"Boss, the carriage of Lord Earl's daughter, Ronin Alice, has just arrived at the main gate," a guard hurried over, lowered his voice, and whispered into Tang Mo's ear.
Tang Mo was startled, then looked at the other party, "What is she doing here? Are you sure it's her?"
"Yes! As soon as she arrived, she sent someone to find Tagg, so it definitely must be her," the guard replied immediately.
Hearing this, Tang Mo nodded. Since she asked for Tagg right away, it certainly ruled out the possibility of an imposter.
Therefore, he made an apologetic gesture of indiscretion towards the excited John and then looked at the guard who came to deliver the message, "Just in time. Let Tagg accompany her around; there are no secrets here anyway! Have Bernard guard my laboratory closely. No one is allowed to approach it!"
"Yes, sir!" The guard saluted in the same manner as the students and turned on his heel to run off into the distance.
"Miss!" Having received the notice, Tagg rushed out immediately, hurrying toward the entrance, and upon seeing Alice, he called out to her loudly.
"Tagg! How are you? Are you doing well here?" Alice pulled her hand from her glove and casually handed the glove to her butler, then smiled and asked.
"Of course, miss! Everything is great here!" Tagg stood at attention, chest puffed out, proudly showcasing his strong physique, "What brings you to Brunas?"
Alice tilted her head, glancing at Tagg, "What? Can't I come here?"
"No! I mean, miss...er, of course, you can come here!" Tagg said in a fluster. He didn't know what he was so nervous about, just that he was indeed very nervous.
"When did he start getting involved with the Elves of the Poplar Kingdom?" Alice, about to walk inside, suddenly noticed a group of sailors standing within the gateway.
These sailors' uniforms were clearly not the bright yellow of the Leite Kingdom's navy, so Alice recognized immediately where they were from—they all came from the Poplar Kingdom.
"They arrived today. Tang Mo sold his K1 Quick Guns to the Elves..." Tagg blushed slightly as he replied, as if it were his fault that he couldn't prevent Tang Mo from making the deal.
"Why not?" Alice pondered for a few seconds and then looked at Tagg with a smile, "You should know, those Elves have plenty of money."
As someone who had always been involved in economic matters, she was aware that neither Northern Ridge nor Tang Mo needed K1 Quick Guns or any other weapons; what they lacked was Gold Coins!
Guns can't solve all problems. Only with food, economy, money, and guns can one form a perfect closed loop.
The transactions between Tang Mo and Northern Ridge could not form such a perfect loop because slow development couldn't support Tang Mo and Northern Ridge against the enemies they would soon face.
Therefore, if Tang Mo could secure additional funds or more resources from the Elves, this would certainly be beneficial for both Tang Mo and Northern Ridge.
Thus, Alice, considering Tang Mo's actions from an economic perspective, naturally understood him.
Tagg nodded gloomily, "I know. We in Northern Ridge have always wanted to establish relations with these Elves, but they are not short of resources. Every time they come here, it's to sell ore and lumber."
As Alice walked toward the gate, she said to Tagg behind her, "However, Tang Mo has what they like. They need weapons, they need machines... These are things they previously couldn't buy with Gold Coins."
"Yes, Tang Mo has what they want," Tagg followed Alice helplessly, not feeling there was anything inappropriate about Alice making her own way into the factory.
The butler following Alice chimed in, taking over the conversation, "So this time Tang Mo is probably going to extract a lot of money from those Elves."
With a quick calculation, Alice guessed how much money Tang Mo could possibly make, "The Elves' income is roughly between 20,000 and 40,000 Gold Coins, and Tang Mo should be able to get them to fork over at least half of that."
Unfortunately, she guessed wrong because she didn't predict what Tang Mo had actually sold. However, the accuracy of her estimate, in comparison to Tang Mo's revenue from gun sales, was quite precise.
Hearing this figure, Tagg was slightly startled, his steps even faltering, "That much?"
The butler, grinning while following Alice, looked at Tagg and said, "A lot? If he offers the K1 Quick Guns, the Elves would probably be willing to pay 10,000 Gold Coins! No less!"
Tagg, at a loss for words, could only force a dry laugh to show his awkwardness, "Heh-heh!"
Alice walked forward, speaking her analysis, "If he even brought out that revolver, it could probably make these elves fork over 20,000 to 30,000 Gold Coins..."
"Then he can be said to be very rich now," the butler reminded Alice unconsciously.
The economic situation in Northern Ridge wasn't very good at the moment due to the overstock of grain and the Shireck Consortium's covert operations, making the Northern Ridge economy quite difficult all along.
And with the additional expense of purchasing Tang Mo's weapons, Lord Earl's income had decreased—most of the output was bartered directly to Tang Mo, which was why Alice came personally to Brunas to see if it was possible to take away more than five sets of steam engine equipment on credit from Tang Mo.
Thinking of these things, Alice nodded absent-mindedly, "Yes, very... very rich. The Elf Race's profits from one maritime trade were almost half in his pocket."
At this moment, she truly considered the idea of getting a loan from Tang Mo, along with some mechanical equipment, to alleviate Northern Ridge's economic pressure in winter.
Thus, she muttered to herself, "If things don't go well, I might need to borrow some Gold Coins from him to survive the winter."
Suddenly, she came back to her senses and turned to Tagg, "Where is he? Take me to him!"
Alice didn't mention who 'he' was, but Tagg knew whom she was referring to. So Tagg immediately took Alice toward the number three workshop, where revolvers were made.
Tang Mo and John had just finished visiting the workshop where Tang Mo produced bullets, and now they were inspecting the factory that manufactured revolvers.
The environment here was noticeably better than that of the two older workshops, surrounded by glass windows, it appeared much brighter.
Similarly, the machines here were also newer, and the facilities were more comprehensive, John could tell the difference between this and the previous two older workshops at a glance.
Clearly, the standards were higher here, and the layout was more rational. The workers here also had higher proficiency, assembling each revolver at a pace that made John's head spin.
As he fantasized about building a factory in his own country, watching his workers produce revolvers so quickly, he saw a beautiful girl stride in with vigor.
Her long legs were truly impressive, and her graceful gait as she walked made John involuntarily swallow his saliva.
Tang Mo followed John's gaze and saw the stunning Alice. To be honest, he had seen countless people before his transmigration, but had rarely seen such a beautiful girl.
Just with her figure and her looks, the pre-transmigration Tang Mo wouldn't mind promoting her to a movie star. In fact, the instant he saw Alice, Tang Mo thought of the delightful life of keeping a beauty in a golden house in the years to come.
She's really only 16 years old? Tang Mo silently criticized, then heard John next to him start with ingratiating flattery, "Ah! Such a beautiful lady, you must be the brightest pearl in this Kingdom."
"Thank you!" Alice, who had approached them, curtsied properly with an air of high class and grace, "I'm delighted to meet you. My name is Alice, Ronin Alice. I am the eldest daughter of Earl Ronin Fisallo."
"I am equally delighted to meet you! My name is Augustine John, my father is Duke Augustine William of Poplar Kingdom."
"I didn't expect the honor of Miss Alice's visit; not being able to greet you is truly a lapse of manners," Tang Mo said with a smile, extending his hand to lift the back of Alice's hand and made a symbolic gesture of kissing it.
Alice smiled and nodded to Tang Mo, speaking politely, "I hope you won't mind my uninvited disturbance, Mr. Tang."
Although she said so, she turned to John, "Mr. John, coming here, I suppose you are looking to do business? I wonder if you both wouldn't mind letting me listen in?"
"In fact, we've just finished talking, Miss Alice," John shrugged, "I should have invited you to dinner, but now I'm penniless, I even gave him my favorite ring. So... the meal will probably have to be on Mr. Tang Mo's tab."
"It would be my pleasure," Tang Mo didn't mind treating his two major clients to a nice meal, "What would the two of you like to eat?"
"I don't mind whatever we eat; I'm very curious, how much money did he spend here that he even gave you his personal ring," Alice looked at Tang Mo curiously, probing with her question.
John seemed to intentionally set a trap for Tang Mo, promptly seizing the chance to answer, "I spent tens of thousands of Gold Coins here... Not just my ring, I even pledged my fleet to him!"
"What, what?" Alice, despite being well-composed, hadn't expected this outcome, and she widened her beautiful eyes, fluttering her eyelashes as she looked at Tang Mo, "What fleet?"
"Cough..." Tang Mo coughed artificially, putting on a mock humble demeanor that was asking for a slap, "Just a small business, nothing but a small business."