Munitions Empire

Chapter 529: Highway, Railway and Dam_2

Every day, steel monsters that belched dense smoke and made enormous noises stopped at this platform, and then countless goods were unloaded from the carriages trailing behind the beast.

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Either it was live cattle and sheep, or a large amount of ironware, or snow-white smooth porcelain, or grains…

The Great Tang Kingdom seemed to possess an endless supply of resources. These steel monsters called trains continuously brought from afar what used to be exorbitantly priced oil, refined flour, and spices, then drove down their prices to unbelievably low levels—items once only affordable by the nobility.

Nowadays, if there’s a man in the family who operates an excavator, having vegetable oil at home, or even sneakily hiding a couple of sausage links in the cupboard, is no longer something to boast about.

If someone had a family member who could ride a motorcycle or deliver mail on a tall horse, they might be envied for a couple of months, but now, being able to drive a truck—that’s truly impressive.

Indeed, nowadays, those who can drive trucks are still considered valuable "professional drivers," and in the Great Tang Kingdom, a driver is still a profession, not just a skill.

The neverending stream of people walked on smooth roads; women, basket in hand, leading children, their eyes filled with an unprecedented sense of peace and satisfaction.

Nothing was happier than eating one’s fill, and if anything were, it would be being able to eat to one’s fill every single day.

In the plains, some strange tall towers began to appear, with thick cables connecting these towers that ran all the way to the mountaintops, and soon, villages near those towers had electric lights.

No one could quite describe the feeling, as countless generations accustomed to sleeping when it got dark suddenly found it no longer seemed so reasonable.

More efficient transformers made electric power transmission possible, and the power plants built at the edge of mines kept puffing out black smoke day and night, declaring the prosperity of the Great Tang Kingdom to the world.

At that time, no little girl was concerned about the environment; having a smoking factory at one’s doorstep was everyone’s simple dream.

Because those who had tasted the sweetness knew that having smoking chimneys meant that the surrounding areas would soon become affluent.

Even just by pushing a cart in front of these factories and selling wild fruits or snacks, one could earn more Gold Coins than they could have ever dared to dream of before.

Of course, if someone was clever, they could find a master in one of the factories, learn for a while, and then they’d be guaranteed a job inside. The work was more secure.

Due to the labor shortage, factories paid qualified workers high wages, and if a family had two members working in the factory, they could even afford the luxury of having a meat dish three times in a week!

No joke at all, perhaps this reflected the blissful life that local people had longed for generations.

To those who had lived in poverty for almost half a lifetime, all of this seemed to be the utopia they had dreamt of.

According to the policies of the Great Tang Kingdom, subsidies were given to newborns, and in the future, there would be free education and the provision of the most basic medical care.

In the past, this was unimaginable. In Zheng Country... or almost every country for that matter, a head tax was levied. It was good enough if one did not hide their household registration when having children, let alone expect the common people to report proactively.

But the Great Tang Kingdom abolished the head tax, even providing subsidies to farmers, which removed the worries for nearly everyone.

Soon, everyone’s enthusiasm for having children began to rise: with plenty of food, the state paying for child-rearing, and even offering free education, wouldn’t one be letting the audience down if they didn’t play a few rounds of cards with their spouse at night?

In just a year and a half, the population of the Great Tang Kingdom increased fivefold! Apart from the surge in "child-producing" efficiency due to abundant living conditions, a significant part of the increase was due to immigration.

The Great Tang Kingdom still provides refuge to immigrants on three borders, to the Qi Country in the north, the Chu Country in the south, and the Dahua Empire to the west.

This business has almost become public now; as long as they are willing to come, the Great Tang Group will take them in! However, the price has dropped from 2-3 Gold Coins to just 1 Gold Coin.

The market determines the price, and now that the Great Tang Kingdom no longer faces population pressure, there isn’t such an urgent need to fill its territories with more people.

But the generals and compradors who have grown rich from the human trafficking business at the borders are not willing to give up such a profitable trade. Lately, they have earned so much from it that they seem to be reaching the pinnacle of their lives.

To hasten these people’s descent into decay and depravity, Tang Mo is happy to spend a little money to satisfy their greed.

Whether they come from the Chu Country, the Qi Country, or even the more powerful Dahua Empire, immigrants in the Great Tang Kingdom now prefer to call themselves Tang People. It’s a symbol of their identity and a sign of their acceptance.

If you were to ask someone on the street, because of a slight accent, whether they are from Chu or Qi, it would be considered very impolite nowadays.

If the person has a bit of a temper, such an inquiry could lead to a fight right there on the street. Even the people from the once-slightly-superior Dahua, now on Tang land, behave humbly and respectfully.

Everyone has embraced their identity as Tang People, and even many foreign merchants are willing to join Tang Country and become one of the Tang People.

They soon discover that Tang Country offers significant preferential treatment to its own merchants, like tax relief and help in protecting their interests and safety abroad.

To give a simple example, in the past, people from Qi or Zheng Country could hardly do business in Sheng Country. But nowadays, humans in Sheng Country are very safe, as the goblins dare not provoke them.

Just like the old Brunas, Tang Country is virtually a new, much larger Gold Mountain! Those who come here to do business find that no matter what they do, they can reap tremendous profits.

All they need to do is take the various products from the Great Tang Kingdom back to their own country. A simple resale would earn them much more money than before.

Everything here seems very cheap, so cheap that it’s almost hard to believe: porcelain products, once affordable only to the Nobility, are now as inexpensive as if they were being given away.

A common civilian needs to spend only a few copper coins to buy a beautiful rice bowl with lifelike flowers on it, a true work of art.

In the past, such a porcelain bowl would be a decoration on a noble’s dining table and would cost at least 30 silver coins. But now they are piled up in warehouses, and one can even see shattered "transportation losses" all over the floor.

A massive amount of industrial goods has replaced many former products; the clunky wooden boxes of the past are now slowly being phased out, replaced by more convenient cardboard boxes.

More convenient writing paper has replaced the variety of papers from the past, and with the promotion by the Great Tang Group, it has gradually been accepted by all.

In more and more big cities, everyone is beginning to accept the luxury of using paper for toilet needs, and the flush toilet is becoming a common and hygienic restroom experience for all.

With the rise of factories, more convenient clothing styles have replaced former attire, and increasingly wealthy people have begun to pursue their own simple definition of beauty.

Just last year, one could only see men and women dressed in identical work clothes on the streets, but now many have started to spend money in ready-to-wear shops to dress in better-looking everyday clothes.

Styles from Brunas, sleek and convenient, have become very popular and beloved by women. These vibrant garments adorn the gray streets, and suddenly, like the morning after a spring rain, they bloom all over the world.

A world that is becoming more beautiful, happier, wealthier, and more... advanced!

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