Vientiane Throne of Civilization

Chapter 1722 Outrageous
Compared to the chaos in the Kingdom of Smith, the Great Zhou Dynasty has been remarkably peaceful during this period.

Shi Lei and his men probably couldn't have imagined that the snake people, whose stronghold they had taken over, would launch a counterattack so quickly, only to accidentally attack the wrong target...

In contrast, Black Moon City obtained relevant intelligence after some time through espionage channels.

Looking at the intelligence sent by Ye Jinghong, Zhou Xu couldn't help but blink twice.

Fisher's death, coupled with the power struggle among the black nobles, caused a great stir within the Kingdom of Smith, and some information naturally spread like wildfire.

Due to the delay in intelligence gathering, Zhou Xu was unaware at this point that the Smith Kingdom's impenetrable defenses had been breached by the snake people.

Even so, the amount of intelligence he had was already quite substantial.

Some of this intelligence has been confirmed, while some was only heard about, but now it has all been marked.

At this moment, looking at this intelligence, Zhou Xu's expression gradually became strange.

After all, he had just listened to Shi Lei's report not long ago.

Combining the intelligence from both sides and doing some analysis and speculation, a slightly outlandish answer emerged in his mind.

"hiss--"

Zhou Xu hissed softly and leaned back tactically.

Although he couldn't be 100% certain, he estimated that the matter was pretty much as he had guessed.

The snake people, whose stronghold had been cut off, actually ran to the border of the Kingdom of Smith.

To be honest, the Saint Laurent region and the Kingdom of Smith are quite far apart.

Starting from the border of the Kingdom of Smith, it would take a large force more than a month to reach the border of the old Saint Laurent district.

Of course, the distance might be different on the desert border, but the two sides shouldn't be too close, otherwise their Great Zhou's reconnaissance forces would have discovered the existence of the Smith Kingdom back in the early stages of the reconnaissance mission.

This indicates that the exact location of the Smith Kingdom was completely outside their initial reconnaissance range.

As for how the snake people in the desert found their way there, that's hard to say.

Zhou Xu pondered this matter for a while and felt he should remind Shi Lei, so he turned around and started operating the small communication cube.

Upon confirming this information, Shi Lei was also quite surprised.

No one expected that such an outrageous thing could happen to them.

Without saying a word, Shi Lei immediately convened a meeting.

After learning the situation, the officers, while feeling both amused and exasperated, immediately became serious.

"Fisher's strength is roughly at the Silver Three-Star level of the Vajra Realm. To kill Fisher, the Snake People must have at least Silver Four-Star or even Silver Five-Star combat power!"

At the conference table, Zhou Chongshan quickly made a judgment.

"Under these circumstances, with the high-end combat power of the snake people no longer restrained, it's really hard to say whether the cliff defense line can hold."

Upon hearing this, Xie Liancheng nodded.

"This snake-man expert is very likely the snake-man king mentioned in the previous intelligence. Don't forget, besides the snake-man king, there seems to be a giant snake in the snake-man race that is called the 'Snake God'."

At this point, Xie Liancheng paused, hesitated for a moment, and then spoke his mind.

"I feel that the Smith Kingdom is unlikely to be able to hold out."

"If the Kingdom of Smith can't be defended, it will be a problem for us." Shi Lei frowned slightly.

For their Great Zhou, the best-case scenario is that the Kingdom of Smith can hold its ground and maintain a steady war of attrition with the Serpent People.

In this way, while someone helps them fight snakes, they can focus on development.

But if they can't hold on, once the Kingdom of Smith falls, the snake people might be able to directly invade the northeastern border of their Great Zhou.

"How about this, let's send out a squad of giant eagle knights to scout ahead and see if we can pinpoint the border of the Kingdom of Smith on this side."

Regardless of whether they take action next, confirming their location is the best course of action.

Otherwise, when it's time to take action, you won't even know where the other party is, and that would be truly frustrating.

Incidentally, if things go smoothly, they might even gather some intelligence, which would be beneficial to them.

On the other side, compared to Shi Lei, who was already worried, Zhou Xu was quite calm.

As the commander-in-chief of the desert border, Shi Lei only needed to consider the defense tasks of the desert border to a large extent.

But Zhou Xu was different; as the supreme ruler, he needed to consider the entire overall situation.

He had, of course, considered the possibility that the Smith Kingdom might not be able to hold out and that the snake people might break in from within the Smith Kingdom.

As mentioned before, with him and Yarvit stationed in Black Moon City, ready to support the northeastern border at any time, the northeastern border of their Great Zhou Dynasty is basically as stable as Mount Tai.

If even the two of them can't handle it...

That basically means the country is doomed; there's no other way.

As for whether they should offer their support to the Kingdom of Smith at this moment.

Zhou Xu also didn't have this idea.

Everything before us is the result of Fisher's own choices.

If the Kingdom of Smith itself isn't in a hurry, why should he be?
Not to mention that playing at home has a greater advantage than playing away, so there's no reason for him to make things more difficult for himself.

After ending the communication, Zhou Xu was far from idle today. Having just finished his morning government work, he ate something quickly and left the palace, taking a train to the Grassland Military Region.

When Zhou Xu arrived, some basic tests had already begun.

Amidst billowing smoke, an armored vehicle was moving at a steady speed within the test range.

This armored vehicle is equipped with tracked wheels, and its main body is completely covered under thick armor plates. A chimney on top constantly spews out thick smoke, and a cannon barrel extends from the front of the vehicle.

The tank can be divided into two levels, somewhat like a small two-story tower, and from a distance, it can be described as a mobile fortress.

The main gun was on the first floor, while a more flexible small-caliber secondary gun was also installed on the second floor.

This look is quite novel for Zhou Xu, a modern person.

That's right, this is the core project that Qin Fen has been mainly in charge of for the past few years: the Dwarf Steam Tank!
One after another, eight rounds of formal testing were conducted, and countless smaller tests were conducted during the regular testing period.

After each test, I would find problems, fix them, and then test again, which unexpectedly took a lot of time.

This is the final test, or rather, the results acceptance meeting.

This time, the dwarf steam tank wasn't just driving around aimlessly. The project team created a huge test track, incorporating various outdoor environments, including puddles, sand dunes, and hills, to test the dwarf steam tank's mobility in different terrains.

(End of this chapter)