Munitions Empire

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A steam engine larger than a house... Isn't that just a toy that can only blow a deafening whistle? Alice tried hard to piece together the fragments of her memories about steam engines and then decided to skip over this topic for now.

She continued to ask Tagg, "So, Mr. Tang Mo, can he supply us with about 70 of these new rifles each month?"

"I can assure you that his production speed might become even faster," Tagg thought for a few seconds and made a statement he believed to be accurate.

Because he knew that on the day he left, Tang Mo had already started building the third steam engine and, judging from the content of the private conversations with Mathews, he felt Tang Mo might build a fourth or even a fifth steam engine.

What he didn't know was that, in fact, Tang Mo was already planning to build seven steam engines at the same time. He planned to reduce the size and increase the technical precision of one, to experiment with some train technology.

As for the remaining six steam engines, Tang Mo had plans for each of them. He was ready to build two workshops directly in the new factory site he was pioneering, to produce new weapons and equipment!

Yes! He was an arms dealer, not just a gun manufacturer! It wasn't just a rifle factory he ran, but a super military industrial complex producing all kinds of munitions!

In this era, Tang Mo himself found it unbelievable to produce rifles without producing cannons. Hence, Tang's Weapon Workshop was set to challenge the production of even bigger weapons—cannons!

These were the things unknown to Tagg, who had left Brunas, so his estimate on Tang Mo's expansion rate was still conservative.

In Tagg's view, since Tang Mo had more steam engines, it was certain he could increase the production speed of the K1 Quick Guns.

In fact, his guess was completely correct; Tang Mo planned to raise his K1 Quick Gun production to 500 pieces per month!

These rifles were not entirely for Northern Ridge; they might also be sold far away in other areas. Even Tang Mo would arm some of his own people to counter Shireck's unreasonable annexation tactics.

"Even faster?" Alice found it hard to believe, but she had no doubt about Tagg, a loyal Northern Ridge man, steadfast as a pine tree.

"At least... twice the current production speed," Tagg deliberated a little and decided to boast for Tang Mo. He thought that with a bit of effort, Tang Mo should be able to reach that number.

Alice didn't say a word, shocked by this production speed. She had previously studied the small weapon workshop in Brunas and could roughly estimate its scale.

Northern Ridge had supported the workshop with about 300 people, and even judging by that number, the total number of people in Tang's Weapon Workshop would reasonably not exceed six hundred.

Her estimate was actually very accurate; Tang Mo had roughly that many people, and those truly engaged in weapon production were less than 300.

Alice, who had visited Shireck's workshop, knew exactly how large a 1,000-person scale workshop was. She still remembered the rows of chimneys belching black smoke at the metal smelting furnaces there.

The workers in those workshops sat densely packed along the long tables, heads down assembling the snaphance structure of flintlock guns in the not-so-bright factory.

These workers engaged in weapon production were covered in grease, filthy and scrawny, their eyes lacking any luster, indifferent to Alice as she passed them by, like zombies.

Despite this, these vast and overcrowded weapon workshops could only produce a few hundred flintlock guns a year, and a kingdom's production of flintlocks totaled no more than about two thousand.

Yet this young arms merchant named Tang Mo was capable of producing 120 better needle guns every month with a few hundred people...

This meant that this arms merchant named Tang Mo not only improved the weaponry but also thoroughly enhanced the production speeds, revolutionized the production process, and controlled a production technology far beyond the times!

To be honest, Alice, who had always been in charge of Northern Ridge's economy, wasn't too concerned about the emergence of a new weapon, but she astutely picked up on this detail of the innovation in productivity.

She had even begun to think about whether this new method of production could be replicated in Northern Ridge to improve its productivity.

In this era, an increase in productivity meant being able to produce more with fewer people, and the added profit was a temptation Alice could not resist.

However, before her thoughts could wander that far, she saw her father with a beaming smile walking towards her.

As the hero who brought back so many K1 Quick Guns, Lord Fisello naturally wanted to have a good chat with Tagg.

"It seems we can place even more trust in this young man named Tang Mo, can't we?" Earl Fisello was very enthusiastic, ready to generously send another batch of supplies to Tang Mo.

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This time, Alice did not object, but she brought up a suggestion that Fisheo had already rejected, "Can't we really pull this talent to Northern Ridge? Whatever he wants—gold coins... power! All can be offered!"

"I'm afraid that won't work, Miss. He cares a lot about his own property and probably won't become Lord Earl's subordinate," Tagg cautioned carefully.

"Kidnapping him is also an option," Alice said seriously, looking at Tagg, "Tagg, if you personally lead a squad, 100 soldiers... are you confident you can capture him?"

"I'm afraid there's no guarantee, Miss," Tagg shook his head and then looked at the Earl, saying, "I've brought something else for you this time, Lord Earl."

"You've brought a gift for me too? Hahaha! Tagg! You've never been this thoughtful," Fisheo laughed loudly, slapping Tagg on the shoulder.

Because the weapon at Tagg's waist was mostly covered by a holster, Fisheo didn't immediately notice what made this weapon different from a common flintlock pistol.

"To be honest, this gift was prepared by Tang Mo for Lord Earl," Tagg said sheepishly, scratching his head and then looking towards Alice, "This is also why, I mentioned that controlling Tang Mo is not an easy task."

"He's good at giving gifts?" Alice raised an eyebrow, sarcastically teasing Tagg. She was surprised, feeling that there seemed to be no necessary connection between being good at giving gifts and whether he could be captured.

"Yes, he's very good at giving gifts! Bribery... buying over... drawing in..." Tagg nodded in agreement subconsciously at Alice's words, having experienced it himself.

Immediately after, he shook his head quickly, correcting himself, "No, I mean, even though he is indeed very good at giving gifts... but there are other areas where he's also very good! So good, that I don't even know how many aces he has up his sleeve now."

He thought of the pistol at his waist, a type he had never seen before, which still gave him an uneasy feeling.

"What do you mean?" Fisheo asked Tagg with interest, really wanting to know what sort of aces the business-focused young man possessed that Tagg would be wary of.

Although Fisheo had never considered the idea of capturing Tang Mo to serve him, he truly did not think that Tang Mo's small weapons workshop was a force that 100 soldiers from Northern Ridge couldn't handle.

Tagg opened his long military coat, revealing the dark brown leather weapon belt at his waist, and also the delicate-looking pistol hanging there.

"My Lord, this is the gift that Tang Mo gave to me. There are five more of the same pistols in the hidden compartment of the carriage," he said.

"A pistol? Did Tang Mo turn the Quick Gun into a pistol?" Fisheo asked with interest.

"No, my Lord! He created an even more terrifying weapon!" Tagg said to the Earl, "We should go somewhere secluded, and I shall demonstrate the... future to you!"

Earl Fisello laughed again, patting Tagg on the shoulder, mocking his own subordinate with some disdain, "Ha! Since coming back from Northern Ridge, you sound more like that lad Tang Mo! All this talk about the future, terrifying weapons... Are you trying to sell me another type of weapon on his behalf?"

"My Lord, please believe me... I'm not exaggerating at all," Tagg's face flushed with embarrassment as he earnestly explained.

Alice was quite interested in Tagg's unprecedented caution and stepped back to clear a path, "Let's go! To the backyard, to see what kind of future our Northern Ridge's bravest warrior has brought back for us."

"I think sending Tagg to Brunas may have been a mistake," Fisheo said, gesturing to Tagg and then walking with Alice down the path towards the back of the house.

Behind them, the soldiers Summoned by Fisheo were distributing newly delivered Quick Guns, 20 of which were to be used for training weapons for each battalion!

With these weapons, the troops of Northern Ridge would rapidly master the use of this weapon, and once more Quick Guns were available, the military of Northern Ridge could form a combat force, a more powerful combat force!

Once they had avoided everyone's sight, the three of them arrived at a deserted courtyard where Tagg could hardly wait to draw the revolver he had prepared from his waist.

Fisheo stood beside him and noticed that the weapon didn't have a beak-like hammer on the side and that there was an odd protrusion on the barrel.

Alice too had never seen a pistol like this and looked curiously at the weapon in Tagg's hand, anticipating its performance moments later.

Tagg leveled his arm, took a deep breath, and finally mustered the feeling to fire. His eyes focused through the notched rear sight on the gun's spine, aiming at the trunk of a large tree.

Then, holding his breath, he steadied his gun hand.