Munitions Empire

Chapter 1068: 990 hearts being pried open

Recently, the sales department of the Great Tang Group has been making money at an incredibly fast pace. They’ve sold so many items that it has led to complaints from the production department.

Firstly, the Dahua Empire made a huge purchase of supplies and military armaments, and because the grain-producing areas near Wanliang have turned into battlefields, the Dahua Empire even had to import some of their food.

But aside from the Great Tang Empire, Qin Country has already started a war with Shu Country, leaving the Dahua Empire with no place to import grain from, forcing them to buy it from the Great Tang Empire at a high price.

In addition to food, because of the war, the Dahua Empire also had to spend money on various military materials to make up for their losses.

Thus, just from the transactions with the Dahua Empire, the industrial department of the Great Tang Group has made a considerable amount of money.

Furthermore, there’s the revenue from the Fengjiang area: even though the Great Tang Empire supports Fengjiang and provides a large amount of military aid, in reality, there are many products that are charged, so Fengjiang also spent quite a bit of money.

Chu Country, in order to please the Great Tang Empire, spent money to purchase a lot of industrial equipment, and they also purchased medicine and various weapons from the Great Tang Empire.

Both Shu Country and Qin Country are crazily importing materials and military supplies, with Qin Country even directly buying tank production lines and more airplane production lines.

The purchases from these countries added up are already substantial, but even so, this is without including the income from the export of Scud missiles, radar, and other weapons and equipment by the Great Tang Empire.

Including dividends from the Shireck Consortium, in the past month and more, the Great Tang Group has made so much money that it has once again plunged the nations of the world into a vicious cycle of trade deficits.

But as the Great Tang Empire’s technology spreads, the world is also quietly undergoing a series of changes. There are more and more highways, railways, and cities, and naturally, the population is also growing.

In just the past year, more than 2,000 airports have been put into service around the world, and the infrastructure of various countries has greatly improved. Even the backward Beastmen now possess a small domestic railway.

Electricity is beginning to become widespread, with many villages starting to use electric lights. Although incandescent lamps are still mainstream, the Great Tang Empire has already taken the lead in popularizing fluorescent lights.

As the most successful arms dealer in the world, His Majesty The Emperor of the Great Tang Empire can almost cover all of the past year’s expenditures solely with income from selling radar.

Including his support for the civil war in Fengjiang, providing weapons for Fengjiang, and the expenses of arranging mercenaries for Fengjiang, Tang Mo’s expenditures are simply recouped just with the income from radar.

He is so wealthy that it is beyond what people can imagine. According to his orders, all buildings under construction in the Great Tang Empire must have conduits reserved, to prepare for the upcoming widespread use of telephone lines, cable television networks, and future internet lines.

With the Great Tang Empire launching 10 rockets a month to send satellites into orbit, Tang Mo feels that it won’t be long before he pushes the world into the internet age. If he doesn’t prepare actively, a great deal of time will be wasted.

What he lacks is time! The nuclear bombs that have begun to be manufactured need time, the development of computers toward large-scale integrated circuits needs time, high-performance passenger cars need time— even the growth of Tang Mo’s sons and daughters requires time.

Just as Tang Mo was lamenting that he didn’t have enough time and felt that technological development couldn’t keep up with his needs, the bartender from the intelligence department hurriedly delivered an intelligence report.

“Your Majesty! Fresh news just came in! The defensive line of Huai Mountain in Shu Country has collapsed,” the bartender handed over the document to a momentarily stunned Tang Mo and reported with his head bowed.

Tang Mo really did not expect that Qin Country could be so fierce as to break through the defensive line of Shu Country, and before the Great Tang Empire’s assistance reached Qin Country, they had already completed the most critical step of their strategic offensive.

As long as Qin Country takes down Huai Mountain, they can then attack vigorously eastward, along the border of the Dahua Empire, cutting off the connection between Shu Country and the Dahua Empire, and complete the strategic deployment of bordering Chu Country.

“The Qin people are fighting well,” Tang Mo looked down at the intelligence report, which detailed how Qin Country had managed to break through Shu Country’s defenses.

On one hand, Qin Country spent a great deal of money to bribe some traitorous Shu merchants, obtaining Shu Country’s defensive maps from them, and at the same time, they turned some of Shu Country’s generals, preparing for inside and outside cooperation.

To ensure nothing goes wrong, Qin Country also drew their most elite 1st Army, and at any cost, launched a fierce attack on Huai Mountain.

Shu Country, caught off guard, was thrown into disarray, and after creating a large number of casualties for Qin Country, they eventually could not sustain it, losing the most crucial support point of the Huai Mountain defensive line—Huai Mountain City.

After losing Huai Mountain, Shu Country was completely put on the defensive. They were forced to retreat south and set up a new defensive line along the more southern Shu Mountain.

The reason why Shu Country is called so is that there is a mountain range called Shu Mountain within their borders, which serves as their natural defense and treasure trove.

This mountain range not only provides Shu Country with a barrier but also offers it an abundance of mineral resources and countless mountainous resources. Of course, now… it has become the front line.

However, Qin Country’s initial goal was not the mineral veins of Shu Mountain, but to border Chu Country to the east, bypassing the exploitation by the Dahua Empire and Shu Country.

But after they captured Huai Mountain, really leaving Shu Country’s gates wide open, Qin Country’s higher and lower ranks also began to have some unrealistic fantasies: what if they swallowed up Shu Country by moving south? Would they not then have more capital?

In fact, for a long time, Qin Country’s biggest dream had been to devour half of the Dahua Empire and border the Great Tang Empire between Dongqing City and Shanchong.

Of course, dreams are full, reality is skeletal. Even if the Great Tang Empire really was willing to divide Dahua with Qin, it wouldn’t possibly leave the essential parts of Dahua to Qin.

So the actual situation is that the Great Tang Empire might very well swallow Dahua whole, at most leaving some border territories on the west side of Dahua to Qin.

This completely shattered Qin Country’s dreams of eastward expansion, and Shu Country thus became Qin’s only option for expansion: Qin truly despised the poor and rugged lands of the Orc Empire.

“Qin Country is now advancing on two fronts; one is advancing towards Shu Mountain City, the other is pushing eastward along the border of the Dahua Empire…” The bartender reminded Tang Mo.

Tang Mo nodded, his face showing a joy that he couldn’t conceal: when he and Nangong Hong planned, they hoped Qin Country would be greedy and stir things up, and now it seems the effect is good, Qin really covets Shu after gaining Long.

“Let’s not worry about Qin Country for now. Go find Nangong Hong for me, we need to get Chu Country to hand over Nanshan Port to us as soon as possible,” Tang Mo said, and even started laughing.

Without any effort, his Tang Country obtained the largest port of Chu Country, and at the same time dragged almost all the countries of the Western Continent into the war. What a marvelous moment.

With the Great Tang Empire controlling Nanshan Port, they could build a railway from Nanshan to the hinterland of the Great Tang Empire. By then, Tang Mo would own almost all the large ports on the East Coast.

Plainly speaking, if goods want to be shipped from the Eastern Continent to the Western Continent, or vice versa, through the Endless Sea, there’s no bypassing the Great Tang Empire.

What a wonderful thing it is, just like the Daiying Empire holding Gibraltar, or the United States controlling Panama… just thinking about it is a delight to the eye.

Moreover, the Great Tang Empire Navy will also gain a significant strategic depth, starting from Nanshan Port in the south, reaching Dragon Island in the east, and extending to Beiyuan City to the north, relying on Dongwan Island and Linshui Port in the middle.

In the future, this sea area will become the private property of the Great Tang Empire, an absolute territorial sea! Any foreign ships entering this area will have to comply with the laws and demands of the Great Tang Empire, such a fine matter.

“Yes, Your Majesty.” The bartender, a giant man with a towering figure, still stood a bit taller than Tang Mo even when he bent slightly. He left Tang Mo’s room, and Tang Mo once again looked down at the intelligence in his hands.

Qin Country is so forceful on that front that Tang Mo feels he should apply some effort on the Fengjiang direction. If the civil war in Fengjiang continues unchecked, the interests of the Great Tang Empire might be jeopardized.

According to the original plan, Fengjiang City, with the support of the Great Tang Empire, should have pressed towards Dongqing City, breaking away from the Dahua Empire completely.

But the current situation is that the Dahua Empire is still struggling against the rebels within Fengjiang City; this is far from what the Great Tang Empire had hoped for.

Lately, many new events happened within a month’s time, with some even describable as stormy waves.

For instance, at this shaky time, Chu Muzhou, the once anchor of the Dahua Empire and the steadfast Prime Minister, surprisingly tendered his resignation.

Unexpectedly, the Emperor of the Dahua Empire approved Chu Muzhou’s resignation and in one breath also dismissed all three of Chu Muzhou’s sons.

The Chu family fell from grace in an instant, followed by disorder in the political arena of the Dahua Empire. Nobody expected that the two Missiles “sold” by the Tang Empire to Fengjiang would be so potent, amping up the turmoil in the political landscape of the Dahua Empire.

These Missiles not only leveraged the Dahua Imperial court but also shifted many people’s hearts. Those harboring their own little schemes began to stir after hearing the news of Zhao Kai being wounded.

Among them was Zhao Jie, a member of the Royal Family wielding heavy troops. With Zhao Kai injured and Zhao Ji under house arrest, he… suddenly realized that he too could possibly be a strong contender for the throne!

At least, from any angle, he Zhao Jie was far more capable than the few good-for-nothing sons Zhao Kai had left. Of course, he also had disadvantages, after all, he wasn’t a son of Zhao Kai…