When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

Chapter 1146 Problem Found
"Is no one going to speak?" Horn's gaze swept over the cardinals and senior engineers present, and he tapped his knuckles lightly on the table. "I've already made an exception and allowed you to smoke in the conference room."

A pungent, mixed odor permeated the Stag Room of the Holy See Building.

The acrid smell of burning tobacco, the rusty smell of brass heating pipes, and the dampness of autumn rain drifting in from outside the window.

The September rain already carried a slight chill, slanting against the transparent glass like a spider web.

The pale gray sky hung low, pressing down on the spire of the Holy See building, making one feel suffocated and unable to breathe.

Cardinal Madeleine held a extinguished pipe between his fingers, his eyes fixed on the locomotive design drawings spread out in the center of the table.

On either side of the long table sat a row of high-ranking monks from the Holy Alliance, from the Chief of the Treasury to the Chief of Exorcism.

On both sides of the long table, besides those sitting, there were also those standing, all of whom were the heads of various projects and research institutes.

A large number of elite engineers and scholars came specifically for this motorcycle bombing.

Madeleine slowly began, "I have an idea. How about we call Edwin over and have her recite the blueprints Capone took?"

Horn shook his head: "Edwin doesn't memorize everything. It takes time to input memories. At most, they can restore the first generation for you."

"What about Novia? Can't she manipulate metal? Just send her along, it's just a prototype anyway," asked Tirara, the director of the Agriculture Department, who was standing next to her.

"Novia can manipulate metal, but she can only manipulate large objects."

If she could hand-make those high-precision parts, we would have asked her to do it long ago.

"Unless she possesses Lady Sylph's microscopic vision, which she clearly doesn't," a senior engineer said with a helpless shrug.

"What about divination?"

"This already includes divination. Besides, we've already used the Dreamless Divination method before, and using it repeatedly will only increase the error rate."

In fact, iteratively performing divination on the same event repeatedly can very likely lead to overfitting.

If divination were omnipotent, Black Snake Bay would have taken off long ago.

This world is full of loopholes, yet it is also full of logic. There is also an impossible triangle, meaning you can't have it all at once.

Led by Madeleine and Tirara, the group finally began to speak one after another.

But every suggestion is quickly refuted by another person.

The problems piled up like a snowball, getting bigger and bigger.

The Bucks' meeting room seemed to be cursed with arguments; the noise in the meeting room grew louder and louder, just like the rain outside the window.

"Then we'll have to pull manpower from elsewhere, like the Agriculture Department, could they provide some?"

"Why should we draw craftsmen from our Agricultural Department? We're short-handed too."

"What's the big deal about the machines in your agricultural department? Are they as important as our clockwork locomotives?"

"I don't like hearing that. What do you mean? Does that mean our Agricultural Department isn't as important as your Industrial Department?"

"OK."

"You son of a bitch! Isn't this a mess caused by your Industry Department? Why should our Agriculture Department have to take the blame?"

"Wasn't that a mess the Cheka made? What does it have to do with our Industrial Division?"

"When did the Cheka ever cause trouble? Do we Cheka have enough manpower? We were planning to expand our manpower before, but wasn't it your Saint Kuting that disagreed?"

"Manpower is secondary; with such a large flow of people, supplies are stuck in traffic. How are we going to get them over here..."

"They kept making excuses when we tried to transport ore from Cold Spring Fortress before, and now it'll probably be even more difficult. Are those remnants of the Iron Guild still alive or not?"

"boom!"

With a loud bang on the table, the intense arguing abruptly stopped; the person who slammed the table was none other than Cardinal Madeleine.

"Watch your behavior. Can't you see His Majesty is still here?" Having served as the Chief Cardinal for so many years, Madeleine still held considerable prestige.

With Horn's sharp gaze, the group, who were about to fight under the watchful eyes of the Deer Head, obediently returned to their original positions.

Madeleine finally put his pipe on the table, his voice hoarse as if it had been sanded: "Let's list out the problems we have right now, one by one, and see which ones can be solved and which ones are intractable."

We can't just wander around like headless flies, hitting a wall every time we come up with a solution.

“Let me talk about parts production first.” Shilov picked up a charcoal pencil. “The Holy Alliance has the Ash Furnace Town workshop area, so manufacturing ordinary parts isn’t a big problem. The biggest problem is precision.”

The precision of the current clockwork locomotive relies entirely on the dwarves' hand-crafting, much like the early level eight fitters in Horn's hometown.

Although the Holy Alliance is gradually promoting lathes and trying to replace craftsmen with lathes, it still cannot eliminate them.

Because the technology of the Holy Alliance is far from reaching the level of modern Earth, and even in modern Earth, it has not been able to eliminate the fitter group.

Assembly, scraping, grinding, scribing... Saint Union has yet to find a lathe that can completely replace these bench work operations.

The prototypes, molds, and measuring tools that perished in the fire were all precision-crafted using the skills of the dwarves.

Only then can the template molds and measuring tools be placed on the machine tools for mass production.

Now that all these things are gone, they can't be easily rebuilt; Horn's industrialization level hasn't reached that point yet.

"Can these things be made in ten days?"

No one spoke. Horn waited for three minutes before speaking with disappointment: "Then the next question."

René stepped forward, pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocket, and threw it on the table: "This morning we caught two travelers suspected of being Fran's spies outside the Ashburn military industrial area of ​​Jenderburg."

We suspect they're here to pick up Capone.

"Didn't the Cheka have a good grasp of the Holy Mechanism before?" Upon hearing the words "Grey Furnace Town Military Industrial Zone," Hakuto couldn't help but ask, "What's happened lately?"

“It’s not the Cheka’s problem,” Horn said, unusually speaking up for the Cheka. “It’s the passengers’ problem, it’s the time.”

Now that the Holy Alliance is holding an expo, in order to attract enough tourists and foreign investment, it will definitely relax inspections.

Moreover, the surge in numbers will inevitably lead to the Farn spies taking advantage of the chaos, while the Cheka's manpower is still somewhat stretched to its limit if it keeps itself at a normal level.

Seeing everyone fall silent again, Madeleine slowly spoke up: "Today's evening edition of the French Royal Times has been printed."

The headline read, "Saint Union's Clockwork Motorcycles Exposed in Another Scandal, Scam Will Eventually Be Exposed," and included an illustration of a motorcycle exploding.

Not only in Fran, but also in Leah's "L'Elegia," the Patriarch of the Golden Horn publicly declared that this was the Father's punishment.

Even within our own Holy Alliance, some people are posting notices on the streets, saying that the Holy Alliance is treating the Expo like a joke and embezzling believers' money to fill the bottomless pit of fake technology..."

Needless to say, even a simple thought would make it clear that this was a joint effort by Fran and Leia.

Moreover, judging from the speed at which newspapers were published in Frankfurt in the afternoon after the explosion in the morning, it was clear that they had been printed in advance and were well-prepared.

Between nations, there are only interests.

Leia was caught off guard and was thoroughly thrashed by the Holy Alliance and the Fran.

Now that the Holy Alliance has been given an opportunity, it would be strange if the other two countries didn't retaliate.

As for the effects of these actions, Harkin smiled wryly: "Three groups of representatives from the Dawn Federation have already asked if they could postpone their visit to the motorcycle exhibition, as they may be late due to other commitments."

Whether it's real or fake, do you think Harkin and his ilk wouldn't know?

People have already come to the Holy See, what else could be the matter?

Although it was the Dawn Federation representative who was expressing goodwill towards the Holy Alliance with high emotional intelligence, it also revealed a problem. Even the people of the Dawn Federation believed that the explosion of the Clockwork Motorcycle would inevitably delay the Galloping Horse Agreement, which is why they rushed to share the burden for the Holy Alliance.

Can the Holy Alliance really fulfill the "Galloping Horse Agreement" on schedule?

Even Horn felt a headache coming on this time.

He often said that time was on the side of the Holy Alliance.

Even if we fail this time, as long as the Holy Alliance still exists and rides the wave of the times, there will surely be another chance.

But if this succeeds, think of how much time we can save!

It's much faster than slowly attracting investment and spreading industrialization; after all, an expo is just a product exhibition.

Horn did not want the first event to be a failure, which would damage his reputation externally and cause resentment and dissatisfaction among his believers.

“And then there’s the Krabby Patty King,” Sisi added. “His messenger just arrived at St. Regis this morning and said that if our motorcycles can’t be displayed properly, he’ll have to reconsider the share distribution for the cannery deal we discussed earlier.”

"Was it sent from Da Jun's mountain villa, or from the Krabby Patty restaurant back home?"

"Crab Roe Burger".

The air in the conference room froze instantly.

Everyone knows that the Great Khan has been a mascot, or something similar to a figurehead, for more than a decade.

The real power holder was actually his eldest son, Theodora's brother, Bobo.

The Krabby Patty cannery partnership was key for the Holy Alliance to open up the Norn market, and Popeye basically represents the Norn's enlightened aristocracy.

If the cooperation falls through, not only will the locomotive's subsequent railway stock be in trouble, but Saint Union's business layout in Norn will also be slowed down.

Busak has been working on this for four or five years, hoping to secure his position as Evangelist through this collaboration.

If something bad happens, he could just suddenly pass out.

"Then...can we make a fake motorcycle shell first? Just to make it look real, to fool the foreign buyers? We can fix it slowly after the expo is over?"

A young engineer sitting in the last row asked in a low voice, but realized he had said something stupid as soon as he finished speaking, and hurriedly lowered his head.

René gave him a cold look: "Do you think the Imperial scholars and engineers won't see it? If they're exposed, the Holy Alliance's reputation will be completely ruined, which would be worse than not showing it at all."

The young engineer's face turned bright red instantly, and he dared not say another word.

Horn coughed lightly, picked up the motorcycle design drawings on the table, looked at them for a while, and then looked up at everyone: "Now let's clarify the problem, shall we?"

The cardinals and officials present naturally nodded in agreement.

"The first problem is that the machining precision is not enough. Large components are easy to manufacture, but small ones cannot be made within ten days, right?"

Horn's pen danced rapidly across the notebook for a moment, then he looked up at the crowd.

They had nothing to say except nod.

"The second question is, with the influx of tourists crowding the transportation channels, it will be difficult to transport all the materials by water within ten days, right?"

In the meeting room, people looked at each other, nodding but saying nothing.

"Okay, so the third question is, the Fran spy is sabotaging things from within, while Leia and Norn are spreading rumors and causing trouble outside, creating panic, right?"

“Yes…” Only René responded calmly.

"Let's brainstorm and see if we can come up with a solution to these three problems." Horn put down his pen and told someone to copy the problems and post them on the wall. "We need to come up with a solution before dawn tomorrow. It doesn't have to be a good solution, just a solution will do."

Madeleine looked at the crowd: "Who wants to be the first?"

"Um……"

The meeting room immediately erupted in a buzzing "uh-huh" sound, almost making the teacups on the table vibrate.

Looking at the Bucks Room, which was as quiet as a library, Horn had to admit that the Farron agent had done a good job this time.

Taking advantage of the increased flow of people from the Holy Alliance, relaxed border controls, and the loophole of insufficient manpower, they carried out a precise strike against the Holy Alliance.

However, it is also because the Holy Alliance has always been used to winning, and they have made too many boastful statements in their publicity, often setting their tone too high, without leaving enough room for error.

Ultimately, while the wind-up motorcycle is important, it's mostly just a gimmick.

Separating the clockwork locomotive from the exhibition is entirely possible.

Now, because of this gimmick, the entire expo has been questioned, which is a case of losing more than you gain.

However, Horn has made a note of this incident and will definitely hold a group meeting to review it afterward.

Will definitely be able to use it next time.

Horn glanced at the time and shook his head helplessly: "It's already 5:30. How about this, you guys go eat first, relax your minds, and the meeting will start at 6:30, okay?"

The people inside the Bucks' room finally breathed a sigh of relief.

After all, keeping them locked up in the Bucks' room, unable to access resources that can be mobilized from the outside, who dares to say there's a real solution?
It is important to know that the official and grassroots organizations of the Holy Alliance have very close ties.

From the sheriff to the cardinal, everyone has accumulated a lot of experience in their daily work.

For example, if Fran and Leia wanted to borrow money from the public or needed help with any project, it would be harder than climbing to heaven.

Because of its poor official credibility, it has little contact with the public on a regular basis and is only contacted when needed.

Thanks to the unique system of the Holy Alliance, the mobilization of internal grassroots forces is very smooth, and the understanding is very in-depth.

This is why Horn dared to boldly distribute wealth among the people, while Fran and Leia did not.

Besides the fact that the Holy Alliance was newly established and had a good reputation, it was also because the Holy Alliance could both store and use information.

Now that Francia dares to emulate the Holy Alliance in hiding their wealth, the people immediately pour money into the Holy Alliance, leaving them with no chance to use it.

Just as the seats slid and people stood up, making a jarring sound.

At the end of the table, someone suddenly raised their hand and stood up.

"Wait, Your Majesty."

Horn looked up and saw Leonardo, his eyes red and his body trembling slightly.

The problem this time was basically caused by the defection of his top disciple, Capone.

Even now, he still can't accept this fact, let alone that he himself recommended him to the motorcycle project.

"Leonardo, don't rush to blame yourself, it's not your fault." Horn walked around the crowd, walked to his side, and patted him on the shoulder.

He had to make this gesture, otherwise Leonardo would definitely be ostracized in the future.

Leonard looked at Horn gratefully: "Your Majesty, what I mean is, I have a way to solve the precision engineering problem."

Horn was taken aback by what he said. In his opinion, the latter two problems were relatively easy to solve, while the first problem was the most difficult.

This is entirely because the technological aspects haven't been addressed, and the underlying technical issues can't be resolved.

"How do we resolve this?" Halkin, standing nearby, almost thought Leonardo had gone insane because of the incident.

"Your Majesty, you've forgotten that besides Princess Sirof's microscopic eyes, the Holy Alliance also has microscopes!"

(End of this chapter)