Munitions Empire

Just as the Tang Army was redeploying troops, the atmosphere in places like Linshui was becoming slightly tense. It was impossible for the movement of hundreds of thousands of troops to happen without any leaks.

Soon, the already alert Dwarves caught a whiff of something amiss. In the Dwarven embassy in Chang'an, an intelligence officer was the last to step into the basement, closing the heavy door behind him.

This was a secret underground meeting room constructed by the Dwarves, recently equipped with soundproofing to prevent any eavesdropping.

As soon as the door closed, the room fell silent, and a Dwarf intelligence officer quickly began to report his latest findings: "I bribed a worker in the Linshui Port's cold chain system. He took a look at the supply distribution list for me. He is quite certain that the amount of meat delivered to the Armored Division is enough to feed 30,000 people for a month."

With so many people secretly gathered by the Tang Army, the consumption of food would naturally be large, and frequent resupply made complete secrecy impossible.

The Dwarves, with meticulous calculations and by targeting minor figures, spent a fortune to buy off a cold chain worker who had just arrived in Linshui, thus obtaining some scraps of intelligence.

But even these scraps were enough to raise the alert for the sensitive intelligence personnel: it seemed that the newly formed Armored Division near Linshui wasn't as simple as it appeared.

"This number is abnormal because, according to the Tang Army's habits, a newly formed Armored Division shouldn't be considered a main force. Given the name, we've always assumed it to be a training unit like a school, but now it seems, its scale... is even larger than that of a regular armored division," muttered the leading intelligence officer from the Ice Cold Empire, frowning.

The intelligence officer who flew back to Chang'an from Linshui continued to add: "I investigated the size of the garrison. Despite their tight security, they obviously couldn't stop me from walking around the perimeter of the base. By calculating the area, it's clear that this garrison is highly unusual..."

The convenient transportation of the Great Tang Empire also made their movements easier: it used to take days to travel between Linshui and Chang'an, but now it only takes a few hours, incredibly convenient.

After all, there are no restrictions on taking flights. As long as you can afford the ticket, you can fly as often as you want. Great Tang Airlines even offers discounts; the more you fly, the cheaper the tickets become.

He personally walked around the base, discovering the astonishing size of the area. It was far more than just a training base; it was a massive barracks.

In the eastern coastal area of the Great Tang Empire, there are several such bases. It's not just the Army that has them; the Army Air Corps and the Air Force have more airports.

Another intelligence officer, who was responsible for collecting intelligence on Dongwan Island, spoke at this moment: "The military base in the Dongwan direction is the same. The frequency of aircraft taking off and landing at their airport is extremely high, which is also abnormal."

"According to the number of aircraft that should be stationed there, there shouldn't be such frequent takeoffs and landings. This isn't wartime, so there's no need for such frequent patrol tasks." He had been operating there long enough to have a general understanding of the number of Tang Army aircraft stationed in Dongwan.

At its lowest, there were about 40 aircraft stationed there, normally between 50 to 80, and no more than 100 at its peak. Now, there are at least 150 aircraft deployed there, which is clearly not a normal number.

"So, you suspect that the Tang Army has increased their coastal deployment?" The leading intelligence officer already had a bad feeling.

Several intelligence officers nodded repeatedly: "Yes, at least double what we estimated. Probably even more."

Then one of them continued: "For over six months, the Tang Army has been quietly increasing their coastal forces. They did it very carefully, and by the time we noticed, these troops had already been stationed there for quite some time."

"Besides that, they have also increased oil storage facilities, repaired pipelines, and… the stockpile of materials at the port has increased." The intelligence officer investigating in Linshui listed everything he knew.

Indeed, the Tang Army was strengthening their resource reserves. To enable tens of thousands of troops to conduct cross-sea operations, this kind of preparation was necessary, and there was no good way to keep it completely secret.

To have kept it a secret until today is already a miracle in the history of intelligence. Now, all the Tang Army needs to do is race against the time with the alerted enemy.

"I spent money to bribe a small merchant. He complained that all the warehouses in Linshui Port are filled with military supplies, and they can't rent space." Finally, the intelligence officer who flew back from Linshui brought up the matter of supplies.

The Ice Cold Empire's intelligence leader raised his thick eyebrows and asked immediately: "Is the information reliable?"

The intelligence officer nodded: "There's no reason for him to lie. It's not a secret anyway. Our merchants did go to rent warehouses to verify and indeed couldn't find any space. They said some grains were imported, filling all the warehouses."

"Imported grains?" The leader stared at him in confusion, hoping for an explanation.

The intelligence officer immediately replied: "We checked with Laines, and Dorne couldn't possibly sell grains. Nor did Laines, and we couldn't find relevant information here either. The Poplar Empire could not possibly export so much grain to make Linshui Port's storage so tight."

Due to population growth, grain is in tight supply worldwide, and the quantity of grain exports is not large. Under such circumstances, it is very easy to investigate.

The Great Tang Empire's intelligence department was frustrated because they couldn't find any good justification to cover the piles of materials in the port: Tang Country's imports were not significant after all.

Minerals and oil, among others, were either processed on site or transported away, leaving only grain and light industrial products like clothing, which couldn't possibly amount to so much.

So Tang Country had no choice but to lie through their teeth, hoping the opponent would overlook these details. Unfortunately, no one is a fool, and the Dwarves quickly noticed this.

This approach was actually taught by the Great Tang Empire's former military academy, and now the Great Tang Empire was finally hit in the face by the boomerang of "technology diffusion" they had once thrown out.

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The wife went back to her mother's house, finally nothing to do, rearrange, and resume updates tomorrow.