Munitions Empire

If one were to simply look at the map, the offensive posture of the Tang Army near Fengjiang would be easy to understand. A part of the Tang Army had already broken into the city, while the wings of the Tang Army were trying to peel this city away from the actual control line of the Dahua Empire.

Along the city's edge, the 1st Armored Division of the Tang Army advanced like a hot knife through butter, capturing nearly a quarter of the city's outer perimeter at an unstoppable pace, while on the other side, the 5th Armored Division of the Tang Country was attacking more slowly, but they managed to cut into the defences of the Dahua garrison.

In less than half a month, Fengjiang City had gone from being a dozen kilometers away from the front line to an almost semi-encircled state.

Its flanks were all troops of the Tang Army; and if the Tang Army were likened to sea water, then Fengjiang City had become a semi-peninsula hanging over the sea.

The Dahua garrison stationed in Fengjiang City was resisting doggedly. After receiving assurances from their commanders that "the Tang Army would not continue to use white phosphorus bombs," their fighting courage gradually returned.

However, their defences had already been broken through, the Tang Army had entered the city and controlled a large area, so the Dahua troops had lost the best opportunity to drive out the Tang Army from Fengjiang City.

The battle between the two sides raged fiercely within the city. Soldiers of the Tang Army and the Dahua military fought over each block, sometimes spending several hours over a two-story building.

Of course, such brutal contests were in the minority because the characteristics of city buildings meant that Fengjiang City could never become Stalingrad, nor could the Dahua military realistically hope to fight the Tang Army in the city for too long.

Most of the houses in this city were single-story, more than half of which were wooden structures, and it hadn't changed much from decades ago. All changes were concentrated in the industrial area that had sprung up hastily on the outskirts of the city.

Therefore, in the white phosphorus bombings, Fengjiang City suffered such extensive loss of buildings, such great fires broke out, and the tragedy was so intense it was crushing.

Because there were not so many brick and stone structures, not so many tall buildings, not such a complex city structure, the possibilities of relying on street blocks and alley battles were reduced enormously.

In this regard, Fengjiang City was different from Beiyuan City in Qi Country before. Beiyuan City, being a coastal city, had used a lot of stone for building houses to guard against the disasters brought by the sea winds, making the urban environment much more complicated.

While in Fengjiang City, often just two hand grenades or a single artillery shell would be enough to damage a building's structure severely, making it difficult to continue to hold and fight relying on it.

Of course, this environment also created some problems for the offense: the buildings that were taken down were not easy to use; most became dangerous structures and lost their function.

General Feng Kezhi had a simple idea: If Fengjiang might be indefensible, then they should destroy the city. The goal was to prevent the Tang Army from using the urban buildings to spend the winter, to minimize the advantages the Tang Army would gain after occupying the city.

Since the Great General of the Dahua Empire was himself supervising the battle in Fengjiang, the strategic thinking of the Dahua military was very clear.

When giving up certain blocks, they would often plant bombs in advance or use hand grenades to destroy the buildings or turn them into dangerous structures.

The parts that could not be destroyed in time would later be targeted by artillery fire, with the aim of preventing the Tang Army from utilizing the areas they had conquered.

This strategy was particularly evident during the struggle for Fengjiang Railway Station. As the Tang Army's tanks began to approach the station, the Engineer Corps of Dahua immediately blew up the station without the slightest hesitation.

By the time the Tang Army's tanks had covered the grenadiers and taken the station, it had already turned into ruins, and the broken rails had even been carried away.

What the Tang Army got were just some disfigured platforms, shattered stones and tiles, and some remaining wooden planks along with buildings like the waiting rooms that had collapsed by half.

"The enemy isn't trying to preserve Fengjiang; they're destroying everything usable before losing it," several generals reported the latest situation to Bolton with a sense of helplessness while standing in front of the map.

"Their intention is very clear. They're not planning to let us rely on Fengjiang to spend the winter in one or two months," another general added with a shake of his head.

Bolton looked towards the commander of the 7th Army, with his full beard, seeking his opinion: "Your troops have been fighting in the city. What do you think?"

"This is entirely different from the battles I'm familiar with. To be honest, I'm not very adapted to this form of warfare. This isn't about seizing a city; it's about destroying it," said the bearded commander with a sigh.

"In the past, when we went to war, we often just fought in the open field. Once the enemy's field troops were annihilated, the war was pretty much over," he paused for several seconds, as if recalling his past time in Northern Ridge: "The purpose of the war was to decide the winner..."

"We're still deciding the winner now," Bolton felt the other's line of thought was a bit too old-fashioned.

"That's not what I meant," the bearded general also felt he was being sentimental: "What I'm saying is, if this were ten years ago, the commanders of the Dahua Empire would have abandoned Fengjiang already, and they would have sent envoys to sue for peace with us."

In that era, because of the slow advancement of troops, as well as the inability to keep up with firepower, manpower, and logistical support, battles were on a much smaller scale.

Even if victory was achieved on the battlefield, the attacking side was unable to freely expand a local victory into a complete triumph.

Therefore, even if one won a decisive battle, the defeated party would simply seek peace and pay indemnities, losing only one or two cities, which could even be redeemed with money or slaves.

Ten years later, today, the scale of war has completely escalated. The size of military involvement in a war is a thousand times what it used to be! The benefits that the victorious party must secure are naturally also a thousandfold greater than before.

Due to the strengthened logistics by ships, trains, and trucks, a vast and comprehensive war could be supported, and the military forces with firepower boosted by advanced machine guns, artillery, and even tanks and aircraft, were naturally far superior to the past.

"However, now they are fighting us in the cities and, by making such decisions, they are depleting my manpower and destroying the city I am about to capture, which makes me feel like I have not achieved my offensive objectives," the bearded man said after some thought, sharing his feelings.

"I think so too, if we continue to contend with them in the urban areas, what we will end up with before winter is a vast ruin, not Fengjiang City," Bolton nodded, agreeing with the latter part of the bearded man's point of view.

Then he changed the subject, pointing to Fengjiang City's flanks and continuing,"That's why I changed tactics afterward and began utilizing the Armored Corps to initiate attacks on both wings, trying to encircle Fengjiang and expel that General Feng Kezhi from Fengjiang City."

In fact, this was the true purpose of the Tang Army's attempt to encircle Fengjiang: Bolton felt that as the Empire's Great General, Feng Kezhi would certainly not allow himself to be trapped; he would surely retreat his headquarters to a safe place before the city was surrounded.

Once Feng Kezhi left Fengjiang, the resolve of the Fengjiang garrison would waver under the pressure of being surrounded and without Feng Kezhi's supervision, revealing vulnerabilities in the execution of their scorched-earth policy for Fengjiang City.

In comparison to the urban guerrilla warfare against the Dahua military, Bolton still felt that the Tang Army seemed better able to utilize and exert its strengths in open-field combat.

Indeed, this was clearly the case.

After nearly two to three months of intense fighting with the Great Tang army, the Qin Army which had come from afar, appeared to be battle-weary and had lost its edge.

Despite receiving supplies from Dahua, they were still "foreign troops," and things were not as convenient as they had originally planned.

It must be known that the reason the Qin Army had come was not as previously agreed upon: they came to loot amidst chaos, not to send coal in the snow!

The promise given to the Qin Army by Dahua was that the Dahua military would invade Tang Country, with the Qin Army as the reserve force to be deployed at crucial moments to decisively crush the Tang Army's last lines of defense.

Then, the Dahua Empire would take Tang Country's land and population, with the Qin Army taking the Tang Country's wealth, and technology to be shared among them, creating a harmonious family.

However, the current situation was: the Great Tang Kingdom was clearly the victor, with the frontline already pushed to Fengjiang. The Dahua Empire was completely defeated, and the situation was very clear.

Thus, the Qin Army was unable to obtain the large amounts of wealth from Tang Country as per the agreement, nor could they acquire the desired technology, resulting in a loss of both men and treasure.

In addition, logistical supply problems had to be added to the mix. With the Qin Army having traveled from afar, the plan did not involve much need for resupply; they were supposed to appear on the battlefield at the critical moment, as the final decisive force that would crush a Tang Army on the brink of collapse.

Even in the Dahua Empire's logistics plan, there was no serious provision made specifically for supplying the Qin Army.

As a result, the Qin Army ended up filling in for the Dahua Empire's collapsing central defenses, which was entirely different from the plan.

The already overburdened Dahua transport line, struggling to support their own troops, had no extra capacity to spare on the Qin foreign troops.

Under such circumstances, fighting a battle with the wind was not a major issue, but fighting against it was a completely different scenario.

The Qin Army's weapons and ammunition, being the same as the Dahua Empire's, could still be borrowed from the Dahua military for use. However, other aspects were not so easily managed, given the Dahua forces were not well-off either.

For example, medical supplies, which the Dahua Empire barely had enough for themselves, and the Qin Army had brought very little, quickly ran out. After all, they had come to plunder, expecting smooth sailing—who would need vast amounts of medical supplies?

But who could have foreseen that they would end up fighting tough battles, brutal defensive wars, and their own medical supplies would be insufficient almost immediately?

This directly affected the morale of the Qin Army: if the wounded couldn't receive proper treatment, who would dare to risk their lives?