Munitions Empire

"What a damned nuisance," an old woman muttered as she watched a police officer in a black uniform roughly yank out the Yinju flowers she had tenderly cultivated for two years. The flowers were beautiful, and she had been taking great care in growing them. Unfortunately, by decree of His Majesty the King, the entire Kingdom had banned the cultivation of this plant. Not a single one was to be kept, a policy so strict it was... excessive. "This is the law! The Tang Country has banned the cultivation of these plants! They've been classified as dangerous goods!" The young officer stuffed the uprooted plant into a sack and tossed it into the back of a truck parked on the street. Returning, he warned the old woman, "Growing this plant, from now on, is punishable by death!" "My goodness, really?" A farmer watching the scene unfold gasped in shock, his eyes wide. "Of course, it's true," the young patrolman replied, removing his wide-brimmed hat to let his damp hair breathe. He fanned himself with the hat and said to the onlooking crowd, "Stealing more than 100 Gold Coins only gets you three years! But get caught with this thing, and you're looking at a bullet! Don't say I didn't warn you all!" Many people suddenly realized just how terrifying the matter was—embezzling a large sum didn't warrant death, but growing a lousy flower did, indicative of how much His Majesty despised this plant. "In those days, when His Majesty's mother died, His Majesty saw her grave was full of Yinju flowers! That's why he hates these flowers and has sworn never to see them again!" the patrolman explained, climbing back into the truck. His words helped everyone understand why His Majesty had declared that these flowers were not to be seen anywhere in the Tang Kingdom. Saddened by this history, these citizens, already enjoying the benefits of the Great Tang Kingdom and beginning to identify as Tang people, immediately sympathized with their King. They really adored His Majesty, who had brought them good days and full bellies. If His Majesty didn't want to see these flowers... then so be it, they wouldn't plant them. After all, it was just a type of flower, no big deal. And so, the farms that were previously growing these flowers changed crops, with the government hall even offering subsidies and tax relief for switching to other agricultural products. Under the supervision of the patrol, those who had privately cultivated the flowers obediently destroyed them. To prevent any curious minds from uncovering the secret, Tang Mo even crafted a set of lies to conceal his true intentions. In this way, a vigorous campaign to ban the flowers kicked off in the Tang Country, and an insidious drug calamity that corroded the soul was silently suppressed. In the Prime Minister's office of the Tang Country, Roger sat in his study, handling documents concerning the construction of new power plants. Last year, the Great Tang Kingdom generated over 200 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity, almost equal to the total output of all other countries combined. This year, the Tang Country plans to double that figure, reaching a total electricity output of 400 billion kilowatt-hours! It was an ambitious goal, and achieving it would elevate the industrial development of the Great Tang Kingdom to a new level. Roger was truly staggered by the speed of construction; he deeply felt that the people from the Zheng Country and Qi Country areas annexed by the Great Tang Kingdom seemed more industrious than the civilians from the Brunas region. These Chinese, or rather these Tang people, were just too fiercely competitive, to an infuriating extent. They loved building their homeland with a passion that knew no bounds. Scenes seldom seen in Brunas were now common throughout the entire Great Tang Kingdom. In Chang'an, a bustling place, he often saw workers sleeping in factories, construction workers overtime until it was completely dark, then collapsing to sleep right on the construction site covered in cement dust. This intense work ethic directly led to a construction pace several times faster in the Great Tang Kingdom. Every aspect of production was pushed to the limit, and the results quickly became evident to all. Smokestacks in Tongcheng grew each day, and the once-small town of Anpu now approached a population of 700,000 in just over a year! Great Tang was replicating the Brunas miracle at a pace of one Brunas per year. Five years ago, Roger would have never believed such a thing could happen. Back then, the development speed of Brunas was completely beyond Roger's understanding. Now, the growth rate of the entire Great Tang Kingdom... surpassed everyone's comprehension. After all, the governors leading each city, each town in the nation, had seen Brunas. They understood the Brunas model and were familiar with its methods. All they had to do was replicate it, systematically guiding the cities they managed down the path of modern urban development, transforming them into sanctuaries akin to Brunas. Everyone was racing to grow, all armed with a nearly identical development theory: to be wealthy, first build roads, have more children, and plant more trees! Population is competitiveness, roads are the veins of industry, oil is the blood of industry, industry is the symbol of wealth, buildings are a city's muscles! So, constructing buildings, repairing roads, building factories, and planting fruit trees on barren hills became the work that the entire Great Tang Kingdom was engaged in. The nation continuously perfected its infrastructure; railroads and highways had already begun to form a network. The billions of Gold Coins seized from various countries had not even had the chance to be deposited in Tang Mo's treasury before they were converted into various infrastructure constructions, turned into power plants, into rail tracks, into asphalt, into diverse technological laboratories. Roger's eyes became somewhat sore from looking over these documents; he rubbed his eyes, then turned a page and continued reviewing those familiar figures. He had to understand this data periodically; it represented his control over the country and was a task he must complete. In the kitchen of the Prime Minister's residence, a cook was preparing tea for the kingdom's Prime Minister; this was her job, as the Prime Minister always needed a cup of refreshing tea at this time every day. The tea she brewed was very much to the Prime Minister's liking, so she'd always performed this job. Today was no exception; she repeated every step just as she had on previous days. At that moment, a maid came in with a beaming smile, greeted her, and then started chatting about all sorts of trivial matters. The cook didn't become suspicious; after all, they were colleagues that had known each other for a long time, so she made tea while occasionally replying to the conversation. She didn't stop her work; practice made perfect, and there wasn't a hint of confusion. The maid, who had come to chat for some unknown reason at that time, moved closer to the tea-making table as if she wanted to be closer to the cook. "I would advise against doing that," came another woman's voice from behind the two of them. A maid, who usually didn't stand out, approached them and swiftly grabbed the wrist of the chatty maid. The normally smiling maid suddenly changed color; she tried to pull back her arm nervously but found that the other's grip was as strong as a vise—she couldn't break free. Suddenly, her other hand grabbed a fork from the table and stabbed at the maid who had caught her arm. But she found that the maid calmly dodged the fork; the other hand struck the back of her wrist, flinging the fork from her hand and almost destroying her wrist in the process. The arm that had been caught now lacked strength, and a small packet containing poison dropped to the ground. The smiling, chatty assassin understood that her mission had failed and that she was going to be caught here today. "Who are you!" the cornered assassin shouted harshly. The maid who had thwarted the poisoning didn't speak and led her away from the cook. Then, she coldly answered the assassin's question, "The one taking your life!" "Hey!" The assassin tried to retaliate again, flinging her recently struck wrist and, ignoring the pain, threw a punch. She felt that if she could break free from her opponent's restraint and cause some chaos, there might be a chance to escape. Unfortunately, while she calculated her escape, her captor drew a dagger from nowhere and stabbed her directly under the ribs. Instantly, she lost the strength to resist, but her opponent didn't relax their guard. Instead, they pulled out the knife and stabbed her several times in succession. Quick and decisive without hesitation. The female assassin fell to her knees; she didn't understand why she had been exposed or why the other party didn't capture her alive to interrogate her about who had sent her... But before she could think it all through, she was already out of breath, kneeling there at the end of her life. The event happened so rapidly that the cook forgot to scream. She stood there with her mouth covered, not knowing what to do. She couldn't comprehend why a colleague she recognized was an assassin or why another colleague she knew could kill an assassin... "Are you all right? I'm a security officer arranged by the Ministry of Internal Affairs within the Prime Minister's residence. Don't be afraid. You are safe now; she's already dead," said the maid, still holding the dagger, as she revealed a smile with a drop of fresh blood on her face. In the room, Roger looked up to see the Guard Commander of the Prime Minister's guards approaching him, "What happened? What's the matter?" "A covert assassin from Shireck has been caught," the Guard Commander replied. "It was an undercover agent arranged by the Ministry of Internal Affairs who caught her." "It's alright, as long as she's been caught. She notified me when she came in; there's no need for alarm," Roger said, lowering his head to resume his work. "Is the tea still drinkable?" "I'll go hurry it up," the Guard Commander, relieved by Roger's response, stood at attention and saluted before turning and leaving the room.