Munitions Empire

The more the Dahua Empire understood the technological advantage of the Great Tang Group, the more they felt that going to war with the Great Tang Kingdom was not a good choice.

In such an atmosphere, Emperor Zhao Kai of Dahua, who was eager to regain face, no longer even had the mood to clamor for war with Great Tang.

"The state letter I submitted...Prime Minister, you must have already read it..." the envoy from Laines said with utmost respect.

Chu Muzhou nodded affirmatively and said, "Indeed, I have read it. The cooperation between our two countries is unproblematic, and His Majesty the Emperor is very willing to become allies with the powerful Leines I."

After all, it was only a matter of intent for cooperation, such things came at no cost, merely a matter of saying a few words over drinks, patting each other on the back, and acknowledging friendship; it wasn't something to take seriously.

"Furthermore, our country wishes to establish a consulate in your country to handle future communications..." the envoy from Laines tentatively inquired.

"There's no problem with that, we've even already selected a location," Chu Muzhou didn't mind offering a mansion to retain the envoys of the Laines Empire.

Telegraphs were no longer a novelty in Dahua, and producing telegraph machines was no technical challenge for Shireck. In Chu Muzhou's view, as long as communication was smooth, it would be beneficial for the Dahua Empire to form an alliance with the distant Laines Empire.

The strategic ploy of allying with distant states to attack nearby enemies wasn't a profound theory; the upper echelons of the Dahua Empire knew very well that there couldn't be any conflict of interest with the distant Laines Empire, but rather there was a very broad field for cooperation.

For instance, by merely inquiring about matters related to the Great Tang Group, one could learn that there was both cooperation and conflict between the Great Tang Group and the Laines Empire.

Realizing the possibility of restraining the currently strong Great Tang Kingdom on the distant Eastern Continent and diverting the Great Tang Kingdom's attention, Chu Muzhou became interested in sending a mission to the Eastern Continent.

The envoy from the Laines Empire had inspired Chu Muzhou, prompting the Prime Minister of the Dahua Empire to think of a good approach.

He felt that emulating the Laines Empire by sending an envoy group to the Eastern Continent to liaise with those states and forces not quite in line with the Great Tang Group and to create some trouble for the Great Tang Kingdom on the other end of the Endless Sea seemed like a good idea.

Thus, Chu Muzhou and the envoy from Laines began to talk about the Great Tang Group, about Brunas and Jade City.

Both being shrewd people, they could discern each other's thoughts from their conversation—if both intended to target the Great Tang Group, then things would be easy to handle, wouldn't they?

Far away on Dragon Island, the deputy commander of the intelligence agency of the Great Tang Kingdom, the burly bartender, handed a report to Tang Mo.

"Hmm?" Tang Mo's eyes sparkled with interest when he saw the content. He looked up at his second-in-command of the intelligence department.

The bartender immediately began to explain, "It's been filtered by the Electronic Surveillance Department. Recently, the telegraphic communication between the Dahua Empire and the Laines Empire has become frequent, and most of the messages are encrypted."

"Can they be decrypted?" Tang Mo seemed to guess some of the content in the telegrams, tapped the report in his hand twice, producing a crisp sound.

"The code they're using is complex, and we haven't been able to decrypt it yet," the bartender apologetically answered. "But one thing is for sure, the communication is official, not some merchant's bad taste."

"Interesting, things are getting more and more interesting," Tang Mo stroked his forehead with his hand, a slight smile appearing on his lips. "I hadn't expected that without me interfering, others would take the initiative to target me first."

Although there wasn't any evidence yet to suggest a conspiracy between the Laines Empire and the Dahua Empire against the Great Tang Kingdom, Tang Mo still instinctively sensed a hint of danger.

This might just be the sixth sense developed from years of scheming against others—sharp and unreasonable.

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Two in one