Frontline battlefields of the Aodelan Empire.
"Splash splash splash..."
Night had fallen, dark clouds filled the sky, and icy rain poured down on the cratered ground, bringing a deadly chill to the front lines.
Lide, dressed in tattered cotton clothes and covered in dirt, carried his musket and used a shovel to dig in the ditch.
"Sizzle!"
Each swing of the shovel struck the frozen ground like digging out a piece of cold steel, making his arm go numb.
But the hard permafrost was far less painful than the icy rain falling from the sky.
His cotton-padded clothes were completely soaked, and even while digging trenches, he could still feel the biting cold of the rain.
"Hoo..." Lide exhaled a thick breath numbly, paused his movements slightly, and then realized that his hands, due to the cold and excessive force, had begun to become somewhat uncontrollable, and he even had difficulty opening his hands to hold the shovel.
He was a farmer, but he had never experienced such a difficult time digging.
" Lide, have a cigarette, buddy!" Before Lide could react, a hand slapped him from behind, his body already cold from the rain.
A rich tobacco aroma accompanied a wooden plank used for shelter from the rain, which was then offered to Lide's lips.
Lide turned around and looked behind him.
His childhood friend James stood behind him, his face already deathly pale from the cold.
However, the mental pleasure derived from tobacco far outweighs the physical fatigue.
These cigarettes were distributed by the Empire and originated from the Northern Continent. Smoking them brings immense pleasure and has now become a popular way for them to relax on the battlefield.
"Oh no, James, my mom won't let me smoke, you know, we're Holy Lord Church..." Lide struggled to extend his numb, frozen hands in an attempt to refuse.
Before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted by his brother.
"Come on, sir! We're too poor to afford this stuff, and we might die here any day now, so what's the point of following any religious rules!" James laughed heartily, hot breath rising into the air from his mouth.
"Listen to me, Lide, enjoy this moment while you can. Really, we can't go back... His Majesty the Emperor never intended for us to return, Lide. None of the nobles went to the battlefield." James forcefully shoved a cigarette into Lide's mouth, looking at his childhood friend and brother with a wistful expression.
Lide was slightly taken aback, savoring the aroma of the smoke in his mouth. Whether it was the influence of James's words or the irresistible allure of the scent, he eventually took two slow puffs and, like James, inhaled the smoke into his lungs.
The rain poured down harder, and the soldiers, densely packed in the cold trenches, shivered uncontrollably.
However, this environment presents the perfect opportunity for a surprise attack.
"Charge!!!"
A piercing roar pierced the gloomy sky and shattered the somber evening clouds.
The chaotic footsteps and roars coming from afar completely terrified the entire front line where trenches were being dug.
"Toot toot toot!" The sharp whistle, a warning of an enemy attack, rang out across the position, and all the soldiers in the trenches sprang into action.
Shouts rang in their ears as the rain soaked their muskets, forcing the soldiers to grab their melee weapons and charge out of the trenches to avoid being pinned down by the enemy.
Amidst the dense rain and wisps of mist, countless figures charged forward across the land.
The war with cold weapons began immediately, and blood and death filled the battle lines.
One by one, figures crawled out of the trenches, their hot blood already spurting out, their feet sinking into the hard mud.
Lide, whose head was spinning from smoking, suddenly snapped to attention and, in a state of extreme excitement, picked up the rain-soaked musket from his hand.
The smoke had clouded his mind, and in his excitement, he had even forgotten to charge forward and forget that the rain had soaked his musket. He kept lying prone in the trench, aiming outwards, waiting for the fuse, which he had kept burning from beginning to end, to burn out and launch the bullet.
But in reality, he was so drunk that his mind was completely numb.
James rushed out of the trench beside him, only to have his skull smashed by a hammer.
"Bang!"
With blood and brains splattering everywhere, James's body fell heavily in front of the frenzied Lide, his still trembling eyes taking one last look at his friend who was still lying on the trench, blindly holding his musket.
"Bang!"
A heavy hammer blow slammed into Lide's still-numb head, instantly caved in his skull.
Lide, who had taken a drag of his cigarette, held his musket the entire time, but never fired it...
A thousand years later, a massive war has broken out once again on the Southern Continent.
In reality, the root cause is not the so-called conflict over the division of interests or the conflict between countries, but the biggest problem that points directly to the source—too many people!
Indeed, the reason why the population of the Southern Continent had been reduced to only one-tenth in the past thousand years, and why no large-scale wars had occurred, was because of the small population.
Countries are struggling to develop domestically, leaving them with no energy to expand outwards.
Even if you want to expand outwards, there are plenty of wastelands around that others don't want; you can just occupy them.
Now, after 1,500 years of continuous development, the population of the Southern Continent is too large. As a result, with the countries becoming powerful, there are no other means to consume such a large number of people. Therefore, the only way to consume them is through large-scale wars.
In addition, both sides had been preparing for this battle for a long time, and their accumulated momentum was already eager to burn the enemy to the ground.
With both old and new grievances combined, coupled with the current rudimentary equipment and the limited range of combat methods available, this war quickly escalated into a fierce, high-intensity phase from the very beginning.
The costs incurred by the two major military blocs are incalculable.
To ensure their soldiers were unafraid of death and would serve the empire more diligently, the various empires distributed tobacco transported from the Northern Continent to their military camps, aiming to numb their spirits and invigorate their bodies.
This tobacco, capable of causing extreme euphoria and hallucinations, proved incredibly powerful on the battlefield, contributing significantly to mass casualties.
In the autumn of 1574, the Alliance of Allied Nations, led by the Aodelan Empire, launched a massive holy war, deploying nearly five million troops to the front lines.
These soldiers were divided into five major directions to advance on the Holy Boya Empire, which was adjacent to the Aodelan Empire.
Despite the fierce attack from the other side, Emperor Noah XIII of the Holy Boya Empire remained fearless in the face of danger.
They mobilized three million troops to block attacks from all directions, awaiting the arrival of their ally, the Holy Noah Empire's army.
The flames of war could ignite at any moment.
The war is now completely different from the past. The excessive number of soldiers means that the war between the two sides has never stopped from beginning to end. Cities and the wilderness are battlefields everywhere.
All soldiers took turns being deployed day and night in shifts to carry out a comprehensive offensive.
Current technology is too rudimentary, making it difficult for soldiers to engage in trench warfare on the battlefield. They can only resort to a troop-firing system similar to that of the Napoleonic era.
In a battle of this scale, the number of dead and injured every day was astronomical.
Even the Verdun Meat Grinder, known as a "bloody inferno," cannot compare to the casualties on the battlefield today.
Almost every day, casualties reached over ten thousand. ( The Battle of the Somme also saw roughly ten thousand casualties daily, with the British suffering a peak of 68,000 casualties in a single day.)
The bodies of soldiers from all sides were difficult to recover and dispose of; they were scattered everywhere in the wilderness and piled up in mountains in various war zones.
For all countries, this is a rare war that can effectively deplete the domestic poor. The poor, who previously could not even afford to eat, can become part of the front line after a little training.
The entire massive battle lasted for a full year and three months, a total of 500 days.
The combined death toll from both sides has reached an astronomical figure, with incomplete statistics suggesting it could even be as high as five million.
Such a level of manpower and logistical expenditure sent shivers down the spines of the high command on both sides.
Finally, in the sacred winter of 1575, with another heavy snowfall approaching, the two military groups finally began their first ceasefire in the harsh, freezing conditions.
However, the data coming from the front lines in various countries has already begun to alarm the emperors of those countries.
Miles XIII stood outside the bedchamber of the Pale God, his face somewhat somber, awaiting the guards' report.
Today is a sunny day, but the golden sun of yesteryear is not as intense as it used to be, though it is still much more intense than when Norton was a priest.
It must be said that although this guy had the idea of using Norton, he did a much better job of putting on a show than the former Yalian III.
I wonder if it was because he had read the historical records that Duoxia had sent him.
Although the Aodelan Empire initially achieved considerable success on the front lines thanks to the power of its blitzkrieg, its advance ultimately came to a halt after the Holy Boya Empire and the Holy Noah Empire recovered their composure.
Now, after a year and a half of fighting, the huge casualty rate and the unwavering determination of the Holy Boya Empire and the Holy Noah Empire to fight to the end have made Miles XIII begin to feel somewhat uncertain.
He wanted a redistribution of interests, and he wanted the Aodelan Empire to also occupy overseas territories.
However, the scale of the current battle has exceeded his judgment and expectations.
If the fighting continues at the current rate of casualties, even if we ultimately win, the nation's foundation will be severely damaged, and we may even lose our ability to sail overseas.
Fighting for distant seas, only to lose the very foundation for profit in the end – this was not what Miles XIII wanted. He wanted a powerful Aodelan Empire capable of long-distance trade, not a half-dead Aodelan Empire that couldn't even handle its own domestic problems.
Therefore, after much deliberation, Miles XIII could only turn his attention to the Pale God Norton, whom he had always regarded as a secret weapon.
It's time to use this surprise force!