Munitions Empire

The entire city was ablaze, with tall columns of black smoke in the distance. Fengjiang City was already unrecognizable, almost completely destroyed.

Dahua soldiers cradled their weapons, faces numb as they stared into the camera lens, some even with wrinkled brows. Many were no longer young, yet a great number were barely of age.

These conscripted soldiers had just experienced a disaster, and the catastrophe was still unfolding as they faced the camera lenses.

The fire blazed for three whole days and nights before it was quelled, consuming numerous wooden structures and leaving nothing but piles of pitch-black ash.

"This isn't a weapon of this world at all," Chu Muzhou said with a pale face after glancing at Emperor Zhao Kai, who was continuously vomiting, and then speaking to Chen Jing, the Minister of Works, by his side.

Chen Jing sighed deeply and responded to the Prime Minister with another sigh, "We've just begun to figure out how to make some planes and tanks, and they've already brought out a plethora of new things... The craftsmen have done their utmost, but..."

Chu Muzhou knew that the Ministry of Works had indeed done everything it could. Chen Jing had been living in his office those days, personally urging the craftsmen to quickly improve weapons and equipment to bridge the gap between Dahua's troops and the Tang Army.

But the fruits of their labor were negligible. The craftspeople of Shireck, unable to comprehend the technology, made it just as elusive to the craftsmen of the Dahua Empire.

That the Dahua Empire managed to produce new tanks and planes was a herculean national effort, the very limit of the empire's technical capabilities.

As for the bomb more terrifying than devils themselves, the Ministry of Works truly had no means to contend with it—even if they had access to white phosphorus, the Dahua Empire lacked bombers capable of infiltrating Tang Country to drop these bombs, didn't they?

And new bombers? Forget about it in the short term. The new aircraft production lines of the Dahua Empire, barely able to assemble the Dahua Type 1 fighter jets, simply had no capacity to produce bombers.

Even if there were a second production line, it would be dedicated to the Air Force's demand for fighter jets, churning them out to ensure an anti-aircraft capability, rather than manufacturing bombers.

Moreover, with engine production capacity already falling short, the Dahua Empire had no additional engines to spare for bomber production; even if they could construct the airframes, there would be no engines to power them.

"Manufacturing artillery, anti-aircraft guns, tanks, planes... the Ministry of Works has no spare manpower to tend to anything else..." Chen Jing shook his head, signalling there was truly no solution.

"I am aware of Minister Chen's hardships," Chu Muzhou offered no blame, immediately trying to provide comfort, "It's just that these white phosphorus bombs are indeed too vicious; it's truly disturbing to witness."

It's not as if Dahua's civilian officials had ever set foot on a battlefield, but even those who had led troops and fought battles were unfamiliar with the kind of wartorn scenes shown in these images.

Compared to the wars they knew of, or had heard about, the continuously burning and collapsing city depicted was akin to the hellish landscapes described in scriptures.

"To fight against such an opponent and to hold out without defeat thus far is nothing short of a miracle," Minister of Revenue Wang Yucái mused in a low voice to Jiang Run, the Minister of Rites, beside him.

Jiang Run wiped the cold sweat from his face and nodded in agreement with Wang Yucái's words, "Minister Wang speaks the truth! Tang Country truly is as ferocious as wolves and tigers, uncivilized... inhuman!"

Everyone present was terrified by the horrific scenes depicted, and only at this moment did all the ministers in attendance finally gain a tangible understanding of the severity of this war.

Up until now, the war had been nothing more than cold numbers to them—hundreds of thousands dead, millions of Gold Coins lost... To them, these figures were too abstract to feel real.

At this moment, the stark reality was laid out before them, and for the first time, they began to seriously ponder. To contemplate whether this war was necessary to continue any further.

Among all present, none felt more vindicated than Shen Chuan. As the Empire's Minister of War, he had been the one consistently berated, the one nobody wanted to be around.

Now, as others finally experienced the pressure he had been under, he could retaliate. At last, he could smugly fold his hands and utter the classic line, "If you think you can do better, go ahead."

"Minister Shen..." Emperor Zhao Kai was still retching on the side, disrupting the meeting and making it impossible to continue. Chu Muzhou shifted closer to Shen Chuan, lowering his voice before asking, "In your opinion, what should be done?"

He didn't specify the matter, but Shen Chuan knew what he was referring to.

Chu Muzhou was asking about the war... or rather, how to clean up this mess.

Eventually, Zhao Kai composed himself. Although many wished he would just keep vomiting, vomit to death even, he managed to regain his seat on the throne.

His face was deathly pale as he looked down at his ministers and it took him a while before he managed to say, "Gentlemen... do you have anything to say?"

His pallor was partly due to the shock from the gruesome scenes and partly from the exertion of his retching.

Having embarrassingly lost face like this in front of all his ministers, the prideful Zhao Kai felt thoroughly unwell.

On the one hand, he internally rebuked Shireck's people for their insensitivity in showing him such nauseating material; on the other, he felt an even deeper hatred for the Great Tang Kingdom that caused his public humiliation, loathing that scoundrel named Tang Mo.