On the eastern border of the Ice Empire, in a neighboring dwarf barracks post, flames were shining on a group of strong men carrying rifles.
These dwarves have big beards and have an average height of between 1.5 and 1.6 meters. Each of them wears a leather hat and has a Mosin-Nagant rifle in his hand.
The Mosin-Nagant rifle is a rifle specially designed by the Datang Group for the dwarves. The technology is very mature and has become the standard rifle for the armies of seven or eight dwarf kingdoms and the Ice Empire.
Next to the fire, a dwarf was holding a cup, and the hot soup inside was steaming. Although it was close to spring, it was still very cold here.
In order to cope with the cold climate, the winter clothing of dwarves is very thick, which makes them look like balls.
They sat around the fire, their fronts burned by the flames, but their backs were blown cold by the cold wind.
"This damn weather!" A dwarf took a sip of hot soup and complained helplessly. The border has been in danger recently, otherwise they wouldn't be guarding such a trench that no one would come to in such damn weather.
.
The entire outpost is composed of two trenches and a watchtower. The watchtower is still some distance away from the trenches. No one will be stationed there at night, because it is dark and nothing can be seen anyway.
This small fortification is far away from the main road, and almost no one comes here, so stationing an infantry squad here has a symbolic significance that is obviously greater than the actual significance.
"We are pretty good, at least we still have a mouthful of hot soup to drink." The dwarf squad leader knocked the ice chips on his shoes and breathed hot air to comfort his men.
They are a weak country. After the establishment of the Ice Empire, they have been living in fear. War may break out at any time, and everyone knows that it is only a matter of time.
As soldiers, they can only fight for their motherland honestly. This is an undoubted obligation and responsibility. But in this case, who can not be under great pressure?
After such a long period of integration and development, the Ice Empire was no longer a behemoth on the same level as their kingdom.
After raiding the historic city of Ironforge, the Ice Empire seems to have succeeded to the Dwarf Empire in terms of legal system, and is naturally superior to the surrounding dwarf kingdoms.
What makes people even more desperate is that this ice empire, which is already huge in size, has also completed horrific industrial construction with the support of humans.
The Ice Dwarves built factories and laid a railway extending from Everwinter Harbor to Ironforge. Countless industrial facilities have given Ironforge a completely new look. Many dwarf kingdoms have even taken the initiative to rely on Ice.
The mind of an empire.
With the blessing of industrial capabilities, the Ice Empire's army is obviously also very powerful. In the past year, the top brass of the Ice Empire have been ready to take action and plan for external conflicts.
Everyone knows that war is a good way to resolve internal conflicts, so everyone also knows that this war can easily start.
"I don't know what the cold dwarves are thinking. They are already so rich, and they are still not satisfied... Do they really need to unite the dwarves?" A veteran put the slightly cold hot soup close to the fire.
Heap, complained depressedly.
If it weren't for the powerful countries to expand their armies and prepare for war, these small countries wouldn't have followed suit. If it weren't for the army of the Ice Empire, they wouldn't have been drafted into the army and come to this inhospitable place.
From a distance, the trench they were in was almost completely covered by ice and snow. The wind blew across the smooth snow surface and blew up cold ice crystals.
Although the trenches can block most of the cold wind, no one can stand in the dark in this weather.
Taking out another piece of frozen bread from his food bag, the veteran vaguely heard some noise, so he slightly adjusted the direction of his ears.
"What's wrong?" The squad leader asked immediately when he saw that his most experienced veteran suddenly felt strange.
You know, when the Ice Empire was still the Ice Kingdom, it suddenly attacked the Northern Dwarf Empire, quickly ended the war, and occupied Ironforge.
Now everyone is afraid that the Ice Empire will repeat its old tricks, so they are very vigilant. Everyone has dug several lines of defense on the border, deployed a large number of troops, and formed a rolling trench defense belt.
"It's okay." After listening carefully and finding nothing unusual, the dwarf veteran shook his head and rejected his judgment.
After he finished speaking, he buttoned up his food bag, then stuffed the hard bread into his mouth, chewing it carefully.
The individual soldier carrying equipment developed by Datang Group was very popular, so all countries worked hard to imitate it and developed unique military carrying equipment belonging to each country.
Some countries prefer larger kettles, some countries can make grain bags smaller, some use leather as a drawstring, and some use canvas.
In short, they are all diverse, which also increases the recognition of these troops. After all, if everyone wears the same equipment on the battlefield, it will be ridiculous to fight.
The most convenient thing to distinguish is the steel helmet, so the styles of steel helmets in different countries are basically different. Because the area where the Dwarf Kingdom is located is cold, most countries are reluctant to use steel helmets, preferring to use leather hats as standard equipment.
After all, compared to steel helmets, leather hats have obvious advantages in terms of daily warmth, because the raw materials are self-sufficient and the price is not expensive. The bigger reason is that these countries have seriously insufficient consideration of defense performance.
The world has not yet broken out into a large-scale, all-round cruel war like World War I, so there is no theoretical support for generals to make the determination to popularize steel helmets or similar protective equipment.
Not everyone has a system like Tang Mo's, which is accurate and forward-looking. Therefore, some countries completely copied Datang Group's operations and directly purchased and equipped helmets, while some countries did not do so due to various reasons.
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! Some are for cheap, some are for cheap, and some are just for cheap - this one reason is enough, and the second one is not needed.
Due to the lack of steel production capacity, steel helmets are definitely a luxury item: compared to rifles and machine guns and artillery, it is obvious that a "hat" can be discarded.
"It's going to be okay." The squad leader still became alert. He stood up in the wind and snow, walked to the side with squinted eyes, and stuck his head out into the wind and snow to look in the direction of the border.
The night was pitch black, and looking around against the flying snowflakes, it was pitch black everywhere, and the whole earth was so quiet that it was a bit eerie.
"It's nothing...if someone had come close, they would have been exposed long ago." The veteran also stood up, walked to his squad leader, and advised: "Go back!"
The squad leader thought for a while and realized what the veteran said made sense. They had been busy on the border for almost a year, and it was not in vain. It was not that they did not have their own advanced weapons!
They have planted tens of thousands of landmines on this kind of border, almost all over inaccessible areas. Although there are only a few dozen mines spread out per kilometer, the deterrent effect is still sufficient.
As long as dozens of new weapons such as landmines are randomly planted, and a wooden sign is inserted where the enemy can see it, with warnings about the danger of the minefield, it will be enough to scare away those Ice Empire soldiers who are up to no good.
And if the enemy invades on a large scale and steps on these landmines, the explosion will immediately alert the defending side and provide early warning to the defending forces.
This thing called a landmine was a new weapon developed by the Datang Group, but it soon became an artifact that countries were competing to imitate.
In order to slow down the enemy's attack speed and cause continuous damage to the enemy, this weapon soon became the sweetheart in the hearts of commanders from various countries, instantly surpassing the heavy machine gun.
"I'm too worried." The squad leader smiled, reached out and patted the shoulder of his most trusted veteran, then looked into the distance again, retracted his head, and walked back to the bonfire.
A few soldiers filled the firewood and sticks that were almost covered with snow at their feet into the bonfire, making the beating flames stronger.
I don't dare to sleep. If I fall asleep in this cold weather, whether I can open my eyes tomorrow is a question.
So everyone could only huddle around the flames, waiting for the wind to stop and the snow to subside, and for the sky to be illuminated by the sun again.
The squad leader continued to sit back and chat with the veteran. They talked about their children and the plump dwarf female star Maka.
Then there was everyone's unbridled, joyful and obscure laughter, and the only adult topics drove away everyone's sleepiness.
As he was talking, the veteran suddenly stopped again. He turned his ears and frowned, as if he really heard some strange and continuous slight sounds.
But the sound quickly disappeared in the wind, making it unreal. The veteran listened for a few more seconds, and doubtfully lifted his guard - he really didn't dare to confirm whether he really heard it.
what sound.
At this moment, directly above them, a huge black shadow was slowly drifting forward in the wind and snow.
In the dim airship cockpit, the airship commander of the Ice Empire clasped his hands behind his back and listened to the report of his subordinates with an ugly expression.
There was ice on the top of their airship, and there was thick snow hanging on it. The load-bearing capacity of the entire airship was already very dangerous, but the previous weather forecast did not say so.
"We have been working hard to lose weight..." The adjutant's face was also extremely ugly, and he reported dejectedly: "The two warriors have taken the risk and climbed onto the airship and are removing the snow... I hope... the snow will stop soon.
Bar……"
"I hope so." The captain looked through the porthole on his side and looked at another huge black figure flying in the same direction not far away. He was still very nervous.
The Bingbing Empire had been carefully preparing for this operation for more than half a year. If something went wrong on their part, then they would be the sinners of the empire.
"Confirm the direction!" Because we were traveling at night and there was no star reference, so every once in a while, the captain had to nervously confirm whether his flight direction was correct.
They are already in the enemy's territory now, and as soon as it gets dark, a fool can see their huge figures.
But it doesn’t matter! Because they are in the sky! In the sky where no enemy can stop them! As long as they keep flying towards the target, the enemy will be helpless against them!
The other side can only watch them fly to their destination, and then drop bombs one after another, destroying those high-value and extremely expensive strategic targets!
They are like sharp knives, stabbing into the softest belly of the enemy at the fastest speed! Defeat the enemy with one blow and end the war!
"There is no problem with the heading!" The pilot controlling the helm glanced at the compass in front of him and reported back to his commander.
"Send two more people up! No matter what method you use...maintain the altitude of the airship!" Looking at the altimeter again, the captain became nervous again and ordered to the adjutant: "For His Majesty the Emperor! Ula!"
"Hurrah!" the adjutant responded in a low voice with enthusiasm, and then walked to the rear cabin.
After passing through the narrow corridor, on both sides of this long passage spliced together by iron mesh, there are airship magazines filled with bombs.
Now, only half of the bombs are mounted on these ammunition racks. Because they need to carry out long-distance raids, they can only carry half of the ammunition considering the load.
It is precisely because of the accurate calculation of the load before that they can now float safely in the wind and snow.
Just when everyone was extremely nervous, God seemed to hear the prayers of these dwarves of the Ice Empire.
The snow stopped...
The wind gradually died down and the snowflakes stopped falling.
The captain in the airship cockpit clenched his fists! The crisis was over! Their chance was still there!
In the quiet night sky, thirty huge black shadows gradually drifted into the distance quietly.
On the ground, the wind and snow stopped, and the veterans next to the campfire no longer heard the strange continuous buzzing sound just now.
"It stopped snowing!" The monitor stretched, feeling that God was still very kind to them. At least, the snow stopped in the middle of the night.
"Yes! Good luck!" The veteran nodded, shook off the uneasiness in his heart, and forced a smile.
In the hinterland of the kingdom, next to an ordinary country village, a man took out his pocket watch and checked the time next to a candlestick.
Then, he picked up the clay pot at his feet and walked out of his house. Under the moonlight, he walked to an open space and looked at the piles he had piled up all day long.
pile of wood.
There were messy dead grass and neatly stacked logs on the pile, and there was still snow on top that had not been cleared in time.
The man swept away most of the snow on the pile of wood, then poured the black oil from the clay pot on the wood, and then took out a box of matches from his arms.
He struck a match and flicked it into the pile of wood, igniting the kerosene inside. Huge flames shot up into the sky and could be clearly seen from a thousand meters above the ground.
In the cab of the Ice Empire airship troop, the navigator shouted excitedly: "I saw it! The ground guidance saw it!"
------
It’s not that uncomfortable today. Thank you for everyone’s concern! We will resume updates as soon as Long Ling finds out his status.
