Munitions Empire

"Boom!" A new salvo once again hit the pirate warship, and this time, unlike the previous two, the already battered pirate ship finally succumbed to the strain and began to slow down noticeably.

This round of salvo saw one cannonball fly directly towards the pirate ship’s rudder below the lookout, rendering the vessel suddenly unable to steer effectively.

Though it could still attempt to navigate by adjusting its sails, the efficiency of this method was far too inferior.

Another cannonball, after smashing into the warship, burst through the hull below the waterline on the other side, creating a hole that caused the ship to take on water, exacerbating the pirate vessel’s dire situation.

What brought the pirates to utter despair, however, was the cannonball that struck their gun position, completely destroying the only cannon they had on that side!

Now they had no means to retaliate, they had suffered heavy casualties, with over eighty pirates crowded on board, dead or wounded. Those who remained were too terrified to maintain their usual bravado.

"Quick! Hang the white flag! Hurry!" Finally, a pirate who had come to his senses began to scream hysterically, regretting why he hadn’t thought of this creative idea sooner.

The old pirate captain did not oppose his subordinate’s initiative, as he too had already considered surrendering. He had even prepared his plea for mercy, knowing that an experienced sailor could find a way to survive anywhere.

They made sure the other side had seen the large bedsheet, dirty and patched as it was, for everyone knew what it meant.

"We surrender! We surrender!" the pirates waved their hands frantically, pleading loudly at the warship that was closing in.

In response, they were met with the fourth round of vicious salvo. This time, as the distance had closed to less than 200 meters, the hit rate visibly improved.

Five cannonballs struck the pirate ship on the mark, shattering the remaining side planks and causing the ship to begin sinking slowly.

Only then did the pirates realize that their foe truly intended to wipe them out, not play a game of cops and robbers with them.

Across from the sinking pirate ship, Bernard coldly watched the now listing wreck of a sailboat and muttered emotionlessly, "Sorry, sir said no pirate prisoners, so you can only die here... Listen to me, don’t be a thief in your next life. You’ve done too many bad things to be good anymore, so you’ll just have to die, to atone for everything you’ve done..."

...

"Wow!" Looking at the port in front of him, the merchant ship’s captain could hardly believe his eyes. He truly could not believe that such enormous cranes existed in this world.

Indeed, it was a very, very large crane, towering nearly 20 meters high at the port, standing as majestic as a lighthouse.

Of course, Brunas’s new lighthouse seemed even more magnificent, located on the opposite side of the port, built on towering cliffs. With the additional height of the cliffs, it stood at an imposing 50 meters.

The lighthouse was constructed of colossal stones and cement sourced locally, unimaginably sturdy, and had a huge lighting lamp installed at the top that even used electricity.

Seizing this opportunity, Tang Mo created the world’s first electric searchlight and applied this breakthrough to the new warship under construction.

Tang Mo’s warships could now engage in night battles, as each side of the vessel was installed with a large searchlight, identical to the ones used on the lighthouse.

Moreover, during the construction process, computer simulations helped identify that the warship still had the issue of being heavy at the back and light at the front, so the final design ended up resembling that of the Zhou Yuan class warships.

The three-barreled 120mm caliber cannons in front were reduced by one, reverting to a standard twin-barreled main gun, while the rear twin-barreled 120mm caliber main guns were changed to a single-barreled 120mm caliber main gun.

This configuration closely matched the main armament quantity of the Zhou Yuan class, with a front-two rear-one arrangement, a classic and familiar setup.

The only difference was that the Zhou Yuan class had shielded guns, with the rear exposed, while Tang Mo’s flagship was fitted with enclosed gun turrets, albeit with a mere 8mm of rear armor thickness.

Additionally, these warships were powered by the latest iteration of steam engines, which had been modified to greatly enhance their power, certainly qualifying as a warship’s propulsion system.

When these sailors from the distant Dorne Kingdom looked up at the massive crane, they were utterly awestruck by Brunas’s grandeur.

During unloading, they only had to move the iron ingots from their ship into a large net, and then the colossal crane would lift the heavy cargo and gently place it on the dock.

Such efficiency had completely crushed those small cranes at other docks, and cranes were actually not that common at docks during this era.

Most of the time, sailors had to move the cargo one piece at a time using gangplanks, which was manageable for small items, but for large freight, they had no choice but to grit their teeth and try over and over again.

To unload an entire cargo ship within a few hours like this was extremely rare indeed.

Although not unprecedented, such efficiency was generally only seen at major docks, which were among the largest harbors in the world, and on a scale far beyond what little Brunas could compare.

But what truly shocked these sailors from afar was not just that. Once they’d bewilderedly completed the loading and unloading, they were ordered to sail their ships away, anchoring near the shallow beaches outside, then the crew would use small boats to come ashore.

This was to clear the docks as quickly as possible so that more merchant ships could dock. After all, with Tang Mo buying up massive amounts of ore, merchants from nearby Kingdoms had caught wind and began to transport materials to Brunas frantically.

Scores of merchant ships crowded the already narrow waters near Brunas’s harbor, which caused the docks to buckle under the strain, and the throughput became a bottleneck in the harbor’s development.

To resolve this issue, Tang Mo had to finance the expansion of the harbor and even built this giant crane there—it was powered by electricity, although most people were none the wiser.

This crane relied on an electric motor to control the counterweights. From a distance, everyone thought it was a regular gravity crane, but only the users knew that it actually used a portion of electric power.

With this crane, work at the dock could proceed quickly, solving Tang Mo’s problem of material needs.

Now, the throughput of Brunas had increased exponentially. Many ships were using Tang Mo’s newly built port, and some were still using the old port of Brunas.

At the new port, goods were secretly sent to a nearby train station and then directly transported to Factory No. 2.

On the docks of the old Brunas harbor, Sailors from Dorne marveled at everything around them, as if they were Grandmother Liu entering the Grand View Garden, feeling their ignorance and insignificance.

They saw the newly constructed municipal building made of concrete and witnessed the freshly completed fountain square.

The sailors also tried the new vegetable hamburgers, and the delicious ketchup nearly made them swallow their tongues.

They were excitedly swept away by the crowds to the casino and there saw the most entertaining games. They stood obliviously beside the tables, shouting out numbers with hoarse voices and then bemoaning their losses with chest-beating and foot-stomping.

The ones from Dorne had never seen such amusing things before and were experiencing such exciting games for the first time.

Some among them had turned a single Gold Coin into thirty overnight, becoming a small-time wealthy man.

Others had gambled away all the money they had in one night, to the point where they couldn’t even afford another vegetable burger.

And some sailors found their way to the street of neon lights and colored lanterns, speechless from the shock of it all.

They saw girls in gauzy dresses dancing in the streets, their fragrant garments brushing past the sailors’ cheeks, almost leaving drool behind.

Then, minutes later, these sailors remembered that their pockets were filled with a large sum of hard-earned Gold Coins.

After that, they feverishly gave back to Mr. Tang Mo all the money they had just been paid by him.

"Thank the great gods for letting me find true paradise!" a Sailor managed to squeeze his head out from between two embracing women, lifting his cup with an intoxicated face and cheering loudly.

"To Brunas! Cheers!" nor was his companion any better off, already drunk, he was struggling to undo his troublesome belt.

Paper-drunk and gold-intoxicated was the main melody here, while carefree abandon played the dominant note. The sailors, already tense from their time at sea, finally understood the source of true happiness.

Though when they woke up tomorrow morning, they would discover with bitterness how wild they had been last night—the Gold Coins they had worked so hard to earn on their voyage might not even leave a single copper coin remaining.

However, after experiencing another side of this incredible world, they would quickly fall in love with Brunas, with this gold-consuming pit, with this boundless life.

Then they would bring even more raw materials to Tang Mo, hoping to earn more Gold Coins here, and promptly squander them here even more handsomely.

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