Munitions Empire

Tang Country's economic construction speed was incredibly fast, and within the second month after the war ended, Tang Country had almost returned to its pre-war state.

A few days later, a cargo ship full of radios arrived in Brunas, dumping Tang Country's manufactured goods directly onto the Eastern Continent.

Numerous shipyards started working at full capacity to produce cargo ships, not only those of the Great Tang Group but also those of the Shireck Consortium.

Since all countries needed to recover their pre-war transportation capabilities, the production speed of these shipyards was even faster than during the war period.

Both the Great Tang Group and the Shireck Consortium were desperately producing ten-thousand-ton transport ships, which were the most technologically mature type known as "liberty ships."

These ships were very easy to build and incredibly cheap. A large number of such ships almost monopolized the shipping industry of various countries, and similar vessels were active across the entire Endless Sea, visible everywhere.

Countless ships began to restore the nearly paralyzed maritime transport on the Endless Sea, transferring various goods and materials all around the world.

Furthermore, countries around the world began to invest more in air transport, and the entire world immediately entered a busy state.

People's lives had changed, even the secluded rural farmers had grown accustomed to the various types of airplanes occasionally flying overhead.

An interesting phenomenon was that on the Eastern Continent, biplanes were still the mainstay of air travel, with transport planes, converted from bombers, shuttling through the blue sky.

On the Western Continent, however, the C-47 aircraft occupied a dominant position. Tang Country possessed over 4000 C-47 and DC-3 aircraft, whose presence could be seen everywhere.

Many merchants had even gotten used to flying to various places on these planes, greatly appreciating the convenience and efficiency they offered.

This mode of transportation shortened the distance between two places, making it possible to travel 1000 kilometers in a single day.

Although air transport in this era was not very safe and reliable, those who pursued efficiency and were willing to try new things always chose to travel by airplane.

Construction had already started on the oil pipeline from Chu Country to the southern part of Tang Country, indicating that Tang Country's intelligence personnel had surveyed Chu Country's mountainous areas before the war broke out and had planned a complete oil transport scheme.

But now no one cared about these details anymore; everyone was busy setting up the relevant equipment, doing their utmost to realize this century's project.

With the current technological level, it was not possible to meet the needs of such a long distance for oil pipeline transportation, so the entire project was divided into two parallel implementation plans.

One was to establish several relay stations and transport the oil from within Chu Country to Tang Country's south through a land transport scheme, segment by segment.

The other plan was to first transport the oil to Chu Country's ports through a shorter pipeline, then ship it from the ports to Linshui and Dongwan.

Due to the urgent need for more oil, Tang Country decided to implement both schemes simultaneously, which doubled the scale of the entire project overnight.

The appearance of airplanes, especially commercial ones, suddenly pushed aviation fuel to an unprecedented level, causing all countries to start valuing oil reserves, and international oil prices soared more than double.

Not until then did the whole world realize that at least one-third of the oil was already controlled or indirectly controlled by Tang Country.

The world's largest known oil field was in Chu Country, followed by Dragon Island and the southern oil fields originally belonging to the Dahua Empire. The oil production capacity under Tang Mo's command was already sufficient for the economic development needs of Tang Country.

If one also considered the oil fields over which Tang Mo could exert influence, he controlled about half of the world's oil production capacity.

This was already a terrifying share, almost equivalent to saying Tang Mo alone controlled the entire OPEC organization of the world before crossing over…

Thus, calculating just the surge in oil prices, the wealth Tang Mo possessed was already termed terrifying. Adding on the businesses in pharmaceuticals and arms, he held in his hands the most profitable businesses in the world.

It should be noted that Tang Country had always been striving to dominate the grain trade, and over the years, relying on massive wealth, Tang Mo had been influencing the world's grain prices in his own way.

Tang Country itself had countless fertile lands, and the major grain-producing Ice Cold Empire and Dorne Empire had been conducting large-scale grain commodity trades with Tang Country before the war erupted.

Heaven knows how much grain Tang Mo had purchased over the years and how he had used this grain to solve the famine problem in Tang Country all at once.

Aside from grain trading, Tang Mo had another highly profitable business: banking! In fact, other than his own Minister of Finance, Simon, Tang Country had a financial mastermind who had remained behind the scenes for years—he was Van Kums, who had sought refuge with Tang Mo years ago and had followed him ever since.

He was now the president of the Great Tang Bank. The currency of Tang Country, the Imperial Golden Yuan, which was almost equivalent to the world currency now, was issued by the Great Tang Bank. Van Kums's job was to monitor and ensure the healthy development of the Imperial Golden Yuan.

Like the familiar U.S. dollar to Tang Mo, the Imperial Golden Yuan had become the common currency of the world, used for settlement in all countries; many countries had even directly started using the Imperial Golden Yuan instead of their own currency.

This was a helpless situation: as countries continuously increased their debt to Tang Country, their financial systems began to collapse gradually, and their citizens preferred to use a foreign currency like the Imperial Golden Yuan rather than their own country's currency, which was like waste paper.

Hence, the current world currency system was quite strange: copper coins, silver coins, and gold coins were still in circulation, a coin system that dated back to the ancient Dwarf Empire.

Above this old currency system, Tang Country's Imperial Golden Yuan was recognized by everyone and became the most popular among large denominations.

Banknotes of five, ten, fifty, and one hundred were widely circulated across the world, even acknowledged by local gangs collecting protection fees.

Countries had a love-hate relationship with this currency issued by Tang Country. They were grateful for its help in stabilizing their own economies, yet they hated how it siphoned off more wealth.

Now, whether it was Van Kums or Simon, including everyone in Yulin, they all understood why Tang Mo had been so eager to obtain the right to issue currency years ago.

Everyone also understood why Tang Mo had ensured the stability of the Imperial Golden Yuan's value during wartime and safeguarded the currency's liquidity.

Through a series of efforts by Tang Mo, the Imperial Golden Yuan had finally grown and started making money and feeding back to Tang Country. How the United States harvested the world's leeks and Europe sheared the world's wool, Tang Mo could now earn profits from all over the world in the same way.

However, because Tang Country had not yet reached the heights of the United States back then, these activities of cutting leeks and shearing wool could not be done too blatantly.

With so many profitable projects, one could just imagine how staggering Tang Mo's wealth was. Some even felt that Tang Mo now had enough gold coins to construct a castle entirely out of gold.

Tang Mo didn't think he was that rich because he knew how to spend better than many could imagine: although he earned huge profits every day, he also spent a substantial amount of money each day.

Tang Country had now established 170 public universities, over 2100 high schools, 5000 middle schools, and more than 10,000 elementary schools.

The gradual establishment of these schools marked the beginning of Tang Country's use of the most orthodox methods to cultivate comprehensive talents. The mere investment in these schools was astronomical from other countries' perspectives.

To motivate talents and cultivate top-notch scientific and technological personnel, Tang Mo had also established 10 royal academies, including the Royal Military Academy, Royal Technological University, Royal Finance and Economics University, Royal Political and Law University, Royal Marine University, Royal Arts Academy, Royal Women's University, Royal Agricultural Academy, Royal Medical University, and Royal Teachers Academy.

These ten universities were privately funded by Tang Mo, and they featured the top level of teaching staff and equipment. The salaries for all the teachers there were remarkably high, and one had to possess genuine skills to become a teacher here.

The awards within these institutions were selected jointly by special representatives from the Royal Family and internal voting, with prize money directly funded by the Royal Family.

In addition to this, Tang Mo also allocated various awards annually to the teachers and students of these schools, including scholarships and various prizes.

Furthermore, Wes's security troops were also maintained by Tang Mo himself to ensure the reliability of the guard troops.

It wasn't a joke when said that the expenditures on education alone were costing Tang Mo tens of millions of gold coins each year.

Along with Tang Mo's generous spending in the field of scientific research, he earned several hundred million or even over a billion gold coins a year, but these were rapidly cycled back into the market.

Similarly, it seemed like Tang Country was always exporting a lot of technology and products, apparently earning a lot of money.

However, Tang Country had to import a vast amount of minerals, grain, timber, and meat every year, and the trade surplus was always maintained at a very healthy level.

This was all thanks to Tang Mo having a great better half: Alice. She had managed the household adeptly in Northern Ridge, and now in managing the economic affairs of Great Tang Empire, she similarly demonstrated extraordinary talent.

When Emperor Wu of Han married Wei Zifu, it was a huge win as he not only married a beauty but also got Wei Qing and Huo Qubing as a priceless "dowry."

Similarly, Tang Mo didn't lose out; by marrying Alice, he not only acquired Northern Ridge and gained loyal generals, but Alice herself was a genius, a true valuable helpmate!

With her help, Tang Mo could save a great amount of energy and focus on being his humanoid self-operating drawing machine...