In Tang Mo's newly constructed factory building, there was a room set up as a conference room. Here, a huge detailed survey map of the area near Brunas was hanging, and beautiful chandeliers dangled from the ceiling.
Honestly speaking, by the standards of this world, Tang Mo's new building was a bit of a luxury. The entire building had a complete sewage system, as well as running water, and all rooms with plumbing had a 24-hour supply of hot water.
Moreover, the whole building was supplied with electricity, with every room illuminated by expensive incandescent bulbs.
The basement here was brighter at night than the bedrooms of other Nobility, and the decor and design style also won high praise from the merchants who often came to visit.
A complete heating system even made Tang Mo forgo the fireplace design, which made the house cleaner and tidier and eliminated the need for openings, thus avoiding the nuisance of mosquitoes.
Honestly speaking, except for the absence of the internet and the fact that the light was not very natural, this place was not much different from a 20th-century house.
Meanwhile, as the Orc Race and the Elf Race were locked in battle on the Sena Plains, Tang Mo was discussing with Roger and others whether to develop Black Dragon Island first, under the cover of new warships.
Roger was somewhat worried about this plan. He seemed more keen on keeping an eye on Brunas, their main base: "Isn't it a bit too risky to pull out so many soldiers at once?"
Tang Mo preferred to arrange his industries on Black Dragon Island, which was surrounded by sea, because his naval advantage was now much greater than that of the army.
With a new warship stationed there, the defenses of Black Dragon Island could be said to be as solid as a fortress. What he was more concerned about now was whether the worker relocation project could be carried out properly.
So Tang Mo spoke with a sense of resignation, "There's no way around it. A crafty rabbit has three burrows, what we need now is time."
Roger flipped through the battle plan Tang Mo had prepared, getting a good understanding of the scale of this operation.
It was, in essence, a large-scale moving operation involving almost all the forces at Tang Mo's disposal. 7 transport ships and two reinforced companies of over 300 soldiers, plus nearly a thousand workers and their families in motion.
The entire fleet would also be transporting at least seven steam engine units, 40 simple machine tools, five generators, and three wireless telegraph devices.
Looking at the scale of the entire fleet, Roger felt his earlier thoughts were a bit too conservative: "A new warship, 13 armed merchant ships converted into troop transports and carrying a large amount of equipment and tents... it's like... we're really going all out."
Indeed, they were pulling out all the stops. This expeditionary fleet would also carry food and medicine, as well as the steel and raw materials necessary to support the establishment of industry.
But that alone was not enough. After the only Ironclad Warship of Great Tang Group stayed near Black Dragon Island for vigilance and support, the remaining 13 transport ships were to turn back immediately after unloading the cargo and personnel and return to Brunas.
Then these transport ships would once again be loaded with cement, steel supplies, a second batch of food, and more people, and set sail for Black Dragon Island without a second thought.
At the same time, the sole warship from the Elf Race that remained in the port would also move out as an escort.
According to the records, the island was likely near the equator of this otherworld, with rainforests that could likely ensure fresh water and a decent output of food.
Furthermore, the presence of birds and animals on the island suggested that the island was certainly not small, otherwise it could not support so many lives.
"I do not plan to send you on an adventure right away," Tang Mo said with a smile. "I have already handed over the copied sea chart to Bernard. He will take a look first."
Since Bernard had seen Tang Mo's ironclad warship, Tang Mo was no longer worried about this navy commander of his. After all, no one in their right mind would sail off in a sailing warship and betray someone who has ironclad warships powered by steam.
Who was the future, and who was a powerful figure worth serving, Bernard was well aware. He was not a fool, so naturally, he would offer his loyalty to Tang Mo.
"So, this plan will still take some time to execute, and it might even have to wait until after the first war with Shireck Consortium is over," Tang Mo said casually, leaning back in his chair.
No sooner had his voice fallen than Li'ao pushed the door open and walked in, handing a piece of intelligence to Tang Mo before saying, "Just in from King City... Our trouble has arrived!"
Tang Mo looked down at the intelligence on the paper, raised his head, and said to Li'ao, "Gather everyone together and tell them... Shireck is preparing for war!"
The first to enter was Wes, who was standing by nearby, followed by Luff and Parker. After a long wait, Mathews, who was guarding the No. 2 factory area, and Redman and Tagg, who were training troops there, arrived fashionably late.
Seeing that everyone had arrived, Tang Mo signaled Li'ao to speak.
Li'ao pushed the document to the center of the long table in the meeting room and gave a brief overview of the current situation, "There are about 30,000 paper-cartridge rounds that have been transported from beyond the border to King City... This information has been verified, so we can almost certainly conclude that Shireck has mastered the production process of fulminate of mercury, and they can produce percussion caps and paper-cartridge rounds."
"That means our previous estimate of their having about 130,000 paper-cartridge rounds is no longer accurate," Luff said, his tone somewhat somber as he stroked his chin.
If they couldn't determine Shireck's material reserves, then their side would have to upgrade their defense preparations by a notch.
Currently, Great Tang Group's war preparations have always been maintained at a quite low level. They were basically unprepared, with everyone's main focus on production.
But if the enemy might attack at any moment, then the situation would be completely different—at least the troops would have to be mobilized, which would inevitably affect some of the production work.
Tang Mo let out a sigh and continued with the bad news, "There is reliable information that they have also started to imitate steam engines, they have ordered more than 30 steam engines from us under the guise of merchants making scattered purchases."
Unlike fulminate of mercury and percussion caps, steam engines, similar to the Quick Gun, are actually easy to replicate. As long as they had sufficient technological capabilities, even if the precision was poor and performance was even worse, they could still be manufactured.
So, Great Tang Group couldn't stop Shireck from copying and imitating in these respects. They didn't have patent laws, enforcement rights, or to put it more accurately, they didn't have the capacity to enforce...
Shireck's imitation of the Quick Gun was no secret anymore; relying on the scale of workmen, Shireck's production volume of the Quick Gun was actually quite astounding.