Munitions Empire

"Where did this driver with no technique come from? Has he gone mad? Accelerating in a curve?" Tang Mo's mood was spoiled by the cheering below, as he turned to Harry and asked.

"It's a... small team from the Flo Trading Company, not much experience," Harry explained innocently—he wasn't the father of these people, how could he be expected to manage such trivia?

A nameless driver from an unknown small team—whether they came to the track to train, test run, or get to know the circuit... who knows?

On the other side, some people from the Flo Trading Company team were not so disheartened, even a little excited.

Because it was clear they could not win first place, their focus was instead on the advertising effect.

Obviously, the advertisement on a car that was knocked flying off the track was definitely memorable.

The race continued, no one stopped for a car that crashed off the track, the cheering carried on, and the roar of the car engines likewise continued.

The car from Great Tang Group unsurprisingly rushed into first place, but what was surprising was that the Gobur team managed to maintain a leading position in the second group.

This team was not favored previously, but during the race, they unexpectedly showcased an experienced side.

Sitting in the stands, a maid's face showed a relieved smile; this time she had indeed fulfilled her mission and made a name for the consortium.

When it came to car performance, Shireck's cars didn't really have much of an advantage, but their drivers were indeed very experienced.

This racer's talent was quite good, impressively using his skills to overcome the other competitors.

Even Tang Mo had to admit that if both sides were using similar cars, the drivers from Great Tang Group might not be able to beat this driver from Shireck.

The first lap ended in the blink of an eye, and the car from Great Tang Group had once again rushed past the starting line, prompting another round of frenzied cheering from everyone.

For the average spectator, the speed of these cars was a bit too fast! Their memories seemed to linger on the moment of the crash, while the cars were already sprinting towards the next lap.

Five seconds later, many cars from the second tier were jostling each other as they once again rushed past the starting line stand on this side.

The Dwarves let out an astonishing cheer because their Ice Cold team had taken advantage of the chaos to move into third place.

The nobles, power brokers, and magnates in the stands felt the trip was worthwhile, yet the race had only just proceeded into the second lap.

The competition that followed became even more heated when the wheel of one car struck another's, both losing control of their vehicles. Entangled together, they crashed into and sent a roadside advertisement board flying.

This time, since the two cars stuck together, there was no risk of flipping over; instead, both cars were just forced off the track and collapsed on the lawn.

Still, the audience cheered as if they had come here not to enjoy the thrilling speed but to plainly watch car crashes.

Accidents occurred again quickly when an engine hood of the car representing Northern Ridge suddenly started smoking, followed by a burst of flames.

Eventually, this car steered off the track, the driver leaped from the burning vehicle in fright, and the fire extinguishing crew rushed up with their buckets of water.

Fortunately, the car didn't explode, and the driver wasn't injured—it was just a plain car wreck.

After all, this was a car race at the level of the 1920s; mechanical failures were nothing new.

From the beginning, Tang Mo clearly understood that finishing the race fully, including for the Great Tang Group's car, was already quite an accomplishment.

Sure enough, quite a few cars from solo participants soon started having problems. Some engines overheated and caught fire, some tires went bust, and there were even wheels that came off.

In short, accidents were frequent, and the audience gentlemen had their fill of excitement—as they watched one car after another encounter problems, this was even more exhilarating for them than the race itself.

By the ninth lap, there were only six cars left on the track: the one from Great Tang Group's team that was in the lead by two laps, cars from the Gobur or Shireck teams, a car from the Dwarf Ice Cold team, a car from the Empire of Nanla's team, a car from the Poplar team, and the car of the Marquis of Bailu...

This was quite interesting. The once gloomy-faced Marquis of Bailu was now radiant and proud of his car.

On the other side, Elves and Dwarves were all smiles and casual conversation, quite satisfied with the performance of their team's cars.

The most unexpected was the team from the Empire of Nanla, they maintained their composure and lacked flair throughout the race, yet they persisted up to this moment without any mechanical issues, and their driver's performance was also very steady.

Just then, Tagg approached Tang Mo, bowed his head, and whispered in his ear, "According to the action plan you established, the first action troop has begun boarding."

Tang Mo, focusing on the car from Great Tang on the track, nodded slightly, "A battalion, to take over Dongwan Island, shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"There shouldn't be any problems," Tagg replied. "We have made a very thorough deployment…"

Yesterday, he and Luff personally gathered nearly all the convicts in Brunas and then selected twenty of them who were the most knowledgeable about Zheng Country to learn about the entire coastline of Zheng Country.

Ultimately, the first target of Great Tang Group's westward expansion was set to be the largest island originally belonging to Zheng Country, Dongwan Island.

This island, once under Zheng Country's control, was now occupied by the Shen Country, so this time, Great Tang Group was not fighting against Zheng Country, but against a group of goblins that established Shen Country.

Tang Mo was quite satisfied with this action plan. It wouldn't excessively alarm Zheng Country and wouldn't immediately lead to full-scale war with Zheng Country and the Dahua Empire.

Once Great Tang Group had completely controlled the island and established it as a forward base, it would become much easier to deploy troops against Zheng Country.

At the very least, Great Tang Group wouldn't have its frontline troops' logistical support affected by sea transportation issues.

What Tang Mo found even more pleasing was that Dongwan Island had been forcefully taken by Shen Country. Taking it back was only natural.

After all, Zheng Country was to be his, Tang Mo's, sooner or later. What's wrong with reclaiming his own territory now?

That makes sense, doesn't it?

The justification on his side was quite sufficient, for example, the Wolf-class cruisers, the Brunas-class ironclad warships... and next year, there would be even more justified Yucheng-class battleships...

All these reasons are valid, aren't they?

Presumably, the dwarfs of Shen Country would certainly be understanding, empathetic, and civilized and kind.

Yes, definitely so.

...

At Dragon Island, Dragon City port, a huge dock where cranes were loading a truck full of cargo onto an iron behemoth.

The sailors were all bustling about, while the soldiers preparing to board the ships stood in neat rows on the dock. They were troops from the 1st Regiment of the 1st Division of Great Tang Group, numbering over 2,300.

Do you remember the total carrying capacity of a Liberty ship? One Liberty ship can carry roughly all the equipment of an infantry brigade.

This time, Great Tang Group had prepared 5 Liberty ships, which was all the available ship transport capacity they could muster.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

To support the 1st Regiment's operations, these 5 Liberty ships would also carry more landing boats and other equipment for developing Dongwan Island.

Also, to support the 1st Regiment's landing operation, the fleet was accompanied by 3 Wolf-class cruisers, a force not to be underestimated.

There were also many shortcomings, as this was the first long-distance landing operation, so many details were not perfect. Stay tuned to empire

Great Tang Group, lacking dedicated landing ships, was already facing many problems by using Liberty ships. The soldiers had to climb rope ladders to transfer to landing boats, a task for which the army had not been trained.

A large-scale oceanic landing operation of such magnitude was uncharted territory for everyone involved, so this time command of the frontline operations was entirely in the hands of the navy's Admiral Bernard.

Since everyone lacked experience and Tang Mo planned to establish a Marine Corps in the future anyway, Bernard became the first choice.

"Do you think this will work?" looking at the army soldiers climbing up the gangway, one after another boarding the ship, the executive officer nervously asked the captain.

On deck, sailors were distributing paper bags to the soldiers, intended for use when they vomited in the cabins.

Each person was to receive 3 such bags, an experience drawn from the route between Brunas and Dragon Island.

Those army officers, soldiers, craftsmen, and civilians, who had never experienced sea transport, couldn't stop vomiting, making the ship foul and smelly everywhere.

As a last resort, they had to distribute these paper bags to allow them to concentrate their stomach contents as much as possible.

Although they could also lean over the ship's railings to vomit, those who needed to vomit couldn't ensure they would always have the chance to stay on deck and catch the sea breeze, so the vomit bags were their only lifeline.

"Can't be helped, we have to ensure that for at least three days, they have a place to throw up..." the captain replied somewhat helplessly.

"Dongwan Island isn't just three days away... we'll have to drift on the sea for at least a month..." the executive officer continued with difficulty.

"The rest is just praying that these army landlubbers get used to it while they vomit," the captain had no better solution and could only look at the boarding soldiers and say, "Hopefully, they'll still have the strength to swim to shore after a month..."

"Sigh... hoping this time... goes smoother." The executive officer let out a long breath.

"Yes, hopefully everything goes smoothly," the captain mused.

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Will start making up for missed updates starting tomorrow, the little beast at home is finally going to school... haha.