Munitions Empire-Chapter 1066: Secret Deal 988

Chapter 1066: Secret Deal 988

Li was an ordinary person from the Dahua Empire. After joining the military at the age of 29, he lived a life of getting by and drawing a salary. To him, being a soldier was just a profession, as the Dahua Empire had not given its soldiers any sense of purpose to fight for.

The soldiers of the Great Tang Empire bore the responsibility of history; they defended their own happy lives and sought to liberate their oppressed and enslaved brethren, so they had a cause to fight for and the conviction to forge ahead.

It must be said that the propaganda machine of the Tang Empire performed exceptionally well; the soldiers of the Tang Empire genuinely hoped they were doing the right thing.

Since the Tang Empire had implemented a series of reforms, even judging superficially, the Tang Empire could indeed be called the light of the world, and the wars it waged did seem to be rescuing the masses from dire straits.

The lives of the soldiers of the Dahua Empire were entirely different; not to mention saving others, they couldn’t even save themselves.

These soldiers often had their military pay docked, and at the same time, they had to undertake many tasks during peacetime that were not part of their duties: helping the nobility with farming and performing odd jobs for commanders.

Honestly speaking, these soldiers spent less time on military training than they did working for the local landlords.

In combat, these soldiers were cannon fodder, armed with subpar weapons, using all kinds of questionable quality equipment, challenging enemies that were hundreds or thousands of times stronger than in the past.

This situation led to the generally low combat effectiveness of Dahua Empire soldiers, who often just went through the motions before surrendering or collapsing.

Li was such an ordinary soldier from the Dahua Empire; on the frontlines, he skulked and shirked, mostly looking out for his own skin in most situations.

Today, he slipped back into the rhythm he knew well; everything around him seemed to return to its former state, and he could resume the most familiar work of a soldier in the Dahua Empire.

Indeed, the most familiar task for the soldiers of the Dahua Empire was not combat but labor… Li joined the labor force in a place filled with rubble and ruins.

He did not even bring his hardly useful Shireck Type 1 rifle and casually walked on the open ground that he wouldn’t dare approach on a normal day, idly picked up a half-brick, then strolled back to the roadside and tossed the broken brick into a corner.

It wasn’t only him; everyone around was engaged in similar work. Some Engineer Corps members had their own shovels and pickaxes, but most people could only use their hands to pick up the broken bricks and tiles scattered on the ground.

Where to throw these fragments and broken tiles completely depended on which location was a bit closer—if the roadside was nearer, then throw it there; if it was closer to a crater, just toss it straight into the crater.

Long tired of continuing the fight, the officers of the Dahua Empire stood together, smoking incessantly and enjoying this long-lost leisure time.

On regular days, they would never dare to stand out in broad daylight like this; they would be no different from stationary targets, and Fengjiang’s snipers would immediately open a hole in their heads.

Before Fengjiang’s ceasefire, moving around in the city ruins required extreme caution; you had to constantly watch your surroundings and look for corners suitable for sniping.

Back then, even going to the bathroom without standing up straight because you wouldn’t dare, sometimes not seeing the sun for several days. Everyone seemed like cockroaches in the cracks, rats in the sewers, every breath a torment.

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Every minute and second had to be painstakingly careful; it was a feeling that could nearly drive one insane. So when the news of a temporary ceasefire came, everyone let out a sigh of relief.

This ceasefire was not decided between Fengjiang and Dahua but was mediated and facilitated by the Great Tang Empire—therein lies the difference because if it were an agreement reached between Fengjiang and Dahua, there might still be problems during the ceasefire. But since it was led by the Great Tang Empire, in everyone’s eyes, there would be no problems at all.

A Dahua officer in the distance lit a cigarette and exhaled a puff of white smoke as if he had come to life anew.

Around him, another officer stretched lazily while telling jokes, as if they were vacationing on a beach and not in a city on the verge of becoming ruins.

Li also felt very comfortable; he was a timid and life-loving person. Letting him stand in the sunshine picking up stones was far happier than having him rush forward under enemy machine gun fire.

Therefore, he worked diligently, this kind of hardworking and willing attitude made Li quite favored by his commanders: no one dislikes a hard worker who would fix a broken door at home or harvest the vegetables when they are ripe.

So before coming to Fengjiang, Li’s immediate superior had appointed him as the logistics chief, making Li an officer.

It’s just that this officer really didn’t hold much status, as the Dahua Empire didn’t place much importance on logistics troops, and indeed, the rank of the leader of a logistics unit wasn’t high either.

By the standards of front-line troops, this officer, Li, would at most be considered a squad leader with only seven aging, weak, or sick subordinates under him, usually in charge of distributing various supplies, and sometimes even having to help out in the kitchen.

Due to the increasing scarcity of supplies, soldiers like Li no longer had access to cigarettes, and other such frontline benefits like bread had also not been seen for a long time.

Such treatment really couldn’t compare to the Fengjiang army across the way; those damned traitorous soldiers often had chocolates and all kinds of messy snacks turned out from their corpses.

Normally, no one dared to casually touch the enemy’s bodies since doing so could likely lead to being picked off by an enemy sniper. Thus, the hope of scavenging food from corpses was unrealistic, and the soldiers from Dahua could only endure the elements without shelter.

They really hadn’t had a hot meal in a very long time; if not for the ceasefire, they might still not have been able to enjoy a hot meal now.

Dozens of soldiers, clutching a brand-new rail, came over from the Fengjiang army’s position, chanting their work songs step by step as they carried the rail to its intended location.

Due to the fact that the shell craters had not yet been filled in and the sleepers were not yet in place, the rail had to be left on one side. In terms of efficiency, it seemed that the Great Tang Empire behind Fengjiang always had the upper hand.

“Hard work, brothers, here’s the soda from the Great Tang Empire as a reward for you guys.” Dozens of Fengjiang soldiers came over carrying boxes of drinks, seemingly thoroughly enjoying this rare moment of peace.

One by one, the crates were placed by the roadside, and the leading Fengjiang officer even used a bottle opener to pry open a soda and directly handed it to the approaching Dahua officer.

The Dahua officer wasn’t shy, having already enjoyed the sweetness of such drinks yesterday. He grabbed the soda, tilted his head back and drank; the spicy stimulation, along with the flavor of the essence, reverberated on his tongue, instantly unlocking all the Dahua officer’s taste buds.

Despite the cold weather at that time, the refreshing chill hit his stomach and made the Dahua officer let out a satisfied burp, with contentment showing on his face.

After receiving the second bottle of flavored soda, the officer finally relented. He waved and called out to Li, “Li! Come over for a soda! The rest of you come too! Line up, don’t make yourself uncomfortable!”

Hearing the order, the Dahua soldiers began to gather with various smiles on their faces. One by one, they took the delicious sodas from the hands of the Fengjiang soldiers, as if they had not been throwing hand grenades at each other just a few days before.

“Did you bring it?” Li, clutching his soda, mysteriously pulled a Fengjiang soldier aside to a corner, glanced back at the distant circle of officers and asked in a low voice.

“I did! Where’s the money?” The Fengjiang soldier pulled out a pack of cigarettes from the side of his clothes, some even opened, counted them one by one, and placed them in Li’s hands.

“Count it.” Li pulled out a roll of banknotes, all Great Tang Empire “Gold Coins,” so-called Tang Yuan.

After paying, he began to inspect the poorly packaged cigarettes, to see if any were missing in quantity: obviously, these cigarettes were cobbled together, some boxes were wrinkled, but the contents were still in decent condition.

“Don’t short me, okay? I’m telling you, I have to account for it when I go back.” Li stuffed the cigarettes into his pocket and warned the Fengjiang soldier who was counting the money.

“How could I short you a few cigarettes?” The Fengjiang soldier disdainfully pulled out three bars of chocolate from another pocket, which was clearly the kind of luxury reserved for Great Tang snipers: “Look at you, so pathetic! Take these for your commander, bring a bag tomorrow, I’ve got canned food and instant noodles here, all freaking good stuff.”

“Really? How much?” Li almost salivated, his eyes lighting up as he asked directly.

The Fengjiang soldier, very professionally, pulled out a price list from his shirt pocket and handed it to Li: “Price as listed! Give your commander a ten percent profit, take a little less for yourself and there won’t be any issue.”

At that moment, Li felt deeply shocked by the professionalism of the other party: he really hadn’t expected that such shady dealings could be conducted so brazenly in the open.

If someone were caught, the crime of colluding with the enemy would surely lead to execution or at least ten years of imprisonment without injustice, wouldn’t it?

If it weren’t for the fact that Li was in charge of the logistics and had been pushed into desperation by some friends, he wouldn’t have dared to trade cigarettes with the Fengjiang people.

But there were just too many desperate smokers; with the previous supply of poor-quality cigarettes from the rear, it was tolerable, but recently, even those leaves were gone, and those people were almost resorting to rolling up scrap papers for a puff.