Munitions Empire

Moreover, the whole building was supplied with electricity, with every room illuminated by expensive incandescent bulbs.

The basement here was brighter at night than the bedrooms of other Nobility, and the decor and design style also won high praise from the merchants who often came to visit.

A complete heating system even made Tang Mo forgo the fireplace design, which made the house cleaner and tidier and eliminated the need for openings, thus avoiding the nuisance of mosquitoes.

Honestly speaking, except for the absence of the internet and the fact that the light was not very natural, this place was not much different from a 20th-century house.

Meanwhile, as the Orc Race and the Elf Race were locked in battle on the Sena Plains, Tang Mo was discussing with Roger and others whether to develop Black Dragon Island first, under the cover of new warships.

Roger was somewhat worried about this plan. He seemed more keen on keeping an eye on Brunas, their main base: "Isn't it a bit too risky to pull out so many soldiers at once?"

Tang Mo preferred to arrange his industries on Black Dragon Island, which was surrounded by sea, because his naval advantage was now much greater than that of the army.

With a new warship stationed there, the defenses of Black Dragon Island could be said to be as solid as a fortress. What he was more concerned about now was whether the worker relocation project could be carried out properly.

So Tang Mo spoke with a sense of resignation, "There's no way around it. A crafty rabbit has three burrows, what we need now is time."

Roger flipped through the battle plan Tang Mo had prepared, getting a good understanding of the scale of this operation.

It was, in essence, a large-scale moving operation involving almost all the forces at Tang Mo's disposal. 7 transport ships and two reinforced companies of over 300 soldiers, plus nearly a thousand workers and their families in motion.

The entire fleet would also be transporting at least seven steam engine units, 40 simple machine tools, five generators, and three wireless telegraph devices.

Looking at the scale of the entire fleet, Roger felt his earlier thoughts were a bit too conservative: "A new warship, 13 armed merchant ships converted into troop transports and carrying a large amount of equipment and tents… it's like... we're really going all out."

Indeed, they were pulling out all the stops. This expeditionary fleet would also carry food and medicine, as well as the steel and raw materials necessary to support the establishment of industry.

But that alone was not enough. After the only Ironclad Warship of Great Tang Group stayed near Black Dragon Island for vigilance and support, the remaining 13 transport ships were to turn back immediately after unloading the cargo and personnel and return to Brunas.

Then these transport ships would once again be loaded with cement, steel supplies, a second batch of food, and more people, and set sail for Black Dragon Island without a second thought.

At the same time, the sole warship from the Elf Race that remained in the port would also move out as an escort.

By then the waters near Brunas would be undefended until the second Ironclad Warship was commissioned some ten days later, restoring the state of having a navy.

Once the fleet arrived at Black Dragon Island again and unloaded materials and personnel, the sailing warships would escort the transport fleet back home, and the third migration plan would proceed.

After three round trips, 4000 workers and their families would be moved to Black Dragon Island, along with the relocation of a battalion of combat troops and the establishment of a new factory as well as a temporary dock that could handle cargo!

By the standards of this world, this was essentially the cross-sea construction of a fully functional port town, a taxing and costly plan that even a Kingdom might be reluctant to undertake.

Yet, Tang Mo planned to support this project with just the resources of the city of Brunas, with perhaps only a portion of support from Northern Ridge.

After hearing Roger's words, Tang Mo nodded in agreement, acknowledging his point: "In fact, according to my plan, it is pretty much equivalent to moving house. I want to establish a base there, and from there, take control of the entire Black Dragon Island."

If Tang Mo's plan was followed, his future focus of development could even be shifted to Black Dragon Island because the island was much easier to manage than the coastal cities.

It was easier to defend, and also easier to keep secrets. As long as he firmly controlled the rights to the sea and airspace, the island's ability to maintain secrecy and self-sufficiency was significantly better.

Moreover, with Brunas's development, most of the raw materials Tang Mo consumed now came from maritime trade rather than local supply.

Although the mines in Northern Ridge and Brunas were increasing production and doing so quickly, the growth rate of Tang Mo's factories was clearly faster.

So, the mining advantages near Brunas aren't what they used to be, and compared to continuing expansion there, occupying that island with the new oil resources was more enticing, after all, Brunas's steel and coal could be shipped to Black Dragon Island.

On the other hand, the confidentiality and security of expanding Brunas were clearly inferior to Black Dragon Island. Although Brunas had a clear advantage in terms of personnel mobility and population, Tang Mo valued the secrecy and monopoly of subsequent weapons and equipment production more.

Of course, he had no intention of giving up on Brunas, nor did he plan to stop its development. Only children make choices, he, of course, wanted it all.

He planned to develop Brunas and Black Dragon Island at the same time, using Brunas as a forward base for connecting with other nations, while operating Black Dragon Island as his own stronghold.

To be honest, there were bound to be some growing pains at the beginning, which would affect his production capacity and his human resources. But the end result would surely be good, as he would have a secure foothold and control over the entire ocean.

Roger was still the person he trusted the most, so he entrusted the task of developing Black Dragon Island to Roger, and of course, Tagg was to assist Roger.

The integrity of Tagg was absolutely reassuring; with him and Roger on Black Dragon Island, it was clearly impossible for the island to slip out of Tang Mo's control.

"I'll give it a try… Looks like you've made up your mind," Roger said carefully, reading Tang Mo's plan and envisioning what it would look like in his mind.

The map sent by John was actually quite detailed—it not only had traces of exploration for oil, but also roughly recorded some topographic features of the island and its environmental characteristics.

According to the records, the island was likely near the equator of this otherworld, with rainforests that could likely ensure fresh water and a decent output of food.

Furthermore, the presence of birds and animals on the island suggested that the island was certainly not small, otherwise it could not support so many lives.

"I do not plan to send you on an adventure right away," Tang Mo said with a smile. "I have already handed over the copied sea chart to Bernard. He will take a look first."

Since Bernard had seen Tang Mo's ironclad warship, Tang Mo was no longer worried about this navy commander of his. After all, no one in their right mind would sail off in a sailing warship and betray someone who has ironclad warships powered by steam.

Who was the future, and who was a powerful figure worth serving, Bernard was well aware. He was not a fool, so naturally, he would offer his loyalty to Tang Mo.

"So, this plan will still take some time to execute, and it might even have to wait until after the first war with Shireck Consortium is over," Tang Mo said casually, leaning back in his chair.

No sooner had his voice fallen than Li'ao pushed the door open and walked in, handing a piece of intelligence to Tang Mo before saying, "Just in from King City… Our trouble has arrived!"

Tang Mo looked down at the intelligence on the paper, raised his head, and said to Li'ao, "Gather everyone together and tell them… Shireck is preparing for war!"

The first to enter was Wes, who was standing by nearby, followed by Luff and Parker. After a long wait, Mathews, who was guarding the No. 2 factory area, and Redman and Tagg, who were training troops there, arrived fashionably late.

Seeing that everyone had arrived, Tang Mo signaled Li'ao to speak.

Li'ao pushed the document to the center of the long table in the meeting room and gave a brief overview of the current situation, "There are about 30,000 paper-cartridge rounds that have been transported from beyond the border to King City… This information has been verified, so we can almost certainly conclude that Shireck has mastered the production process of fulminate of mercury, and they can produce percussion caps and paper-cartridge rounds."

"That means our previous estimate of their having about 130,000 paper-cartridge rounds is no longer accurate," Luff said, his tone somewhat somber as he stroked his chin.

If they couldn't determine Shireck's material reserves, then their side would have to upgrade their defense preparations by a notch.

Currently, Great Tang Group's war preparations have always been maintained at a quite low level. They were basically unprepared, with everyone's main focus on production.

But if the enemy might attack at any moment, then the situation would be completely different—at least the troops would have to be mobilized, which would inevitably affect some of the production work.

Tang Mo let out a sigh and continued with the bad news, "There is reliable information that they have also started to imitate steam engines, they have ordered more than 30 steam engines from us under the guise of merchants making scattered purchases."

Unlike fulminate of mercury and percussion caps, steam engines, similar to the Quick Gun, are actually easy to replicate. As long as they had sufficient technological capabilities, even if the precision was poor and performance was even worse, they could still be manufactured.

So, Great Tang Group couldn't stop Shireck from copying and imitating in these respects. They didn't have patent laws, enforcement rights, or to put it more accurately, they didn't have the capacity to enforce…

Shireck's imitation of the Quick Gun was no secret anymore; relying on the scale of workmen, Shireck's production volume of the Quick Gun was actually quite astounding.