Munitions Empire

After enjoying a hot meal next to the field kitchen at the frontline, a privilege only the Tang Army could provide, this Qin Army soldier who had narrowly survived nearly broke down.

If he had known that surrendering would allow him to eat such meals, why the hell did he even bother running? Why did his comrades... even bother running?

The whole way, they had been fleeing with their troops, hiding from Tang Army planes, scattering in panic at the shouts of "The Tang Army is coming"...

That was simply not a life fit for humans! As they ran, their numbers dwindled until only a few officers and their pitiful regimental commander remained.

According to the laws of Qin Country, officers who lose their troops but survive would face military law. However, because so many officers lost their troops, this time the Qin Army's high command did not pursue the charges of losing troops and disgracing the country.

There was no choice; on one hand, it was a matter of not punishing the many, or else most officers who escaped back from Xiajian and Dongqing would have been executed.

On the other hand, it was because the Qin Army suffered a rout, resulting in the loss of too many officers. Precious officers could not be easily executed, or else there would be no one to manage and command the troops.

Thus, they could only keep these officers, and most were even promoted one rank higher—forced into it since there were too few officers.

Cultivating an officer is not easy. These officers and non-commissioned officers are the backbone of the military, especially at the critical time when a large number of troops have been annihilated by the enemy, the value of the officers and non-commissioned officers who escaped back is immeasurable.

So... the colonel he fled with was promoted and became a division commander, but he himself did not get promoted and was assigned to a new unit, serving still as a soldier.

After all, he was an uneducated peasant, and in the Qin army, people like him were always expendables.

There were many like him, previously joining the Qin army together for the sake of a meal, with the restrictive laws of Qin Country, and a vague, newly awakened national consciousness binding them together.

Here, they dreamed of making meritorious contributions, and indeed, many of them did. When they occupied Shu Country, they actually achieved a great victory, truly occupying and annihilating Shu Country.

With their military exploits in Shu Country, they received plenty of rewards, including land and medals. In short, everyone was happy, and then they followed the troops north into the territory of the Dahua Empire.

In the past, the Qin army invading Dahua was something Qin people didn't even dare to imagine. They feared the mighty Dahua Empire, even when the Empire was on the brink of collapse, they still feared it like a tiger.

It was only after the Tang People overturned Dahua's table that the Qin leaders realized they too had a chance to vie for the Central Plains and occupy the fertile lands of Dahua.

Later, they really acted, and Dahua disintegrated into ashes within a few months. Now that they were undefeated, they no longer regarded Tang Country with any significance.

There were quite a few prisoners after all. The Tang Army's assault was too swift; many Qin troops and many mixed-in Dahua people all surrendered their weapons, opting for the less dignified choice of surrender.

While following a truck with several soldiers on the way back, this young Qin soldier once again saw a familiar comrade.

The two had run all the way back to the old capital from Xiajian, and in the end, in the suburbs of the old capital, they simultaneously and tacitly became prisoners of the Tang people.

"How did you also get caught? Didn't run this time?" Among the dejected flow of people, the old and young pair greeted each other and curiously inquired.

"Don't mention it... I was stunned by the shell, and when I got up, I was captured." The young Qin soldier, seeing someone familiar, finally revealed a slight expression of disappointment.

The veteran was straightforward, directly answering: "I surrendered directly. It was too scary. We fired several anti-tank shells at that tank, but they couldn't penetrate, and it just rolled over, crushing our company commander to death."

Recollecting the terrifying battle, he seemed to recall that the Qin Army's defensive positions weren't particularly firm. The trenches and simple bunkers they desperately constructed were merely to buy time for subsequent defenses.

The Qin Army was constantly buying time for the next line of defense, yet before the next line was reinforced, they faced the Tang Army's attack again, continuing to buy time for another line...

This cycle had persisted for several days. The Tang Army continuously attacked, while the Qin Army persistently retreated. The only difference was that the number of mines shipped to the front by the Qin Army kept increasing.

There was no other way. Mines were genuinely the best defensive weapon. Sometimes, a few mines could achieve what thousands of Qin soldiers couldn't.

As long as a mine was triggered, the Tang Army's assault had to be halted, and only after careful demining could they continue. The time delayed here was greater than the time the Qin lines had managed to buy.

"Have you eaten?" The veteran asked excitedly after a sigh, looking around and then pulling out a chocolate bar wrapped in plastic from his pocket: "The Tang man who captured me gave me this."

The young soldier did not even know what this thing was; he curiously looked at the strange packaging and the mutated text on it. Frankly speaking, he didn't recognize it even when written properly, let alone in mutated artistic font.

"This thing is chocolate!" The Qin veteran boasted in explanation, aware that the young man might have only heard of it and never seen such a thing.

Though chocolate could rapidly replenish energy and aid in physical recovery, making it a highly popular "quick energy supplement" in the military, most countries truly couldn't afford such luxuries.

During wartime, sugar was a military supply under control. Qin Country could never distribute something so extravagant, given that it struggled just to gather sufficient food.

The veteran had already eaten a bar himself. He had a love-hate relationship with this overwhelmingly sweet, almost bitter-tasting thing. He loved the sickly-sweet flavor but preferred a hearty meal.

"I ate before I came," the young soldier honestly replied, not wanting to take advantage of the veteran: "They ate themselves and then gave me a portion... that taste, it was truly delicious."

"I wonder where they'll be transporting us... whether we can ever return to Qin Country in this lifetime," the veteran sighed and soon merged into the larger prisoner convoy.