Munitions Empire

Apart from those kingdoms that were aware of the existence of the wireless telegraph, and others that had heard of the magical telegraph machines of the Great Tang Group, nobody could believe that a power could respond so sensitively and swiftly to contingencies in a local area.

In fact, it had taken only 7 hours from the death of the Ranger patrol team leader to the response from Dragon Harbor, and then the speed of information dissemination was calculated by the minute.

Brunas received the message from Dragon Island a few minutes later, and the military forces belonging to the Great Tang Group also began to mobilize within minutes.

Inside the command center, a giant map of Dragon Island hung on the wall. As the military strategist for the Great Tang Group, Luff was responsible for reporting all wartime situations to Tang Mo: "The current situation is very opaque. What's certain is that on the southeastern beaches of Dragon Island, an indeterminate number of enemy troops have landed."

He pointed to the pale yellow beach area on the map: "Right here! This area isn't one we're focusing on developing, so there are no defenses set up nor are there any troops stationed."

The development of Dragon Island was mainly for refining oil and expanding factories, so everything was centered around economic interests. Roger was busy building Dragon City, and the majority of the population shipped to Dragon Island consisted mostly of workers and their families.

Therefore, even though the oil refineries on Dragon Island had begun production and the docks had been built, and Dragon Island even had its own shipyard capable of building large ships, most parts of Dragon Island remained primitive and seldom visited by people.

This decision-making allowed for the rapid industrial development of Dragon Island, while also leading to the current emergency—on other coastlines of Dragon Island, there were almost no people from the Great Tang Group active.

From another perspective, Dragon Island still seemed like no man's land, and essentially, even if Dragon Island had become owned land, there would still be those who would provoke trouble.

After all, it hadn't been long since the island was discovered, and several of the major maritime powers believed they had the capacity to swallow the fertile island whole.

As Luff spoke, he handed over the casualty information to Tang Mo: "One Ranger team captain was killed in the patrol. The two who returned confirmed that the landing enemy troops numbered between 100 and 150, but the actual count is likely higher."

"The two Rangers who returned to the center of the island claimed to have seen at least 5 enemy sail-powered warships, so we estimate the enemy landing force to be around 500 men, roughly the strength of a battalion," Luff said, finishing his report. Then he placed five sail-powered warship models on the southeastern sea area of the Dragon Island map.

The bottom of these models had magnets that adhered them to the wall-mounted map.

"But we estimate there are more than 5 enemy ships, as they must have brought pioneers and craftsmen with them. So, the number of ships should be between 8 and 15," Luff added.

However, no one was concerned with that; everyone knew that a single ironclad warship could be enough to handle this enemy fleet, so the few people attending the meeting seemed to be thinking more about the fallen patrol team leader.

"This force should now be moving through the dense forest, nearing Dragon City. The enemy's flag is brown with an emblem of a ship's wheel on it." Luff took an enemy flag marker and randomly placed it in the forest area on the map and continued.

He mentioned the design on the flag that could prove the enemy's identity, another critical piece of information brought back by the scout team.

Luff, having said this, extracted a few more documents from his file and passed them to Tang Mo: "We have investigated and ascertained that the flag belongs to the Taren Kingdom, one of the four maritime powerhouses, with overall strength slightly superior to that of the Poplar Kingdom."

Above the Endless Sea, there were four maritime overlords: the Poplar Kingdom, the Taren Kingdom, Zheng Country, and Shenguo, which lay the farthest from Brunas.

It was rumored that Shenguo was a goblin kingdom, inhabited by short and lean vicious tricksters, never much favored by other nations.

As for Zheng Country, it was somewhat intricately connected to Tang Mo and Li'ao: Zheng Country was a vassal state of the Dahua Empire, dubbed the Eastern Guardian Nation. Tang Mo and Li'ao, among other exiled criminals, were largely banished by Zheng Country.

Li'ao's homeland was the sovereign state above Zheng Country, which was the Dahua Empire itself. The people there had black hair, dark eyes, and pale skin.

This kingdom called Taren, much like the Leite Kingdom, predominantly consisted of people with blond hair and blue eyes. They had a large navy, owned many islands and ports, and were veritable maritime powerhouses.

Of course, the once dominant maritime power of the Poplar Kingdom had now declined. Over the last two months, they had lost 32 lead warships and several hundred armed merchant and transport vessels, completely losing their control over the northern waters of the Endless Sea.

The Great Tang Group's naval strength had replaced the Poplar Kingdom's sea power. This force was small in scale, but its quality was extraordinary.

The Great Tang Group, possessing only six warships, deployed merely three and rotated their attacks, turning the Poplar Kingdom, once a ruler of the seas, into a sieve.

Luff drew his hand under the map and pushed several sailboat models, representing enemy ships, directly below the island, while also beginning to speak, "Additionally, their fleet could possibly move west along the coastline to attempt blockading our ports… Therefore, I have already ordered Brunas 4 to search for the enemy naval troops along the southern coast."

From the enemy's landing spot, it was highly likely that they were advancing along the coast south of Dragon Island. This seemed to fit their logical course of action—since they were aware of inhabitants on the island, they would naturally first locate coastal settlements to blockade and raid or directly suppress to gain control.

Clearly, the speed of the warships was quicker than that of infantry groping through the jungle, so the enemy would surely mobilize their fleet.

After Luff finished speaking, he started outlining our warships' action plans, "For safety, Brunas 5 is on standby in Dragon Harbor in case Brunas 4 misses the enemy warships and places Dragon Harbor in danger."

While speaking, he moved the model representing Brunas 4 along the southern part of the island to an approximate location.

"If Brunas 4 does not encounter the enemy fleet in the anticipated encounter zone, it will immediately return at full speed to join Brunas 5," Luff concluded, then addressed Redman and others about the naval deployment plans he had already reported to Tang Mo, "Brunas 6 is en route to Dragon Island. Upon receiving the news, I consulted the master and then ordered them to proceed at full speed."

"The returning Brunas 3 from the southern waters has a decent amount of fuel remaining, and the crew is in good condition, so I have sought permission and issued orders for them to divert and join the battle at Dragon Island," he further added. Your journey continues with m v|l-e'm,p y r

After finishing, he placed the model of another warship returning southwards outside Brunas harbor, "Brunas 2 is heading back to Brunas to prepare for resupply and rest…"

Knowing it was his turn to speak, Redman stood up, took over Luff's work and said, "Tagg isn't here, so let me speak for him…"

After that, he approached the map, nodded to Tang Mo as a greeting, and continued, "As for the army's readiness, the 2nd Infantry Battalion stationed on Dragon Island is fully combat-ready. The commander, Tagg, has them deployed along the pre-set defensive positions, mainly securing the oil refineries and power plants that are operating at full capacity."

"We have too many critical facilities on the island, and they're quite scattered, so Tagg can't organize enough manpower for a counterattack; he can only adopt a defensive stance," he explained with a sense of helplessness.

There was no choice because the mining sites were spread out, so the oil extraction facilities were not around Dragon City, forcing Tagg to disperse his troops to ensure the safety of the oilfields.

One battalion of the 2nd Group was reluctantly positioned towards the oilfields, and their defense was stretched thin—they were already in a tight spot.

Besides, the large refineries, not insignificant in size, had land reserved for expansion, leaving Tagg to station yet another company of troops there.

Of the remaining two companies, one had to defend the front to prevent a direct attack on Dragon City, and the other was stationed at the hydropower station, another key industrial facility to be protected, with a water plant nearby.

After all this, Tagg was left with only a battalion's worth of mobile troops, who had many areas to watch over.

Were it not for the support of machine guns and new cannons, the existence of roads, and the availability of cars, Tagg would not be able to defend so many strategic locations.

"The 1st Battalion stationed in Brunas also has many areas to protect, so I can't spare additional troops to support Tagg," Redman added, emphasizing his point.

Tang Mo felt helpless as well; this was the downside of concentrating efforts on technology development and factory construction. His readiness forces were still too few, seeming inadequate in the face of a sudden war.

By a normal development timeline, he should have had security forces amounting to four infantry battalions by now, but currently, his strength was only half the minimum requirement.

To give and take—wherever there's abandonment, there's gain. The delayed military force development allowed Tang Mo to focus on expanding his factories.

This was also why, in just one year, he was able to build six ironclad warships and deploy wireless telegraphs in dozens of cities.

However, Tang Mo felt that as his power kept expanding, conflicts with other powers would undoubtedly increase, and it was time he developed his own strength, in case of unexpected needs.