Munitions Empire

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Everyone was still investigating what exactly was happening when gunshots could be heard outside the command post. Everyone fled in a frantic disarray, with the neighing of war horses and the distant sound of artillery causing everyone to only think of retreating.

"What's going on?" the leading general of the Germelin Kingdom, having heard the commotion, charged out of his command post with his guards.

This was a manor in a small town, previously owned by a minor landlord, and now it had been requisitioned to serve as the headquarters for the Germelin Kingdom's troops.

The small town was dotted with parked wagons, countless horses, and a plethora of servants and attendants looking after the animals.

The sentry troops were in complete disarray because outside the town, the enemy's gunfire and their own gunfire were intermingling, clearly indicating that a battle had already begun.

And on the streets of the town, amid the communications soldiers leading panicked horses in retreat, there were occasional mix-ups with some wagons.

"My lord! The enemy has broken through the defenses! They're already here!" An officer, accompanied by a few guards, rushed past, pointing towards the distance and shouting toward the general who had just reached the doorway.

"Huh! Huh!" A soldier tried to control his warhorse, struggling with the reins. But just when he had finally managed to calm his horse, a shell landed right in the town.

"Boom!" A massive explosion blew off the roof of the nearby stables, and seven or eight war horses fell to the ground, while the rest broke free of their constraints and charged into the crowd of people running everywhere.

It couldn't be helped, this was the central command for the entire Germelin Kingdom's offensive forces. In a headquarters without advanced equipment such as telegraphs, the most common sight was cavalry and mounted communications soldiers.

Almost all orders had to rely on war horses and communications soldiers for delivery, so it was no wonder that a large number of horses were concentrated here.

Of course, aside from the horses, there were countless non-combatants, such as the representatives from the Shireck Consortium who had come here to observe the battle.

In addition, there were chefs who cooked for the headquarters staff, clerks who specialized in writing records, and many nobility officers who had brought their womenfolk in defiance of military discipline...

And these people were actually far from being a burden.

Because the items a headquarters must carry with it could be described as multifarious: there were specialized wagons, carts transporting a variety of vegetables, and of course, herds of cattle and sheep, poultry and ducks...

A shell falling on these things truly made for a chaotic scene, with chickens flying and dogs jumping.

At this moment, what presented itself before the Germelin general was such a scene that was simultaneously laughable and lamentable.

Just as he angrily watched his communication soldiers clear a path through the chaotic crowd on their war horses and flee without looking back, a chicken flew right past him.

"What exactly is going on? Which side's defenses have been breached? Huh?" The general, infuriated, grabbed a fleeing officer and bellowed his questions.

"I, I don't know! The enemy is just outside!" The officer, who had intended to draw his handgun and shoot the fool blocking his way, swallowed his saliva and regained some composure after recognizing the general's face and began to explain.

How could he know what had happened when the scene was so chaotic? The enemy had already reached this point; if he didn't run now, was he supposed to wait for them to come to him?

Seeing that the general who had stopped him was at a loss for words and didn't respond, the officer shook off the hand holding him and ran toward the east without looking back.

He had no choice; that direction was the deep rear, the direction of the Germelin Kingdom. Fleeing in that direction was certainly the right move.

"Stop! You! Go check the left flank, see if there's a problem there!" Not bothering with the fleeing officer, the general personally intercepted a messenger soldier who was about to run and ordered loudly.

The messenger soldier pulled on the reins, then turned the horse's head and, avoiding the general's block, rode off without a backward glance.

It was at this time that the commander of the Germelin Kingdom realized that these communications soldiers were basically no longer paying attention to the tasks he assigned.

"You! Find a fast horse! Go to the left flank and see if the position there is still holding! Hurry!" The general turned around to the guards who were still following him and commanded.

He knew that at this time, only those close and trusted aides who he knew well were somewhat reliable to get things done.

"Bang!" A gunshot echoed from a distant street corner; a Germelin soldier fell in response, and soldiers wearing helmets he had never seen before took advantageous positions, leaning against a wall corner and raising their weapons.

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"Bang!" Another gunshot rang out, and a soldier on the general's side blossomed a spray of blood from his chest and fell in response. The remaining soldiers, electrified, quickly surrounded the general and sprinted towards a safer location.

"Forget about me! Go confirm... confirm…" The general tried to shake off the guards pulling at him, but in the end, he was dragged back through the gates.

"General! It's over! We should retreat quickly!" the Guard Commander, clutching his handgun, leaned against the door and glance outside at the battle situation. That unknown enemy soldier who had opened fire at the street corner had now vanished without a trace.

He ducked his head back in, looked at his men and the somewhat dazed general, and shouted, "You! You two! Find us a carriage! Quick! We need to get the general out of here!"

Not far behind them, Shireck's person in charge had just, with the help of a burly man covered in tattoos, climbed out of a first-floor window.

"Qiumuluo! When we get back, I will surely…" The Shireck person in charge, grateful, turned back to make a promise to Qiumuluo.

But before he could finish, a bullet flew from nowhere, striking him in the head. The figure collapsed as his brain splattered, drenching Qiumuluo's face with blood and brain matter.

The startled Qiumuluo knew this direction was also dangerous, and gritting his teeth, he switched to another window and struggled to climb out, running desperately into the distance.

Just as he was about to dive into the small woods next to him and make a successful escape, a mortar shell flew in from nowhere and exploded right behind him.

"Boom!" After the loud explosion, Qiumuluo's figure fell to the ground... Shortly after, several fleeing stragglers came across the crater, spotting the big man lying next to it.

Then, they heard Qiumuluo's cries for help. He promised them a reward if they took him with them. After some contemplation, the stragglers dragged the legless Qiumuluo into the nearby woods.

Meanwhile, in the town, more and more Northern Ridge troops wearing M35 helmets were appearing. They agilely occupied some high-rise buildings and began suppressing the panicked Gemalin deserters from the rooftops of these two-story structures.

"Don't shoot! We surrender! We surrender!" A group of Gemalin soldiers huddled inside a building threw their weapons out the window, shouting loudly.

Soon enough, Gemalin soldiers hiding in stables, behind carriages, and inside buildings began to plead loudly for mercy, shouting their surrender.

The retaliatory gunfire quickly thinned out, leaving only one soldier after another, walking out of the rooms with their hands raised in surrender.

"General!" Seeing the soldiers outside throwing away their weapons, the Guard Commander looked helplessly at his superior, "What should we do?"

The people he had sent to find a carriage hadn't returned, and they no longer had a chance to break out. They had the option of fighting to the death in the room or surrendering meekly.

Of course, few within the room wished to fight to the death because surrendering at least held the promise of life, whereas a fight to the death left nothing at all.

"..." The general did not speak but instead pulled over a chair and sat down heavily. Then he lifted his head and ordered his Guard Commander, "You go out and find their officer. Tell him... I... am here, ready to surrender."

"... Yes!" After hesitating for two seconds, the Guard Commander lacked the courage to persuade the general to continue the fight. He nodded, stepped out the door, and dropped the Left-Wheel Handgun produced by the Shireck Consortium.

He raised his hands high and approached the closest soldier wearing an M35 helmet to say, "We surrender! I am the Guard Commander for the highest commander here. My superior is inside the manor, and he wishes your officer would allow him to surrender with dignity."

"Hey! Sergeant! Listen to this guy; there's supposedly a big shot over there! Wanna go have a look?" Holding his K3 rifle with a fixed bayonet, the soldier turned and bellowed loudly.

A sergeant carrying a lever-action rifle and with a hand on the grip of his Left-Wheel Handgun on his waist came over, stepping over the bloodstains on the street, "What's going on? Why the yelling?"

"He says there is a big shot in the manor," the soldier pointed towards the manor not far away and then gestured towards the approaching Guard Commander as he spoke.

"Come with me!" The sergeant gestured with his chin toward the distant manor, leading the two back inside it.

He cautiously had the Guard Commander push the door open first, and only after seeing everyone inside had discarded their weapons did the two men from the Northern Ridge indicate they could come out.

Naturally, the Gemalin general did not get his dignified surrender ceremony because he was forced to give up his weapon and was escorted back to the Northern Ridge troops' encampment.

Two days after, the Leite Kingdom troops had essentially cleared the invading Gemalin deserters from within their territory, pushing the battle lines back to the original border area.

However, they did not stop there. After a brief rest, the combined forces of the Leite Kingdom, including the Northern Ridge troops and the Kingdom's main force totaling 10,000 men, crossed the border and penetrated into the Kingdom of Gemalin's territory.