In less than a month, the one hundred thousand soldiers of Longcheng's First Army Group had landed on America's western coast.
Longcheng at this point fielded only a single army group — ten divisions, one hundred thousand men. Beyond that, a dozen or so additional divisions were garrisoned at various locations, numbering another hundred-odd thousand. All told, the total force came to just over two hundred thousand troops.
Few in number, perhaps, but every one of them had been trained in the philosophy of modern warfare. And the philosophy of modern warfare, stripped to its essence, was simply this: spend money. Spend it without mercy.
The enemy never saw you coming — the shells arrived first. Under a blanket of fire, by the time they laid eyes on you, they were already dead men.
Longcheng's First Army Group had moved with such stunning speed that America barely had time to react before the war was already at its doorstep. Of the ten divisions, two were left behind to guard the fleet along the coastline. The remaining eight fanned out, mounted on every manner of vehicle, and began driving deep into the interior states.
With Dragon God rifles supported by artillery of every caliber, they shattered the American forces one unit at a time. The troops stationed near the western coast hadn't even managed to organize themselves before they were wiped out entirely.
America at this time had only been independent for a few years. Its potential was immense, but if one were being honest, its military was simply not up to the standard of the British. Compared to Germany, regarded as the premier land power in the world, the gap was also considerable — let alone against Longcheng's near-modern equipment and doctrine.
One state's governor and his entire government were seized and marched onto the warships. Then another state fell the same way. America managed to muster two hundred thousand men on short notice, and a single Longcheng division ground them to dust in open battle.
What else was there to say? The federal government was swept up wholesale. The Senate fell with it. Within three months, nearly every figure at the top of American power had been captured and was being shipped back to Longcheng one after another to stand trial.
The new order that America had only just built for itself collapsed.
The whole world stood dumbstruck, gripped by fear. They had expected Longcheng to be powerful — but not like this. Not even close.
The original expectation had been something drawn-out: Longcheng would send troops, scatter the American armies, America would regroup, be scattered again. Wealthy, inexhaustible Longcheng would bleed the country slowly, nibbling away at it piece by piece while the other powers watched for a chance to carve off something for themselves.
Instead — in that vast land, with all those people — three months. Done.
Was America simply that weak?
Was the British Empire not a formidable power? It had fought for eight full years and still lost. One could argue, of course, that the front was impossibly far from Europe, that supply lines were a nightmare, that Britain had simply decided the cost wasn't worth it and chose to walk away. But eight years — eight years — was the measure of it. The mightiest nation in the world had spent eight years and never subdued America.
Longcheng had done it in three months and hauled back nearly the entire American leadership in chains.
Could Longcheng actually conquer the entire world?
Everyone was terrified.
There are two ways to end internal warfare: one side achieves total victory, or a greater external threat appears. Longcheng's actions brought about a secret conference. Not long after that meeting concluded, nation after nation quietly pulled back their forces, carefully and methodically disengaging from the conflict. Within roughly half a year, the war that had engulfed the world came to a stop.
The nations of the world were battered and riddled with wounds from years of fighting, but none had been pushed to the brink of collapse. The world situation stabilized once more. With their overseas colonies still supplying them, they would recover quickly enough.
All except America.
America's ruling class — those who had been captured — were the most powerful and wealthy people in the country. America, in every meaningful sense, had been theirs. Now they sat imprisoned in Longcheng, alive but stripped of their freedom, yet still wielding some degree of influence over American affairs, whether strong or faint. Longcheng exploited this leverage to finally plant its banking institutions inside America and began extending its control through every available means.
The world settled back into stability. Europe's guns fell silent. The great powers still held most of Africa, the southern and western reaches of Asia, and portions of South America. Having witnessed what Longcheng could do, they threw themselves into a desperate race to catch up, pouring manpower and resources into science and research on an unprecedented scale.
Longcheng's General Staff was deeply frustrated with how things had turned out. If they had known that crushing America so thoroughly would produce this reaction, they would have shown a little more restraint. The hope had been that Europe would tear itself into rubble — instead it had merely bled heavily and looked likely to recover within a few years.
A miscalculation.
The truth was they simply hadn't grasped how vast the gap had already become between themselves and every other power on earth. A casual strike had already been an utter rout. They had not imagined their own superiority was already a generational gap ahead.
Only Zhao Baihui was in high spirits. Giving America that thrashing had sent the European powers into a cold sweat — and his influence had surged enormously. And influence meant population! Hundreds of thousands of new arrivals every month now, millions every year. In roughly twenty years, he would reach the next tier of the system. How could that not be wonderful?
Let them chase if they wanted. He'd see whether they could close the gap faster than this lord's system could advance!