Everyone was developing, and no one would stop.
In order not to wake Heti, who was sleeping soundly, Gwen got up quietly and left the desk. He first put a coat on Heti, then went to the large floor-to-ceiling window in the study and looked at the city outside. In the gradually sinking sun, Cecil was still busy and lively.
This was a fast-developing city, and with the end of the integration war, the development of the entire Southern Region would also accelerate.
But while Cecil was developing, others were also developing. On this road of progress, no one would stop and wait for the footsteps of the latecomers.
Typhon's development was unexpectedly rapid, but Gwen believed that Typhon was not the only one developing. Even the seemingly outdated Ansu and stubborn and conservative church must have their own development process, especially when the war broke out, their development would only accelerate.
But Gwen was not very worried about the development of the Ansu and the church, because he knew that these forces were still trapped in their own backward system, and there was a limit to their speed of development. Unless there was an earth-shaking change, their speed of development would always be behind Cecil's, and there was no need to worry about them at all.
What was worth worrying about was Typhon. Rosetta Augustus was a more dangerous opponent than Gwen had expected.
He had started by changing the system, and had achieved initial success.
His Majesty had spent more than ten years gradually reforming the empire's aristocratic system, centralizing his authority, and turning Typhon into a more efficient execution machine. In recent years, his centralization of power had become stable, and the efficiency of the empire's execution had increased unprecedentedly. So he quickly entered the next stage: promoting education, liberating the shackles of the land, and redistributing production resources.
It was very likely that he had realized the existence and meaning of "productive forces and production relations", or at least found a way to do it, and was trying to move deeper into the reform. And as long as his control over the empire did not weaken, these reforms would inevitably go further in the next few years.
And to achieve such a great achievement, it was impossible for Emperor Rosetta alone. In order to make such a huge and ancient empire run, Emperor Rosetta must have a large group of think tanks and assistants around him. Perhaps they were young noble elites, or perhaps they were enlightened and prestigious old nobles. In short, Typhon certainly did not only have a talented and bold emperor, but also a group of intelligent and skillful ministers.
At the same time, Typhon also had excellent technical talents.
Gwen had Kamel, Pitman, Rebecca, and Jenny under him. They were all excellent technical talents, but there were many talents in the world, and it was impossible for all of them to be concentrated in Cecil's small territory. Did other people not have technical experts?
Of course, there must be. The only difference was whether they had the opportunity to shine.
Typhon's chief alchemist had discovered the process of acidolysis of burning stones, but did Typhon only have one chief alchemist? Did they not have a rune expert? Did they not have a machinist? Did they not have a magician? These people … what kind of new things would they come up with?
Gwen was sure that there were people in the world who were more talented in mathematics than Rebecca, more talented in runes than Jenny, and more talented in theology and natural sciences than Pitman. And according to the distribution of Extraordinaries in this era, these people must be gathered in the upper echelons of each country. They could achieve amazing achievements in the academic field at any time, but depending on the situation of the country they were in, the impact of their achievements would also be different.
In some places, a new magical technology might just be a new entertainment for the nobles, while in other places, an alchemy result might be promoted and become a huge help for the country's food production.
Typhon's technical staff had obviously caught up with a good era and a good emperor.
Cecil's only advantage was that Gwen could be more tolerant than Rosetta, more forward-looking, and more aware of the rules of society's future development. Thus, he could more efficiently bring out the dividends of technological research and development.
Gwen carefully analyzed the information he got from Daniel, and in the process, he speculated about Typhon's progress and Emperor Rosetta's next move. In the process, he even had the frightening thought that Rosetta Augustus might also be a transmigrator. But after some analysis, he found that there was nothing suspicious about Typhon's development.
First of all, Rosetta Augustus's path of reform was not achieved overnight. He used the first half of his life to sit on the throne, stabilize the regime, and gradually win over the progressive nobles, divide his opponents, and gradually change the aristocratic system in Typhon. This was a normal and long process of accumulation.
Second, the social reform in Typhon did not go smoothly. Rosetta Augustus had many obvious signs of inexperience in the process of implementing the new policies. Some of his inexperience could even be described as "mistakes".
He left behind many hidden dangers based on the old aristocratic forces. For this reason, he had to make more compromises to maintain the stability of Typhon.
In the process of promoting literacy education, he wasted a lot of energy because he did not find good incentives, and he did not establish a complete education system. Until now, the enthusiasm of Typhon's citizens to receive education could not be compared to that of Cecil's citizens.
The degree of liberation of Typhon's labor force was obviously behind Cecil's. They still maintained the situation of "working part-time in the workshop after farming". There were no real professional workers, and there was no systematic vocational education and management system.
Typhon's "pyrolytic acid workshop" was still based on the old "alchemy workshop" system. It had many problems such as small scale production, low efficiency, non-uniform system, non-uniform standards, and disorderly management. Although Rosetta Augustus had tried to build a large pyrolytic acid workshop, it was just a large workshop, and it wasted a lot of manpower and material resources.
Gwen took a deep breath. He knew that Typhon's development was the "normal situation".
Fumbling, bumping into a wall, improving, fumbling again, bumping into a wall again, and improving again. Countless people spent a huge amount of time, manpower, and material resources (sometimes even a generation's youth) to tackle a field, and in the end, the only thing they gained was probably to prove that "this path is blocked". Typhon was doing such a thing now, and this was the normal situation.
Cecil's rapid development was largely due to Gwen directly using his own judgment and experience to avoid the "this path is blocked" in advance. He used the knowledge of his previous life and his observation experience as a satellite to plan the southern border, thus saving a huge amount of time, manpower, and material costs.
At least at the current stage, this was the huge advantage that Cecil had over Typhon. But from another point of view, Typhon also had its own advantages, and this was an advantage that Cecil could not make up for at the moment.
Typhon was a huge country. Its land area, resource reserves, and population were several times that of Cecil's duchy!
This meant that it could withstand the loss of resources in the process of development, and it could have ample opportunities for trial and error. More importantly, it could multiply those development dividends!
Even if its development efficiency was lower than Cecil's, it could use its size to crush Ansu and Cecil in the near future.
So what should Cecil do, what could he do …
Gwen turned his head and looked at the stack of documents on the desk.
It was the construction and development plan for the next stage of the four new industrial zones in the southern border.
At the current stage, there was not much that Gwen could do in the southern border. Development was the absolute principle. Only by focusing on development and maximizing Cecil's "efficiency" advantage could the current good situation be maintained.
And this development process must be stable and controllable.
His territory had overgrown in the past year, and now he had no spare energy to expand again. Unless he wanted Cecil's duchy to return to the loose and disorderly feudal system of the past, all he could do in the territory was to digest, absorb, and immerse himself in the technology tree to build infrastructure.
Outside of Ansu, he could not cause any direct damage to Typhon. The only thing he could do was to dig a hole.
The huge empire machine controlled by Rosetta Augustus was already in operation. It was impossible to stop it, so it was better to simply push it in the direction of a seemingly brilliant but actually bottomless abyss.
Gwen had to do this. For Cecil's survival, Typhon had to be harmless.
But he also had to find a way to preserve Typhon's development potential in the process. Because in the future, Typhon was likely to be a force to resist the demonic wave.
What Gwen was most grateful for now was that the information he deliberately released about the magic net had entered the sights of Rosetta Augustus and his think tank. With this opportunity, he could infiltrate his influence into Typhon.
But was Daniel's "magic net technology" enough to plant enough poison in Typhon's body?
Gwen did not think it was enough. While the magic net was important, Rosetta Augustus would definitely treat this kind of Ansu technology with caution. He was likely to limit the use of the magic net, and even if the "magic net poison" plan succeeded, Typhon would not suffer enough damage. At most, it would waste a batch of manpower and resources in the process. As a huge empire, Typhon could afford to lose.
Some bolder and more dangerous ideas brewed in Gwen's mind, and his expression became uncertain.
Heti finally woke up from her sleep. She sat up and saw that Gwen had already left his "meditation" and was standing not far away. She was wearing a coat, so she was nervous and embarrassed. "Ancestor … I … I didn't mean to fall asleep …"
Seeing that Heti had woken up, Gwen's expression quickly became gentle. He smiled faintly and took the coat that Heti handed to him. "It's okay. It's good to sleep for a while. You've been too tired recently."
"Actually, it's fine recently. After the production and construction plans were laid out, there weren't so many things to do," Heti explained with her head down. Her face was still flushed. "It's just that recently, the government office has been testing the newly installed magic net file transmission system and encountered a lot of unexpected problems. It's a little … tricky."
"It's normal to encounter problems when applying new technology." Gwen nodded. "Compared to this, the recent development of the industrial zones, output, and the willingness of the civilian merchants to invest in the factories, the attitude of the transformed nobles toward the factories, and the operation of the Production Co-ordination Committee and the Ministry of Labor and Social Security. Do you have all these information?"
"Yes, I've been sorting them out daily." Heti nodded. Then she was a little curious. "Do you need them?"
"Yes, but not in a hurry. Just give me a comprehensive report in the next few days."
"I understand."
Gwen nodded slightly. Then, as if he was talking to himself, he said softly, "One's own strength is the absolute truth …"
…
Typhon, Imperial Capital Oldenheim, Obsidian Palace's guest hall.
Archduke Ferdinand looked at Emperor Rosetta Augustus, who was sitting opposite him, with mixed feelings.
The war between Typhon and Ansu was finally postponed. However, anyone with a discerning eye could tell that it had nothing to do with peace.
Ansu fell into a disastrous civil war almost immediately after the peace agreement was signed. The Empire of Typhon closed their borders at the same time and began to watch from the sidelines. Emperor Rosetta began to reorganize the various forces in the country, met with the nobles frequently, and continued to promote the reform of the professional army … Ferdinand Wendell saw all of these, piece by piece.
He knew that this talented and bold emperor had never given up on Ansu, this fat piece of meat. The temporary ceasefire now was only to make this piece of meat even more delicious and easier to swallow.
He was happy that Rosetta Augustus had successfully gotten rid of his hereditary madness. He was gratified that the Empire had such an intelligent and powerful emperor. However, he also felt sorry for the death of the nobles' golden spirit, and for the new type of war that relied on cunning and conspiracies to push forward.
There was no doubt that Emperor Rosetta had a part to play in Ansu's civil war.
However, Ferdinand Wendell also understood that such dishonorable methods were necessary. For the Empire's interests, the Ansu people had to make sacrifices.
Moreover, not only did the Ansu people have to make sacrifices, they also had to become the nourishment for the Empire's growth.
A middle-aged woman in a mage's robe stood respectfully beside Emperor Typhon. She pointed at the blueprints on the table and explained, "This is the so-called 'Magic Net'. However, it is the first generation and is already outdated. The second generation of the Magic Net is even more simplified, but the blueprints we have are incomplete, and we haven't found the specific processing method. "
Archduke Ferdinand looked at the blueprints in front of Emperor Typhon. He could see the complicated runes and magic lines drawn on it. Although all the runes were elementary, the entire array had a strange sense of coordination. Although he wasn't a mage himself, with his relatively good magic knowledge, he could tell that this magic array had been optimized to perfection.
This was the key to the rapid rise of the ancient Cecil family in Ansu. It was the 'lost technology' that the ancient hero who came back from the dead had brought back.
Rosetta Augustus' voice came from across the table. "Ferdinand, I heard that the second generation of the Magic Net is made up of 'units'."
"Yes, Your Majesty," replied Ferdinand. "Andesha caught some fleeing Ansu mercenaries. Those mercenaries had seen the second generation of the Magic Net before. It's said that those Magic Net units are hexagonal runic arrays that require extremely high processing precision. Moreover, there are a lot of them, and they don't look like they were hammered out by blacksmiths and rune craftsmen one by one … "
At this point, the duke couldn't help but frown and sigh. "It's a pity that we don't have the blueprints … nor did we get the real thing."
Another royal minister in the reception room said, "The southern part of Ansu has been sealed off, and the Cecil family is strictly ruling there. It's not easy to get information, but this is all temporary. The Cecil family didn't completely block the spread of the Magic Net. It's said that the local nobles in the Whitsunday area and a small part of the eastern part of Ansu have already obtained the blueprints of the Magic Net in private. As long as one is patient and pays the price, those Ansu nobles are very easy to bribe."
Emperor Rosetta glanced at the minister indifferently. "Gorlin, even if you get the blueprints and the real thing, do you dare to use them directly?"
The minister named Gorlin was stunned for a moment, and a thoughtful look appeared on his face.
"According to the information we have, before the war in the southern part of Ansu broke out, the Cecil family took the initiative to spread the Magic Net on a large scale. Then, those foolish Ansu nobles spread the Magic Net everywhere, so that the Cecil family's army had an ample supply of magic power no matter where they went. This lesson is quite profound. "
The war in the southern part of Ansu ended quickly, and the entire southern part was quickly sealed off. However, there was no such thing as an airtight wall in the world. Before the southern part was completely sealed off, there were still some exiled Knight and mercenaries who escaped. They brought with them all kinds of credible and not credible information, and some of them fell into the hands of Typhon.
This information made Emperor Rosetta aware of Cecil's rise, and he was even more wary of Cecil's' Magic Net '.
However, the Magic Net was still a good thing.
"We need the technology of the Magic Net, and we need the technology to apply it. And these technologies must be in our hands," Rosetta Augustus said in a deep voice as he looked at the blueprints on the table. "Typhon needs his own Magic Net."
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