Munitions Empire

However, this does not mean that these weapons were useless. It could be said that at the time, they were still very advanced weapons.

At least, in Tang Mo's understanding, there were many scenarios for their use: for one, it was a decent and elegant hunting rifle. As an object of play, it was exquisitely crafted and expensive, which suited the nobility quite well.

Secondly, before the invention of submachine guns, these weapons, capable of quickly unleashing a large amount of ammunition, were the top choice for individual combat and field self-defense.

Ordinary Rangers or mercenaries who bought such weapons could make up for their lack of firepower. Paired with a revolver, they could handle most combat environments.

In such skirmishes, the disadvantage in range was no longer an issue. The fact that the mechanism was complex, maintenance was difficult, and the price was expensive was not a problem either.

Moreover, the lever-action rifle was a precursor technology to the shotgun, and only by mastering this set of technologies could future production of shotguns be more effortless.

Therefore, Tang Mo somewhat regretfully placed the rifle back on the table and said helplessly, "Actually, this weapon is not suitable for mass deployment by troops, because it is overly complex, expensive, and prone to malfunctions."

"It also doesn't have much of an advantage in terms of range," Tang Mo thought of the flat-nosed bullets and felt that such weapons indeed were not very suitable for large-scale deployment.

However, what he considered unsuitable might be seen as suitable by others — Shireck, desperate for a cure, might think these weapons were worth the investment.

Tagg looked somewhat painfully at the beautiful rifle and lamented with regret, "But..."

"There's no 'but' about it, trust me, no one understands weapons better than I do," Tang Mo rejected the wrong path with the perspective of someone from the future.

He pointed to the lever-action rifle known as the K2 and said without hesitation, "We will sell these weapons to anyone who is willing to pay for it, no matter who they are."

The room fell silent again, as everyone pondered Tang Mo's words. That Tang Mo was ready to sell off such advanced weaponry without any hesitation made them wonder what he was really thinking.

Tang Mo continued to speak, "However, the real weapons we want to introduce are these three here."

"While developing the fuse for the C64 field gun, we came up with a very useful little thing..." Tang Mo said, taking a fuse out of his pocket that looked like a small capsule and placing it on the table for everyone to see clearly.

He pointed to the object, about the size of a little finger, and introduced, "This is called a detonation device, which can be ignited by pulling, lighting all the surrounding gunpowder."

As he spoke, he gestured for Parker to take out what was in his pocket. After Parker placed a wooden-handled hand grenade on the table, Tang Mo continued, "Therefore, we have created a brand new personal weapon and named it: 'Hand Grenade!' You can also call it a hand grenade. Its official name is the Great Tang Group Model B1 Wooden-Handled Hand Grenade. Sounds nice, doesn't it?"

After a simple demonstration of how to use it, Tang Mo placed the unarmed hand grenade in the middle of the table: "It can be thrown, explode like a shell, and give soldiers individual suppressive firepower. It's a very versatile personal weapon!"

Of course, he wouldn't let Parker bring a real hand grenade inside, so this was just a prop for demonstration without the capability of exploding.

As for why to use a wooden-handled hand grenade, it was entirely an arbitrary (gu) choice (yi). After all, it was too picturesque not to design it this way. If he didn't, Tang Mo felt he would be betraying his own aesthetic taste.

Indeed, the wooden-handled hand grenades used by Tang Mo were closer to those produced in the old revolutionary base areas, shorter than the German model and easier to make.

Firstly, he had to look after his own woodworking industry, and also, he needed to cater to that bit of nostalgia from his previous life within his heart. Thus, he chose such an interesting hand grenade as the first type of hand grenade weapon born in this world.

It might not be the best, but it definitely met Tang Mo's requirements: simple and easy to produce, convenient to throw and use, and unlike the bulkier German wooden-handled hand grenades, it was easier to carry.

"I've already written to Lord Earl, and soon a new order will arrive. I expect him to purchase 3,000 of these hand grenades, which will allow some of our factories to continue operating," Tang Mo said while picking up what looked like the most interesting long rifle and began to introduce, "The third weapon is this one!

It's the new personal weapon we're really preparing to transition to produce, the K3 Rifle! Its full name is the Great Tang Group Model K3 Rifle."

This was the KAR98K model bolt-action rifle replicated by Tang Mo based on the blueprint, which was also a personal favorite of his.

It could be said that this rifle was a rather representative model of bolt-action rifles during World War II, although it had no particularly distinctive features.

The Mosin-Nagant Rifle from the same era was also technically unremarkable, mediocre as if everything about it was ordinary.

The Lee-Enfield rifle, on the other hand, had distinctive characteristics; however, its high cost and complex training requirements meant it was not as widely equipped as the KAR98K and Mosin-Nagant rifles.

After much deliberation, Tang Mo decided to still use the Mauser Company's KAR98K rifle because he was very fond of the KAR98K. Before his transmigration, he even collected an antique rifle of this type.

Being able to replicate this weapon in this world gave Tang Mo a sense of familiarity. He caressed the barrel of the rifle and introduced it to everyone, "This weapon has a total length of 1110 millimeters and a barrel length of 600 millimeters, the standard weight is 3.9 kilograms, adopting an entirely new design."

"It uses an 8-millimeter caliber with four rifling grooves, and the manufacturing process is very complicated, so mass production is currently impossible." He pulled the bolt and the action was smooth to the extreme.

There was no helping it; the production lines at Tang Mo's factory were indeed a bit too diverse. He was maintaining several production lines for the Northern Ridge's urgently needed K1 rifles and was preparing to use a factory to produce the K2 lever-action rifles.

Additionally, he had a factory under construction for Left-Wheel Handguns, and the factory for revolvers had been in production for less than half a year.

In the meantime, he had workshops for producing railway tracks, train components, train assembly, as well as workshops for chemical production and steam engine production...

The immense Great Tang Group now supported a population of five thousand, which far exceeded the descriptive capacity of the term "workshop" for production scale in this world.

Tang Mo now described his enterprise as a factory, and even in later eras, it would be considered a large-scale enterprise.

A total of 5000 people were spread out on the land purchased by Tang Mo, making the area seem somewhat overcrowded.

Just how fast was the construction of Tang Mo's factories? So fast that Brunas's cement workshop could no longer keep up with the expansion pace of Tang Mo's factories.

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On the muddy ground, one factory after another was built up, one chimney after another was erected, and one trench after another was excavated.

Tang Mo had pipelines laid in the factory and connected the electrical wires; his lighting system was nearly ready to be completed. Once done, almost all the factories could be equipped with electric light illumination.

Therefore, the types of items produced in Tang Mo's factories were already too many, so he already had the idea of splitting up his factories.

After a series of operations, he placed the rifle back on the table, "However, it represents the future! Gentlemen! This weapon will be the best rifle we have for a considerable time to come!"

Having said that, he drew a Left-Wheel Handgun from under his arm and placed it on the table, introducing to everyone, "This is a modified revolver, our latest product."

"Like the revolver, it can also shoot continuously, making it a very convenient personal weapon!" After that, he opened the cylinder and poured out the bullets.

"The reason we can produce so many new weapons is actually based on the innovation and progress of ammunition technology!" He pointed to the ammunition on the table and explained to everyone, "We will soon adopt metal cartridge technology and the corresponding smokeless powder technology!"

"Next spring, our new factory will commence production, and the new powder will be produced in those workshops. With these ammunition production workshops' support, we'll be able to use these more advanced weapons!" As he spoke, he loaded the bullets into his handgun one by one, flicked the gun body to snap the cylinder back into the frame, "See? Simple to load, convenient to use! This...

This is what a weapon should be! This is how a weapon... should look!"

"In the new year! I hope everyone remembers a fact! We are now the world's most advanced weapons manufacturer! No one can shake our position! And no one... can defeat us in our field!" He said, standing up, chest out, welcoming the warm applause of everyone.

Amidst the applause, the door was pushed open from outside, and the young apprentice Galsa ran to Tang Mo's side, whispering in his ear, "People from the docks say that a large ship from the Poplar Kingdom has docked, and there's an elf on board who wishes to see you."