Richard and Sevelia were sitting at the table talking when they suddenly felt the earth tremble, and the cups and plates in the house and on the table shook with a crisp clattering sound.

What's going on?

The two of them immediately got up and walked to the balcony on the second floor to look out, and Severia covered her mouth in surprise, almost screaming.

Richard was much calmer, and he had a guess in his mind when he approached, but he still felt shocked.

A long ironclad chariot rumbled over and drove onto the stone road of the town, and the heavy steel tracks crushed the historical stone slabs to pieces, making a "clucking" sound, which made people's scalps tingle.

These massive steel monsters move slowly, almost as fast as an elderly person walks.

However, its huge size brings a strong sense of oppression, especially the short-barreled muzzles at both ends of the left and right body, exuding a cold light.

On either side of the ironclad chariot were British cavalry escorts, who rode into the town on tall horses with arrogant looks on their faces.

Ten minutes later

These ironclad chariots have just driven to the middle of the town, and the speed is 3~4 kilometers per hour, which is really a little anxious.

Just as the horror of these steel monsters caused the people of the town to subside, a muffled "bang" was heard, followed by the sharp sound of steel parts rubbing.

One of the tanks in the lead group broke down, sending out thick black smoke that enveloped the next few houses, spilling a thick smell of diesel.

Then, the long dragon of the steel monster was paralyzed.

The cobblestone road in the town of Babom is quite wide enough to allow two wagons to stagger along, but not for two tanks to cross each other.

This huge tank broke down, and the entire convoy was in a dilemma, and it could only be paralyzed here.

Look at this scene

Richard's expression was crying and laughing, he shook his head and turned back to the room, and explained to his attendants;

"Tell me to go down and close all the doors and windows, otherwise all the unpleasant black smoke will rush into the house, and it will not be able to disperse for many days."

"Yes, sir."

The doors and windows were then closed, but the streets of the town were only seven or eight hundred meters long, and puffs of black smoke still seeped in.

Richard told Seville to stay in the house and close the door tightly, she had a greater reaction to morning sickness at this time, and the smell of oil smoke was even more unbearable.

The tanks that entered the town were the British Army's Mark I and Mark II tanks, which were the first tanks to be mass-equipped by the British Army, and were personally ordered and funded by Winston Churchill, the former Royal Admiralty.

Isn't it amazing that the tanks of the British Army were developed with a grant from the Royal Navy.

This is not surprising, the British are known for their stubbornness and conservative traditions, so to speak, to the point of obstinacy.

The Boer War in South Africa, which humiliated the British Army more than a decade ago, did not really touch the reform of the British Army, and it still stubbornly adhered to tradition.

In particular, the dense offensive formation, which had suffered heavy losses in the Boer War, was still the core of the British Army's offensive tactics and was about to suffer an unprecedented defeat.

As for the tanks and armored vehicles, which represent the new trend of offensive equipment of the world army, the conservative British Army scoffs at them, and their rigid thinking is far from keeping up with the new trend of the development of the world army.

After the Tang Empire took the lead in launching armored tactics and series of armored tank vehicles that led the new trend of the world's army, and achieved great success, the German and French army powers followed up and developed tanks suitable for their own tactical needs.

For the world's army powers

Relying on imports to meet the demand for major weapons in land warfare is a huge uncertainty, and it is tantamount to leaving military security in the hands of others, which is unacceptable under any circumstances.

The young Royal Admiralty Churchill saw this, and when he could not communicate with the rigid generals of the British Army, Churchill simply left them alone.

Hence the Mark I and Mark 2 tanks, and these behemoths also had the nickname "Land Cruiser".

At 8.3 meters long and 4.1 meters wide, the Mark 2 tank was wider than two four-wheeled carriages side by side.

The Mark tank has a diamond-shaped silhouette with rigid suspension, with protruding gun mounts on the tracks on both sides of the hull, two tracks around the hull from the top, and a pair of steering wheels sticking out from the rear of the car.

The tank has a crew of 8 people and is available in two models, "male" and "female", the former armed with artillery and the latter with heavy machine guns.

The "male" was armed with 2 57mm Hotchkiss 6-pounder guns and 4 Hazikes machine guns, while the "female" was armed with only 6 Vickers machine guns and had quite a lot of firepower.

The steel monsters that crowded the town were British Mark tanks, which were large, slow, and had a very high failure rate, and their reliability was quite impressive.

Richard was quite unimpressed by the British clumsy Mark tank, which was a bully of the Germans' 75mm "Miss Paris" field gun, which was not light and fast, and had fierce firepower.

The 75 mm "Miss Paris" flattened the barrel and fired directly, with a ferocious firepower of 12~15 per minute, it could easily destroy the thin-skinned tanks within a range of 1200 meters to 3 kilometers, forming an insurmountable death zone.

This thing is too slow, and the off-road speed is only 6~8 kilometers per hour, which is equal to a moving target.

After the initial shock, the Germans were quickly able to come up with a strong response.

The only thing that is commendable is that the British tank, with its large size and unique over-the-top track design, has the ability to cross wide trenches and crush barbed wire under the tracks, creating a reliable passage for infantry charges.

From the very beginning of the development of the British tank, it has taken a different path from the tanks of the Tang Empire from North America.

The British tank was developed as a heavy tank, the Mark I weighed 28 tons, had neither experience nor sufficient experiments, and there were no shock absorption and sound insulation measures, and the working environment inside the car was extremely harsh.

The car was filled with the smell of carbon monoxide exhaust from the engine, gasoline and engine oil, and the smell of gunpowder smoke after the weapon was fired.

In June, the temperature inside the car reached 50 degrees Celsius, and the tank crew simply did not last long.

Compare it to

The Tang Empire's tank armored vehicles have been developed for more than 30 years, from the development of eight-ton light armored vehicles to today's 16-ton medium tanks.

The Wolf light tank and the Panther medium tank equipped by the Tang Empire have mature technology, have perfect light and medium chassis, and apply the most advanced shock-absorbing suspension technology in the world today, which can reach the level of 120 motor hours without failure.

With an average economic speed of 12 kilometers per hour, the Panther tank can cross the country for 1450 kilometers with its own power, which is a very high index, 15~20 years ahead of the mainstream European armored tank technology.

The Panther tank can reach a maximum off-road speed of 28 kilometers per hour, adopts many advanced technologies such as main gun smoke and engine compartment, and combines spring shock absorption and hydraulic suspension, which can be called the most advanced tank in the world today.

This is the product of bringing together the cutting-edge machinery and internal combustion engine level of the Tang Empire, which has just been equipped with the Royal Army for a short time, and the price is quite high.

As of now

The Royal Army and the Royal Janissaries of the Tang Empire are equipped with more than 60 Panther tanks, each with a purchase price of 34,500 yuan and Tang Yuan, and the purchase price of 20 vehicles is equivalent to building a 7,000-ton heavy cruiser.

It is expected that after the production is expanded to 200 units, the purchase price will be reduced to 27,800 Tang Yuan.

The production capacity will be expanded to 1,000 vehicles, and the purchase price will drop to the level of 22,300 Tang Yuan, forming large-scale industrial production.

With the existing number and level of the Tang Imperial Army, it is already equipped with 5~6 armored divisions, and it is estimated that more than 280 Panther medium tanks will be purchased, which belong to the Royal Army and the Royal Praetorian Guard.

The Panzer Division was also equipped with light Wolf tanks, which were mixed with medium Panther tanks, making it more economically viable.

The First World War has evolved to the present day

Although the Tang Empire remained neutral, it actually cut off most of its trade with the Allied bloc, and there was not much left.

The only thing that is difficult to curb is the large-scale smuggling between the city of Fubo on the Red Sea coast and Kuwait in the northwestern part of the Persian Gulf, which has become more and more rampant with the trade embargo.

Today, a number of smuggling routes through the Ottoman Empire have been formed, notably the Eastern Railway, built by the Germans, which was the main channel for the import of medicines and other smuggled goods.

On the European battlefield

We can see many volunteers from North America joining the army, many people of German nationality from the Tang Dynasty joining the German army, and British, French, and Italian people joining the Allied army.

There are also some Chinese volunteers who join the armies of both sides of the war according to their personal preferences and fight to the death on the battlefield.

The repercussions of this war have spread throughout the world, even to the Tang Empire in North America.

According to official statistics

The total number of volunteers from the Tang Empire was about 57,200, and the approximate ratio of the Allied army to the Allied army was 6:4, with the latter mainly entering the German army.

German immigrants are the largest group of white immigrants in the Tang Empire, with a total of more than 13.22 million, and have a strong influence in various fields in China.

In the smuggling trade with Germany and in other areas, German immigrants played a leading role.

In the Great Plains of Central North America

There are many German towns, German neighborhoods, and some German schools run by German spontaneous people, forming a strong circle of German national life.

In contrast, the total number of white immigrants from other countries is larger, but the ethnic groups are more dispersed, mostly living in urban areas and not forming a single ethnic community.

Among the nations of the world, the German nation attaches the greatest importance to education.

It's interesting to say that

One of the 1,000 recruits in the German army was illiterate, three in the British army, 35 in the Tang army, 68 in the French army, 222 in the Austro-Hungarian army, 330 in the Italian army, and more than 900 in the Tsarist army.

This is an important aspect of the quality of the army's troops, and Germany is undoubtedly far ahead.