The mechanical warhorse was a brand new invention of the Nurr Military Factory. The reason for this invention was that many nobles and knights in Nurr wanted a good horse after they got their hands on the half-blood elven warhorse. After all, to knights, a good horse meant more fighting power and better survivability.
Emilia had a mixed-blood Elven warhorse that was given to her by Laing. Since Emilia didn't ride it often, the Nur nobles often borrowed it for breeding. However, because they didn't know anything about breeding Elven warhorses, the Nur nobles couldn't breed a qualified warhorse.
In essence, the Britanians were not very proficient in breeding pure-blooded elven warhorses. The Wood Elves were the ones who were best at breeding elven warhorses. Duke Leon's warhorse, Lord Grape, was also bred by the Wood Elves. It had given birth to a dozen foals, but Lord Grape did not even look at them. It only liked Sulia's mount, the pure-blooded elven mare Maricht. The two warhorses had given birth to several pure-blooded foals, which were currently being kept in the stables of Duke Leon's castle and in the pasture outside the castle.
The Nur Military Factory's engineers weren't happy about this. They thought to themselves, Why do we need a warhorse to solve a problem that can be solved by machines?
Can't we just build a powerful mechanical warhorse to solve the problem?
Nur's engineers immediately used machinery and clockwork to create a mechanical warhorse. This kind of mechanical warhorse required a large amount of time to be crafted and polished. As long as it operated smoothly, the mechanical warhorse could smash through all enemies and obstacles in its way.
An engineer rode on the mechanical warhorse proudly and waved to the crowd. The crowd also raised their hands to signal that it was time to start the show.
"Let's start!"
The Empire engineer pressed a button and pulled the reins. The mechanical warhorse started moving.
Soon, the mechanical warhorse began to operate. The sound of springs and gears could be heard from its body. The entire mechanical device was activated. The crystallization of humanity's elite technology and wisdom was perfectly displayed in the mechanical warhorse's body. It was as if some ancient flame of hope had been lit on the mechanical warhorse's body. A thunderous force surged from the mechanical warhorse's body.
"Activate!" The Empire Engineer shouted. He looked like a great general, an invincible knight!
The next second. Boom!
Boom! Boom!
The entire mechanical warhorse exploded!
Amidst the sound of explosions, electric sparks, and steam leakage, the mechanical horse exploded. It disintegrated in an instant before everyone's eyes. The horse's hind legs kicked, and the Empire engineer on the horse flew into the air. Then, it exploded into pieces that filled the sky!
Gears, springs, and pieces of iron fell to the ground with a clattering sound, followed by the sound of heavy objects falling to the ground.
The poor great engineer of the Empire fell from the sky and landed on the ground. He screamed, "Ahhh! My leg, my leg is broken! I need treatment! I need treatment! "
Everyone was speechless.
This was a powerful mechanical warhorse?
It was indeed powerful. Laing and Suria couldn't help but cover their mouths and laugh. Al Frey was still trying to hold it in, but the female Nordican, Ingrid, was about to roll on the ground.
After a few seconds of silence, Emilia couldn't take it anymore. The Empire's face darkened. She signaled to the servant. "Carry him down and send him to the Church of the Merciful Lady for treatment."
"Yes!" The valet immediately carried the engineer, who had broken his leg, away.
"My chief engineer, I think I need an explanation. The city council gives you tens of thousands of dollars every year, and this is what the military factory makes?" Emilia smiled. She was no longer in her maid mode in front of Laing. She was now in her Empire's countess mode. Her dignity was almost overflowing. "What is this? Self-destructing warhorse? Nur doesn't need this kind of thing. "
"Uh …" The chief engineer was a bit embarrassed. He lowered his head and said, "Sorry, my Countess, the warhorse is still in the testing and debugging stage …"
"I don't need a reason. I want to know the reason, my chief engineer." Amelia still had a smile on her face, but everyone could feel the anger hidden behind it.
"The stability of the warhorse has always been a big problem, my Countess." The chief engineer could only tell the truth. He sighed. "The structure of the warhorse is too precise. I mean … its entire body needs to be well maintained. If there's a problem with one part, it can easily turn into a malfunction like just now. This isn't the first time this has happened. A few engineers have been injured because of it, but my Countess, we still think there's a need for further research."
"No more." Emilia said impatiently. "I think the precious research funds should be used in more important places. What do you think? Gunter Maybach? "
"Of … of course, I'll do as you say." The chief engineer nodded with a bitter smile.
The farce was quickly over. The chief engineer was a bit embarrassed. His previous arrogance was gone. He then began to introduce the newest war machine in Nur to everyone.
Land ship.
This giant unit was about seven to eight meters tall. It was a new order from the Marlin Merchant Alliance. It had an extremely large body, about eight meters tall, four meters wide, and a dozen meters long. There was a large boiler at the back of the ship, a standard Empire heavy cannon at the front, and four small cannons at the sides, two on each side. The ship could accommodate 20-40 soldiers on the land ship. The ship was powered by a small wooden wheel at the front and a large wheel at the back, and it was driven by a steam boiler.
Clayon took a closer look at this somewhat comical yet somewhat spectacular behemoth and laughed. "This land ship you guys made, huh? Excited!"
The birth of the land ship had something to do with Laing.
Everyone knew that Marlin Castle was a free city. Before the great Holy War, the city had already broken away from the Empire. After the Holy War, the merchants of Marlin Castle chose to submit to Ludwig's rule in the face of the unparalleled prestige of the Savior and the oppression of the Empire. However, they used an astonishing amount of gold in exchange for 'permanent autonomy' from Ludwig. For the next hundred years, Marlin Castle enjoyed autonomy. The merchants of Marlin Castle were tired of the Empire's endless political schemes and wars. They only cared about their own profits.
However, because of this, the merchants' decision was seen as a double-edged sword. After they won independence, their city lacked a powerful army. As mentioned before, the bourgeoisie was weak. The merchants did not have the ability to gather a large number of soldiers and elites in their own territory like the nobles of the Empire. The mercenaries that the merchants trained themselves could not fight against the elites of the Empire. In the face of war, Marlin Castle had no choice but to spend a huge amount of money and connections to seek help from the Empire.
Just like 12 years ago, when Marlin Castle was faced with the invasion of the Green Dwarfs, they were forced to seek help from the Empire. The Empire took the opportunity to extort a large sum of money from Marlin Castle and made the merchants agree to many unfair conditions.
The merchants were naturally unwilling, but the defense of Marlin Castle was indeed very weak. The merchants could not even let the enemy near the outskirts of Marlin Castle, let alone the city walls.
Thus, the merchants set their sights on the steam tank, a super weapon of mass destruction.
Of course, how could the Empire allow the merchants to reach their hands into a war machine like the steam tank? In history, Marlin Castle had only successfully rented the mass-produced Conqueror class steam tank twice. The high rent was enough to almost bankrupt a few merchants in Marlin Castle. Furthermore, they were under 24-hour surveillance by the Empire's army.
At the same time, the merchants realized that the steam tank could not be purchased through any means and at any price. No matter how good the relationship between the Empire's officials and generals was, once they heard the word steam tank, they would immediately turn their backs on them. The Empire's engineers were even asked to keep the secret at the cost of their lives.
The only official who accepted a huge bribe and agreed to help disappeared on the spot. Three days later, he was publicly executed on the streets of Brunswick for treason.
The merchants of Marlin Castle quickly realized that it was impossible for them to buy a steam tank, but … perhaps they could ask the Empire to build a steam tank that belonged to Marlin Castle?
Around the time after Laing left Marlin Castle, the merchants of Marlin Castle once again gathered for a meeting after the battle on the Collesen Plains. After tasting the pain, the merchants finally made up their minds. Which of the rich merchants in the upper house did not have a net worth of tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of gold marks? They decided to pool their money in one place and ask the Empire to help them build a steam tank that belonged to Marlin Castle.
The Brunswick Military Factory refused because they did not have the ability to build a steam tank. The dwarves of Breezy Castle also refused and mocked the humans for being a bunch of idiots.
In the end, Marlin Castle found the Nur Military Factory. In the face of tens of thousands of gold marks and the promise of more investment, the Nur Military Factory fell silent. Nur was different from Brunswick. This industrial city needed large orders and funds. At the same time, the large amount of gold sent to the Nur Palace also shut the mouths of the nobles.
This included Emilia. The Duchess of the empire was originally very dissatisfied with this arrangement, but the ten thousand gold marks worth of gifts from Marlinburg, as well as a large number of precious accessories and cosmetics from the high elves, made Emilia acquiesce.
Since then, the Nur Military Factory accepted the order. The Nur engineers were asked to build a war machine that was "taller, faster, and stronger" than a steam tank. They were also required to be able to travel in swamps and not be too complicated. At the very least, they had to ensure that the engineers in Marlin Castle could learn how to operate it.
"This really makes things difficult for us." At this time, the person in charge of the land ship project, the Empire's Great Engineer Hezekiah Goodman, stood up. He was a very special Great Engineer. He wore a set of relatively clean clothes, had burn scars on his face, and wore a soft hat that covered his head from head to chin. There was also a clock on the top of the hat, which made his head and the clock look like a gourd.
"As everyone knows, our understanding of steam technology is limited. Only the Great Engineers who are proficient in steam technology can skillfully operate a steam tank. They know when to reduce pressure, when to increase pressure, and when to overload. But Marlin Castle's requirements were too difficult. We messed up many times. For example, the main cannon was too powerful, and the cannon's recoil caused the steam tank to disintegrate. For example, the steam boiler was too small, and the power was insufficient. If the boiler was too big, it would easily explode. The steam tank would easily fall apart when turning, and the wheels would even fall off."
"So how did you solve this problem in the end?" Laing asked curiously. "I can imagine that you must have encountered a lot of difficulties."
"After many failures, we suddenly realized that we didn't have to forcibly copy the original steam tank to make a bigger one. We only needed to follow the requirements of the merchants of Marlin Castle — higher, bigger, and stronger." Engineer Goodman sounded proud. "So we immediately gave up on building a new tank. Instead, we built this' land ship 'according to the requirements of Marlin Castle. We enlarged the steam boiler to ensure that it would work smoothly. It may not be as powerful and powerful as the steam tank, but it has a large enough volume and a sturdy hull. At least under the condition that the steam boiler doesn't explode and the tires run normally, the land ship proved to be a walking war fortress and land cruiser. After the people of Marlin Castle inspected it, they were very satisfied. They immediately asked us to build half a dozen (six)."
"How many have you built?" Laing asked.
"We've built three, and the fourth is almost complete." Engineer Goodman nodded. "With the prototype, the rest is easy to mass produce. I mean … if the money is enough, of course we can build it."
"Okay." Laing nodded. He had an idea.
The last place for the day's tour was the Nur Firearms Academy. Because this tour involved some privacy and technical secrets, Laing and the others could not visit many places. The main places they could visit were the teaching building, the dormitory, the shooting range, and the cafeteria.
After a morning's tour, it was already afternoon. When they entered the cafeteria, Laing noticed that there were about twenty Armoured Nur soldiers eating in the cafeteria.
The Armoured Nur was most likely the most powerful firearms unit in the old world. It was formed by the students, guards, and instructors of the Nur Firearms Academy. There were not many people, about seven to eight hundred of them. They wore heavy armor and held master-grade firearms. The Armoured Nur was the most well-respected firearms regiment in the Empire. At the same time, they did not lack powerful close combat abilities. The soldiers were mostly from the nobles of the Empire. Other than sending their children to the Rik Guards, sending them to the Nur Firearms Academy to study was the ideal path for the children of the Empire's nobles.
"Greetings, my Countess, Sir Laing, Madam Suria. I am Jubal Fokke, the commander of the Armoured Nur." A brown-bearded general wearing a black half-body plate armor and a kite helmet with several feathers on his head stood in front of everyone. "Welcome to the Nur Firearms Academy."
"Jubal Fokke is a valiant general who has been on the battlefield for a long time." Emilia stood up. The Empire's Countess said proudly, "Due to his excellent control of tactics, many people see him as the successor to the president of the Engineer Association. My dear Jubal was born at the Nur River Wharf. His talent for tactics and firm discipline allowed him to rise quickly in the ranks. He respects those engineers who provide professional skills and virtuous people, but he has always been ruthless towards those who are lazy or incompetent."
"You flatter me, Countess." The commander of the Armoured Nur, Jubal Fokke, lowered his head in embarrassment. "Apologies, we are eating."
"It's fine. Can you show us around the kitchen?" Laing was suddenly interested.
"Of course!" Jubal did not expect Laing to make such a request. He was stunned for a moment, but still agreed.
Everyone entered the kitchen. The Armoured Nur's meal today was steak, vegetable salad, mashed potatoes, bread, boiled carrots, and corn soup. It was delicious. Only a heavy industrial city like Nur could afford such a meal.
"Tactical meal." Laing looked at an Armoured Nur who was holding an iron plate.
"Tactical steak." The kitchen was frying steak.
"Tactical meal."
"Tactical bald head." Laing pointed at the bald head of an armoured soldier.
"Hahahahaha!" Everyone burst into laughter. Suria and Emilia were laughing so hard that they could not straighten their backs.
Laing's humour brought the tour to a perfect end.
When everyone came out of the Nur Military Factory, the old guard Raymond quickly walked over. "My Duke, Duchess!"
"What's wrong, Raymond?" Laing knew that the old guard would not come looking for him for no reason.
"Mister Olivier has arrived. Mister Vincent has also arrived in Nur." Raymond said in a low voice. "They are waiting for you at the place where you are staying."
"Very good. We will return now."
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