Munitions Empire-Chapter 928 - 851 has technology, but not much

Chapter 928: 851 has technology, but not much Chapter 928: 851 has technology, but not much As time went by, that once powerful and huge Shireck Consortium no longer existed. Nations around the world had also established their own technology R&D departments, tasked with developing or copying the new technologies that had emerged from Tang Country.

These countries were spending a fortune to support their national technologies, in an attempt to achieve a certain degree of self-sufficiency in technology.

They weren’t wrong in doing so; after all, no one was content with letting one country master all technology. Everyone hoped to have a share in the technological realm and secure benefits for themselves.

Yet for most people of the time, even if they were to directly disassemble equipment produced by Tang Country for study, they could hardly comprehend such bewildering and innovative design concepts.

Within the Ice Cold Empire’s technology research institute, a Dwarf engineer pinched his chin, looking at a disassembled Tang engine in front of him with a stunned expression, “How did they come up with such a design?”

This engine had been taken from a Rolls-Royce car and was, to the Dwarfs, a perfect and flawless piece of craftsmanship.

The Dwarfs had always believed their technology to be the most advanced in the world. Even when previously bottlenecked by the Shireck Consortium’s technology, they never thought there was anything about it worth being astounded over.

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But now, their little self-respect had been thoroughly shattered. They had recognized the superiority of Tang technology and were worshipping it, appearing to them like a miracle.

Another Dwarf engineer shook his head, caressing the smooth, flawless components, and exclaimed with genuine admiration, “I have no idea, but this design is much better than our previous approaches. Their craftsmanship is too strong. Without their equipment, it’s simply impossible to replicate.”

“Even with it, we can’t imitate it. The metal formulas are confidential, and we can only import the core components from Tang Country…” The poor Dwarf engineer sighed before continuing his explanation.

It wasn’t their first time attempting to replicate Tang engines, but before they had fully mastered the previous model, an even more advanced one appeared.

It seemed as if Tang People were competing with themselves, releasing generation after generation of advanced technologies, leaving engineers from around the world far behind.

It’s not embarrassing to admit that even the word “engineer” comes from Tang Country. Before that, they were just slightly more skilled craftsmen.

Now, the term “craftsman” was not very common anymore; one would either change careers to become a factory worker or showcase their talent by becoming a revered engineer.

In every country, engineers were a highly valued profession. If one had their own innovations or a certain understanding of Tang equipment, they were considered invaluable assets.

And those engineers who were truly gifted and brimming with talent had all now gone to Tang Country; there, they found everything they aspired to and were able to fully display their abilities.

Everyone knew full well that only those who were moderately skilled but not top-end remained in their empires, just to get by.

With their abilities, if they actually went to Tang Country, they probably wouldn’t land the positions they desired or enjoy better treatment.

It wasn’t that those who stayed were significantly inferior; it was just that there weren’t many of the truly outstanding talents left behind.

In the end, without a systematic approach or accumulation of experience, they still had to import special steel in large quantities from Tang Country and purchase corresponding designs from Tang Country.

That’s right, they had just purchased the I-16 type fighter jet from Tang Country, which for some reason was called the Yak, but was regardless a very impressive aircraft.

This piece of machinery was much better than the planes that the Ice Cold Empire had developed themselves, granting them a mature and combat-capable aircraft at least.

With performance close to the P-36 fighter sold to Qin Country, Tang Country had also added an enclosed cockpit to the I-16, allowing it to reach an altitude limit of about 10,000 meters and slightly improved the working environment for pilots.

Thanks to the new engines, this Tang-exported I-16 fighter jet was far more advanced in performance than similar I-16s produced by other countries. At least it could reach speeds close to 500 kilometers per hour, a feat unmatched by the fighter jets of other nations.

As for the name Yak, that was of course Tang Mo’s whimsy. He hoped to sell both the Yak-1 and subsequent models to the Ice Cold Empire in the future because he had already transformed the Ice Cold Empire into an Otherworld version of Tsarist Russia.

The soldiers of the Ice Cold Empire wielded Mosin-Nagant Rifles, and during charges, they would inexplicably shout the slogan ‘Ura’.

Even so, Tang Mo had designed a type of submachine gun called the PPSh for the Ice Cold Empire, fitted with a very distinctive 71-round drum magazine.

Dwarves really liked this new type of submachine gun and bought it immediately, outfitting their forces on a large scale. Their southern neighbor, the Poplar Empire, purchased another weapon that Tang Mo was marketing: the MP-40 submachine gun.

Anyway, Tang Mo’s designs were readily available, and each country hoped to have its own unique weapon, so gradually there emerged a trend of paying Tang designers to create weapon designs.

It was an exception for countries like Qin Country to blatantly copy the military equipment of Tang’s troops. Dorne spent money to customize a type of submachine gun from Tang called the Somi. This submachine gun performed very well, and Dorne was very pleased with it.

And the M3 submachine gun equipped by the Laines Empire was even more famous: any film or TV show about the civil war period inevitably featured this uniquely shaped submachine gun.

Since Tang Country had already replaced its forces on a large scale with MP-5 submachine guns and equipped the soldiers with Type 56 assault rifles, Tang Mo started to sell off a large number of submachine gun designs.

Even Goblins spent a good amount of money to custom order their own Type 100 submachine gun, and although no one knew why it was called type 100, it sounded very impressive.

These were just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the Great Tang’s arms trade. Like the former Shireck Consortium, Tang’s technology had infiltrated almost every corner.

Some countries might have manufactured their own tanks, but the engines came from Tang; others might have built their own warships, but the steel came from Tang.

Tang spent a massive amount of Gold Coins to balance trade, and in a blink of an eye, it was back in Tang Mo’s pockets. Emperors of various nations exhausted their wits trying to salvage their fragile trade deficits, only to end up helplessly accepting the reality that they couldn’t change a thing.

What made those coveting the technological prowess of the Tang Empire despair was that just as they were worried about lagging behind in engine technology, material technology, and structural design, they discovered a new field.

A field not entirely new but one they knew nothing about: the field of radio wave detection technology!

Yes, plainly speaking, radar technology. When the Great Tang Empire began to set up a comprehensive radar network near the borders and the Imperial Capital Chang’an, the spies of various countries saw those huge devices that could hardly be concealed.

Radar antennas in Tang had not been fully miniaturized yet. Various materials and steel frames were combined, conspicuously catching one’s eyes around Chang’an City.

The curious ones started investigating the purpose of these devices and then discovered the secret of why Dahua Empire’s planes were always intercepted by Tang fighter jets no matter when they appeared.

It turned out not to be because Tang spies were ubiquitous, but because Tang’s skies were truly impervious…

For a time, everyone tried to do two things: first, to soothe the previously marginalized aviation students who had gone to Tang Country to study flight technology. These talents were once classified by various countries as a group at high risk of leaking secrets due to Dahua’s intelligence leak incident, but now it turned out they were wronged.

So, it became a necessity to right their wrongs: promotions where due, and confirmations where needed—after all, these were talents who had studied in Tang Country, and it would be a waste not to use them, right?

The second thing was to try every means possible to obtain this radar detection technology: after all, this device was a treasure, with it they could truly plant their eyes in the sky.

Everyone knew the worth of this technology, but before Tang fully declassified it, who could have imagined that radio waves could reflect in the sky, right?

Not to mention how to collect and parse the collected signals…technologists from various countries had no clue whatsoever about a whole range of these issues. In fact, many researchers of radio technology to this day don’t really understand what radio waves are.

Ultimately, the countries had no choice but to turn again to Tang to buy the technology, hoping to acquire this advanced equipment from them to protect their already vulnerable airspace.

Unfortunately, the negotiations didn’t go smoothly: Tang wasn’t hoarding their technology, which wasn’t strictly non-saleable.

But that price… for the empires that were nearly bankrupt, it was indeed a little hard to swallow. Their barely maintained economies would definitely collapse if they spent such a large amount of money again.

Although reluctantly, the countries short on funds and unable to buy this new technology soon gave up; after all, this wasn’t their first time being unable to afford technology from Tang.

You see, right after the war ended, various navies planned to import a new type of military equipment from Tang: submarines.

Tang offered a price: the cost of one submarine was about that of building two new battleships—who in the world could afford that?

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So, to this day, no navy has bought Tang’s submarine technology. They’re still experimenting with their own submarines: indeed, they do have their own submarine technology, but… there isn’t much.