political status of the Laines Empire in front of the Great Tang Kingdom.

You can’t simply kneel without a struggle and call someone else your daddy—it’s a rather face-losing situation. You need to hesitate, struggle, and ultimately kneel begrudgingly due to circumstances, swallowing your pride and calling out ’dad.’ To outsiders, at least it looks like you kept your integrity...

The envoy from the Great Tang Kingdom also knew that continuing to be aggressively pushy was pointless; he simply needed to let the other party feel the political pressure from the Great Tang Kingdom.

So, he explained with a smile, "Your Majesty, Prime Minister, the Great Tang Kingdom will not threaten anyone. We maintain neutrality; that has always been our stance. We are a peace-loving nation, from beginning to end."

You are a peace-loving force? How can you say something so conscienceless with a straight face? The Prime Minister silently cursed within, though his face continued to bear a smile.

Damn it, since its inception, the Tang Group has been a munitions dealer directly confronting the Shireck Consortium, and to this day, nearly two-fifths of the countries in the world use weapons and equipment developed and produced by the Tang Group!

Such a damned warmongering arms magnate has the audacity to say he loves peace! The gods know you love peace!

After ranting internally, the Prime Minister suddenly realized that arms dealers do indeed love peace: it’s not war they like, but the arms race during peacetimes!

Although war can consume a large number of weapons and equipment, once it ends, there is a substantial period wherein the interest in armaments wanes.

Because the war is over, the victor has been decided, and the conqueror no longer needs to maintain a formidable military force to deter a substantial adversary.

This is like playing Go—if one side is too strong, no high-quality games can ensue. You need an equally strong opponent.

But an arms race is different. Despite less wartime consumption, weapons do have a shelf life, and plenty are destroyed even during peace.

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However, the arms race is endless, and the countries involved in it won’t spend any less—because their opponents surely won’t slacken either!

And such competition is relentless. As long as they have a penny, they will spend a penny, sparing no expense because as long as there’s peace, you’ll never beat your opponent, and the arms race will persist.

This is typical merchant logic; this is how arms dealers think. This is why businessmen can never truly engage in politics.

These crafty and inhumane arms dealers! The Prime Minister cursed in his heart, but kept a pleasant smile on his face.

"In fact, we are preparing to launch a comprehensive post-war economic recovery plan to assist the war-torn countries in reviving their pre-war economies and helping their citizens escape poverty," the envoy from the Great Tang Kingdom added, offering a carrot after the stick.

Merely threatening these war-involved countries to give up their own interests is obviously not a safe nor realistic approach. Thus, helping them overcome economic difficulties is the best way to willingly coax them back to peace.

The Great Tang Kingdom needs a year to recuperate and gather strength for further expansion. Hence, it is essential to keep the industrial countries of the trade alliance quietly prospering the economy around the Endless Sea for a year.

"I’m looking forward to such a plan," King Leines I, having been offered a way out, coughed and rejoined the conversation at this juncture.

His reengagement indicated the Laines Empire’s attitude: if you provide money and technology, I wouldn’t mind kneeling again and licking your boots, calling you daddy.

"Very soon, Mr. Harry will have a draft of the plan ready for you. The overall framework is still rough, but we already have a general direction," the envoy said confidently.

Tang Mo could not predict the specific reactions of all nations when facing intervention, and therefore, he couldn’t immediately present a plan that would satisfy everyone.

Nevertheless, he could exploit his influence to interfere with many countries’ high-level decisions to the benefit of the Great Tang Kingdom, but that comes at a price.

Tang Mo did not wish to waste his own resources on the affairs of others, and hence, in this mediation, he set the tone to operate with conventional methods as much as possible.

If things really can’t be helped, might as well solve one or two of those troublesome, uncontrollable fringe countries to make the entire situation a bit cleaner and clearer.

"Then we shall wait and see," the Prime Minister spoke again at this moment, allowing him to leave more room for maneuver for his own Emperor.

...

While Tang Mo’s envoy was confronting the Emperor of the Laines Empire, another Shireck tank was destroyed on the northern front of the Gobur battlefield.

The weapon that destroyed this tank wasn’t some newfangled invention, but a 76mm caliber anti-aircraft gun temporarily modified by the Dorne Kingdom!

This anti-air weapon, originally designed to shoot down airships thanks to its high muzzle velocity and flat trajectory, turned out to be perfectly suitable for tank warfare.

Frankly speaking, the introduction of this new weapon did impact the Great Tang Kingdom’s Type 4 tanks as well, because with the Type 4’s current 60mm thick front armor, it was quite a stretch to withstand the 76mm caliber rounds.

Tang Mo himself later felt some regret, especially when he saw those Shireck tanks on the Gobur battlefield.

The anti-tank weaponry concept he provided to Dorne, when it came to dealing with Gobur’s tanks, could really be described as overkill.

Had he known that the tanks Gobur put into the war were of the decrepit A7V level, he could have simply produced some machine gun bullets with armor-piercing tips and that would have been nearly enough to cope.

Now, however...

The 76mm caliber anti-aircraft gun, fixed on a low gun carriage, lay concealed on the side of a trench, part of the border defense line that was on the brink of collapse.

Well-concealed by clever use of the terrain, the Dorne troops made it impossible for Gobur’s forces to spot this insidious flank position from the front.

The anti-aircraft gun, poking its barrel out, aimed at yet another staggeringly advancing Gobur tank that had burst into Dorne’s defensive position.

The tank was turning, seemingly having spotted another active Dorne heavy machine-gun position on the other flank that was attracting attention with constant gunfire.

During this turn, the anti-aircraft gun fired a shell. The high-velocity projectile emitted a chilling whistling sound as it smashed into the steel plate on the side of the Gobur tank.

Lacking true armor-piercing rounds and thus using a shell equipped with an impact fuze, the explosive went off, its shockwave beginning to distort the steel plate nearby.

Although not designed as a specialized round, the hammer-like force was still able to penetrate the thin steel plate, impacting the driver inside.

The Gobur soldier who was just operating the machine gun was instantly engulfed by the explosion, and his assistant gunner beside him met the same fate.

The machine gunner at the front of the tank felt the blast of air from behind, and the next instant he knew nothing anymore.

To set up machine-gun fire in every direction, Shireck’s tank designers, much like a ship, installed the power system right in the center of the tank.

The commanders and loaders fought while stepping over the engine inside the rotatable turret, a design that ensured the tank could be equipped with machine guns on all sides to suppress enemy fire, raising the overall height of the tank significantly.

After the round penetrated the armor and exploded, the shockwave and shattered steel struck everyone inside the tank as well as the machinery.

Following the detonation, both the fuel tanks and ammunition went up in flames, and the massive tank disintegrated in an instant, becoming a fiery inferno.

With six machine guns operated by a total of twelve crew members, and including the commander, gunner, and driver, the Shireck version of the A7V tank had a total of sixteen crew members.

With that one shot, all sixteen valuable crew members perished in the flames, none escaping.

The battle continued unabated, not stopping abruptly just because one tank was destroyed. More tanks constantly tried on the battlefield, and Dorne’s final border defense line was still teetering.

But Bolton held on, withstanding the assault of the Gobur Kingdom, helping to stabilize Dorne’s southern front. This win earned time, time for the Great Tang Kingdom to react and begin mediating the war!

Everyone knew that after many specialized anti-tank weapons entered the battlefield, and after Dorne’s last line held, Gobur’s offensive was clearly starting to flag!

Dorne, it seemed, held on!

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