Qingzhou.

Xiao Ming was testing the Chinese Empire’s first submachine gun. In the history of firearm development, the submachine gun was also called a short-barreled machine gun, a close-quarters firearm used by infantry. After the Han-style modified rifle was equipped in the army, Xiao Ming ordered Song Changping to focus on developing a submachine gun. This was because, in his opinion, the Chinese soldiers urgently needed an assault firearm that was between a rifle and a machine gun. This assault firearm would help the soldiers win faster in urban warfare and trench warfare.

“Da da da…”

At the shooting range, with a series of crisp and rapid gunshots, a number of scattered bullet holes appeared on the wall fifty meters away.

“Hmm, the firepower is good.” Xiao Ming smiled. As an assault weapon, a submachine gun did not have many requirements in terms of range, usually about 200 meters, but firepower was its most important feature. The Song-style submachine gun developed by Song Changping had a rate of fire of about 40 rounds per minute in single shot mode and about 100 rounds per minute in full-auto mode, which was a passing grade in terms of firepower.

Hearing this, Song Changping breathed a slight sigh of relief. He had been overwhelmed by the task of developing submachine guns and light machine guns. Now that the submachine gun had been approved, he had completed half of his task. He then had the technicians bring over a light machine gun. If this machine gun also passed, his mission would be perfectly completed.

“Your Majesty, this is our ‘Hedgehog’ light machine gun. Compared to the Changping-style machine gun, this one is much lighter, only 16 jin, and can be used by a single person, which is very convenient,” Song Changping said, pointing to the machine gun the technician was holding.

Xiao Ming showed a satisfied smile. He said, “Now that the Chinese Empire is fighting on the European battlefield, if we were to equip our army with these two weapons, it would greatly benefit the war. From now on, you will mass-produce these two weapons.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” Song Changping responded. Now, the war in Europe affected the heart of every person in the Chinese Empire, because once the Empire achieved victory, the rules of the world would be rewritten by the Empire.

After observing the performance of the two firearms, Xiao Ming returned to the Imperial Palace in a special car. He then called Zhang Liang to inquire about the construction of the aircraft carriers. In the contemporary era, the world’s first aircraft carrier was born in 1917. It was a modified British cruiser, and the buildings in the middle of this cruiser were not removed, and the flight deck was divided into two parts, one in the front and one in the back. Taking off and landing was both inconvenient and dangerous. In 1918, Britain converted the “Cajis” mail ship, which was under construction, into an aircraft carrier and renamed it the “Argus”. This was the first aircraft carrier with a straight flight deck. The flight deck was 168 meters long, and below the deck was a hangar with several elevators that could lift aircraft to the deck. It could carry 20 aircraft.

Now that the Empire had the ability to build battleships and large merchant ships, building such an early aircraft carrier was naturally not a problem. Besides, all he needed was for the aircraft carrier to carry bombers to Europe. In his opinion, winning on the European battlefield was easy. What was difficult was to completely destroy the enemy’s will, just as a single atomic bomb had shattered Japan’s will to resist in the contemporary era. Now, the Empire did not yet have the ability to develop an atomic bomb, but he believed that an epoch-making weapon like the airplane would have a great deterrent effect. After all, tanks could still be destroyed, but Europeans had no way to deal with something that flew in the sky.

…

London.

The arrival of the Chinese Empire’s reinforcements made Xie Yuan prepare to launch an all-out assault on London. Before the army that was supporting Europe arrived, he had been following orders to encircle the city and cut off reinforcements. In the past month, he had repelled more than a hundred attacks from the British Redcoats. The number of British soldiers’ corpses they had counted reached 30,000. After London was besieged, the British army on the front line at Hadrian’s Wall immediately chose to retreat. Lu Jun immediately followed the plan and led the Chinese soldiers and Scottish soldiers in a relentless pursuit. With the situation becoming clear, Wales immediately announced its joining of the Vienna Convention Organization, and Ireland also sent a 20,000-strong army to land on the west coast of Britain at this time.

Now, England was completely isolated, and the main British army led by Butler was caught between Xie Yuan and Lu Jun and could not advance or retreat.

“Hehe, these battleships are really powerful.” Xie Yuan looked at the battleships on the sea with great envy. He had been in Europe for more than a year, and he had not expected such a brutal sea monster to appear in the Empire.

“Of course. A single battleship like this can defeat a fleet of ironclads,” the naval general leading the team said. This time, he was responsible for transporting ammunition, weapons, equipment, and personnel to Xie Yuan.

Xie Yuan nodded. He did not think that this young general was bragging. The large-caliber cannons on the warships were enough to prove a lot of things. After watching the warships on the sea for a while, he said, “Since you’re here, you should put on a show. The task of bombing London is yours. These British people have not surrendered yet, so it seems we can only resort to force.”

“That’s not a problem, of course.” The young general said confidently. He then made a gesture. The main cannons on the Chinese Empire battleships had a range of 20 kilometers, which was more than enough to bombard London City.

“Hehe.” Xie Yuan then sneered a few times. It had been a month since the attack on Britain began, and he did not want to fail to win before the war on the European continent ended.

“Boom, boom, boom…”

Deafening explosions came from the sea. The large-caliber main cannons on the Chinese Empire’s warships all let out huge flashes of fire. After the flashes, dense explosions sounded in London City. The buildings in the city that were hit by the shells instantly collapsed. This terrifying destructive power scared the British people in the city out of their wits.

Murphy and a group of nobles were equally terrified. In the month that they had been besieged, the central area of London had never been bombarded. After all, the area of London City was very large.

“Murphy, how long are you going to hesitate? Do you really want to bury everyone’s lives? Don’t forget the Empire’s threat.”

In the office, a group of nobles were trembling with fear. After the bombardment ended, they immediately came to see Murphy. On the way, they saw the tragic state of the city being bombarded. The buildings had collapsed, and there were corpses everywhere. It was then that they began to believe that the Empire’s threat to massacre the city was not a joke. Thinking of this, they were truly scared. Now that Queen Victoria was a fugitive, like a stray dog, the majesty of the royal family was completely gone. What was there for them to hold on to? Compared to a rich life, what did it matter if they surrendered to the Empire?

Murphy was disheveled at this time. He was very clear about the situation in London now. For the past month, his insistence was to hope that Butler could lift the siege, but now Butler could not even protect himself. More importantly, London had run out of ammunition and food. If the siege continued, London would probably collapse on its own.

Slowly standing up, Murphy looked at the nobles and parliamentarians in the office. They all wanted him to give the final order. With a bitter smile, he said, “I announce that all soldiers in London City will lay down their weapons and surrender to the Empire.”