Munitions Empire

No place in this world has carried out an intensive communal management system like Dragon Island has. Even Tang Mo was afraid that the system might be too advanced when he first proposed it.

However, after Roger's trial operation, it turned out that Tang Mo's concerns were needless. Those commoners who previously had no power at all didn't even know what the dregs of freedom such as 'liberty stew' really meant.

With just one command, the workers on Dragon Island and their families didn't even chatter; they collectively went to get their pills.

They exterminated pests together and then made use of the most advanced water supply system in the world. With the provision of oil and natural gas, they soon learned to boil water for sterilization and disinfection.

Then, these people were vaccinated, received five years of mandatory education, supplemented by night school, adapted to a 12-hour workday, and embraced the previously unthinkable idea of having one day off every week.

The locals have simple values; they believe that since Great Tang Group has given them a day off, they should accept other arrangements by Great Tang Group.

In their time off, they have a morning for collective military exercise, to learn some basic military knowledge. The rest of the afternoon, they are free to wander the island, and in the evening, they procreate.

Procreation is the most sacred and meaningful activity in this world because this world needs population—population means labor, population means wealth.

The people on Dragon Island live with great regularity. They watch opera performances under the auspices of Great Tang Group and listen to children's choirs singing praises of their company.

They also have time to spend money in the streets of Dragon City, which boasts some of the finest products in the world: Dragon City's fashion scene is leading the era.

Everywhere you look, you can find the same perfume sachets as the fashion goddess Susan, and see happy children running on the roads filled with cars.

The roads here are paved with asphalt because there's a refinery that can mass-produce and refine the residue from oil and chemical production for road paving.

That's why the construction here appears much quicker, and the roads are smoother than in other places.

A road has already stretched into the Central Region of the island. Great Tang Group has built a train station here for stockpiling materials and cleared the surrounding trees to select this location for a future support town.

Dozens of ships are transporting iron rails produced by Brunas to Dragon Island, and soon a railway will be constructed.

Almost at the same time, on the other side of the island, the previous landing point of Taren Kingdom has also been developed. Tents have been replaced with wooden buildings, and a small dock has begun to take shape.

Rubber shipped from Hotwind Port is processed here into tires that are sent to Brunas, and then fitted onto car wheels. Gold ore from Osa Port is smelted here and then stored as Great Tang Group's financial reserves.

Similarly, a large number of copper and iron ores shipped from Poplar and Songmu Kingdoms are processed into parts here. These parts are then sent to Brunas to be assembled into products that are sold elsewhere.

Because of the vastness of its business and the exaggerated speed of production, the sea route between Dragon Island and Brunas has almost become the busiest in the world.

Sailboats can even catch a glimpse of each other, practically forming a continuous line at sea! This isn't an exaggeration; traveling poets have witnessed such a sight and even composed songs that are spread far and wide.

Sails that spread across the sky seem to construct a high wall on the ocean surface, and everyone knows those are ships bound for Brunas!

Then, with the continual coming and going of these merchant ships, a vaccine capable of controlling smallpox also began to spread, becoming a precious medicine.

In Brunas, such a medicine is almost given out for free. By the time it reaches Leite Royal City, a single vaccination costs 40 silver coins.

By the time it gets to Dorne Suthers, the same medicine sells for the high price of one gold coin, and that's not even the peak price.

If a civilian from Poplar or Songmu Kingdoms wants to get vaccinated, it costs 1 gold and 50 silver—and don't think that's too expensive because there are no discounts...

If it spreads further, never mind whether the people dare to use such medicine, the price already becomes unaffordable for most.

After all, these five countries have a sea trade agreement; they do not levy any tariffs on goods from Great Tang Group. Other countries, however, do impose taxes, so the prices just skyrocket.

When the price of the cowpox vaccine in Leite Royal City was reduced from 40 silver coins to 25, the development of Dragon Island finally saw a surge in returns.

Firstly, the Ironclad Warship Brunas No.7, built in Dock No.1, was delivered for use, jointly received by Leite Kingdom and Great Tang Group.

The Leite Kingdom Navy dispatched 70 naval officers to learn how to operate the warship and to complete the acceptance of the ship together.

In accordance with the agreement between both parties, after one year, the warship would be fully operated by the soldiers of the Leite Kingdom and commanded by the King of the Leite Kingdom.

This would be the first Ironclad Warship to serve in a formal military in the whole world, and it would witness the official rise of the Leite Kingdom's naval power.

Even with just this one Ironclad Warship, no country would doubt that the Leite Kingdom had joined the ranks of the world's naval powers, and it had even become the world's second-strongest navy!

It was an era! An era completely determined by the total tonnage of naval Ironclad Warships—the total tonnage of the Leite Navy's Ironclads had already exceeded 2,000 tons, while other countries still had a total of zero!

At the same time, the first steam-engine transport ship built by the Great Tang Group was launched at Dragon Island. This enormous vessel with a displacement of over 3,000 tons could transport a vast amount of materials at once.

Its launch also marked the beginning of a new phase in maritime transport, with high-speed and efficient ship transportation starting to play an important role in the allocation of resources, and the connections between the world becoming even closer.

The ridiculous scenes of cars being transported by sailing ships would gradually become rare, and the memories related to wooden ships would slowly fade and become distant.

In short, this era was silently transforming, and the person leading all these changes was at that moment studying his traditional Brunas cuisine.

There was no choice, as there were different ways to eat beef in many places at the time, and methods such as frying, stir-frying, and deep-frying could all be found.

As a result, when Tang Mo suddenly craved a steak, he could only combine the grilling from Northern Ridge and the pan-frying from Brunas to develop a dish that suited his taste.

He actually had no talent in cooking, but he very much enjoyed messing with ingredients and pretending to be profoundly skillful, much to the mixed amusement and despair of the chefs working with him.

According to the popular saying nowadays, Tang Mo's skills in the kitchen could only be described with one phrase: "Enthusiastic but unskilled"…

The exasperated master chefs of Brunas eventually could not stand the humiliation and, with a stiff upper lip, created a method of cooking steak that was claimed to combine the best of various practices, which translated meant it was a hodgepodge.

However, thanks to the variety of spices brought by trade from different places, the flavor of the Brunas steak was actually quite good.

Coupled with the tender and juicy beef from Northern Ridge and Suthers, the ingredients were absolutely first-rate, so Brunas's signature dish was born.

Pork ribs with yams and a thick soup made from dried cuttlefish, Brunas's special steak, Elf moonlight wine, and the latest tight long dress gowns became the most seductive standard dinner combination in Brunas recently.

Of course, whether a girl in a tight long dress gown would accompany you somewhere else in the evening depended on whether you drove her to dinner in a Model T or walked there…

In actuality, in Brunas at the time, rich people were divided into different levels. The richest had chauffeurs driving Model T luxury cars, followed by those who had their own private carriages, then those who drove their cars themselves, and lastly those who walked everywhere…

Brunas did not have public transportation like buses because Tang Mo had not yet completed his large-scale automobile factory.

Part of the factory was expanding to Dragon Island, so the progress had clearly slowed down. Moreover, Tang Mo himself had not accumulated enough technology; he was not able to push the whole world to the level of the Second World War with the little power he had in his hands.

As time passed day by day, many people had even forgotten that about five months prior, the Great Tang Group had fought a naval battle, destroying a fleet.

In a time of peace and prosperity, Bernard, the supreme commander of Great Tang Group's naval forces, hosted a secret launching ceremony in Brunas. Enjoy new adventures at m-v l-.net

The first warship type in the world specially designed for high-speed naval pursuits of enemy ships appeared—it was the Wolf-class Cruiser.

The culmination of the most advanced technological achievements of the Great Tang Group: it was equipped with breech-loading guns, installed with a more reliable steam engine power system, equipped with internal ship communication telephones, and utilized unified fire control for the cannons.

Its emergence made high-speed naval pursuit of enemies by warships possible for the first time. If the Ironclad could easily outclass sailing warships, then the Wolf-class Cruiser could effortlessly outclass the Ironclads.

With the launch of this warship, the Great Tang Group's war plan against the Taren Kingdom was also put on the agenda.

What a joke, everyone was still waiting to take their share of the spoils. This war was not just a war of revenge. Even if there were no reasons, it had to be fought!

So, it was unclear exactly when it started, but the atmosphere in Brunas became somewhat tense.

The Brunas-class warships, which had been busy for several months, made a comeback with four ships in one go, gathering in the port to be loaded with ammunition and to replenish their supplies of food, freshwater, and coal fuel.

The workers in the port were overhauling the equipment inside these warships, and the navy's officers and soldiers were given a rare two-day holiday…

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