Munitions Empire

In the dim underground chamber, Shireck's elderly council member personally held a torch, walking along the somewhat damp corridor until he reached the end.

Here, there was an ancient wooden door, which he pushed open. A middle-aged man was already waiting inside the room.

Seeing someone enter, the middle-aged man got to his feet and bowed respectfully, saying, "My Lord! You have arrived."

The old man waved his hand, signaling the other to dispense with the formalities, then asked somewhat urgently, "How goes the task I assigned to you?"

"My Lord, it's not an easy task," the middle-aged man began hesitantly, reporting: "Assassinating such a figure isn't so simple."

"I know, of course I know it's not easy. If it were, would I have to inquire about it personally?" The old man hung the torch on the wall and found a relatively clean spot to sit down.

The middle-aged man then reported the latest developments of the situation: "According to our investigation, Mr. Tang is no longer in Brunas. He has now gone to Dragon Island."

Normally, Tang Mo lived in the Great Tang Group's compound, which was heavily guarded by troops, making it difficult to act.

Now that he had gone directly to Dragon Island, to that even safer, more secluded stronghold, it was even harder to take action.

The old man, of course, knew Tang Mo had gone to Dragon Island. He had even heard that Tang Mo was transporting a large sum of money to Dragon Island: "This is no secret anymore."

However, what he didn't know was that his information was actually wrong. Tang Mo wasn't transporting Gold Coins, but... Gold!

With some regret, the middle-aged man nodded and continued: "Yes, my lord, but we have absolutely no informants on Dragon Island; it's as if it's a blank slate for us, with no embedded agents there at all."

As an old spymaster, a presence who had always operated in the shadows, he was very confident in his profession.

Unfortunately, when facing his counterparts at the Great Tang Group, he always felt an inexplicable sense of frustration, as if passively taking hits without any ability to fight back.

His men would be mysteriously captured, his operations preemptively thwarted by the enemy, and that mysterious organization called Silver Fox seemed to lurk like a persistent nightmare, impossible to dispel.

"So, how long will you need to infiltrate Dragon Island?" Thinking of Tang Mo, the man who made him lose sleep, the elderly council member couldn't help feeling an impatient urge to see him dead.

That man had brought the Shireck Empire to its knees, even stepping on it a few times! This was an utter disgrace, an enmity so deep it could not coexist under the same sky!

If it were just humiliation, that would be one thing, but this was about the lifeline of wealth, wealth! Everyone was scrabbling for a share of the arms trade—taking one's livelihood was as grievous as killing one's parents!

After careful consideration, the middle-aged man came up with a somewhat realistic timeline: "Several months won't be enough, I estimate it will take a year..."

Startled by this statement, the elderly man suddenly looked at his confidant, half in shock and half in a roar: "Are you joking? I didn't ask you to assassinate Tang Mo, just to find a way onto Dragon Island..."

"We've tried sending people, but they were all discovered," the middle-aged man explained somewhat helplessly: "The losses were heavy, many old operatives fell there, 'vanishing without a trace.'

Seeing his superior remain silent, he continued: "It's difficult to carry out this level of infiltration. We can't trust ordinary people, and our own are easily found out!"

"Are they all gods over there? I can't plant even a single spy?" Hearing his loyal subordinate speak like this, the old man felt somewhat disheartened.

He knew the capabilities of his subordinates. Had it been a normal task, it would have been completed by now.

Clearly, the security arrangements at the Great Tang Group were extraordinarily meticulous, far from resembling those of an emerging power and more like the carefully laid defenses of wily, experienced old coins.

This was thanks to Tang Mo's advanced system of intelligence management and the training of intelligence personnel, which naturally made modern intelligence officers much more professional and powerful compared to old spies.

"Previously, we had one person reach Dragon Island, but the management there was very strict, and it was impossible to find anything out." The middle-aged man spoke of the only case where they had barely succeeded.

"After only a few days there, he came under suspicion. Our man was the most skilled in these matters, sensed danger in advance..." Despite the lack of details, one could still sense the perilous atmosphere in his account.

As he spoke, he took out some reports: "He later smuggled his way back, bringing with him some information, albeit outdated."

"Let's hear it," said the old man, not taking the papers but simply giving his command.

The middle-aged man put away the reports, which were as precious as Gold, and continued: "He said that they've laid railways on Dragon Island. There's a huge oil refinery there, as well as a steel mill, and even shipyards..."

The other party only stayed over there for a few days, so it was absolutely impossible to investigate any in-depth intelligence, thus they could only provide some things they witnessed, that's all.

Therefore, he could only see the brightly lit nights of Dragon City, the port outside filled with ships that blotted out the sky, and chimneys that stacked up like a forest of concrete.

As for those true secrets hidden under the glamour, such superficial intelligence gathering could not discover them, nor could they be seen with a mere glance.

It was like how people only notice their cars getting smoother, more powerful, and with more interior space, without immediately realizing the amount of work scientists had put into these technological advances.

"All I need is to guess randomly, and I could figure out the general idea," the old man said with some heartache. Only he knew how much it cost to maintain these undercover agents, and such an expensive investment was supposed to yield corresponding returns.

But now, the return seemed disproportionate! He had sunk too much money into the shadows, only to receive these useless things in return.

With a little investigation, he could obtain similar information: how much steel had recently been sent to Dragon Island, how many other raw materials had been shipped there.

If he was willing to spend more, he could even get a rough estimate of the total immigrant population on Dragon Island, though not accurate, it gave him a ballpark figure.

The middle-aged man smiled helplessly, "So these are just some outdated messages of no great use."

Realizing that his attitude might dishearten his agents, the elderly man quickly corrected himself, "No! They are still useful... At least we now know that Dragon Island's construction is no worse than Brunas!"

"Since we can't pose a threat to Brunas on land, working on something near Dragon Island seems easier," he pondered briefly, planning to burn his boats when necessary.

Clearly, touching Brunas would bring obstruction from the Leite Kingdom, the Dorne Kingdom, the Suthers Kingdom, and Northern Ridge, which was almost in cahoots with Great Tang.

Even if there was a chance to attack Brunas directly, Northern Ridge would immediately send in troops at any cost to provide reinforcement, which obviously was not an easy success.

Because even if it was known that Great Tang Group's security troops were not numerous, Northern Ridge had plenty of troops, and Shireck would certainly not gain any advantage in a fight.

However, attacking Dragon Island would be different, if he could deceive the Great Tang Group's naval forces near Dragon Island, a surprise landing could clearly yield a local advantage.

Transporting thousands of men in one go for a landing, followed by an all-out raid to destroy some of Great Tang Group's facilities on the island... this was definitely a plan worth trying.

The more the old man thought about it, the more he felt the plan made sense, and a sinister smile appeared on his face.

He was naturally a wolf in sheep's clothing, the most dangerous when he was smiling.
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His confidant asked in a hushed voice, "Are you going to make a move on Dragon Island?"

"Not now! The time is not right yet!" the old man said with a smile, waving his hand, unwilling to admit to his thoughts.

Then, the middle-aged man continued to ask, "So what should we do now? Assassinating Tang Mo seems quite difficult."

"If assassinating him is difficult, then we'll use the same old trick, take out his people first, plunge him into panic, and leave him without his capable helpers..." The old man stroked his beardless chin, changing his plan.

The middle-aged man asked with a scoff, "I am quite familiar with this... who shall we... kill?"

"Kill... Earl Ronin Alice of Northern Ridge!" The old man recalled the names and finally chose what he believed was the best target.

"Her? Why kill her?" The middle-aged man didn't expect it and asked in surprise and confusion.

The old man explained, "She is Tang Mo's woman. Killing her will create panic for Tang Mo! And, Northern Ridge has always had a unique status; her death would bring changes to many aspects."

He believed it was necessary to ensure his subordinates understood his thinking, as it would enhance their mission comprehension and increase the success rate of their operations.

That sort of dismissive order, the 'don't ask so many questions, I have a clever plan' scenario, only confused his subordinates and caused them to miss many valuable opportunities.

"Killing her will deepen the rift between Leite Kingdom and the Great Tang Group. The wealthy Northern Ridge doesn't belong to the Great Tang Group, and Leite would certainly not want to give up on this piece of fat..." the old man's eyes shone coldly.

"So, Northern Ridge could become a fuse, an opportunity to provoke animosity between the Great Tang Group and the Leite Kingdom!" As he spoke, the old man chuckled, clenching his fist: "I don't believe that Leite VII could resist being tempted by Northern Ridge! Hmm-hmm-hmm..."