Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 447: The Crushing of Public Opinion

Using a floating airship to drop magic explosive bombs is a very primitive way of air attack, but it is much better than having the shapeshifter Duncan transform into a griffin to drop bombs. In this sky area that only high-level extraordinary people can set foot in, it is already a groundbreaking super weapon.

Among the three airships, only Tommy, the main one, is responsible for carrying and dropping bombs. The other two mainly serve as cover and auxiliary to guard against possible attacks from high-level spellcasters.

When the magic explosive bomb fell into the air, the main airship, which was hovering over a hundred meters above the palace, could clearly see the terrified eyes of the guards and knights on the palace walls. Many of them raised their bows and crossbows and shot in vain into the sky, but ordinary weapons had no way of reaching the height at which the airship was floating.

The bomb hit the circular vault of the royal palace's council hall with precision. With a loud bang like the collapse of heaven and earth, a red fireball suddenly burst out and quickly rose into the sky wrapped in a cloud of thick smoke and dust. The entire council hall was engulfed in flames. The magnificent architectural decorations that the court craftsmen had carefully built and carved were shattered by the impact of the explosion. The blast wave swept around the hall, and the scorching flames quickly spread to the palace gardens next to the council hall.

For a moment, the entire palace was filled with thick smoke and spreading fire. The court nobles and guards fled in all directions. Many people found that the high walls of the palace had the effect of blocking the fire. They crowded and pushed open the palace gate that was completely unguarded and fled for their lives.

Then, the airship slowly floated over the Glorious Cathedral of Saint Valen...

What surprised them was that only one high-ranking priest from the cathedral flew out to meet the enemy - probably the church forces in Saint Valen had sent their main forces to the border of Daeus to fight against the Federation.

This priest did not seem to be from a combat background. Less than a few dozen meters into the air, he was immediately locked on by several long-range sniper rifles on the airship. Then, after three precise shots, a huge cloud of blood mist exploded from his body and fell directly onto the dome of the main hall of the church from the sky.

The doors of the cathedral were also wide open, and a large number of believers and low-level priests rushed out like frightened birds. The airship's attack on the palace had just been witnessed by almost the entire city, and staying in the cathedral now was undoubtedly seeking death.

After a loud bang, this glorious cathedral famous in the central part of the continent was also reduced to ruins in the face of the terrifying magic technology.

……

"The city wall's defenses have completely collapsed." Pierce rode a magic car quickly to the flagship on the river bank and reported the progress of the battle to Harvey personally.

After standing up, he turned slightly sideways, his gaze somewhat complicated as he looked at the two plumes of thick smoke rising from the inner city in the distance. He asked in confusion, "Sir, why do you only allow us to control the two southwestern sections of the city wall and parts of the outer city... Our real enemies, the nobles of the capital, the church, and the royal court, are all within the inner city?"

Sending only a few airships into the inner city to carry out single-point bombing of the palace and the church does not seem to play any decisive role in their complete occupation of the city.

Harvey chuckled, "Do you know how many nobles there are in the capital?"

Not counting the numerous court nobles who have no hereditary title or fiefdoms... there are probably hundreds of hereditary nobles who own fiefdoms of all sizes around Jinhui City alone. Jinhui City, as a super-large city in Saint Valen and even in the central part of the southern border, has a population of nearly 30,000.

It’s almost catching up with Spark City, which is rapidly expanding and has a rapidly growing population.

"And we only have a mere 3,000 soldiers. Deploying this small number of troops into the densely populated capital... would easily lead to us getting bogged down in a quagmire from which we cannot escape."

After all, in the eyes of the local people in Jinhui City, these people from the northern border are considered "invaders" in the real sense. Moreover, as soon as they arrived, they set off two earth-shattering "firecrackers" in the inner city. Everyone is afraid that the terrorist means that fell from the sky will fall on their heads.

Therefore, Harvey had prepared two scenarios for conquering the city from the outset—the three airships weren't all used for bombing missions; two of the main airships also carried tens of thousands of "public opinion warfare weapons." As the shadows of the airships passed over the city, the terrified and desperate citizens were stunned to see countless pieces of paper falling lightly like snowflakes.

As the most prosperous city in central China, the capital's people had a literacy rate far exceeding that of ordinary towns and villages. Many educated vendors and citizens reached out to pick up the snow-white paper that fell from the sky, only to discover that it was written in bold fonts—it had been mass-printed using the expensive alchemical printing technique.

[People of Jinhui City, I am Harvey Floyd, the mayor of Spark City in the northern border.]

As the initiator of this war, my purpose is very clear—to overthrow the radiant Church's corrupt rule and ignorant beliefs in the country, and to clear their accusations that the spellcaster spread the plague and assassinated the Grand Duke.

To prevent the harm of war from affecting the ordinary citizens of the city, I promise not to send soldiers directly into the city to fight. Instead, I will dispatch my war airships daily directly to the inner city palace, carrying out precise strikes on the targets until the church and the royal court declare their surrender to me.

[After the war, I will completely reduce all unwarranted taxes imposed on the people of the capital, completely abolishing the city entrance tax, head tax, increase in number tax, marriage tax... and completely exempt the people from labor conscription.]

[Before this, please refrain from going near the inner city palace and the Cathedral of Glory to avoid being harmed by the attack.]

What…what does this mean? Many literate people, after reading the contents of the slip of paper, stood there in shock.

On a gallows platform at a crossroads square in the outer city, a man dressed as an ordinary local citizen was standing there, holding a stack of papers that fell from the sky in his hand, and preaching something at the top of his voice.

"Everyone, listen to me... Come and see what this Northern Lord said. He said he wouldn't send those barbaric northern soldiers into the city to fight. He would only let his terrifying flying weapons directly attack the palace and the church..."

"He said that after the war, he would exempt all the taxes previously imposed by the nobles, and he would no longer conscript the people to do free labor for the nobles. We don't have to worry about being summoned to the battlefield at the border!"

"What if it's just a lie told by those northern barbarians to win people's hearts?"

"I think it's believable! After the city gate was breached, those ferocious black-clad soldiers really only occupied the area near the city wall. They didn't rush into the city to burn, kill, and loot!"

"Yes, I sneaked close to the city wall, and the soldiers just warned me to leave quickly. Oh my God! I almost thought they were going to kill me!"

More and more people gathered in the audience and started talking. Although many of them were illiterate, they could still understand the simple words.

Compared to the dispute between the spellcaster and the church, the promise that His Majesty the Grand Duke would no longer arbitrarily impose taxes or force people into labor after being seriously injured was what made them feel so moved.

At the same time, such public announcements took place in almost all densely populated areas of the outer city, and soon ordinary people living in the outer city of the royal capital all knew the news to some extent.

Many people couldn't help but have a glimmer of hope in their hearts - those powerful people in the palace...would just surrender quickly!
(End of this chapter)