Munitions Empire

"My God!" the young man exclaimed, unable to suppress his shout as he gazed at the gigantic ten-story building before him, his face filled with shock.

Standing on the street, it seemed as if he had seen the future. In his view, next to the unprecedented ten-story building, a massive fifteen-story building was nearing completion.

Majestic five-story buildings stood on either side of the street, and on their vast sidewalls, posters of a beautiful woman posing provocatively were spray-painted.

At the top of the poster, a slogan written in stylized characters welcomed visitors to Brunas No.9 Street—anyone who had stayed in Brunas for two days would know that No.9 Street was the most famous red-light district around.

To speak frankly, there were just too many tall buildings here. In just six months, the high-rises of Brunas had skyrocketed, increasing tenfold or more from before.

Within a few months, the record for the tallest building had been broken repeatedly. Now holding the record was a landmark building invested in and constructed by the Great Tang Group: the Brunas Hotel.

The luxury of this hotel was beyond imagination. It was frequented by celebrities from all walks of life, and many earls and marquises had rooms permanently reserved for themselves here.

There was no way around it—this was a symbol of power. If you didn't even have a room in the Brunas Hotel, others would easily doubt your financial strength, hence less confidence in doing business with you.

Of course, the height record of this colossal hotel, which had 17 floors, was already in jeopardy, as at least 20 construction projects underway in Brunas City had declared that they would exceed 50 meters in height.

Even more, three of those projects had declared heights of around 100 meters, which was simply impossible to find anywhere else.

On the street, it was bustling with traffic; he even caught sight of a novel type of vehicle that did not rely on horses to move—a sight unseen elsewhere.

These vehicles moved swiftly, causing pedestrians to dodge to either side, while the nobility inside basked in pride, enjoying the unprecedented convenience brought by new technology.

They certainly had reason to be proud, for only in Brunas could they purchase such novel modes of transportation which weren't available anywhere else!

Apart from these novel cars, horse-drawn carriages remained the mainstream mode of transport. Brunas' streets and alleys were filled with carriages, as well as some rickshaws and horses.

In short, the traffic here was exceptionally busy and congested, with a huge span of diversity. It was even possible to see a 'mounted police' officer speaking with a car driver, head bent low.

After dodging a horse-drawn carriage loaded with goods, he saw groups of children with backpacks walking along the edge of the road.

The children passed by fire hydrants painted red, which were over three meters tall—completely different from the firefighting equipment of later eras.

Seeing such advanced devices in the city was already a miraculous experience. In other cities, it was not easy to find such equipment.

Then, amidst the chaos, the young man witnessed another unforgettable sight: a group of confident, unbearably beautiful girls.

Encountering such groups of girls in other cities was not easy, and these girls were even dressed in luxurious clothing rarely seen in other cities.

They chatted and laughed, emitting bell-like sounds, their heads held high as if the whole world was waiting for them to conquer it.

No need to guess—they were students from the Brunas Women's University, another modern university established by the Tang Group.

In Brunas, women were not secondary; on the contrary, they were another force propelling the rapid development of the city.

Among them were students of architecture, fashion, arts, mathematics, physics, medicine, chemistry... Of course, many beauties from the Tang Military Academy studied communication, intelligence, assassination and combat, and even military command.

Brunas had 170,000 female workers, a number that even exceeded the total count of female technicians in the entire Leite Kingdom from before.

These women were responsible for textile making, leather processing, the preparation of hazardous, intense, and toxic chemicals.

Additionally, they managed childcare, babysitting, kindergartens, nursing, and medical tasks, which also greatly elevated their status in Brunas.

The plump auntie Cui Xi, who used to cook for Tang Mo, now managed Brunas's women's organization, assisting them in maintaining their rights.

Generally, no one would bother these independent women since their boss was none other than the tough person who occasionally cooked meals for Tang Mo.

The people in charge of military and political power in Brunas, including Tang Mo's personal guard Wes, Production Manager Parker, Chief Engineer Mathews, Chief of Staff Luff, Tagg the commander of the military, and Redman, who among them has not experienced Auntie Cui Xi's ultimate technique "The Trembling Ladle"?

In the distant sky, several hot air balloons floated, these devices were all for testing instruments — the workers above needed to determine the accuracy of certain instruments under different atmospheric pressures.

Groups of people brushed past the young man from out of town, and at a glance, he could tell that one of them was from the Elf Race.

The elf man was laughing and chatting with the people around him, his arms cradling a paper bag filled with bread and vegetables like carrots.

Everything that entered his view was completely different from other places; next to the bustling streets through the crystal clear floor-to-ceiling windows, beautiful dresses were displayed.

Above the dress shop was a sign that seemed to bear the mark of a master artist, and the shop owner was a very elegant old man with a tape measure hanging around his neck and thick glasses perched on his nose.

To be honest, he had never seen so many shops before; the streets and alleys here were filled with shops, some of which were as big as a building, selling almost everything imaginable.

Even in the smaller shops, the owners were very enthusiastic, promoting the goods they sold, including fine cutlery, wine, and all kinds of beverages.

Huge night club signs were tangled with wires, and many places in Brunas were already electrified, making it look more modern and fascinating than other places.

It was like Shanghai in the 1930s, with buildings of various styles housing people of all sorts, everyone enjoying the convenience brought by technological advances but also living a not-so-perfect life constrained by the times.

At night, the difference between Brunas and other areas would immediately become apparent; the electrified streets were even more enchanting.

Compared to King City or Wolf City, Brunas was truly a city that never slept. Its people hadn't heard the word curfew in a long while, and going out for fun at night had become a consensus among the city's inhabitants.

Cheap taverns provided workers with the least expensive liquor, and snack vendors on the street would often see drunk workers singing and dancing.

Majestically decorated entertainment venues had successful individuals in suits and leather shoes standing at the entrance, more cars and carriages than in the day parked under the glow of the neon lights.

Who could have imagined, that such a flourishing place in the world, was just a small fishing port with a population of just tens of thousands two years ago?

Who could have imagined, that it was once a place where even larger fleets would not dock, with an annual freight throughput of less than 100,000 tons?

Now, the port docks here could accommodate the largest cargo ships in the world, with the capability to handle 30 large sea vessels discharging cargo at the same time.

11,000 people worked at the port here, tasked with moving steel transported from all over the world at high prices to the Brunas Railway Station built next to the port.

The amount of cargo they had to unload each day exceeded 50,000 tons. Without the support of sea transportation, Brunas would be facing famine right now!

Countless quantities of metal from all over the world were transported to Brunas, and to save time, most of the metal brought here had already been smelted into ingots!

Tang Mo, in order to produce ammunition, manufacture other products, and meet the demand for production equipment and wires, as well as strategic reserves, consumed at least 2,000 tons of pure copper every month.

That number might not sound like much, but considering the consumption of pure copper in other areas, it was clear that Great Tang Group in Brunas had become the world's largest buyer of brass.

Apart from brass, there was steel; to build warships, produce cannons, and other weapons, Tang Mo's consumption of steel was also frighteningly high.

In addition, for the construction of the city, he was also using a large amount of rebar and concrete, which greatly increased his steel usage.

Nowadays, half of the maritime capacity entering Brunas and at least one-third of the land transportation capacity were transporting metal ore; Brunas had earned the nickname "Steel City" from other regions.

And Brunas truly lived up to that nickname—it might be the world's first fully modernized city.

With a modernized water supply plant, a sewage system design that was constantly being expanded, and an electric power system... these things were utterly unmatched by other large cities.

Tang Mo, the man who personally created all of this, had become a legend in many ways, and his name started to spread in many countries.

Merchants shared a saying among themselves, "Want to get rich? Go to Brunas! Whether you're a commoner or nobility, you can always make a fortune there. Want to make a big fortune? Go to Brunas! Sell everything you have, turn it into steel and transport it to Brunas!

Oh, and... stay away from the casinos!"