Darkstone Code

Chapter 1227 - 1225: Midnight Express

"I have considered this..." Mr. Wardrick said honestly, "and the engineers have also given me some plans."

"What I mean is, our main focus from now on should be on which side, air or ground?"

Mr. Wardrick is actually very proficient in management; otherwise, he wouldn’t have become the Sect Leader of the consortium, nor would he have the family business he has today.

He knows specialization is the direction for development. This is true for all industries; any product, any technology, when specialized to the extreme, fears no challenges.

Even if Lynch hadn’t brought this up, he would have proactively split the multifunctional combat vehicles into specialized ones after some time.

Anti-aircraft vehicles and vehicles targeting infantry, he is now a bit indecisive about which direction to develop.

Now, airplanes, air force and air raids are quite popular; almost everyone is talking about them, including ordinary people.

In the Federation, there is a rather interesting phenomenon: the lower the social class, the more attention they pay to state affairs!

They seem to truly be, as some propaganda posters say, the "builders" and "maintainers" of this country.

They care deeply about any state affairs, even international affairs, more than their children’s education or the President’s recent reports.

More than their family’s health issues, they care about how strong the Federation’s military really is?

There are many such people; you can easily find a typical little pub in Lower City, spend a dollar to buy a drink, and hear discussions all around.

All sorts of countless similar little pubs seem to house the smartest people in the Federation. They talk about everything from the future direction of the country to new urban policies, and they can assess pros and cons and speculate about the possibility of realization.

Lynch tasted a fresh roasted steak, which was said to use some kind of normal-temperature pressure process to completely drain the blood from the steak without affecting its taste.

The blood is one of the main reasons for the change in beef flavor, then during the grilling process, some sauces are soaked in, enhancing its flavor without losing its taste. In short, it’s a messy cooking method.

But people like to try new things, especially the wealthier people.

"The steak is good!" he commented while cutting the steak, "You know, the air force can destroy the enemy’s resistance but cannot occupy the enemy’s territory. Focusing the main development on ground issues is absolutely not a problem."

He said, putting another piece of beef into his mouth, chewing a few times before swallowing, "The future of anti-air weapons will not entirely fall on machine guns and the like. As aircraft speed gets faster, even if you can see the plane, you can’t hit it."

The mainstay of future aircraft confrontation will still be various missiles; anti-aircraft guns... might dominate for just one or two decades.

And as aircraft speed continues to climb, future anti-aircraft guns will find it very hard to hit various planes, including bombers.

Its few uses might only be to form a firepower net with other anti-aircraft guns, preventing planes from approaching certain areas.

Truly playing a "defensive" role, not an "offensive" one.

The deeper the research into anti-aircraft machine guns and similar weapons now, the more costs are wasted, and the harder it will be to turn back in the future.

It would be better to continue focusing on ground vehicles; the iron armored flood is also a kind of "romance."

Mr. Wardrick nodded as if he gained something from Lynch’s words, "I think I understand."

Lynch shook his head, "You still don’t understand. You can say that you completely don’t understand war."

"Before the possibility of individual soldiers destroying armor appears, the heavy armor on the combat vehicle is its most precious wealth."

"We’ve seen this point in actual combat; it didn’t take long for the Federation and United Forces to collapse when they encountered the Peng Jieao forces, instead, we deployed some combat vehicles and directly stabilized the situation."

"As long as they can’t destroy that armor, wherever the combat vehicle is, that’s where the front line is!"

"We must continue to thicken its armor, make its exterior design more in line with mechanical principles, and equip it with very powerful firepower."

"Ground vehicles working with infantry to advance, with the air force providing cover, this is the core of future warfare!"

"In other words, the air force is indeed very important, but combat vehicles are even more important!"

If the Emperor of Peng Jieao knew Lynch said this sentence, he would definitely consider Lynch as a confidant.

At this moment, the Emperor of Peng Jieao is also discussing these issues.

"During this period of combat, we’ve discovered some issues. In terms of combat vehicle research, we are clearly lagging behind the Federation, even behind the world; this absolutely shouldn’t happen."

The Emperor of Peng Jieao remained looking dispirited as usual, watching the ministers and scientists under him.

"I know some people reject mechanization, I can understand them. Anyone who encounters something unfamiliar, especially something they have to live with, first feels fear and rejection."

"But our military and scientists should not be like this. While there is still a necessity for cavalry, mechanization is even more essential."

"This time, the Beyler people’s chariots have given us a wake-up call, gentlemen. It only takes a dozen to make thousands of warriors unable to lift their heads."

"What if there are more of them, dozens, hundreds?"

"Do our soldiers have to use blood and flesh to fight against a tsunami of steel?"

"I clearly understand that the future belongs to the era of air and ground forces, which are represented by aircraft and chariots."

"The Beyler people are already ahead of us, and we need to speed up to catch up with them."

"More advanced flying machines, more chariots!"

In the past many years, Peng Jieao’s cavalry was considered world number one, which also led many people to stick to the old ways and resist progress.

Previously, when there wasn’t too much pressure in the army, this mindset wasn’t too problematic. But now, with pressure starting to mount, and those chariots indeed causing a lot of unnecessary casualties, some things urgently need to be changed.

In fact, the Emperor of the Empire clearly understands why these people want to "remain conservative." In essence, conservative people just want to protect their own rights from being infringed.

If the mechanization reform of the military is accelerated, some generals will definitely be replaced.

They aren’t familiar with new combat equipment, the tactics derived from new combat equipment, or the strategic intentions gathered from these tactics. They belong to the previous era, not the current one.

The era has already changed, and equipment has iterated, so shouldn’t these old-timers also be eliminated?

This is inevitable; no one can stand on the crest of the era forever — no one can!

The Empire Marshal stood upright, "I think I understand, Your Majesty. I will expedite the research on chariots."

The Emperor of the Empire rubbed his face, looking a bit like he was lacking sleep, "How are the peace negotiations going?"

The Minister of Foreign Affairs immediately answered, "The Federation wants us to acknowledge the negative role we played in this conflict."

"A very impudent demand. Increase the pressure on them and accuse them of deliberately stirring up disputes..." The Emperor promptly gave his opinion.

Afterward, some photos were leaked to foreign media, showing scenes of the orderly boarding of the Peng Jieao Empire Army, as well as a large number of various materials being transported and converged.

These photos were taken recently, and they had no captions, but instead, gave people a terrifying feeling that a war was about to erupt!

Since the bombing squadron of Peng Jieao carried out an air raid on the fleet in the Horn Strait, the Federation’s fleet has already moved away from that location.

This also means that the transport, which had been blocked by the fleet for less than a day, has reconnected, and these warriors and materials will undoubtedly be shipped to the continents across the strait.

The entire international atmosphere has become tense because of these photos, with some people even believing that the prelude to the destruction of a Second World War has already begun.

However, it seems that neither side has any intention of compromising on the peace negotiation issue, both are sticking to their positions.

Just when no one knows whether tomorrow morning’s newspaper front page will have the headline "War!", the Prime Minister of Gafura made a phone call to the President late at night.

After brief pleasantries, the Prime Minister explained the purpose of his call, "The world needs peace, Mr. President; the wounds left by the last war have yet to be healed. We need time!"

"I’m not afraid of anyone, I just purely believe that now is not the right time to go to war. Perhaps we can make some changes in timing."

Typically, such high-level calls between rulers happen very rarely. They are the highest rulers, and once they have irreconcilable differences, it easily leads to direct opposition.

However, the Prime Minister can’t continue to wait; the Federation keeps rotating troops, and who knows how many soldiers they’ve left in Nagariel.

Meanwhile, from the recently exposed photos, it’s clear that Peng Jieao is conducting small-scale operations and gathering their main forces.

All these cast a shadow over the skies of world peace!

If it were any other time, Gafura wouldn’t be so tense, but now is the crucial moment for the power struggle between the Noble Group and the Imperial Family. If a great war erupts, there’s a huge possibility that Emperor Gafura will gain all power directly because of the war!

This is the last thing the Prime Minister wants to see. Even if war must break out, he hopes it will be after the Monarchy Constitution is established, definitely not now!

About thirty minutes before the call came in, the President already knew such a call was coming, and at this time, he also received the information he wanted.

Mr. Truman wrote a sentence on the notepad, reading it aloud.

"It’s not that we want to go to war now, but the Peng Jieao people refuse to admit their mistakes."

"If they were willing to bow, we wouldn’t want to create the current tense situation either..."