Munitions Empire

After dealing with the matter related to General Feng Kezhi, Tang Mo sent Roger and Luff away, then he headed to another meeting room where a middle-aged man was waiting for him.

The middle-aged man was very proper, sitting on the sofa without even leaning against the backrest, merely resting there waiting. Upon seeing Tang Mo enter the room, he immediately stood up.

"Sit," Tang Mo said casually with a wave of his hand. Wes, who was almost always with Tang Mo, casually walked up to the liquor cabinet, opened it, and took out a bottle of fine wine.

The two Imperial Guards who had been in the room turned and walked out, closing the door behind them. Suddenly, there were only three people left in the room: one sitting on the sofa very stiffly, one standing next to the wine cabinet pouring wine... Tang Mo sat opposite the middle-aged man.

"I've heard that you are representing the Shireck Consortium?" Tang Mo crossed his legs and asked.

"Yes, Your Majesty, I am fully authorized to represent the directors of Shireck to discuss the possibility of cooperation with Your Majesty," the man immediately replied.

"To cooperate with the Great Tang Group?" Tang Mo asked, puzzled.

"Yes! Your Majesty, Shireck and the Great Tang Group," the representative of Shireck nodded as he responded.

Tang Mo laughed, "Well, you should be speaking to the person in charge of the Great Tang Group about cooperation, right? Don't tell me you can't find Harry..."

"In fact, this time, he might not be able to make the decision," the representative of Shireck squeezed out a smile and said.

"Oh?" Tang Mo's interest was piqued.

The representative of Shireck continued, "The Shireck Consortium was established over two hundred years ago, originally as a quarry. After development, it began to research and develop iron tools for mining stones and unexpectedly invented the flintlock mechanism, turning into an arms consortium."

"Because it was profitable, many people joined later, including royals, nobility, and wealthy clans… In short, many people invested, and gradually a board of directors evolved with a decision-making structure," the man did not state his intention and started babbling about his company's history.

He did not pause; after finishing his company's development history, he continued, "Now, the entire consortium owns more than thirty large shipyards, hundreds of rifle factories, can produce cannons of various calibers, and has a complete production chain."

It was not an exaggeration; Shireck's actual wealth was still countless, and its profound foundation was comparable to that of the Great Tang Group.

The only difference was that the Great Tang Group had a technological advantage that Shireck could not match, and these advantages compensated for their lack of foundation.

But if it came down to reality, possessing numerous mines, iron factories, arms manufacturing plants, and complete sales channels, the volume of the Shireck Consortium was definitely not to be underestimated.

That was also why they had always had the capital to compete with the Great Tang Group: however, over the years, Shireck's repeated failures had severely wasted the capital they possessed.

"Is this a threat or a boast? You don't need to tell me all this, I've investigated the Shireck Consortium, knowing what you have, how much… So you'd better get to the point, my time is limited," Tang Mo interrupted him directly.

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty, I'll keep it short… The poor decisions of Director Sofia pushed you and Shireck to opposing sides, which was irrational and unfortunate," the representative of Shireck quickly apologized, "We shouldn't be enemies, for our fundamental interests aren't conflicting."

"That's a new way to put it," Tang Mo countered. "We are inherently competitors fighting for the same market, how can there be no conflict?"

"In fact, many of our directors don't care about the market; they're only interested in their own profits. If their profits can be secured, or say, if there's a chance for them to make more, they are very willing to show their friendly side," explained the representative of Shireck.

"I think I understand…" Tang Mo nodded. Being a clever man, he quickly grasped the logic.

Previously, in the eyes of Shireck's shareholders, the Great Tang Group was too weak, so they never considered cooperation.

These people thought that with a flick of their fingers, the tiny Great Tang Group would be crushed to dust, with no chance of resistance. Thus, they arrogantly made the decision, using their own power to crush the Great Tang Group.

But the reality proved that they were too naive, the Great Tang Group was not as fragile as they had imagined, and instead, it survived under their oppression.

Moreover, as time passed, the benefits brought by technological progress began to emerge, and the Great Tang Group thrived, even beginning to compete in many areas with the Shireck Consortium.

Under such circumstances, many shareholders of Shireck should have started considering cooperation or compromise, but subsequent developments caused them to miss this opportunity.

Because of the emergence of the Great Tang Group, a catalyst for change, weapons around the world began to be updated, and due to its size, the Great Tang Group couldn't capitalize on this huge opportunity quickly enough.

Thus, Shireck began to benefit simultaneously, a large number of munitions orders allowed Shireck to consume the lion's share of the huge cake, while the Great Tang Group, although making a hefty profit, saw Shireck's market value soaring.

This meant that while the Great Tang Group enlarged the overall cake, Shireck ended up consuming more than half of it! Since they were making money, and even more so, the shareholders of Shireck weren't in such a hurry to consider how to deal with the relationship with the Great Tang Group.

However, with the end of this anti-Tang war, and Tang Country emerging triumphantly, Shireck suffered heavy losses, and everyone had to seriously consider their next move.

Jokingly, continue to oppose the Great Tang Group? On what grounds? How to oppose? The Great Tang Group could easily pull out a jumble of weapons and annihilate Shireck in the arms market without leaving a trace.

Possessing a huge production capacity and employing countless technical workers, but lagging comprehensively in technology and unable to catch up, Shireck's value was diminishing by the day.

Rather than failing comprehensively in competition, becoming decrepit, and reaching a point of being worthless, it was better to think about how to make the most of the remaining Shireck shares while there was still a chance.

"The board of directors of the Shireck Consortium unanimously believes that the former chairman, Sofia, is no longer suitable to serve as chairman... Thus, she has been dismissed. Her shares in Shireck have been frozen by the board, and she... she no longer has any relation to the Shireck Consortium," Shireck's representative, upon hearing Tang Mo say he understood, noticeably relaxed.

Tang Mo understood his meaning and did not immediately end the conversation, indicating that there was still some feasible play here, so his purpose for coming here was, you could say, achieved.

Now, what he said was a statement, proving the sincerity on the part of Shireck: Sofia has severed her ties with Shireck, if Tang Country wants retaliation, they should find Sofia and kill her, Shireck will just pretend to not see.

This was the same tactic used previously by Sofia representing Shireck, betraying the former female director, a maneuver so familiar it sent chills.

Indeed, Tang Mo sent a telegram to Sofia, and he indeed harbored thoughts of letting Sofia end her own life. After all, at his position, he definitely had a temper, and he wouldn't be comfortable until Sofia was dead.

You initiate a war against me, wanting to fight to the death, and after losing you say simply "sorry" and you think it's over? If "sorry" worked, what would we need DF-41s for?

Following this, the representative from Shireck brought up his real purpose for the visit: "The directors of the Shireck Consortium do not wish to see their shares diminish in value, so they hope that you... could make an offer to purchase Sofia's frozen shares... and become the new, largest shareholder of Shireck."

To the shareholders of Shireck, this was a good deal, they didn't want their shares in Shireck to become worthless, so the best solution was to get Shireck back on its feet.

Even now, selling shares of Shireck, they were already a step too late: the anti-Tang war was already lost, who would be interested in buying shares of such a company now?

Those interested couldn't afford it, those who were not interested wouldn't buy, slashing the price wasn't just cutting flesh; it was gouging out the heart—keep in mind, the Shireck shares were something they had acquired at a great cost, and now selling without any buyers meant that the efforts of several decades and generations were being washed away.

This clearly did not align with everyone's interests, thus selling off shares was not a good option, a more suitable option fitting their demands was: finding a buyer!

Find someone rich, capable, able to make Shireck rise again, able to make everyone's shares once again valuable!

It wouldn't hurt to let this person eat the meat while they drink the soup, as long as the soup was more nutritious, richer and tastier than the past meat, drinking soup wouldn't be anything dishonorable.

"Everyone is here to make money... as long as it ensures everyone's interests, Shireck would not wish to be Your Majesty's enemy," said the representative from Shireck.

"So, I would really like to know, what would I gain from such an acquisition?" Tang Mo smiled; he was familiar with doing business, having engaged in it extensively before. Therefore, he quickly grasped the essential point and then posed his question.