Munitions Empire-Chapter 1198: The 1118 aircraft carrier is very expensive.

Everyone’s idea is actually quite simple: to address the pain points of the Tang Empire landing fleet attacks, there are merely two solutions. The first is to strengthen coastal defenses. The second is to build a capable navy.

The Tang Country’s weapon exports perfectly hit these nations’ pain points. How could they not be excited? It’s like someone delivering a pillow when you’re sleepy—there’s an undeniable "sending charcoal in snow" feeling to it.

In the eyes of these countries’ envoys, the Tang Country is clearly eager to dispel hostility and concerns among nations to maintain a peaceful trade environment.

If the entire world were to fear and be on guard against the Tang Empire, harming relations between nations, it would obviously be detrimental to the Tang Empire.

As for strengthening coastal defenses, everyone has already been working on that: within fifteen days of the Tang Empire’s new weapons appearing, countries across the Eastern Continent made adjustments to their deployments.

The first is the Ice Cold Empire. The Dwarves constructed a new battery in Eternal Winter Port, and Binghan the First signed orders to build 4,000 bunkers and hundreds of kilometers of trenches in suitable landing zones.

Meanwhile, the Ice Cold Empire escalated production of Anti-Aircraft Guns to an unprecedented level. The Dwarves even proposed the concept of dual-purpose guns, demanding that all Anti-Aircraft Guns possess a certain level of horizontal firing capability.

In other words… unable to secure their own air superiority, the Ice Cold Empire began to pivot heavily toward the development of Anti-Aircraft Guns and Anti-Tank Guns.

The Laines Empire is also going all out to strengthen the coastal defenses around Brunas. After building batteries, they’ve constructed defensive lines stretching for dozens of kilometers nearby.

Additionally, the Dorne Empire and Gobur Empire have also signed orders to construct coastal defensive fortifications. Over the past month, everyone has been desperately digging trenches and building bunkers, seemingly trying to turn their coastlines into fortresses.

But all of this is passive defense, with massive investments and very limited effectiveness. The truly effective way to stop the Tang Army from coastal landings remains a massive, powerful naval fleet!

As for how to build a powerful navy… isn’t it all down to the Tang Empire’s technology? Look, they’ve agreed to sell a series of advanced weapons, making everyone feel at ease, haven’t they?

In the eyes of these laymen, a powerful navy is nothing more than new technology and giant warships. As long as Tang Country is willing to sell, they’ll pay for it.

The biggest threats to each nation are undoubtedly the new weapons capable of granting Tang Empire’s navy sea-based air superiority—the Aircraft Carrier—and the "underwater assassin" submarine that appeared a few years ago.

As for anti-ship missiles… Tang Country has promised to lift their sales ban within two years. This is yet another piece of good news for countries around the world.

The submarine is actually what everyone is more eager to obtain. With this piece of equipment, they could attack shipping lanes and enemy’s main warships—it can truly be called the ultimate weapon for leveraging small resources against large gains.

Of course, the Tang Empire wouldn’t price submarines as cheaply as those outdated fighter planes. A single submarine costs roughly 70 million Gold Coins. Although this doesn’t sound too expensive, the same logic applies: the supporting equipment and training costs are also sky-high!

Altogether, the average cost of a submarine comes to over 100 million Gold Coins. But no one is foolish—they’re all planning to buy one for research and follow that by learning how to manufacture them themselves.

After all, after years of investment in submarine research, these nations have achieved certain results: the only thing limiting each country’s submarine technology is the lack of key technical concepts.

As long as they buy one submarine to study carefully, even if they can’t make particularly good submarines, mass-producing passable ones shouldn’t be too difficult.

Aircraft Carriers appear even simpler in the eyes of these nations’ navies: the concept is just an issue of thinking. In earlier years, no one imagined placing airplanes on warships for take-off and landing.

Now that the Tang Empire has developed them, other countries believe that as long as they build a large ship with a flat, broad deck, they can produce Aircraft Carriers.

What about the technical details of Aircraft Carriers that they can’t figure out? Simple! Just buy a Tang Empire Aircraft Carrier and copy it, right?

That’s right, copy it! Buy one of Tang Country’s Aircraft Carriers, study it thoroughly, then modify and replicate it to build similar carriers in greater numbers—isn’t that enough?

After all, though their own creation might not be as good, the price would be far lower. Moreover, they can modify it to suit their own needs. Why not?

Ultimately, whether an Aircraft Carrier is effective largely depends on the quality of its carrier-based aircraft. As long as they purchase planes that Tang Empire says are on par with the ones they use themselves, wouldn’t that do the trick?

Thus, everyone began asking about Aircraft Carrier prices, their performance indicators, and other related matters.

"One Aircraft Carrier costs 190 million Gold Coins… this price is outrageous." One envoy turned pale upon hearing this figure. He had brought 200 million Gold Coins for this trip, and… it wasn’t even enough to buy the ship’s hull.

Of course, this statement was exaggerated, but the reality wasn’t far off. You wouldn’t just buy an Aircraft Carrier alone, would you? Don’t you have to outfit it with carrier-based fighter jets?

But when it comes to carrier-based fighter jets, things get complicated: the Tang Empire offers many types of planes for nations to choose from, and their performance obviously varies.

If you’re looking for high-quality planes, they are available. This includes the Tang Empire’s own "pirates" and various American-style carrier-based jets.

If you want something average, there are Zero Fighters to choose from. However, due to the abysmal performance of the Mirage Country Air Force, no one is particularly keen on this option.

The remaining options are all quite unique: would you like the 97 Naval Attack Aircraft? The 99 Dive Bomber? The Sea Spitfire? The Sea Hurricane?

If you’re short on cash but still want decent torpedo planes… how about the Swordfish Attack Aircraft? Though not great, it’s better than nothing.

Other nations’ envoys started considering designing their own Aircraft Carriers once they heard the price. The cost was simply too high; they felt it might be worth trying it themselves.

The Ice Cold Empire’s envoy also felt nearly two billion Gold Coins was excessively steep, forcing him to seriously ponder whether to buy two Aircraft Carriers.

Keep in mind that funds of four billion, or even six billion, could likely win a full-scale war against the Poplar Empire on the battlefield.

The Poplar Empire envoy also felt he had been too rash. Seriously? What kind of warship sells for close to two billion Gold Coins? Their previous battleship constructions could cost less than 15 million Gold Coins.

Indeed, the Tang Empire clearly intends to rake in profits on the prices of Aircraft Carriers and submarines. Only those who’ve inspected them closely understand the technical breakthroughs of these two weapons—which are downright terrifying.

"No problem! Our prices are fixed; you can consider thoroughly before deciding. Since we’re selling self-used Aircraft Carriers, we can’t provide stock immediately. Even if you place your orders now, delivery won’t happen until next year." Harry replied with a smile to everyone present.

Upon observing Tang Country once again play a "scarcity marketing" game—just like with the Ironclad Warships back then, where they only sold second-hand units for next year’s delivery—everyone switched to focusing on submarine procurement instead.

This piece of equipment, paired with torpedoes, is challenging for everyone to figure out. Thus, purchasing one for reference and personal study remains absolutely essential.

Everyone began looking into the 70-million-Gold-Coin submarines; despite the exorbitant price, the enthusiasm was undiminished.

"We plan to purchase three!" The Poplar Empire’s envoy gritted his teeth and held up three fingers. They were locked in conflict with the Ice Cold Empire, and if they could quickly form a submarine combat capability to blockade Ice Cold Empire ports, perhaps they could force them to negotiate peace.

The Dorne Empire also hoped to procure two submarines, as did the Laines Empire, which sought two submarines to "build their underwater forces."

As soon as Harry saw these figures, he knew they were all planning to buy a couple of units for study and replication.

But Harry didn’t expose them: if submarine technology were so easy to grasp, some particular frogs would’ve long built their own submarine fleets, rather than waiting for decades.

The reality is that, outside of shipyards assisted by the Tang Empire, the notion of producing submarines is pure fantasy. Forget about constructing submarines—these nations might not even be able to gather suitable steel materials and welders.

The more modern the high-tech weapons, the more they test a nation’s comprehensive industrial capacity. If one link fails, there’s no chance of producing a comparable product!

And it’s not just one faulty link for these nations—it’s every single link that’s broken! Suggesting that they produce submarines is outright cruel; even operating submarines might be asking too much of them. Take a look at the submarine accident rates of a certain neighboring nation, and you’ll understand.

Thus, Harry simply let them continue playing their petty tricks. Ultimately, everything would come back to him anyway, and the Tang Empire would earn every penny it was meant to.

"No problem! However, three submarines are the minimum threshold. Any fewer, and we won’t commit to assisting you in building support infrastructure or training personnel." Harry laid out the rule.

So, naturally, everyone complied immediately, adjusting their one- or two-submarine orders to match the minimum threshold of three.

Soon, deals were swiftly finalized, covering discounts on "advanced fighter planes" and maritime weapons like submarines.