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, with 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 is almost spring, it is still very cold here.
In order to cope with the cold climate, dwarves wear very thick winter clothing, which makes them look like round balls.
They sat around the fire, their fronts burned by the flames, but their backs were chilled by the cold wind.
"This damn weather!" A dwarf complained helplessly after taking a sip of hot soup. The border has been full of crises recently, otherwise they wouldn't be guarding such a trench in such horrible weather that no one would come.
The entire post consists 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. Therefore, 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 breath to comfort his men.
They are a weak country, and after the establishment of the Ice Empire, they have been living in fear. War could break out at any time, and everyone knew it was only a matter of time.
As soldiers, they can only fight for their motherland honestly. This is their undoubted obligation and responsibility. But in this case, who can be less stressed?
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 inherited 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 from Everwinter to Ironforge. Countless industrial facilities have given Ironforge a completely new look, and many dwarf kingdoms have even taken the initiative to attach themselves to the Ice 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 knows very well 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 the powerful countries were not expanding their armaments and preparing for war, small countries like them would not follow suit and resort to militarization. If it weren't for dealing with the Ice Empire's army, they wouldn't have been recruited into the army and come to this place where nothing matters.
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 for drawstrings, and some use canvas.
All in all, they are diverse, which also increases the recognition of these troops. After all, if everyone wears exactly the same equipment on the battlefield, it will be ridiculous to fight.
The easiest thing to distinguish is the helmet, so the styles of 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 their 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 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 the Datang Group's work and directly purchased and equipped helmets, but some countries did not do so due to various reasons.
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 product: 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 vigilant. 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 at the direction of the border.
The night was pitch black. Looking at the flying snowflakes, it was pitch black everywhere, and the whole earth was eerily silent.
"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 about it and realized what the veteran said made sense. They have been busy on the border for almost a year, and it is not in vain. It is not that they do not have their own advanced weapons!
They have laid tens of thousands of landmines along such borders, almost all over inaccessible areas. Although there are only a few dozen 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 rushed to imitate.
In order to slow down the enemy's attack speed and cause continuous damage to the enemy, this weapon quickly became the sweetheart of commanders from various countries, instantly surpassing the heavy machine gun.
"I'm overly concerned." 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 to make 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, waiting 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 spoke, the veteran suddenly stopped again. He turned his ears and frowned, as if he really heard some weird and slight sounds in succession.
But the sound was quickly lost in the wind, making it unreal. The veteran listened for a few more seconds and then disarmed himself in confusion - he really didn't dare to confirm whether he really heard something.
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 listened to the report of his subordinates with his hands behind his back and an ugly face.
There was ice on 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 clearing 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 he was 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 now in the enemy's territory, and any fool can see their huge figures at dawn.
But it doesn't matter! Because they are in heaven! In the sky where no enemy can stop you! As long as they keep flying towards the target, the enemy will be helpless against them!
The other party could only watch them fly to their destination, and then drop bombs one after another, destroying those high-value, extremely expensive strategic targets!
They are like sharp knives, piercing the enemy's softest belly 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 Ice Empire dwarves.
The snow stopped...
The wind gradually died down and the snowflakes stopped falling.
The captain in the airship cockpit clenched his fists! The crisis is over! Their chance is 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.
"The snow has stopped!" The monitor stretched, feeling that God still cared about them. At least, the snow stopped in the middle of the night.
"Yes! Good luck!" The veteran nodded, waved away 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 pile of wood he had piled up all day.
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 soared into the sky and could be clearly seen from a thousand meters in the sky.
In the cab of the Ice Empire airship troop, the navigator shouted excitedly: "I saw it! The ground guidance saw it!"
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Today is not so uncomfortable anymore, thank you all for your concern! Waiting for Long Ling to find the status, he will start to resume updates.
