Munitions Empire

"With industry, capable of manufacturing bullets, rifles, and cannons, you can sustain and continue to fight in modern warfare! Without modern industry, you can only passively take hits in war!" Tang Mo spoke continuously at the podium, with officers and students from all directions listening attentively below.

Some had just entered the academy. They listened attentively as if Tang Mo was opening a grand door to a new world for them.

Previously, they had only a vague awareness of certain things, but now, these things had been summarized and broken down to be fed and chewed on by them.

Thus, they were shocked, including a few students who considered their own knowledge systems complete and themselves erudite, experiencing awe for the first time.

Only at this moment did they realize that there truly were higher realms beyond their own, and greater minds beyond themselves. Their admiration for Tang Mo had reached a new height.

To them, Tang Mo was a god, a prophet, the one who held the truth of the world!

It was God who arranged for them to come here, God who gave them the opportunity to witness the divine entity itself!

In the eyes of these people, Tang Mo, standing on the podium, radiated a blinding brilliance. He was surrounded by halos, and his voice was filled with magic!

"Therefore, the key to victory lies in finding a way to produce better, stronger, and more advanced weapons!" Tang Mo then wrote "Second Industry (Industry)" on the blackboard.

"Shireck's technology has represented the pinnacle for the past 100 years, but as everyone knows, their technology is now outdated; Great Tang's technology is the best in the world, now and in the future!" he said, proudly pointing to himself as he spoke.

Now, he truly had the right to say such words, for it was no secret that the Great Tang Group had surpassed the Shireck Consortium in technological expertise.

The Leite Kingdom, the Suthers Kingdom, and even the further Dorne Kingdom, along with other kingdoms, had all become aware of this fact.

The Poplar Kingdom, because of its distance, continued to deceive those around it. The Augustin Clan, relying on their counterfeit of Tang Mo's steam engine and weapon technology, had already become a new super clan.

But what they did not know was that they had unknowingly accrued a foreign debt of 6 million Gold Coins, and this debt was still growing.

"Due to technological innovation, tactics have undergone a radical change. Now everyone knows that the Great Tang Group has new weapon technology, and automatic weapons have been born. The main reason we have not yet introduced them to the market is that the manufacturing technology is not perfected," said Tang Mo while continuing to write on the blackboard.

He boldly prophesied, having seen those prophecies with his own eyes: "Once we improve the production technology, these weapons will be deployed on the battlefield, completely changing the future pattern of warfare."

He had seen those weapons, he had tested those tactics; when planes, cannons, and tanks appeared, war would take on another form.

When radar and missiles appeared, war would change again, becoming scarier, more efficient, and crazier.

And when unmanned drones and cyber warfare began to emerge, with the internet as a battlefield and cultural warfare bloodily contested.

Everyone was at war, a manic war, where even the allegiance of a single athlete could escalate into an invisible war.

And all of this, for the students now sitting here, might be beyond their wildest imaginations. They were not stupid, but due to technical constraints, they dared not imagine such a future.

So Tang Mo could only share with them a future one year away: "With the enhancement of cannons and automatic weapons, defensive warfare will become a more efficient and secure choice. Simply by digging defensive positions and having soldiers hold their ground in shelters, the enemy won't be able to breach our lines in a short time."

"During defense, soldiers can reduce casualties, get better supplies, and receive more accurate artillery support," Tang Mo explained as he drew vertical communication trenches on lines symbolizing the trenches.

Then, using several arrows to represent interlocking fire, he continued, "Under these circumstances, offensive operations become somewhat futile, and thus the decision-makers of various countries have keenly seized this opportunity."

"Since one day in the future, the efficiency of offensive operations will be infinitely reduced, and all countries may be able to sturdily defend their own borders, the current era of bolt-action rifles presents the last opportunity for national expansion." He concluded, then cited the example of the Poplar Kingdom's expansion: "In fact, it's correct, because within the next three years, wars will be decided by defense."

"Last lesson, we learned how to properly set up our trench defenses, and how to reasonably arrange and allocate our firepower on the battlefield.

Hence, everyone should understand that attacking such a defensive position, without more than tenfold artillery support, is almost impossible to breach," Tang Mo had previously taught similar courses to an earlier batch of students, and now this curriculum was even more mature, having been revised with samples from the Battle of Brunas.

Each batch of students progresses with the times, learning better knowledge and achieving greater advances. They take this knowledge and spread it across the world, the Great Tang Group is imperceptibly changing the entire world.

Just imagine, those accustomed to electric lighting could never return to darkness. They would do everything possible to bring the technology and philosophy of the Great Tang Group to their homelands, at any cost!

Then, Tang Mo went on to instill into these students the concept of the reinforced concrete defensive positions from the First World War. "With the advent of cement, trenches can become much stronger, and you can use it to build more resilient bunkers."

With the blessing of cement, defensive positions became even sturdier, so much so that even C64 artillery couldn't disturb these fortifications!

Thus, defense became the cost-effective choice of priority, and it's under such technological circumstances that trench warfare characterized the First World War.

Tang Mo looked at the students below him and posed a question, "You've all visited the Brunas battle site in batches before, haven't you? You also saw the defensive positions set up by the security troops of the Great Tang Group."

These students had visited the battlefield, and they could still find some soldiers' relics—things like boots and other miscellaneous items—scattered around the field.

Hearing Tang Mo's question, the students quickly nodded, as they had indeed been there and been deeply shocked by what they saw.

Inside the machine-gun bunkers, they saw machine guns that had been relocated for display purposes, and they also observed a demonstration where machine guns mowed down cattle and sheep.

After witnessing soldiers operate machine guns and slay dozens of cattle and sheep, these students gained a concrete concept of modern warfare.

Tang Mo asked with a smile to the students still haunted by the machine guns, "How do you feel? What are your thoughts?"

"Indeed, clumsy, rubbish... They are too rudimentary, just temporary defensive positions hastily dug out," Tang Mo didn't wait for their answer and began to evaluate the positions he set up on his own.

To be frank, these positions were fairly rudimentary and not quite professional, and to promote frontal firepower, they were also not very concealed or sturdy.

They relied solely on the overwhelming power of new weaponry over old tactics. Yet, such unprofessional and haphazard domination was truly a blatant display of Versailles…

Tang Mo gave a fair assessment, "Apart from the cement shelters prepared for the G1 machine guns, the remaining defensive positions were just cobbled together temporarily and hardly worth mentioning."

"However! With just these rudimentary defenses, we completely annihilated at least 5,000 of Shireck's army at Brunas!" But then, Tang Mo spoke unreservedly about the battle results at Brunas.

He boasted unabashedly, "Even until the end, their 3,000 troops dispatched to flank didn't engage in battle but surrendered without firing a single shot, becoming our prisoners."

After boasting, he earnestly warned everyone, "Hence, arrogance and complacency are unacceptable. Before mounting an attack, fully understand your opponent, dispatch reconnaissance troops as extensively and far as possible, ascertain the surrounding battlefield environment, and then proceed with a tried-and-true method to cautiously initiate probing attacks!"

"The evolution of weaponry is rapid and ever-changing, so we cannot guarantee that you won't encounter simple but practical new weapons developed by your opponents on future battlefields. Therefore, on the battlefield, one cannot be too cautious!" He emphasized this point with added gravity in his tone.

"In the past, our development team has created a variety of weapon systems, but technology requires digestion and accumulation, so for now, we're still primarily promoting the needle gun, with no technological advantage." Then, he turned back to the blackboard and continued to write in large characters: The application of artillery.

As he spoke, he turned to face the audience below the podium, "However, we've made some progress in artillery. The new artillery is in the testing phase and will soon be ready for deployment."

Speaking of his navy, a confident smile appeared on his face, "Moreover, three new types of warships have been constructed, with the latest artillery technology implemented in the main guns of the last two, doubling the firing efficiency of those main guns."

He had reason to smile—his navy, now taking shape, was truly unmatched in all the world.

Yes, with just these three ironclad warships, his navy now held the capacity to triumph over any national maritime power it might encounter.

Hence, Black Dragon Island… could now be said to be firmly clenched in his grasp.

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