Munitions Empire

Guest strode excitedly out of his laboratory; his prized student had recently made a significant discovery—a substance extracted from plants. He took the sample, along with a stack of messy reports, and got into the car prepared especially for him, traveling all the way to Chang'an's Royal Palace. The main body of Chang'an's Royal Palace was still a construction site, where a professional construction team was laying complete pipelines for the underground of the entire palace. These pipelines were large enough to drive through, with the purpose of laying the groundwork for future improvements, allowing the remaining underground construction to be completed entirely within the pipeline. Therefore, the entire project was incredibly time-consuming, as constructing a massive underground structure with the current technology was certainly no easy feat. Tang Mo would, of course, carefully craft his own lair. He had built an underground shelter that could withstand a nuclear strike and was preparing to construct a doomsday subway, which would enable him to rapidly evacuate from his palace and, within half an hour, cover 50 kilometers to a more professional underground facility. This system wasn't known as an underground nuclear shelter yet; it was being constructed under the guise of an underground defense work. No one understood why a reinforced concrete structure 10 meters thick was built at the core of this system, and there were even rumors that the Emperor was building his own vault. Passing through the bustling construction site, Guest handed his credentials to the sentry on guard and passed through the first security checkpoint. Soon, he arrived at the second checkpoint, where the guard pulled out some documents and a small glass bottle from Guest's document bag. Looking at the powder inside, the guard's expression darkened, "Dr. Guest, I hope you realize that bringing an unidentified substance into the Royal Palace is a very dangerous matter." Guest could only explain the medication he was carrying to the lieutenant, "Lieutenant, sir, I have come to present this drug to His Majesty. If you don't let me bring it in, how am I supposed to show it to His Majesty?" "Alright, I understand." The lieutenant went to the sentry box beside the checkpoint, picked up the telephone receiver, cranked the handle, and spoke, "This is checkpoint 2. Dr. Guest wishes to present a new type of drug to His Majesty... Yes, that's right, I understand." "Please wait a moment." After hanging up the phone, the lieutenant returned to Guest, stood at attention, and said, "You will need to wait here for a moment, someone will escort you in." Shortly after, a major accompanied by four soldiers arrived at the checkpoint and then escorted Dr. Guest inside. After passing the third checkpoint, Guest finally met Tang Mo, who was working in a room filled with modern ambiance. Seeing his chemistry advisor, Tang Mo put down the documents he was holding and asked, "Dr. Guest, I'm glad you've made new progress. You mentioned discovering a substance that could make a lot of money. I'm intrigued. Tell me about it, let's see what you've found." "Your Majesty! It wasn't my discovery, but one of my students. He specializes in plant purification, and he found a very peculiar substance." "Oh? Go on," Tang Mo motioned with his hand and Wes, who was becoming more and more like a butler, immediately took out two glass cups from the cabinet behind him and poured a little less than half a cup of four-year-old Brunas in each. This drink was now so scarce that every bottle drunk meant one less to enjoy, and the price had become exorbitant, making drinking it freely a luxury only Tang Mo could likely afford. Guest was very excited as he believed his student's discovery was simply too great, "In the jungles further south of Chu Country, there are some orc natives; they have a flower there that is extremely beautiful." He thought Tang Mo would definitely like such a thing and that it would soon become a profitable new venture. As Tang Mo took a cup from Wes's hand, he frowned slightly upon hearing Guest's words. He was very sensitive, especially to such matters. "Poppy?" Tang Mo's sharp gaze swept over Guest, and Wes, sensing something was amiss with Tang Mo, deliberately scrutinized the chemistry doctor as he handed the remaining cup to Guest. "The locals call it 'yingtu'... I'm amazed Your Majesty is so knowledgeable and already familiar with this flower," Guest exclaimed admiringly, then continued to introduce his student's great discovery, "My student heard that this flower is particularly famous locally for producing a substance that can excite, bring joy, and make one forget pain!" "Your Majesty, if your soldiers on the battlefield used this substance, they would fear death no more and fight with a hundredfold bravery!" Guest's face beamed with a smile as he spoke and started to pull out a purified crystalline powder from his briefcase, "And just a little..." "And just a little can make one forget pain, explode with inspiration, even feel like they are facing the gods, right?" Tang Mo played with the glass cup in his hand while his eyes rested on the bottle of opium-based purify. "Your Majesty... have you, have you already researched this kind of thing?" Upon hearing Tang Mo say this, Guest immediately reined in his smile. He had wanted to take credit for his student's work in front of Your Majesty, but if his student's research had outpaced Your Majesty's, then things could get very bad. Everyone knew that Your Majesty was also a research fanatic, or rather, he was the greatest researcher in the world. It was not surprising to Guest that Tang Mo had worked on similar projects. In fact, Tang Mo had secretly tinkered with such things in the lab, and his secret troops had used these substances to control important figures, with the aim of controlling the intelligence of a nation or influencing its decision-making. But Tang Mo despised such things from the bottom of his heart. He strenuously controlled their development and even concealed the fact that he had once created something similar. Now, someone else had developed this substance, and it was presented to him in an ironically obvious manner. "I have indeed researched this substance..." Tang Mo admitted to Guest's speculation, then continued, "Since your student has researched it, he must also know about its addictive nature and that it can destroy human tissue, doesn't he?" "What?" Guest was startled, and then suddenly stood up, "This substance is toxic? He, he said he..." "He has already used it, right?" Tang Mo stared at Guest, "That foolish young man, he has no idea about the danger of this stuff. Once used, it becomes addictive, making life agonizing after withdrawal!" "Therefore, I will not allow this kind of thing to appear within the borders of Tang Country! Apart from medical use, anyone who is involved with it will be executed without mercy." Tang Mo looked at Guest and said, "Do you understand what I'm saying, Dr. Guest?" "I, I understand," Guest said, as cold sweat broke out on his forehead. It was the first time he had heard Tang Mo speaking in such a grim tone about a technical issue. In previous discussions of chemical technology with Tang Mo, he had always felt enlightened, but this time, he detected a thick murderous intent in Tang Mo's words. "Go and summon Roger, Li'ao, Yulin... John... and Luff over," Tang Mo looked at Wes and instructed, "Call a meeting, I want to talk about this matter personally." Soon, the bigwigs of Tang Country entered Tang Mo's conference room one after another, into the spacious and bright hall, under the shadow of a set of massive chandeliers. Li'ao and the bartender controlled Tang Mo's intelligence department, Yulin had another set of espionage and security systems in his hands, and the always-military-aspiring Dino managed the police system. These people sat around the conference table, looking at each other wondering why Tang Mo had summoned an emergency meeting. Soon, Guest began to speak at the meeting, detailing the refined substance his student had researched. "I don't care what the reasons are, this drug must not be used! If I find out someone is secretly using this stuff, I will personally put an end to them," Tang Mo declared after explaining the harm of this substance, making his stance clear. "No selling, no production. Destroy it all wherever it's found! I don't care about other countries, but on my territory, anyone growing such plants, anyone manufacturing such drugs, anyone touching the related profit chain, any use of such substances... only one fate awaits them: Death! Execute without mercy!" Tang Mo scanned the room, emphasizing his point word by word. "Yes!" Everyone stood up, finally understanding why King Your Majesty had called them here. Luckily, most of them were unaware of the existence of such substances, so they could readily agree. This attitude also reassured Tang Mo. For an earthling who had traveled through time and space, Tang Mo's loathing and hatred for this substance could be said to be innate. He had a zero-tolerance policy for such things starting from 1840, a memory seared by flame, a suffocation from a noose around the neck, the humiliation and indelible pain of a nation standing up from the abyss of suffering. "Sweep the nation! Destroy any and all cultivation of such plants, death penalty for anyone trying to bring this plant into Great Tang!" Tang Mo stood up and glanced at Li'ao. Li'ao understood and returned a reassuring look to Tang Mo. Tang Mo was not a good man, he had never mourned for his own wickedness or cruelty. What had been done had been done, and he had no regrets. And ten or even fifteen years later, all those who were still alive today would understand just how great and sacred this meeting held by Tang Mo really was.