"Phew..." Bernard breathed a sigh of relief as he witnessed the enemy ship, so close at hand, being smashed into an explosive firework by a cannonball.
He finally clenched victory in his grasp, ending months of shame for the navy’s participation in the war without firing a single shot with an almost one-sided great victory.
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It was only at this time that he discovered his palms were drenched with sweat, even the hat’s lining had been soaked through by the sweat on his head.
With slightly slow movements, he raised his hand to take off his hat, then turned to his adjutant, "We have won."
"Yes, commander! I think, we have achieved a complete victory." The adjutant said with a smile, addressing Bernard, "We’ve done it, we’ve annihilated the enemy’s four main warships!"
"General! The cruiser fleet is reporting; the enemy cruisers and destroyers are fleeing in all directions. Shall we continue the pursuit?" The communications officer came forward, handing him a telegram.
"No need, get into formation! Cover and help the injured warships retreat from the combat area!" Bernard took the telegram and issued the order.
Feeling much more at ease, he spoke more freely, and the entire bridge was filled with the joy of victory—after all, this was the first time since the formation of the battleship fleet that they had achieved a meaningful victory.
"When Dongwan 1 went to Shen Hai to intimidate the goblins, they should have known not to mess with us!" Bernard said solemnly as he put his hat back on.
"Oh!" Cheers erupted from the bridge.
"Alright! Such good news must be reported to His Majesty immediately! Send a telegram... All four enemy main battleships annihilated, not a single one escaped!" Bernard, in high spirits, gave the order to the communications officer.
"Yes, General! Congratulations!" The officer saluted sharply before going out to carry out the task.
This good news was something everyone felt should be reported to the King, thousands of miles away, as soon as possible, so that the waiting generals could also share in the joy.
Soon, in the front-line command center at Anpu, Tang Mo, who was in a meeting with the generals, received the telegram reporting Bernard’s overwhelming victory.
When the officer handed the telegram to Tang Mo, Tang stood up and loudly announced the navy’s victory, "Gentlemen! Bernard has annihilated four Shen Hai battlewagons. We’ve won!"
"Long live His Majesty the King!" All the generals rose, saluting Tang Mo, congratulating the brilliant victory.
"The navy has cut off the enemy’s sea lines of communication, we now control the sea! The Shen Army trapped in Beiyuan City are like turtles in a jar." Tang Mo continued joyfully, "Next up, it’s our turn!"
"We can’t easily let go of those from Shen Hai!" a general said, "Even though the people they persecuted are from Qi Country, those dead from Qi Country are your future subjects! We must retaliate severely for what the Shen people have done!"
"That’s right, Your Majesty! We must affirm our legitimacy; the subjects of Qi Country are also Your subjects! We cannot ignore this!" Nangong Hong also added his opinion.
Tang Mo nodded, lowered his hands to calm the meeting, "I understand, I understand all of it! The goblins in Beiyuan City must all be executed! If Shen Hai wants reconciliation, they will have to cough up another 300,000 laborers and compensation money!"
Hearing this decision, Parker, who was in charge of overseeing the construction of a large number of new industrial areas, seemed hesitant to speak. He was truly reluctant to waste the labor force of the goblins from Beiyuan City.
Although these goblins deserved to die, and Parker didn’t think they should be pardoned, he felt it would be more profitable to let them die of exhaustion and starvation on construction sites rather than killing them off on the battlefield.
"I know what you’re thinking, but these demons, whose hands are soaked in blood, can no longer be used, they have lost the right to be considered human, and they cannot be tamed. Killing them is the safest option, and I will replenish the labor force you need with the subsequent goblin workers," Tang Mo said, seeing the conflict in Parker and explaining.
...
"We’re finished!" Receiving the telegram from home, Shenwu Sanlang collapsed into his chair, muttering pale-faced.
Shen Wenxi, who had been standing by his side, snatched the telegram and carefully read its contents. His face, too, turned ugly as he sat down heavily in a chair nearby.
They had once fantasized about the Tang fleet being defeated and being able to regain control of the seas, to restore transportation and reinforcement to Beiyuan City.
At the very least, they could continue to reinforce Beiyuan City, bringing enough ammunition to withstand the increasingly fierce attacks of the Tang Army.
Alas, all these could now only be dreamed of. The situation they found themselves in was even worse than before.
Previously, they were merely cut off from most of their supplies; now, their transportation routes had been completely severed.
What did this signify? It meant that even if they were willing to risk taking the ships back to the Shen Country, there was a high probability of being intercepted and sunk by enemy vessels along the way.
They couldn’t return home unless the war ended now unless their motherland, the Shen Country, could negotiate peace and swiftly conclude hostilities with the Tang Country. Only then would they have a chance to return to their homeland.
But this could only be their fantasy because the terms set forth by the Tang Country were truly difficult to accept, which is why the war had lasted up to the present.
"We’re finished," Shen Wenxi muttered in a daze, echoing the sentiment: they were indeed very passive because just a moment ago, they had lost yet another peripheral defensive position!
That was a very important defensive position—previously, the Shen Country had even dug an underground ammunition depot there to store ammunition.
But yesterday, the ammunition there had been exhausted by the defending army; without ammunition, the Shen Country military had to retreat back to the city, giving up the fortress and trenches there.
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The despairing fact was that nearly 200,000 Shen Country soldiers were trapped in the city without sufficient ammunition or heavy weaponry support, and could only engage in street battles with the Tang Army.
But it seemed that the Tang Army was not particularly interested in street battles—they had taken over some of the peripheral districts and rescued a batch of Qi Country citizens before ceasing any large-scale assaults.
The war had come to this state, and Shenwu Sanlang had no hope for victory left. All he fantasized about now was holding out until the Tang Country was willing to make peace.
"I knew it, the Navy bunch of bastards is utterly unreliable! They wasted so much of the national treasury, only to fail! If all that money had been given to our land army, we would have won the war long ago!" Shenwu Sanlang thought more and more aggrievedly, clenching his fist and slamming it down hard on the table.
You must know, those expensive steel warships cost a fortune each, and the Shen Country had paid nearly all they had to slowly accumulate such a sizeable force.
Yet it had only taken one day, one single day! The fleet that had taken more than two years to amass was utterly annihilated in a single morning!
All that money, had it been given to the land army, how many artillery guns would that be? How many tanks? How many vehicles and machine guns? How many divisions and regiments could have been formed?
Such a multitude of forces, even if the enemy were to kill them, would take a month, or even several months, right? But the Navy, oh, they lost all the bets in one morning!
"Without so many warships, how would we defend the maritime borders of the Shen Country?" Shen Wenxi shook his head. For an island nation, the Navy will always be the priority force to develop, and this was simply unchangeable.
This was the island nation’s tragedy: once the Navy lost, it meant they had gambled away all their assets, leaving them incapable of holding on any longer.
Therefore, Shen Wenxi could see it clearly: "For us, the Navy’s such complete defeat might not be a bad thing."
"Hmm?" Shenwu Sanlang looked at him, drawing out his tone to show his confusion.
Shen Wenxi continued to explain, "With the Navy’s defeat, the King Your Majesty will no longer continue this war. Soon we will enter peace talks with the Tang Country, and as long as we hold out, we will have hope of safely returning home!"
"You’re right! It’s very possible, we could even return as heroes!" Shenwu Sanlang spoke excitedly. "Although the Tang Country says it wants to punish war criminals, we’ll just need to find a few scapegoats to take the blame...."
"Exactly!" Shen Wenxi revealed a smile. "Let’s hope we, and the officers and soldiers here who have heroically fought for the Kingdom, can all return!"
Shenwu Sanlang nodded, sweeping away his earlier dejection and reigniting his hope, "That’s right! Beiyuan City is a good bargaining chip! As long as we hold it, the Tang Country people will have to show sincerity if they want it! Hahaha!"
...
In the main base of the Shen Country, the generals of the Shen Navy were sitting on both sides of a long table with wry smiles on their faces, waiting for their King Your Majesty, who was absent.
They had all received the news: the battleships made by Shireck were no match for those of the Tang Army, leading directly to the Shen Navy’s miserable defeat.
Shireck’s consultant was crestfallen for he had just learned that during the battle, there was a catastrophic explosion of the main guns produced by Shireck, causing an accident that severely affected the course of the battle.
It turned out that the Shireck battleships, which they copied from others, were complete failures. Their armor couldn’t withstand the cannon shells fired by the Tang Army, their speeds were slower than the enemy’s, and they were bested in both firepower and maneuvering.
These were the contents of the last telegram sent by Shen Haiyi, and Shireck’s consultant felt these were excuses from an incompetent Shen Haiyi who was shifting all blame onto Shireck.
However, fools knew that if what Shen Haiyi said was false and Shireck’s battleships were indeed strong and had overpowered the Tang Army’s as they claimed, the outcome would not be what we see today....