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"The envoy from the Dahua Empire seemed to be greatly startled by this piece of news; he remained silent for a long time before canceling the meeting with me," said Prime Minister Roger in his office after the Dwarf Envoy had left, meeting with Tang Mo.
Tang Mo nodded slightly, seeming to have already guessed the main purpose behind these countries’ sudden move to resume negotiations with Tang Country.
He tapped lightly on the desktop and said to his Prime Minister, "Actually, I have guessed it; they’ve come this time to apply pressure on us."
"They hope we’ll end the war with Shen Country, and moreover, we must not settle scores with Shen Country. That’s their bottom line," he continued, walking over to the map of Shen Country, gazing at the vast island, "Though I really want to, now is not the time to devour this damn country in one bite."
He turned back to look at Roger: "In fact, we need about a year or so to continue expanding our military, accumulate strength... and during this process, we need more minerals, more steel, more workers, more... everything!"
"We are lacking in everything; we lack time, raw materials, and even population! Therefore, we cannot go to war with the Dahua Empire and Chu Country immediately." As he spoke, he personally poured a glass of Brunas 3-year for Roger, "Even though I know they are bluffing, I can only afford to give them this face."
"This is a necessary compromise," Roger said to Tang Mo, "You need time to consolidate your occupation of Qi Country and make its civilians accept you as their king."
"Indeed, but the good days when we could easily buy population and continuously absorb surrounding areas’ populations are over. Chu Country will no longer let us absorb their population, neither will the Dahua Empire," said Tang Mo somewhat regretfully.
For him, the previous year was the real good time when he could absorb tens of thousands of fleeing populations from the surrounding three countries every day, and how to accommodate these people was a daily concern.
At that time, he was indeed busy and happy. He arranged all kinds of jobs for these refugees, and then led these civilians, who had just become Tang People, to build Tang Country into an industrial nation in one fell swoop!
Don’t underestimate this achievement; just go and see what the other empires that took over places like Brunas and Northern Ridge managed to do, and you’ll know just how outstanding Tang Mo’s subordinates were.
"The good news is that even during wartime, our population growth in the past year has been the fastest in a century," said Roger, who was in charge of these matters and, therefore, had a say.
The development of the Great Tang Kingdom has entered the fast lane; a country that has basically achieved industrialization, its population growth is incomparable to that of traditional agricultural nations.
Keep in mind that large-scale poultry farming has become a bottleneck for many countries: without chickens to boost meat production, the world would hardly ever see cities with populations over three million.
The emergence of modern, advanced, and systematic sewage systems, and the widespread availability of high-rise buildings, made the population explosion of big cities possible.
Had it not been for the pharmaceutical companies of the Great Tang Group introducing a series of medicines, population concentration would mean the outbreak of epidemics and the prevalence of contagious diseases—only the preliminary establishment of a modern medical system enabled the increase in population to be realized.
Every link is very important; it can be said they are truly indispensable. At the same time, a complete and massive industrial system provides employment opportunities for these expanding populations, completing the last piece of this entire cycle.
Modern society is a precise and efficient large-scale circular system, akin to a high-speed running machine with every part serving its function for the operation of the whole machine.
"What I want is not just to develop faster than the last hundred years but to outpace our own development," Tang Mo felt no need to boast about his achievements.
What’s there to be proud of if you annihilate a knight in plate armor with a 99A main battle tank?
Tang Mo was very clear that after the start of industrialization and informatization, the pace of human development over 200 years was about ten times that of the previous 15,000 years of evolutionary progress! The amount of information exchanged and transmitted in one day of the 21st century equals the total amount of information transferred from the beginning of Earth until 1999.
In other words, a 12-year-old child today is exposed to more information than any wise monarch of the past; whereas Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty needed five days to figure out what trouble had arisen in the Hetao Corridor, with telegraphy, Tang Mo can learn what has happened on the Eastern Continent in less than half an hour.
Therefore, there really isn’t any comparability. What Tang Mo can do, or what he needs to do, is only to surpass himself!
He only has himself to compare to; he only has himself as a benchmark! He has already outpaced the whole world, hence he can only race against himself.
It’s rather ironic, from another point of view, as Tang Mo is trying to engage in a high-speed race with the beautiful Lighthouse Country of present-day Earth. One day, he will surpass this non-existent hypothetical enemy.
"That truly is a grand objective," Roger, massaging his somewhat sore neck, said to Tang Mo, "You’ve established a nation, and I, this old frame, might not be able to keep up with your pace much longer."
"It’s okay, Uncle Roger, what you need to do now is to help me take care of home," said Tang Mo with a smile.
"That’s also why I insist on not retiring," Roger too smiled. He knew the trust Tang Mo had in him, and he was trying his best to reciprocate the trust given to him by Tang Mo.
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Controlling a vast nation was not an easy task, and Tang Mo, no matter how powerful he was, needed a large group of trusted confidants to help him with his work.
Clearly, Tang Mo was fortunate, for he had met a group of trustworthy people very early on.
The amiable Roger, the straightforward Tagg, the insincere Wes, and Yulin who loved him to the marrow of her bones... In short, he was very satisfied with his current situation, which was much more fulfilling and warm than before his transmigration.
"Get Harry to find something for his wife to do!" After comforting his Prime Minister for a moment, Tang Mo said to Roger, "He’s been honeymooning on Dragon Island for so long, it’s time he did something for the Great Tang Group."
Roger began to laugh, "Your Majesty, he’s so busy he barely has time to have children, and yet you think he’s on vacation, haha."
"Isn’t he on a vacation? If he thinks he’s doing well enough, I’ll send Yulin to Dragon Island to see if there’s anything that needs improving!" Tang Mo said with a smile, pulling out his whip.
"If you really did that, then Harry probably would really not have time for children," Roger hurriedly intercepted before Tang Mo could directly deploy their Flying Eagle, and he managed to save Harry’s life: "I’ll send him a telegram right away and have Jenny get in touch with Shireck’s side."
"Let her ask Sofia, that cheap woman, if she wants airplane technology!" Tang Mo’s gaze fell onto the wooden model of a biplane that he had just ordered to be brought to him.
What he was selling was the airplane technology from the World War I era, including fabric-covered wings, a wooden fuselage, and a small motor engine...
Well, if this thing were scaled down, fitted with a swept wing, equipped with an engine on the back, fitted with remote control, and loaded with 50 kilograms of explosive... it could have a second life in the twenty-first century... Back then, it had a resounding name: a kamikaze drone.
But now, it was just a wooden plane with fabric-covered wings! It was slow to fly, had little cargo capacity, and was almost useless.
However, these severely outdated planes, which were just beginning to be sold, represented a future, a bright, efficient, and prosperous future!
"I think Shireck will definitely send someone," said Roger, rising to his feet.
"Get Harry to prepare some delicacies for Jenny, something romantic, after all this is high-value intelligence, isn’t it?" Tang Mo said with a mischievous smile, showing no sign that he was the master of a nation with territories comparable to an empire.
...
"Darling!" Before long, Harry, who had hurried home early, embraced his wife Jenny in the courtyard of their villa, where she was watering the plants.
"Why are you home so early this year? Have you ever finished work on time?" With a blissful look on her face and gently resting a hand on her slightly swollen belly, Jenny asked.
"That is something for the maids to do; you really should take care of yourself now," Harry said, dodging Jenny’s question with a smile and a gentle reminder.
"I used to be a maid," Jenny held Harry’s arm without any hesitation about her past.
Harry had no qualms, and directly asked, "Can you still contact Flame Castle?"
"What do you mean?" Jenny’s face changed slightly, and she asked with some trepidation.
"No special meaning, Your Majesty wants you to let Sofia know that if she has time, to send an envoy over... The Great Tang Group is prepared to sell the technology for airplanes." Harry spoke as if he were mentioning a trivial matter, bringing up the airplane technology that was previously top secret.
"My goodness..." Jenny immediately became flustered upon hearing this news, "This is top secret! Harry!"
"Not anymore," Harry replied smugly, "As long as Sofia is willing to pay one hundred million Gold Coins, she can have it!"
"How much? Only one hundred million Gold Coins?" Jenny looked incredulously at Harry.
"For every country... to pay one hundred million Gold Coins!" Harry boasted with pride for Tang Mo’s ingenious pricing strategy: "All in all, about... ten billion or so, right?"
"How much?" This time, Jenny was even more shaken.