Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 365 Deterrence Action
After President Andrew's caravan left, Harvey sat in his study and sighed.

Reiner was also sitting nearby, holding a financial manual. Although the alchemical metal head showed no expression, the guards guarding the door always felt that the lord and the chief steward both looked worried.

"The money we saved with great difficulty in the treasury is about to be depleted again."

The commodity trade orders signed with several southern chambers of commerce before winter earned Harvey tens of thousands of gold pounds in revenue, not including the long-term pharmaceutical franchise agreement signed with the Dragonstone Chamber of Commerce. After all, the pharmaceutical business requires some time and publicity to ferment word-of-mouth. Although the short-term effect is not great, the long-term sales profits are endless.

However, Harvey's territory development plan obviously cost much more than the income. The construction of the Institute of Magical Sciences and the purchase of a series of facilities and equipment, plus the promise of an endless supply of experimental materials to the spellcasters, consumed nearly half of the pioneer territory's annual income.

"I hope the remaining 20,000 gold pounds in the treasury will be enough to support our rapid population expansion plan in the short term..."

……

Afterwards, Harvey summoned Pierce and Asdalen who had returned from Grizzlie Castle.

"I want to use special means to intimidate Duke Ralph..." He said directly, "We can't sit idly by and watch him wantonly plunder and torture the people of the surrounding fiefdoms to target us. This is tantamount to consuming our future manpower."

Pierce said in a deep voice, "If we don't use force to subdue them, it will be difficult to change the enemy's strategy. I think the safest way is to wipe out the secret army they sent as soon as possible."

Harvey slowly shook his head and said, "That attacking force infiltrated with spellcasters must be eliminated... but it won't significantly change the current situation."

In order to dispel Duke Ralph's idea of targeting him, unless Saint Valen and the church coalition were completely defeated by the Federation, Grand Duke Saint Valen, as the initiator of the war, would be liquidated, and his number one supporter, Duke Ralph, would naturally give up.

In addition, Harvey also thought of a feasible solution...

The first is to speed up the migration and absorption of the surrounding people, so that the other side cannot plunder enough people to attack the southern border areas actually controlled by Harvey.

The second is to make the other party realize that using the lives of innocent civilians to fight a protracted war of attrition will inevitably backfire. If he insists on doing so, Harvey will make it impossible for him to live a peaceful life even if he stays in his old nest in Fengyuan City.

"Are you planning to repeat the trick you used against the former Earl Fagan... send people to sneak into Fengyuan City to assassinate Grand Duke Ralph?" Asdalen reacted very quickly and immediately understood Harvey's idea.

"Yes, this is a warning... but it's not issued directly to the other party in my own name, but in the name of the people."

Harvey paused, then spoke confidently, "Because Grand Duke Ralph proactively provoked disputes among the feudal lords, leading to widespread war and chaos in the border regions, the people suffered greatly. A powerful bloodline warrior living in seclusion here... or perhaps a righteous local spellcaster, decided to resist his brutal rule and launched a heroic operation to assassinate the Grand Duke."

"Uh..." Pierce opened his mouth wide, stunned for a long time, not knowing what to say. "Sir, if you decide to do so, I am willing to go to Fengyuan City in person and complete this mission of assassinating the Grand Duke at the cost of my life!"

"What are you thinking? I don't intend to send you to your death!" Harvey said speechlessly, "Grand Duke Ralph does have high-level spellcasters under his command. No matter who I send, there's no chance of truly completing this plan."

Asdaren suddenly understood and said with a smile, "So... you just want to scare the Duke, so that he will be afraid and restrain his violent methods?"

The possibility of directly assassinating a duke in the enemy's lair is very small, but it is not difficult to scare him by pretending to be mysterious. As long as it can have a deterrent effect, it will be considered a success.

Pierce now understood everything. He turned to his guards and ordered, "Go, call Captain Wayne!"

……

Wayne hurried to the castle from the military camp and found that two high-level wizards, the Eye of Illusion and the Astrologer, had also arrived at the same time. He immediately realized that things were not simple.

"Wayne, um... I remember that assassination mission at Grizzly Castle. You did a fantastic job!" Harvey waved at him with a smile, casually praising him. Wayne immediately puffed out his chest with pride and replied with a resolute expression, "My Lord, I will not fail in this assassination of the Duke. If I don't succeed, I will..."

Pierce frowned, stepped forward and blocked his mouth, scolding him: "Shut up, don't yell here."

Harvey pointed to the Eye of Illusion and the Astrologer beside him and explained, "Wayne will complete this task with my two spellcasting consultants."

Then the guards came forward with a long wooden weapons box, and Harvey opened it directly in front of everyone.

This is a split magic gun divided into three parts. It is larger and has a longer barrel than the one Wayne used to assassinate Master Burko Conrad, and is also equipped with a new set of sights.

Wayne obtained Harvey's permission and couldn't wait to pick up the gun and assembled it skillfully. The slender gun body was nearly 1.6 meters long, so he couldn't complete the stable aiming action while standing or squatting. He could only awkwardly place the gun on the desk.

Harvey took out a metal bracket from the bottom of the weapon box and said with a smile, "In order to ensure shooting stability, a special gun bracket must be used."

The Eye of Illusion was somewhat puzzled and asked, "Lord, since we are going together, why do we need to use the magic gun...wouldn't it be enough to find an opportunity to sneak into the Duke's Mansion in Fengyuan City and attack directly with high-level magic?"

"Too dangerous..." Harvey shook his head. "Entering the city and attacking it, whether successful or not, will make it difficult for you to escape. The Duke has a large number of high-level spellcasters and bloodline warriors under his command. Besieging them is tantamount to committing suicide."

He pointed at the magic spear Wayne was fiddling with in his hand and said, "This specially made long-range sniper rifle can fire magic ammunition from two thousand meters away. As long as you find the right time, you don't even need to enter Fengyuan City. You can hide in a hidden place outside the city and complete the sniper mission."

what?
Two thousand meters away???
Everyone present opened their mouths in surprise and stood there in disbelief.

"With... with the same shooting distance as the magic cannon..." Pierce stuttered.

Wayne also held the spear in his arms, bewildered, muttering to himself, "I'm holding a... a magic-powered cannon?"

"Wow! If it can really shoot this far, wouldn't it be possible to kill the high-level wizard guarding the Duke silently?" The Eye of Illusion felt a layer of cold sweat on his back, and suddenly felt inexplicably afraid of the weapon in front of him, as if he had also been secretly targeted and locked.

The astrologer, however, remained much calmer and took the initiative to ask, "Lord, if that's the case, why do you need the cooperation of two of us? If...if an ordinary soldier can manipulate this artifact and easily kill a high-level spellcaster, then assassinating the Duke wouldn't be difficult, right?"

Harvey waved his hand to calm everyone down, then slowly explained, "It's not as terrifying or exaggerated as you might imagine. The extremely long range also reduces its power. Not to mention a high-level spellcaster... even an ordinary low-level defensive weapon would have difficulty breaking it."

As soon as he finished speaking, the two high-level mages breathed a sigh of relief.

"Similarly, hitting the target requires precise aiming. A set of customized alchemical sights and a sharpshooter skilled in long-range shooting are both indispensable."

Asdalen added at the right moment, "And each shot requires a high-level spellcaster to infuse all of their magic power into the specially crafted bullet. Ordinary magic bullets are no match for this sniper rifle."

The Eye of Illusion and the Astrologer were stunned for a moment, and finally understood why Harvey wanted them to cooperate with Wayne to complete the mission.

I guess they're treating them like powerful, mobile magic bullets...

Harvey patted the trembling Wayne and encouraged him, "Do you understand? These two high-level wizards are your two special bullets, which means you only have two chances to attack... I'll give you three days to familiarize yourself with and practice how to master this super sniper rifle."

(End of this chapter)