Munitions Empire

"Are you planning to go back to Shireck, or... stay here?" Harry wiped his wet hair with a towel, gazing at the chief maid, Sofia, who lazily lay on the bed, hugging a pillow.

"My name is Jenny..." The woman's voice brimmed with satisfaction. She hummed, stretched out her jade arm to fumble on the nightstand, and then the sound of a lighter flicking open filled the room.

"Huff..." The woman exhaled a puff of smoke, looking at the slender Harry and said, "What do I have to do to make you let your guard down and see me as your real woman?"

"Isn't the fact that you can lie here the best proof?" Harry tossed the damp towel aside and took the cigarette from the woman's hand.

"If you're willing, countless women are queuing up for the chance to lie here." Jenny lit another cigarette for herself and lovingly returned to the bedside.

"Like you said, that's only if I want it to happen." Harry stared out the window at the endlessly burning bonfires and his subordinates tossing box after box of documents into the flames to be destroyed, his eyelids drooping, seemingly lost in thought.

"Hahaha!" The woman laughed joyfully. It was the first time since she had followed Sofia that she had met such a charming man, or perhaps such a group of charming men.

In the past, she thought all men were nothing but dogs, and if she was strong enough, those hypocritical and shameless vermin deserved nothing more than to grovel at her feet, begging for mercy.

Yet since arriving in Brunas, she had met a man whom she did not even dare offer herself to, along with a group of men surrounding him that she would willingly undress for.

Only now did she realize how alluring a true powerhouse was, like a delicious cream cake, making her instinctively lick her lips.

"I don't want anything else, just to be by your side. Wherever you go, I'll follow," Jenny didn't realize at that moment how completely her strong-woman image had crumbled, leaving her looking entirely like a devoted little housewife.

"Follow me... What will you lack?" Harry turned his head, glancing at the enchantress sitting on the bed.

Jenny laughed heartily, her laughter unrestrained, without inhibitions.

As for the parts that might be abandoned, be it Brunas or Jade City, both were potential candidates for abandonment. The retreat had already begun at Northern Ridge, and Alice had even for gone her family's territory just to rush off in search of Tang Mo. Harry knew that as the CEO of the Great Tang Group, he could leave here at any moment.

However, everything could start anew. The core of Brunas was either in Linshui or on Dragon Island now.

As long as his mentor was still there, he had the confidence to rise again and take control of everything, even if all that remained was Dragon Island!

...

In Chang'an, the palace that was under construction had stopped work altogether, with most of the builders being redeployed to areas where war might break out to construct military facilities.

To support the front lines, building enough barracks and repair factories in the war zone was evidently far more urgent than constructing one's own palace.

Building a magnificent palace was meant to showcase the wealth of the Great Tang Kingdom, and Tang Mo himself had not reached an extreme of luxury where he would divert naval funds to construct his garden.

The construction of the Dragon Nest had always been a long-term major project. Now, with the approach of war, it had completely quieted down here, leaving only some unused stones and wooden posts piled up in the empty courtyard.

It wasn't that Tang Mo refused to live in the old palace of Zheng Country; it was simply because it had been blasted to rubble during the attack on King City. When Dino came here to oversee the work, he had it dismantled, with much of the material being moved to the new palace outside the city.

It was necessary, as per the construction requirements of the Dragon Nest, that the new palace be equipped with the most advanced suite of facilities. It had to be connected to an underground defense system and a private subway line, and it needed its own surface train station and a standard airport runway.

Moreover, there had to be enough space around the structure to deploy security troops, along with positions for anti-aircraft guns...

To meet these extreme security requirements, the Dragon Nest simply couldn't be located within Chang'an City, which was for the same reason the Dragon's Den was also in the suburbs.

Although the Dragon Nest was not yet complete, Tang Mo still oversaw work there. At least, there was ample open space to accommodate his vast and complex leadership team.

Today's Tang Mo was no longer alone or a minor character running around the map with Wes and Roger. His secretary team alone comprised several dozen people, including military officers and civil servants, and a multitude of confidential and personal secretaries serving just him personally.

In addition to the Prime Minister's team, there was the Staff Department, the guard troops, the Anti-Aircraft Artillery Troops… In short, Tang Mo's surroundings were practically host to a division. But this division was not a military one, rather a workforce of thousands.

Within a relatively intact side hall of an under-construction castle, a huge war zone map hung, bustling staff and secretaries carrying a variety of documents weaved amongst groups of military officers.

"The oil depot is not full yet... Train No. 411 is delayed," a military officer with his arms crossed complained to the general beside him, "The Armored Corps hopes we can speed up..."

"There's nothing we can do, the priority of the ammunition train is the same as that of the fuel train, and we're already doing our best to coordinate," replied the major general in charge of wartime train scheduling, who had just turned 30, very young.

Although he was young, he had studied these subjects in school, and his graduation thesis was about train scheduling, so he might be the most professional train scheduling commander in the world.

However, due to the lack of computers and limited railway lines, even his most powerful brain could not meet the demands of all the troops at the same time, making rail transport chaotic in the face of imminent battle.

In another corner, a young general wearing the sky-blue uniform of the Great Tang Air Force, Ibrahim, was nearly bald, this general, who had stood out from thousands of pilots and apprentices, was only 31 this year.

He had no choice, he was one of the first pilots to train on the FW-190 fighter jet and had also flown various other models, racking up a frighteningly high number of flying hours by the standards of this world.

Regrettably, although he'd quickly amassed experience, he had also inhaled a bit too much pure oxygen by accident, leading to some hair loss, a trivial price of human flight.

Thus, Major General Ibrahim appeared somewhat geeky, exhibiting a maturity and composure that belied his age.

He was confirming with one of his colonels for the last time whether his troops had already set off to assemble in the Great Tang homeland.

"According to the estimated time, the aircraft fleet will arrive at Dongwan Island in 40 minutes... 14 frontline airfields are ready and can receive the planes at any time," his subordinate reported to the commander.

"Spare parts, ground maintenance personnel, ground control center, navigation signal towers... how's everything prepared?" Ibrahim asked once more, tiresomely.

"Everything is ready, including the independent field hospital and barracks... I just ran through the rest areas yesterday," the subordinate continued.

"What's left... is just to wait..." Ibrahim said, gazing at the hands of the clock on the wall.

...

On Dongwan Island, an old fisherman on the beach watched as his granddaughter played with a huge crab. The crab, larger than a palm, brandished its claws as if trying to scare away the girl.

The girl, no longer plagued by poverty and well-fed, had grown into an elegant beauty with sparkling, joyful eyes.

This kind of life had continued for a long while, and the only regret the old fisherman had was that his son and daughter-in-law hadn't lived to see such a prosperous era.

Fishermen no longer had to worry about pirate attacks at sea, nor were they oppressed by the ships from the country of mirages.

Now, he could rent fishing boats from the Dongwan government office and go out to sea. With extensive experience, the old man was even able to take half a month off every year to spend time playing on the beach with his granddaughter.

"Grandpa! Let's take this crab to the teacher!" the little girl said as she picked up the crab and waved it excitedly at her grandfather.

"Alright! Everything's alright!" the old man replied with a smile, his eyes crinkling into slits as he walked over and watched his granddaughter put the crab into a bamboo basket.

Just then, the old man suddenly furrowed his brows. Although old, he had sharp senses from years at sea.

Amidst the sound of sea waves hitting the shore, he heard a continuous buzzing that did not belong to nature.

He looked up and instantly froze in place, his eyes widening in shock.

Normally, fishermen and residents of Dongwan Island, had seen strange "cross"-shaped objects in the sky from time to time, flying near or far.

The old fisherman had seen them too and had even witnessed a few aircraft flying over Dongwan Island at once. He had become accustomed to them and didn't pay any mind to these irrelevant things.

But now, at this very moment, what he saw was a swarm of aircraft, like a horde of wasps in formation, flying over Dongwan Island!

Not just the old fisherman, more and more people in the fields, on the roads, and on the decking looked up and saw the aircraft fleet covering the sky like dark clouds over Dongwan Island.

A few minutes later, in the Dongwan Island Telegraph Office, a female receptionist bowed apologetically to the people in the lobby, "I'm sorry, sirs, due to military control, telegraph services will be suspended for three days... No telegrams can be sent... Sorry... Sorry..." Explore more at My Virtual Library Empire