Munitions Empire-Chapter 1185 - 1105 Navy’s Funeral

As soon as the Laines Empire ambassador heard the name "Fanlou," he knew he was in for a big expense: that place, called Fanlou, was one of the most top-tier, outrageously expensive restaurants in Chang’an City. The food there was indeed excellent, but the price? Outright daylight robbery.

The begrudging Laines Empire ambassador hung up the phone and immediately arranged for that evening’s banquet. He even felt a tinge of pride, thinking himself well-connected and exceptionally resourceful.

At the same moment, other ambassadors also prided themselves on their supposed social prowess and organizational abilities: the Dwarf ambassador of the Ice Cold Empire, the ambassador of the Suthers Empire, the ambassador of Qin Country, the envoy of the Dahua Empire, the ambassador of Chu Country, and the ambassador of the Empire of Nanla...

…

South Island, the battle raged on.

The Mirage Country troops refused to accept defeat. In the north, the 3rd Corps was recklessly advancing southward. However, facing the Tang Army’s tank units, the further south they pushed, the further they seemed from their goal in the south.

To the south, near the Great Southern Bay, Shengwu Zhong was under unprecedented pressure. He mobilized large numbers of civilians to construct defensive fortifications, but the Tang Army’s vanguard forces arrived before anything more than rudimentary defenses could be erected.

The Tang Army had been on South Island for five days. In these five days, their progress was unprecedentedly swift, completely beyond Shengwu Zhong’s expectations.

Initially, Shengwu Zhong believed that as long as he steadfastly held the Great Southern Bay, it would be nearly impossible for the Tang Army to stage a large-scale landing.

Yet, within these five days, the Tang Army’s paratrooper units and marines managed to seize control of nearly a third of South Island.

The Mirage troops scattered across the northwest lacked unit cohesion; now, without reinforcements and short on ammunition, they were incapable of mounting an effective defense.

As a result, the Tang Army quickly captured large swaths of territory and secured control over four airfields on the island. While these airfields were not yet operational, they gave the Tang Army’s engineer corps an avenue to show their value.

Currently, the Tang Army had effectively seized control of roughly half of South Island. They had cut off the communications between the Mirage Army’s northern and southern forces near the central headquarters region.

The Mirage troops had been compressed into a U-shape. Although technically still connected, it was practically impossible for the formations to aid each other.

Shengwu Zhong, of course, refused to sit idly by. He organized his forces and established two primary defensive lines near the Great Southern Bay.

The first defensive line was an outer field fortification, primarily consisting of trenches and a few rudimentary bunkers. These hastily arranged defenses were still one of Shengwu Zhong’s main lines of resistance.

The second defensive line was more formal. It started from the defensive artillery positions flanking the eastern and western sides of the Great Southern Bay, extending along the edges of the harbor city. This line depended on various buildings, reinforced some structures with steel-reinforced concrete, and formed what appeared to be a well-constructed defensive line.

In truth, this second defensive line was Shengwu Zhong’s primary reliance. He hoped to fight the Tang Army here in a prolonged contest, grinding down their available manpower.

In his estimation, holding out here for three months would weaken Tang Army logistics. The spring and summer monsoons of the Endless Sea would disrupt sea conditions, creating rough waves that could heavily hinder maritime transport. This might well force the Tang Army into difficulty and eventual failure.

His conviction was not unfounded: the street-fighting experience Mirage forces gained during the urban warfare in Beiyuan City and the Fengjiang Campaign proved that holding out for three to four months in urban battles was both possible and realistic.

General Feng Kezhi, of course, had also considered these factors. Before departing, he had spent over ten days with the Great Tang Empire’s General Staff Department intensively studying maritime monsoon patterns and related knowledge.

As commander of the 9th Group Army, General Feng Kezhi’s strategy was straightforward: he aimed to seize the Great Southern Bay as quickly as possible and secure ports before summer arrived to establish a firm foothold.

When the Tang Army deployed its battleships and cruisers off the coast of the Great Southern Bay and began bombarding the area, Shengwu Zhong finally understood what it felt like to be defending the southern beaches.

380mm shells flew nearly 30 kilometers, plummeting at near-vertical angles onto Mirage positions. The earth-shaking impacts left Shengwu Zhong with a profound understanding of the brutality of modern warfare.

And this... was merely the beginning.

The Tang Army launched at least 100 carrier-based aircraft to bomb the Great Southern Bay. The Stuka Dive Bombers’ precise strikes left the Mirage defenders, sorely lacking in anti-aircraft guns, in utter misery.

One after another, the Stuka Dive Bombers plummeted from the skies, evoking the golden age when they first entered the battlefield.

Back then, their enemies had virtually no viable anti-aircraft weaponry. Stukas could dive with impunity, as ferocious as vultures.

But with anti-aircraft artillery having become more prevalent on battlefields, Stuka Dive Bombers had long ceased to be able to bomb with such ease. They had to operate cautiously, wary of surprise anti-air attacks from their enemies.

However, anti-aircraft artillery at the Great Southern Bay was virtually nonexistent. The Mirage forces could not have anticipated that their Zero Fighters would one day be too afraid to even take flight to counter Tang Army aircraft.

And so, with Zero Fighters grounded, the Mirage ground forces, devoid of anti-aircraft firepower, were at the mercy of the Stukas, freely circling the skies.

Now imagine: with Tang Army artillery ranging from 380mm to 280mm, combined with their possession of air superiority, with Stukas ceaselessly dive bombing at will... just how effective could the defensive works around the Great Southern Bay possibly be?

That very day, with the added support of 155mm howitzers, the Tang Army effortlessly breached the hastily constructed first defensive line of the Mirage forces.

The Mirage soldiers were once again reminded of their infernal experiences in Beiyuan City. Numerous Mirage officers, who thought they had gained a wealth of combat experience from the Fengjiang Campaign, finally understood why the Great Tang Empire’s military was the envy of all.

They finally realized what set the Tang Empire’s forces apart. They also acknowledged the inadequacy of the superficial combat lessons they had gleaned from the Fengjiang Campaign when it came to fighting against Tang forces.

The firepower density of the Tang Army was more than double that of Dahua’s forces. Moreover, the precision of Tang Army strikes was leagues ahead of what the Dahua military could achieve.

In Fengjiang, Mirage mercenaries could keep their machine-gun positions firing for ten minutes without needing to relocate. Now, however, Mirage machine-gun nests would be obliterated by Tang mortars within two minutes of being exposed.

The coordination between Tang Army tanks and infantry was downright flawless. With a few tanks providing cover, Tang ground forces could effortlessly penetrate Mirage defensive positions.

Like a nail, the Tang Army, once driven into Mirage defensive lines, would immediately press outward, extending control over Mirage fortifications and amplifying their victories.

The heavy cannons positioned on the east and west artillery emplacements, meant to lock down the Great Southern Bay, were ineffective under Tang Army long-range artillery fire.

Following attacks from dozens of Stuka Dive Bombers targeting these two emplacements, most of the thirty-something heavy guns had been destroyed.

The surviving cannons were swiftly "addressed" by the main batteries of the battleships Dongwan No. 1 and Dongwan No. 2, leaving them unable to participate further in the battle.

The remaining Mirage cruisers and destroyers, which had previously ventured into the Great Southern Bay, were sunk or beached in the harbor area following a fierce artillery exchange with the Tang Fleet.

Seeing that his troops were utterly incapable of continuing the struggle, Shengwu Zhong responded resolutely.

He decisively ordered the destruction of the Great Southern Bay’s docks, ensuring not even a scrap of value was left for the Tang Army.

The Mirage ground force general then personally took to the frontlines to supervise the fight, prepared to live and die with the city of the Great Southern Bay. Under his leadership, nearly all civilians near the bay were armed and subsequently became cannon fodder in the conflict.

Contrary to Shengwu Zhong’s expectations, by the third day of fighting—on the 8th day following the Tang Army’s landing—the Mirage Army’s second defensive line was already on the verge of collapse.

The protracted resistance Shengwu Zhong had envisioned, relying on robust fortifications to hold out for weeks, never materialized. The casualties were catastrophic, forcing him to personally order the abandonment of the now heavily battered primary defensive line.

The reason was simple: Shengwu Zhong suspected the Tang Army was deliberately using the nearly demolished defenses to lure Mirage forces out of the ruins and the city.

In truth, Feng Kezhi had indeed planned this. He was unwilling to engage the Mirage forces in urban street battles amidst the ruins of the Great Southern Bay. Thus, every time Shengwu Zhong committed troops to counterattack, the Tang Army would intentionally withdraw, relinquishing already captured territory to lure Mirage forces into open fields for combat.

Inside the dim and flickering underground command bunker of the Great Southern Bay, Shengwu Zhong listened silently to a broadcast on the radio. Back on the mainland, the central headquarters was holding a memorial service for the naval admiral Shen Haifeng and vice admiral Shen Hai’ang—both of whom had perished along with the fleet during the South Island naval battle a few days prior. Naturally, the ceremony also mourned the loss of at least 40,000 naval officers and sailors.

The broadcast crackled, and the priest’s voice carried a sorrowful, melodious tone. The Shen Emperor had just recited his eulogy. Shengwu Zhong listened without uttering a word, his thoughts inscrutable.

Although he couldn’t see the ceremony, he could imagine certain elements. Mirage Country had held similar funerals before, and they were always grand.

There would be people holding high white flags, crowds dressed entirely in white, and others carrying oversized photographs. Among them, grieving family members screamed and called out names, while countless civilians packed both sides of the roads.

However, for Shengwu Zhong, the Mirage naval fleet’s complete annihilation had, in effect, only just occurred a few hours earlier: the last remaining destroyer, hidden in a corner of the harbor, was sunk by dive bombers, splitting in two and beaching on the shore.

Regrettably, no one paid attention to such details anymore. The high command back on the mainland didn’t care, and neither did Shengwu Zhong.