Munitions Empire

Chapter 443 Great news for 432 days

looking at the indigenous people of zheng country whose clothes were still patched despite living within the city, tagg knitted his brows and turned to the corps commander, "are they truly poor, or is it the war that has brought them to this state?"

"i've asked. they've really been exploited to this extent. the officials of zheng country treat them very poorly, squeezing them mercilessly.... after the people from sheng country arrived, it was the same, they didn't even consider them human," the corps commander said. "there are thousands of mass graves outside the city, everywhere you can see the bodies of the people of zheng country."

"that's why we should come here." tagg took off his wide-brimmed hat and scratched his head, "the focus is on the port. we need to improve the throughput as fast as possible, it's the key to speeding up."

how could living conditions be improved? goods! having goods was the key! bringing more goods to dongwan island was the start of all development.nôv(el)b\\jnn

only with development, letting the locals feel the improvement of their quality of life, truly seeing hope, could their enthusiasm be mobilized.

if the various goods produced in other areas by the great tang group were all converged on dongwan island, the speed of construction on dongwan island could be increased exponentially!

when constructing dragon island, it started with the construction of the port; this was tagg's experience and why tang mo had sent him to dongwan island to take charge.

in fact, the great tang group had already dispatched a civil official to dongwan island, though young, his credentials were already quite high.

he was dino, one of the three greats of the first intake at the great tang group's military academy, known alongside yulin and galsa.

all three of them were class leaders among the first intake of students and were also old hands who followed tang mo, learning by his side from the early days.

dino had always majored in military command, but he had not yet held a military rank when tang mo temporarily employed him and arranged for him to manage civil affairs on dongwan island.

assisting him was a retired old man, an amiable fellow, the former minister of construction of the leite kingdom, baus, a man with a stout figure.

this ambitionless and not particularly skilled chubby man might not have had much of his own opinion, but he was reliable in his work. because he had early ties with tang mo, he resigned from his position as the leite kingdom's minister of construction and took up a job with the great tang group.

in short, he was a good-natured man, doing whatever was asked of him, fitting to assist dino as a errand runner.

the main reason tang mo sent him to dongwan island was to alleviate some of dino's workload, as dino was also responsible for the construction and arrangement of military facilities on the island, with a heavy workload in the early stages, thus he needed help.

but tang mo really couldn't find an experienced and stable person to go to dongwan island — surely he couldn't rely on a group of students around 20 years old? he couldn't be at ease....

"welcome to dongwan island." dino, who had arrived here first, extended his hand to tagg upon seeing him, saluting, "general!"

although his current identity wasn't that of a soldier, he was a student of the great tang group's military academy and was likely to become a commander in his own right someday, so he still maintained all the habits he had in school.

"you look much better than i do," tagg also returned a military salute, and the two walked into the governor's mansion, which the sheng country people had rebuilt on the foundation of the zheng country's officials' complex.

to be frank, the place was grand, but the degree of modernization was very poor, as was the practicality.

unfortunately, there was no choice, because other facilities needed to be built urgently, so here they could only make do and continue using it.

"agreed," tagg concurred with dino's view.

"are the locals cooperative?" he then continued to inquire.

dino nodded, expressing his great satisfaction with the locals' numb acquiescence to cooperation, "for now, it looks fine. i've set up some distribution points in certain areas, and the indigenous people in the wilderness are very cooperative. attacks are extremely rare isolated incidents."

hearing that the overall situation was not bad, tagg also felt relieved. as long as there wasn't strong resistance, he was confident in stabilizing the situation.

as he contemplated how to deploy his troops, he heard dino continue, "additionally, general... i need more manpower..."

"you sly boy, are you eyeing my soldiers?" tagg was taken aback for a moment before laughing and tapping dino with his finger.

dino immediately assumed an appearance of having no other choice, "i have no choice. if i had a source for manpower, i wouldn't dare to ask you."

"the 3rd corps?" tagg was ready to push out the recently arrived troops still suffering from seasickness, who were temporarily of no use, as a bargaining chip.

"the 1st corps... the 3rd corps just disembarked, let them rest a few days. they can help out with the construction of the iron factory," dino shrewdly insisted, refusing to be tricked.

tagg didn't struggle further and agreed directly to dino's idea, "you rascal! alright! let the 1st corps get some exercise."

"general, your arrival has brought us a big project," the commander of the 1st corps said beside him, pretending to complain.

tagg also pretended to rebuke seriously, "stop complaining and carry out the orders!"

"but our corps's rangers are out on search and clearance missions..." the commander of the 1st corps thought of a problem.

"indeed, these rangers are doing very well. the matter about the locals offering women was first reported by a ranger named cao fei from the 2nd battalion of the 1st corps," dino said, quickly explaining as he caught tagg's glance.

tagg nodded, "then let the rangers continue their mission. the remaining officers and soldiers of the 1st corps will hand over the defense to the 2nd corps... anyway, the barracks within the city are nothing special, go ahead and switch defense. any difficulties?"

"none!" lifting his chin, the commander of the 1st corps stood at attention and responded. his 1st corps was the main force among the main forces, and if one day it expanded into the 1st division, he would be the division commander. what significance did these little tasks hold for him? they're not going to battle, and they would probably get wilderness garrison subsidies.

plus, the city barracks were nothing great. where else could he pick up such a bargain?

very soon, the already chaotic dongwan city stirred again with bustling activity as the 1st battalion of the 1st corps moved out of the army camp and the 2nd corps began to take over the defense.

for a time, the roads were crowded with various vehicles and horses, and the indigenous people looked on curiously at these big-headed soldiers who had only recently arrived, yet were stirring up trouble once more.

what was different this time was that these soldiers who had come from afar, claiming to be the great tang group military, did not disturb the locals. they did not harass local women or rob and take things at will.

in their eyes, this was already tremendously good news. this was also the reason why they were so cooperative: they had never seen such "easy marks" who would give them money to work!