Munitions Empire

"Why refuse? Single soldiers can marry whenever they want to if they volunteer!" Tagg, who had just arrived on Dongwan Island by ship, stared at the battalion commander, puzzled.

"...This..." The battalion commander scratched his head, seeming a bit troubled, "Actually, most soldiers, especially non-commissioned officers and officers, aren’t interested..."

"But there are still soldiers, right?" Tagg tossed his gloves to his adjutant and wiped the corner of his mouth.

He had just disembarked from the transport ship and vomited his breakfast on the dock; his stomach was still uncomfortable, and he felt queasy and pale.

It wasn’t just him; the troops of the 3rd battalion who had disembarked were also throwing up all over, and their battalion commander nearly vomited his stomach out.

This could be the first sea voyage in their lives for these landlubbers, and the follow-up transport ships they were on, namely the Liberty ships, weren’t even properly retrofitted.

Frankly, those Liberty ships were made for carrying cargo, carrying people was really a stretch. As a result, these landlubbers had to endure all sorts of problems during the voyage, suffering far more than the 1st battalion.

After all, to ensure the combat effectiveness of the 1st battalion, the transporting Liberty ships had undergone some alterations, though the following ships were untouched, as original as they could be.

To save on construction time, even the anti-sinking design was skimped on, so one can only imagine what the living conditions were like on those ships.

Tagg rubbed his uncomfortable stomach and then continued, "If anyone is willing to marry, the Group can subsidize some funds, and provide more food and daily necessities. If there are children born, the rewards will be even larger..."

He had experience in developing Dragon Island and knew that what the Great Tang Group lacked the most was population. Thus, without a second thought, he applied the same solution used during the development of Dragon Island.

"Yes! I understand." The battalion commander saluted and then pointed at a car waiting nearby, "That is the car prepared for you. You can use it for now, and it can be swapped out once your official car is unloaded..."

"Is there water? The kind that doesn’t taste of engine oil." After drinking fresh water with a strange taste for several days, Tagg looked at the battalion commander directly, not bothering with pleasantries.

The battalion commander smiled and waved a soldier over, took his water bottle, and passed it to Tagg.

Tagg took the water bottle, drank every last drop, and then expressed his relief, "That’s refreshing!"

After finishing the water, he returned the bottle to the battalion commander and then pointed at Dongwan Port, which seemed no bigger than a small county town, "It looks small, let’s take a walk... Introduce things to me, after all, since you’ve been here for so many days, it shouldn’t be a wasted trip, right?"

As his territory gradually expanded, Tang Mo realized that he had too few people he could trust. With hundreds of thousands of troops stationed in the new occupation zones, he had to assign trustworthy commanders to manage the areas.

Tagg was one of his most trusted military leaders, as the commander was indeed trustworthy. Roger continued to stay at Dragon Island to guard the rear, Redman and Harry stationed in Brunas to stabilize the foundation... Tang Mo indeed didn’t have many people he could count on.

"Dongwan Port has always been a naval base operated by Zheng Country, which has a complete dockyard to repair warships, and an associated shipyard... However, for us, these facilities are practically useless now. They’re only good for repairing wooden sailing ships, nothing else." The battalion commander, familiar with the territory, pointed to the nearby dockyard as he introduced.

Then he pointed to another side, "After the people from Shenguo arrived, they built a coal storage yard here... which did save us some time..."

"Those people over there... are they from the railway bureau?" Tagg saw some people measuring something with equipment from a distance and asked the battalion commander.

"Hmm, our military mapping personnel just left yesterday, and today it’s the railway bureau’s turn to take measurements..." the battalion commander replied somewhat wistfully.

The speed of their progress was truly fast; every department was working frantically—Great Tang Group was in a period of growth, and everyone could see Tang Mo was expanding territory. If you don’t fight for your future at this time, what are you waiting for?

Corruption, laziness, moral decay, those are foolish behaviors fit for idiots. Right now, as long as you work hard, the money you earn will be clean. Why bother with crooked ways if you’re not sick in the head?

"They sure arrived quickly." Even Tagg couldn’t help but remark, then he continued to lead the way forward. After passing the bustling port where goods were being unloaded, they gradually entered the city of Dongwan.

Explore new worlds at empire

The Great Tang Group was much quicker than Shenguo; to rapidly construct a forward base, various departments had already started planning for subsequent construction.

Outside the city of Dongwan, next to a segment of the city wall that was destroyed by cannon fire, a brick kiln had already begun construction. Beside it, an even larger iron foundry had turned into a construction site.

Among them busied the goblins—small, frail, and ugly. Some were moving stones from the ground, some were already digging foundations, and others were using debris from the city walls to build the factory’s surrounding walls.

Some local civilians were selected to supervise the work, while others were engaged in relatively easier tasks. A mix of humans and goblins created a somewhat odd scene.

It was as if a group of adults were busy at a construction site, leading a team of child laborers—an interesting sight.

In fact, by this time, most goblins had already been transported to the mines to replace the Zheng Country laborers there. The majority of these laborers from Zheng Country were former soldiers.

After being taken captive, those who were not killed were gathered up and put to work as miners in the mountains.

Now, some of these people had been selected to become foremen, supervising the work of the goblins, while others were directly conscripted as laborers, given more food and supplies, and re-tasked to construction crews.

The captives from Zheng Country, already cowed by the people of Shenguo, meekly accepted their new reality and soon found joy in it.

Even when they were soldiers a year before, they might not have had it as good in terms of food and clothing, so they shifted roles within a day, becoming diligent construction workers for the Great Tang Group.

Before long, it was discovered that there were two sources of captives, which alleviated the pressure of labor shortages—humans helped in the cities and countryside while goblins atoned in the mines. The situation was harmonious and everything seemed to return to operation at the fastest speed.

"We have requisitioned the Shenguo Governor’s Mansion and set up temporary generators there, erected radio antennas, and even connected telephone lines, which can directly communicate with the port…" the 1st Regiment Commandant gave a simple overview of the early arrangements while walking along the street.

Speaking of which, he pointed in the distance, "The former barracks of Zheng Country are still there. The people of Shenguo used them and we haven’t changed them… But the conditions are truly awful. They were originally designed to accommodate 1500 people, and now the 3rd Regiment is stationed there. Despite that, there are soldiers complaining."

Tagg nodded, the barracks standards of the Great Tang Group’s troops were indeed very scientific and certainly higher than those of other countries.

It’s not about living in luxury but respecting the soldiers. How can one expect them to fight to the death if they are treated like pigs?

"The roads here are very ordinary; cars bounce a lot." Walking on a dirt road, a patrolling squad of soldiers saluted the 1st Regiment Commandant and Tagg.

They did not stop, which was also a rule of the Great Tang Group—during the execution of a mission, this was the extent of courtesy required.

On the contrary, Tagg and the 1st Regiment Commandant stopped in their tracks to give a proper salute, as they were not on a mission at the moment. Rules were rules, and everyone had become accustomed to them.

After the soldiers passed by, Tagg continued walking. At the end of the street, he saw that the police station was already open, and even some locals were queuing up outside the police station.

"They are reclaiming their houses… The war has left many houses vacant here, we estimate about one-third. Some we will requisition, the rest will be allocated to the native inhabitants who have lost their homes and land…" The 1st Regiment Commandant explained, "Many civil disputes are not our concern; let the city hall deal with it."

"Hahaha!" Tagg laughed out loud, seemingly already envisioning the aggrieved faces of the young officials at the city hall.

Along the roadside, a line of neatly parked construction vehicles had teams gathered around, pointing at a blueprint, immersed in discussion. Everywhere one looked was a hive of activity, like a natural large construction site.

Next to these construction vehicles were the cars belonging to the 1st Regiment, and in front of them, carts were being pulled, astonishingly, by 75mm caliber howitzers.

Tagg could tell that this was equipment just offloaded from the docks and belonged to the 3rd Regiment—it seemed they were coordinating where exactly they should be sent.

Moving a regiment of thousands is no small matter. Every cannon, every shell, even every roll of toilet paper had to be recorded and filed away at the end… The workload was immense and highly complex, far from the simple orders and actions one might imagine.

Just like those airships anchored outside the Fengshun Port, which to this day still remained in place, having never taken off again.

Because the gas they required for refilling could only be produced on Dragon Island, and the ships transporting spare gas canisters are still drifting at sea!

Many locals were curiously inspecting the weaponry, vehicles, and carts; they seemed fascinated by the soldiers who had come from afar.

They had never seen the variety of novel items brought by these troops, in a place where even the gas street lamps that needed constant supervision were pitifully scarce.

The way these civilians looked at Tagg, it was as if they were looking up to a deity high above.

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