Munitions Empire

In front of a large cart laden with miscellaneous items, an old horse was struggling to move its hooves. Step by step, it moved forward, following the similarly laboring cart towards the distant east.

This was a caravan, with over a dozen horse-drawn carts in total, surrounded by migrants and ranger mercenaries hired for protection.

The retainers led the horses, numbly walking on the imperial road, flanked by endless farmland and scattered houses.

In the middle of the convoy, between two carts, a young girl in her teens looked curiously at a young man with a sword at his waist, "Young man, where are you from?"

"Me? I'm from the Leite Kingdom," the young man with clear features responded with a smile.

He looked quite different from the other young men in the team because he was taller and more well-proportioned.

The young man's face was always filled with sunshine and confidence, making him more likable than the other young men.

The little girl was willing to talk to this young man because he was well-informed; he knew why bees liked flowers and why flowers were so beautiful.

He could even make beautiful wreaths out of flowers and grass stems, which was much better than those ignoramuses who knew nothing.

The middle-aged man leading the little girl's hand immediately became interested in the conversation and said with an understanding look, "Oh, I've heard of that. Why did you come here?"

"I came here to look for a job," the young man appeared very approachable, always speaking with a smiling face, which made many people in the caravan like him.

"Ah? What can you do? Why come here to find a job?" The middle-aged man was a carpenter who, after his wife's death, had sold his house to pay for her medical treatment, and thus took his daughter to seek a livelihood in a foreign land.

The young man scratched his head, seeming a bit embarrassed to introduce himself, "Actually, I'm a craftsman; I can do a lot of things."

"Like what?" The middle-aged man asked with great interest.

The young man replied with a smile, "For example, I can make firearms."

On the other side, the leader of the merchant convoy joined the chat with a look of surprise, "Young man, you can make firearms?"

No wonder he was so surprised; in those times, young men skilled in a trade were highly valued, particularly craftsmen capable of making firearms who could find sustenance anywhere they went.

"Yes, I can make Shireck Flintlock Guns. I am a craftsman," the young man answered confidently.

The leader of the merchant caravan lamented with a talent-valuing expression, "That's very rare, after all, the workshops of Shireck seldom let go of craftsmen who can make firearms."

"Yes," the young man said, slipping his hand that bore a dandelion ring on his pinky finger into his pocket and nodding in agreement.

Out of curiosity, the leader of the merchant caravan continued to ask, "So where are you headed?"

"Me? The place I'm going to is far away, very far. Beyond this mountain, it's another three months of travel..." The young man looked at the distant mountains, his voice filled with anticipation.

"That's really far, to Wild Bear City?" The leader of the merchant caravan, who seemed familiar with the region beyond the mountains, asked directly.

Upon hearing the name of his intended destination, the young man immediately continued nodding, "About there. Is it easy to find a job in Wild Bear City?"

"If you really can get there, you'll surely find a good job. You're still young; life there wouldn't be bad," the leader of the merchant caravan affirmed.

"Thank you," the young man maintained his modest and polite demeanor, thanking the other for the encouragement.

...

In a somewhat dimly lit basement, the light flickering on and off, Tang Mo asked with some urgency, "Can't you push a little harder?"

"I... I'm already trying my best!" Wes's voice was full of panting, as if he was doing something that required a lot of physical effort.

Tang Mo shook his head in disappointment, "You... your physical strength... should really be trained up. How about you join the second batch of trainees for drills tomorrow?"

"Heh... heh... I've been, been busy here for over an hour now. You... you don't think I can do it, you try, try it!" Wes panted as he desperately tried to justify himself.

"No more nonsense! Keep pedaling!" Tang Mo put an end to their mushy conversation that would make fangirls blush and palpitate with his icy tone.

No sooner had his voice faded, he suddenly spotted something and excitedly leaned closer to the pile of equipment, shouting loudly, "We've got it! We've got it! We've succeeded!"

He had successfully received the tapping sounds transmitted from the telegraph machine at station number two!

This was the first successful long-distance wireless communication in this otherworld's history, as Mathews and Roger at the other end sent the words "Great Tang Group" to Tang Mo.

Tang Mo clearly received these four words! This meant that his communication technology had completely moved to the forefront of the era!

As long as he wished, his intelligence transmission speed could be measured in seconds; if he wished, he could crush all his opponents in terms of intelligence!

Of course, because of Tang Mo, the time traveler, the telegraph system didn't start with wired telegraphs.

It directly evolved into a wireless telegraph, and the transmission distance suddenly increased to a staggering hundred kilometers.

After all, the electromagnetic transmission environment of this era was incredibly clean, a stark contrast to the chaotic electromagnetic environment of later times. This world's electromagnetic environment was as pristine as a blank piece of paper.

This allowed Tang Mo's telegraphs to be easily transmitted over a hundred kilometers without worrying about interference from other signals.

Compared to laying cables and building signal towers, the cost is obviously much lower. Tang Mo had been using technology to save costs for more than a day or two, so this time was no exception.

Because Northern Ridge couldn't build a power station for the time being, Tang Mo devised a pedal-powered telegraph system.

The technical difficulty of this system was actually not high; what was high was the physical demands it placed on the person pedaling the bicycle.

With this system, Tang Mo could very conveniently send telegraphs to Northern Ridge, soothing the overwhelming longing and thinking every day of visiting the Lady Earl in Brunas.

Similarly, he could also use this system to stay in touch with Northern Ridge, issue immediate instructions, and remotely control all decisions made in Wolf City.

Who would have thought that the first wireless telegraph machine in the history of the world was actually born out of the need for a couple of lovebirds to write love letters?

But in fact, that was exactly the case; Tang Mo's mind was filled with the idea of giving this system as a gift to Alice, rather than as strategic material for Northern Ridge…

Of course, the power later demonstrated by this device sent the Northern Ridge leadership into a frenzy. After experiencing the advance in communication technology, they began to build a thermal power station in Northern Ridge at any cost.

That telegraphs could promote the large-scale development of electricity was a kind of magical occurrence that could only happen in a world where a time traveler like Tang Mo existed.

"Can this thing really transmit sound over a thousand miles?" Wes asked breathlessly, walking up to Tang Mo and looking at the experimental result with shock.

"Yes, if we agree on a time, we can immediately pass on what happens in King City or Northern Ridge to our location," Tang Mo said, pointing to the equipment in front of him: "One minute is enough for us to understand what's happening afar."

"My God... you really are a genius," Wes said, looking at the equipment and unable to resist gently stroking them: "Do they... have any connection with that thing I was riding?"

At this moment, he felt all the hard work he had put in before was worth it. It was his honor to be involved in the experiment that led to such a great invention.

Even, he felt as if infinite strength welled up inside him again; he thought he could still ride the pedal bicycle for another hour with his slightly numb and sore legs.

Tang Mo shrugged his shoulders and said with a laugh, deliberately to tease Wes, "No connection. You were just powering another device with your bicycle, and both devices received telegraphs from Station Two. The experiment was very successful."

In fact, there was no inherent connection; this basement laboratory was already electrified, so Wes's manual power generation equipment wasn't needed.

However, Tang Mo wanted to create an immediate-use telegraph system for Northern Ridge, so he tested the manual telegraph machine simultaneously.

This kind of equipment was widely used on World War I battlefields and wasn't technologically difficult to create; the only troublesome part was the chain.

But thanks to experience in making mechanical transmission systems, Mathews and his apprentices had no problem manufacturing chains.

Of course, since generators were still priceless novelties at this time, Tang Mo's equipment was certainly not cheap.

According to his plan, if someone was willing to buy this equipment, then the price would have to be at least 3000 Gold Coins per set; after all, the value of technology is infinite.

Plus, the cost of making this stuff wasn't cheap, what with iron frames and copper wire winding. That's all money!

Such cutting-edge technology, coupled with such complex craftsmanship and valuable materials, if it didn't fetch a heaven-and-earth-shattering price, that truly wouldn't be living up to his reputation as a shrewd businessman.

Thinking about it, selling a telegraph machine for the price of two locomotives would indeed be a fitting tribute to Samuel Morse.

"..." Hearing what Tang Mo said, Wes felt his negative emotions surging. He looked at Tang Mo silently, with a gloomy expression. If Tang Mo had a system for receiving negative emotions, he would definitely see a bunch of +999 notifications right now.

Now, Tang Mo could install wireless telegraph equipment everywhere under his control; even the new warships could use this equipment.

With this equipment, he could almost personally command all the subsidiaries of the Great Tang Group, taking his control over the entire Brunas region to a new level.

--------

Alright, Dragon Spirit is exhausted, off to build up the next powerful chapter. I hope everyone will show their support and make Dragon Spirit's data on the recommendation spot look... a little better. Dragon Spirit thanks you all.