Munitions Empire

Even to prop up Xiong Xiao somewhat, his tone of speech subtly changed. The approachability that Xiong Xiao hadn't felt throughout the journey was suddenly reflected in those few short words.

"Good! Good!" Xiong Xiao immediately bowed slightly and hurried into the car. After he got in, the driver closed the door for him, and the outside noise was immediately cut off, as if a thousand miles away.

The moment the door closed, Xiong Xiao suddenly realized: Chu Country no longer shared a border with Dahua Empire, and no matter how aggressive Dahua Empire was, it wouldn't dare to do anything to Chu Country in the short term.

He didn't need to continue swallowing his pride. All he needed to do was to serve his new masters well while being held hostage in Great Tang Empire.

Moreover, it seemed that these new masters were somewhat more reasonable than those bastards from Dahua Empire. At least, it was unlikely that they would vulgarly force him to bark like a dog…

Outside the car, Prince Zhao Yu of Dahua, having swallowed a mouthful of saliva and suppressing his urge to explode, clenched his fists and his face darkened terribly.

He turned to the diplomat accompanying him, preparing to demand a reasonable explanation. In his view, Dahua Empire was an empire and ought to be treated with more respect than Chu Country.

However, the Tang official accompanying the Prince, already very displeased with him, now spoke coldly, "This is Great Tang… Your Highness, if you wish to cause trouble, I won't stop you, but I hope you won't regret it—that's all."

After saying this, he took advantage of everyone's stunned moment to add, "I am an official of Tang Country, not Dahua's dog! If Your Highness decides to act on your own again without my oversight, please do not come looking for me in the future! Remember this!"

After finishing his words, he left Zhao Yu and his entourage behind and walked toward another waiting car, leaving Zhao Yu alone, disheveled in the wind.

"Wait till you find out who I really am! I hope you can still be so arrogant then!" Zhao Yu muttered to himself in a voice only he could hear, then, with a grim face, he walked toward the car that came to pick him up.

Between the old city of Chang'an and the new King City, or rather the new Imperial City, there was a very wide street reserved, known as Zhuxei Avenue.

The military parade was set to be held on this street, where the new His Majesty The Emperor would watch from the city gate tower of his Imperial City as the Tang military passed below.

The whole process would be filmed, using color film—a new technology that hadn't been widely used before, marking the first comprehensive replacement of black-and-white film.

At the same time, this was also the world's first parade involving the Air Force and the first time that Cavalry was completely excluded from the parade.

For hundreds of years, Cavalry had been an indispensable part of military parades. However, in the upcoming Tang military parade, Cavalry was phased out.

The entire parade would be taken over by mechanized troops, with even horse-drawn artillery omitted.

These were the highlights of this Tang parade, which would be followed by a Labor Victory Parade to celebrate Tang's great achievements in production and life over the past year.

Compared to past military parades, this Tang parade was also on an unprecedented scale: just the formation of planes flying overhead numbered 600 aircraft!

The massive formation would fly in tight formation over the Imperial Palace, causing a visual impact expected to stun the entire world.

Even more enviable, all the reviewed troops were genuine front-line "combat" personnel who had returned. Each had at least a third-class Blade Medal, seasoned soldiers who had truly seen blood.

Tang's ability to assemble so many elite troops was nothing short of showing off its military strength to the world, displaying the power of Tang.

On another note, many new weapons would be displayed during the parade, with several unveiled for the first time.

After this parade, there was expected to be another round of a weapons procurement frenzy. Countries would drool over the new weapons, many starting to draw lessons from this war to procure weapons to remedy the defects and deficiencies in their military.

The troops participating in the parade had already begun to arrive in the suburbs of Chang'an, including notable portions of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Armored Divisions, as well as the 7th and 9th Infantry Corps.

Of course, there was also the 1st Infantry Corps, which had steadfastly defended Xicong to the death, and the 6th Army, which had performed excellently in disaster relief and rescue.

All of Chang'an was waiting for the parade in a few days. Street lamps were festooned with lanterns, and some alleys were strung with colorful flags.

Many buildings had their rooftops covered with Great Tang Dragon Banners, and numerous windows displayed vertical red flags featuring the giant Tang Dragon Emblem.

The city's security level had been raised to a terrifying degree, with patrolling soldiers visible from time to time.

The streets and alleys were bustling with activity, and Zhao Yu's car, after being stuck in traffic for over an hour, finally managed to stop in front of the hotel prepared for him.

Most of the guards were left downstairs, and Zhao Yu took only his two closest aides up to the third floor by elevator.