Sword of Dawn

Page 243

"Everything is fine, Your Highness, there is no need to worry," Silas Rollen nodded and said, "Only Belk sent a letter of concern—the Cecils are mining the minerals in the White Sand Hills with amazing techniques and speed. The descriptions in it are exaggerated, and I don't even know whether to believe those claims."

Edmund was a little curious: "What did he say?"

"...the Cecils will probably blow up 'Little Crow's Head' within this year, and next year they plan to blow up a second."

"... Belk doesn't seem to be a person who likes exaggeration."

"He does not like exaggeration, Your Highness."

"Then I would like to believe him," Edmund said. "If the Cecilians have the ability to use some kind of magical weapon to blast the walls of the Rock Fortress, then there is no reason for them not to use similar explosions in mining."

Speaking of this, he couldn't help sighing: "Although we have successfully built new factories in the eastern border, the real technical foundation of the Cecil people is obviously not in those factories... We have fallen behind in this regard."

"We are already negotiating with the immigration management officials in the southern border, hoping to send some literate apprentices to study in their 'schools', and the southern border does not seem to be completely prohibited in this regard."

Edmund nodded lightly: "Please pay more attention to this matter—talent is really important."

After a while, Duke Laurent left the tower, leaving Edmund Moen standing alone on the platform at the top of the watchtower, standing quietly in the wind.

However, in the next second, a voice came to his ears: "You are really a wise ruler of the country, Your Royal Highness."

Edmund Moen seemed to have been waiting for this voice for a long time. He turned his head calmly, looked at the brazier not far behind him, watched a figure gradually condense in the brazier, watched the figure walk to the ground, and transformed into He nodded indifferently to the woman in the priest's dress whose lower body looked like plant roots, "You're here, Bertila."

"You don't deny the title of the wise ruler of the country anymore?" Bertila moved her rustling roots, with a hint of sarcasm in her voice, "You are so mature... Last year you were still anxious in front of this title deny."

"I don't need to argue with you on this kind of issue. The relationship between me and you has not reached this level." Edmund Moen's voice became colder, "If you are here to trouble those elves , I can only say that you are one step late—they have already left, going back to Saint-Sunil."

"I'm not interested in those elves," Bertera chuckled, "It's you, who originally planned to announce your coronation after you captured the giant log crossing, but now you are disturbed by the news brought by those elves... No Are you sorry?"

Silently, Edmund raised the one-handed sword with the sheath in his hand, and pointed the tip of the sword at Bertila's throat. In the air between the sword and the throat, black cracks spread like life: "If you If you die here, will anyone feel sorry for you?"

"Put this toy away, it's better to play with it on the battlefield than to threaten women here," Bertila lightly brushed aside the one-handed sword in front of him, "I'm just here to remind you, Prince Your Highness, time is running out—if you want to leave a place for the people of Ansu in the new era, you'd better make a decision as soon as possible."

Edmund Moen stared into Beltera's eyes: "I'm not interested in your so-called 'great evolution', and I don't care about your doomsday theory. Even if the so-called new era really exists, Ansu people will If you have your own way of life, you don’t need to worry about it.”

Bertila looked at Edmund quietly for a while, then shook her head, and walked slowly back to the burning brazier: "It's really an impressive speech, but it doesn't matter, we still have a little time, you still There is time...to make choices."

……

In many cases, the so-called "choice" is just an illusion, a well-disguised established fact, placed in front of the person who makes the choice, so that the person who chooses has a slight illusion that the situation is under his control, or makes the powerless person slightly cover up Take a look at your own embarrassment.

In the Golden Oak Hall, Ansu's most powerful nobles were still discussing enthusiastically. These famous families expressed their opinions on the situation in the kingdom, and used various theories, allusions, and arguments to prove that their judgments on the situation were accurate, proving that Every word I said was for the bright future of the kingdom, but Victoria, who was sitting at the head of the long table, knew very well that these discussions and words were just paving the way for a conclusion that could be reached without discussion.

"...The Eastern Territory has accepted the conditions of a temporary truce. This is just the most basic reason. They are not qualified to represent Ansu..."

"The royal family is orthodox in Silver Castle, and the person who can represent Ansu is also in Silver Castle!"

"But we have to take into account the tense situation in the Holy Spirit Plain. What we have to face is a group of robbers who are about to lose their minds..."

"Think long-term, think long-term..."

The earl, the marquis, the prime minister of the kingdom, and the important ministers of the military aircraft, they all spoke one after another, telling the truth that anyone with a discerning eye could see at a glance. Victoria looked at this scene indifferently. She looked to the left and saw that the Prince of Wales was the same as herself. With an indifferent face, Duke Baldwin yawned big. She looked to the right again, and saw several elf envoys sitting on special seats not far away were looking at her with puzzled and bored faces.

——Due to the special situation, the Golden Oak Hall unprecedentedly allowed foreigners to enter the venue to observe the noble meeting, but now it seems that friends from the Silver Empire really don't understand some "rules" of human society.

The elf named Sonia Frostleaf blinked in Victoria's direction, moved her lips a few times, and Victoria heard the other party's voice ringing in her ears: "Why did they insist on such a small question for so long? "

Victoria reluctantly summoned her magic power and sent her voice over: "Because some words have to bear great responsibility."

"We do understand this, but they discussed it for too long," Sonia Shuangye's voice was still confused, "Our elves can live for thousands of years, but your meeting is still too wasteful in my opinion It's time...these speakers, don't they have a different lifespan than ordinary humans?"

Victoria: "..."

This question is a bit beyond her knowledge.

She shook her head, determined to end those time-wasting discussions, and tapped the table lightly: "Gentlemen and ladies—it's time for us to draw conclusions."

The buzzing discussions stopped immediately, and pairs of eyes almost fell on Victoria, Welsh and Baldwin at the same time.

The Duchess of the North sighed secretly: In the end, no one dared to say the only choice.

Forget it, anyway, the Wilder family has been called "usurpers" privately in the past century. Isn't the image of myself, the Duke of the North, in everyone's minds not authoritarian?

"There is no need to argue about the orthodoxy of the royal family, but the fact is that we must put this issue aside for the time being - the rebels in the eastern border cannot represent Ansu, and we... can't at the moment. The only person who can come forward now is not in Silver Fort, he is in South."

A middle-aged aristocrat with a slightly fat body and meticulous haircut spoke at the right time, with a solemn expression on his face: "Duchess, what you said makes sense, but the ownership of Ansu's royal power in the southern border has not yet been expressed. If you don't show any attitude, and now hand over the important task of representing Ansu to Duke Cecil, then..."

Victoria glanced at the other party: "Count Bahrain, you can recommend whoever you think is suitable."

"...I mean, it's really appropriate to entrust this important task to Duke Cecil!"

"Very well, this matter is settled."

On the special seats beside the long table, the elf envoys watched the entire lengthy and boring meeting with confusion. It was not until Victoria Wilde suddenly presented the results of the meeting that the envoys breathed a sigh of relief.

Sonia Shuangye couldn't help shaking her head, and whispered to her companion beside her: "In comparison, the Gaoling Kingdom is much more efficient than them."

"Human meetings are always like this."

"In total, they can live for a hundred years and still dare to make such waves. They are really amazing..."

Chapter 0565 Steel

This seems to be an age of steel.

As if overnight, the world familiar to the people in this land has undergone earth-shaking changes.

Last year, people were still living a life that hadn’t changed for hundreds of years. The civilians worked in the mud, and the sun rose and the sun set. There are feasts day and night in the castle, while the taverns in the country are full of absurd stories about black magic, wizards, monsters and warriors. People live step by step in their own places. It was like this a century ago, two It was still like this century ago.

However, one day suddenly, the nobles and lords ordered troops to go out. The mighty and high-spirited knights left the territory neatly dressed, and the noble lords also left the castle. The mighty army brought the collected food and colorful flags. Gone—the old people said that this kind of thing will happen several times in a lifetime. The knights who went out will return to the territory after a year or so with a lot of gold and silver and groups of slaves, but those who go out The knights never came back, nor did the nobles from those castles.

The old people have never encountered such a thing.

There is a new master in the castle, the lord is abolished, the lord's laws are also abolished, a new and powerful lord has made new rules for the entire south, the government office has replaced the lord and advisor, and the clerk has replaced the tax collector With the steward, the rules of the whole world have changed drastically, and the changes have been thrilling.

And then, the Age of Steel came—that's how last week's paper described it.

Sam, who lives in the villages surrounding Housman, thinks this description is very appropriate, and it really deserves to be a term that a cultural person can think of.

The rising sun dispelled the water vapor accumulated at night, and there was a refreshing morning in the early summer of the northern country, and the temperature was neither cold nor hot, which made people feel relaxed and happy.Sam came out of the house, wearing the linen clothes he bought last year, with a water bottle on his waist, shoes on his feet, and holding the pancakes he was going to eat on the road because he didn't have time to eat breakfast, facing the yard of the "Agricultural Machinery Management Office" go.

There were seventeen Sams in the village, and most uneducated country people couldn't think of any other name, either Sam or George, or John and Tom, but since the evening school last year, everyone has learned more or less, There were ten Sams who changed their names, but that didn't include him.

It's not that he likes his name, but that he has been used to it after half his life.

He just changed the name of his son "Tom" to "Parney". The night school teacher said that this word is a noun in the magic industry, which means "power"-he thinks his son is himself motivation.

The yard of the Agricultural Machinery Management Office is in front.

Sam quickened his pace, feeling a little expectant.

Agricultural machinery was brought by the government affairs department, just like the arable land distribution and measurement bills, they are all new things promoted by the new lord.As a farmer who has just learned a few words in night school, Sam doesn't understand the principles of those machines, just like he doesn't understand why the lord wants to move people from remote villages to Horsman City and the surrounding villages and towns Same, but that didn't stop him from figuring out one thing: farm machinery is a good thing.

Those rumbling machines are so powerful that they can withstand the power of several people and several cows. With them, plus cheap druid potions, and re-planning and measuring the integrated land, this year The harvest of grain is simply unbelievable.

The door of the Agricultural Machinery Management Office was open, and Sam walked in cautiously. He glanced left and right, but he didn't see anyone who had arrived earlier than himself, and then he saw the machine made of steel——it was quietly Quietly parked in the yard.

It has rigid lines, like a large iron box, with rows of wheels and metal belts wrapped around the wheels on both sides, and at the front of the machine is a frame with gear teeth, chains and rollers. Machinery.

A young man was busy around the leaden gray machine. He seemed to be checking the connection of the mechanical device at the back of the machine for baling and throwing straw. When he saw Sam, he raised his finger not far away. The small house: "Go there to register, I will be ready in a while."

Sam nodded quickly to the young man, and walked quickly into the hut in the yard.

A government affairs clerk in a white shirt was sitting in a hut, flipping through a newspaper. Sam came to the table and saw a black and bold headline printed on the newspaper. What: "The Pioneer Travels to the Carroll Area—Citizens Cheer along the Coast"

On the next panel, he saw another line of headlines with a slightly smaller font size: "The banditry in Crushed Stone Ridge has subsided, a total of seven Forsworn Knights have been recruited."

"Can you read?"

The clerk behind the desk raised his head, and looked at the farmer standing in front of him while talking—this was a typical farmer, with a stooped back, dark, thick hands and feet, and wrinkles crawled up his face early, he saw Looks like an old man, but should be just reaching middle age.

Sam woke up with a start, and nodded hurriedly: "Ah, yes, yes... I'm sorry, master, I'm just..."

"It's okay, it's a good thing to be able to read characters. If you know more characters, you can learn more knowledge from books in the future," the clerk laughed, "Don't be so nervous, I'm not a nobleman—I'm a commoner just like you. "

"Hey," Sam nodded a little flusteredly. The gentlemen and ladies of the Government Affairs Office are all kind and good people, at least much kinder than the previous tax officials and stewards, but he was still very friendly when facing these people. Subconsciously tense up, "I... I'm here to borrow a harvester and a tractor, and I'm the number three days ago."

While talking, he took out the note that was next to him. It was the number he got in this yard three days ago. Since he got it, he didn't dare to put the note in the distance for three days. The place where I am more than one meter away: There is only one harvester and one tractor here, and they were transferred from Hossman City not long ago. This new machine is as precious as a magical vehicle. Opportunities... are equally precious.

The clerk sent by the government affairs department to manage agricultural machinery glanced at the contents of the note, compared it with the registration book in hand, and nodded: "Sam, right—it has your name and resident number. Rent it for half a day, harvest the road The land in the second district of the West."

"Yes, yes," Sam nodded repeatedly, "Second District, Second District."

"Your certificate, the mechanic is in the yard, you should have seen it just now, just give it to him. The tractor went to the town to pull goods, and I will be back in a while, I will let the mechanic find you," said the man in a white shirt The clerk took out a printed card from under the table and handed it to Sam, "In addition, there is no need to pay, your family is the first batch of activists to respond to the land replacement, and the remuneration of the mechanics has been paid by the government affairs department gone."

"thanks, thanks."

Sam took the voucher, thanked him again and again, and then left the house quickly.

The clerk in charge of managing the agricultural machinery watched the simple farmer go out, then lowered his head and looked at the registration book in his hand.

The names were lined up one by one, which made him laugh.

When the first tractor was transported to Hossmann, that clanging, powerful, and mighty machine scared away half of the onlookers, just like the first magic car entered the city and the first water pump was turned on Same, causing quite a bit of confusion.

But in such a short period of time, so many people have come to borrow harvesters and tractors.

This should be attributed to the several machine demonstrations organized by the Government Affairs Department a while ago. In front of the public, the Government Affairs Department showed people how effective agricultural machinery can be, which dispelled everyone's doubts. After all, for farmers, how much can they do? Hitting food is more important than anything else.

The harvester is a new thing, it only appeared after the appearance of the magic vehicle. It is said that the magicians in Cecil City were conducting research on agricultural machinery as soon as they built the magic vehicle. Just this spring, a series of incredible machines were built.

Regardless of any new technology products, they will first be applied to the military to ensure the safety of their homeland, and then try their best to use them on the civilian side to ensure the prosperity of the people. The enjoyment of the upper class will always be at the end of all applications. This is the most different between Cecil and other places. The place.

The clerk sorted out the records of the rented harvester for the past week, lamented the rapid development of this new gadget of Magic Industry, and also lamented the bumper harvest this year.

Since the implementation of the New Deal, Hosman has been the most rapid and thorough transformation of the area. With the efforts of the Daedalus Consul, the Government Affairs Office has used Cecil's successful experience on this land. Facts have proved that this borrowing is very effective. , especially in the field of agriculture.

A large number of farmers in remote villages have migrated to the periphery of the city and several key satellite towns. The old noble fields and knight manors have been remeasured and allocated to become contracted land for new immigrants.Relying on the distribution of grain seeds, the sale of druid potions at low prices, and unified agricultural training, coupled with appropriate incentives and punishments, the originally disorganized traditional farming was quickly replaced by Cecil's "planned agriculture", and now , all the results have come to people——

A predictable harvest.

In the yard, Sam handed the card to the mechanic who was in charge of operating the machine, and then grabbed the armrest on one side of the machine and climbed to the seat next to the mechanic, taking a deep breath, trying to calm down his nervousness.

He glanced down at the shoe on his foot, and he was relieved to make sure that it hadn't been damaged while climbing the tracks and pedals.

This is his first new pair of shoes in recent years.

The machine started, and driven by the magic power, there was a sound of parts running in its "belly" made of steel. When it just started to vibrate, Sam subconsciously grasped the handrail at hand, and a layer appeared in the palm of his hand. He was sweating, but when the machine drove smoothly through the gate of the yard, his beating heart had calmed down.

He saw the endless land outside, the land waiting to be cultivated, and one of them belonged to him.

It calmed him down more than anything.

Sam sat on this mechanical monster, watching the machinist skillfully manipulate the levers, pedals and steering wheel, directing this heavy steel creation to move forward with some tricks he couldn't understand, and suddenly felt a little envious.

He didn't know if he would have the chance to touch those tie rods and pedals with his own hands. He felt that he probably had no chance. He was too old to learn such complicated things, but Parney...he was still young, he said Might not work.

The kid learned a lot at school, he was the smartest kid the whole family ever had, let him keep on learning, maybe he could become a "mechanic" too—a smart guy who specializes in operating machines.

The machine made of steel drove towards the field.

The knights who put on their armor and showed off their power in the towns and villages are gone, and the nobles who feasted all day in the castle are gone. In the taverns in the countryside, the group of people who discuss black magic and wizards have now learned to hold newspapers and talk to each other. sound judgment, and Sam...

Sam sat on the machine driving towards his farm, feeling the vibration and strength of the steel beneath him.

This is probably the so-called "age of steel".

……

In Cecil City, in the Machinery Manufacturing Institute Agricultural Machinery Workshop I, Gawain was filled with emotion as he looked at the rough and simple but full of power colossus in front of him.

This thing... Sure enough, it was finally built in the tractor assembly workshop.

A white knight from the Holy Light Church is praying for this giant: "... Holy Light bless its road wheels and tracks, may it never overturn, bless its barrel, may it never overheat, bless it engine, may it always be full of power..."

Amidst the pious (probably) and solemn (true) prayers of the white knight, the young knight Philip stepped forward and knocked on the shell of the steel chariot. Feeling the coldness and hardness of the metal, the knight turned his head, With a smile on his face: "My lord, I think I finally understand what you mean by the 'age of steel'—as you said, this is indeed an age of steel."

Chapter 0566 Warhammer

Just as sharpened sticks and smashed stones replace claws and teeth, primitive swords and personal martial arts will inevitably be replaced by guns made of steel. In this unstable world, wars follow everywhere, and for the sake of In order to survive, inefficient personal force must and must give way to efficient war machines—this is the objective law of the development of things.

Gao Wen didn't know whether every world followed such objective laws, but at least he could be sure that this world did follow such laws.

Even if there are extraordinary powers in this world, even if the extraordinary powerhouses in this world have the power to move mountains and fill seas, this principle will not change—the extraordinary who move mountains and fill seas will be replaced by those who can move mountains and fill seas with higher efficiency. The sea's machine replaced it, and this was decided the day the first hunting stick was sharpened.

He looked at the chariot in admiration, as if seeing another era stretching in front of the chariot's tracks.

Rebecca, Hetty, Philip and Nicholas were with him, and everyone's (and ball's) attention was equally focused on the chariot.

The idea that Rebecca came up with after the advent of the magic vehicle—installing a cannon on the vehicle—has finally come true, and it is not only equipped with a cannon, but also equipped with armor plates and shield generators.

This chariot, which can barely be called a "tank", is not the same as Gao Wen's original design, and it is even very different from any tank in his understanding. It has no sloped armor, and the main body of the entire vehicle It was an almost square iron box. The tall iron box was spliced ​​together with a large number of rivets and welding points. Each piece of armor was nothing more than a thin steel plate; It is very similar, but obviously rougher, and deep rune dents can be seen on each track board-earth elemental runes can reduce the wear and tear of the metal plate when it contacts the ground, and slightly enhance the track's resistance to elemental attacks Resistance, it is said that this is a suggestion of a rune craftsman from the Hosman area; its turret is equally impressive, it is a trapezoidal iron cover, narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, the front end of the iron cover is open, and two parallel The metal guide rails extend straight out from the opening, and the simple optical sighting device is installed parallel to the metal guide rails, located in the lower half of the iron cover.

Restricted by the current technology, the main gun it installs is the smallest "Persuader" light rail gun, and it has also undergone a lightweight transformation specifically for loading on tanks. Naturally, its power has a certain discount, but for the battlefield of this era As far as it is concerned, this thing is already a mobile shredder.