When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

Chapter 1126 The First Half of 1457

December of 1456 passed quickly, and 1457 soon followed.

It was as if time had been fast-forwarded; in the blink of an eye, half a year had passed in a flash.

In the past six months, it seems that a lot has changed, but it also seems that nothing has happened.

As spring turns to summer, farmers, who are not in the midst of their agricultural off-season, begin to seek employment in nearby towns.

The new batch of loyal heirs, along with newly graduated university students, were sent to the countryside to serve as assistants to the itinerant monks.

Everyone was busy and hurried, completely unaware that the year 1457 had arrived.

Only college students and engineers sitting in cafes reading newspapers are quite sensitive to time.

They would always talk at length about the international situation, about the current political situation on Dawn Island, and about how Charles VIII wrote more than a dozen letters to Horn because of his anger over Dawn Island.

Despite the constant criticism in the newspapers, it didn't stop the people of Saint-Union from buying oil and raw materials from France, nor did it stop the people of France from buying Saint-Union bonds, stocks, and all sorts of novel industrial products.

Chancellor Lorenzo even personally appealed to the French people in the newspapers to stick to their local culture and not buy foreign goods.

Soon after, the Holy Alliance Pravda newspaper angrily denounced Lorenzo for dumping agricultural products and industrial raw materials and plundering the Holy Alliance's industrial goods.

As the Holy Alliance gradually sold off its patent rights and liberated the church from its monopoly on public opinion, newspapers appeared throughout the empire.

The citizens, who had just gained the right to speak, were clearly trying to make their presence felt like mad dogs.

In the public sphere, there were verbal battles everywhere, much to the delight of citizens who frequented pubs and cafes.

They even overlooked the fact that the Black Serpent Bay Federation had taken in a group of political refugees from the Royal Court.

A group of core members of the Soridor clan went to the Black Serpent Bay Federation.

This was also one of Horn's original intentions in establishing the Black Serpent Bay Federation—to act as a black glove for the Holy Alliance.

Anything that the Holy Alliance is not suitable to take over or do, that's what the Black Snake Bay Federation does.

The arrival of the Soridor clan could not have been kept secret from Sylph.

Horn kept the news under wraps, intending to let Sylvie know little by little.

With her intelligence, Shilov sensed something was amiss.

However, instead of saying it directly, she focused on scientific research.

It has to be said that Shilov, who abandoned basic theoretical research and focused all her efforts on mechanical applications, is too over-the-top.

She herself is not only a world-class mechanical engineer and a first-class scientific research project manager, but also a first-class alchemist and microscopic magic user.

What would take a dwarf ages to figure out, Hilov could simply use "Microscopy, activate!" and immediately discover the problem.

Of course, under the Holy Church, a mechanical divination department was also established for diviners, including the Hermitage of Dreamless and the Hermitage of White Mountain.

Whenever a design problem arises that seems unsolvable, these fortune tellers would provide inspiration.

While it's not always correct, it's incredibly fast for normal technological progress.

At the beginning of the year, Horn gave Sylvie her first task: to figure out a way to get the clockwork locomotive working.

With the establishment of more than a dozen ether clocks, the operation of the clockwork machines within the Holy Mechanism is no longer a problem.

The biggest problem at present is still the long-distance winding locomotive.

Horn's most desired clockwork locomotive project consists of one line leading to Norn in the north and another line crossing the Dragonsleigh Mountains towards Norn in the south.

With these two railways connected, goods from southern Norn no longer had to take a long detour from Griffin Point to reach Fran.

We can simply take a shortcut from the Dragon Sleep Mountains directly through the Thousand River Valley to the Leia and Fran regions.

Of course, the amount of goods that can be transported by rail is also limited, and the net unit price must meet the minimum standard.

Otherwise, if the volume of goods is too large, transporting by clockwork locomotive will still result in a loss, and then sea transport will still be necessary.

However, the original clockwork locomotive had a problem: its clockwork storage capacity was too small to support even the minimum voyage.

After completing their research on the ether clock, Lorton, Kerburn, and others began to work on a new type of spring mechanism.

First, Kerpen produced refined orchard copper by increasing the voltage of the lightning furnace, which greatly improved energy storage.

Then Robert, a former alchemist from the White Mountain Hermitage, along with a group of graduate students, created a clockwork solution, commonly known as "lubricant," based on lunar mercury.

The function of this lubricant is not lubrication, but rather to make the Orichalco springs inert.

This effectively solves the problem of the clockwork mechanism being prone to explosion.

Then Lorton stepped in and designed a spring generator that controlled the speed of the spring by gradually discharging and releasing lubricating fluid in a stepped manner.

In her final, supermodel-like state, Shilov integrated all these scientific research achievements into one, creating the "Father's Hand No. 1" clockwork mechanism, in just three months. With the enhancement of numerous scientific research achievements, the "Father's Hand No. 1" clockwork mechanism was at least three or four stories high.

Theoretically speaking, it is hundreds of times more powerful than the original "Rotating Sacred Machine".

Most importantly, despite all this, the Father's Hand Clockwork is not very heavy or bulky.

The front of a clockwork locomotive can fit completely, but there's one problem.

Given the extreme hardness of refined orogen, there seems to be no suitable means of recharging it other than directly using ether.

It's either that the materials are substandard, or it's that it can't be charged normally.

At this point, Kerben's previously developed patent for transferring potential energy from low-density springs to high-density springs finally came in handy.

Although it hasn't yet reached the application layer, it's at least a promising approach for now.

Upon learning of this news, the staff of the Shenglian Daily immediately reported it as an auspicious omen in the newspaper.

Claims such as "The Holy Father caused the theological technology of the Holy See to explode within six months as a gift to the third four-year plan" and "This is a gift from the Holy Father; destiny is leaping"...

After reading these articles in the newspaper, Horn quickly summoned Madeleine and berated her.

The atmosphere in the newspapers then changed, shifting from praising Jesus Christ and Jesus to praising skilled technicians and engineers.

Horn knew perfectly well that what appeared to be a sudden outbreak within six months was actually the culmination of ten years of preparation.

It can't even be called a decade of accumulation, but rather the realization of centuries and millennia of accumulation by the secret party and artisans.

The reason we couldn't deliver on our promises before was simply because we lacked a methodology, guiding principles, and a suitable environment.

Now that the Empire and the Papacy have been overthrown, the Holy Alliance is the most suitable land.

After ten years of watering and fertilizing, and countless funds spent, this seed has finally yielded abundant fruit.

But Horn also knew that knowing and doing are two different things.

Whether it can achieve nearly a hundred times the speed depends on the results after the prototype is assembled and applied.

Horn, now dressed in a summer vest made of cobwebs, put aside the latest report on the Hand of the Father and stretched.

“Pettier…”

"I'm here."

"Make a note of this: put the Hand of the Father and the Wind-up Locomotive together at the Expo."

Horn did not intend to make the first exposition of the Holy Alliance too grand.

After all, modern trade fairs are essentially product presentations, so cost considerations are still important.

"Didn't you say it was too advanced to be displayed?"

“Times have changed,” Horn said with a smile, picking up the next letter. “We’ll be issuing railroad stocks in the future. How can the Franzians buy stocks if they don’t understand the risks?”

Horn lowered his head, saw the signature on the letter, and the smile on his face disappeared.

That was a letter from Charles VIII.

The content is largely the same, roughly saying things like, "My hands trembled today, my heart aches today, why did you betray me?"
Didn't we agree to divide Dawn Island together? How did you manage to take it all by yourself?
At first, Horn would carefully explain that this was the Dawn Islanders' own choice.

Later, after being bothered by Charles so much, Horn's replies would go something like this: "The Patriarch you asked about is Joan of Arc, what does that have to do with my Jeanne?"

Horn put the reply into an envelope, tossed it into the to-do list box in front of him, and sighed for no apparent reason.

"What's wrong, Your Majesty?" Petit, who was always keeping an eye on Horn's movements, immediately looked up.

"It's nothing." Horn shook his head, but his mind wasn't on the report.

Speaking of Jeanne, she has been absent-minded ever since returning from Dawn Island.

Not only did they communicate less, but they also often stared at him intently, making him feel uneasy.

Could this be a sign of the witch's impending outburst? I didn't sneak any food while she was away!

Horn was 80% confident about this matter.

It seems I need to find an opportunity to talk to Jeanne. Horn rubbed his temples in frustration.

After Lilith's threat emerged, his marriage and succession issues also became major problems.

Horn had his own ways of dealing with the other three saintesses, but he really didn't know how to deal with this younger sister.

(End of this chapter)