Munitions Empire

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"Not bad at all!" The truly wealthy couldn't hide the glint in their eyes at this moment.

On the other side, a nouveau riche hearing the price was even more thrilled, "Yes! Once again, we can widen the gap between us and those ordinary people."

"It's not expensive! If everyone could afford it, would it still be a Rolls-Royce?" In the end, a gem-bedecked billionaire settled the discussion, voicing his innermost thoughts.

What they feared was not the high price, but that the goods they used could be afforded by everyone! They wanted others to know they were rich and feared becoming indistinguishable from the masses.

This was akin to people still buying Gucci plastic bags for thousands of dollars or transparent inflatable vests selling for sky-high prices.

Wealthy people are not fools; they just go to great lengths to set themselves apart from the poor, and for this, they don't mind spending a bit more.

To them, 12,000 Gold Coins was actually not a big deal. If spending this money could make them stand out, they would feel the expense was worth it, a total bargain!

"That makes sense! I'm going to put my deposit down right now! I'll reserve one!" Sure enough, a fit and wealthy second-generation heir, nonchalantly spoke up with a debonair appearance.

Beside the second-generation rich kid, the flamboyant merchant who had rings on every finger and gold teeth showing as he smiled spoke astonishingly, "One car? I'll buy ten!"

He owned oil fields in Nanla and with the recent surge in oil prices, he didn't care about such a trifling amount of money.

As long as the price of oil continued to rise, his net worth would be frighteningly huge—he'd been considering donating enough money to buy a position in the Empire of Nanla.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Who is that?" A few women immediately started whispering among themselves, and the oil tycoon's face grew even more smug.

"Pfft... A country bumpkin." A man laughed and came up behind the tycoon, uttering a sarcastic remark.

Before the oil rich man could say anything, the newcomer pointed at the car on display and said, "Mr. Tang just said this car's sold to me! Make sure no one scratches it!"

His statement immediately made the oil magnate swallow the words in his mouth—his wealth might have been comparable, but knowing Tang Mo complicated matters.

"Who is that guy?" A nearby socialite felt herself getting excited.

Her friend immediately understood where her thoughts were going, glancing at her, "Look at you! Are you really that anxious?"

"Sister, dear... You don't even like older men, leave him to your older sister," said the name-dropping socialite, almost drooling.

Her friend chuckled, leaning in to whisper, "You don't know? That's the Marquis of Bailu! Business has been booming for him recently, and I heard his Bailu Team has won 7 straight matches..."

"No wonder, it's him..." The women appeared to suddenly understand.

"This guy is loaded, and he has a very good relationship with Mr. Tang... I heard he has a son who plays football for the Dragon City Team, and he's quite skilled," On the other side, several men also cast envious glances.

The female companion perked up immediately, "Hmm, I've heard about that too, is there a match coming up soon? I'm a fan of the Dragon City Team."

"Do you want to watch it?" The man was stunned, then a triumphant smile appeared—he'd been waiting for her to bring up a request all morning, and finally, she spoke.

"I really do want to check out the excitement," the woman said coquettishly, "and have a big dinner afterwards..."

As soon as he heard the word "evening," the man got the hint, "Butler... Butler... book two tickets for the Dragon City Team match... good seats!"

"You're so nice." The woman hooked her arm around the man's, her face beaming with joy, "That necklace I saw earlier..."

"Buy it! It's just 300 Gold Coins... It's not expensive!" The man said generously, waving his hand.

...

The exhibition hall was filled with armaments occupying about a third of the space, after all, the Great Tang Group had started with armaments and was also the supplier of the most advanced weaponry in the world.

On such an occasion, if you didn't take the opportunity to show off your products, that would simply be a wasted opportunity, wouldn't it?

So, the people who had come from afar could see a heap of weapons so miraculous they could be considered works of art.

Where the crowd gathered, there was a cannon produced by Great Tang Artillery Company—a super howitzer with a caliber of 280 millimeters and a total system weight exceeding 50 tons.

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Such a super-terrifying large-caliber howitzer, with a firing rate of only one round every five minutes, and each shell weighing 200 kilograms, had a simple crane at the rear of the gun for loading these shells and propellant.

From a practical perspective, such artillery actually had little value— even with railways, transporting such a heavy cannon to the front line was definitely not an easy task.

Its cumbersome body, precise tuning, and terrifying price all meant it was not a particularly qualified weapon of war. Yet, it still held value and there was a necessity for its creation!

On one hand, the Great Tang Group wanted to demonstrate to the world its weapon-manufacturing capabilities that surpassed the era.

The ability of a factory to manufacture cannons with a caliber above 200 millimeters represented many things. Including seamless steel tubes, cannon casting technology, overall design, and so on—it was only with high standards in these aspects that a qualified cannon could be designed and made.

Just thinking about it made one realize how exaggerated the Great Tang Group's weapon manufacturing technology was: they could actually build a cannon that fired heavy shells of about 300 kilograms over a distance of 10 kilometers...

Wouldn't using this thing for defending a city easily repel the enemy forces? It was even beyond the enemy's imagination that they would be bombarded by the city's defense cannons into disorientation before they could even see the enemy city... Thinking about this, one could feel a little excited!

On the other hand, such artillery indeed had numerous practical applications: this huge cannon, despite its many drawbacks, was still the most powerful cannon system that could be manufactured at the current stage.

Each shell could blast a crater as big as a soccer field on the ground, and the radius of destruction from the explosion was enough to encompass an area greater than two soccer fields.

In other words, one shot from this thing could almost smash a Nou Camp stadium to pieces! At the very least, it would make everyone inside the stadium rather uncomfortable...

Such fearsome power endowed this type of artillery with many arduous tasks: breaching the enemy's fortified defensive areas, destroying the enemy's solid fortifications.

With the development of weapons and changes in tactics, many countries around the world began to build solid fortifications at their borders, establishing super fortresses that had not appeared in the past.

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These fortresses were constructed using cement or huge stones, incredibly solid. Inside these fortified strongholds, heavy troops were garrisoned, equipped with machine guns and artillery, making them very tough to deal with and causing attackers a lot of headaches.

Therefore, the Great Tang Group introduced this super fortress killer to enhance the attacking abilities of the offensive side.

As long as there was a way to get this kind of artillery to the front lines, there would basically be no defensive line or fortress that couldn't be conquered.

This thing only needed dozens of shells to be hammered down, and it was estimated that the garrison inside even the sturdiest fortress would not be able to withstand the bombardment and would surrender.

Thus, when the envoys and officers from various countries who came to visit the weaponry exhibition area saw this displayed cannon, everyone was stunned.

Keep in mind, the hefty barrel of this cannon alone was nearly 3.4 meters long! Along with the gun mount and recoil mechanism, the entire system was over 5 meters tall, and the diameter of the base was likewise over 5 meters, almost reaching 6 meters!

To describe this cannon as a behemoth was in no way an exaggeration. The world had never before seen such a massive land artillery piece.

Although the giant muzzle-loaders produced by the Shireck workshop were also very large, the lack of recoil mechanisms and mounts meant they did not have the same formidable visual impact.

Every officer who saw this cannon was intimidated; they didn't know how much of a fighting chance their own military would have when facing such an iron behemoth.

When they saw the display shells placed in front of this big cannon, they were even somewhat afraid, fearful that such huge shells would one day fall on their own heads.

No defense work could withstand such shells, and likewise, no soldier could maintain the fight under the threat of such terrifying bombardments.

People whispered in front of this massively intimidating cannon, not even daring to raise their voices. It was an instinctive fear, an awe that came from deep within.

In comparison, the 155-millimeter towed howitzer and the 105-type light howitzer, heavily promoted by Great Tang, did not shock people as directly as the 280-millimeter cannon did.

But Tang Mo knew, the real artillery capable of changing the course of war was precisely those medium-caliber, easy to haul pieces that could keep pace with the advancing troops.

As for the 280-caliber behemoth, it was just a show of skill by Tang Mo, a means to bamboozle those clueless dogs who knew nothing at all.

They knew nothing, and only liked to buy weapons that appeared immensely powerful in order to deter their rivals.

Clearly, outfitting your troops with many machine guns and steel helmets wasn't as straightforwardly effective as deploying ten fortress killers.

Moreover, when used to defend a city, these massive and extraordinarily cumbersome cannons no longer had the issue of inconvenient transportation; instead, their immense power became the highlighted feature.

Delightful, isn't it?