Munitions Empire-Chapter 1058: Received an audience with the Emperor 980 times

Chapter 1058: Received an audience with the Emperor 980 times

Li Mingshun rushed to the Imperial Palace, by which time things had calmed down considerably. Guards stood watch near the collapsed courtyard walls, and people were specifically waiting for Li Mingshun’s arrival at the gate.

“General, His Majesty is extremely irate and emotionally unstable, please be very careful with your words when you meet him,” a servant advised while leading Li Mingshun to where Zhao Kai was.

Li Mingshun’s expression was grim as he walked, step by step. He knew he had botched things again and was likely to face His Majesty The Emperor’s wrath soon.

But he did indeed feel wronged, for he had truly done his best. No air defense sentries had raised the alarm, and nobody had even seen aircraft or similar flying objects.

Under such circumstances, what was he supposed to do? The Dahua Empire’s Imperial Capital had over a hundred fighter jets responsible for air defense, and since Zhao Yu fled to Fengjiang, the surveillance level had been raised, but most of these aircraft didn’t even know how to intercept, and the Imperial Palace had suffered as a result.

As the commander of the air defense troops, Li Mingshun had to hurry to meet Zhao Kai, but in reality, nobody knew whether such attacks would continue.

The air-raid sirens were still blaring, with no telling when they would stop. Many citizens of the Imperial Capital had fled the city, while the rest could only live in fear and trepidation.

The power of the two Fuel-Air Explosive Bombs was absolutely terrifying; even 400 meters from the blast center, walls collapsed due to the shockwave.

That was the case with the perimeter wall of the Prime Minister’s residence, which was destroyed in the vibration. The Prime Minister was reportedly so shocked that he had been bedridden ever since.

Apparently, out of concern for His Majesty The Emperor’s safety, the Prime Minister had sent two sons to the Imperial Palace to visit, but they did not see Zhao Kai.

After the fuel from the Fuel-Air Explosive Bombs ignited, it incinerated everything near the blast center. Within 200 meters, not a single soul was left alive.

Those who died instantly from the shock were the lucky ones; many bodies were charred black, and people in buildings died of suffocation due to lack of oxygen. The two devastated areas were nothing short of hell on earth.

Those assigned to deal with the bodies were vomiting non-stop, and since it involved the Imperial Palace, they dared not call in outside military forces to help. Thus, many palace servants and attendants were compelled to transport the bodies, causing them immense distress compared to their usual luxury.

But still, it was better to be alive than dead. They witnessed their unscathed companions lying within the buildings, feeling both relief and fear.

Honestly, who knew if the enemy’s weapons might still explode… They found some fragments on the site that did not belong to the palace, some as big as an arm.

These were remnants of the Missile’s exterior shell, which had been collected and laid out on a piece of white silk on one side, with hundreds of bodies on the other.

Guided by the servant, Li Mingshun reached the entrance to an underground bunker within the Imperial Palace of the Dahua Empire. The place was filled with attendants and palace maids with varying expressions, their quiet murmurs contributing to the tumultuous atmosphere.

A few smoking Imperial Guards’ captains spotted Li Mingshun, immediately tossed their cigarette butts away, and saluted him. Li Mingshun, not in the mood for conversation, marched down the steps.

The dim lights hanging on the walls painted a dull ambiance, and the staircase led downward, becoming level only after descending about a dozen meters underground.

In fact, this bunker was not up to standard; its depth was clearly insufficient, but it was definitely sturdy due to an extensive use of reinforced concrete in its construction.

Unfortunately, if a Fuel-Air Explosive Bomb or a powerful bunker-buster bomb were to hit directly, it was doubtful that those hiding inside would survive.

It was a rather narrow corridor that was still filled with all sorts of people, including Imperial Guard officers and court officials wearing tense expressions, while in a corner, several imperial physicians conversed.

“General Li Mingshun has arrived!” announced an attendant at the end of the corridor upon seeing Li Mingshun. He then opened the door, allowing Li Mingshun to enter.

When Li Mingshun saw Zhao Kai, the latter had changed into a new set of clothes. Despite having cleaned up, his condition was still a sorry sight.

His head was injured, hence it was wrapped in bandages, and his shoulder was also wounded; thus, half of his upper body was bare, wrapped in bandages as well.

Most noticeable, though, was his leg; the imperial physicians and the best doctors they could find in the city had set the broken bones, and now his leg was cast in plaster.

This was truly thanks to the medical contributions of the Great Tang Empire. With more and more graduates from the Great Tang Empire’s medical schools, the advancement in medical standards and techniques was evident worldwide.

If it were in the past, with injuries like Zhao Kai’s, it’s quite possible he might have died from tetanus or an infection, and that broken leg could very well have cost him his life.

But now, at least in the Dahua Imperial Capital, there were a few modern medicine experts capable of treating Zhao Kai’s wounds.

“Your Majesty!” Li Mingshun didn’t know what to say when he entered, immediately kneeling in front of Zhao Kai’s bed.

Originally, he had only heard about Zhao Kai’s injury on his way there, but he found Zhao Kai’s condition to be worse than he had anticipated.

Thus, he was deeply self-blaming, with tears already swirling in his eyes: “I am inept! My sins are deserving of death!”

Unexpectedly, Zhao Kai did not blame him; or perhaps, at this moment Zhao Kai no longer had the energy to reprimand Li Mingshun. In a weak voice, he said: “Retire, I am tired and need to rest.”

Li Mingshun wanted to say more, but seeing Zhao Kai lying on the bed, he could only bow silently and stand up to leave.

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Once back in the corridor, Li Mingshun finally had the chance to observe the crowd around him; he recognized Minister of War Shen Chuan and several other Chief of Staffs.

“How is His Majesty?” Someone approached Li Mingshun upon his exit and asked. Li Mingshun replied that His Majesty’s condition was still stable, dispensed with the inquiry, and then approached the group of Chief of Staffs.

“Is the Prime Minister doing well?” Looking toward the eldest son of Chu Muzhou, Li Mingshun inquired. The son of Chu Muzhou immediately responded: “My father was frightened and has a fever, immobilized, so he sent my brother and me to inquire after His Majesty’s health.”

“The two of you have worked hard.” After speaking to the sons of Chu Muzhou, Li Mingshun turned his gaze towards Jiang Run who was standing aside.

“Is the Ambassador of the Great Tang Empire still within the city?” Li Mingshun, seemingly on impulse, asked this question.

Jiang Run glanced at Li Mingshun and briefly explained: “The other side is still in the city… and they deliberately had someone give us a statement, saying they have only sold two Missiles; if we continue to be blind to facts, they will sell even more of these weapons to Fengjiang.”

“A Missile?” Upon hearing a new term, Li Mingshun looked puzzled. He didn’t know what a missile was, he couldn’t even guess what characters the word consisted of—he might have guessed ‘弹’, but was clueless about ‘导’.

However, when Li Mingshun learned that the Great Tang Empire had only sold two such bombs, he felt somewhat relieved.

If the number of these missiles was significant, it would indeed be a matter of life and death. They couldn’t know when to hide, as the next attack might not be so kind as to notify the Dahua side in advance.

Jiang Run nodded and repeated what had just been explained to Shen Chuan: “Yes, the new weapon they call ‘Missile’ is not a bomber aircraft, but an unstoppable ultra-long-range attack weapon.”

“Could it be a bluff?” Li Mingshun asked almost reflexively.

“Witnesses saw the descending shadows; they were not ordinary bombs, much faster… Moreover, when those things fell, there were no airplanes in the sky. According to the intelligence we now have, they are indeed unstoppable,” Shen Chuan said grimly.

He was very close to “making history”; he could become the first Minister of War in hundreds of years to see the Imperial Capital under attack.

Moreover, it was uncertain how many more such “Missiles” would fall in the future or land on the Imperial Capital, adding to his disgrace.

“Witnesses? How many?” Li Mingshun was startled and then immediately inquired. He thought that if there were many witnesses, there might be other clues.

As the Minister of War, Shen Chuan received several reports upon his arrival: “At least tens of thousands saw it… At that time, many commoners were crowded near the city gate. There were screams, and everyone looked up to see the descending shadows.”

However, the information he knew wasn’t much either; common people only heard the explosion, then saw the blaze and the shadows trailing flames as they fell.

Many had seen these things, and so the testimonies were strikingly consistent. But the problem was that such testimonies only illustrated that something fell from the sky and were not helpful for other intelligence purposes.

Li Mingshun wanted to confirm once more: “So, you mean to say, we really don’t have any means to defend against this kind of weapon?”

“The Ambassador of the Tang Empire said so,” Jiang Run, the Chief of Staff, seemed to trust what the Tang Empire said—at least so far, the Tang Empire has been honest when advertising their weapons…

Li Mingshun clenched his teeth, staring at Jiang Run, he asked: “Isn’t he afraid to die?”

He really wanted to capture all those bastards related to the Tang Empire and execute them to calm the public’s heart and to repay the Emperor’s kindness.

Jiang Run, of course, knew he was referring to the Tang Empire’s envoy, so he could only attempt to soothe him: “He’s protected by the laws, General. If we rashly acted against him, the Tang Empire might not be courteous to us.”

Hearing Jiang Run’s explanation, Li Mingshun scoffed twice: “They have already stopped being courteous to us.”