Munitions Empire

The area outside the command post was shrouded in yellow smoke, with white sheets and tablecloths hanging everywhere. The Dahua military here had already ceased resistance, just like other Dahua troops elsewhere.

...

"We surrender! We surrender!" When they saw a No. 4 tank crush half of a low wall, revealing its colossal body, the Dahua soldiers on the other side of the ruins raised their hands in succession.

The battle within Fengjiang City began to fragment. Organized resistance had already crumbled a while ago, with only some spontaneous small units engaging in guerrilla warfare.

But they could no longer determine the outcome of the battle—without logistical support, they would soon run out of ammunition and lose their combat capability, left with no choice but to surrender honestly or be killed.

In the sky, one could sporadically see the silhouettes of IL-2 attack aircraft circling; the already sporadic sound of artillery gradually quieted down, and throughout Fengjiang City, one could see large numbers of surrendering Dahua defenders.

Some soldiers sat despondently on the ground, using numb gazes to look at the Tang Army, who stood around them with weapons at the ready.

Yet some Dahua soldiers curiously inspected the heavy armored vehicles of the Tang Army that they had previously never had time to observe closely.

Honestly, the tanks of the Tang Army, compared to those of the Dahua military, always had an indescribable aesthetic.

These No. 4 tanks, which had been improved upon many times, had a ring of iron around the turret, and side skirts hanging on the flanks, looking sharp and handsome.

Up close, these Great Tang grenadiers weren't so ferocious after all. They wore nice M35 steel helmets and carried various pieces of equipment in disarray, dirty and disheveled.

The Type 56 assault rifles, which Dahua soldiers had grown to hate deeply, hung behind these Great Tang soldiers, with magazine pouches on their chests, bayonets, water bottles, food bags, and engineer shovels hanging from their armed belts.

What most tantalized the Dahua soldiers was the Tang Army soldiers' food bags. All Dahua soldiers knew that they were filled with an assortment of delicious foods like a treasure pouch.

The Tang Army soldiers commonly had rations of canned goods and biscuits, as well as instant noodles and candy, including chocolate and beef jerky for rapid energy recovery.

In recent months, the Tang Army had even begun distributing tea bags and juice concentrates to the rank and file, luxuries not even Dahua officers enjoyed, coveted by every Dahua soldier.

Unfortunately, as the situation deteriorated, the bodies of Tang Army soldiers became less and less common, and many mouth-watering items were rarely seen by Dahua soldiers.

Interestingly, at this moment, many of the Tang Army soldiers guarding the prisoners had smoldering paper rolls in their mouths, and due to the increasingly cold weather, quite a few were wrapped in scarves.

The more experienced Dahua veterans knew those smoking items were called cigarettes. Some had tried them—coughing from the pungent taste, they couldn't see why they were so popular among Tang soldiers.

Many Tang Army soldiers also had colorful ribbons hanging from the buttons on their chests. Of course, the group of Dahua prisoners didn't know those were the ribbons of the Blade Medal, an honor many Tang soldiers defended with their lives.

In the distance, a white flag was fluttering in the wind above the Lord's Mansion, and soon there were more trucks on the streets, more Tang Army soldiers.

No matter how one looked at it, this place was under Tang control. The Battle of Fengjiang was over, or rather... this war was over.

As everyone began to prepare for the tranquil times after the war, a column of military vehicles rumbled down the street.

Judging by their direction, these military vehicles were heading south of Fengjiang City, previously controlled by the Tang Army, adorned with the Dragon Banner of Great Tang, the lead vehicle being an actual armored reconnaissance car.

"Hey! Driving so fast, rushing to be reincarnated?" An officer leaning against a tank fanned the rolling dust in front and squinted in the direction the convoy disappeared.

"Which unit is it, anyway? Isn't the armored reconnaissance vehicle up front from the 9th Army's reconnaissance battalion?" The neighboring tank commander walked over and leaned against the tank's skirt: "I heard they're going to give this place back to the Dahua Empire?"

"Don't know, I've heard so, but that's none of our business anymore. We just wait for our leave and then head home." The officer lit a cigarette for himself, watching the Tang grenadiers marching across the street. He spat twice, discarding the grit in his mouth.

For them, one piece of good news was enough. The war was over; they no longer needed to continue advancing westward, no longer had to drive tanks under artillery fire, no longer needed to surge over trenches to lead the charge. It was enough.

"In my beautiful homeland, there's a fine young girl! Her rosy cheeks are like the red sun, her lovely enchanting eyes, like the bright moon at night!" The Tang Army soldiers, sitting on the roadside resting with weapons in arm, began to hum a ballad.

Many joined in the humming. Everyone knew... the war was over, and everyone looked forward to the true arrival of peace.

Teams of Dahua soldiers, under the watch of the Tang Army, began to move westward. They were excited because they knew they were to be returned to the Dahua Empire; they would return to their homeland, alive to their families.