Munitions Empire

"Damn it! They're all wastes! Wastes!" the fat man from Shireck Council, who had always been lusting after Sofia's beauty, clutched his wine glass and cursed furiously.

The always-smiling sly old man also had no smile on his face this time, cursing coldly as ice, "Wastes? They all deserve to die! 50,000 troops! To think, to think they were completely annihilated just like that, becoming prisoners at the enemy's feet?"

They had gathered together to discuss the just-confirmed news—that the war they had waged seemed to be spiraling out of their control, hurtling in a direction they did not wish to see.

Dorne had won, achieving a glorious, unprecedented victory under the leadership of two unknown young people.

After this war, the world would see the rise of two great generals, their names shining like stars.

Yet at this very moment, these two names made the wealthy council members of Shireck grind their teeth in hatred!

The fat man was almost roaring as he vented his dissatisfaction and fear, "Who could have thought, with such an advantage, they still lost! Lost!"

Yes, fear—he had grown accustomed to controlling everything, used to the feeling of superiority that came with knowing the outcome of a war before it even began.

But now, everything was slipping from his grasp, filling him with a sense of danger, so he erupted in pathological fury.

His voice was piercing, echoing in the opulent, yet slightly empty room, "Those were 70 warships! 70! A year ago, those warships could have wiped out a kingdom!"

"What's the use of saying this now? Can saying this change anything? Shouldn't we be thinking, thinking about what to do next?" The envious woman, who was continually jealous of Sofia's beauty, contorted her already ugly face, which now resembled a demon.

The fat man suddenly stood up from the sofa in a fury, yelling, "Use all our power, we must eradicate this damned Great Tang Group no matter what!"

Truth be told, he no longer cared about profits, even if it meant losing money, even if it was just to deter potential rivals, he wanted to crush the Great Tang Group, to completely vaporize this enemy!

"But, moving forces like this, the other members of the council will not easily agree, we convinced them before, but now the situation has obviously changed," the old man reminded, though reluctantly and helplessly.

The council was not under their sole control; they had previously convinced the members to agree to their plan, but now they might not have the power to persuade others to continue backing their desperate gamble.

After all, everyone joined the Shireck Consortium to earn money and control more power through munitions.

Violating the tenet of making money and threatening the council members' power, everyone would become cautious, conservative, suspicious...

The woman, actually only plain in appearance but appearing somewhat ugly beside Sofia, also spoke with resignation, "We've paid too high a price in this war! Under these circumstances, to continue the war... has no benefit..."

But the fat man, still unwilling to accept defeat, looked at his two partners and said with extreme reluctance, "The entire revenue of six kingdoms... even if we win this war in the end, we won't be able to cover our losses..." The old man sighed, speaking with difficulty.

The woman, feeling powerless, hmphed and followed up, "Others will be very angry with us, because it was ultimately us who decided to start this war."

"Damn it! Those bastards! 80,000 troops, just like that, they lost! Lost!" Seemingly spurred by the two people's despondency, the fat man suddenly slammed his glass onto the floor, roaring angrily again, "All wastes! Wastes!"

Glass shards scattered, wine soaked the precious carpet, and the guards at the door were startled, but none dared to rush in to see what had happened.

"Now, the Taren Kingdom is beyond saving, even if we wanted to help, the outcome wouldn't change," the old man said as he looked at the glass splinters that had fallen at his feet, glancing at the fat man with displeasure.

The Taren Kingdom was within the fat man's sphere of influence, and the businesses there belonged to his family, so his loss this time could be said to be the greatest.

However, there was no sympathy to be had here, as everyone was a merchant; perhaps in a time of crisis, the first to act against a friend would be one of their own.

The woman seemed to take pleasure in the fat man's misfortune, "They will be blockaded by Great Tang Group's warships and then fall into complete decay! If they surrender, they will turn to the Great Tang Group, and from the result, we've lost there forever."

"Forever, nothing! I will take it back sooner or later!" The fat man, his face full of annoyance and anger, still forcefully spat out his fierce words.

"This Great Tang Group is different from all the opponents we've faced in the past, our previous opponents didn't have advanced technology or the foresight to cultivate their own talents," the old man warned.

The woman put on an indecisive look and asked in a whorish tone, "The question is, what do we do?"

Actually, being able to become a member of Shireck's council, who isn't a cunning fox? It's just that they occasionally let interest cloud their judgment and make some bold tries – they're not actually stupid…

"Clearly, we cannot give up on this war, at least, we must let the war continue! Because once the war ends, our profits will plummet back to their original state," the old man pondered for a moment before voicing his opinion.

He looked at the fat man who had always cooperated with him and the woman, then began to explain, "Without the profit from the war, the financial figures will look very ugly, which will make us lose the trust of the other council members."

"They are already very annoyed. Once there's another problem, they will definitely become furious," the woman countered dismissively.

However, the old man's idea aligned with the fat man's desire to continue the war to avenge his grudges, so the fat man strongly supported the old man's idea.

Thus, he immediately said, "Then let's find a way to keep the war going! At all costs, keep it going!"

"But… if we continue like this, our income will also become increasingly ugly…" the woman reminded.

Even though Shireck's arms sales had increased during the war and the revenue seemed decent, the longer the war dragged on, the fewer forces there were to buy Shireck's weapons – issues were bound to arise sooner or later.

After thinking it through, the sly old man expressed his thoughts, "Shouldn't we… perhaps listen to, listen to that woman Sofia's opinion? At least judging from the outcome, she… her perspective seems correct."

In his view, as long as they could stabilize the situation and make money, bringing Shireck back to its peak, occasionally listening to Sofia's opinion wasn't a bad idea.

However, clearly the ugly woman was reluctant to bring up Sofia – she scoffed coldly, dissatisfied, "She just got lucky, betting on the right side against us, that's all!"

"Listen to her? I'd rather die!" The fat man thought that if he had to seek Sofia's help at such a humiliating time, how could he ever get a chance to strike in the future?

After some thought, to prevent the old man from forming an alliance with Sofia, he divulged news he had long hidden, "Actually, set aside the failures on the battlefield, we've had some gains."

"Hmm?" The woman looked towards the fat man.

"What do you mean?" The old man also turned his gaze, asking.

"The good news is! Our acquisition plan in the east ultimately succeeded, and after a bit of struggling and requesting a good price, that young man handed over some of the new weapon technologies they came up with!" The fat man boasted before proceeding.

"Hmm?" Hearing this, both the woman and old man became more interested.

The fat man then began to explain, "My spearheaded merger had an effect – we acquired the workshop, and as a result gained control over two fully new types of weapons! There's a completely new automatic weapon! More advanced! Brand-new automatic weapons!"

"Oh?" Hearing about the new weapons, both the old man and the woman's eyes lit up even more – they were arms dealers, and new weapons often meant more profit and revenue!

The fat man shook his head confidently, "Hehehehe! With metal-jacketed ammunition, with new rifles, and advanced automatic pistols... we will at least be able to stand up to that damn Great Tang Group in most of the arms business!"

"At least! This is the only piece of good news among a bunch of bad news," the old man sighed in relief, then posed a question that the woman beside him was also interested in: "That young man… what's his name?"

"His name is Fink, a very talented young man! I beat him, made him the person in charge. If he can come up with some more new weapons, I plan on nurturing him," the fat man wasn't foolish, and he directly claimed his dominance over the young man.

Talent, of course, should be held tight in one's own hands.

The old man nodded slightly, "Very good! You've done the right thing! It's time to show that old hag Sofia that we value technology too!"

"Exactly! We'll soon rejuvenate Shireck, and regain Shireck's ruling position! We are unbeatable! Hahahaha!" The fat man laughed proudly and loudly.

"Shireck is invincible! Hahaha!" The old man also joined in the laughter.

"Long live Shireck!" The woman echoed coldly from the side.