Munitions Empire

Tang Mo had recently come to strongly believe in metaphysics, and terms like principal and Island Master make him feel uneasy, as they were honestly not very auspicious.

However, he could only endure it, since his direct lineage all came from the Great Tang Military Academy; it didn't seem quite right to not address him as principal.

Having no choice, as he was committed to cultivating a loyal and capable line of followers through talent development, he had to honestly accept the title of principal, right?

Yet, with additions like Dragon's Den and towers and the like, Tang Mo felt like he was lately piled up with DEBUFFS, the sort that spelled his own doom...

He tried hard to change something, but in the end, he realized he couldn't change anything; he couldn't have all his subordinates can him master, he wasn't that narcissistic.

But what to call him if not master? If he were to choose another impressive-sounding term, he might as well go with Führer... Hmm, this was a title Tang Mo thought of offhand and felt it was even less comfortable than principal.

Indeed, the term Führer did not have much significance in the other world, but in the world familiar to Tang Mo, if it wasn't connected with the nation, it was downright eerie.

On Dragon Island, Tang Mo once again immersed himself busy activities of technological development. Under his direct leadership, the engineers who had gathered here ahead of time were busy designing various models of gliders.

Aviation was not like terrestrial or maritime technology; although these were cutting-edge, there had still been some reservoir of talent.

For example, even though automobile drivers came into existence only after the creation of cars, there were certainly no shortage of coachmen and drivers before that.

They had some sense of driving a car, with only a lack of proficiency. Under such conditions, with just a little training to adjust their habits, it was possible to get automobile drivers quickly.

Similarly, although steamships hadn't been around for long, there were still plenty of sailors; old sailors who had been traversing the seas for years could, with a little adaptation, continue to work on the new steamships.

But airplanes were different; airplanes were truly something new, and this world had no superman who had flown about in the sky in advance.

Tang Mo knew that although there were dwarves, elves, orcs, and even the ugly demi-human creatures like goblins on this world, they did not actually have any magical powers like magic.

These species had to earnestly learn physics and mathematics, master technology, and rely on their own labor to work.

The kind of magicians from film and television who could fly with the wind and cast fireballs with a wave of their hand did not exist.

And the legendary dragons had been completely extinct for tens of thousands of years due to the rise of mammals. These ancient creatures relied on laying eggs to reproduce, but when they went out to hunt, those eggs became easy prey for small mammals.

Eventually, this led to the solitary monsters becoming fewer and fewer, hunted to extinction by early humans, elves, and other species, becoming history.

Tang Mo had even attempted to find a real dragon, but in the end, he had only acquired some commemorative items like claws and scales... Of course, there were also fossils; the collection room in his Dragon's Den housed a complete dragon skeleton.

Unfortunately, this creature had no connection with the dragons Tang Mo was familiar with — not even the Western dragons. It resembled a Pterosaur, with huge wingspans for flight and a relatively small body, lacking the majesty of those mythic magic dragons.

As for dragon knights, or magicians and such, it was confirmed that these were all just tall tales spun by minstrels; they didn't exist in the real world...

Since it could be confirmed that magic did not exist in this world, Tang Mo could only accept the reality that there were no people who knew how to fly in this world!

He had to train pilots himself, a long process, frustratingly slow no matter how urgently he wished otherwise.

Tang Mo had to use the most primitive method, establishing an aviation school on Dragon Island, starting from the basics, to teach those young people who came to learn the fundamentals of aviation.

Becoming a pilot was much more troublesome than becoming a driver. For most people in this world, the entry criteria for the flight school were too stringent.

It was inevitable; they had to be able to rotate hundreds of times in a tumbling device without vomiting, and walk in a straight line after spinning in place dozens of times.

After all, these assessments were like games and were no easy task, but they were just the basic requirements.

Since airplanes would definitely be top secret for a while, they were Tang Mo's secret weapon. Therefore, it was essential that these pilots were loyal, hence the identity investigation for the selection process was relatively strict.

Merely being loyal and physically qualified was far from enough, because as early pilots, they also had to possess the ability to navigate and deal with mechanical failures on the aircraft.

In other words, they had to be smart enough to learn modern cultural knowledge, become familiar with mechanics, and understand the principles of aircraft...

Among these candidates, Tang Mo needed to select the very best and in the end, find a group of top talents who were especially knowledgeable about the aviation troops, training them to be the first batch of air dispatchers and commanders, like sparks ready to ignite.

Training such a group of professionals was definitely expensive. As operators of the most advanced weapons, their bodies were worth their weight in gold.

These individuals had to consume the best food daily and use the most advanced products to ensure sharp senses, sustain physical exhaustion, and maintain their peak condition.

They needed to be familiar with high-altitude environments, train frequently in the clouds, and learn to parachute before even getting on a real airplane.

Tang Mo could not afford to lose these precious pilots, and having the technology for parachutes, naturally, he wasn't going to waste such valuable human resources.

Therefore, before the airplanes were even really manufactured, Tang Mo had already started producing parachutes to equip his aviation school.

Above the classrooms of the Great Tang Aviation Academy, located in the most mysterious central region of Dragon Island, several expensive hardshell airships hovered every day.

These not-so-useful yet costly airships were specifically designed to train the pilots in parachuting.

Although they couldn't completely emulate the speed of parachuting from an airplane, they could still give the pilots some form of questionable escape skill beforehand.

Raising a pilot was extremely expensive; before these selected talents had even touched a real aircraft, each had already cost Tang Mo hundreds of gold coins.

Do you know what that means? It means that the money spent on each of them, the money spent on every single individual, was enough to save the fledgling Great Tang Group. Read exclusive content at empire

The gross profit of a textile factory for a month wasn't enough to support a single pilot! That was the current state of affairs in the world, and the price Tang Mo had to pay to get a jumpstart on training pilots!

As these pilots boarded hot air balloons and commenced their daily pre-flight aviation experience training, right next door, at the experimental site, planes for static testing were parked inside hangars.

This place seemed more like a lumber mill than an aircraft manufacturing factory – the workshops were filled with wood, as early planes were mostly constructed from timber.

Of course, Tang Mo wished he could start with manufacturing those monoplanes with metal skins, but the reality was his pilots should begin training with earlier models that were easier to handle and safer. Consequently, he had no choice but to start production with old-fashioned aircraft, taking no shortcuts.

All designs of airplanes are interrelated and not subject to arbitrary changes: because the planes were wooden, the engines couldn't be too powerful, otherwise the fuselage structure might be easily damaged, so only low-powered engines could be used.

And since the engines performed averagely and the body made of wood was heavy, the speed of the aircraft was essentially limited.

The planes Tang Mo produced were not of German make, but the renowned advanced British "Camel".

In the late stages of World War I, the United Kingdom continuously introduced fighter aircraft with better performance. Honestly, in that era's aviation technology, including engines, the United Kingdom was truly at the forefront.

This British-produced "Camel" fighter had excellent maneuverability and powerful firepower. In the last year of World War I, it shot down a total of 1,294 enemy aircraft, becoming one of the most outstanding fighters of the time.

The "Camel" aircraft was designed by Sopwith F.1 Biplane, the Sopwith Aviation Company in the UK, with a maximum level flight speed of 195 kilometers per hour and a ceiling of 5,800 meters.

The aircraft's engines had two machine guns mounted side by side on top, and synchronizing gear was adopted for the guns. The machine guns had protruding humps above them, resembling two camel humps, hence the name "Camel".

Fortunately, these water-cooled machine guns were basically replicas of the Maxim, which meant Tang Mo could easily install these mature weapons onto the aircraft.

The design of the aircraft began in 1916 when airplanes in World War I started to make a name for themselves, and intense air combat demanded high maneuverability of fighters. Under this context, the "Camel" took its first test flight on February 22, 1916, and was swiftly put into production, joining combat in July 1917.

The "Camel" was a single-seat fighter, equipped with two machine guns and capable of carrying 45 kilograms of bombs. Ace pilots like Trollope and Ullate at the time, leveraging the renowned aircraft's agility and powerful forward firepower, achieved the feat of shooting down six enemy planes in a single day.

The British Air Force and Naval Air Service both equipped themselves with this type of aircraft, totaling over 3,000 units. In all, 5,490 "Camel" aircraft were produced, and apart from the United Kingdom, Belgium, Canada, Greece, and the United States all used this plane.

It was easy to handle and had very good overall performance, making it quite suitable for Tang Mo to train his pilots.