Munitions Empire-Chapter 1173: Bully the weak with power

On the other side, the Navy soldiers of the Tang Army witnessed the shift of an era with their own eyes. They engaged the enemy in an intense battle all night without any direct contact, firing dozens of Styx Anti-ship Missiles, yet they never even caught sight of the enemy.

It was only after dawn that some of them finally saw the enemy fleet. To be honest, he felt a little sorry for these enemies.

These enemies had recklessly roamed the seas all night, battered by anti-ship missiles until they were utterly disarrayed with billowing smoke, yet they hadn’t even seen a shadow of the Tang Imperial Fleet.

The outcome of a battle was no longer determined by the caliber of shipboard cannons. To kill the enemy now only required pressing a button at the control station.

The missile era had arrived! Whether others accepted it or not, the missile era had already arrived!

"Look at these warships from the Mirage Country... sometimes I even feel a bit of pity for our opponents. They’re destined to fail." Watching as one after another of the Mirage Country’s Navy’s main warships sank in the distance, a staff officer aboard the "Dongwan No. 1" Battleship remarked with sentiment.

To the Great Tang Empire Navy, war had always been an elegant affair. As a captain of one of the main warships of the Great Tang Empire Navy, one would, in most cases, simply be an observer appreciating the destruction of the enemy fleet.

The Navy’s high-ranking officials often enjoyed sitting in their seats, sipping hot tea like the Nobility, waiting for news of victory.

There was no help for it—being a high-tech military branch, the technical superiority of the Great Tang Empire meant its Navy’s combat effectiveness surpassed all other nations.

The bloody hand-to-hand combat belonged to the Army. The Navy, on the other hand, sought elegance and composure, toying with the enemy in the palm of their hand and watching them stride gracefully into the abyss.

"You’re too merciful. The more our battle resembles a slaughter, the fewer sacrifices our own soldiers will endure. Do you know which of His Majesty’s sayings I like the most?" The captain glanced at the smoke-filled Mirage Country fleet in the distance and asked with disdain.

The mention of "His Majesty" instinctively made the staff officer straighten his posture and puff his chest out. "May I ask… which saying of His Majesty’s?" he inquired with deference.

"His Majesty said that our Great Tang Empire’s military cannot make everyone in the world like us, so we only need to ensure the Tang People love us. As long as the Tang People adore us, even if the rest of the world hates us—it doesn’t matter." The captain smiled as he answered the staff officer’s question.

"This was said by Tang Mo during the military council two years ago..." The staff officer repeated Tang Mo’s edict with meticulous precision, even recalling the exact timing of his speech.

The captain nodded in agreement, smiling. "So, there’s no need to overthink it. We kill and burn so that the Tang People can feast and drink their fill!"

"Let the whole world hate us. As long as the Tang People love us, that’s all that matters." Standing by the porthole, he gazed at the "Dongwan No. 2" Battleship as it completed its turn. He no longer paid attention to the Mirage Country’s main fleet, now miserably battered by airstrikes: "We are the Tang People’s military! If others see us as demons, then maybe... we’re doing this right."

The Mirage Country’s Cruisers and Destroyers felt their courage was worthy of historical record. They charged desperately toward the Tang Nation’s landing zone, seemingly ready to accomplish the task their main fleet could not.

Standing in their way were just a handful of Destroyers with displacements of only thousands of tons. In the eyes of the Mirage Country’s Cruiser captains, these opponents seemed pitifully weak.

In reality, this fleet was indeed weak. Most of the Destroyers forming this final defensive line were old models.

Lacking the capability to participate in earlier missile strikes, they had only managed to launch all of their torpedoes under the cover of night toward the Mirage Country’s main fleet.

Now these Destroyers, with their torpedoes spent and no missile systems installed, truly had limited combat power. Compared to the Mirage Country’s larger-tonnage Cruisers, they were diminutive to the point of eliciting pity.

The Mirage Country’s Cruiser commanders, humiliated throughout the night, grew ecstatic. They were on the verge of obliterating the Tang Nation’s Destroyer fleet and breaching the landing zone—a potentially legendary counterattack.

The current situation was a case of large ships bullying smaller ones. Among the remaining Cruisers from the Mirage Country, the largest displacement reached nearly ten thousand tons—vastly larger than the Tang Nation’s Destroyers.

Not to mention the slew of Mirage Country Destroyers trailing behind! Their gunfire, both in quantity and caliber, far exceeded the Tang Nation’s Destroyers, which emphasized air and submarine defense over ship-to-ship combat.

"We’re going to bully your little ships! How does that feel? Heh heh heh!" One Mirage Country Cruiser commander sneered cynically, releasing all his frustration from the previous night.

The mood aboard was buoyant. Victory seemed assured. Even though numerous Tang Army aircraft wreaked havoc over their heads, these ships were harder targets compared to Battleships, given their smaller size and quicker speed.

"What else could you expect—your ships are just little toys!" A Mirage Country Cruiser commander, eyes filled with spite, yelled, "Fire! Sink these little playthings blocking our way!"

"We deserve a victory for once!" cursed a Cruiser captain from the rear bridge, who had just watched the "Giant Serpent" and "Snow Mountain" sink moments earlier.

They sought vengeance—for the Mirage Country warships they had lost, and for their Goblin comrades who had perished!

...

Meanwhile, the Tang Nation’s Destroyer fleet drew up in a straight line, all guns trained on their enemies. They hadn’t considered retreat—not with the Tang Nation’s transport fleet anchored just behind them in the landing zone.

To be blunt, letting the enemy’s warships charge into the formation of defenseless civilian vessels would be akin to releasing wolves into a flock of sheep.

Lowering his binoculars, the Tang Nation Destroyer captain shouted, "Let those Mirage scoundrels see what we’re made of! They really think we’re soft targets!"

"Fire!" The weapons officer immediately echoed the command with a loud roar.

"Fire!" The gunners at each station bellowed, as all the main guns on the Destroyer aimed at the enemy opened fire almost simultaneously.

A deafening salvo reverberated, followed by brass shell casings clattering onto the deck mats, their dull thuds echoing ominously.

On newer Destroyers, the automatic loaders began reloading shells. With relatively small-caliber guns, these main cannons boasted extremely high rates of fire.

After finishing the first salvo, half the Tang Nation Destroyers fired a second salvo mere seconds later.

Assisted by fire-control radar, these seemingly fragile and unimpressive Tang Nation Destroyers unleashed a storm of firepower. In an instant, a dense barrage of shells overwhelmed the oncoming Mirage Country Cruisers and Destroyers, leaving them stunned.

The Mirage Country Navy commanders had seen rapid-fire guns before, but never anything as terrifying as these: while their ships managed one salvo, the Tang Nation’s ships had fired three—sometimes even five.

The relatively armored Cruisers fared slightly better, albeit battered and barely holding on. The Mirage Destroyers accompanying them, however, were in dire straits.

Lacking significant armor protection, they stood no chance against the rapid-fire cannons of the Tang Army Destroyers.

A hailstorm of shells instantly perforated several Mirage Destroyers, turning them into floating wrecks.

The Mirage captains, who had hoped to feast on "soft targets," now could scarcely distinguish their plight from that of their main fleet, under relentless airstrikes from Tang Nation aircraft in the distance.

Fortunately, the Mirage Cruisers, relying on their relatively thicker armor and larger-caliber guns, managed to fight the Tang Destroyers to a standstill.

Because of the close engagement, one lucky Mirage Cruiser, after several volleys, struck a Tang Destroyer with a direct hit.

However, at that moment, in the southernmost Mirage Cruiser’s bridge, its Goblin captain raised his binoculars, following the direction indicated by his deputy. What he saw nearly made him collapse to the floor in terror.

Through the lenses, he saw two colossal warships—leading a dozen Cruisers—bearing down on his position with unstoppable momentum.

"Th-those are Tang Nation Battleships!" The Goblin captain screamed in horror the moment he realized what they were. "This is outrageous! They’re bullying us now!"

Seconds ago, they’d been boasting about crushing the Tang Nation’s Destroyers with their Cruisers. Now, they were lamenting being outmatched by the Tang’s mightier Battleships.

Soon, more and more Mirage captains noticed the Tang Nation’s main fleet advancing from the other side of the battlefield.

Having failed to breach the Tang Destroyer line, they wouldn’t even dare contemplate engaging Tang Battleships directly.

They couldn’t comprehend why the Tang’s main fleet had the audacity to abandon fighting the Mirage main fleet, opting instead to wreak havoc on this secondary battlefield.

Unbeknownst to them, six Mirage Battleships had already been sunk.

Against these warships, nearly depleted of air-defense capabilities due to earlier missile strikes, Tang Nation Navy’s leadership deemed naval aircraft sufficient for the task.

After all, Bernard had at least 40 minutes to wipe out the Mirage Country’s remnants before Shen Haifeng could close in on the beachhead.

In Shen Haifeng’s view, no matter how optimistic he tried to be, he doubted his fleet could last much longer under such overwhelming aerial attack.

He felt that even holding out for another ten minutes might be a miracle.

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Two updates today, presented with honor.