Munitions Empire

The landing troops were vulnerable and chaotic. It was no easy task to deploy soldiers onto the beach in an organized fashion.

The rising and falling tides affected the speed of the landing crafts, and the Great Tang Group had even initiated this military action without investigating the local hydrological conditions.

To be frank, this was a military gamble, and no one would be surprised if it failed. The company commander of the first battalion’s first company was almost driven to tears by the troops that had already landed.

More than half of the second company’s landing troops had arrived without their weapons; a few had handguns, and some carried versatile daggers.

They were without steel helmets or backpacks, essentially just people who had made it to shore, with no fighting capability whatsoever.

Now, the only thing these soldiers could do was to stay on the beach, barefoot, helping to pull the rest of the troops and equipment from the sea to the shore.

The third company was in slightly better shape, but due to distance, the number of men who had landed was very small, just a few dozen.

So, even two hours after the landing had begun, the first company still formed the main force on the shore, and the number of landed personnel had only grown to around 400.

Finally, a transport ship full of ammunition reached the shore, and the soldiers clumsily moved the ammunition onto the beach.

For ease of transport, the shells were packaged in groups of two using a spacious hollow design with a rubber seal on the outside.

This allowed the soldiers to use the buoyancy to bring the crates ashore, which was a small detail that had been considered in advance.

Unfortunately, this design was only used for the shells, as it was easier to produce packaging boxes for ammunition, requiring only minor adjustments.

At this moment, the general situation of the landing troops was as follows: over a hundred soldiers were crowded on the beach, desperately moving equipment from the sea to the shore.

Another hundred or so were looking for their units, sorting out their equipment, and shaking the sand from their boots.

All told, the battalion commander had less than one company of troops he could use for combat, and those soldiers were from the first, second, and third companies...

The entire force had only one functional machine gun, which had just been carried to a small rise at the edge of the beach. Taking advantage of the cover of bushes, they had set up a makeshift defensive position.

On either side of this position were a dozen soldiers who had quickly established temporary cover; this was all the defense the landing troops had at the moment.

"Get the first company to build a position on the flank! Deploy along the road we just used..." Without intelligence support from reconnaissance, the battalion commander did not know from which direction the enemy might attack, so he had to disperse his few available troops.

"Yes!" The squad leader who had returned with the battalion commander after spotting the ruins immediately went to relay the orders.

"If possible, send someone to take control of that village ruin, check it out..." Before the squad leader had gone far, the battalion commander added to the orders.

"Yes!" The squad leader nodded again and, with his weapon in hand, hurried off towards the distant troops.

A few minutes later, over fifty soldiers left the beach and moved towards the road and village ruins.

Watching the defenses that were gradually improving, the battalion commander felt somewhat relieved. As more troops came ashore, his available combat power also grew stronger. Read exclusive adventures at empire ŔÁ𐌽Ȱ฿ĘȘ

This was a good start; the enemy had not appeared during the most chaotic moments right after the landing, allowing them to secure a foothold on the beach.

Even now, the battalion commander began to fantasize that the enemy hadn’t noticed this landing force and that a counterattack might not come for a few days.

By then, his forces would have been fully assembled, refreshed, and regained their combat effectiveness. If that were true, he was confident they could face an enemy force ten times their size.

But just as the battalion commander was indulging in these smooth prospects, trouble suddenly struck.

On the other side of the landing site, a group of short-statured soldiers erupted from the bushes, screaming wildly as they raised their guns and fired.

Soldiers from the Great Tang Group’s security forces, who were sitting on the beach pouring sand from their boots, were startled by this abrupt turn of events. Some didn’t even have time to put on their shoes before they fell back beside their boots.

This side had mostly second company troops who lacked weapons and equipment, with only a handful of soldiers pulling out Left-Wheel Handguns from their belts to return fire.

The two sides suddenly engaged in battle, with Dwarf Goblins wielding flintlock guns, now obsolete, attempting to use their fierce charge to drive the still-crowded enemy off the beach and into the sea.

Matchlock guns, if not fired in volleys, actually have a pitifully low hit rate, so the first round of fire from these goblins did not cause a lot of casualties to the soldiers of the Great Tang Group.

Only one soldier from the Great Tang Group who was trying to use the restroom on the edge of the landing zone was struck by a bullet due to being too close to the enemy, falling into a pool of blood.

Then, these goblin soldiers from Shengu were taught a lesson by the S2 Left-Wheel Handguns and the S3 semi-automatic pistols of the Great Tang Group.

Rapid gunfire echoed along the beach, accompanied by the sound of the waves, giving those goblins attempting to engage in close combat a taste of despair. Clearly, the enemy was also stunned, as this was nothing like what they had imagined.

However, the brave soldiers from Shengu kept surging out of the bushes, trying desperately to reach the chaotic landing zone of the Great Tang Group’s soldiers.

It seemed that the enemy believed as long as they could entangle themselves with us, they could completely annihilate their foe on the beach through melee combat.

"Retreat! Retreat!" A 2nd Battalion officer, having emptied his handgun’s magazine, signaled for his troops to retreat while regretting why he hadn’t brought his Thompson submachine gun.

Those unlucky soldiers of the 2nd Battalion who had also left their weapons on the ship were retreating while ruing the same mistake.

If they had weapons, even just K3 rifles, they could have let the enemy feel the might of overwhelming firepower... but now, they didn’t even have steel helmets...

Just as the goblins were about to break into the landing zone and reach the disintegrating officers and men of the 2nd Battalion, the sound of salvation rang out.

The sole Maxim machine gun, covering the landing zone from the flank, began to roar, and its continuous gunfire instantly dumbfounded the dense ranks of goblin troops.

In the space of a single breath, seven or eight goblins were laid low on the flank of the troops assaulting the beach. Before the rest could figure out where the enemy was, another four or five fell.

"Ratatatat!" Like something tireless, the continual sweeping fire from the Maxim machine gun mowed down the bewildered goblin soldiers one after another.

Finally, those goblin soldiers who had managed to locate the source of gunfire by the muzzle flashes turned direction and charged the exposed machine gun position—only to regret it immediately.

The firepower here was more than twice that of the seemingly numerous retreating soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, with a Maxim heavy machine gun ceaselessly firing and the flank covered by two Thompson submachine guns’ terrifying fire.

Before hundreds of goblin soldiers could even approach the machine gun position, they fell midway through their charge, and the rest turned tail, scrambling back into the bushes behind them.

On the beach, a small contingent of 3rd Battalion soldiers arrived to reinforce the 2nd Battalion, and they were all armed. In such open terrain, facing a group of goblins who had expended all their matchlock ammunition, the 3rd Battalion’s gunfire quickly crushed the opposition.

"Ratatatat!" The machine gun on the flank continued its roaring rampage, and countless goblin soldiers fell on the beach.

The battle lasted about ten minutes, leaving at least 200 goblin corpses near the beach. Then, seemingly realizing they had no chance of winning, the goblins began a desperate retreat.

Goblins too slow to retreat raised their hands high and knelt to surrender; some were swept down by bullets before they could surrender. The gunfire gradually ceased, the sea breeze dispersed the sulfuric smell pervading the beach, and the white smoke from the matchlocks wafted away with the wind.

The 2nd Battalion had yet to figure out how these goblins managed to come so close to disrupting their lines, but they now thoroughly regretted not having brought their weapons ashore.

When the 1st Battalion commander arrived to survey the situation, the battle was already over. The 3rd Battalion had taken over the defensive line from the 2nd Battalion, and a few soldiers were counting the corpses on the ground.

In the recent engagement, two soldiers from the 2nd Battalion were killed, one ambushed while using the restroom and another unfortunate soul struck in the chest by a bullet from a matchlock, a shot that was nearly impossible.

If this were to be called a defeat, the cost would have been too insignificant. But if this was considered a victory, the 1st Battalion commander couldn’t help but feel frustrated.

He walked, stepping unevenly on the gravel, toward the captives who were being guarded, looking down at these dwarfish creatures about 1.5 meters tall, his heart filled with irritation.

Though Dwarves were also only around 1.5 meters tall, sometimes even just 1.4 meters high, they were clearly much more robust than these goblins.

At this moment, with their pointy ears, short and skinny stature, greenish skin, and utterly repulsive appearance, these goblins seemed to finally grasp one thing—these invaders landing on their shore were apparently not from Zheng Country...

"How did you discover us and deploy in advance here?" the 1st Battalion commander asked, frowning with keen interest.

A goblin in military garb stared at the 1st Battalion commander, not answering the question but instead demanding, "Who are you, and why are you invading the territory of Shengu?"

"Shengu’s territory? Isn’t this Zheng Country’s Dongwan Island?" the 1st Battalion commander sneered, then repeated his question, "How did you discover us and deploy in advance here?"

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