Chapter 1278 - 1198: Brandon Signal Tower
Actually, upon careful reflection, it’s understandable. Things like the Giant Dragon and golden flames are events from hundreds of thousands of years ago in the historical timeline.
In Horn’s hometown, they are matters from billions of years ago.
This is akin to the fear that the meteor which once wiped out the dinosaurs might descend again someday.
It’s not impossible, but constantly worrying about it is merely unnecessary anxiety.
So after resting for the morning, Horn got up and went to work as usual.
Now, he has set two goals: one is to focus more on the study of ancient artifacts, and the other is to once again raise the crisis level of the Royal Court.
The situation is too deep for Horn to fully grasp this time.
Since it’s beyond control, one should try to prevent it from happening, like going all out to stop the Royal Court’s eastern expansion.
Originally, within the Cardinal Group, there was always a line of thinking about an invisible alliance with the Royal Court.
That is, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
Currently, although the Royal Court is an enemy, there is no fundamental conflict between the two sides.
Nobles and the Empire, despite the Holy Alliance currently collaborating with them, are destined to be enemies in the future.
So, instead of forming an alliance, the Holy Alliance and the Royal Court could have a mutual understanding.
The Holy Alliance would nibble away at the southern territories of the Empire, and the Royal Court would nibble away at the northern territories of the Empire.
Once the essence lands west of the Dragon Sleep Mountain Range are annexed, then head north to drive out the Royal Court and realize the unification of the entire Miseria world.
Horn had been contemplating this idea, but now its feasibility seems too low.
If Horn is correct, Serafe’s long-standing goal has been to collect the seven crowns of the elves.
So far, with the Blood Crown and the Triple Crown, she has collected four.
If according to the invisible alliance strategy, she acquires the Norn Chosen King crown, she would have an absolute majority.
Horn was previously uncertain of the implication of this move, but now whatever she plans to do, he must hinder it.
"Petier." Horn walked to the doorway and called out toward the Secret Monk office outside.
"I’m here." Petier immediately stood up.
Horn handed him a prepared draft: "At the routine meeting the day after tomorrow, I’m going to give a speech. Please help me refine this draft and arrange the schedule."
Petier quickly scanned through the paper before settling: "Are you planning to change the strategy towards the Royal Court?"
"Yes." Horn nodded, "Things have changed, and we must adapt."
"Understood." Petier handed the draft to the Secret Monk next to him, while Horn took a coat from the coat rack.
Early spring weather, the suburbs can still be chilly.
As for why Horn needed a coat in the warm Holy Seat Mansion, it’s naturally because he was about to change his schedule temporarily.
"Your Grace, what is this for?"
"I read in the newspaper earlier that the Brandon signal machine has completed 200 kilometers of construction, and they are celebrating today, aren’t they?"
"Yes, do you want to go?"
"Yes, after lunch would be ideal." Draping the coat over his arm, Horn headed for the door, "Let’s have lunch first and give them some time to prepare."
Since becoming a husband, although Horn disliked special measures, he had to compromise.
In simple terms, Jeanne liked to dabble in some culinary arts.
Even now holding a high position, having many obligations, she still preferred not to abandon a normal traditional family life.
For example, family meals together.
Actually, Horn understood; Jeanne really needed a family.
Therefore, Horn specifically arranged a small kitchen and dining area for Jeanne.
If Jeanne had free time, she would cook herself, and they would dine together. If she didn’t, the canteen would prepare the meal and deliver it for them to eat together.
After lunch, Horn and Jeanne took a short nap, afterward kissed goodbye, and boarded the carriage heading for the suburbs.
At this moment, Petier had efficiently organized the Brandon signal machine materials within just a morning and handed them to Horn.
Called the Brandon signal machine, it wasn’t named after its inventor Brandon.
But its patron is Brandon, previously a tycoon of the Meigedi Commerce Association, now the general manager of the Holy Alliance Divine Lottery Company.
Brandon had his reasons for funding such a machine.
In simple terms, with the promotion of Holy Alliance football, the lottery began to flourish.
Of course, 60% of the net profit (removing labor and operational costs) is designated for educational purposes, and only 40% goes to the shareholders’ profits.
The problem was, the Holy League’s lottery largely depended on the Holy League’s post-car system.
Even with Holy Alliance’s excellent roads, a postal carriage system could only travel 7-10 kilometers per hour.
Previously in the Thousand River Valley Region, particularly in the four plains counties, this timeliness issue was less noticeable.
With the Holy Alliance’s territories now covering the new five counties, Shattered Stone Plain, Black Snake Bay, and the inclusion of the restored mountainous 5 counties.
This meant that from the lottery information produced at Holy Machinery Court, it would take 8-10 days for Silver Bay City at Shattered Stone Plain to receive the news.
Lottery buyers in outer counties had to wait several days for the results, giving speculators enormous chances to exploit.
For instance, Brandon once noticed an exceptionally high number of external county winners, causing severe losses to the company.
Once traced back, it was discovered those little sneaks relied on fast horses to preemptively relay information and bet according to drawn information.
Brandon was furious with this, and put up a 200 gold pound reward to enlist engineers to solve this problem.
With the emergence of Holy Machinery Court University and several other universities and research institutions, Holy Alliance drew in many scholars from Leia.
The coastal disturbances also led to a new wave of engineers and scholars leaving their homes for Holy Alliance.
Now, Holy Alliance possessed a wealth of engineering resources.
The Miseria world formed two main centers of education and research, one being Huaqiu City, the other Holy Machinery Court.
However, the former leans towards humanities, while the latter focuses on science and technology.
As long as funding is available, creating a mechanical device becomes simple.
Starting from 1453, in just a year, through successive efforts by three engineers, the Brandon signal machine was successfully developed.
And beginning from 1454, in only nine months, Brandon completed the first 230-kilometer route with 15 stations from Joan of Arc Castle to Rapids City.
After that, he continued his efforts, spending nearly 500 gold pounds to construct another 100 kilometers with 8 stations from Rapids City to Xiaochi City.
This year, he finally completed the 330 kilometers with 21 stations to Xia Lvcheng.
In total, the 660 kilometers of signal machine transmission stations virtually eliminated lottery fraud in the Thousand River Valley.
Only in the new five counties, Shattered Stone Plain, Black Snake Bay, do lottery cheats remain.
However, Brandon was satisfied.
According to the data, he planned to conclude after completing information transmission for key cities in the new counties and border areas.
As for regions like Black Snake Bay and Shattered Stone Plain, they could establish branch companies.
Lottery centers in Thousand River Valley are at Holy Machinery Court and Rapids City, Black Snake Bay would switch to Celestial Maiden City, and Shattered Stone Plain to Silver Bay City.
Cities unreachable within a day wouldn’t have lottery stations established.
After all, the people in these areas weren’t as motivated or capable as those in the core Thousand River Valley, making them uneconomical for signal machine lines.
"This can’t be right." Horn picked up a red pen and circled something on Brandon’s internal business plan.
Initially, he planned to let the Brandon signal machine take its course.
Because relatively speaking, this signal machine was less advanced than a telegraph.
With the ether clock emerging, he believed a telegraphic system wouldn’t be far off.
But it seemed now, ether telegraphs were still far away, and with war potentially coming swiftly, the intensity might also rise.
In such circumstances, the Brandon signal machine had to be relied upon.
"Your Grace, we’ve arrived."
Horn stepped off the carriage and looked up to see the towering Brandon signal machine.