Munitions Empire

The life of gilded decadence was everywhere in Brunas, where everything was so novel and so tempting.

In the past, Tang Mo had produced 100,000 pieces of railroad track, including those made on Dragon Island, in Brunas, Northern Ridge, and other places.

These tracks laid out over 800 kilometers of railway, with some extra kept as replacements and for maintenance purposes.

Of course, there were also some tracks in transit, so those had not yet become part of the railway and were not included in the count.

Among these, the Leite Kingdom had the longest stretch of railway within its borders, totaling more than 470 kilometers, which accounted for over half of the total railway mileage. Your adventure continues at m v|l-e'm,p| y- r

This included the railroads from Brunas to Northern Ridge, Northern Ridge to Ice Crystal City, and the yet-to-be-completed line from Brunas to King City.

In addition, another railway on Dragon Island was also under construction, though it wasn't particularly long in kilometers.

Aside from the railway line from Brunas to Wolf City and then to Ice Crystal City, which had been completed, none of the other railways were connected, and they had not yet recouped their costs.

Tang Mo's warships had only just sailed southward, and some new warships were not yet finished, so the anticipated gains from the pre-emptive strike against the Taren Kingdom hadn't had time to be realized.

The transfer of the Telegraph Office had only just been completed, and its management was still somewhat chaotic—with so many problems cropping up at once, even Tang Mo's Great Tang Group felt a bit overwhelmed.

Over the past year, the Great Tang Group had scattered many a dandelion, leading inevitably to a sense of internal emptiness and a slight feeling of lacking in managerial talent.

Furthermore, the Tang Group had always controlled the numbers of its private army, and compared to the expansion of its factory scale, its armed forces clearly had not been significantly strengthened.

While Tang Mo was clinking glasses with several celebrities in the fashion circle at a cocktail party, a special envoy from the Leite Kingdom hurried into the hall and found Tang Mo, who was busy socializing.

"Sir, I hope you can speak with me in private," the special envoy said in a lowered voice after taking a glance at the people around Tang Mo.

Tang Mo sensed the tension in the envoy's tone, so he nodded to the people around him, offered a word of apology, and gestured for the Leite Kingdom's special envoy to follow him.

The two came to a lounge next to the hall, where several guests kissing there embarrassingly made way for Tang Mo, hurrying out of the room.

Wes closed the door and leaned against it, watching the troubled face of the Leite Kingdom's special envoy, who was aware that Tang Mo almost never asked Wes to leave on such occasions.

Therefore, as soon as the door shut, cutting off the outside mirth and laughter, the envoy immediately said, "I'm sorry, sir, even though your fashion event is going splendidly, I still cannot congratulate you at this time..."

"What's the matter?" Tang Mo's brows furrowed. He knew from the way the envoy spoke that the matter was not so simple.

As expected, the special envoy from the Leite Kingdom promptly continued, "The Leite Kingdom has just erupted in a border conflict with the neighboring Kingdom of Gemalin. Their troops have attacked each other, and the situation is out of control."

This was a message that had just been sent from the border areas. If not for the marvelous invention of the telegraph, such news would have taken several days to reach the King City.

But now, the border conflict had barely erupted, and they were already aware of it here; this was the communication revolution brought about by Tang Mo.

Hearing that war had broken out again, Tang Mo was somewhat displeased, as he was in the process of assembling his fleet to attack the Taren Kingdom, and a war breaking out elsewhere could potentially disrupt his plans and deployments.

Moreover, he had been conciliating the Triple Kingdom Alliance, as Suthers, Dorne, and the Leite Kingdom had only just ended their own external expansions, and they were in the process of digesting their victories. It really wasn't the time to further expand their territories.

After all, it takes time to manage newly conquered lands, and it takes time to assimilate and absorb the people living there. For any nation, seizing territory several times its own size in one go is not advisable.

Take World War II for example, Germany, after conquering almost all of Europe, failed to turn Europe's productivity into victory tokens that could serve its own purposes.

In the end, while it might have seemed that World War II's Germany had a comparable population, production capacity, and industrial technology to its adversaries, it fell into a comprehensive disadvantage when the war reached a stalemate.

Therefore, Tang Mo's advice to the three nations was to consolidate the territories they had already swallowed, to recuperate for the time being, in order to expand more effectively and efficiently in the future.

At least publicly, the countries agreed with Tang Mo's position, so after annexing their neighboring countries, the Triple Alliance stopped their campaigns of conquest.

The shadow of war had temporarily dispersed, and the surrounding smaller nations also breathed a sigh of relief, as everyone began to settle down and prepare for the next conflict.

However, what Tang Mo had not expected was that the Leite Kingdom would act hypocritically, seeking trouble at the border on purpose and provoking conflict in an attempt to forcibly start a war.

This was not in line with Tang Mo's grand strategy, nor did it align with his current approach to selectively engage with the Taren Kingdom, so he felt that Leite VII was being a bit too arrogant.

Therefore, he turned to the envoy from the Leite Kingdom and asked, "Didn't I suggest that the kingdom should recuperate and avoid expanding the war further until its economy has fully recovered?"

Upon hearing this, the envoy from the Leite Kingdom knew that Tang Mo had misunderstood, so he quickly waved his hands and earnestly explained, "No, no, no! Sir, it wasn't us who provoked the border dispute."

"That joke is not funny at all," Tang Mo said, looking at him, feeling as if the other party took him for a fool. With several kingdoms harboring ambitions for expansion and their military strength at hand, was there really any need for Tang Mo to guess how the border conflict had arisen?

The envoy from the Leite Kingdom continued to stress, "At least according to the information I've got, it was the Germelin troops who fired the first shot."

Tang Mo scoffed derisively and said, "You have a thousand ways to make them fire the first shot. That sort of trick might fool the average person, but do you really think I would believe it?"

"It's the truth, sir! The Germelin troops took the initiative to cause trouble and they were the ones who launched the attack first... They used new artillery and were also armed with K1 Quick Guns," the envoy, though a bit embarrassed, persisted in his explanation.

"Are you telling the truth?" Tang Mo instantly realized that his old rival might be causing trouble again.

The envoy nodded desperately, confirming to Tang Mo, "Yes, they also used new types of shells and had an absolute numerical advantage. They have assembled at least 50 cannons and our troops are currently resisting fiercely on the border. However, they won't be able to hold on much longer."

After carefully reading the telegram he had received from King City, the telegraph confirmed that at least 50 new cannons had been assembled by the opposition and they were using explosive shells. If it were not for commanders who had graduated from the Great Tang Military Academy arranging fortifications at the border in advance, the border defenses might have already been breached.

Raising his eyebrows, Tang Mo asked the other party, "Are you saying that the Germelin Kingdom received enough munitions from the Shireck Consortium to take the initiative against the Leite Kingdom?"

"That's one way to put it," the envoy said, assured that Germelin Kingdom's arms had nothing to do with the Great Tang Group since all land transport for Tang Mo had to cross the Leite Kingdom to reach Germelin.

Since it was not the Great Tang Group that sold these advanced weapons and equipment, it must have been the Shireck Consortium, who had been mass-producing imitations of Great Tang's military products.

"It seems our old rival doesn't want us to peacefully surpass them," Tang Mo said with a slight nod to the envoy.

The envoy then praised the telegraphs provided by the Great Tang Group: "King His Majesty is personally leading three corps to the border. Thanks to the telegraphs, we've been able to mobilize our troops so quickly."

"At least the reinforcements are already on their way, that's good news," Tang Mo nodded again.

Seeing that Tang Mo seemed to believe his words, the envoy promptly requested, "We need your support, hoping to purchase more cannons, more machine guns, and more advanced weapons, sir!"

"If you're willing, I can immediately allocate 2 machine guns and 1,500 K1 Quick Guns on loan to you," Tang Mo immediately arranged some of his existing stock for the Leite Kingdom.

Hearing Tang Mo's words, the envoy immediately expressed his gratitude with a joyful expression, "Thank you so much! May the gods be with you."

"The gods have never sided with me! They don't like me," Tang Mo replied before heading over to Wes, "Tell Parker to urgently dispatch the 20 newly produced C64 cannons that were ready to be shipped to Dorne to the Leite Kingdom instead. I'll explain the rest to the envoy from Dorne."

"Understood!" Wes immediately nodded and then helped Tang Mo open the door.

The sound of laughter and chatter from outside poured in, and Tang Mo saw many people whispering among themselves. Clearly, someone had used the telegraph to spread the news that war had broken out again, all the way to Brunas!