Munitions Empire

"It’s alright, I fully understand the difficulties of the Leite Kingdom. After all, I have the accounts right here," Tang Mo consoled the approaching envoy from Leite Kingdom.

The envoy was quite embarrassed, for he probably knew just how much the Leite Kingdom owed the Great Tang Group...

In the past, even selling the entire Leite Kingdom might not have covered such a massive amount of money! Yet now, Leite VII had borrowed such an astonishing sum.

Frankly speaking, if the Great Tang Group were to really demand repayment, almost everyone in the Leite Kingdom would have to sell themselves to pay off the debt.

On the other hand, Harry had already begun signing contracts with other kingdoms. The Gales Kingdom, established by the orcs and though impoverished, astonishingly purchased 10 airships.

Of course, Tang Mo could tell what the Orc Prince had been hankering after all this time, which was vengeance against the Elves! With these airships, they could take off from the Sena Plains and directly bomb Poplar Kingdom’s King City or attack Southwater Port.

Naturally, all this hinged on the crucial premise that their ground defenses could withstand Elvish retaliation; otherwise, Gales Kingdom was at great risk of being annihilated by the Elves once again.

Unexpectedly, an envoy from the shellfish country also stepped forward, prepared to purchase some airships—they were quite interesting; even though they lacked funds, they were remarkably audacious.

Since they had already broken their defenses by nodding in agreement to selling their population to repay debts, this time the envoy from the shellfish country was very straightforward: he agreed to sell more slaves and also put forth a silver mine as collateral, hoping to acquire 15 airships.

The other kingdoms, which earlier assumed Tang Mo would not agree to sell advanced weapons to the shellfish country, were once again schooled in what it means to be a qualified arms dealer.

The Great Tang Group didn’t even pause to think before they agreed to the demands of the shellfish country’s people and even stated that if the shellfish country was willing to pay extra, the Great Tang Group was prepared to provide immediate delivery!

As each nation signed contracts, eager to pay and then find an unlucky neighbor to test the combat power of the airships, Tang Mo led everyone to look at some of his other weapons.

"I am a person who loves peace," Tang Mo said, standing in front of the newest model of Anti-Aircraft Gun, as he introduced to everyone his meticulously prepared shield: "Therefore, I don’t wish to see offensive weapons on the battlefield that can’t be defended against."

"I’ve prepared for you Anti-Aircraft Guns to defend against aerial attacks. This type of anti-aircraft artillery has a higher chamber pressure, a straighter trajectory, and can shoot shells higher into the sky," Tang Mo explained fluently, pointing to the big cannon with a 76.2mm caliber: "With this weapon, important cities can be spared from enemy airships’ attacks..."

What Tang Mo presented was the 13-pounder gun widely used by the British during World War I. This artillery had a caliber of 76.2mm and a firing height of about 8000 meters.

This artillery could use a time fuze to explode at a pre-set altitude, creating shrapnel that was effective for anti-aircraft warfare.

Of course, Tang Mo had not provided this advanced ammunition because, for now, this weapon had only one function: to bring down those large and slow bombing airships!

"..." Faced with such anti-aircraft weaponry and having already signed their contracts, the envoys of the various countries felt as uncomfortable as though they had swallowed a fly.

Their frenzied purchase of the airships as weapons hinged purely on the understanding that such weaponry could move about above the enemy, completely unchallenged.

But if they had known beforehand that there were antidotes to such weapons, who among them would still be willing to shell out nearly 300,000 Gold Coins for such costly ornaments? ＲаŊÓᛒЕṤ

If everyone refrained from buying airships, wouldn’t the purchase of anti-aircraft guns also be saved? This was entirely a matter of making trouble for oneself, wasn’t it?

Then it seemed as though they had understood the crux of the matter: there would always be someone willing to pay for airships, so naturally, everyone needed to buy anti-aircraft guns.

"I haven’t conned everyone’s money! I’m even considering everyone’s best interests!" Tang Mo was not at all flustered, speaking directly to explain, "Just think about it, if there really was an indefensible weapon, what would war become?"

"If everyone deployed their airship troops, ravaging cities... besides us all losing the industrial cities we’ve painstakingly built up, what benefits would there be?" He smiled, then continued, "Hence, having defensive measures will make the enemy think twice before using airships!"

"By only purchasing some airships, you can force your adversaries to buy anti-aircraft guns, which in turn will deplete the funds they have available for buying more airships!" Tang Mo spoke eloquently, prompting those who had purchased airships to ponder, "By the same token, just equipping yourself with anti-aircraft guns will deter the enemy’s airships from venturing too deep out of fear of losses, averting the terrifying spectacle of hundreds of airships descending upon the King City!"

"Gentlemen! It’s not that airships are useless with anti-aircraft guns available! With proper tactics and reasonable use by commanders, these airships still have the potential to catch the enemy by surprise and destroy their industrial capabilities!" He then continued, "Similarly, a good defense can ensure the safety of one’s industrial base! That is warfare!"

"Of course, you can cancel the airships you’ve purchased, and choose not to buy my anti-aircraft guns as well..." After saying this, he paused, waiting patiently as the envoys made their choices.

"If we... could all agree to abandon the airship contacts and then sign a treaty prohibiting the use of airships..." The envoy from the Empire of Nanla whispered to the Leite Kingdom’s envoy.

"It’s a method, and by doing so, we could all save millions of Gold Coins..." the Leite envoy thought it was a good cost-saving strategy.

The Dorne envoy looked over at the Suthers envoy next to him, who seemed somewhat embarrassed as he shook his head.

Soon, an airtight alliance began to show cracks. The envoy from the Poplar Kingdom posed a very sharp question: The absence of their purchase didn’t mean that bombing airships as a type of weapon would cease to exist in the world.

The Great Tang Group was itself a manufacturer and user of airships; it already had hundreds of such offensive weapons. If everyone stopped buying these weapons, who could guarantee that the Great Tang Group would not use them?

Therefore, all the envoys turned their gaze to Tang Mo standing there, seemingly hoping to hear a commitment from his mouth, a promise not to use the airships to attack other countries.

However, a few seconds later, they all realized that such a thing was impossible. Cooperation was illusory at best, and the safest move was for everyone to chip in and divvy up the readily available airships in Tang Mo’s hands. That would be the most secure approach.

Suppose they all insisted on not buying airships and even saved the money on Anti-Aircraft Guns—then no one could predict which country might first be swayed by unsavory thoughts!

If a nation breached its faith and secretly approached the Great Tang Group for a loan to acquire 100, or even more, airships, and then suddenly declared war on a neighboring country, the latter would have no time to respond.

At that point, a blanket of bombing airships could decimate cities, and the outcome on the ground was predictable. The victor could repay the loan with their spoils of war, while the vanquished would be left with nothing! It was, in essence, a victory obtained at virtually no cost, an enormous temptation for anyone!

Imagine, if the Leite Kingdom did this, they could engulf Dorne or Suthers within days and win the war! Who could guarantee such a thing wouldn’t happen?

Therefore, for everyone’s safety and so as not to place one’s security in the hands of another’s honesty and trustworthiness, spending money... seemed like a better choice.

Quite quickly, everyone selected to retain the previous purchase agreement and then began inquiring about the price of Anti-Aircraft Guns.

Everyone had their say, seemingly indifferent to the fact that they seemed to have been tricked by the Great Tang Group; they were even more eager to hand over their banknotes to the Great Tang Group.

No one wished to see their King City or industrial city lay exposed to the airships, so the contract for purchasing Anti-Aircraft Guns was also drafted very smoothly.

Since no one had the funds to cover their entire country with anti-air defenses, it didn’t take long for the envoys to realize that airship attacks could still be successful.

They just needed to pick the right moment, avoid the opponent’s key defenses, and then stage a surprise attack to achieve strategic objectives.

No one exposed another safe time to launch airship attacks: nighttime! By choosing the right timing and infiltrating enemy anti-air defenses under the cover of darkness, they could take advantage of the night and achieve bombing success!

In the end, there were no useless weapons, only useless users—there was a consensus on this point.

Another consensus was to spend money: They again purchased over 1000 Anti-Aircraft Guns from the Great Tang Group, and each added a special caliber to their own arsenal.

Tang Mo used two types of weapons to sweep almost all the war profits into his own pocket this time, even squeezing every country dry in the process.

The most direct benefit of this arms trade for Tang Mo was that because of the financial strain, various countries began to accept his terms and started using the Great Tang Group’s paper currency in some regions.

The convenient paper currency gradually began to replace the cumbersome Gold Coins and started to be accepted in many regions. This impact seemed even greater than the sales of weapons by the Great Tang Group.

Tang Mo was very clear that this subtle influence would grow and that, with the support of currency issuance rights, the financial nuke of the Great Tang Group now had the potential to bring about apocalyptic destruction.

A few hours later, this arms sale came to an end; nine countries divided up almost all of Tang Mo’s airships and also cleared out the stock of Anti-Aircraft Guns.

After that, Tang Mo said farewell to these envoys. Before he had time to rest, Yulin brought him news he had been waiting for.

Nangong Hong, who had barely warmed his seat at Hotwind Port, had already returned to Brunas with his ship.

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