Darkstone Code-Chapter 723 - 0721 Play Alive

"It’s almost autumn..."

Looking at the midsummer outside the window, Emperor Gafura’s mind wandered to the bleakness of autumn, as his mindset had already undergone some changes.

In fact, since the later stages of the world war, the situation in Gafura had not been very good. Military expenditures exceeded more than half of the national income, yet not much actual benefit had been gained from the war.

The development of military and technology turned war games from "fighting at the doorstep" into a global warfare game. How to fight, how to profit from war, how to realize profits — these concepts were still quite unfamiliar to everyone.

Furthermore, this war did not end with "victory," but because everyone couldn’t continue any longer, and one side surrendered first. If too many demands were made at the negotiation table, the defeated side might still have the courage to flip the table and continue fighting.

At worst, they could completely abandon coastal areas and defend inland, challenging Gafura to try landing?

Try and you’ll die!

Everyone was convinced that Gafura didn’t have an army to show off and the allies wouldn’t sacrifice their war potential for Gafura’s interests.

Unable to invade other countries’ homelands, unable to capture cities and territories, their invincible fleet could only bombard coastal areas a few times, and beyond causing more losses to themselves, there wasn’t much they could do.

Thus, the final peace talks were likely full of gunpowder but in reality, everyone cautiously compromised, making the gains from Amelia an unexpected income.

From that time, the Emperor’s mindset began to subtly change.

He was like a villain hiding under a hood, holding a weapon at two in the morning under flickering streetlights, kidnapping a girl. He pushed her into an alley, holding a weapon to her neck, finally finding a doorway, only to realize he... was sick.

A long sigh could only be uttered: "Having a door is useless."

If the naval battle with the Federation hadn’t happened later, his mindset wouldn’t have changed too much, but with that battle, Gafura’s only formidable asset was gone, not just for him, but a subtle change occurred in the mindset of the entire Gafura leadership.

Those who invade others fear invasion from others the most, and they had to change the current situation.

"Will we succeed this time...?" He withdrew his gaze from outside the great hall and fixed it on the Minister of the Navy’s face.

The latter nodded reservedly, "Of course, Your Majesty, I assure you."

There was not a hint of joy on Emperor Gafura’s face at the Minister’s assurance; he simply looked at him expressionlessly, "It better be so, or else there will be those who suffer consequences."

The Minister of the Navy frowned, knowing the Emperor was referring to him. The pressure inside the Empire was growing and needed an outlet.

Among the populace, the nobility, and even among these ministers and the imperial family, there was resentment — resentment over losing the war, resentment over not receiving enough benefits, and resentment over the shift in development focus.

Whoever fails at this juncture will become the target of criticism from all over the nation. The country and the Emperor cannot be wrong; people need a way to vent.

If they do not complete their plans this time, the Emperor and the nobility will have to give the country an explanation, which might mean a scapegoat in the form of a Minister of the Navy.

No one else in the room spoke. They refocused their attention on the large TV, watching the footage of the joint military exercise.

Since Gafura and the Federation’s fleets seemed to be changing defensive formations in a very coordinated manner lately, other nations also sensed a tense atmosphere, making the entire exercise feel somewhat unfulfilling.

Yet, people kept watching daily, hoping to find something useful from some details.

Gafura’s performance in projects requiring coordination with the Army was nearly last in every instance. That was their worst showing. The Emperor of the Empire directly asked the Minister of the Army to resign on the ground of incompetence, although this was more a way to express his dissatisfaction than an actual command.

In the next phase, apart from speeding up some armament development and upgrades, Gafura Empire also planned to implement drastic reforms in the Army.

They needed an Army capable of using firepower to break down the enemy’s homeland gates, an Army that could penetrate deep into enemy territory to plunder wealth and gain strategic initiative, not a bunch of useless people who just asked the Empire for pensions. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

To buy more time, to prevent the current international situation from spiraling out of control, a plan called "Race" once sat on the Emperor’s desk — now was the time to execute it.

After several rounds of joint exercises, everyone had a new understanding of each other’s military strength, and now it was time for the final face-to-face showdown.

Two camps would "face off" in two sea areas with nearly the same number of target ships. Whoever could sink these target ships in the shortest time would win this project.

More importantly, this project allowed submarines to participate!

Most countries sent submarines to participate in this joint military exercise. Submarines, in the current international military environment, were akin to strategic weapons.

Until there were effective countermeasures, no one had any means against this thing, and submarines could cause fatal damage to large ships.

More crucially, submarines were relatively inexpensive to build and required less time to construct. As long as they were paired with specialized tugboats and submerged only upon reaching the combat zone, they performed quite well on long voyages.

So whether or not their submarines could meet the Federation’s parameters, they brought them out — even if the performance wasn’t great, or they leaked once submerged, they still brought them out.

Whether they were good or not was one thing, but at least they had them, keeping others from targeting them.

This statement was important. Having this was like having a protective talisman; at least no one dared attempt an attack via the sea.

Moreover, since the war between Gafura and the Federation was also led by submarines, the final face-to-face showdown was actually a stage to demonstrate the performance of submarines from various countries.

As the signal for the general attack was given, the submarines, dragged to designated areas, began to submerge, and nothing could be seen on the sea surface in an instant.

No matter if one was on warships or on distant observation vessels, the light refraction on the sea surface rendered everyone unable to see where those submarines were.

Everyone watching this scene, whether they understood naval warfare or not, whether they were military personnel or not, took a deep breath.

"Ghosts of the sea," that was the nickname given to such new submarines after the Federation’s first victorious battle with them.

As long as they submerged into the water, they resembled ghosts; you knew they were around you, but you couldn’t detect their whereabouts.

Until it approached you and launched a torpedo, blasting you into the sky.

No solution!

On Gafura’s destroyers, several quick-release balloons suddenly ascended, and military observers immediately noted the anomaly, observing or photographing, seeming to guess the purpose of observing at this time.

Soon, the Federation’s quick-release balloons also ascended, and people remained puzzled.

Emperor Gafura was already so nervous that his palms were sweating. He clenched his fists tightly, his fingernails embedded into his palms, with slight blood oozing slowly, yet he remained oblivious.

His gaze, his entire focus, was utterly absorbed by the scenes on the television screen.

Besides him, there were the Minister of the Navy, the Minister of Defense, the Prime Minister... everyone held their breath, wondering if this could change Gafura’s currently underrated situation.

At the United Command in the Atlantic Ocean, the Federation’s Commander-in-Chief was also watching the screen, fully relaxed.

Even though the Federation’s performance wasn’t the best, it ranked first in overall strength, with Gafura closely following.

The Federation wasn’t particularly outstanding in every item; on the contrary, aside from landing operations where they took first place, in several other projects and more subprojects, they often only ranked third or fourth.

But the Federation excelled in balance, with no apparent shortcomings, making its overall strength leap to the top.

Conversely, the Gafurans excelled in many projects, possessing sailors that all nations coveted. Yet, in projects requiring ground-sea cooperation, they came last every time.

Additionally, the only casualty incident in this joint military exercise occurred with the Gafura Army — during their landing operations, dozens of soldiers were injured or sprained their ankles due to poor performance while running heavily loaded on the beach, and one man was severely injured jumping over a trench...

At the time, Emperor Gafura’s blood pressure suddenly spiked, his entire face turning red. If not for the court physician’s timely discovery, the princes might have been singing hymns.

The disgrace and folly of the Army caused Gafura’s military scores to plummet, and if it weren’t for their other scores being outstanding, Gafura might have fallen out of the top three.

The Federation’s Commander-in-Chief did not believe Gafura could still stir up any waves. It was widely known that the Federation possessed the best submarine technology and the best torpedo technology, and those who came later could not possibly develop submarines exceeding the Federation’s in performance data in such a short time.

While countries announced various specifications and performances of submarines, everyone knew clearly that most of those figures were likely bogus, just like the Federation’s own published data, which lacked any "official" reliability.

"Can we spot the Gafuran submarines?" The Commander-in-Chief bit on a cigar, looking relaxed as if he already had victory within his grasp.

"...Sorry, Commander, we haven’t detected their traces yet, as their launch position was too far from us..."

"No worries, they won’t force us to run any faster!" The Commander-in-Chief remarked, finding a chair to sit on, looking delighted, "We just need to wait..."

But his tranquility did not last long before it was halted by an unbelievable sight.

"What the hell is that thing?!"