Munitions Empire

Guo Cheng was a businessman, a businessman from Zheng Country.

He used to deal in cloth, owning his own workshop and also acquiring finished products from other workshops to sell, gaining a modest reputation in many places.

With the unfolding of Zheng Country’s Westernization Movement, he too set his heart on it and, through connections, purchased a batch of equipment from Dongwan Island; riding the wave of the Westernization Movement, he began Guo’s Textile Factory.

At the factory’s most glorious time, it had over 1,300 workers, making it the largest textile factory in the entire territory of Zheng Country.

However, with the outbreak of war, his factory was forcibly requisitioned by Zheng Tong, and even sustained damage; it never returned to its pre-war production capacity by the time the war ended.

Having had much of his property snatched away, Guo Cheng fell into decline; he spent his days in a drunken stupor, no longer possessing the proud vitality of his earlier years.

Although the Zheng Country that had caused his ruin was no more, and although Zheng Tong’s entire family met with no good end, Guo Cheng remained dispirited, showing no signs of wanting to pick himself back up.

Today, however, he was summoned by the new rulers. A Tang Army soldier came to his residence brandishing a gun and delivered an invitation, frightening him to the point where he dared not drink any more alcohol. The next morning, he chose a set of decent, unremarkable clothes and went to the Lord’s Mansion with trepidation.

He was afraid that if he dressed too well, he might again attract the attention of the officials; and yet, if he dressed too shabbily, he might offend the important officials. Thus, he was extremely cautious, opting to wear something inconspicuous and exercising extreme prudence.

When he arrived at the Lord’s Mansion, he discovered that everything before him seemed unfamiliar. He saw many automobiles parked in front of the mansion’s entry, with people coming and going, both military and civilian, of all sorts.

Next to the building, there was a deep trench being dug, and beside it, stone pipes were piled up. It didn’t look like they were constructing a secret passage because these pipes didn’t seem suitable for people to pass through.

He didn’t have much time to think— the guiding soldier urged him to move forward while explaining something about main sewer lines and telephone wires...

Guo Cheng had heard of electric lines; he even had them in use at his factory. He had also heard of sewers but had never seen one... However, what these telephone lines were, Guo Cheng truly had no idea.

Walking through the familiar yet unfamiliar corridor and passing by the similarly unfamiliar yet familiar hall, Guo Cheng arrived at the office where the City Lord previously worked.

This setup was also something learned from the Westernization Movement. The place where the City Lord used to work was simpler, less intricate than the current yamen (government office).

The familiarity came from Guo Cheng’s previous visits to this place. He often dealt with the City Lord and therefore frequently entered here.

As for the unfamiliarity, it was because all the previously opulent paintings and furnishings were gone. In their place were various ladders and construction teams screwing electrical light fixtures into the walls.

Upon entering the room, Guo Cheng saw an artistically unique-looking young man sitting at the head, dealing with a pile of documents. Read exclusive adventures at

When Guo Cheng entered, the young man with uneven eyebrows and asymmetrical eyes introduced himself, "I am Pang Tong, the city’s governor... Well, you may call me the Mayor or Governor Pang."

Then, without waiting for Guo Cheng to speak, he immediately followed up, "We’ve called you here to inform you that your textile factory needs to start up as quickly as possible, and its scale must increase..."

"Ah?" Guo Cheng was taken aback, not yet having come to his senses, and uttered a voice of disbelief.

Pang Tong set down his pen and frowned, asking, "Is there a problem?"

From a certain angle, this gesture made him look even more... unattractive.

"My, my factory, wasn’t it taken by, by..." Guo Cheng was somewhat dumbfounded because he had never imagined that his factory, which had been requisitioned, could one day be returned to him.

Pang Tong explained, "That was an order from Zheng Tong, which we have already nullified. All the factories that he illegally requisitioned, we are contacting their previous owners to return them."

"Return it to me?" Guo Cheng was startled by this statement. In his life, he had seen everything, except for the government returning what it owed.

Pang Tong spoke matter-of-factly, "Yes, you funded the factory’s construction, so why wouldn’t we return it to you?"

The Great Tang Group could obviously have taken over all the factories and monopolized a country’s industry. However, such an approach wouldn’t mobilize everyone’s productive enthusiasm and would be too draining on their resources. Therefore, Tang Mo never intended to monopolize.

He aimed to enlarge the entire pie, then share it with everyone! Only by doing so could each person gain more benefits.

This rhetorical question from Pang Tong left Guo Cheng at a loss regarding how to continue the conversation; he stood there, unsure of what to say: "Uh..."

As a businessman from Zheng Country, he had never expected the property Zheng Country had taken from him to be returned so easily by Tang Country.

"What is it?" Pang Tong looked at Guo Cheng.

"Thank you, thank you," said Guo Cheng, his gratitude coming from the heart this time.

Pang Tong nodded, accepting Guo Cheng’s thanks, "If you really want to thank me, then get to work quickly! I’ve seen your factory, and it can accommodate at least 1000 female textile workers..."

"Female, female workers?" Guo Cheng was startled by the statement.

Pang Tong started to explain: "Yes! Don’t panic, let me explain. It’s safer to employ women in the textile industry. This is Brunas’s experience; women are meticulous and more committed to safety regulations, giving them an advantage at textile jobs."

"But, but..." Guo Cheng still felt it was inappropriate.

However, Pang Tong was quite unperturbed: "Rest assured, I didn’t ask you here to cause you trouble! Trust me, I will send 20 experienced female textile workers to train in your factory. They are skilled workers from Brunas whom you couldn’t hire even if you wanted to. I guarantee that all the female workers will meet your requirements!"

"That..." Once he heard this, Guo Cheng was speechless—he had heard about the textile factories in Brunas and their highly skilled workers. If he didn’t know this much, what would he be doing in the textile business?

Seeing that Guo Cheng was pacified, Pang Tong added, "By the end of this month, I want you to resume production. Within a month, I need you to restore capacity and then... increase it by double!"

"Ah?" Guo Cheng was stunned when he heard this; he didn’t understand why the other party was so eager to resume production.

Pang Tong didn’t elaborate and just laid out the purchase quantities in front of Guo Cheng: "You are responsible for production and quality control. As long as it’s up to standard, I’ll buy it at market price! However much you produce, I’ll buy that much!"

When Guo Cheng heard that the purchase was guaranteed, he suddenly perked up: "Really, really?"

This was incredibly great news! Before, he would produce and sell on his own; whether the capacity was large depended on how well he sold the products.

Now that someone was going to buy up all his fabric, he only needed to focus on production. How could this not excite him? Money! It meant a continuous stream of income! As long as he worked overtime, he could earn money he never even dared to dream of before!

Pang Tong smiled, "Do you think I came here just to deceive you once? Do you know how precious my time is? However, all this comes with a precondition."

"As expected! Things couldn’t be that simple." Startled, Guo Cheng seemed to reconcile with the notion—after all, nothing good comes without a catch.

Pang Tong held up four fingers, setting a deadline: "You might make money, but you can’t take it away! All your profits must be reinvested into production, to expand the factory, increase capacity, buy machinery, train workers... In short, within four months, you need to grow your factory to ten times its original size!"

Guo Cheng felt overwhelmed when he heard this: "What? Ten times? How is that possible? Sir, just the equipment..."

"You don’t have to worry about the equipment! I can apply for it! Spinning frames, cotton carding machines, combing machines, drawing frames, roving frames, spinning machines... whatever you need, I will provide!" Pang Tong was confident in this regard.

He was backed by none other than the entire Great Tang Group! What equipment wasn’t available to them? What technology or how much funding was beyond their reach?

Guo Cheng was torn between laughter and tears: "Then, then is this factory... still mine?"

Pang Tong assured him positively, "Yes! In the end, you will hold fifty-one percent of the shares in the factory, with the state holding forty-nine percent. Your shares come only with the right to dividends, and selling requires negotiation with the relevant department."

"Half for, for me?" Guo Cheng hadn’t expected the other party to offer him such a huge advantage.

Pang Tong nodded, "That’s right, expand it ten times and half is yours! However you look at it, you’ve earned."

"Is this for real?" Guo Cheng still couldn’t believe it.

Pang Tong continued nodding, "Absolutely true! I give you three hours to organize your needs and ideas for me! Don’t go back, go to the conference room next door. Find a spot; paper and pens are ready, just ask the people inside for whatever you need. Go."

"Yes, Sir," Guo Cheng stood up and was halfway out when he turned back, straightening his clothes and bowing deeply to Pang Tong: "Thank you, Sir."

But when Guo Cheng entered the adjacent conference room, he was astonished to find quite a few people inside. They were scattered in every corner, some furiously writing, others biting their pens in thought.

Guo Cheng recognized these men; some owned iron foundries, some were mine owners—in short, all of them were prominent businessmen.

In the last month of Zheng Country’s rule, they had their factories and mines forcefully conscripted and now they were all sitting here. Guo Cheng was no fool; he realized that these people, just like him, had all gone through the same experience.

He just glanced around, eagerly took the paper and pen offered by a server, and hurried to find an empty spot to sit down and start writing his plan.

As he wrote, a thought crossed his mind: Great Tang didn’t seem as bad as those landlords and gentry said...

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