160: Chapter 160 Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, Magnetic Flames

Deep in the night, the moonlight was cold and dreary.

A frigid wind swept across the strange stone forest.

Hidden among the towering, grotesque rocks was a city.

Bang, bang, bang—a series of roars from field artillery erupted, shattering the silence of the deep night.

The stone walls disintegrated instantly before the 105mm field artillery.

After a few volleys, the city gates collapsed, and the walls crumbled.

The terrified defenders couldn't even see the enemy; they could only fire blindly into the dark night.

Bang, bang, bang—following the artillery fire came a series of sniper rifle shots.

Any defender on the ruined walls who dared to show their head was met with death.

The smell of gunpowder smoke and death spread through the stone forest; this was a completely crushing massacre.

The defenders were unwilling to be defeated so easily, and two squads exited the city from the flanks, hoping to launch a surprise attack under the cover of night.

Not long after stepping out of the city gates, the roar of heavy machine guns erupted from the flanks of the stone forest.

The defenders' final counterattack was crushed.

Two wheeled armored vehicles and two armored personnel carriers slowly drove out of the stone forest from the front.

They broke through the gates with unstoppable force, their vehicle-mounted heavy machine guns roaring as they pulverized the last of the remaining defenders.

Soldiers occupied the walls, and the main force emerged from the stone forest and poured into the city.

"Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor!"

Tojo Injin stepped out of the armored vehicle amidst the soldiers' cheers, looking with great joy at the prisoners kneeling in a row before him.

"Malaysia, you lackeys of the England Alliance, you have brought this destruction upon yourselves."

"I already gave you an ultimatum; why did you insist on holding onto false hope?"

"Are you questioning the strength of my Great Empire of Japan? Or are you waiting for aid from England or the Dragon?"

Tojo Injin drew the katana from his waist and held it against the neck of the Malaysia lord.

"Be colonized or be destroyed?"

"Spare me, please spare me..." the Malaysia lord wailed.

"It seems you haven't lost your mind yet."

A cold sneer played on Tojo Injin's lips as he slowly withdrew the katana from the Malaysia lord's neck.

Halfway through the withdrawal, his expression suddenly changed, and he gripped the sword with both hands and swung it forward violently.

The blade flashed as the katana slashed into the neck of an officer beside the Malaysia lord.

The blade got stuck in the gaps of the vertebrae, and bright red blood gushed from the wound, spraying all over the Malaysia lord's face.

"I surrendered, I surrendered, wh—why..." the Malaysia lord screamed in terror.

Tojo Injin looked disgusted, jerking the katana back and forth until he finally pulled the blade from the officer's neck.

"Kill everyone except the lord." He withdrew the sword and stepped back one pace, avoiding the subsequent fountain of blood.

If the strike had been executed perfectly, a single slash would have severed the neck, and the blood wouldn't have sprayed everywhere like this.

It was a pity he hadn't used a blade for so long; his swordsmanship had regressed too much.

Shhh, shhh, shhh—the Japanese soldiers used their bayonets to kill all the surrendering Malaysia soldiers.

After roughly wiping the blood from his body, Tojo Injin sent the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity strategy to the Malaysia lord.

This was a slogan for the "New Order in East Asia" proposed by Japan during World War II.

They touted that joining the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" would make their nation a region of co-existence, co-prosperity, and self-sufficiency, claiming it would enable "each region to produce what is best suited for it, and obtain from other regions what it lacks."

Of course, this was just a pretext for Japan to plunder the resources of various East Asian countries.

Any nation forced to join the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere would become a target for Japan to engage in unlimited and endless plunder of all kinds of resources to bolster its national strength.

To this end, they self-proclaimed themselves as the representatives and saviors of Eastern culture.

They demanded that all East Asian countries consciously cooperate with Japan to revive Eastern culture and make it surpass Western culture.

Ultimately, they aimed to build a Greater East Asia culturally self-sufficient entity based on the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere."

To put it bluntly, this was just a packaged colonial strategy. Either accept it or be destroyed.

The Malaysia lord confirmed his acceptance of Japan's colonization.

Behind him were the lives of all his people, and he had to seize every opportunity to survive.

[Malaysia has become a Japanese colonial city, achievement 'Civilization Conqueror' unlocked]

[Colonies cannot be upgraded further, all resource output belongs to the suzerain state]

[Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Trait: All resources produced by colonies receive a 30% bonus]

Looking at the bonuses popping up on the panel, Tojo Injin smiled.

Indeed, wars of aggression were Japan's home turf!

The Dragon was currently isolated and helpless, having to rely on itself to find other territories.

Meanwhile, the countries in their Alliance were interconnected, making it easier to obtain information on the locations of other nations.

As long as they occupied territory faster and extracted resources from colonies, they would surely be able to reverse their current disadvantage.

It was a pity that General Matsui Iwane had been stabbed stupid by that damned martial general from the Dragon during the last Battle of Heroic Souls.

Until they unlocked new hero units, they could not fight on two fronts.

But none of this was a problem; Japan's powerful colonial strategy could compensate for all of this...

...

[Technology 'Electromagnetic Cannon' research complete, Level 3 Great Qin Skyfire Guard unlocked]

The next morning, just before the expedition began, the Magnetic Fire Dragon Guard finished upgrading.

Su Yang opened the Imperial Armor Camp panel to view the detailed information of the Fire Dragon Guard.

[Unit Type: Great Qin Fire Dragon Guard]

[Unit Class: Heavy Infantry Unit]

[Production Requirement: Level 5 Imperial Armor Camp]

[Required Prerequisite Technology: Electromagnetics, High-Energy Capacitor]

[Description: Improved flamethrower device, adds charged plasma particles to the flames, spraying Magnetic Flame at enemies]

[High-energy plasma particles possess terrifying temperatures, capable of instantly melting metal-based armored devices with good thermal conductivity]

[Summoning Cost: 5000 command points]

[Base Consumption: 10 units of fuel/day, 10 units of concentrated water/day]

[Maintenance Consumption: 10 units of copper/time, 10 units of steel/time]

[Reloading Consumption: 200 units of electricity/time, 3 units of petroleum fuel/time]

Plasma Magnetic Flame?

Looking at the Fire Dragon Guard panel, Su Yang felt a surge of relief.

It was fortunate that he had delayed the departure time to replenish electricity.

Otherwise, this expeditionary force would have missed out on this major killing weapon, the Fire Dragon Guard.

He had originally thought that the Magnetic Flame of the Fire Dragon Guard was about the same as the magnetic cannonballs of the Skyfire Guard.

The power increase wouldn't be significant, mainly forming an auxiliary Magnetic Storm.

However, after seeing the panel post-upgrade, he realized that Magnetic Flame and Magnetic Storm were completely different things.

The charged plasma particles in the Magnetic Flame were not auxiliary, but a destruction-level weapon!

Su Yang opened the Imperial Armor Camp panel, and just as he was planning how to upgrade, a mechanical voice sounded in his mind.

"Based on current command points and campaign requirements, the optimal upgrade plan has been prepared for you."