Munitions Empire

Chapter 618: 577 Ordinary Morning

Waking up, Tang Mo opened his eyes on a bed with little elasticity. He was used to sleeping on hard beds because in both worlds, he spent most of his time sleeping on them.

In his previous life, he was always traveling around the world, spending most of his time on the road, whether on a cargo ship escorting arms or on an airplane, the beds were not so soft.

In this world, at first, he was sleeping in his office; there were no so-called conditions, a bed and bedding were all he had. Even now, he preferred to sleep on a hard bed, and he would find it difficult to fall asleep on a soft mattress.

He rubbed his face, then sat up on the bed, took a glass from the bedside table, drank a sip of the cool boiled water inside, and finally woke up completely.

On a table not far away lay an unfinished drawing, weighed down by the technical manual he was still working on.

Even during wartime, he had to ensure more than 2 hours of “technical development” time every day. With these technological reserves and guidance, the Great Tang Group could always lead the world, becoming the most technologically advanced entity on this planet.

What time did he work until last night? He forgot. Anyway, he went to sleep on the bed as soon as he felt tired.

As a king, his life was quite boring. What he did every day and at what times were basically fixed, as pitiful as a wage earner.

The most tragic part was that he even had to hope that every day would be this boring and monotonous because any disruption to his routine meant that something big, which his subordinates couldn’t handle, had happened.

So, while he boringly arranged his work every day, he dared not pray for any major changes.

This morning, no servant hurriedly woke him, which meant at least there was no major incident last night. Or at least, there was no major incident that others couldn’t handle.

What a beautiful day it was. Tang Mo twisted his neck, stretched lazily, and pressed the electric bell beside his bed.

“Good morning, Your Majesty!” The servant, who had been waiting outside, immediately opened the door, helped Tang Mo make the bed, and opened the curtains and windows.

“Good morning.” Tang Mo walked to the washroom and took the toothbrush from the maid’s hand to start brushing. When he walked out with a clean face, his breakfast was already laid out on the dining table.

This might be the kind of treatment he did not have in his past life, and it was one of the benefits of being a king. He had countless people to serve him and hardly needed to do anything himself.

The white bread was stacked obliquely on the plate, and the milk beside it radiated the fragrance of nature. The fried slices of meat were adorned with the most luxurious spices, even the maid standing by, awaiting orders, was so pleasing to the eye.

“Good morning. Did you sleep well last night?” Tang Mo asked as he sat down while the man accompanying him also took a seat.

Wes nodded while spreading jam on his bread, “Of course, I slept well. If I didn’t, there wouldn’t be many people in the world who did.”

“Your Majesty, here’s the morning briefing of headlines from all domestic newspapers,” his personal secretary wheeled in a cart and nodded slightly to Wes, then reported to Tang Mo.

“Is there anything worth paying attention to?” Tang Mo gestured with his hand, beckoning for something, as he spoke.

The secretary, used to his habits by now, knew that if Tang Mo was interested in the newspapers, he would let her read some, and if he wanted to see important telegrams, he would reach out his hand.

So she immediately took out last night’s telegram records from the bottom of the cart and handed them to Tang Mo, “Reporting to Your Majesty, there’s nothing in the news that requires your special attention.”

The maid by his side had also become familiar with the king’s habits and immediately stepped forward to start spreading the rich, red strawberry jam on Tang Mo’s bread with her calloused hands.

When the king reached out to take the documents, he couldn’t handle the food himself. That was when she would step in to help and make the food ready to eat for His Majesty.@@novelbin@@

The maids serving Tang Mo were selected from the graduates of the Great Tang Military Academy, known for their unquestionable loyalty.

Don’t be fooled by this maid standing there feeding Tang Mo; she was a junior trained by Yulin herself, skilled in combat and an excellent markswoman.

The way Tang Mo and Wes interacted with each other increasingly resembled a family. This added a touch of warmth to the room’s morning atmosphere, something that Wes liked as it helped him relax.

Once a Ranger, he now had less freedom, but he had found something he never had before: the warmth of a family.

“Xiang Ziyu, when the paratroopers were expanding recruitment from Tongcheng…” Tang Mo noticed a name and became interested in this paratrooper.

He read in a battle report that this paratrooper was brave in combat, firing the first shot that killed the fleeing Prime Minister of Qi Country.

Although the credit for killing the King of Qi was attributed to the entire 1st Paratrooper Battalion, this little guy was also among those closest to the carriage at the time.

Compared with the soldiers from other troops, there tended to be more young people among the paratroopers, armored troops, and the air force. Because these troops required some level of cultural education, most of them were schooled young people.

Tang Mo keenly noticed that more and more Chinese names, like Liu Guozhu, Xiang Ziyu, and even the previous sniper Cao Fei, were appearing before him.

Although the command structure still mainly consisted of Brunas’s old guards at the higher levels, excellent individuals had already started to stand out among the lower-ranking officers and soldiers.

“Before it was always names like Tony, William, Mike, but now it’s changed to Liu Guozhu, Xiang Ziyu… it really takes some getting used to,” Wes mused while chewing, “In a few years, you probably really won’t need an old guy like me anymore.”

“Come on! If you want to be lazy, just say it, but saying you’re old is a bit much,” Tang Mo, holding a document in one hand and taking bread from a maid with the other, said, “Thank you.”

The crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, bread intermingling with the soft and sweet jam, delighted the taste buds on Tang Mo’s tongue, bringing a sense of happiness that made him squint his eyes.

“We should give these young fellows medals, better medals!” Tang Mo appraised, making sure his secretary took note of it.

He then placed the documents on the dining table, took away the topmost report about the paratroopers, and picked up the second sheet to continue reading.

It was a construction report from the rear, indicating that a new large copper mine was built in the Tongcheng area, this time using the most advanced technology, which was expected to increase copper production.

This was good news, as such a large mine could potentially provide jobs for over 10,000 people, while also promoting local economic development and providing more production materials for the country.

Another piece of news came from the Empire of Nanla; Susan, the fashion doyen who had been mingling in high society of the Empire of Nanla, had broken contact with her handler and sought refuge with the Nanla Royal Family.

Tang Mo didn’t feel the least bit surprised, as for him, Susan was just a peripheral figure, someone who could be replaced at any time.

So he looked towards his personal secretary and instructed, “Let Princess Yue’er choose someone suitable to take over Susan’s work, and… if there’s a chance, deal with the traitor. We can’t let others think that we are so weak that we can’t hold a knife…”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” the personal secretary noted down Tang Mo’s orders once again.

Tang Mo’s thinking was simple, he hadn’t soothed his women in a long time, and not giving something for Yue’er in Dragon Island to do meant that he would probably be drained dry the next time they met.

Thinking of Yue’er made him think of Yulin, who was holding down Chang’an, and then of Alice who had reached Dongwan Island…

Women, ah, so many women, it’s really a bit much for his old waist to bear—fortunately, after the war broke out, he had moved to Anpu, where he had been able to recuperate and regain some vitality.

Men, ah, it’s not easy…

After finishing breakfast, Tang Mo went with Wes to the neighboring headquarters. The duty officers were still busy, and the female officers were compiling telegrams from the front lines, registering and archiving them.

Upon seeing Tang Mo, Luff immediately stood up to greet him, “Your Majesty!”

“Morning,” Tang Mo casually waved his hand, signaling the staff officers not to be so tense, “How’s it going at Donghe Bridge?”

“The paratroopers have secured the bridgehead, and there are no signs of a large-scale counterattack from the enemy. We expect ground troops to reach the paratroopers’ area by this morning,” Luff replied.

“Hmm, that’s good news,” Tang Mo said, walking over to the map table and looking at the situation of the two armies. It was too early; the huge map hanging still hadn’t had the positions of the troops updated yet.

After casually inquiring about Anpu, Nangong Hong spoke, “Your Majesty. Qi Country is surely in turmoil by now, should we pull back the paratroopers to allow the Second Prince to safely reach King City?”

Tang Mo looked at the map, feeling that taking King City was a more appealing idea, “That’s not necessary, I think it makes more sense for us to just take King City directly.”

“Indeed, we don’t need to complicate matters. As long as we follow the original plan to capture King City and end the war quickly, that’s enough,” Luff, too, looked askance at Nangong Hong’s proposal to relinquish a clear advantage just to set someone up.

“Following the previous plan, troops on the front line of Qi Country that surrender will all be treated as civilians. If they refuse to lay down their weapons, they will be taken as prisoner slaves and sent to the mines,” Tang Mo was already considering the issue of how to utilize those prisoners of war.

Nangong Hong reminded, “Your Majesty. The First Prince of Qi Country still controls at least two hundred thousand troops. He remains a threat to us.”

“Don’t worry, in a few days, he’ll be worrying about what to feed his army of two hundred thousand,” Luff said with a smirk, having just learned about the food shortage in the Qi Army from the interrogation of prisoners relayed from the front.

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