Munitions Empire

The southern district of Beiyuan City has almost become a testing ground for the new weapons of the Tang Army.

After several rounds of experimental volleys with their new type of rocket artillery here, the Tang Army deployed the No. 4 assault gun in the attack, covering the infantry as they advanced.

It was the first time the soldiers of the Shen Army had encountered this kind of turret-less, low-profile, and exceedingly practical new "Tank".

There was good reason to classify these armored vehicles as tanks, after all, these weapons indeed closely resembled tanks, and were even more effective against fixed targets.

Not having a turret and being extremely low-profile meant that the No. 4 assault gun could evade most attacks on the battlefield; it could also comfortably approach targets due to its low height, and then open fire.

This new weapon for infantry support was incredibly useful, and it was directly assigned to infantry commanders, ready for immediate use without waiting, providing very effective instant firepower.

Whenever the infantry encountered obstacles during the attack, they could immediately appear on the battlefield and easily demolish those obstructing fire points with their 75mm caliber cannons.
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Don't think that the 75mm infantry gun is weak or lacks good methods against solid fortifications. In fact, this infantry cannon is quite powerful and can destroy a very wide variety of targets.

Don't assume all defense works are like those three-meter-thick reinforced concrete permanent fortifications; such fire points or gun emplacements would even be important support points on the Maginot Line.

Most defense works would be doing very well if they could even stack half a meter of concrete on the front side.

When it came to such fire points, a 75mm caliber gun, in a direct fire situation, could take them out incredibly easily.

With armored protection and the ability to easily cross obstacles with tracks, the No. 4 assault gun could advance very close to fire points and solve the problem with a single shot.

If there were no assault guns, the soldiers would either have to wait for the arrival of tanks or blow up such targets with explosives by any means necessary.

Or, they might risk pushing a 75mm infantry gun to close range to fire, but such a method would be too cumbersome, only resorted to by commanders when there was no other choice.

When soldiers of the Shen Army first saw the No. 4 assault gun, they found that this headless tank could easily hide behind any reverse slope on the battlefield and fire at them with a barrage of ammunition; their days became even harder.

How should I put it? All of a sudden, they felt like their already not so affluent life had taken another blow, a feeling of misery upon misfortune.

Really, there was no way around it; the No. 4 assault gun, being only about 2 meters tall, could carry a radio set, a machine gun and a large cannon, as well as several dozen millimeters of armored steel plate, and drive up to within 50 meters of a Shen gun bunker—how could the battle still be fought?

Thus, this entirely new tank intelligence was immediately sent to the distressed Shenwu Sanlang. At the same time, the advisors from the Shireck Consortium also learned of this news.

Now, inside a nondescript civilian house in Beiyuan City, the advisors from Shireck were also presented with an array of captured Tang Army weaponry, a sight to behold.

On the table lay a huge remnant of a cylindrical shell, the remains of a Tang Army rocket artillery shell after it exploded.

This was a brand-new type of rocket shell that had never been seen on the battlefield before because it still had half a tail-fin attached to the fragment.

For the advisors from Shireck, this was incredibly novel, as it represented the birth of an entirely new ammunition concept.

Next to the remains of the rocket shell was an aerial bomb, a dud, a 50kg bomb.

It was a small aerial bomb dropped from a Flying Fortress Bomber, originally meant to bomb Shen defense positions, but due to quality issues, it did not explode upon hitting the ground and was preserved intact.

Beside the aerial bomb, there was a destroyed MG-42 general-purpose machine gun. It was captured during a counterattack when a Shen artillery shell happened to hit near this machine gun emplacement, killing two Tang gunners, leaving only half of the machine gun.

Still, the Shen soldiers picked it up and brought it into the hands of the advisors from the Shireck Consortium. Also, there was a steel helmet and a parachute lost by Tang paratroopers in the battle at Donghe Bridge.

These items were originally abandoned west of Donghe Bridge and were picked up by soldiers from Qi Country near King City after the Tang paratroopers retreated towards Donghe Bridge.

However, motivated by the lure of Gold Coins, they found a way to sneak past Donghe Bridge, bringing these items to the east bank controlled by the Second Prince.

At that time, the number of paratroopers in the Tang Army was insufficient, so they could only honestly defend Donghe Bridge, and had no experience in dealing with the few Qi Country soldiers who had fled across the river.

"Load the ships, and transport them to Shen Country as quickly as possible, then transfer them to the Ice Cold Empire," an advisor from Shireck said weakly as he looked at the remnants of the weapons.

Tang Army had invested so many new weapons in this war that the advisors from Shireck had become numb to the extent.

The war philosophies of both sides seemed to have already started to diverge, with the armored corps, paratrooper units, and air force units presented by the Tang Army being things the Shireck side had never even thought of.

"What on earth are those engineers at Great Tang Group filling their heads with?" another advisor from Shireck muttered irritably, unable to comprehend no matter how much he thought about it.

They were originally actively trying to replicate the No. 4 tanks produced by Great Tang Group in the Ice Cold Empire, hoping to use similar tanks to withstand the onslaught of the Tang Army's No. 4 tanks.

But what happened was that the Tang Army had already started to play with all sorts of messy things they had never seen before. Even with machine guns, the Tang Army's MG-42 "fabric ripper" was much better than the Maxim replicas Shireck had made.

"This is called 'one step ahead, leads everywhere ahead'!" the leading Shireck advisor concluded morosely, "Do you remember our past? When the Shireck Flintlock Gun was first created, all those other workshops' firearms became outdated... We used to be... also..."

Ten years ago, Shireck's position was definitely on par with—or even beyond—what Great Tang Group is today. Their passiveness now could be seen as nothing more than the simple interpretation of the wheel of fortune turning from a long-term perspective.

Originally, the Tang Army was also equipped with a large number of Mauser Rifles, but now after beginning to reorganize around machine guns and tanks to form a new tactical system, the power of their automatic weapons had been highlighted.

With the cover of tanks and the new turret-less tanks, Tang infantry could easily approach enemy trenches and immediately leverage the firepower advantage of submachine guns. Why resort to bayonet fighting? Why send soldiers to fight with bayonets when you can solve problems with submachine guns?

The advisors from Shireck didn't know that the Tang Army had already begun to equip their troops with more powerful assault rifles to replace the submachine guns that other countries hadn't massively equipped yet.

"But upon closer thought, is it possible to assume that Tang Country is already overburdened?" another Shireck advisor offered his opinion, "The kind of new, turret-less tank they're producing... could it be because their resource supply can't keep up, and they have to simplify production to come up with such bizarre contraptions?"

At this moment, Shireck's advisors still hadn't figured out that the No. 4 Assault Guns belonged to the infantry, so it was inevitable that some misjudgments would occur.

Upon hearing this, it seemed as if a new world's door opened before several Shireck advisors: Yes, why would the Tang Army equip two types of weapons with similar functions?

The forward-unthinking advisors of Shireck still categorized tanks as "assault vehicles," so in their view, tanks and assault guns performed the same type of tasks.

Only the technicians from Great Tang Group, under the influence of Tang Mo, had classified tanks as combining the functionalities of both "destroyer tanks" and "assault vehicles."

The tank classifications were inherently different for the two sides, and obviously, Great Tang Group's classification was more accurate. Hence, the appearance of the No. 4 Assault Guns didn't fall within the understanding of Shireck's technicians.

There was no helping it, as assault guns were indeed just a product of the times. In the future, their combat missions would be divided between infantry fighting vehicles and tanks, disappearing into the annals of history.

"What you said makes sense! Are they trying to save costs?" With the train of thought unlocked, Shireck's advisor began to speculate.

"That must be the case, otherwise why not equip the troops with the same type of tanks? Isn't that more appropriate?" someone nearby agreed.

"Should we send a telegram back home right away? And let Shen Country know this news as well?" Excited voices began to emerge, encouraging everyone.

"Yes! Not just Shen Country, we should let the Dahua Empire, Ice Cold Empire, Laines Empire, and Dorne Empire know as well!" another person clapped his hands, as if he had discovered the truth.

In their eyes, the Great Tang Kingdom that was nearly at the end of its rope, seemed like a decrepit house that would collapse if someone just gave it a kick.

"Let's not delay! Quick! Send a message back to headquarters right away! Have Lady Sofia broadcast this news!" the lead advisor hurriedly said.

He knew that, whether or not his speculation was correct, the news would ultimately be sent out—because everyone needed a reason, a reason to suppress Tang Country.

As long as they released this favorable news, naturally, there would be people who chose to believe it, and then join the war against Tang Country.

Just like sharks that sense the scent of blood.