Munitions Empire

"The soldiers are all in high spirits; they feel that just standing guard is quite boring and would rather take the initiative to strike at night." The battalion commander stood behind Redman, opening with a suggestion.

It’s important to note that night is the home ground of the Great Tang Group’s security forces’ Rangers; these soldiers are all trained under the starlight of the Vicious Forest, surpassing the night-fighting level of the entire era.

If these Rangers took the initiative to strike, it’s estimated that Shireck’s side would have to pay the price of at least 300 men just to make it through the night.

So when the battalion commander made the suggestion, Redman was also somewhat tempted. He looked towards Tang Mo, full of anticipation, and asked, "We’re idle anyway, so should we... stir things up?"

"Ha!" Tang Mo shook his head, "Human lives for dog lives? What a joke! Even if we lost ten men and killed Gis, I’d be at a loss!"

"But..." Redman wanted to persuade him further.

"There are no ’buts’!" Tang Mo interrupted, "Don’t worry! I’d rather reveal my trump card, the C80, than risk my soldiers’ lives! It’s a matter of principle!"

"Do you know how much effort, time, and Gold Coins I spent to train all of you? What a joke! To use you for a sneak attack?" Tang Mo hadn’t even considered such a tactic.

Night raid? Flanking? Sure. But wait till I have night vision! Wait till I can ensure no talent is lost, then we’ll talk!

In an era where talent is urgently needed and there are gaps everywhere, to trade soldiers’ lives for victory? I, Tang Mo, can’t afford that!

In the future, every soldier here might be dispersed to become a general of a country! Every commander here might be a famous general of the age.

Use them sparingly. Each person here in the future is an antenna for Tang Mo to control the whole world, and he would be insane to use his precious forces for a fool from Shireck.

In this age, where everyone values and even regards as divine the C80 field gun, Tang Mo sees it as real trash.

After silently complaining to himself, Tang Mo didn’t know that his words had already deeply moved everyone in the command center.

A master who is unwilling to risk the lives of his subordinates in such a situation is a rare breed nowadays. Following such a master, one’s life is worthwhile!

"7 battalion flags, 3 regimental flags... they’re all here." A company commander crawled over at this time, presenting all the flags found on the battlefield to Tang Mo.

These flags were stained with blood and some had bullet-riddled holes, but their colorful designs were still evident, crafted with effort.

Tang Mo couldn’t care less about such things; he sold the sabers and flags he had captured from Tucci to Fisheo, so he had little interest in these flags.

He glanced at them briefly and instructed all present, "From now on, don’t bother picking up such flags, command knives, gun nameplates, and the like. It’s not worth the risk."

As everyone was once again moved, Tang Mo continued, "How’s the situation on the battlefield?"

"The enemy has sent some laborers to clear the battlefield; they’re working quite hard." The battalion commander, still behind Redman, reported, "The Ranger corps is monitoring their movements, making sure they don’t get close to our main position."

"What about the enemy’s tactical choice analysis? Luff!" Tang Mo nodded and then turned to the analysis team led by Luff.

"Report! According to our discussion, the enemy’s likelihood of launching a new offensive before nightfall is less than three percent," Luff said, looking at the somewhat chaotic paper report, "Among them, the possibility of crawling forward to attack is less than one-tenth of a percent, and a dispersed attack is the most likely, around two percent."

"The rest would be a night attack then?" Tang Mo said with a smile looking at Luff.

"Yes, among all our simulations, we lean towards the enemy using night raid tactics," Luff nodded and told Tang Mo, "Among the hypotheses, it’s most likely just before dawn because, all things considered, this would be the most advantageous for them."

"Hahaha!" Redman couldn’t help but laugh, and Wes also wore a contemptuous smile.

Because before the battle began, they had already reviewed and identified the weaknesses of their defensive strategy.

A few months prior, during sand table simulations, the higher-ups of the Great Tang Group had determined that night fighting limited the effectiveness of machine guns, making night time potentially the easiest opportunity for the enemy to exploit for an attack.

As a result, the Great Tang Group had long developed a complete set of tactics specifically for night combat, among which, illumination rounds were an early-developed weapon for night battles.

The development of such ammunition wasn’t particularly challenging; it primarily utilized the principle of rapid light and heat generation from metal combustion.

It was just that in this era, everyone strenuously avoided night battles, so this invention hadn’t been developed on a large scale or applied to the battlefield yet.

Since Tang Mo believed that his troops were the weakest in night battles, it wasn’t a difficult task for him to procure several special illumination rounds for his troops.

In addition, aside from illumination rounds, Tang Mo’s troops’ nighttime combat ability was actually very strong because a large portion of his force had trained in a nocturnal forest environment, with many having fought in it as well.

They had rich experience in nighttime fighting and were adapted to the dark environment; compared to those who hadn’t undergone nighttime training, they were the actual supermen in nocturnal warfare.

Another reason was that, compared to the backward militaries of this era, the Great Tang Group’s security troops were leading in nutritional supplements.

All the troops were provided with a reasonable nutritional balance that included vitamins not yet discovered or known about in this era.

Therefore, cases of night blindness were very rare among Tang Mo’s troops. His soldiers could see far by moonlight, especially when clouds didn’t cover the moon, their vision was much better than the soldiers from other forces who suffered from inadequate food and clothing.

Lastly, Tang Mo’s troops used smokeless gunpowder, which didn’t emit a great deal of white smoke to obstruct their own vision during night battles—an obviously subtle but significant reason for their proficiency in nocturnal combat.

All in all, with so many buffs stacked together, Tang Mo’s troops were only slightly weaker in night battles when compared to themselves; compared to other adversaries of this era, their nocturnal combat strength was not weak at all, but even stronger!

"If that’s the case, then let them walk right into the trap! If they attack at night, we’ll give them a surprise; if they don’t come at night, we’ll give them a surprise tomorrow morning!" Tang Mo said with a mischievous smile, tapping the local war zone map hanging on the wall.

This map was terrifyingly perfect compared to other maps of this era, marked with contours and clearly a product of considerable cartographic effort.

On this map, in addition to marking the location of their own positions, it also marked the approximate location of the enemy troops.

Since the map had been surveyed in advance, Tang Mo’s "staff officers" had long identified the sections where the enemy might choose to encamp.

Especially with the enemy’s large forces, it was impossible for them to avoid these convenient encampment locations and preemptively defend against Tang Mo’s attacks.

After all, these were good campsite choices, and according to conventional wisdom, it was not likely that they could be covered by artillery fire.

But… who could know that Tang Mo had 120mm caliber breech-loading field guns that could strike targets over 5 kilometers away?

This was no joke; their firing range exceeded the era’s understanding and knowledge of artillery.

Tang Mo had yet to deploy these big guns on the battlefield for the sole purpose of giving Shireck a surprise, letting the enemy truly understand the power of the god of the battlefield!

Tomorrow morning, Tang Mo planned to bombard the enemy’s troop concentration point directly under the correction of the observation post, breaking the enemy’s remaining legions in one fell swoop and completely disabling their combat capability.

By then, if Leite VII and that old Prime Minister didn’t make a move behind Gis, Tang Mo would have to have a serious talk with them.

Once Leite VII made his move, Shireck would be surrounded on all sides, and Gis’s troops would become the sacrificial offering for Leite VII to clear Shireck’s influence.

Everything would naturally fall into place, and Northern Ridge could smoothly annex and divide Shireck’s mines and manor lands, distributing another round of spoils.

In summary, what followed was a spectacular scene of everyone sharing the cake, with Shireck being the huge cake that was devoured!

With 15 field guns of 75mm caliber and 10 field guns of 120mm caliber... plus real shells, Tang Mo felt it was more than enough to give Xiuyi Gis a taste.

Both men were calculating against each other, both believing themselves to be the hunter. It was just a matter of who would have the last laugh.

Over an hour later, as the sky gradually darkened and before it was completely black, Tang Mo had the 10 field guns of 75mm caliber that had already been fired shoot a salvo to harass the enemy.

Or rather, to mislead Shireck’s commanders: this round of firing purposefully gave the false impression of insufficient range.

The purpose was to make the enemy complacent, believing that their ammunition storage and troop encampments were outside the coverage of the Great Tang Group’s firepower.

"Since ancient times, true feelings couldn’t hold fast; it’s always the tricks that win hearts." Tang Mo said with a tone of compassion for the world, looking at Shireck’s encampment filled with tents and wagons in the distance, commenting softly.

"What did you say?" Wes, who was following behind Tang Mo, didn’t catch the muttered sentence.

"Nothing important." Tang Mo grinned and said, "Just saying goodbye to our dear Mr. Gis."

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