Munitions Empire

Chapter 473 460 Vulnerable Industries

The Great Tang Group was fiercely developing Dongwan Island, turning it into a modern industrial base. Other countries in the world were not idle either; they were also frantically developing their industrial cities, enhancing their industrial strength.

Industrial cities sprang up like mushrooms after rain. The population of these cities generally exceeded 200,000, which by past standards, would be considered super-large cities.

Yet now, the population in these places was still increasing ceaselessly, desperately drawing in labor from the surrounding areas.

Gobur and the Ice Cold Kingdom's car factory complexes were so vast, one couldn't see the end at a single glance. These workshops operated day and night, supplying tens of thousands of cars to all parts of the world.

The car factories in Jade City and Dragon Island were even larger. Each month, they could produce tens of thousands of various types of cars, including civilian transportation trucks, sedans, and military trucks and jeeps, among others.

The reason they could produce so recklessly was that oil fields on a much larger scale had started production within the territories of the Empire of Nanla, the Ice Cold Kingdom, the Suthers Kingdom, the Songmu Kingdom, and the Gales Kingdom. The scale of the refineries was also expanding continuously.

In the past, strategic locations were often passes and transportation hubs. Although these places had strategic value, they were ultimately limited in number.

Now, each country was discovering more and more strategic locations within their borders, each more important than the last!

Oil fields were very profitable, and because oil field equipment was diverse and expensive, it was crucial not to lose the oil fields and nearby refineries.

Similarly, power plants, which cost a fortune to establish, could not be lost either, because they supplied electricity for oil field production and provided energy for industrial cities.

Moving on, how could one overlook the existence of steel mills, military factories, vehicle factories, machine shops... each providing countless jobs, with equipment as precious as gold?

Even the railways and highways were vital like blood vessels, easily not to be damaged! Because if even a single railway was destroyed, the transportation of materials would be disrupted, the supply of food to cities and raw materials for industrial production would cease, plunging the enormous industrial cities into chaos.

Even the least noticeable water plants, sewage systems, and modern hospitals were critical for keeping the cities functioning.

Modern cities were more fragile, and the modern industrial system was even more vulnerable before warfare, posing a new dilemma for rulers everywhere: how to protect all of this!

In the process of industrial modernization, every country tasted the benefits of industrialization. Their tax revenues increased, the goods they produced were more abundant, and the quality of life for their people genuinely improved.

These countries had more money in their hands, and their strength grew stronger, so they were able to afford whatever they wanted: equipment, weapons, medicines...

The good news was, industrialization freed up more people and provided more funds for each country, and it also gave them the ability to manufacture weapons.

As a result, arming larger military forces became possible, and the countries were then capable of building more troops to protect the increasingly fragile cities and industrial facilities.

A few years ago, a conflict between two kingdoms involving twenty to thirty thousand troops was already considered a large-scale operation.

Because logistical support had only so much capacity, and countries had only so many troops and limited reserves of weapons and ammunition, they could only mobilize the forces of that scale.

But now, the armies of every country numbered in the hundreds of thousands. The former simple military establishment of corps and battalions was utterly outdated.

Consequently, graduates from the Great Tang Group's military academy spread more advanced military organizations to all parts of the world.

The system of divisions, brigades, regiments, battalions, companies, platoons began to spread. The armies of various countries were reorganized using this system and were swiftly upgraded to the level of a military.

In their confusion, military commanders across the nations were forced to accept and grow accustomed to various new and unique military branches, and the allocation of these new types of troops became muddled.

Take the newly emerging airship troops for example, the allocation of command varied greatly among nations. Some were directly under the monarch, some were assigned to military commanders, and others established air forces.

And then there were the anti-aircraft artillery troops. Heaven knows whether these anti-aircraft artillery troops should be under the command of the army or if an air defense force should be established for unified deployment!

Do not think that these things, which seem so natural today, were so simple, because in this era, everyone was exploring new tactics and battle strategies, with no one knowing the right answer!

There was some good news too: with the passage of time, many countries had the ability to produce a variety of weapons, and at least in the area of traditional army weapons, technological diffusion was evident.

Countries began to be capable of producing machine guns and rifles, and naturally, pistols were no issue. There were also many countries that could produce cannons and compatible shells themselves, and the assortment of weapons within each nation started to diversify.

Previously, since everyone could only purchase weapons, the calibers were actually very uniform. They were basically all 7.92 millimeters, whether it was the K3 rifle from the Great Tang Group or the Shireck 1 from the Shireck Consortium. Enjoy new adventures from empire

However, after the Ice Cold Kingdom began producing the Mosin-Nagant Rifle with a brand-new caliber of 7.62 millimeters, many nations saw another possibility.

As a result, when manufacturing their own rifles, each country made some changes to the caliber, some using 7.5 millimeters and others opting for a 6.5-millimeter caliber.

The calamity wasn't with firearm calibers, but rather with artillery calibers! Free from technical restraints, the cannon factories of various countries began developing artillery pieces with all sorts of strange calibers.

The Great Tang Group's heavy 280-millimeter caliber siege cannon enlightened the other nations; Dorne's armories soon launched a 300-millimeter caliber heavy cannon, which was eye-opening for other countries.

Although transporting such cannons was a disaster, and Dorne ultimately had to install them in fortresses as fixed firepower, other nations still imitated this, turning artillery caliber into another form of national power competition.

Following suit, Suthers' armories developed a large cannon with a 310-millimeter caliber, necessitating a completely new approach to transportation, towing with a vehicle in front, aided by oxen and horses on each side, and another vehicle pushing from behind...

Then, inspired by the Great Tang Group, the nations turned their attention to the railways, clearly seeing that relying on trucks and livestock for mobility had its limits, whereas railroads and trains could significantly raise those limits.

Following that, the artillery calibers of the enlightened countries became incomprehensible, first with the Empire of Nanla developing a 400-millimeter caliber train-mounted cannon. Not far behind, the Poplar Kingdom developed their own 410-millimeter caliber train-mounted cannon.

This insane development seemed to be pushing artillery calibers to the sky, almost reaching the colossal threshold of 500 millimeters.

As large caliber cannons took off unrestrained, the smaller calibers also underwent constant "tinkering." In the past, Shireck used a 130 caliber, while the Great Tang Group had 105 and 155 calibers. Now, the cannons' calibers varied widely among countries, with some having 100 and 150, some 110 and 152, some 120 and 160, and also 95 and 145...

Ultimately, judging solely by caliber, everyone drew a clear line between themselves, everyone viewing everyone else with a sense of displeasure.

Anyway, the development of the petrochemical industry and the mining industry had become the cornerstone for industrial development around the world. The size of the machinery working in those countries' open-pit mines was now huge, reaching several stories in height.

They were installed on specially made wide-gauge rail tracks, working around the circle of the mining sites, excavating iron ore or coal.

The factory chimneys in various countries towered high, belching smoke day and night, and many cities were already submerged in a choking haze.

Thus, six months after the Great Tang Group took over Dongwan Island, another huge industrial city emerged, named Laines.

As a brand-new city built with substantial effort from the Great Tang Group, it boasted a complete sewer system and water supply, far exceeding standard electricity facilities, buildings over seven stories high were commonplace, and the spacious streets were all paved with asphalt.

Facilities such as schools, hospitals, cinemas, opera houses, shopping malls, restaurants, hotels, casinos, and brothels were all available in abundance...

Similarly, on the outskirts of the city, all kinds of factories were as numerous as hairs on an ox, seemingly no less impressive than Brunas from a few years before.

As the city was built, its population had already exceeded 300,000, and it was common knowledge that in a few years, surpassing a population of 500,000 would be no problem.

On the broadest street of Laines, the Central Avenue at its core, stood the newly designed, magnificent palace.

Leite VII finally realized his wish on this day. To the applause and congratulations of the envoys from various countries, he declared himself Leines I and ascended to the throne as Emperor.

The celebration was grand, with the Great Tang Group even dispatching a contingent of troops to participate in the military parade. Dozens of formations passed the reviewing stand one by one, with the formation of the Great Tang Group's security corps performing the Huaxia goose step drawing particular attention.

Tang Mo fulfilled his promise. He provided even more armored vehicles, cars, and cannons for the parade, affording maximum prestige to Leines I.

The Empire of Nanla also lent its dignity, with the Emperor sending a Prince to attend the ceremony and announcing on the spot recognition of the Laines Empire.

Following this, Dorne, Suthers, Gales, Poplar, Songmu, Ice Cold, and other countries announced their recognition of the Laines Empire one after another, with Leines I becoming the first Emperor to have his ascension documented on film.

From this day forth, the name Leite Kingdom would be changed to the Laines Empire, and Leite VII would be replaced by Leines I.

A new Empire was born.

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I will update more tomorrow; everyone should go to bed early. Good night.