Munitions Empire

"Your Majesty. We plan to build another automobile production plant in Tongcheng, specifically for the production of trucks and agricultural vehicles. If all cars are transported by sea to the new territories, the costs would be too high," Roger said as he spread out the documents in his hands, passing them to Tang Mo.

Now, internally within Great Tang, the recently captured Zheng Country has begun to be referred to as "new territories." In fact, in most documents, this newly acquired land no longer has a name of its own.

Everyone knows that it’s part of the Great Tang Kingdom, just like Dragon Island and other places.

Previously, we built a factory in Tongcheng where production can start as soon as the machinery is in place. Training for the staff has already commenced, with the plan to recruit 31,000 workers for the automobile subsidiary plant.

Even with the latest automobile production assembly lines, the level of automation of this era still lags behind. It’s not surprising for an automobile factory to require tens of thousands of workers, and even an automobile city can have more than 150,000 workers tied to auto production.

What does that imply? Before the rise of the Great Tang Group, having a total population exceeding 150,000 would merit a city to be called a large city. Discover more stories at

"I’ve already approved this project. What’s the matter? Is there any change?" Tang Mo asked, taking the document from Roger’s hands with a hint of curiosity.

"I have discussed with Princess Yulin, and we think it’s necessary to further expand the scale of this automobile factory because it’s very likely that we will take on even more car production in the future," Roger explained.

Tang Mo nodded and then thought for a moment. Indeed, as Roger said, merely satisfying their own vehicle supply seems not the most profitable approach.

Soon, with the dissemination of technology from the Great Tang Group, the Dahua Empire, surrounding Chu Country, Qi Country, and even Shen Country could potentially turn to the Great Tang Group to purchase automobiles and other transportation vehicles.

Looking in the short term, a car factory producing 10,000 cars per month certainly suffices, but taking the long view, producing 1 million cars per month might not even meet the global demand for cars.

"Talk about your plans," Tang Mo said without any pretense of being a king, or rather, without any air of royalty at all.

It’s only been a few months since the establishment of the Great Tang Kingdom and many people are still not accustomed to the fact that Zheng Country has perished.

Tang Mo himself is among those unaccustomed. His daily work remained the same as before, only now his base wasn’t the Great Tang Group, but the Great Tang Kingdom.

The various departments of the corporation now each had their own official status: The security forces of the Great Tang Group had been upgraded to the National Defense Army, with the department that manages this force also renamed the Ministry of National Defense.

All other departments have expanded their scales and changed their tasks, and recently, everyone has been very busy with their increased workload.

"Princess Yulin and I think another automobile factory could be built to operate in parallel. One factory would focus on production while the other could carry out technological upgrades when necessary," Roger suggested.

"That’s a good idea, continue," Tang Mo nodded and smiled in agreement.

Since his recent work has been very demanding, Yulin, who had always been by Tang Mo’s side, had already gone out to take charge on her own. She’s currently overseeing the progress in the economic sector, where the initiative to implement international currency by the Great Tang Group has met obstacles.

This was an expected outcome: once the Great Tang Kingdom became a reality, countries had no choice but to start considering their financial security.

One of the main reasons everyone used Gold Coins was because the Dwarf Empire had perished and could no longer threaten the financial systems of other countries.

Yet now, if all these countries were to adopt the financial currency system of the Great Tang Kingdom, everyone would have to consider the consequences.

While many support the adoption of this mature currency system, which poses no major problems as long as the Great Tang Kingdom does not recklessly print paper money and disrupt market rules, many are still opposed. They would prefer to issue their own currencies to control their national economies.

The current situation is that, although the trade alliance has some fractures, it still remains the largest economic and trade cooperation system in the world. These countries, especially in their mutual trade affairs, continue to use currency issued by the Great Tang Group.

This phenomenon forces the countries participating in the trade alliance to continue using Great Tang’s currency reluctantly, which also gives the Great Tang Group the confidence to promote their currency.

However, getting other countries to accept their currency and extend its influence involves difficulties far greater than before.

But the top and bottom of the Great Tang Group are not in a rush because they hold solid assets like gold and technology, products, or stocks. They have numerous methods at their disposal to promote their currency.

As long as trade continues uninterrupted, they will consistently profit and have countless ways to gain more gold – and gold... is the universally acknowledged wealth of this world.

"Then, the production capacity of both factories should be raised to a scale of 50,000 cars per month," Roger continued to speak about the automobile manufacturing plants.

Tang Mo didn’t really care about these, since he had a series of automotive technologies that could push the entire industry forward, and no one could compete with his car factory. His automotive group was a conglomerate of Volkswagen, Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Ford, Peugeot, BYD, Wuling, and Tesla... No one could imagine just how powerful this group was.

Responsibly speaking, if Tang Mo had such a golden-egg-laying super group in his past life, he wouldn’t even need to engage in arms dealing!

"That’s possible. However, the Energy Department needs to be notified that we must consider the security of the oil and carefully calculate the supply and refining capacities," he instructed Roger.

Roger was his most trusted old minister; after the establishment of Great Tang Kingdom, he took the position of the kingdom’s Prime Minister.

No one questioned this arrangement, even if Roger’s capabilities were inadequate—no one raised any objections. Inside the Great Tang Group, everyone recognized Roger’s position; he was acknowledged as the second-in-command.

Some people are respected not because they are hands-off or lack abilities, but because their character shines like a gem.

Like Wes, dozing off beside the door, which of those haughty graduates from the military academy didn’t know that he was Tang Mo’s close follower, one of the few who could access any confidential area of the group just by his face?

"Understood! I will work out the details and then draft a more specific plan," Roger immediately said.

"We can’t match everything perfectly; we are not that precise, so there’s no need to nitpick. Just take into consideration the status of each party," Tang Mo reassured Roger, as he had a grasp of the entire workings of Great Tang Kingdom.

The most ideal scenario was that a factory produced 1,000 gears, all of which were used in car production, and all of the gears were exactly used up.

The cars produced would then have enough petrol to last them, and they were constantly used for transportation.

Such precise arrangements could potentially maximize benefits, but over-pursuit of this outcome would be extreme planned economy, destroying market vitality and leading to the eventual collapse of the cycle.

It’s practically impossible to design every stage of production with such precision, not even computers could achieve it. Thus, all stages in the design process need to have a surplus and account for variables, which is the most rational approach.

The entire newly acquired territory was simply a treasure trove, where a small investment could yield tenfold or a hundredfold in return.

It was like Brunas in the old days, teeming with laborers seeking jobs and people willing to give their lives for a piece of bread.

No exaggeration, it was a market brimming with hope, a factory filled with labor, and a military camp studded with potential recruits!

Having secured such a place, the Great Tang Kingdom had already gained the opportunity to grow stronger from every aspect, unlike its past circumstances where it was reliant on others and its industries were scattered all around. Finally, the Great Tang Kingdom had its own territory and the freedom to develop its economy without restraint!

The coal mines of Dongwan Island, the copper mountains of Tongcheng, the oil of Dragon Island, the rubber from Hotwind Port and Winterless City, the iron ore from the icy Northern Ridge, the rare metals from Gales...

Great Tang Kingdom had almost all the raw materials needed for modern industry, and it also had a reserve of a vast pool of modern scientific and technical talent.

If this couldn’t lead to a soaring ascent, then other countries might as well be described as hopeless. Two months after Great Tang Kingdom had brought down Zheng Country, the industrial capacity of Zheng’s former lands was not only restored to pre-war levels but also had doubled dramatically.

Before the surrounding countries could even react, Great Tang Kingdom had turned Zheng’s former lands into a vast construction site.

In the cities, trenches were dug everywhere as sewer systems began to be built. In the wild outlands, one electrical pole after another was erected, laden with telephone and power lines.

In the weedy suburbs, stations of various designs were being constructed of concrete, though in front of these stations, not a single rail could yet be seen...

On the broad rivers, bridges that accommodated both rail and road traffic were under construction, with ready-to-use fortifications at both ends. Upstream of these bridges, engineers planning dams were busy with their survey work.

Next to the mines, thermal power plants were being built, their towering chimneys spewing smoke night and day, blending with the clouds.

The once-barren lands began to be sown with crops, and the hillsides were filled with terraced fields recently carved out.

Tang Country had undergone earth-shattering changes.

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