Volume 1: The Rise of Elanhill Chapter 0034: Tough Enemy
Just like the sword of Damocles hanging over his head, the shadow of the magic empire always lingers over Chris's head.
If Chris wins the conflict with the Alante Empire, it will alert the Magic Empire. Chris really doesn't want to conflict with the Magic Empire. At least before he has accumulated enough strength, he doesn't want to expose his strength in front of the Magic Empire.
If possible, he really wanted to develop a long-range bomber or an atomic bomb first, and then cause trouble for the Magic Empire - but this was not a feasible strategy.
All industries need to be accumulated and built up before they can finally rise. The evil path of relying on handicrafts to make cannons like Chris did before is actually not sustainable for a long time.
Fortunately, he met Desel and Gurlo, who allowed him to correct his development model and establish an industrial system that could barely support the economy.
This industrial development system, which was already on the right track, had just sprouted, and it had already unleashed an amazing force. Various industrial products were manufactured and filled people's lives. In just one year, the lives of the civilians in Ailan Hill had undergone earth-shaking changes.
With soap and bathing, personal hygiene improved dramatically, disease rates fell, and the population exploded: more babies survived this year than in the previous three years.
Similarly, a large amount of cheap cloth turned into a large amount of cheap clothes: the world's clothes have never been so cheap. Clothing factories set up in various places even directly made cloth into ready-made clothes with numbers and sold them directly to ordinary people.
This kind of clothes with the same style is very popular because it is really cheap and saves time. You only need to go back and make some minor changes to make it fit you.
Moreover, everyone wore the same clothes, which weakened the so-called distinction between the noble and the humble. People with similar incomes wore similar clothes - just like in the 1960s and 1970s, when gray and black almost covered all the cities in Ireland Hill.
Administrative matters also began to become detailed and rough. All cities and villages in Ireland Hill had to fly the royal flag of Ireland Hill. The black and white eagle flag was hung on the flagpoles of the city walls and fortresses, fluttering in the wind.
With the rapid establishment of factories, villages and towns soon became cities, and countless idle agricultural population poured into Desair's factories and began to engage in simple production work.
No one had ever thought that such a scene would appear in their lifetime: countless children and women even had jobs, and every family was madly accumulating their own wealth. However, because of the need to improve their lives, their wealth once again poured back into the treasury of Ailan Hill like thunder.
Improving living conditions requires cement to build new solid houses, and new houses require metal and ceramic utensils. In order to hold these utensils, brand new furniture is needed, and then the family sits at home and thinks about the education of their children.
Just like the new China at a certain period, the wealthy people began to dream of more and more things. No one in any era is stupid, they are just constrained by reality and cannot see further.
Once they see hope, they will keep chasing the light. Even if it is a blazing flame, they will rush towards it without hesitation, just for that illusory future .
The good news for the ordinary people of Ireland Hill is that the future Chris gives them is a proven, extremely powerful and correct future.
After Chris captured the vast sea, he stayed for only a few days before returning to Seris City. After all, this was his base and the industrial core that radiated all the surrounding areas. Because the industrialization level here was the highest, the people's support was the highest, and Chris's ruling power was the strongest.
After sweeping through five territories, Chris still faced many problems. He lacked officials to manage these territories, and he could not promote officials from Seris City out of nepotism. He could only use some local bureaucrats and let them manage temporarily to see the effect.
The advantage of doing this is that it maintains regional stability, but there is also bad news. Some officials who are rotten to the core are still delaying the development of the region, slowing down Chris's industrial advancement plan.
Entering Seris, Chris felt relieved when he saw the towering chimneys. He turned his head and said to Des, "It is obviously not enough to rely on infantry alone to fight against the magician army."
He looked at the other party, pulling the reins to make the warhorse move forward slowly, and continued: "For the ground troops, we have artillery and rifles, with the strongest firepower... but we don't have any weapons to defend against the dragon knights."
If we use modern tactical terms to describe it, Chris's troops are strongest in ground-to-ground combat, and ground-to-air combat is basically blank: "If we encounter a magic army on the ground, I don't know if the defense line composed of rifles and artillery can resist it, but if we encounter a dragon... our troops will suffer."
Des was a little embarrassed and answered Chris's question: "Your Majesty, actually... we don't know much about the magic empire's mage corps. The records are very vague, and there are only a few words in some historical documents."
"In the war between the Magic Empire and our Mortal Empire, the troops usually dispatched are Dragon Knights and some Warcraft Cavalry. So we know more about Dragon Knights and Warcraft Cavalry, and even have some ways to fight against them." Des told everything he knew.
He looked at Chris and explained in detail: "Generally speaking, to fight against dragon knights, you need to prepare more ballistae... But this is only a very reluctant method, because few armies can withstand simultaneous attacks from the sky and the ground."
"Compared to ordinary cavalry, the Warcraft cavalry has thicker armor and higher combat effectiveness, so it is very difficult to stop. The enemy's charge can easily break through the defense line of traditional infantry." After all, Desel was a mortal who had "anti-magic empire thinking" early on, and the information he knew was very detailed.
"Tanks and bombers..." After hearing Des's description, Chris covered his face and gave an evaluation that was very consistent with his knowledge. No wonder the magic empire could crush mortal civilization for thousands of years, leaving mortal civilization stagnant in the weak cold weapon era.
If there was a civilization on Earth that could develop terrible war machines like tanks and bombers in 1627, it would not be difficult to drive all the surrounding civilizations back to the barbaric era.
"There's a question I've always wanted to ask." Chris ignored the confusion on Des's face, and did not explain what tanks and planes were. Instead, he asked about a topic that interested him.
"What's the problem?" Hearing Chris's question, Des was very curious and looked at Chris beside him: "Your Majesty?"
"Why do we rarely see high-level wild monsters living in the jungle or mountains until now?" Chris asked puzzledly.
"I can tell you the answer to this question. It's actually very simple. Just like magicians, the higher the level of a magical beast, the greater its affinity for magical elements... These creatures with advanced intelligence are also willing to live in places with a strong magical atmosphere." Desel had studied a lot about the Magic Empire, so the answer came to him easily.
"No wonder, that's why mortals can survive in this world, because we can only occupy places that magicians and monsters look down upon." Chris said with a sneer.
He paused, then asked, "In that case, is it possible for us to find some wild monsters and use them to test our weapons and equipment?"
Des, who was well-informed, shook his head and answered, "From what I know, even in the Holy Demon Empire, a powerful wild beast is very expensive and dangerous. And they will not sell a beast to a mortal. This is their pride."
"Proud? Ha!" Chris laughed at himself. "I believe that soon they will put aside their pride, condescend to come before us, and chat with us as equals!"
Des nodded and said, "I also believe that this day will come soon! My majesty! I have been reading various ancient books, including various documents from more than 1,000 years ago... Many mortals have killed dragons through careful preparation."
Having said this, he looked at Chris and said, "Since these dragons can be killed by swords, they can be killed by artillery shells! I firmly believe this! As long as we are equipped with enough modern weapons, we can challenge these damn monsters!"
"This is the most optimistic estimate. We must be prepared for the worst..." Chris had a strong sense of crisis and said, "So we must prepare more powerful weapons until we are absolutely sure of victory!"
"What are your plans?" Des looked at Chris in surprise and asked, "Are you going to develop more advanced weapons?"
"That's right! We can't just passively take the beating, we have to fight back! We not only have to defend against their attacks, we also have to attack them on their territory!" Chris clenched his fists and said to Des.
Chris's idea was actually very simple: since he couldn't produce advanced technological weapons such as tanks and airplanes in a short period of time, he would just concentrate on developing anti-tank guns and anti-aircraft guns!
