Munitions Empire

However, once he confirmed this fact, the smile on his face became unrestrainable. Even though Tagg said that Tang Mo was not yet able to mass-produce these weapons, even though he knew that even if Tang Mo could mass-produce, he couldn't afford them...

In reality, as the Earl of Northern Ridge and the actual owner of Wolf City, he felt he already had victory in his grasp.

To be frank, he had never longed for war to come as he did now, because he was ready for everything; he had already seen the dawn of victory!

At this very moment, he truly hoped the war would break out on schedule, for in this war he would triumph and have the chance to amass a greater fortune during the conflict.

With a powerful ally, Northern Ridge would achieve unprecedented development. Using the war reparations and potentially new lands to be occupied, he could buy more weapons and grow the power of the Earl of Northern Ridge.

In summary, a new world lay before him, and the revolvers on the table were like the gates opening up to this new realm.

Of course, what he did not know was that his daughter by his side was thinking about the steam engine she had never seen, wondering if it could be put to work for her mines.

She also pondered over everything about Tang Mo, including the school he was building in Brunas, the land he was tilling in the southern part of the Vicious Forest, his new factory workshops, and his private armed forces that were still small in scale.

She even thought about what Tang Mo ate daily, and had even deliberately chosen an apple, a fruit he liked, as her dessert after lunch.

What she didn't know was that Tang Mo in Brunas had similar thoughts, only that the focus of his thoughts was slightly off: Tang Mo was considering how to sell steam engines to Northern Ridge...

For Northern Ridge, Tang Mo was nothing short of a prodigy who appeared at the most crucial moment to solve their biggest problem.

"We should get together whatever he needs and send it over," Alice finally spoke up, addressing her father seated behind the desk, "If we can't suppress or coerce, then we must woo..."

"He's building a larger factory in Brunas, so we should give him what he needs most urgently." Alice moved to the front of the desk and picked up one of the heavy revolvers, playing with it in her hand.

In fact, the weapon was not as miraculous as imagined, as after firing six times consecutively, it needed a complex sequence of actions to reload before it could be used again.

Therefore, compared to the K1 Quick Gun, which fired and reloaded one shot at a time, these revolvers did not significantly increase the overall shooting speed of the military.

After weighing the options, including Earl Fisello, Alice, and Tagg all felt that widespread adoption of the revolver wasn't very meaningful.

Under this sentiment, Fisello abandoned the idea of equipping the entire military with revolvers, only planning to arm his personal guard with a hundred of such firearms.

"He needs a lot, laborers, materials, and land..." Tagg repeated Tang Mo's demands with a bit of a headache: "Tang Mo's weapon workshop produces at a fast rate, so he needs a large quantity of raw materials to sustain his consumption. Lots of iron ingots, copper ingots... these are materials he urgently requires."

"It's unlikely that our mining operations can get any faster; you must realize our mines are already running at full speed," Alice said, shaking her head, "So, we need to squeeze out some resources for him from somewhere else."

"Northern Ridge has two large iron mines, and correspondingly, two large ore smelting plants," said the Little Princess of Northern Ridge, reciting as if listing treasures: "We own one, and the Shireck Consortium owns the other..."

"Every month, half of the iron we produce has to be sent to King City for the Kingdom's unified use, and the iron from Shireck's mine is also taken away..." As she spoke, she looked toward her father, Earl Fisello.

Without waiting for him to speak, she continued, "The portion for the Kingdom, we've already held back, which can subsequently be given to Tang Mo... I'll also try to recruit more hands to increase the mining speed as much as possible."

"But this will only solve part of what Tang Mo needs," Alice glanced at Fisello, her slender fingers caressing her perfectly curved chin, "So, is there a possibility of going after Shireck's iron factory?"

"What do you mean?" Tagg looked at Alice, somewhat unable to follow her train of thought—he could not think of any way that would make Shireck's iron factory give up their ingots.

"We arrange a robbery! Steal all of Shireck's steel for this month, and frame the mountain bandits..." Alice began, "A single heist should suffice to meet our short-term needs."

"This... this isn't really appropriate, is it...? We, we are the defenders of order in the Northern Ridge," Tagg said with some disbelief.

"Both of us know that Shireck has been trying to destroy our Ronin Family, to destroy Northern Ridge!" Alice frowned as she said to Tagg, "If we still cling to honor in a time like this, it would truly be idiotic."

Having made up her mind, she turned her gaze to Count Fisheo, "Father! We only have one chance. Once they lose a month's worth of mined iron, Shireck will increase their guards, change the route, and it will not be easy for us to make another move."

"In fact, they don't really have any means to deal with us. With war imminent and border security out of control... Under such circumstances, they would not dare to provoke us unprepared!" Alice concluded based on intelligence previously gathered, "The military of Suthers Kingdom hasn't finished assembling yet, and their efforts to weaken us in Northern Ridge aren't complete.

A mishap now, and they can only stand by and watch!"

"You are right, they wouldn't disrupt their entire plan over a batch of ingots," Count Fisheo nodded, then looked at Tagg, "What are our chances if I leave it to you?"

"With fifty soldiers armed with K1 Quick Guns and revolvers... it would likely be a success. But the people escorting the goods and the convoy... they are innocent," Tagg considered before speaking to Fisheo.

"What if we prearrange some moves... Can we substitute our own people?" Alice knew this operation was a one-off and thus had no qualms about utilizing the forces they planted inside Shireck's ironworks.

"Sure, we're bound to come into open conflict sooner or later, it's not an issue to make a move now," Fisheo also felt that while openly taking control of the ironworks would be frowned upon since they hadn't openly broken relations, arranging for their men to escort the shipment and then disappear with the convoy held definite practical possibilities.

"The rest should be easy, all we need to do is send all the goods to Brunas to offset what we owe, and that's it," Alice concluded the conspiracy with a smile.

After leaving the room, she let Tagg and Fisheo discuss the specifics while she walked back to her own room alone.

She sat down in the chair, pondering in the mirror the various details about Tang Mo that she had heard described by Tagg.

That young man in Brunas seemed to have a gift for business—his cunning techniques displayed during negotiations under Lord Earl's banner with the town mayor truly exemplified the classics of commercial bargaining.

Alice, who has always been engaged in this field, couldn't help but smile lightly after picturing the process in her mind.

Then, she thought of Tang Mo expanding the factory in Brunas, establishing schools, and recruiting private armies.

Expanding factories and hiring Ranger mercenaries made sense, as everyone did these things, so they became the norm. Shireck raising armed forces was not new either; sometimes, these forces were even stronger than the Kingdom's regular military.

Alice even understood Tang Mo's approach: ensuring one's own safety before proceeding was a prudent choice.

If Tang Mo needed security, Alice was even willing to provide some necessary protection for him, like having Tagg stationed with some soldiers near Tang Mo's weapons workshop to ensure that this Northern Ridge arms supplier could complete his production on time.

The private army and factory expansion were understandable, but Alice couldn't see through Tang Mo's purpose in establishing a school within his factory, offering better accommodation, and improving the welfare of his workers.

Furthermore, according to Tagg, Tang Mo taught the students some strange things, including various obscure chemical theories, and offered many management courses.

It seemed that Tang Mo wished to cultivate these children into well-rounded talents—he apparently wanted these children to be capable of managing a factory or an army in the future.

Considering the K1 Quick Gun and the revolver, two brand new weapons products, Tang Mo's weapons workshop's R&D capabilities seemed to be a notch above the old weapons merchants.

Adding that mysterious, enormous steam engine, along with a plethora of accompanying machinery as described by Tagg... it appeared that the workshop Tang Mo wished to establish would definitely surpass the colossal Shireck workshop.

Could Northern Ridge alone sustain such a behemoth? Alice couldn't help but contemplate.

After much thought, Alice finally gave up. She looked at herself in the mirror, at the radiant beauty reflected there, and muttered to herself, "What exactly do you want to do, Mr. Tang Mo?"