Chapter 32: Crushing Defeat! A Speck of Dust on the Hem?!

Same recipe, familiar taste!

Just three days later, when the Grand Duchy of Beria once again announced a sweeping, epic victory, the entire world was stunned.

Only a few days? Another crushing victory?

Is the Seres military that incompetent? Is Yamato that pathetic? Or is the Grand Duchy of Beria simply too powerful?

The point is: the record is rock solid, with pictures and proof—you have no choice but to believe it.

In the newspapers, thousands of cavalrymen and their warhorses were charred into cinders, lying dead together. Those blackened, humanoid shapes and equine carcasses were a horrific sight. The photos, taken from close-ups, wide angles, eye-level, and aerial views by combat photographers and high-speed cameras on aircraft, seemed designed to ensure that no spectator could miss a single detail. A battlefield photograph containing tens of thousands of corpses is profoundly shocking.

On top of that, the display of a new batch of captured spoils nailed Yamato firmly to the pillar of shame, making it impossible for them to climb down. Last time, it was just some tanks beaten into scrap metal. This time, however, the Rashians sent men to drag back Yamato’s "Type 95" light tanks. Their condition was so pristine they looked cleaner than a girl’s personal effects—aside from a bit of mud, there was hardly a scratch to be found.

Beyond that, there were all sorts of unopened rifles, ammunition crates, and even backup samurai armor for heavy infantry—an overwhelming, dazzling array of plunder. If this isn't a crushing victory, what is?

This news nearly gave General Honda of the North Border Army a cerebral hemorrhage.

A crushing defeat? From the ledger, it certainly seemed so. At least 15,000 cavalrymen were dead, countless others wounded, and a massive number of troops were missing—whether they had fled or were captured, they were nowhere to be found, neither living nor dead.

The real issue was the report from the 3rd Regiment of the 4th Division, which was supposed to be guarding the 6th Supply Depot. Those slackers reported: "The enemy's aircraft swarmed like a plague of locusts, and the bombs they dropped were like divine retribution. After fighting to the death, our forces suffered heavy casualties and, unable to withstand the enemy, were forced to retreat."

The casualty list was long, too. Looking at it, it seemed perfectly fine, didn’t it? The regiment from the "Moss" Division had been wiped out in exactly the same way before.

The problem lay in the report from the 7th Supply Depot: the regiment from the "Boundary" Division had retreated on cargo trucks, with orderly formations and barely a speck of dust on their uniforms. Aside from the fact that they had no rifles, it looked more like an armed parade. When asked, they claimed that so-and-so from their graduating class had died, and they wailed and lamented in profound grief. When breakfast came, the 4,000 men on the roster suddenly became 5,000, with plenty of leftovers to pack away.

What the hell? The regiment had also reported 5,000 men when they set out, despite only having 4,000. You get bombarded by enemy planes all night, your friendly forces lose an entire division, and you come back with your uniforms clean? More than four thousand soldiers can't scrounge up five hundred rifles? And what is the deal with the British pounds in the soldiers' pockets? Do you think I'm blind? Did you sell the equipment to the Rashians?

Although Yamato had always viewed the lives of the Mongor puppet troops as worthless, you sold out your allies, lost a mountain of equipment, and had the audacity to pocket the pay and pensions for ghost soldiers—fleecing the army three times over. Doesn't your conscience hurt?

"The 'Boundary' Division is just a waste of rations; better to bury them!"

If he could, General Honda would have shot those four thousand Imperial traitors on the spot. Unfortunately, he couldn't. Yamato's situation was much like that of Rashia; behind every Class A division stood a faction and a long line of nobles. If he really executed four thousand men, General Honda would likely be assassinated or forced to commit ritual suicide upon returning home. Thanks to these bastards, he wasn't just in a mess; in the eyes of the world, he was an idiot doing the butterfly stroke in a septic tank.

That was the most stifling part for General Honda. Fortunately, he didn't know that the traitor Lieutenant Colonel Sakamoto had had his men surround the Mongor puppets with gasoline drums, ensuring they couldn't escape. If he had, Honda would have surely ordered Sakamoto’s execution. That fact, it seemed, would remain unknown until the end of the war, because Bagen, having received secret orders from Zhang Shan, had his men destroy the remnants of the gasoline drums that had formed the wall of fire.

When this news hit the international stage, it caused another uproar. Emperor Odin III of Asgard looked at the latest report and muttered, "What kind of waste did I support when I sent aid to Seres? With the same equipment for two divisions, that boy Andrei wiped out six of Yamato's divisions. Seres has lost half its country in a year?"

Njord replied, "The Rashians are so formidable, Your Majesty. Should we perhaps halt our support?"

"No. Andrei is at odds with the Rashian Emperor. Besides, having Rashia's Far East tie up the Yamato people serves our interests. The key is that our real target is Gaul..."

Njord understood immediately. "Then I shall organize production and send the next batch of equipment to the Grand Duchy of Beria as soon as possible."

"Very good."

That is how international relations work. The Great Powers all have concessions in Seres; if a Yamato force makes life difficult for the Great Powers, the Great Powers will be very happy to make things difficult for Yamato in return. It wasn't just the Asgardians—the Britannians also upped the ante, providing Zhang Shan with an additional low-interest loan of 30 million British pounds at 2% interest. The Gauls, sensing the scent of opportunity, actually came over themselves and offered Zhang Shan a loan of 50 million Gaulish francs at 1% interest. Even the Alikan people, smelling the blood of profit, flew over to negotiate business with Zhang Shan.

As for Zhang Shan himself, he was busy dividing the spoils. Since the Khanate cavalry under his command didn't care for the "Type 37" rifles, and since Sakamoto had intercepted over five thousand C96 pistols, Zhang Shan simply gifted these pistols to the Khanate cavalry, fulfilling their agreement.

As for the rest, he hadn't realized until he counted: by taking the two Yamato supply depots in the grasslands, he had acquired over 20,000 Type 37 rifles. The Rashians had no desire to use this junk. They were about the same weight as the Mosin series but 20cm longer, harder to handle, and significantly lower in muzzle velocity. Zhang Shan, out of consideration for the other noble divisions, called to inform them; the division commanders spoke politely on the phone, saying things like "let our under-equipped allies use them first," but what they really meant was "even a dog wouldn't touch these."

These bastards knew quality; they kept their eyes on the Grand Duchy’s military factories, sending men to block the gates every day. New Mosin rifles would be snatched up the moment they left the factory floor. It even led to a farce where supply officers from different divisions brawled at the factory gates, forcing the military police to intervene. Even when they were desperate, they would rather use Asgard’s Kar98k.

Zhang Shan wasn't annoyed. He simply offloaded the Type 37s, the assorted Yamato machine guns, and the artillery to the newly established Homeland Defense Brigade. You can only be picky if you have a choice. Those noble lords who had been pocketing ghost pay and selling arms on the side could let their men choose the new Mosins. The civilians who had joined the army out of a desire to defend their homeland had no such luxury.

What was he supposed to do? Send them on a human-wave charge against the Yamato army armed only with entrenching tools, like in the "Hearts of Iron" game? Twenty thousand rifles were enough to equip four filler brigades.