Munitions Empire

Mathews glanced at Tang Mo sitting beside him and exclaimed, "That really is a grand move."

Harry nodded in agreement, saying, "I knew Shireck was wealthy, but this level of wealth is truly astonishing."

Just one day before, a secret envoy from Shireck—the maid—had astonishingly taken out 70,000 Gold Coins in cash at Brunas and directly purchased a telegraph machine.

Then, she boldly used the telegraph to get in touch with Sofia, who was far away at the Flame Castle.

Sofia clearly came prepared this time, but Tang Mo also knew that the other party couldn't really stir up any trouble, so he didn't waste too much energy on Shireck.

Now, he had far too many matters demanding his attention. Shireck, once the number one enemy, had now degraded to a mere insignificant henchman.

The Great Tang Group had essentially already secured victory in the 11-Kingdom War, had propped up the Laines Empire as a quasi-imperial power, and had already annihilated one enemy participant.

As for Taren and Xilun, everyone knew their collapse was just a matter of time. If it weren't for the reach being too far, the three northern participating kingdoms would probably not fare much better.

At this moment, Tang Mo needed to worry about the relocation of the capital of the Leite Kingdom, support the building of the Laines Empire, attend to his own school, the industrial production, and even the ever-lengthening railway lines.

With so many things on his plate, how could he have time to care about a damn representative from Shireck Consortium coming to negotiate?

"They are using a specific codebook, and breaking it will take time," said Luff, the military's Chief of Staff, somewhat frustrated. "If they are using a particular book, it might take about a week; if they've created their own codebook, then it might take us even longer to understand what they're actually saying."

"We don't need to dig that deep. If we could decode every telegram, that really would be something," Tang Mo reassured the military intelligence department.

Sure enough, the conversation soon turned to the frequently discussed topic of the Leite Kingdom's relocation of its capital.

Harry reported, "We've also received news from Leite VII. Next month, he plans to hold a military parade in Laines City and announce the relocation to Laines."

This indicated that King Leite VII of the Leite Kingdom had fully accepted the conditions offered by the Great Tang Group in exchange for its support of his claim to the throne.

The series of exchanges included ceding all lands west of the old capital to the Great Tang Group, legally agreeing to its permanent autonomy, apart from paying a certain amount of taxes while retaining complete foreign and military action sovereignty.

In other words, aside from nominal sovereignty, the Great Tang Group had essentially become a relatively independent state within a state.

After a pause, Harry, who was in charge of the matter, continued, "Over there, we've already deployed three construction teams to build new structures. The urban planning area contracted to us includes the Imperial Palace, the train station, and the commercial district."

"Managing over 4,000 people for food, clothing, accommodations, as well as the transportation and use of cement and asphalt, and the distribution of steel reinforcement… in short, the workload is immense," he said as he flipped through the documents in his hand: "Also, there are 200,000 prisoners of war and captured slaves, who now crowd Laines… it's quite lively there at the moment."

Everyone listened intently because they all knew that once the construction of Laines City was complete, the Great Tang Group would immediately possess an old king city that was relatively bustling.

It wouldn't require large-scale transformation, and having a population of several hundred thousand people was precisely what the Great Tang Group urgently needed for its development.

Harry went on to add, "The commercial district is our own territory; we are planning to build opera houses, shopping malls, including our private docks, and bridges, and construction has already begun."

In the new Imperial City, commerce was naturally a major focus, and everything there had to go through the hands of the Great Tang Group, because the economy of the Leite Kingdom was now closely tied with the Great Tang Group.

It was a situation that couldn't be helped, as the development of the Great Tang Group had already infiltrated all sectors of the industry.

For example, the fashion industry, including the recently booming photography studios and ready-made noble clothing, were all initiatives by the Great Tang Group.

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It's no joke to say that if the Great Tang Group falls apart, the economy of the entire Leite Kingdom would collapse in an instant—this isn't a joke, it's a statement of fact.

"The Imperial Palace is part of our exchange; therefore, we are responsible for its construction, adhering to the latest safety standards, including underground shelters, possible escape routes, surface buildings, high-rise constructions, and the perimeter walls..." Harry said as he walked over to a sketch and pointed at the blueprint hanging there.

The entire Imperial Palace was constructed by the construction team of the Great Tang Group, and although many structures inside would later be modified by craftsmen trusted by the King of Leite, the basic design philosophy was still determined by the Great Tang Group.

"A train station is also under construction. We are connecting the rail line between King City and Laines. Once completed, most of the Leite Kingdom will be interconnected," Harry said, his tone even more disgruntled when speaking of the train station.

It was precisely because so many railroads had to be built that Tang Mo bit the bullet and didn't shift his production capacity, which directly led to a severe shortage of Great Tang Group's war production capability.

The lack of capability ultimately led to the Northern front, which was initially slated for complete victory, becoming mired in a stalemate.

The Poplar Kingdom and the Rosewood Kingdom, to everyone's surprise, had tit-for-tat battles with the Songmu Kingdom and the Poplar Kingdom, presenting an appearance of evenly matched forces.

Similarly, the Phalak Kingdom was also only causing trouble at the border and had not put forth its full strength in the war.

Now, to the west of Osa Port in the Poplar Kingdom, there had been an orc uprising. A leader claiming to be a prince led his tribe in driving away the elves who occupied the area and re-established the Gales Kingdom...

In short, a series of chaotic events caused turmoil across the entire world, and the Poplar Kingdom had already expressed its dissatisfaction with the Great Tang Group through its special envoy.

Therefore, Harry voiced his reservations about continuing to build the railroad so quickly—according to his plan, the rail project could have been delayed and built more slowly.

"However, we've recently invested a bit too much into rails, and the factories are struggling to keep up," he said, suggesting his view.

"We're constructing the second railway from Northern Ridge to Brunas, the Dragon Island railway is about to be completed, and the one from Dorne to Leite has also begun, as has the railway from Suthers to Ice Crystal City," he said, gesturing on another world map hanging on the wall.

"The total mileage of the railways has already exceeded 1,000 kilometers, indicating that even in times of war, the majority of steel is still used for railways and ships..." He really wanted to remind Mathews, Parker, and others who were desperately producing rails that the war wasn't over yet!

"The transfer of the old King City is also proceeding in an orderly fashion. After King City becomes the new capital in Laines City, it will be renamed Jade City, as you wish." This name was given by Tang Mo, who provided a crystal-clear and beautiful name for this newly annexed city under his rule.

Although the city had nothing to do with beautiful jade, Tang Mo still hoped it could become a piece of fine jade in the palm of his hand, a divine gem to be crafted.

"Once the relocation is complete, all the land between Jade City and Brunas, including the Jade City-Brunas railway, will become the property of the Great Tang Group." After delivering the good news, Harry looked to Tang Mo.

Tang Mo was quite satisfied with the Prime Minister's proposal for equivalent exchange and nodded with a smile, saying, "Hmm! That is good news indeed."

"We plan to set up textile factories and food processing plants between Jade City and Northern Ridge, using railways to link Ice Crystal City, Wolf City, Brunas, and Jade City, creating a closed loop to speed up the flow of materials in the region," Harry continued, laying out the industrial plans of the Great Tang Group after seeing Tang Mo's affirmation.

Over the next year or so, the expansion of the Great Tang Group would follow the plan established at this meeting. Everything they discussed now was a phased goal for the future development of the Great Tang Group: "We'll build steel mills and weapons factories between Jade City and Brunas, expand our business, build more steel plants and power plants..."

"Similarly, between Jade City and Laines, we also want to build a series of factory zones to produce outdated parts or weaponry, including helmets, pistols, rifles, ammunition, and other products," Harry, still following the old method, did not mind relocating production to the outermost edge of the empire.

"In Brunas and Dragon Island's main factory area, we plan to produce heavy artillery, ships, automobiles, and advanced individual automatic weapons!" After finishing, Harry made way for Parker.

Parker had recently been preoccupied with the cooperation with the Dwarves of the Ice Cold Kingdom, so he stood up, approached the map, and began speaking, "From the Dwarf side, the Ice Cold Kingdom's supplies have been loaded onto ships heading north, and should soon reach Osa Port."

"The material list includes lathes, steam engines, electric motors, car engines, and various production lines." He spoke while pointing at the warship on the map, represented by a magnet.

He then added, clarifying the orders for the warship to accompany the transport fleet northward to visit the Ice Cold Kingdom, "Per your orders, the Brunas No. 4 will arrive at the Ice Cold Kingdom as an escort ship and stay there for ten days for a friendly visit."

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