Munitions Empire

There's nothing quite as satisfying as playing with your own child. This feeling is genuinely wonderful, a sensation that made it all too easy for Tang Mo to lose track of time. Raising a child is such an interesting affair, especially when you have dozens of servants to help you look after the kids and a 36D wet nurse to feed them, without having to consider the cost of bringing up a child. Tang Mo's wealth had grown to such an extent that even if his descendants were complete idiots, each more corrupt than the last, it would still be enough for them to squander into the next century. The wealth accumulating every second was about the lifetime goal of a standard tycoon in this world. Therefore, the children's clothes that Yulin was inspecting might appear ordinary, but if placed on Earth, they would be akin to haute couture children's wear sewn by Prada's head designer. From material selection to tailoring, every part of the process was done with unique craftsmanship, strictly to a nearly obsessive standard. The fabric of the clothes was chosen for its top-notch softness and breathability, and each stitch was meticulously planned in its direction and placement. Every servant moving about in this room was a deeply trusted and immensely loyal female medical graduate, whose daily responsibility encompassed attending to the princes' every need, from their diet to their daily routines. Yulin and Alice would take turns moving their offices here, meaning the two children were hardly ever out of the royal family's sight. These might be the happiest princes, as Tang Mo even played the role of a scribe once, "stealing" all the nursery rhymes he knew to play for his sons. "Whoa! Up high! Hehe! Am I amazing or what? Whoosh! Up we go!" Tang Mo hoisted his son up and down, having the time of his life. His movements were actually quite amateurish, causing the surrounding maids and nurses to watch with trepidation. But the First Prince seemed to be enjoying himself, emitting bell-like laughter amidst his father's playful ups and downs. Seeing Tang Mo so fond of the son she bore him, Yulin's face was covered with a contented smile. As she had said, she fell in love with Tang Mo herself, and bearing him a healthy son was her greatest wish. The sunlight streamed through the bright windows, filling the spacious room. Everyone seemed to be smiling, and the world appeared to be filled with beauty. But in reality, that was not the case. There were dark corners in the world where the sunlight could not reach, and not everywhere enjoyed tranquil times. In fact, war has always been the main theme of this world, with peace being but a rare ornamentation interspersed among it. The two young princes, just over a year old, could neither sense the scent of war in the air nor feel the suffocating calm that precedes a great battle. Just a few months ago, the Songmu Kingdom, which had been struggling to hold on, finally succumbed and was defeated and annexed by the Poplar Kingdom. The King of the Poplar Kingdom proclaimed himself Yangmu Yi, elevating his kingdom to the Poplar Empire! The war was rife with the shadow of Shireck, with many new weapons being deployed. The world's first aerial combat unfolded, with the Poplar Kingdom's fighter squadron destroying Songmu Kingdom's air force at a cost of more than half its size. Planes resembling the Camel Fighter made a name for themselves in this war, providing vital reconnaissance for the ground troops and ushering in the era of three-dimensional combat. The tanks of the Poplar Kingdom also performed splendidly, breaching Songmu's defenses and preventing them from dragging the war into a stalemate with trenches and bunkers as they had done in the previous war, leading to a swift conclusion of conflict. Because of these new weapons, the Songmu Kingdom didn't even have time to struggle. The envoys they sent to the Tang Country for help hadn't reached Linshui before their kingdom was defeated. In this process, over 40 battleships were commissioned worldwide, including 4 from Tang Country, 6 from Dongwan, 5 from the Ice Cold Empire, 4 from the Poplar Empire, 4 from the Laines Empire, 7 from Dorne, 5 from the Gobur Kingdom, 2 from the Empire of Nanla, and 4 from the Chu Country. If all these battleships were completed, Tang Country would have 7 battleships, with the remaining nations totaling 37 battleships. Of the 7 battleships from the Dorne Empire, two were purchased from Tang Country, making the total number of newly built battleships 39, and the combined total 44. Tang Country would peak at 9 battleships before transferring two to Dorne. And this was just the count of the battleships. Surrounding the Endless Sea and the Demon Sea, the number of cruisers being built by various nations exceeded 100, with destroyers amounting to over 500. Just Tang Kingdom alone built 90 destroyers in less than two years; nobody thought this pace of shipbuilding was just for fun. Everyone was militarizing; it's just that no one was explicitly saying it. From the data, it was evident Tang Mo wasn't idly maintaining the scale of his two mighty fleets. He abandoned his advantage in numbers, opting instead to expand his technological edge. What others didn't know was that Tang Mo's fleet would include over 40 submarines and 4 aircraft carriers in the future… Therefore, simply comparing the number and scale of the fleets is actually inaccurate, Tang Mo's technological advantage was too great, so much so that it was completely beyond others' imagination. Tang Mo's destroyers were equipped with torpedoes and radar, with these new equipment enhancements, the actual combat efficiency of these destroyers had already far surpassed their rivals. Those rivals, in trying to counter the new tanks developed by Tang Country, were actually not as tactically adept as Tang Army's Number 4 tanks that had been in use for quite some time. Because those imitation models, which looked good on paper and seemed to outperform the Number 4 tanks, had no proper radio communication systems, which allowed the Tang Army to still have an overwhelming advantage in tactical coordination. Of course, if Tang Mo knew that the armor thickness of his opponents' tanks had increased to a certain degree, he just needed to switch the short-barrel, low-velocity 75mm caliber cannon for a long-barrel 75mm caliber tank gun. Anyway, no country would be able to produce a heavy tank that a long-barrel 75mm caliber tank gun couldn't penetrate within a short period of time. And even if such heavy tanks were actually produced, those cumbersome, moving-target-like things would definitely be no match for the elite Tang tank crews! In terms of air force technological superiority, the Tang Army seemed even greater—though other countries had many planes, what the Tang Army had in the sky was much more advanced than those numerous biplanes. Despite the great developments in aviation technology around the world this year, with many countries introducing their own monoplanes, some even improving skin technologies and introducing aircraft made of a mix of metal and wood, these planes were few in number and not particularly impressive in performance. The Tang Army still relied on the same old three: the Butcher Fighter, Stuka Dive Bomber, and Flying Fortress Long-Range Bomber. Even though they had been in use for nearly three years, their technology was still advanced and unmatched by the planes of those countries that considered themselves aviation powerhouses. Compared to those countries constantly thinking of annihilating Tang Country, Tang Mo's Tang Country didn't seem to be adequately prepared for war. The Great Tang Group was still producing a variety of things at a leisurely pace, seemingly not focusing all their attention on the military field. ... In the country of illusions, Great Southern Bay's shipyard gates slowly opened, and the 7th secret battleship being built by the illusionary country's navy plunged into the sea, stirring up white spray. Yes, the illusionary country played a trick of deceiving heaven to cross the sea, overstating their battleship numbers. Publicly, the illusionary country built 6 new battleships, but in reality, the number started was 7! They hid a battleship, hoping to unexpectedly deploy this "non-existent" reinforcement in a future naval battle, striking down their adversary! And their hypothesized enemy, or rather, their rival, was the Tang Imperial Fleet, which had defeated the illusionary country's navy in the Battle of the North Sea. For the illusionary country's navy, that defeat was a humiliating disgrace! They lost the naval battle and even let Tang warships bombard their coastline. That painful defeat had left the illusionary country with hundreds of thousands of their citizens stranded in Tang Country as slaves to this day; how could such hatred be forgotten? So the illusionary country's navy was entirely rebuilt with the Tang Navy in mind: larger main gun caliber, thicker armor, faster sailing speed! Even the number of warships was coincidentally the same; including the secretly built battleship, the illusionary country's navy also had exactly 7 battleships, equaling the number possessed by the Tang Kingdom's navy! This deeply ingrained competitive spirit was evident to any discerning eye. The soldiers on the warships of the illusionary country's rebuilt fleet even shouted orders about attacking Tang warships Dongwan X during training. Unfortunately for them, what they didn't know was that on an island north of Dragon Island, a place not open to outsiders, some elite pilots of Tang Country were on a very short, special runway, diligently training in takeoff and landing techniques. The modified Butcher Fighters with arresting hooks installed at their tails were repeatedly taking off and landing on that runway, the pilots were striving hard to catch the hook on one of the four transverse arresting cables. The pilots brought here for training had to be tight-lipped, not revealing a word of what they saw on the island, not even knowing why they could only take off and land on a runway less than 200 meters long. Everyone was preparing for the next duel, some practicing internal skills, some practicing boxing, some practicing with knives, some casting Longswords... and some, loading bullets into their submachine gun magazines... The one loading bullets into his submachine gun at this very moment was joyfully playing with his son, the room filled with laughter and cheer, the golden sunshine seeming to isolate all cold things outside of that room.