Munitions Empire

Even someone who has lost all sense of decency and conscience actually cares about face, though in most cases, when someone truly loses all conscience, their pursuit of face takes on a very strange direction.

For example, in ancient times, making a king always feel indebted to you would pretty much mean you're not far from having your family exterminated and your house raided.

The Second Prince of Qi Country now found himself caught in this contemptible circle of self-consistent moral logic.

He felt that none of this was his fault, nor was it the fault of the people of Shenwu. All the problems he faced were actually because his father refused to promote and trust him, to hand over the entire Qi Country to him.

As for blaming Tang Country, he resisted the idea deep in his heart, for he did not dare. For Tang Country was so powerful that not even the people of Shenwu could defeat it, so powerful that he didn't even dare to entertain the idea of blame.

Does that sound strange? Indeed, it is strange. However, that's exactly what Jiang Zhi thought to himself, no matter how odd it might be.

He never asked how his subjects were currently being slaughtered, nor dared to investigate how his own country was being destroyed by Tang Country.

Now, the ones he blamed most were his brothers, his deceased father, those ministers who delayed him, who kept him from power... Discover hidden tales at My Virtual Library Empire

The slaughter outside had been going on for days, and in truth, Beiyuan City had already become a domain of ghosts. The number of Qi people had sharply decreased, the streets were littered with the wounded of Shenwu, Tang Army was at arm's length, and Jiang Zhi felt as if he could see his own end coming.

His recent several requests to Shenwu Sanlang to go to Shen Country were denied: Shenwu Sanlang knew that the shipping route to Shen Country was no longer safe.

They didn't wish to stay, but by now, leaving was no longer an option. Apart from the occasional supplies they still received daily, the supply line was no longer capable of supporting the entirety of Beiyuan City.

Shenwu Sanlang, who had been vigilantly guarding the outskirts of the harbor area, sensitively noticed that the supplies he could receive were rapidly diminishing day by day.

Previously, despite Tang warships' harassment, it was barely possible to resupply Beiyuan City with goods, but now, fewer and fewer transport ships could reach Beiyuan City.

Most of the transport ships could only time their arrival in nearby waters at night, and then quickly depart before dawn. Fearing the airplanes flying in the sky, the entire resupply process was fraught with anxiety.

To Shenwu Sanlang's further irritation, as Beiyuan City's port was destroyed and blockaded, shortages began to emerge, particularly in supplies that previously seemed less important.

For instance, coal and fuel, which were usually stored in the harbor area for the small resupply ships and patrolling warships, had now been destroyed or exhausted.

The loss of these fuels meant that the already severely inadequate number of transport ships, especially those with insufficient range, could no longer carry out transport missions.

There was no choice, for once a ship sailed out, it could not return, so they could only rely on larger vessels to carry out the resupply missions.

But as Beiyuan City's port was attacked and the conspicuous docks were severely damaged, even desperate repairs could not restore them quickly enough to accommodate large transport ships.

So, the Shen Country's maritime resupply found itself in a ridiculous contradiction: only large ships could carry out transport missions, yet the docks could only allow small ships to dock.

As a result, not only did they lose half their transport capacity because small ships couldn't be used, but the damaged docks also made unloading from the large ships difficult.

A few days ago, Shenwu Sanlang discovered that heavy artillery vehicles and other equipment could no longer be unloaded ashore, and the unloading of ammunition had become extremely cumbersome and inefficiency had dropped to a despairing level.

Some ships could only manage to transfer a hundred or so rounds of ammunition to smaller boats with ropes overnight, which then delivered the ammunition to the shore.

But such a laborious effort all night long yielded only enough ammunition for a single artillery company's daily consumption, enough to drive Shenwu Sanlang to despair.

After summarizing the lessons learned, Shen Country's transport ships would no longer sail to Beiyuan City with thousands upon thousands of rounds of ammunition, because they had to return before they could finish unloading.

It was unthinkable to sail 200 kilometers back before dawn the next day and then sail back again to continue unloading ammunition, wasn't it? Such actions not only squandered fuel but also severely wasted transport capacity.

Therefore, Shen Country had to alter the cargo structure inside the transport ships: they tried to transport smaller items as much as possible to facilitate sea transfers and improve efficiency.

Finally, they figured out the best strategy was to transport personnel as much as possible: let soldiers board with light weapons and ammunition, as this was most economical and convenient.

So, unnoticed, Shen Country sent another 50,000 soldiers to Beiyuan City and took back about 30,000 wounded.

The reason why more people were sent than received was partly due to the higher importance of unloading, which meant that there had to be more time allocated to it, and consequently, the time for the wounded to board was reduced. On the other hand, the returning vessels invariably carried some private cargo.

To transport the plundered goods back to Shen Country was a core national policy: the entire nation of Shen was waging this war—if there were no returns, how could they possibly continue?

A portion of these plundered supplies needed to be given to Shireck to continue purchasing weapons and pay off previous debts, while another portion was distributed to the families of the fallen as a consolation.

Of course, a large part was the nobility's cake—only with these profits would they continue to support the war. Even the king of Shen got his share of the cake.

As for the dead Goblin civilians, to everyone in Shen, they were just numbers. Aren't people just resources to be consumed?

"The people of Tang still refuse to negotiate with us?" Shenwu Sanlang, seated in his commandeered office, looked at the inventory list he was holding and asked Shen Wenxi, who was beside him, with some impatience.

Shen Wenxi shook his head, replying absentmindedly, "They won't accept any kind of negotiation, the terms provided by Tang's diplomats are completely unacceptable."

His answer seemed contradictory—he said the people of Tang simply did not give Shen an opportunity to negotiate, yet he also mentioned that Tang set terms that were just unacceptable to Shen.

Shenwu Sanlang detected the underlying message: the terms offered by Tang were so stringent that the entire leadership of Shen felt that Tang wasn't truly aiming to negotiate but was prepared to prolong the war.

"What exactly do they want?" Shenwu Sanlang asked curiously.

Sighing, Shen Wenxi indulged Shenwu Sanlang's curiosity, "Reparations of 100 million Gold Coin, 300 thousand slaves, execution of war criminals..."

"War criminals?" Shenwu Sanlang was momentarily taken aback, seemingly particularly concerned about this matter.

Nodding, Shen Wenxi explained, "Yes, criminals! The Tang people believe that Shen wrongfully initiated the war and that during the conflict, our military leaders committed atrocities and must be punished."

Ha!" Shenwu Sanlang scoffed.

A person knows exactly what they have done, even if it's perfectly concealed from others. Shenwu Sanlang did not have a split personality to shield himself from his actions, so he was well aware of the recent events in Beiyuan City.

These were acts that he had orchestrated, and they had continued with his tacit approval. If Shen indeed had war criminals, then he, Shenwu Sanlang, was definitely among them.

He never considered himself at fault, as all his choices were made with the interests of Shen's military in Beiyuan City in mind.

As Beiyuan City's surrounding siege tightened and its harbor was destroyed, the city's food and ammunition supplies dwindled.

In such a scenario, slaughtering civilians to conserve resources for the military seemed like the best choice. Furthermore, the practice of Shen's military brutally expanding and occupying territory, for their settlers to take control, was almost a universally recognized tradition.

What Shen had done on Dongwan Island was exactly this, and now they were doing the same in Beiyuan City—it was hardly surprising.

"We all know that if we actually give Tang hundreds of thousands of slaves, their development would accelerate even faster. Plus, the 100 million Gold Coin we can't afford—none of these conditions are acceptable to us," Shen Wenxi continued.

"Indeed!" Shenwu Sanlang agreed, "So now we're left with only one option—to fight to the death here!"

"I won't let a single soldier fall into the hands of the Tang people. We're going to turn Beiyuan City into true ruins, and every Shen soldier here will die in the final battle!" His expression was ferocious and somewhat terrifying, "They will get nothing! Only a Beiyuan City that no longer exists!"

"That's also what the higher-ups want," Shen Wenxi said, "They hope we'll continue to hold out here, thwarting Tang's offensive and buying as much time as possible."

"As long as we hold on, there is hope!" As a civil officer, Shen Wenxi couldn't expect military performances, so he could only talk about what he was familiar with, "The international situation will change. Our allies won't just watch us get swallowed by Tang!"

"You're right!" Shenwu Sanlang also put his hopes on the international situation—in his view, as soon as Chu Country and Dahua Empire declared war on Tang, the value of this isolated city would soar.

At least, the Eastern Continent nations, eager to kick Tang while it was down, would immediately join the feast to carve up Tang, providing maximum reinforcement for Beiyuan City!

With these reinforcements, he could turn defense into offense, achieve a comeback, and become the most famous general of Shen, and even the entire world!