Munitions Empire

At this Expo, the Great Tang Group showcased many new pieces of equipment, including larger and more advanced mining machinery, brand-new excavators and forklifts, and even more advanced and sensible conveyor belts.

The more advanced mother machines could produce more precise machine tools, enhancing the accuracy of components that would assemble into better machinery equipment.

The brand-new fluorescent lighting system was more energy-efficient and brighter than incandescent bulbs, with softer light colors as well.

A comprehensive water supply and drainage system could more efficiently help cities manage the provision of domestic water and the discharge of wastewater, and the equipment for supplying water to high-rise buildings also became increasingly sophisticated.

Hard hats modeled after steel helmets greatly improved the safety of workers on construction sites and had become mandatory safety equipment as required by Brunas.

What baffled everyone was that, at this Expo, the Great Tang Group officially established a six-day workweek with one day off. Tang Mo also strictly mandated that no worker's working time should exceed 12 hours per day.

Although these policies were actually unreasonable, in this world and era, the work hour standards proposed by Tang Mo were rarely fully adhered to by businessmen.

Child labor was rampant, working hours typically exceeded 12 hours, and it was unthinkable for there to be a day off each week.

However, the Great Tang Group made these working hour standards a criterion for cooperative assessment, which forced everyone to start taking such standards seriously.

Tang Mo decreed that businesses that did not adhere to these working hour requirements were not qualified to cooperate with the Great Tang Group, including on the technological and financial levels.

At the same time, if a country did not enforce this policy standard, the Great Tang Group would delay the delivery of arms purchased by that country from the Great Tang Group.

Moreover, it was not just the Great Tang Group that would adopt such a supply inspection system; factories in Ice Cold Kingdom, Northern Ridge, Dorne, Suthers, and other countries and regions with close cooperation with the Great Tang Group would adopt the same inspection system.

This was frightening because if they could not meet the standards of the Great Tang Group, it meant that they could not cooperate with the industrial system controlled by the Great Tang Group.

So, with no other choice, nearly all businessmen had to grudgingly accept this clause, which they considered entirely senseless and utterly unreasonable.

While these businessmen were gritting their teeth and secretly cursing the Great Tang Group for being meddlesome, more and more workers began to regard Brunas as their Mecca.

All workers who heard that they could rest one day for every six days of work regarded the day the first World Industrial Expo was held in Brunas as their own festival.

With the spread of the 12-hour workday and the one-day rest for every six days worked, this day of the year gradually became the World Workers' Celebration Day.

Eventually, the first day of the first World Industrial Expo turned into a festival; the last Sunday of May became the workers' accepted celebration day, on which they would decorate and celebrate their own festival as much as possible.

But the Expo did not just run for one day; it was to last a week for the first World Industrial Expo.

During this week, Monday was the opening ceremony of the Crystal Palace Expo, there was an even grander fireworks display on Tuesday evening, the World Fashion Expo Sale was on Wednesday, and the Brunas Car Racing Competition was held on Thursday…

In short, it was a busy week and one full of anticipation. During this week, countless celebrities would gather in Brunas.

If a minstrel had never been to Brunas, he could never write a touching poem. This was a minstrel's assessment while looking up at the roof of the Crystal Palace in Brunas.

Soon, this statement evolved into countless versions: If a merchant had never been to Brunas, then he was not a big businessman! If an actor had never been to Brunas, he was not a big star…

While all professions were indulging in a carnival in Brunas, on the grand and majestic docks, the sailors were laboriously moving several sets of expensive equipment onto the deck.

A group was ready to set sail, and this sailing ship was about to join the trade fleet heading to Zheng Country, the distant land.

"Your mission is to establish the first telegraph office there! Be sure to protect yourselves and don't be stingy with your Gold Coins!" the bartender stood on the dock, instructing the commander of a Great Tang Group intelligence department who was about to go on a long journey.

"Sir, rest assured!" the commander smiled, stood at attention, and saluted the bartender, assuring him, "We will definitely complete the mission."
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"Take care on your journey!" the bartender nodded slightly, then waved his hand, signaling that the other party could board the ship.

The Great Tang Group never fought unprepared battles and never fought battles they were not sure of. Since Tang Mo had set his sights on swallowing Zheng Country, the preparations naturally began as well.

Military expansion and preparation for war took time, but dispatching intelligence officers was not so troublesome. The intelligence department of Great Tang Group immediately became busy, arranging a series of actions against Zheng Country.

Four map surveying groups, a total of 120 people, immediately set off for Zheng Country. At the same time, five independent telegraph groups were also deployed to Zheng Country. On the other hand, infiltration groups, their exact numbers unknown, randomly took ships with various identities to carry out missions in Zheng Country.

The intelligence advantage of the Great Tang Group was very obvious. Although Zheng Country was far away, once the Great Tang Group launched its investigation, this country would have no secrets left.

The map surveying groups would draw as detailed military maps as possible before the Great Tang Group's offensive began, ascertain road conditions, rank the cities according to their importance, and compile statistics on the populations and customs of various regions.

They would present a three-dimensional, detailed Zheng Country to the commanders of the Great Tang Group's security troops, ensuring they would encounter no trouble due to fighting in unfamiliar territory.

The task of the telegraph groups was also not simple. They had to gather various kinds of intelligence and timely send these messages back to Dragon Island, collate and analyze them, and ultimately reach conclusions to prepare the Great Tang Group for the offensive against Zheng Country.

These telegraph groups were equipped with smaller pedal-powered electricity generators, more advanced telegraph machines, and carried enough codes to change them 10 times. They were scattered throughout several regions in Zheng Country, ensuring communication support for all other operational groups.

The work of the infiltration groups was the well-known espionage infiltration. They would carry Gold Coins and, relying on means such as bribery, try to penetrate every system in Zheng Country to gather news and spy on intelligence.

They would become the eyes and ears of the Great Tang Group, and every move made by Zheng Country would not escape these agents...

In a suburban police station in Brunas, a middle-aged policeman was dozing off at his desk.

Just as his head was about to hit the desk, an old man in a police uniform walked to the door of his office and gave a knock on the door, which was not fully closed, as a mere formality: "Dang dang dang."

"Uh?" The drowsy middle-aged policeman lifted his head and looked toward his superior: "Boss, what's up?"

"Just received these orders, for you..." The old police officer handed over a document that had just been delivered by the military: "It's from the military."

Upon hearing the word "military," the middle-aged policeman's sleepiness vanished considerably. He got up, walked over, took the document package from the old police officer, untied the paper string, and pulled out the documents.

Indeed, he saw the familiar forms—it was a conscription order, commanding reserve officers to report to the barracks within a day.

"What's going on? Why are reserve officers being conscripted?" the middle-aged officer asked, looking at his superior with some confusion.

"I don't know either," the old police officer shook his head and replied: "There's another one, I'm about to deliver it to Johnny."

"We're going to war..." the middle-aged officer's fingers pinched the conscription document, creating some creases: "And... it's going to be a great war."

According to the regulations, to call up reserve officers meant that the Great Tang Group was initiating at least a level two war readiness, which implied that the Great Tang Group intended to at least double its current military size.

All those familiar with the combat capabilities of the Great Tang Group's security forces knew very well what such a level of military expansion meant. That was the Great Tang Group's security troops, feared for their capacity to fight ten enemies with just one soldier!

On Dragon Island, a fully loaded train pulled up to the platform in the middle of the island. Soldiers who had been waiting there advanced quickly toward the train even before it had come to a complete stop.

Redman, with his hands clasped behind his back, watched emotionlessly as these reservist soldiers, who had trained countless times, agilely jumped onto the now stationary train.

They clumsily lifted the tarpaulin on the flatbed railway car, revealing the proud stature of 105mm caliber howitzers, their barrels raised.

Even the just-drafted second-line combat troops from the Great Tang Group's security forces were equipped much better than the regular armies of other countries.

The newly assembled 3rd Division of Great Tang, with a full strength of 10,000 men, was equipped with 40 of the 105mm caliber howitzers alone! In addition, there were even more powerful 155mm caliber howitzers, making them armed to the teeth.

The entire division was issued 1,000 submachine guns—a luxury other armies could hardly even dream of.

Even more astonishing was that, almost regardless of the cost, the Great Tang Group provided all three divisions with a total of 3,000 vehicles of various models.

While other countries were still hesitating about whether to supply their troops with more mules, the security forces of the Great Tang Group had almost completed their mechanization.

Because of the high degree of mechanization, these troops could carry more weapons, have more ammunition, and possess stronger firepower delivery capabilities.