Munitions Empire-Chapter 642 - : 601 long-eyed bullet

Chapter 642: 601 long-eyed bullet

In the pitch-dark barn, First Prince Jiang Shan was like a startled bird, his mouth parched as he peered through the gaps in the wooden planks, watching the open space in the distance.

The guard by his side heard a noise and instinctively covered the First Prince’s mouth. They had been hiding here for two days now, and in all that time, they had only drunk some water and hadn’t eaten anything at all.

Just yesterday, a unit of the Tang Army had passed by—five tanks and seven or eight trucks, accompanied by several dozen soldiers, which scared them so much that they climbed up the beams and didn’t come down until midnight.

Due to the war, this barn had been deserted for a while now. No one had come to it, and the Tang Army hadn’t thoroughly searched the place.

In reality, the First Prince and his guards were overthinking it; compared to quickly advancing to Beiyuan City to join the battle, the Tang Army had little interest in capturing him, the First Prince of Qi Country.

If Qi Country were still actively resisting, then capturing its First Prince could definitely be leveraged to advantage, at the very least to gain some benefits.

...

But now, Qi Country had become history, so what use was there in capturing another First Prince of Qi?

Therefore, Tagg, who was in charge of the main attack on the unit of the First Prince, hadn’t issued any orders for his capture, and the troops at the grass-roots level only made a symbolic search; if they didn’t find him, they continued to march northward.

It wasn’t that the soldiers of the Tang Army were not diligent in searching for the First Prince of Qi; there was too much chaos, Qi soldiers had to be rounded up, prisoners gathered, and local order restored—they were too busy to manage anything else.

Capturing tens of thousands of dispersed Qi prisoners of war was already a daunting task, and deliberately searching for the First Prince of Qi was clearly inefficient. It was a more serious matter, better left to the intelligence department to exert effort on.

Soon, both men realized it was a false alarm; no one was interested in this dilapidated barn, and there were no enemies around to capture them.

After letting out a sigh of relief, First Prince Jiang Shan feebly pushed away his subordinate’s palm and complained, “I think we should just surrender. Where can we even run to now?”

“Your Majesty! The people of Qi Country still support you! As long as you return to King City, contact those former officials of the kingdom, Your Majesty, you still have much you can accomplish!” the subordinate hastened to reassure.

As he spoke, he looked outside. Yesterday evening, Qin Xiong said he was going to find food and left with two others. They had not yet returned, and he didn’t know if something had happened to them or if they had lost their way.

When they originally fled, they had several hundred people with them, even a radio, as well as horses and cars.

But they had been pursued and ambushed by the Tang Army on the way, some deserted with supplies to surrender, and in the end, there were only five people left; they didn’t even have their horses anymore.

The cars had been abandoned by the roadside long ago for lack of fuel, the valuable horses had been stolen amidst the chaos, and the radio, too heavy to carry without the transport of carts or cars, was also left behind.

Eventually, even the rifles were discarded for being too cumbersome to carry; they had reached the barn with only their handguns and ammunition.

“It doesn’t matter! As long as you can escape this dangerous area, there’s still a chance!” This subordinate clearly hoped to cling to the First Prince as a lifeline, to secure a bright future for himself.

He knew that Qi Country was finished, so a comeback in Qi Country for him and the First Prince was impossible. However, if they could flee to the Dahua Empire, they could at least live in wealth and honor relying on the status of an exiled prince of Qi—that’s why he hadn’t fled yet!

In truth, the First Prince knew what these subordinates were thinking. His continued determination wasn’t also because of such an elusive hope?

As a prince of Qi Country, he also knew that restoring Qi Country by his own power was a fool’s dream. But escaping to the Dahua Empire, there was still some hope.

As long as he cooperated with the Dahua Empire by continuously causing trouble for Tang Country, he could receive treatment there. Even if the Dahua Empire only meant to vex Tang Country, they would still fatten him up, wouldn’t they?

As the subordinate kept feeding First Prince Jiang Shan a metaphorical “chicken soup,” three figures appeared outside the barn.

The three pushed open the tightly shut doors of the barn and then carefully closed them again. Afterward, in the light seeping through the collapsed roof, Qin Xiong found a comfortable heap of straw and sat down: “Your Majesty! I have not failed in my duty.”

The two soldiers following him held flatbreads in their hands and handed them to Jiang Shan and the guard who had stayed to protect him.

The First Prince took the flatbread and devoured it ravenously; he had been hungry for two days and was so relieved to have food that he couldn’t care less about his image.

His guard wasn’t any better off, stuffing the flatbread into his mouth non-stop and choking himself until his eyes rolled back in his head.

Qin Xiong passed his water flask to the First Prince, and another guard also handed his flask to his companion. The two quickly drank some water, which somewhat revitalized them.

“Is there a river nearby?” After drinking the water and feeling its coolness, the First Prince, careless of the crumbs on his face, asked.

“We begged it from a peasant household,” Qin Xiong said, recalling how they acquired their food, a trace of blankness in his eyes.

The source of this c𝐨ntent is freёnovelkiss.com.

To hide their tracks, they killed the only peasant household they found and dragged their bodies to the backyard to bury them hastily.

Then they made off with the flatbreads that the deceased peasant household of Qi Country had prepared for their escape, and obtaining clean stream water from a nearby creek, they returned to the barn.

Honestly, Qin Xiong was not a good person; he and the First Prince had been robbing their own forces of food and ammunition to get here. Killing a few peasants, he certainly didn’t care.

He was worried about the Tang soldiers he saw on his way back—so different from a regular combat troop; these men were clearly searching for something!

And so, once Jiang Shan had finished his noodle cake, he immediately spoke up, “Your Majesty! We mustn’t stay here any longer! We saw some Tang soldiers on the way back! They might have been sent to find us!”

Indeed, their escape had left plenty of traces. The car abandoned by the roadside, and the possibility of captured deserters, might reveal their whereabouts.

And once it’s deduced that they were without car or horse, their likely location could be easily determined.

With search parties sent out tirelessly, their capture was highly probable. The intelligence department of Tang Country certainly wouldn’t miss such an opportunity—they didn’t need to rush to the front lines like the regular army.

“You’re saying it’s not safe here?” The First Prince was startled by Qin Xiong’s words, trembling as he spoke.

“They have tracking dogs; they might discover our tracks,” explained Qin Xiong. “Let’s go! Leave this place and head west.”

Even though he had just managed to eat his fill, the First Prince, with a million reluctances, had no choice but to stand up and order, “Then let’s move quickly!”

Qin Xiong also got up, forgoing rest and pushed open the barn doors, stepping out into the distance.

As they walked on the roadbed, ready to enter the woods, a sharp rebuke suddenly erupted from behind them.

The soldiers from Tang Country’s intelligence department, sent to search for the First Prince, wielded their Thompson submachine guns and led tracking dogs. They had spotted them. The leading Tang officer shouted loudly, his voice piercing the sky, “Who goes there!”

Startled by the rebuke, the First Prince and his companions panicked and hastened their pace. They scrambled over the roadbed and bolted for the woods on the other side.

The pursuing Tang soldiers were even faster. Letting their hunting dogs loose, they chased after them, yelling, “Stop! Run and we’ll shoot!”

“Bang!” One of Qi Country’s guards turned and fired a shot.

“They have guns! Take cover!” The following Tang soldiers instinctively ducked their heads. But now, they pursued with even more resolve, shouting, “Catch them! Do not hesitate to kill resisters!”

They continued to shout “Stop!” at the fleeing party about to enter the woods, despite their intent to capture them alive.

“Bang!” The Qi guards fired again.

“Damn it! Fire!” The latest shot finally enraged the pursuing Tang soldiers. Upon the officer’s command, everyone raised their Thompson submachine guns.

“Ratatatat!” The next second, seven or eight submachine guns opened fire simultaneously, spraying the escaping five with bullets like a rainstorm.

…

“What? Killed?” Holding the phone, Li’ao couldn’t quite believe what he had heard.

The news just received from the front lines stated that a search party had killed the fleeing First Prince of Qi Country and also killed the Qi general Qin Xiong…

He had been quite confident in capturing these important figures alive and presenting them to King Tang Mo.

Unfortunately, who would have thought that the search party, initially firing to intimidate, would overperform and kill the First Prince of Qi, the most important individual on their first shot.

As a result, Qin Xiong and the others turned back to try to rescue him, but they were all killed. In the end, only two guards were captured, confirming the identities of the deceased.

The situation was really awkward: five people in total, two guards, a Guard Commander, a general, and a prince.

And they killed three—the prince, the general, and the Guard Commander…

The bullets, as though endowed with vision, capriciously and seemingly deliberatively killed the three most important individuals.

However, when Li’ao nervously reported the truth to Tang Mo, he didn’t see anything amiss with the situation.

He ordered Li’ao to reward and promote as deemed appropriate. To him, the First Prince of Qi Country was a dispensable entity.

With the killing of the First Prince and his companions, Qi Country was, in a certain sense, thoroughly obliterated. Nowadays, Beiyuan City was nominally Shahar’s territory; Qi Country… no longer existed.

———

Two updates today, one more tomorrow.