Munitions Empire

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What to do, what to do... Such questions, if asked, are essentially the same as saying, "I have no freaking idea!"

The situation was incredibly fantastical, and it seemed that the King of Germelin now had no good solutions left.

He wanted to rely on Shireck, but the nearest reinforcements from Shireck were probably still being loaded onto vehicles in a neighboring country, waiting for transport.

He hoped to negotiate peace with the Great Tang Group and the Leite Kingdom, but now it seemed that the Great Tang Group didn't even want to sit down and talk.

"Your Majesty, at least we must hold King City! That is the only thing we can do now," the Prime Minister suggested with an ugly expression, walking up beside the King. "If we cannot hold this place, any talk is futile."

"You make sense! Command the troops to hold the walls! As long as we can hold out here, there will be changes! The situation will evolve in our favor," the King nodded, agreeing with this view.

He, too, realized that they must thwart the attack of the Great Tang Group to have a chance at negotiations... If he lost King City, then there was no need for the Great Tang Group to speak with him.

For the same reason, only when he defended King City, stopping the advance of the Great Tang Group, would he have the chance to wait for Shireck's reinforcement supplies, the chance to wait for a change.

"You! Go personally to the west gate! Command the troops there, and hold it at all costs!" The King gritted his teeth and said to the General in charge of the city's defenses.

After saying this, he added, "Man each side of the walls with 700 soldiers! Then, for the west side, closest to the enemy's direction of attack, I will give you another 300 men!"

This was all the military force he could gather, amounting to a total of 3,100 soldiers. This meant that at most, only about 100 soldiers would remain to defend the Royal Palace.

Although this was a risky move, the King knew if they could not hold the walls, or the outer defenses, they definitely wouldn't be able to hold the Royal Palace.

As the saying goes, there can be no intact eggs under a toppled nest; he was very clear on this principle. So, he decided they should at least hold the outer city first—the Royal Palace and all else would be considered later.

With that, the troops of Germelin had at least 1,000 soldiers at the main frontline, which could be considered a modest combat force.

However, among these 1,000 men, roughly 800 were equipped with Shireck Flintlock Guns and others wielded cold weapons like Longswords.

There was no choice... These were arms cobbled together. Some men hadn't even trained to fire a gun; giving them firearms was no use if they didn't know how to handle them.

So, the leader receiving the reinforcement of 300 men looked at his Sovereign with gravity, nodded solemnly, and promised, "I shall hold the fortress, fight to the last man!"

"Go!" The King of Germelin also nodded, waving his hand to indicate that the leader could leave with some of the Royal Palace Guards.

The leader turned and left without delay. Soon, he led the guards briskly towards the west wall, where soldiers defending the city were seen hurriedly running down from the ramparts.

"What's happened?" The leader asked sharply, his hand on the Left-Wheel Handgun smuggled through special channels at his waist.

The soldier was in a panic, glancing back towards the direction of the ramparts, then explained, "The enemy, the enemy has fired at us!"

Upon hearing this report, the defensive commander's heart sank with a sense of dread.

Without regard for anything else, he rushed to the ramparts with his men, hoping to catch a glimpse of the enemy.

Once he reached the top, he saw the west gate hit by some unknown artillery shell, raising a billow of dust.

"The gate has fallen! The gate has been breached!" Soldiers in disarray came rushing towards him, dropping their armor and weapons in panic. The leader, enraged, drew his Left-Wheel Handgun and shot the fleeing soldier to the ground.

Raising his handgun, he shouted, "Anyone who disrupts the morale, who retreats during battle, will be killed! All back to your posts!"

The more than 300 Royal Palace Guards who came along, well-equipped, each had a Shireck Flintlock Gun and had conducted some training. They now took up their weapons as ordered.

They pointed the bayoneted muzzles at the disoriented city defenders, managing to momentarily quell the chaos.

Quickly, an officer pushed through the crowd to the commanding leader, pointing behind him as he spoke, "General! The enemy has bombarded the gate, and they've sent a prisoner with this..."

As he spoke, he handed a letter to the leader who had hastened to command the defense: "They have cannons; we can't hold them back."

King City had cannons, too, but the cannons on these walls were all muzzle-loading, and hadn't been refurbished in many years.

Although these cannons weren't advanced, given their large caliber and heavy weight, they hadn't been too outdated two years ago.

They could still be somewhat intimidating when facing the potential threat of enemy field artillery during a siege.

But now, faced with the Great Tang Group's secretly developed mortars, which were elusive and held an absolute advantage in range, these muzzle-loading cannons seemed outdated.

Their range and accuracy were poor, and their firepower was insufficient; they were almost powerless against the mortars.

The General took the letter of persuasion to surrender, unfolded it, and his expression became very interesting. On the letter was written only one sentence: "Surrender within 10 minutes, or all will be killed."

He really wanted to scoff at the letter, throw it away, step on it, and sneer arrogantly, then put on a righteous facade.

But his hand trembled slightly, and in the end, he did not have the courage to let go. Glancing at the deserter lying dead on the ground, whose head he had just blown off with a gunshot, he suddenly felt the soldier's death was somewhat unjust.

Unfortunately, he had no intention of avenging the fallen soldier; after all, he still cared about his reputation to some extent.

Everyone knew this battle was tough. If they lost King City, could they really co-exist with the city walls, risking their own lives?

In his home, he had a gentle wife and beautiful concubines, and plenty of Gold Coins and land deeds... he didn't know which bastard would benefit from his death.

Thinking it over carefully, it seemed better to surrender, save his own life, and then live comfortably as a wealthy man...

Thus, he turned to the officer who had been stationed on the city wall and asked, "You are holding this letter... are you going to... the Royal Palace?"

The officer was unsure of the General's intentions and explained ambiguously, "I was preparing to report to my superiors..."

"This wall that has stood for a hundred years... what a pity..." With a meaningful glance at the section of the wall that had been destroyed by cannon fire, the General lamented, "Gone in an instant..."

"What if... we... surrender?" Seeing the General's hesitation, the officer, thinking of his future, tentatively asked.

"Hmm..." The General did not make it clear whether it was a sigh or an agreement, but his vague response at that moment was certainly significant.

The officer immediately understood and leaned closer to the General, lowering his voice as he spoke, "I've just sent someone over... they guarantee not to harm our families, and to leave our houses, estates, and servants to us..."

Hearing this, the General's expression improved slightly, and he nodded, "I don't know if there are any King's loyalists among the men I brought... do you have a plan?"

"Rest assured, General... all the men behind me are smart enough to want to surrender." The officer signaled to the men behind him; many soldiers raised their guns, subtly confronting the Royal Palace Guards the General had brought.

With the atmosphere growing very tense, the General immediately called out to the guards behind him, "Today, the enemy forces are overwhelming, and I am considering everyone's lives, deciding to surrender the city... Those who wish to fight, I won't hold you back, leave quickly!"

At this point, these Royal Palace Guards really had no choice left. Even if they left, without the barrier of the city walls, they did not have the courage to continue fighting.

Nevertheless, seventeen or eighteen men grabbed their weapons and scrambled down the city walls amid the chaos; some were heading back to the Royal Palace to relay the news, while others had indeed resolved to go back and fight to the death.

The rest dropped their weapons. Minutes later, Northern Ridge soldiers wearing M35 helmets climbed up to the city tower and entered Gemalin's King City.

The flag symbolizing the Kingdom of Gemalin was thrown down from the city tower and a wolf flag representing Northern Ridge was raised. The capturing Northern Ridge soldiers around them immediately cheered, "Long live Northern Ridge!"

"Long live Earl Alice!" Another group of soldiers holding 98K rifles laughed and joined in the chanting, and the entire King City of Germelin seemed to tremble amidst the cheers.

The local civilians, terrified, locked their doors and windows tightly, and many streets were deserted. Some civilians, who had just learned that the enemy had breached the King City, could not help but break into loud weeping.

Inside the Germelin Royal Palace, the King heard the cannon fire that had earlier intimidated the city's defenders. He paced nervously in front of his throne, occasionally looking in the direction of the cannon fire, his forehead dripping with sweat.

Finally, a soldier carrying a gun stumbled in, startling all the Ministers present.

Such a place was supposed to be off-limits to armed soldiers, but obviously, with the situation in chaos, no one was enforcing such rules.

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty! The west gate has surrendered! Surrendered!" As soon as the soldier entered, he shouted out a message that made everyone's legs go weak.

All the Ministers were stunned on the spot. The previously bustling hall instantly became eerily silent; even the drop of a pin could have been heard clearly.

Thud! The dazed King of Germelin fell and sat in front of his throne on the stone floor.

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Thank you, Teacher Zhang, for the reward. I am ashamed that the updates have been erratic.