Munitions Empire

"How do you know that the person who made the move was sent by Shireck?" Tang Mo, snatching a moment of leisure amidst his busyness, was studying a kind of fried chicken coated in breadcrumbs. He lowered his head to fiddle with the chicken wings in the frying pan, asking without lifting his gaze. He wanted to recreate the deep-fried food he had tasted, including the burger patties that were first chopped into minced meat and then spread out and pan-fried. Actually, Tang Mo was a gourmet lover, it was just that he really lacked the talent for it. Although the food he made by following recipes was adequate, it always seemed to lack a certain feeling. After explaining the principles to other chefs, the dishes "invented" by Tang Mo tasted completely different. It was as if the chefs infused them with soul, and they instantly became delicious. Therefore, chefs familiar with all of this considered Tang Mo to be a true culinary inventor, a real chef. But this culinary inventor, admired by many renowned chefs, was in fact a complete novice in cooking. In the past in Brunas, he still had time to delve into gastronomy, but now that he had become the King of Tang, the king of a nation, he really didn't have much leisure time left. Now that he had to spend over an hour each day with his two sons, he had even less time to attend to various miscellaneous matters. Fortunately, with Roger helping with the kingdom's matters and Harry taking care of the company's business, he was able to carve out some time, thus avoiding the fate of working himself to death. Li'ao, standing by his side, replied, "We cracked an encrypted telegram that was sent to a merchant who has only been in Chang'an for the last half a year." He began to explain the process of decrypting the code, looking somewhat embarrassed, "Although our efficiency in decrypting codes is low, our cryptanalysis department is not just for show; we can still decrypt some secret messages, just not at a high rate." In fact, as soon as Tang Mo popularized the use of telegrams, he had the intelligence department start working on decrypting codes. The entire organization was quite large, and there were numerous talents in the field of intelligence among them. Unfortunately, due to everyone's lack of experience, the work of code-breaking was actually not going smoothly. Most of the cracked codes were obtained by capturing spies and forcing the information out of them by questioning. However, in a way, this world is still fair; toil will yield harvest—or at least the opportunity for a harvest... Depending on brute force experimentation and some clever mathematical calculations, the Great Tang's intelligence department still managed to break some codes and obtain some valuable intelligence. This time, the security department Li'ao was in charge of had decoded a secret message from Gobur that contained a covert operation plan to assassinate Prime Minister Roger, "Then, we discovered it was an activation command for a lurking assassin, so we began surveillance on the people the target was in contact with." "So you guys followed the vine to find this maid?" Tang Mo used long chopsticks to turn the chicken wings in the oil, asking curiously. Li'ao nodded, "That's about right. The other party was very cautious, and we didn't have conclusive evidence. After all, that was someone from the Prime Minister's residence, so we couldn't just take action. We had to let the security personnel who had already infiltrated the Prime Minister's residence make their move." Tang Mo, pleased with the work of the intelligence department, commenced, "Not bad, looks like the money I've spent on the intelligence department over the years hasn't been wasted." "Your subject is willing to die for Your Majesty," Li'ao chuckled after being praised, bowing his head in thanks. "That's an overstatement, I know your loyalty. By the way, are you sure that telegram was sent by the woman who is now deceased?" Tang Mo didn't lift his head; he felt the chicken wings in front of him might be ready soon. The plan to assassinate that seductive traitor was already in motion, and Sofia had provided various kinds of cooperation. It was actually a trade, with Shireck offering up a scapegoat, letting Tang Mo kill her to vent his anger properly. Only if Tang Mo were satisfied, would Shireck then qualify for further trade dealings—a sort of reason, creating an appearance of settling old scores on the surface. The Marquis lady from Shireck was the designated fall guy, and during the assassination, Sofia's people provided assistance. This is why Tang Country's assassins could brazenly kill someone in the core area controlled by Shireck, then escape so calmly and effectively. Only because Sofia gave the nod, and other Shireck's stewards tacitly consented, could such an incident where someone could kill and then retreat unharmed occur. However, the scapegoat wasn't necessarily willing to die, and that criminal abandoned by everyone might have wanted to struggle one last time. The retaliation and unwillingness of this person would make sense. Li'ao was confident about the source of the code, so he answered, "Yes, the encryption method of the telegram belongs to this woman. I suspect this was her last counterattack... as long as she died, this kind of assassination reprisal would be activated." This set of codes had been used before and later verified—even the airships and fleet from Shireck that tried to attack Dragon Island had used this code system. After Tang Country's intelligence department cracked this set of codes, they compared them with previously intercepted telegrams, managing to decode many outdated messages and seize some intelligence that was no longer timely. At that point, Tang Mo looked up, fixing his eyes on Li'ao, and asked earnestly, "Hmm, she is indeed dead, isn't she?" "Yes, she is indeed dead. Sofia's recent actions, as well as almost all indications, suggest that she truly is deceased," Li'ao immediately responded. Tang Mo still felt it was somewhat illogical for such a telegram to suddenly appear, so he exhorted, "Take a good look into it, don't make a fool of ourselves." "Yes! Your subordinate understands," Li'ao nodded seriously once again. He didn't want to become the butt of a joke either; if the target that his agents had personally killed came back to life, wouldn't his intelligence department become a laughingstock? "Furthermore, that security officer has been exposed. Recall him and send two new faces to replace the dead and the reassigned," Tang Mo continued to instruct. Li'ao bowed slightly and agreed, "Yes! Your subordinate understands." Tang Mo had arranged for absolutely loyal guards to be placed beside all the ministers, some in plain sight and some in secret, but these people were not surveillants. They did not have the duty or mission to report on the individuals they were protecting. Tang Mo would hand over the lists of these people to the corresponding subordinates, then have the security personnel find an opportunity to make contact with their protection targets to achieve mutual trust and familiarity with each other. He was not playing espionage politics; he truly did not wish for any harm to come to his followers. Having seen far too much deception and personally ordered umpteen assassinations, Tang Mo was more wary of such things and did not want similar events happening to his acquaintances. After Li'ao left, Tang Mo passed the chopsticks in his hand to a servant by his side—his leisure time was over. Even though the chicken wings in the frying pan were actually done and could be eaten, Tang Mo left all the same. It wasn't until he reached the door that he ordered the people behind him, "They should be ready, take them out and send them to Tagg... Redman was the one who received the last reward." Having said that, he walked out of the room, then hurried to the bathhouse, took a thorough shower, changed into a clean set of clothes, and after making sure he no longer smelled of grease, he opened the nursery door with a beaming smile on his face. Yue'er was in the room using her fuzzy ears to amuse Tang Mo's oldest son, and she was quite melancholic about this. Though there was no such thing as reproductive isolation, it was rare for orc cat-earred females to conceive children with humans. The odds were already low, not to mention that Tang Mo rarely engaged in such activities with her. Hence, Princess Yue'er was now the only one among Tang Mo's three princesses who had not given birth to an offspring. A toddler over one year old had little resistance to fluffy, autonomously moving things. The little fellow stood at the edge of the wooden bed, one hand bracing against the wooden railing, while the other endlessly fumbled on top of Yue'er's head. The little one liked his "mother" very much; grabbing Yue'er's ears with one hand while foolishly smiling at this mother figure who wasn't his birth mother. "Awoo! Aren't you afraid of the tiger?" Yue'er put on a frightening pose, without any actual intimidation, as she playfully threatened the little one. The little guy grinned, and his shiny drool simply dribbled down his cheeks, looking adorably clumsy. The nannies on the side couldn't help but chuckle, one of them coming over to wipe the prince's mouth and another trying to stop the First Prince from climbing over the wooden railing to come closer. "If you like it so much, have one of your own..." Yulin, off to the side, was checking some clothes that had been brought over, especially made for the two little ones. She was mid-sentence when she saw Tang Mo push the door open, and while the oblivious Yue'er didn't realize her man was already behind her, she muttered resentfully, "I wish I could, but I haven't seen him around in seven or eight days..." "Is there a possibility that you are actually blind?" Tang Mo, holding back laughter, stood behind Yue'er and asked. Yue'er's ears trembled, and then she suddenly turned around, exclaiming with surprise, "Your Majesty! What brings you here?" "I came... to see these two little ones," Tang Mo stated bluntly and honestly. "Ha! How did you manage to deceive Alice and Yue'er..." Yulin chuckled on the side. "Only mentioning Alice and me, why don't you include yourself?" Yue'er then turned to Yulin and teasingly asked. Yulin sighed, deliberately adopting a defeated expression, "Me? I came for free." "That's true for me too!" Yue'er, who had been through it all, widened her eyes in feigned surprise. Tang Mo pretended not to hear, lifting up his oldest son and kissing the child's tender little cheeks, "Daddy is here! Do you miss me, do you miss me? Heh heh!" ---------- Thanks to reader CC9527 for the reward, truly grateful... I'm unworthy, still owing updates... sigh...