Munitions Empire

Chapter 309: 305 Worries

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.

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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