Munitions Empire

After an arduous journey, the King of the Kingdom of Gemalin felt that he was truly on the brink of death. He had been continuously in a carriage, be it an automobile's, a horse-drawn carriage's, or a train's.

Although, the final leg of his journey had passed by on a train, leaving him deeply impressed by the smooth mode of travel, it was still not as comfortable as lying in the Royal Palace, embraced by his consorts on either side.

It wasn't until he saw the train that the King of Germelin realized just how utterly he had been defeated—his logistics and supply transport were a century behind the enemy's.

The goods produced by the Great Tang Group could be transported directly to Ice Crystal City by railway and thereafter continuously shipped to the vicinity of the original border between the two countries by automobile on smooth roads.

Only upon entering the Kingdom of Gemalin did the transport become difficult, a stark contrast to his prior assumptions.

For a long time, both the Kingdom of Gemalin and the Shireck Consortium based their judgments on the capabilities of their own nation.

They concluded that the enemy would spend a considerable amount of time and energy transporting supplies from the rear to the vicinity of the border.

Especially since the core production base of the Tang Group, located on the West Coast in Brunas, was far too distant from the war zone.

But it was now clear to him that the enemy's logistics hub was almost on the border between the two countries, even closer to it than his military's supply bases were.

After all, without much effort, the Tang Group could transport their supplies to the vicinity of the Gemalin-Leite Kingdom border day and night by train.

It was precisely because of these supplies that General Redman, now regarded as a living War God, had managed to capture the Royal Palace of the Kingdom of Gemalin in just 17 days.

Owing to this battle, the Kingdom of Gemalin was destined to go down in history, only as a backdrop, a negative example.

And when the King of Gemalin saw Brunas, he finally understood that his opponent was a monster that had transcended the era.

The lights here were more numerous than the stars, brightness was everywhere at night, the place surpassed his own Royal Palace, and every person living here seemed like nobility.

"Germelin Fírích! The judge now proclaims! You are guilty of initiating war, massacring civilians, and murdering four interns from the Great Tang Group's military academy... do you plead guilty?"

"Heh heh heh..." The King of Germelin, somewhat unfamiliar with his own name, cracked a smile. His gaze drifted past the hanging noose to focus on Li'ao seated at the judge's bench, he scoffed disdainfully, "A banished criminal dares to judge me?"

He now knew the gravity of his situation. While his heart shuddered with fear, he showed no signs of cowardice, "You dare judge a king? You're not even nobility! I am guilty of no crimes! No crimes at all! Soon you will pay the price for your ignorance!

You will become the public enemy of royal families worldwide!"

"The accused did not defend himself. Defense counsel, do you have anything to add?" Li'ao coldly turned to the lawyer standing next to the King of Germelin and asked.

He hated being called a criminal; that was a dark chapter of his past he did not wish to revisit. Although he now wielded tremendous power, he had actually become more noble than a genuine noble.

"Nothing more, Your Honor!" the lawyer, called in to make up the numbers, replied earnestly—obedience to the new legal protocols of Brunas.

"Then let the jury deliberate the verdict."

"Guilty!" The first person in the jury box, looking like a wealthy merchant, announced his verdict impatiently.

"Guilty!" A woman wearing a floral long dress expressed her verdict loudly and with disgust.

"Hang him!" An old man beside the woman grew angry. He believed anyone who dared harm the interests of Brunas deserved to be hanged immediately!

"Guilty!" "Hanging!" "Hang him!" "Kill him!"

The courthouse echoed with people's wrath, for everyone knew that this king before them had killed several young people from Brunas.

They didn't care whether he was a king or not; in the end, Tang Mo would bear the brunt of the issue, leaving them uninvolved.

They just wanted to see with their own eyes the bastard who harmed Brunas' interests and killed its people receive justified punishment. They were merely curious about what a king would look like hanging from the gallows.

"Mr. Germelin Firich, I now declare, you have been found guilty on 14 counts of crime!" Giving a slight nod to the jury, Li'ao apparently adopted the jury's opinion. Then he stood up and looked at the somewhat panicked King of Germelin with a sneer, "Sentenced to death! Immediate execution! As the criminal was once a head of state, firing squad shall be replaced by hanging..."

"Prepare to execute!" He looked down at the king of Germelin below, now the former king, and said with admiration, "Brunas' gallows are not yet famous, and you will be the first high-profile person to be hanged on it! Congratulations!"

Then, the executioners standing on both sides of the king of Germelin helped him up and led him to the rope.

The teardrop-shaped noose swayed slightly, and the twisted hemp rope was greasy, looking quite nauseating.

Germelin Firich finally realized that the other party seemed truly intent on killing him and all his illusions shattered at that moment.

The other party was not trying to scare him, had not interrogated him about how much private wealth he had hidden, nor tried to sway him into helping pacify the Kingdom of Germelin so that order could be restored more quickly and the occupied areas ruled more effectively.

It seemed they had no long-term plans at all, just a simple and very persistent desire to hang him, the king.

He should not die here, he should not be hanged in such an utterly unreasonable court.

So, he began to struggle, to struggle desperately.

"I did not give the order to slaughter! I didn't tell them to kill civilians! That was all the individual actions of soldiers! I... I should not be responsible for this! I am a king!" he said desperately, shaking his head and kicking his legs on the ground.

However, because it was within close range, he was quickly pushed in front of the noose, his head tilting back at all costs, as if only by doing so could he keep further away from the Grim Reaper.

Finally, the noose was placed around his head, and despite his efforts to struggle, his hands bound together, the cold hemp rope was still looped around his neck.

At that moment, Germelin Firich felt an uncontrollable terror and even screamed out in fear.

He wanted to struggle, but he could only make a few useless twists of his body, leaving his ugly, death-stricken face visible for all to see, without even a hood over his head or a gag in his mouth.

"I didn't order the killings! It was Shireck! Shireck's men deceived me!" he continued to shout while struggling.

But none of the jury or the onlookers who had come to witness his hanging seemed to change their minds; they simply watched coldly, saying nothing.

"I was deceived! They lied to me! I didn't order the attack! The war wasn't started by me! It was Shireck's people! Shireck's bastards!" he yelled desperately.
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But no matter how much he shouted, no one paid him any heed.

The executioners on either side still controlled him like iron pincers, leaving him unable to move.

So he could only continue to yowl, "Let me down! I can cooperate with you! Whatever you ask me to do, I'll do it!"

"I can help you govern Germelin, I'm very familiar with it! I can be useful! I still have value!" he tried hard to prove his worth.

When he found that no one was moved by his pleas, he had no choice but to invent stories of hoarding Gold Coins: "I! I still have hidden private wealth! I have money! Don't you want that money? I have money! I can take you to find it!"

"Ransom! I demand ransom for myself! A hundred thousand Gold Coins! Two hundred thousand! If you let me go..." he believed that if they would spare him that day, he would definitely have a chance to live.

"No, you cannot do this!" As he shouted out such a sentence, he suddenly realized that yelling like this seemed futile, so he instantly changed his plea, "Mercy, my lord! Mercy! I was wrong! I was wrong!"

In his desperation, he even shed tears. At that moment, he was quite certain that if time could be turned back, he would never entertain the naive thought of annexing Leite Kingdom and taking over Brunas.

Given another ten guts, he wouldn't dare to make another move. Unfortunately, in this world, there is no medicine for regret. Now, it's all too late.