These new trucks pulled 105mm howitzer guns, 75mm field artillery, field medical trailers, field kitchens, and other equipment past the parade ground.
Following them was the Second Infantry Corps from Northern Ridge, marching in a pure infantry formation past the presidential stand.
They were equipped with soldier gear from Great Tang Group, a flagship product that had performed outstandingly well in this war. Therefore, even before their official debut, they had already caught the eye of many.
Including the steel helmets from Great Tang Group, many countries were already replicating them. It's said that this gear could effectively reduce the casualty rate among soldiers.
At the same time, ammunition pouches, weapon belts, raincoats, bayonets, and hand grenades could all potentially become hot sellers in the future.
The envoy from the Empire of Nanla, Mo Kangsen, was inspecting various weapons and equipment from Great Tang Group, and he had already decided that the Empire of Nanla would purchase at least 100 G1 machine guns, which are Maxim heavy machine guns.
Moreover, the Empire of Nanla was also very interested in the warships from Great Tang Group. After all… to the east of the Empire of Nanla lay an ocean, the Sea of the Demon King.
They, too, had thousands of miles of sea defense and naturally favored the new warships from Great Tang Group. Compared to the previous generation of warships, the new ironclad warships were faster and more powerful, thus fewer were needed to ensure the safety of their coastlines.
In those days, there wasn't much theory about sea power. Generally, the only reason a land-based major power would value the navy was to ensure the safety of their coastlines. It was a limitation of the era, nothing surprising.
Just as Great Tang Group was really strangling the King of Germelin Kingdom and beginning preparations for the victory parade in Laines, far in the north, amidst a world of ice and snow, a Dwarf soldier cocked his rifle.
In his hands, he held a pin-fire rifle from Great Tang Group, still using somewhat outdated paper cartridge bullets.
However, in the Ice Cold Kingdom, this was already a very advanced weapon. He took aim at a distant target, then pulled his trigger.
"Bang!" With the sound of gunfire, the distant target fell to the ground. It was a Dwarf clad in thick cotton, holding an antiquated Shireck Flintlock Gun in his hands.
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"For His Majesty! Charge!" The Dwarf who fired the shot shouted loudly, then clumsily stood up, trudging through the thick snow toward the fallen enemy.
"Ura!" Shouting a rallying cry whose meaning was unclear but packed with fervor, the soldiers from Ice Cold Kingdom who had been lying in ambush surged forth, swarming across the border like locusts.
The long-planned war erupted at that moment, and the soldiers of Ice Cold Kingdom, armed with new weapons, confidently fired the first shot of a war of expansion.
"Ura!" The reason these Dwarf soldiers cried out the slogan whimsically given to them by Tang Mo was that their King took a liking to this succinct and mysterious word.
He interpreted this term to represent a mysterious power controlled by a genius weapons designer, or perhaps it was just an accidental choice made by a Dwarf King without a second thought.
"Ura!" More soldiers from Ice Cold Kingdom swarmed into the territory of their neighboring country, with no turning back.
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!" The opposing Dwarf soldiers began to panic. They were just a patrol squad and hadn't realized that they had been targeted by the large ambush force of the enemy.
They retreated quickly, without even a glance at the bodies on the ground. Soon bullets claimed the lives of two more, and the rest threw down their weapons and knelt, begging for mercy.
After receiving their first batch of supplies from the Great Tang Group, the Ice Cold Kingdom immediately embarked on expansionist activities.
They waged an undeclared war on their neighbors, and the conflict erupted without warning just as the Eleven Kingdoms War was drawing to a close.
The reason the war between the Ice Cold Kingdom and its neighbors isn't counted as part of the Eleven Kingdoms War is that the latter was essentially Shireck's final attempt to eradicate the newly emerged Great Tang Group, whereas the war initiated by the Ice Cold Kingdom wasn't centered around the grudges between Shireck and Great Tang.
The calm waters of the lake had begun to ripple; the emergence of the Great Tang Group had already altered the developmental trajectory of this world.
Tang Mo wasn't the least bit surprised upon seeing the telegram about the Ice Cold Kingdom's declaration of war on its neighbors, just as he wasn't surprised to learn that the Kingdom of Phalak had initiated peace talks with the Suthers Kingdom.
The Eleven Kingdoms' War had progressed to a point where the outcome was nearly decided.
Suthers, due to internal strife, was unable to retaliate against the provoking Kingdom of Phalak. However, both sides' border garrisons adopted trench warfare tactics, so despite the outbreak of hostilities, neither could gain an advantage.
Since the Kingdom of Phalak had already realized that the war was destined to fail, their request for peace talks was not at all surprising.
The Songmu Kingdom's cession of the territory south of the Songmu River was also the result of Sofia's maneuvers. Due to the failure of the Eleven Kingdoms War, the other directors of Shireck began to support Sofia, urging her to end the war that had no chance of victory.
Thus, in a desperate move, Sofia saved the Kingdom of Phalak by sacrificing five other countries. It was a trade-off, and Tang Mo had to pay a price to save face for his internal allies in Shireck.
The end result was that the Great Tang Group generously conceded a step, allowing Sofia to save the Kingdom of Phalak and earn the trust of the Shireck Board.
And Sofia, in turn, secretly did Great Tang Group a small favor—she managed to cancel the plan to reinforce the Xilun Kingdom.
Without the support of this plan, Dorne Kingdom's main force moving southward easily overcame the Xilun Kingdom and annexed a large portion of its territory.
As a result, Bolton, who led the troops southward, reached the gates of Xilun King City in just 21 days, nearly breaking his mentor Redman's record of 17 days to annihilate the Kingdom of Gemalin.
With the Rosewood Kingdom and the Songmu Kingdom reaching a peace agreement, the Eleven Kingdoms War was largely coming to an end.
Now, only the Taren Kingdom continued to hold out—its King City was blockaded, and the entire country had already fallen into paralysis, but Taren the Tenth showed no intention of surrendering—in fact, he didn't fail to surrender but had attempted to do so numerous times with Bernard simply ignoring him.
After more than a decade of bombardment and blockade, the current Taren King City was engulfed in thick smoke everywhere, with looting and turmoil rampant.
The stockpile of food supplies had begun to run low, and the order and law had long collapsed, with everything seemingly heading towards a point of no return.
In the past couple of days, Kaven didn't dare to ask for leave, so this update is rather brief. I'll adjust over the next two days and catch up on the missed updates. Counting four owed updates, I strive to repay the debt by the end of this month.