Munitions Empire

Indeed, Tang Mo was also genuinely aware of the current situation, which was not much stronger than before when he had gone to Earl Fisello.

Before, he was truly impoverished, but although he was no longer destitute now, he had even fewer resources at his disposal.

At that time, despite not having much money, not even enough to pay the workers' wages, he at least was not in debt.

But what about now? In reality, he had incurred a significant amount of debt—he had spent all of the money advanced by the Earl for the ordered firearms, yet had not produced even a single rifle.

It was only because the military officer Tagg, sent by Lord Earl to supervise him, had witnessed the K1 Quick Gun and knew Tang Mo was not a fraud that Tang Mo had not yet been arrested and sent back to Northern Ridge.

How to use everything at his disposal to rapidly produce a sufficient number of weapons to supply the Earl was a problem Tang Mo had to solve.

Or to put it another way, come hell or high water, Tang Mo must pacify Tagg to continue tolerating his reckless actions. Otherwise, he would become bankrupt, losing everything he had.

"We'll make use of our current shooting range and the adjacent vacant land for now! Let's start constructing a factory here," Tang Mo thought and then offered his solution.

The land within the factory was well-leveled, and thanks to the previous arrangement, there was actually plenty of surplus space. For example, there was a small weapons firing range inside the factory, which was not small and fully usable for the construction of a new factory building.

Additionally, there were spaces designated for storage of materials and an open space right at the factory entrance—all well-paved and even compacted. Building on these sites could indeed save a significant amount of time in leveling the ground.

Immediately following, Tang Mo said, "Then, use the wasteland outside for a shooting range. Anyway, it's just for testing and training, so it doesn't need to be leveled!"

At this point, he looked towards the quietly standing Tagg, holding a cup of water, and made a request, "Tagg, please have your soldiers lend a hand as well. I need to hire some workers to construct the factory, but for making temporary wooden structures, not so many skilled craftsmen are required—it could be pulled off with some rough work."

While speaking, he gestured with his hands, attempting his best to explain to Tagg, "In truth, all the temporary wooden structures don't necessarily need to house people. They could be used for storing materials, or to place some useless junk. So, they don't have to be particularly sturdy—just enough to shield from wind and rain."

"Besides the ones on guard duty, and two others resting, the remaining four will help! They'll clear the land and then assist my workers in building the houses," Tang Mo almost commanded as he finished his words.

Tagg actually had no objections to having soldiers help with the construction. In fact, it was quite common in this era for soldiers to be ordered to repair their barracks on a regular basis.

Many soldiers before enlisting were craftsmen; some worked in workshops, some were farmers, poets, and some were construction workers.

Therefore, having these soldiers assist was not at all unsuitable, but what Tagg cared about were other matters.

Hence he spoke up to remind Tang Mo, "That's possible... however, I must remind you, sir, you've nearly used up all the initial funding and raw materials without producing a single K1 Quick Gun!"

"If you continue in this way, I will fulfill my duty and report everything that happens here to Lord Earl," he said with firm conviction, eyes fixed on Tang Mo.

Tang Mo let out a wry smile, then equally affirmed, "I realize the issue! Tagg! That's why I'm planning to start production soon."

"The workers from the original workshop will keep up the production. With the help of the steam engine, they'll quickly be able to make enough barrels..." He quickly offered a quite reasonable arrangement.

"Although we don't have much steel left, it's enough to produce a few dozen barrels. So, in the short term, we can manufacture more than 20 K1 Quick Guns. That should be enough to satisfy Lord Earl, right?" Tang Mo asked Tagg with a smile as he looked at him.

Tagg was a bit nervous because this was the first time since arriving in Brunas that he heard a plan from Tang Mo about producing K1 rifles.

So he nodded subconsciously, agreeing with some uncertainty, "Yes, that's right."

"When these raw materials run out, the Earl's second batch of supplies should arrive! By then, I promise you, I will go all out to produce K1 Quick Guns. I can make over 200 in a month. By then, everything will start to improve," Tang Mo breathed a sigh of relief, for as long as he could soothe Tagg, he could continue his own endeavors.

"Let's hope so," Mathews murmured softly from the sidelines, believing that having the steam engine was sufficient.

His remaining slight dissatisfaction stemmed from Tang Mo not dedicating all his energy immediately to improving and developing the steam engine.

In his eyes, perfecting this epoch-making machine was definitely the most worthwhile pursuit at the moment. As long as the steam engine could truly be popularized, the whole world would surely witness a grand revolution!

To be frank, as a skilled worker, Mathews's vision was indeed sufficient. He recognized at a glance the importance of this steam engine in the history of industry.

Unfortunately, he didn't know that in Tang Mo's repository of information, this machine was just the most primitive one that marked the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.

"Now, let's continue to talk about clearing and developing land! I need your people to build simple shelters on the new land and reclaim as much of the wasteland near the border as possible." After placating Tagg with a few words, Tang Mo once again shifted the topic to the development of the factory.

"I will build a weapons testing range in this newly purchased area, where all our weapons can be adjusted for shooting accuracy and tested." He began planning the factory layout, making use of every piece of wasteland as much as possible.

"On the other side, I want to build a dormitory complex. I need a large number of workers, along with their families! Every person will be able to work for me, and I will provide them with corresponding wages." As he spoke, he became engrossed in his grand blueprint once again.

To be honest, everyone here was somewhat unable to keep up with Tang Mo's pace, because they didn't yet realize what a truly huge factory, akin to a city, actually looked like!

In later generations, Huaxia had many such factories, complete with hospitals, schools, and an entire residential area, where a single factory could have tens of thousands, or even tens of thousands, of employees.

Moreover, often times, factories would encourage employees to marry and have children, and provide nearly perfect welfare benefits for such dual-worker families.

The factory would provide dormitories for the workers, raise their children, and provide necessary medical care. The factory would even reimburse heating costs and provide employees with a cooling-off subsidy.

As long as the products produced by the factory maintained their marketability, such benefits would stimulate employees' productivity and create more economic benefits for the factory.

Of course, in this other world, the reason why Tang Mo was so eager to promote these benefits had a deeper significance.

He had to cultivate his own foundation, accumulate a large number of talents before he could promote technological development and make the whole world adapt and keep up with his pace of development.

This was no joke, but a real problem that needed to be solved! Because only by training a large number of drivers could he sell more cars. The logic was simple and easy to understand.

Tang Mo certainly didn't want a day in the future where he could produce cars, but nobody in this world could repair them...

In Tang Mo's plan, even spending money to support the workers' families was a very cost-effective move.

Listening to him articulate his plans one by one, the more intelligent Wes and Roger had their eyes light up: "Women can help me raise pigs, process leather, operate sewing machines, and carry small goods, as well as raise chickens, ducks, and other livestock."

This arrangement would utilize the role of families, firmly keeping the workers within his factory compound! And such a stable social structure would also save Tang Mo a lot of production time!

So, everyone listened to Tang Mo describe the embryonic form of his future factory, and his words seemed quite feasible.

Tang Mo certainly knew his ideas would succeed because all of these were proven practices in the world before his transmigration.

So, he spoke fluently and eloquently: "As long as we use these female workers well, our production will be even more smooth. Rest assured, the factory in the future won't only need male workers."

"Some jobs are more suitable for female workers, as their hands are softer and they are more meticulous when installing certain components." When he got to the passionate part, he even gestured with his hands to make his speech more rousing.

He was working hard to convince everyone in the office, getting them to agree to his ambitious expansion plans.

Even if these plans couldn't be completed now, not even one-tenth of them, they at least represented the future, the future of this weapons workshop!

As he spoke, Tang Mo even remembered the kindergarten from his childhood, so he improvised and added this content to his speech: "Moreover, they can also work on quality control, cook for the increasing number of workers, and even help with newly born infants!"

When it came to children, he excitedly announced to everyone: "Children can act as apprentices. I won't only have my school teach crafts to the workers but also teach subjects like mathematics and reading. They all have to be literate and understand principles! Of course, this is a welfare benefit for my workers' families! A guaranteed benefit!"

Almost everyone was immersed in his vision for the future, with only Tagg startled awake from this grand dream. Because he realized that Tang Mo seemed to be planning to spend money and hire people again!

So, instinctively, he spoke up with a skeptical tone: "Do you still have money to hire teachers?"