It's better to conquer them than to command the steel torrent

Chapter 189 | Paying Tribute to the Die

Three poles in the sun.

Several Tsarist Russian fighter planes flew over Kassel, circled twice, and dropped warning leaflets like a shower of petals.

"Hello, employees of the Henschel factory. Our ground forces are advancing towards this city. We do not wish to have any unpleasant conflict with you. Any damage to industrial machinery and specialized equipment is strictly prohibited. If such damage occurs, we will impose the death penalty on the perpetrators, and they will bear the consequences themselves."

These warning leaflets were signed by the War Council of the Ivanos Empire.

The citizens are deeply worried.

The Henschel employees, who had been intimidated, also felt a mix of emotions.

"To date, all copies of the documents for VK3001 and VK001 have been destroyed, and the destruction of the Hs126 reconnaissance aircraft is also basically complete."

"Are we going to destroy the factory's machinery and equipment?"

"We'll decide later. Let's destroy the technical data first; I'm worried it will anger the Ivan Rossites."

“After the Ivanros take over this place, they will definitely make us work for them.”

Dr. Schmidt looked at the pile of embers and sighed.

Shang Ke, who was standing nearby, kindly reminded him: "Here's a term for you: 'mo yang gong,' which means to be perfunctory and deliberately slack off."

Vogt surveyed the vast factory with a heavy heart, sighing wistfully, "I hope to see the Ivanros defeated before I die. I don't want to see the tricolor flag flying over Walland, nor do I want the Ivanros to use weapons made in Walland to wage war."

Klein whispered words of comfort, "Mr. Manager, I don't think you need to be so pessimistic..."

If it were a British or American, they might not be able to empathize, but Shang could roughly understand Vogt's current feelings.

After all, the history of this great Eastern power is too long, and prototypes of almost all kinds of cases can be found in historical records.

在‘九一八’之后，总计有大约10万支步枪、600门火炮、2800挺轻重机枪、1.8亿发子弹、50万发炮弹、265架飞机，以及大批火药、地雷、爆破器材被日军轻易缴获。

奉天兵工厂在抗战期间平均月产步枪6000支、各种野战炮30～40门、反坦克炮30门。不止武器，更可观的是弹药产量，平均月产900万发子弹、3～4万发炮弹、炸药200～300吨。

During those arduous eight years, two-thirds of the guns and ammunition used by the Japanese army that invaded the mainland were manufactured by the Fengtian Arsenal.

Seize your resources.

Force your manpower.

They will plunder your wealth.

Ultimately, it will be used to manufacture weapons and ammunition to continue invading you.

This is probably the most infuriating situation.

Whenever he recalled the events of the same period in the original dimension, Shang's blood pressure would involuntarily rise.

When no one was looking, Moro whispered to Shang, "Should we lie and make them sabotage the factory's machinery?"

The latter said leisurely, "We won't force them. Let them decide for themselves and see if the Vallanders have the courage to die rather than surrender."

"The tough nuts to crack are definitely a minority."

"do not care."

As time went on, faint sounds of gunfire could be heard from the northeastern part of the suburbs.

It is said that Imperial Russian reconnaissance troops have already arrived along the road, and their size may be that of a battalion. The main force is probably not far away.

By noon, the intensity of the battle seemed to have increased significantly.

One after another, several trucks loaded with wounded soldiers arrived from the suburbs, and after a while, the trucks returned to the war zone carrying reinforcements...

After nearly a day and a night of hard work, hundreds of boxes of complicated files were finally sorted out and loaded onto four trucks.

Now that they had the goods, and the Ivanros had already attacked, Morro signaled to Shank to make a quick getaway!
"If I had known it would be this troublesome, I wouldn't have agreed. I don't want to stay here for another minute..."

Just as she was complaining, Shang Ke, who was exasperated, stuck out his index finger and pressed it against her forehead.

"Stop complaining. Have you forgotten why we came here?" Shank said earnestly. "If you're going to act, you have to play the part completely. What if the Vallanders detain you if you try to run away now?" "Okay, you make a good point." Moro thought about it and agreed, reluctantly falling silent.

Vogt and his colleagues were undecided about whether to damage the machinery, and the city hall remained silent.

If they decide to sabotage, what if, as the warning leaflets suggest, the Ivanross become enraged and vent their anger on the civilians?
Most of Henschel's employees are locals, connected by blood, and have a deep affection for Kassel.

No one is willing to take on this moral dilemma.

So Vogt and the others asked again whether their superiors had really not mentioned anything about sabotaging the machinery and equipment.
“It’s too late. Setting up an explosives detonation factory is a technical job. We could have made a decision this morning, but it’s too late now.” Shank said to Klein, “He insists that no such instructions were given.”

Klein did as instructed.

In the afternoon.

The office area of ​​the Henschel factory was a mess. Tons of military project technical data had been burned to ashes, and more than twenty piles of black embers stood out against the snow.

In the northeastern suburbs, the hastily organized defensive positions of the Imperial Russian forces played a role to some extent, repelling the Imperial Russian reconnaissance troops and blocking the first attack by the subsequent main force.

The main force of the Imperial Russian army was greatly ashamed and enraged—how dare they resist when their army was in such a disastrous state? They were simply ungrateful!
Subsequently, upon discovering that the blocking force here was not an elite unit, the Imperial Russian forces launched a fierce attack with the support of tanks and field artillery.

The already understaffed and under-resourced Dide blocking force was under immense pressure, its position was in grave danger, and it quickly requested reinforcements...

Seeing that the documents and materials had been destroyed as much as possible, Vogt solemnly bid farewell to Shank and the others, and then let the employees go to their respective places of refuge.

Shang Ke breathed a sigh of relief, while Mo Luo eagerly opened the car door and got in.

Klein called out to the soldiers who had accompanied him, "Mission complete, everyone get in the vehicles, we're heading back to Melsungen."

The snowstorm has intensified, which is a good thing.

The convoy drove onto the highway, where a checkpoint and a makeshift first aid station were set up, where some stragglers and wounded soldiers were stationed.

Just as the convoy passed through the checkpoint, it encountered two tanks traveling northeast.

A squad of infantry, about eighty or ninety men, followed behind the tank.

Moro asked疑惑地问道, "What are these guys going to do? Are they going to their deaths?"

After saying that, she asked Klein to inquire about the situation.

"They said they were the last reserve force, and now they were to support the fighting."

“Is this order necessary? They should retreat! What do you think, Colonel?” Morel turned to Shank, hoping to get his approval.

Shang Ke nodded and then shook his head, smiled, and said nothing.

The passing group started singing a song, a song that was quite fitting for their current situation.

"The last company doesn't know about tassels and knots; the last company only knows one thing: to reclaim the glory you stole yesterday..."

"The last company didn't know what captains and colonels were; their leader was a white-haired old soldier..."

"Ninety-three men in total, marching through the dust of the streets, the last company on the march..."

At that moment, next to the first aid tent at the checkpoint, a female warrant officer with a bandage wrapped around her left hand stared intently at the group. She frowned and said, "Why isn't there a single female soldier here?"

After saying that, she picked up the submachine gun from the ground and quickly followed after him.

what?
Upon seeing this, Moro's eyes widened.

Moro felt someone pat her on the shoulder. She turned her head and saw Shank staring intently into her eyes.

A few seconds later, Shang Ke got out of the car, turned around, and stood at attention to give a standard military salute to the receding column.

Seeing this, a somewhat embarrassed Moro got out of the car and did the same.

Before long, the tank and dozens of figures disappeared into the heavy snow, leaving only the roar of engines...

Shang Ke closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then looked straight ahead and said loudly, "Let's go! Let's set off! It's time to go home!"

(End of this chapter)