Munitions Empire

He hadn't seen the few soldiers stationed in the trenches, nor had he had the chance to see the machine gun bunkers hidden on the mountainsides.

Similarly, he hadn't seen the artillery positions, for they had been placed much further away, after all, they had the absolute advantage in range.

He also hadn't seen the command post, nor had he seen the transport carts, the scurrying attendants, or anyone else; it seemed like all that stood in front of the Shireck Troops was just an empty field.

Unfortunately, people are always more fearful of the unknown. In the face of the vast wilderness, the envoy felt the power of the Great Tang Group become even more unfathomable.

The pity was, he hadn't come to admire but to negotiate, so he could only say some words he himself found rather dull to the uninspiring person in front of him.

Gis had sent him to negotiate, and of course, Tang Mo wouldn't personally receive him. In fact, even Redman didn't have the time to entertain an envoy of an unknown level.

In the end, a company commander, bored out of his mind, sat in front of this Shireck envoy, listening indifferently as the other spouted some wildly fanciful words.

The envoy finally found it meaningless as well. After ending his spiel, he just looked at the young commander and said, "All he has to do is change the name of his workshop and hand over his new technology, that's all."

Of course, he had no idea what the shoulder and arm badges signifying military rank on the other's uniform meant; he was merely curious as to why the Great Tang Group would choose such an earthy color for their army's fabric.

Although the design of the military uniform did have an indescribable sense of sleek beauty, to tell the truth, he found the color of the material to be rather plain.

The atmosphere suddenly became awkward. The envoy realized that after he had finished his uninterrupted speech and laid out the conditions, the other party was still silent, sitting there without saying a word.

Sitting there bored, the company commander visualized his supply and tactical arrangements on an imagined sand table in his mind.

When it dawned on him it might be his turn to speak, he looked at the envoy's face and saw it had turned beet red.

"Ah... sorry, you were saying?" The young company commander asked, his face betraying a smile that was both mocking and deliberate.

"If Mr. Tang Mo is willing to surrender, then Mr. Gis is willing to relinquish his position as the head of the Leite Kingdom. The entire Leite Kingdom, including the Suthers Kingdom... will be entrusted to Mr. Tang Mo," the envoy had no choice but to repeat what he had just said.

"You've been fighting for a day now... and haven't even touched my Troops' front positions. What gives you the courage to come here and spout such nonsense?" The company commander frowned and asked a question that embarrassed the envoy greatly.

His company had more than 600 Soldiers, including artillery units and Infantry. In fact, since the fight had begun, he had a platoon held back as a reserve force.

But let's not even mention the reserve platoon positioned at the rear; of the two platoons deployed at the front, ninety percent of the Soldiers hadn't gotten a chance to fire a single shot until now.

The efficiency of the machine guns slaughtering the enemy was just too high; those troops yet to disclose their positions didn't have the heart to fire and create disorder for the machine gunners.

"Go back and have your men clean up the battlefield... before it gets dark," the company commander said, standing up and patting his trouser leg with a white glove, pointing towards the direction where the Shireck Troops were encamped: "At least, you ought to break through my first line of defense before you come asking for peace, right? Otherwise... isn't that embarrassing?"

The envoy, livid with rage but unable to speak, was choked by the company commander's insolent words, his face red with anger, yet unable to utter a single harsh word.

There was no helping it, the current situation was too strong for him; his own forces had been routed by a sudden, intense hail of bullets without even seeing the enemy.

The pain of this was like drinking water—only the drinker knows if it's warm or cold. If only the frontline Troops had performed a bit better, he wouldn't be in such an embarrassing situation right now.

Regrettably, there are no ifs... the endless gunfire had become an eternal nightmare, etched in the minds of all Shireck commanders.

This visit of his was actually because after witnessing the terrifying barrage from the Great Tang Group, his forces were scared witless, with no one willing to attack anymore, hence the thoughts of seeking peace arose.

So he could only helplessly mount his horse and turn back, hoisting the white flag, returning the way he came with a sense of foreboding and fear before Gis.

"So... you didn't even get to see Tang Mo's face?" Gis asked contemptuously, dragging out his words as he looked at his subordinate.

The subordinate acting as the envoy, with a face full of embarrassment, lowered his head and replied, "The other side... only sent, sent an officer to receive me."

"It seems they haven't agreed to our terms?" Gis asked without expecting an affirmative answer, then continued to press for more information.

"Yes." The envoy bowed his head even lower in response to Gis's question: "The officer said... said..."

"Said what?" Gis furrowed his brows, annoyed by the other's hesitance.

"He, he said...'At least, you should breach my first line of defense before you sue for peace, right? Otherwise... wouldn't it be embarrassing?'" The envoy mustered his courage to relay the Great Tang Group's officer's mocking words.

"Pfft..." Gis couldn't help but laugh: "Hahaha! That's right! If we want to negotiate peace, we should at least win once before that..."

Aside from him, no one else felt like laughing. They knew that winning the imminent battle would not be easy.

Not to mention the terror of explosive artillery fire, just the endless strange sounds of gunfire alone were enough to drive one to despair.

At this moment, the commanders from Shireck finally understood why Suthers's famed general Tucci had met his demise at the Three Forks.

It wasn't surprising to lose one's life unexpectedly when facing such an unorthodox troop. It was said that Tucci had died from artillery, and being killed by such stealthily exploding firepower was not an anomaly...

"Right, that's right... they said to have us... have us send people to clean, clean the battlefield, and collect, collect the bodies..." The envoy finally remembered another piece of information.

"Quite reasonable; they have fewer soldiers, so they wouldn't want to waste energy..." Gis nodded and then turned to his subordinates: "Arrange for some menial workers to retrieve the bodies, and tell them not to get close to the enemy's position..."

After finishing his instructions, he looked to the row of generals beside him: "Don't rush. As dusk falls, we can use the cover of night, and our advantage in numbers, to hit them hard."

This was a new tactic that Gis had come up with after much reflection, which involved using the low visibility of the night to get close and seize the Great Tang Group's defensive positions.

Previously, he had considered using a scattered formation to attack, but Shireck's troops had never trained for such a tactic.

Disrupting their battle formation, foregoing drum signals for command, and spreading personnel out for an assault would surely result in his side descending into chaos first.

How would dispersed soldiers deal with the problem of hesitation? How could all troops be commanded effectively? How could these troops be maneuvered to respond to subsequent issues after an attack failed or succeeded?

In short, they had no experience with dispersed attacks, and forcing the tactic would only spell trouble for themselves.

The alternative was to use the darkness as cover to close the distance between the forces as much as possible and then try to leverage the numerical advantage to strike a blow.

Admittedly, moving at night was untested, and mobilizing a large corps would certainly bring various difficulties, but Gis had his own ideas.

The chaos of night was frightening, yet with Shireck's numerical superiority, even significant losses could be withstood.

According to Gis's plan, even if both sides became mired in chaos, even if it cost three times the losses, he could still break through Tang Mo's forces, even after losing two corps.

Come dawn, the chaotic fighting would end, and his troops could use their numerical advantage to take the positions and claim victory in the battle.

Sending the envoy to Tang Mo was also a ruse to lull him into a false sense of security, while actively preparing to launch an assault in the darkness before dawn.

An attack just before dawn meant the darkness would soon be dispelled by sunrise, and the chaos would quickly resolve, leaving the early morning to decide the victor!

Everything seemed to fall within his calculations; if his night attack succeeded, the battle could very well be over.

Because Tang Mo would not have time to regroup his routed troops and deploy a second line of defense. The disadvantage in numbers did not permit Tang Mo to do so.

To his delight, this "negotiation" trip brought him an unexpected gain: the enemy actually allowed them to clean the battlefield.

Even if they were only allowed to collect two-thirds of the bodies, it would make the attacking path smoother.

Once they overcame the distance that seemed nearly impossible during the day, they could throw their soldiers into the fray with minimal losses in the mix!

"Tang Mo, oh Tang Mo, the proud are destined to fail... You're still too young," Gis said, with a malevolent smile on his face.