Munitions Empire

Inside the most luxurious office of the Great Tang Group, Tang Mo was sitting in his own seat, listening to Luff report the latest situation of the military.

On the huge map hanging on the wall, Luff was pushing willow leaf-shaped magnets representing the approximate locations of the warships.

This map was exquisitely made, with an iron sheet as the backing board, and all the labels on the map were created with magnets.

This design made it crystal clear at a glance what forces one had at their disposal, with the only flaw being the map pasted on the iron board was prone to wear and tear and needed to be replaced from time to time.

At this moment, the deployment of all warships of the Great Tang Group was indicated by magnets on the map, clear and unmistakable.

Luff opened his mouth to introduce, "Brunas 1 is on its way back to Brunas, Bruna 2 and Bruna 3 are heading north to Osa Military Harbor, Bruna 4 is at Dragon Island, Bruna 5 is on its way to Dragon Island, and Bruna 6 is stationed in Bruna Harbor."

Such a deployment also showed that Tang Mo had never sent his fleet's main force to attack the Poplar Kingdom. Two-thirds of his warships were either deployed at Black Dragon Island or in Brunas, with one ship on its way back to Brunas.

Meanwhile, Tang Mo was building two new Wolf-class cruisers, and another Brunas-class warship was being built slowly.

This Brunas-class warship was meant to be sold off, after all with the more advanced Wolf-class cruisers available, who would want the outdated Brunas-class ironclad warships?

For purchasing this new type of warship, the Leite Kingdom offered a price of 230,000 Gold Coins—this might be the most expensive warship in the history of this world.

However, its record would soon be broken, because the Wolf-class warships that Tang Mo was building, if sold, would obviously fetch an even more terrifying price.

After introducing the whereabouts of the six warships, Luff continued with the construction situation of the land forces, "For ground troops, among our two regiments, one is dispersed along the line from Brunas to Northern Ridge, and the other is deployed on Dragon Island."

Recently, the Great Tang Group had no plans for ground warfare; the main role of its two regiments was to ensure the security of their own factories.

Thus, although these troops were equipped with the most advanced weapons, their scale had not expanded too much, which satisfied the upper and lower echelons of the Leite Kingdom very much.

After all, the existence of a powerful armed force inside the country that one cannot control would indeed make a monarch sleepless at night.

However, since this armed force had always maintained restraint and didn't frequently exhibit aggressiveness, Leite VII was very satisfied.

Pointing to go stone-sized hematite magnets on the map, Luff said, "Among them, one battalion of Regiment 1 is in Brunas, one battalion is in Factory 2, and one battalion is training in the Vicious Forest. They rotate regularly..."

Because "Black Dragon Island" didn't sound very nice, and the black dragon didn't quite fit Tang Mo's golden dragon emblem, the Great Tang Group decided to rename Black Dragon Island to Dragon Island, and the first city on Dragon Island was also named Dragon City.

So when referring to Black Dragon Island, Luff was already very accustomed to using the new name for the island controlled by the Great Tang Group, "On Dragon Island, the second regiment has one battalion deployed in Dragon City, while the other two newly expanded battalions are in training."

"For weapon equipment, Regiment 1's first battalion is switching to recoilless guns, phasing out the original 120 mm caliber C80 recoilless guns, preparing to sell them as second-hand weapons to the newly formed Fifth Corps of Northern Ridge after the complete refit," Redman also added.

He paused, giving a very common summary of the military report, "Everything is proceeding according to plan."

Indeed, everything was going according to Tang Mo's plan, so everything was under control, which in itself was good news for a decision-maker.

Soon it was the turn of the sales department to introduce their work situation. A young sales manager began to speak, "Dorne's envoy has already settled in the Brunas inn, they are negotiating with us for the purchase of 40 C80 recoilless field guns."

He was quiet, dressed in the suits designed by Tang Mo, wearing glasses on his face, just like an ordinary job-seeking young man.

But those who knew of his credentials would not underestimate him, for he had won a scholarship at the Great Tang Military Academy and learned under Tang Mo for four months.

Those personally trained by Tang Mo were technical talents who could command respect. This young man named Harry was a professional handpicked by Tang Mo to negotiate business on his behalf.

Harry, armed with at least thirty percent of Tang Mo's skill and the technological edge of the Great Tang Group, was able to hold his own at the negotiation table against many veteran managers.

Tang Mo looked at Harry and asked, "It's not just about the artillery, is it?"

The young Harry, in his role as the Sales Director of the Great Tang Group, commanded the external sales department. He nodded and said to Tang Mo, "Yes, master. In fact, their greatest concern is our G1 machine gun, which is considered a secret weapon."

Although in private Harry liked to call Tang Mo teacher or headmaster, even if there was another person present, even if that person was Tang Mo's personal guard Wes, he would use the term "master" to address Tang Mo.

He revealed the purpose of Dorne's delegation's visit, "They hope to purchase at least 10 G1 machine guns in the future."

The Maxim machine guns from the Great Tang Group, also known as G1 machine guns, had already been equipped by many troops. This included the Great Tang Group's own security forces, the Northern Ridge's troops, and the elite of both the Leite Kingdom and the Suthers Kingdom.

However, except for the Great Tang Group's own security forces, the other troops were equipped with very few. The Northern Ridge only had 8 machine guns, just two per legion. Even their newly formed 5th Legion didn't have a single one.

The Leite Kingdom's most powerful troops were equipped with 4 G1 machine guns, and the Suthers Kingdom also owned 4.

These weapons were treated like treasures by those who had seen their power, not readily shown to others. Even their training was done in secrecy, and after use, even the shell casings were collected and counted.

Moreover, both the Leite Kingdom and the Suthers Kingdom were actively working to purchase more G1 machine guns.

"That's a significant amount," Tang Mo said with a smile on his face when he heard the number of 10 machine guns.

Harry nodded slightly and continued to report, "Yes, but they are willing to sign a huge order at the same time."

He then listed off their purchase list as if on a carousel, "First, they are willing to purchase 40 C80 cannons, along with matching transport carts, ammunition carts, and 1500 shells."

"Similarly, they are also willing to purchase 4000 K1 Quick Guns, 500 new Left-Wheel Handguns, and 1000 K2 lever-action rifles. This includes the corresponding equipment, ammunition, and related training..." Clearly, these "scraps" also represented the other party's sincerity.

"Is there more?" Tang Mo knew full well that their sincerity wasn't limited to these.

As expected, Harry continued, "Additionally, they wish to build 3 bullet factories within their borders, a production line for K1 rifles, and a production line for C80 cannons..."

And obviously, the other side's sincerity didn't stop there, they were even willing to allow Tang Mo to set up his own intelligence network in their country, "Of course, during negotiations they emphasized the telegraph machine, hoping we can set telegraph stations in their major cities, at least 10 of them."

"10 machine guns, 100,000 bullets..." Finally, after Harry finished speaking, he looked toward Tang Mo and named the other party's price, "They are willing to pay 1.3 million Gold Coins for these..."

Of course, this offer included some extra "protection money." That money was probably to ensure the benefits of continuing their expansion after purchasing advanced weapons from Tang Mo.

Tang Mo nodded slightly, the other party's price was obviously well-calculated and quite reasonable. However, he still decided to bargain with them, "It's a fair price. But our profit margin is too low."

"I think so too," Harry immediately agreed.

Tang Mo lit a cigarette, held it between his fingers, exhaled a puff of smoke, and ordered, "Then give them a quote of 2 million."

"Right." Harry wrote down Tang Mo's demand in his notebook and then, as if remembering something else, began to speak.

"Hmm?" Tang Mo and several others around him looked toward Harry, waiting for him to continue.

Indeed, Harry brought up another request from the other party, "Along with the special envoy came representatives from Dorne's civil business associations. They hope to raise funds on their own to purchase rails and trains to build a railroad for their own use in the southern part of Dorne."

"What's the price?" Tang Mo asked offhandedly.

"Our quote for the entire railway is 1.7 million Gold Coins. They hope to push the price down to 1.1 million Gold Coins, and there's a significant disparity between the two parties," Harry immediately stated the price proposed by them.

Tang Mo thought for a moment and reduced the price by 100,000 Gold Coins, "1 million Gold Coins! Give it to them! Also, sell them the technology for producing the rails, but I want one third of the equity in that railway!"

"Yes!" Harry nodded respectfully, indicating he had no more to say.