Volume 3: Artifacts Chapter 122: Tranquility
The local war between the Golden Shield Empire and the At County Alliance, as well as the military competition with the World Bank, have led to all forces in the world actively arming their armies in preparation for a full-scale war that could break out at any time.
As a result, the turnover of the international arms market rose rapidly in a straight-line upward pattern. With its leading weapons and equipment, the Golden Shield Empire took 60% of the national arms market share. Among them, the Dreadnought-class battleships, Kirov-class airships and Steam Titans, once the Empress of the Empire agreed to sell them to foreign countries, immediately received snowflakes of orders. Even though the Imperial Cabinet's Foreign Equipment Sales Office stated several times that these weapons were "monkey versions" with incomplete functions and extremely expensive, it could not stop some countries from tightening their belts and buying a few sets.
This result was also what Luke had expected. The speed at which the Golden Shield Empire launched new weapons was so fast that not only small countries could not keep up, but medium-sized and even some large countries were in the process of research and development. It was clear that this was not something they could afford.
You may spend countless manpower and financial resources to achieve some results, but in the end it becomes what others have left... and is eliminated!
Since the Golden Shield Empire is willing to sell these weapons and equipment, it is better to buy than to make.
If you want to obtain these advanced weapons, you can't just follow the World Bank to block the Golden Shield Empire. So the World Bank repeatedly increased the intensity of sanctions against the Golden Shield Empire, and the Golden Shield Empire gradually became the largest trading country in many countries.
The Golden Shield Empire now has energy cards in one hand and high-end weapons cards in the other, and relying on the free trade body and its own strong supply and demand capabilities, it can be said that the World Bank's desire to strike the empire economically has become an unrealistic delusion.
This also forced the World Bank to constantly adjust its methods of dealing with the Golden Shield Empire.
Support the At County Federation, engage in proxy confrontation in Hell, hire mercenaries to disrupt the empire's overseas colonies, and collect debts owed by the former government of the Kingdom of Rio.
Another thing to be aware of is...
Agatha said: "The World Bank provided a large amount of loans to Celtic through a branch established in the Holy Mountain of Tedega Hill. A lot of equipment was smuggled into Tedega Hill, and the strength of the Barbarian Legion is rapidly increasing.
Now that part of the Royal First Magic Legion has been transferred to the North, the strength of the Triumph Fortress has been weakened. The Celts may launch an attack to improve their political appearance and ask for more funding from the World Bank."
Luke received information about Tedega Hill from Agatha.
After reading it, he expressed his thoughts: "I don't think there is a need to make major changes to the policy towards Tedejia Hills. According to the trade statistics of Raging Waves City, since the Empire tacitly allows the circulation of non-military materials from Tedejia Hills to the outside world, the human merchants there have gained the vast majority of the benefits.
If the Barbarian Legion makes any unusual moves, we only need to tighten the necks of the human merchants in the Teddega Hills, and they will naturally do something for their own interests. Therefore, I think it is not necessarily a bad thing for the Celts to attack the Empire. It is a good opportunity to see how much the influence of human merchants will increase after the factory ban is lifted. "
Agatha asked: "Are we just going to let the World Bank collude with the Celtics?"
"Of course we can't let the World Bank mess around on our territory." Luke turned to Queen Christina and asked, "I just returned to the Imperial Capital and heard that the Golden Shield Warrior Project has achieved results? Can it be put into actual combat?"
The Golden Shield Warriors are a type of super warriors that have been comprehensively upgraded from the original Cross Warriors. They have a strong physique transformed by extraordinary biotechnology, and have special alchemical armor embedded in the backbone. Their combat capabilities are comparable to those of the Shining Gold Man, and they have high attack, high defense, and superb melee capabilities.
Queen Christina has been personally involved in the development of the Golden Shield, so she knows the project better than anyone else.
"The experimental subjects involved in the development of the Golden Shield Warrior are all top students from the Royal School of Magic. They not only have superb magical attainments, but also excellent physical fitness. The extraordinary transformation is in the charge of the Imperial Extraordinary Biological Cultivation Center, the Golden Shield Warrior's exo-colonized armor and weapons are all in the charge of the Imperial Alchemy Engineering Bureau, and the steam flying wing is developed by the Imperial Gobel Steam Heavy Industry.
I would also like to thank Miss Qingkong for providing various parameters of the Golden Armor of the Golden Man for the development of the Golden Shield Warrior.
Now the Golden Shield Warriors have completed the first batch of trial combinations. There are ten groups in total, three of which were successful, reaching a 30% assembly success rate. "
Group three produced three golden shield warriors.
This number is definitely not enough for the number of Golden People. But the human base is here. Once the production of Golden Shield Warriors is industrialized and the process is improved to increase the success rate of assembly, the advantages of human civilization will be reflected.
After Queen Christina finished speaking, she knocked on the armrest of the chair, and the magical image of the Golden Shield Warrior was projected onto the table between the three of them, along with the various data that the Golden Shield Warrior could now achieve.
The first batch of gold shield warriors still had the embedded metal of the Crusaders on their bodies, which was the component connecting the skeleton and the external armor, with a total of 35 attachment points including the top of the head. Then the magic image began to display the armor, and the inner armor components were first nested and fixed with the attachment points, and then the components were connected and fixed to each other and shrunk. At this time, the gold shield warriors were like wearing a soft metal tights.
Next came the alchemical enchantment layer, which was attached to the inner armor layer by layer like a tulle. There were thirteen layers in total . And after the alchemical enchantment layer was applied, the overall armor did not become noticeably thicker, which showed how advanced the alchemical craftsmanship was.
The last is the heavy armor layer, which is also divided into multiple bulk components, which are then put together after being fixed to the inner armor.
The entire set of exo-colonial armor presents a rugged beauty. After the built-in enchantment is activated, the entire armor surface shows a platinum metallic color. Just by looking at the appearance, you can tell that its defensive performance must be very strong.
After completing the dressing, the Golden Shield Warrior in the video performed some actions in succession. The seemingly bulky armor showed good flexibility, fully demonstrating the cutting-edge design capabilities of the Golden Shield Empire.
The next step is to equip the Golden Shield Warrior with weapons and plug-ins.
Each Golden Shield Warrior is equipped with a rectangular equipment box, which can provide the Golden Shield Warrior with different options and combinations according to different situations.
The main weapon of the Golden Shield Warrior is a slashing sword, and optional weapons include javelins, heavy machine crossbows, amplification wands, tower shields... There are also two steam flying wings.
To accompany a Golden Shield Warrior, the Empire will select ten Crusaders as retainers, who are responsible for providing combat supplies, battlefield intelligence gathering, combat assistance, etc.
It can be said that a Golden Shield Warrior represents a tactical team capable of fighting independently on a high-level battlefield. The application of the tactical system has narrowed the distance between the Golden Shield Warriors and the top creatures of the five ancient civilizations.
Of course, the cost of a Golden Shield Warrior is also extremely high. If the Empire had not entered a paramilitary state, it would have been difficult to develop it so quickly, let alone establish an assembly production line.
As for the combat effectiveness assessment of the Golden Shield Warrior, the data is also very good and optimistic.
After watching the Golden Shield Warrior's demonstration, Luke said to Queen Christina: "We can't trust all the data from the laboratory. The Golden Shield Warrior must have flaws that we haven't discovered. We can only ask our opponents to help us find these flaws.
I suggest launching a special operation of extraordinary units in Tedejia Hills, letting the Golden Shield Warriors sneak into Tedejia Hills and attack the Shining Gold Man. "
When Queen Christina and Agatha heard that Luke actually proposed to use the only three gold shield warriors to attack the golden men of Tedega Hill, they both showed distressed expressions.
The three successfully assembled Golden Shield Warriors were well protected in the laboratory, with a professional support team responsible for their training and daily life. Except that they could not leave the laboratory at will, their treatment was absolutely comparable to that of royal family members.
Letting such a precious child go deep behind enemy lines to carry out special operations, you would be heartbroken if you lost one.
Queen Christina refused on the spot: "To test the combat effectiveness of the Golden Shield Warriors, we don't necessarily have to push them into the battlefield. Moreover, directly attacking the Shining Gold People will trigger a direct military confrontation between them and the Empire."
Luke advised, “Send Holy Scripture Theresa back to Sky City first. Sky City is about to undergo a huge change, and the Sword of Oath will most likely become the Archangel and truly become the leader of the angel race.
The whole world is waiting for news from Sky City to see what decision the Sword of Oath will make after taking over Sky City. Therefore, during this period, the world will enter a period of calm in the storm, and even the Shining Gold People will not easily use large-scale force.
This is a brief window of time that will end at an unknown time, and the Empire must know the true level of superpower we have developed.
Not only will the Golden Shield Warriors go to the Tedega Hills, but the Extraordinary Warriors developed by Miss Clear Sky will also go, and the Magic Titans produced by the Raging Waves City must all go to the battlefield to face the test of their opponents.
There is no place more suitable than the Tedga Hills for the Empire to test and develop extraordinary forces. The Triumph Fortress provides a safe camp for the Golden Shield Warriors, Extraordinary Warriors, and Magic Titans to attack and retreat.
The Royal First Magic Corps has done an excellent job in intelligence reconnaissance on the Tedega Hills. It can provide soldiers to assist the extraordinary forces in special operations of infiltration, and at the same time allow the First Magic Corps to adapt to future battlefield modes in advance.
..."
Luke analyzed it seriously, and Queen Christina and Agatha leaned forward and listened attentively.
They all recognized Meteorite's foresight on the international situation, and the great changes that were about to break out in Sky City had indeed attracted the attention of the entire world. Using special operations against the Shining Gold at this time was like taking advantage of the fire, but the Shining Gold would not really step forward and fight directly with the Golden Shield Empire before they got the results of Sky City.
Before the results of the great changes in Sky City come out, no one dares to make any big moves except a dead pig in hell who is not afraid of boiling water.
That is to say, if the Golden Man was attacked in the Tedega Hills, if he did not use large-scale military retaliation against the Golden Shield Empire after making a big fuss, it would greatly weaken the influence of the Golden Man. Therefore, the Golden Man would only choose to retaliate silently, and the battle would be limited to special operations. The Golden Shield Empire was still capable of dealing with it.
With special operations becoming feasible, the huge empire would have no reason to be reluctant to pay the high manufacturing cost of the Golden Shield Warriors. The extraordinary forces were created to be used on the battlefield. Just as Meteorite just said, whether the Golden Shield Warriors can fight or not must be decided by their opponents.
"I agree to send the Golden Shield Warriors into the Tedega Hills to conduct special operations against the Golden People." Queen Christina made a decision: "The Cabinet and the Imperial General Staff should jointly make a plan and hand it over to me. The Imperial Secret Intelligence Bureau should also increase intelligence gathering on the Tedega Hills and the Golden People. We cannot let the Golden Shield Warriors sacrifice in vain.
The Saint Lun City Garrison Corps has increased its defense level to guard against the Shining Gold People's revenge against the imperial officials. "
Luke and Agatha responded in unison: "As you wish, Your Majesty."
The serious matter came to an end, and Queen Christina smiled with a relaxed look: "Since this period is a window period, the world will not make any big moves. I think your wedding can be more grand.
I think many heads of state would be willing to come in person to congratulate, after all, a wedding does not have as strong political significance as the coronation of the Queen. We can also reconfirm the positions of all parties through this wedding.”
Talking about the wedding, Agatha lost her dignified demeanor as the eldest princess and looked at Luke with affection in her eyes: "Of course I hope our wedding will be as grand as possible, but the more people come, the higher the danger..."
Luke said confidently, "I agree with your majesty's proposal. This may be the last large-scale gathering of world leaders before the world falls into chaos, the last time the world will revel. I believe that most people will cherish this moment and will not make me unhappy."
Luke's words and the aura he displayed made Queen Christina feel dazed for a moment. She couldn't help but recall the moment when he suddenly appeared in the Snow City, and then the two of them sat in the carriage together and returned to the imperial capital overnight.
At that time, what I felt from him was a sense of security. His confidence and temperament made people unconsciously believe in him and believe that he could definitely... protect my safety!
"Sometimes I really envy Agatha. She can like whoever she wants without any scruples. And I already belong to the empire..." Queen Christina instantly realized that she had said the wrong thing. She paused and then said, "The empire is everything to me! The empire is lucky to have you. I hand Agatha over to you, and I hand the empire over to you as well. I hope you will be happy all your life, and I hope the empire will always be prosperous.
I will give you a holiday, let me take care of your wedding preparations, and let the Cabinet and the Secret Service take care of the work. This is a rare quiet time, not only for the world, but also for you."
Queen Christina grabbed Agatha's hand and placed it in Luke's hand, representing her blessing and also representing the severance of the budding emotion.
