Black Iron’s Glory

Chapter 482: Holy Light 595

Claude was very busy.

Since February 595, the Overseas Autonomous Overseas Cruise Fleet has continuously brought a wide variety of large mechanical equipment and technicians and their families from Bai Lu City. According to Fleet Governor Colonel Muried, there is no longer a large manufacturing factory in all three southwestern counties and the seven royal counties occupied by the Legion of Thunder. Whether military or civilian, as long as all mechanical equipment is shipped back.

Claude had to admit that the most effective means of upgrading production and manufacturing processes in the overseas autonomous territories was to rob groups. According to Sir Bennett and Mr. Viberon, these are the mechanical equipment and technicians that can now be produced in the overseas jurisdictions of the Kingdom's native energy production, even more so in terms of production efficiency and product quality, and the same products are produced at lower costs and more competitive prices in the overseas autonomous territories.

The reason is simple: those large manufacturing workshops in the mainland of the kingdom are basically in the hands of the old-fashioned aristocrats and emerging business aristocrats, whose products are mostly monopolized in the mainland of the kingdom and sold externally, without competitive pressures, so they increase their sales prices to maximize their profits. At the same time, in these manufacturing workshops, more management joins in a variety of relationships, where people float, increasing human costs and wasting resources.

Until mid-May, the ocean cruise fleet, which had already been transported back and forth three times, began a month-long renovation and ship maintenance period. By the time transport resumes in June, a large number of displaced persons and refugees from the Kingdom will be repatriated. The report sent back by General Albert called for an increase in grass deliveries in the military region, as the Thunder Corps gathered nearly a million displaced persons and refugees in White Deer City alone, with some food pressure.

Claude can only stay in Port Cobichous right now and is busy separating the large mechanical equipment shipped back. Military workers are returned to the military, civilian, and military workers are divided into the blackstone firearms manufacturing factory and the joint military manufacturing industry, which is under Mr. Viberon's responsibility. Machinery and equipment for civilian use are divided into those owned by the overseas autonomous territories and those that can be handed over to the autonomous consulates...

Councillors who wanted to have an affair with Claude so that they could take advantage of the distribution of these civilian mechanical equipment were not a few, and they knew very well that there was no shop past the village. Having your own family run a large manufacturing workshop locally is the best industry that allows families to maintain influence locally and pass it on to future generations.

To that end, there are many members of parliament who are prepared to send their daughters or granddaughters to Claude's bed in order to bring them closer together and allow their families to be cared for in the distribution of these civilian machinery. Claude did everything he could to avoid these uninvited senators with children. Fortunately, General Bolognick and Sir Bennett soon arrived at the port of Cobichous and took over the distribution of these civilian machinery, finally quieting Claude down a lot.

Claude is sometimes bored when he's busy. When Boquer returned last year, he spoke to himself in secret about the incompetence of many of the top ranks of the NDA against the rule of Sterling XI, ready to elect His Royal Highness Prince Frederie. More than a year has passed so far, how can the king not move at all? Even the report General Albert sent back from the mainland of the kingdom said that the king was calm and there were no signs that he would be sending troops against the Legion of Thunder.

Claude was wondering at this point, and naturally he would not think that Bork Al would deceive him, making up the story of the high ranking dissatisfaction with Sterling XI. In addition to removing large, restricted military machinery and equipment, improving the production and manufacturing skills of the overseas autonomous territories, and closing up the human resources lacking in the autonomous territories for displaced refugees from the mainland of the Kingdom, it is also important to hit His Majesty in the face.

Forcing a regiment from a direct overseas jurisdiction to land in the kingdom to rob military production and manufacturing equipment, loot manufacturing workshops in local counties, and gather refugees and displaced persons from the mainland of the kingdom is a slap on the face of Sterling XI. It can be said that His Majesty has disgraced his face, both domestically and abroad, by wearing an incompetent, unconscious and absurd hat over his head, almost depriving him of his prestige and dignity as king before the ministers and nobles of the kingdom.

Under these circumstances, it should be easy for the high ranks of the SS to abolish his throne and to elect His Royal Highness Prince Frederick as king, but why is the king quiet? Isn't this the best time?

In fact, Claude doesn't understand that the top ranks of the SS are also cursing motherfuckers, cursing the Thunder Legion. Originally prepared for the mutiny to bring His Royal Highness Prince Frederick to power, the Legion of Thunder landed just as they were about to launch, sweeping 10 local counties throughout the kingdom, and the soldiers headed straight for the surrounding area of the Ibnister Plains.

Sometimes the guards of the Guardian Corps, who were set up on a level defense facility on the outskirts of the Ibnister Plains, could see the Light Riders of the Thunder Corps roaming nearby. Although these Light Riders of the Thunder Division have shown no hostility, they have merely gathered the ranks of the displaced to publicize the benefits of travelling to the Overseas Autonomous Territories in the refugee-populated areas of the Kingdom. But the guard soldiers of the guard regiment at the gate remain ready for battle only as if they were close to the enemy.

The arrival of the Legion of Thunder could be said to have interrupted the plan of action of the high ranks of the Guardian Corps to overthrow Sterling XI. Because the Guardian Corps did not know whether the Thunder Corps had come intentionally or not, they now very much regretted disclosing the tacit nature of the programme to the representatives of the immediate territorial theatre. They had intended to gain the assent of the zone of direct jurisdiction and, after the success of their plan, had recognized His Royal Highness Prince Frederick as the new king, it would have been sufficient to make a statement.

The war zone now has not only been renamed an autonomous territory, but a Legion of Thunder has also been sent to the mainland of the Kingdom. This caused the high ranks of the SS to sit waxed and wonder whether the plan should continue. These days, they could not trust other regiments, especially the Thunder Corps from overseas jurisdictions. Even if the Legion of Thunder put out the banner of anti-Sterling XI against the kingdom, it would appear that, like their purpose, the senior ranks of the Corps of Defenders would not dare to fall lightly.

Knowing that people do not know their hearts and minds, what they are most afraid of is to plan to abolish the throne of Sterling XI, when His Royal Highness Prince Frederick came to power, the Thunder Corps countered the attack, claiming that it was tremendous treason to abolish the monarch without authorization by the Guardian Corps, and then marched to the Plains of Ibnister to claim it, the result is sour and refreshing...

So the senior members of the Guardianship Corps and the old noble family behind them can only hold back their troops, sit back and watch the Thunder Corps carry machinery and equipment in the kingdom's mainland, gather the displaced people and so on. It seems that the Thunder Regiment will not stay in the kingdom for long. They can wait for the Thunder Regiment to withdraw before starting a mutiny, some with time and patience.

It is not that they did not send messengers and the Legion of Thunder, but rather believed that General Albert had said that the Legion of Thunder was merely here to help the Kingdom solve the problems of displaced persons and refugees and would soon withdraw to the Overseas Autonomous Territories. But as long as the Legion of Thunder is still in the kingdom, they will never move lightly to give the Legion of Thunder an excuse to intervene.

But after June, the ocean cruise fleet set out again, transporting the first 300,000 or so Kingdom refugees back, and told Claude that the Red Dragon Corps of the Kingdom of Auvellas was stupidly moving. I learned from the Guardian Corps and the Lizard Corps that Sterling XI felt he could save himself and once again levied a war tax on the inhabitants of the Plains of Ibnister and the Wang Duke of Siegfried, his father-in-law, as a military expense, which prompted the Red Dragon Corps to come and hunt down the rebel soldiers of the Thunder Corps, who had illegally landed in the kingdom itself...

This was mainly after June, when the Legion of Thunder began to shrink and withdraw from the occupied royal counties. Anyway, everything that should have been moved has been moved, and the displaced refugees and so on have gone to White Deer City to await the arrival of the convoy. Even some local county officials and wealthy people packed their belongings and withdrew with the Legion of Thunder. They were worried that after the Legion of Thunder, His Majesty would send someone else to settle and hold them accountable...

Perhaps it was this kind of evacuation that gave Sterling XI the illusion that the Legion of Thunder was carrying such a large package of displaced persons and refugees that there was no more incentive and that it had to retract its strength. This created hope in his heart that he would defeat the Thunder Division and regain his prestige as king.

And this hope rests on his father-in-law, Commander Red Dragon Corps. Although his wife died prematurely of childbirth difficulties, his father-in-law had nothing to say to him. Without his father-in-law's support, he couldn't beat his big brother, Prince Hansburg, to the throne. The key moment is that his father-in-law's army of Red Dragons can rely on...

Ridiculously, Sterling XI's heaviest and most heavily relied on the Guardian Corps, the oldest and most powerful corps in the history of the Kingdom of Ovieras, but also the most complex of its internal forces. The Great Prince of Hansburg, who wanted to wipe out the old-fashioned aristocratic family forces of the Guardian Corps and was opposed by the Guardian Corps, pushed Prince Widrec to the throne, embraced him as Sterling XI and established his Khan Ma credit in the Kingdom's civil war.

But now many high-ranking officers in the Guardian Corps have regretted picking the wrong person for the throne, and Sterling XI's performance has not been as convincing as it was when he was a prince. Especially after becoming a king, he reused the emerging business aristocracy like a bereavement dog, and instead set aside the old brand aristocratic family power, which greatly helped him to climb the throne, causing dissatisfaction among many kingdom ministers and officers belonging to the old brand aristocratic family power.

Sterling XI was not unaware of this, but he thought he would receive the loyalty of the Guardian Corps if he were king. For more than 300 years, the Guardian Corps has always been the most trusted and fought force of every king, and naturally he is no exception. So the battle was left to another regiment, and suppressing two other Ace Field Legions that were somewhat uncontrolled was one of the things that his king was going to do.

It's just that the Legion of the Lizards doesn't listen, and it doesn't make sense to pay the huge arrears of military expenses before they go to war. After thinking about it, Sterling XI felt that his father-in-law's army of Red Dragons was still more reliable, and could persuade his father-in-law to support him once more with an additional military expense. After all, in the eyes of his father-in-law, what the Legion of Thunder did was indeed a rebellion against the kingdom, and as an old soldier of the kingdom, it was the will to crusade.

However, this high-profile war ended in a short time. The Red Dragon Regiment arrived on the front line and was fully raided by the Thunder Regiment before the battle began. The Red Dragon Regiment collapsed for only half a day. The guns were shot well without the Thunder Regiment, and the projectiles were also more powerful than the far explosions thrown by the Thunder Regiment. Even the physical qualities and combat consciousness of soldiers are not comparable to those of the Thunder Legion and are almost all-round pressure.

Not to mention the Thunder Legion or the Light Cavalry Legion. The engine power exceeded the Red Dragon Legion by several times. In the field, the Red Dragon Legion could not resist the attack of the Legion of Thunder. All the officers and soldiers of the Red Dragon Corps who are constantly attacking the Thunder Legion have a delusion, as if they were weak and resistant, and a small part of them are facing the surprise attack of the entire Thunder Legion. Without a solid defensive position, Red Dragon Corps officers and soldiers were soon defeated and captured by the Thunder Corps...

Easily fled to the top of the Red Dragon Corps in the Plains of Ibnister, accompanied the Commander of the Corps, the Duke of Siegfried, with tears, the entire corps of more than 65,000 men, with whom less than 7,000 fled. It was a huge defeat, and World War I reimbursed one of the kingdom's Ace Field Legions, finally allowing the kingdom's native soldiers to see the power to defeat and destroy two second-line regiments of the overseas direct administration of the 10 standing regiments of the Kingdom of Hicks, and to show them why the direct administration war zone had won that colonial war.

Fortunately, after the victory of the Thunder Legion, the prisoners were not brought back to the overseas autonomous territories, but all the captured soldiers of the Red Dragon Legion were released. At the same time, the soldiers of the Red Dragon Legion who had been wounded on the battlefield were healed, the remains of the victims of the war were collected, all were handed over to the legions of officers sent by the Red Dragon Legion to receive them, and the weapons and ammunition collected on the battlefield were returned to them in a considerate manner.

This brief battle of the Red Dragon Legion killed nearly 10,000 people and seriously injured more than 20,000 people, which is equivalent to half of the casualties. Legion leader of the Red Dragon Legion, Duke of Siegfried, Kingdom Marshal, did not even return to the king, took the remnants of the Red Dragon Legion back silently to their garrison to lick their wounds...

The only benefit to the Thunder Division from this war was the receipt of the goodwill and pull of the Guardian Corps and the Lizard Corps, both of which sent a consolation corps to pull the relationship together. At the same time, new rifles and new projectiles equipped by the Thunder Legion Ministries also entered their eyes, only out of concern for the strength of the Thunder Legion, they could only keep in mind to wait until they returned for research and imitation.

The Autonomous Territory soon received General Albert's wrap-up report on the battle, which Claude did not believe. It is inevitable that such a war Thunder Legion will prevail, and failure will be surprising. The Red Dragon Corps, though one of the kingdom's three Ace Corps, is an infantry field corps. An unavoidable defeat was the sudden attack on the plains by a regiment of light cavalry troops like the Thunder Corps, on which no defensive front could count.

Not to mention the difference in weapon performance, the range power and launch speed of a new rifle is not known to be many times greater than that of a torch gun. The Red Dragon Corps would not have suffered such heavy casualties if both sides had firewire guns. In particular, their routes of march and the deployment of their respective positions received detailed information from the National Guard Corps. In such a battlefield, the failure of the Red Dragon Legion became a final act.

After this war, the Thunder Corps progressed very well in the Kingdom itself. And the local counties they evacuated were soon received by the Legion of the Lions. Both sides remain silent. To the surprise of the Legion of Vultures, those local counties have begun to recover from production without the drag of displaced persons and refugees from the Kingdom and with some social order guarantees. At least some farms and fields outside the town have been planted with winter wheat...

For Claude, five hundred and ninety-five years of Holy Light was a calm year, and the Overseas Autonomous Territories were at a stage of great post-war production development * * *. Thanks to the large quantities of machinery and equipment transported from the mainland of the Kingdom, nearly one hundred large manufacturing workshops have emerged in the Autonomous Territories in just one year, which heralds a further increase in the productivity of the Overseas Autonomous Territories and implies significant tax revenues.

Rail tracks have begun to be laid from Port Vibato to Cromwell, and rail transport has finally opened a new transport chapter in the Overseas Autonomous Territories. Over the next three years, the main task of the Executive Committee of Autonomous Territories will be to lay the railways in every town in the states, improve the convenience of commercial logistics and promote rail transport. Originally from the southernmost state of Arturas to the northernmost state of Rocky Hills, horseback riding takes a month. But with the railroad, the journey will be compressed to seven days.

In addition to providing overseas autonomous territories with mechanical equipment for large military industries, the attack also allowed autonomous territories to own a large steel refinery and forging workshop to produce special steel such as gunmetal. An additional 1.6 million Royal displaced and refugee families are expected to be transported, which somewhat compensates for the lack of human resources in the Overseas Autonomous Territories.

At the end of the year, however, a message from the colonies of the West Coast countries left Claude and others angry, but helpless. According to the news, the Kingdom of Hicks, together with the Kingdom of Nasserley, the Duchy of Kanas, has marched eight legions into the new occupied territories acquired by the Kingdom of Ovieras after five years of war in the eastern part of the country, with three countries playing the slogan of helping to restore the Principality of Rimodra and the Principality of Siddins...