Munitions Empire

But human greed is endless, and there’s no way that the border military leaders and the high officials who had received benefits would allow the highly lucrative trade of human trafficking to stop.

In the eyes of these officials and military leaders, civilians were merely tools for extorting wealth, expendable pawns in their schemes.

Soon, the military leaders colluded with landlords, local tyrants, and corrupt merchants near their garrisons, and began a series of shady operations.

They turned a blind eye or even supported landlords in annexing land, forcefully taking over peasants’ fields, and driving the originally prosperous farmers into destitution, turning them into displaced peasants.

Then, they continued to sell these displaced individuals to the Great Tang Kingdom, earning profits to sustain their ever-growing desires.

It must be said that the luxury goods of the Great Tang Group greatly expanded the horizons of these officials, military leaders, and landlords, making them realize that on the path of extravagant desires, there was no end in sight.

At first, the Great Tang Group came with silver and gold to buy people, but later these individuals found myriad ways to exchange human lives for various kinds of commodities from the Tang Kingdom.

A sophisticated automobile could sell for hundreds of Gold Coins in Chu Country or Qi Country. A string of exquisite gems, woven with a poignant story, could compel a sentimental rich girl to spend tens of thousands of Gold Coins.

The natives, who had just begun to experience modern technology, suddenly found themselves overwhelmed by the number of things they had neither seen nor used before, cultivating an intense sense of inferiority as if they were isolated in a well of ignorance.

To eliminate this inferiority complex, they began to wildly praise the products of the Great Tang Kingdom and spontaneously attributed additional value to these goods.

How could the almost public act of human trafficking escape everyone’s notice? It was only because the interests involved were so enormous that the higher-ups of the concerned countries could only turn a blind eye.

However, as time passed, each nation noticed irregular changes in their population statistics, and the rulers of these countries had no choice but to start putting a stop to the illegal trade at the borders. But with every policy, there’s a workaround, and it was impossible to completely eradicate human trafficking at the borders all at once.

Despite this management, the Great Tang Kingdom suffered no loss, yet these neighboring countries’ attitude towards the Tang Kingdom inevitably harbored some hostility.

This enmity caused the Great Tang Group to lose substantial orders, and Shireck heavily tapped into a fresh vein of blood, at times showing signs of keeping pace with the Great Tang Group.

Under the influence of this hostility, Chu Country was the first to decide to purchase weapons and equipment from Shireck, including Ming Wheel Ships as well as new-style cannons and rifles.

Qi Country also spent money on the same weapons and equipment upon learning that the Dahua Empire had purchased Shireck’s arms.

The Dahua Empire’s first purchase of Shireck arms wasn’t actually related to the Great Tang Group. They merely saw that Sheng Country had defeated Zheng Country with these new weapons, so they unilaterally thought Shireck’s new arms were of better performance and thus spent money to acquire some.

However, the Dahua Empire soon felt annoyed about Tang Country’s destruction of Zheng Country and again chose Shireck for their subsequent military acquisitions.

Tens of thousands of rifles, thousands of cannons, dozens of new warships, and hundreds of millions of bullets—the capital from these weapons purchases truly filled Shireck’s coffers to the brim.

Afterward, by helping the Dahua Empire to set up factories and achieve basic industrialization, as well as constructing railways and roads, a series of projects brought Shireck a massive influx of capital.

With the backing of this capital, Shireck also made its own breakthroughs in some technologies. These breakthroughs garnered even more recognition for Shireck’s products.

It was at this time that an envoy from the Laines Empire, having traveled across the Endless Sea while concealing their identity, arrived in the Dahua Empire.

This envoy, who had just dismounted from his carriage, revealed his identity and secretly met with Chu Muzhou, the Prime Minister of the Dahua Empire.

"Prime Minister!" The envoy from the Laines Empire looked somewhat unwell, as the long journey had certainly taken its toll.

To maintain secrecy, he had traveled by ship to Southwater Port, then took a detour to Sheng Country, ultimately changing ships to reach Qi Country, and from there, took a coach to the Dahua Empire.

In fact, when he set out on his journey, the Trade Alliance’s civil war had just begun, and now it seemed as though the war was nearly at an end.

The mission of this secret envoy, initially to liaise with the Dahua Empire to contain the potential involvement of the Great Tang Kingdom in the conflict, had now evolved into coordinating with the Dahua Empire to restrain the Great Tang Kingdom in a possible future war.

As he carried a telegraph machine, his mission could be updated in real time, a benefit of the technological revolution brought about by the Great Tang Group.

"Mr. Envoy!" Upon meeting the envoy from the Laines Empire, Chu Muzhou, the Prime Minister of the Dahua Empire, was very polite.

After all, a visitor deserves hospitality, and this envoy from afar seemed to bring some good news to the Dahua Empire.

The Dahlia Empire, which had always been displeased with the Great Tang Kingdom, needed more useful allies to jointly confront the increasingly prominent Great Tang Kingdom.

Frankly, the more Chu Muzhou and Zhao Kai understood about the changes brought by the Industrial Revolution, the more apprehensive they became about the rising Great Tang Kingdom.

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