Munitions Empire

"Final check! Wings and landing gear! Be careful! Get ready to take off!" At dusk, in a forest covered with camouflage nets, a giant biplane bomber was making its final preparations for take-off.

The aircraft's belly was laden with over a dozen bombs, it was at its maximum bomb load capacity. The plane was filled with fuel, and two gunners were dressing in their clothes, wrapping thick scarves around their necks.

The Tang Army's bombers had always been doing their best to destroy the Dahua Air Force airports in the direction of Sword Pavilion, and this place had been carefully camouflaged to avoid attacks from the Great Tang bombers.

The runway was disguised as farmland, usually covered with branches and other miscellaneous debris, to ensure it could not be spotted from the sky.

Meanwhile, in the wooded area on the side of the airport, four anti-aircraft gun positions were hidden to ensure the airport's security when enemy aircraft attacked.

There were only three bombers stationed at the entire airport, all of which were hidden in the woods under camouflage nets.

Because it was small in size and carefully camouflaged, this airport had never been discovered by the Tang Army—it served as a secret base for the Dahua military or, rather, an ace up their sleeve that threatened the southern oil fields.

"Remember, you must maintain your course! Deviating will make you unable to find the target!" an officer handed a celestial instrument to the rear gunner and solemnly instructed.

Nighttime bombing, without radio guidance or ground guidance, finding the target and maintaining course was very challenging.

Thus, everyone on the plane had to cooperate fully; every person had to play an important role.

Compared to daytime bombing, they did not need to face the dangerous Butcher Fighter Jets, but the risks were still significant.

They had to navigate their bearings through the stars along with a compass to eventually fly over the southern oil fields.

In Tang Country-controlled areas, they could be attacked by Tang Army anti-aircraft guns at any time and also had to be cautious of enemy spotlights.

In short, they had to be extremely careful to approach the target and then complete the mission of bombing the oil fields—as for whether they could fly back to Sword Pavilion, only heaven knew.

Previously, there had not been a single record of a bomber safely returning from a night mission, so for these pilots, undertaking this mission was nearly indistinguishable from a suicide mission.

Even the gunners performing the nighttime bombing differed entirely from ordinary gunners. Nighttime bombing gunners also took on the navigator's role, determining celestial positions, observing the compass, and occasionally using some of the ground lights to vaguely gauge their position.

Plainly put, these gunners were also precious talents; they were the technically skilled elites chosen from thousands.

What made it even more distressing was that these selected elite talents were inevitably going to be sacrificed in the upcoming bombing mission.

They were doomed not to return, which was genuinely saddening. Knowing they would not return and still being willing to climb aboard the plane here was even more heart-wrenching.

"I know, I learned all this in school! If I can fly that far over the sea, I can surely lead everyone back!" the young gunner replied with a smile.

"Check the instruments! Don't let there be any problems!" a ground crew member, after helping the pilot aboard the plane, once again confirmed.

The pilot nodded, once again inspecting the status of the instruments inside the cockpit under the illumination of an oil lamp.

"Good luck!" the commander of the aircraft's unit stood by the wing of the plane, bidding farewell with teary eyes.

"Thank you! We will definitely succeed!" the co-pilot stood at attention and saluted, then prepared to climb aboard his plane with the escort of the ground crew.

Everything was ready, and soon they would rush to the runway, take off under the moonlight, and fly into the Tang Country-controlled area to execute the mission of bombing the southern oil fields.

Under the moonlight, a car slowly stopped in the wooded area, an officer opened the car door, anxiously scrambled out of the car, and rushed toward the brightly lit distant airplane.

"Stop! Everyone, stop!" The officer ran while holding onto his hat, and as he shouted, many people around the airplanes turned toward him.

Under everyone's gaze, the officer ran to the wing of the plane, gasping for a while before he managed to catch his breath and said, "Order from the prince!... The bombing mission is canceled!"

"What joke is this? Canceled?" the officer of the bomber troops frowned, puzzled as he took a document from the other's hand.

An aide passed him a kerosene lamp to illuminate the document. It read that due to the peace talks, all night raids on oil fields were temporarily canceled.

"Why is the mission canceled? Wasn't it said that a cease-fire agreement had not been signed yet?" The commander of the bomber squad asked again.

"His Majesty personally ordered the prohibition of attacking the southern oil fields..." The officer explained, "Canceled! The mission is canceled!"

"Yes! I understand!" The air force commander of the Dahua Empire nodded slightly, then turned towards the planes, "Turn off the engines! Help the pilots and gunners down."

The ground crew heard the order and hesitated for a few seconds, then began to clamber onto the planes.

They helped the pilots down from the plane, and then the commander, in front of everyone, canceled the bombing mission, "Gentlemen! The mission to bomb the oil fields is canceled, stand by tonight... I need to go back and verify the prince's order."

After saying that, he nodded slightly to the soldiers and walked towards his own car under the dim light.

...

"Do you see that black smoke on the horizon? We might have found that damned fleet!" A boat captain stood on the casing, pointing to the distant sea and shouting to the sailor beside him.

The sailor lifted the binoculars, looked in the direction the captain was pointing, and indeed saw some lingering black smoke.

"Yes! Captain! I think we found them!" The sailor put down the binoculars, excitedly told his captain.

"Go back! Order them to speed up! Prepare the torpedoes! Victory belongs to Great Tang!" The captain shouted loudly, lifting the binoculars again to look towards the distant target.

The waves were still beating against the slender submarine, hitting the casing with splashes flying everywhere. The submarine advanced through the ocean, cutting through the tumultuous sea with its sharp bows.

The long-wave radio antenna was skewed all the way to the front deck. Through this antenna, even without using binoculars, one could see the black smoke spreading over the sea surface.

Not only this submarine had found the target, on the other side, in the north, sailors on another submarine of the Tang Army were also excitedly pointing and shouting at the distant black smoke.

Inside the cramped submarine, sailors were already adjusting torpedoes, preparing for the upcoming battle. They intended to send all those damned enemy warships to the bottom of the sea; they had won this war.

"Wake up all the crew! Sound the battle alarm! Let everyone freshen up! Drink less water, eat less food!" The duty officer issued one battle command after another, and occasionally sailors ran by under the dim lights.

The dense array of dials and readily visible instruments declared the complexity of this submarine. The sonar soldier was already in position, wiping his beloved headset.

Everyone was tense because the exact situation was still unclear. Honestly speaking, if the enemy's fleet was moving in the same direction as them, the submarines of the Tang Country really couldn't catch up with those fleeing enemy warships.

Even when traveling on the surface, the speed of submarines of this era was only comparable to that of merchant ships, much slower than warships.

So everyone was hoping that the enemy fleet's course would be head-on, which would give them a chance to converge.

For submarines, the moment of convergence was the window of attack; chasing was just a waste of time.

The good news was that since they had gradually noticed the black smoke from the enemy fleet, it meant they were getting closer to the opponent, indicating that they had a chance to catch up.

"Commander!" Just when the atmosphere had reached a certain tension, the communications soldier tore off a piece of telegraph paper and handed it to the captain who had just returned inside the submarine, "An urgent telegram from General Bernard."

"Uh?" The captain paused for a moment, then took the telegram, "Cancel the attack on the enemy fleet…"

"Must be a mistake?" After drifting at sea for over ten days, enduring the harsh cold, and finally finding the enemy fleet, cancel the attack? The submarine captain of the Tang Country found it utterly incomprehensible.

"It must be a mistake…" The first officer took the order, convinced there must have been an error in the content of the telegram. He glanced at the captain and also saw reluctance in his eyes. So he thought for two seconds, then gave his suggestion, "How about... we pretend we didn't receive this telegram... and continue the attack?"

"Have you lost your mind? Pulling that old trick?" The captain immediately rejected his suggestion; disobeying orders in wartime could lead to a court-martial.

However, the captain evidently had no intention of giving up either, "But it's possible there was an error in the order! Maintain our course! We'll catch up! There might still be new instructions coming."

"Yes!" The first officer saluted excitedly and then immediately issued the order for the submarine to maintain its course.

On the sea surface, one submarine was ordered to turn around, tracing a large U-shaped white track on the surface. Meanwhile, the other submarine maintained its course and continued to rush full speed toward the black smoke on the horizon.