Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 507: Prison Repair Plan
"My lord, are you really planning to attack Isengard?"

Reiner hurried into Harvey's office on his four mechanical legs... Yes, as the administrative work at the City Hall became increasingly busy, Reiner always felt that just adding six metal tentacles was not enough, so he begged Harvey and Chris to modify his lower limbs, replacing the two anthropomorphic iron legs with four-legged spider legs that moved faster and had a more stable chassis.

"This winter, we've added a large-scale campaign to sweep the fel orc tribes. Once the Ice Sea Exploration Base is expanded, we'll need to send more troops for patrol. A few days ago, the Jinhui City Hall also sent a request for local conscription, saying we need to guard against possible invasions from the West Wind Earldom..."

Reiner, clutching a thick calendar, rattled off the recent military plan. He concluded with a final, emphatically added, "Besides, the Winter Festival and your coronation ceremony are about to take place. The eyes of the entire southern region are fixed on us... Rashly invading another country without proper reason would only lead to unnecessary trouble!"

Harvey curled his lips and said with a relaxed expression, "Aside from the defense forces that must remain in Spark City and other areas, I still have over 6,000 combat troops. Even if there's no fighting... the military pay and costs required to support these people are astronomical. If we leave them idle, it will be a loss-making business. Besides, the newly recruited soldiers also need to grow and develop in actual combat. Otherwise, when we really face a powerful foreign enemy in the future, I'm afraid they will be too used to winning battles to withstand the pressure."

"That Earl of Zephyr..." Reiner muttered softly, "The Principality of Aride is weak and closely adjacent to us. Wouldn't it be a better choice to attack them?"

Harvey sighed and taught Reiner meaningfully, "The Principality of Arides is just a mountain kingdom about the same size as Grizzly Territory. It lacks fertile farmland and is not rich in metal deposits... What good would it do us to take it down with all the time and effort?"

Reiner was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized, "Gold! Are you... going to seize the gold mines in Isengard?"

"More than that. While I've never been too rich, I'm not so short-sighted." Harvey walked over to the map of the Southern Territory on the wall and pointed at the Kingdom of the Escorts, which also bordered the Divine Spine Mountains. "Look, the entire Southern Territory is spread out along the Divine Spine Mountains to the south. Aside from our Saint Valen... from west to east, there's Orland, the Papal State of Goris, Isengard, and the Golden Forest of the Eastward Elves."

As a natural defense line against the invasion of demons and evil orcs in the past, the importance of the Divine Ridge Mountains is self-evident. If it were not for this natural barrier stretching across the entire northern part of the Southern Continent, the human race, divided among nations and plagued by constant disputes, would have long been unable to withstand the invasion of the demon army. Before the ancient alien races from the [Center of the Continent] could arrive, they would have been devastated and shattered.

In comparison, Harvey, a pioneer city located north of the Divine Spine Mountains, is more like an isolated city protruding out of the defense line. If nothing unexpected happens... it will definitely be the main battlefield for the Demon Lizardmen to move south in the future.

Like Jackdaw Ridge and Evil Moon Mountain, both are low-altitude mountainous areas in the Divine Spine Mountain Range branch. They can even be easily crossed without the aid of any extraordinary means, like a conspicuous gap in a row of solid fences... and those living in the fences are the defenseless human "sheep".

Before Reiner could fully digest Harvey's lengthy speech, he raised his wrist and pointed to the northern border of Isengard, saying softly, "But many people don't know that the section of the God's Spine Mountains adjacent to Isengard... also has a huge canyon rift that can be directly crossed. This is a potential defensive loophole, and it's currently unguarded."

"How could this be?" Reiner was stunned with surprise. "Isengard has been protected by the Church of Light for hundreds of years and has always been an extremely powerful nation... Have they never suffered from the invasion of the fel orcs from the south?"

Harvey shook his head. "This country, renowned for its elite cavalry in the south, has vast tracts of dry grassland in the north, uncultivated and ungrazed. Even if the orcs were to follow the gap south... they wouldn't be able to find a town within hundreds of miles to plunder and resupply. They can't sustain themselves by grazing on grass, so naturally, they're not interested in this route."

The evil orcs who don't produce or farm will be trapped in hundreds of miles of desert grassland, but the same can't be said about the demon lizardmen... Until now, Harvey hasn't figured out their ethnic characteristics and corresponding biological data. The extremely low body surface temperature means a slow metabolic rate, which also means that they don't need to keep eating continuously to provide themselves with energy like humans. In addition, if they don't use ordinary carbon-based organisms as their energy acquisition target... Harvey is worried that they don't have to consider the issue of logistics at all, and will appear quietly on the southern continent along the natural mountain gap of Isengard.

Therefore, it was imperative to patch the fences before the sheep were lost. "How...how did you find out about this natural gap in the defenses?" Reiner felt Harvey was as miraculous as a prophet with clairvoyance, and couldn't help but ask, "Have you ever traveled to the northern grasslands of Isengard before?"

Harvey chuckled bitterly. "Astaron stumbled upon it in an ancient book in the Magic Encyclopedia. He then sought out the elf students studying at the Spellcaster Academy and confirmed this fact from them."

Of course, he casually revealed it to his beloved successor, Pierce. Pierce, the number one "military enthusiast" in Spark City, immediately realized the possible risks and reported it to Harvey almost immediately. From this, he developed the battle plan to use troops against Isengard.

Reiner nodded in understanding and sighed, "Although I can now be considered a literate and competent person in handling government affairs under your guidance, compared to Mr. Asdalen, who is well-versed in ancient texts, I am still like an ignorant infant."

No wonder Harvey always instilled in him that strange concept of "lifelong learning"... Reiner secretly made up his mind. After he completely adapted to his new limbs, he would find a suitable opportunity to beg the adults to upgrade his soul core...

……

On the second day, Reiner once again brought his favorite assistant, Minister of Population Management Orange, to Harvey's castle to ask for a meeting.

Orange Peel looked a little uneasy. He secretly wiped the sweat from his forehead and whispered, "Your Majesty... Your Majesty, I stayed up all night last night to check the population records and found that not a single outsider was from Isengard. Afterwards, I checked with Steward Reiner and found that it was indeed the case."

Arsdalen, who was standing nearby, chuckled and turned to Harvey, saying, "See, my lord, as I said... Isengard's policy of isolation is not much worse than that of the elves in the east."

"Yeah, I see." Harvey shook his head helplessly. He had heard of the kingdom of Isengard in the past, but because Saint Valen was far away from it and was sandwiched between the wizarding kingdom of Daeus, he had never really made an in-depth understanding of it.

It was from Asdalen that I learned clearly that Isengard was a kingdom of believers, with all its people believing in religion. All the kings were appointed by the Pope himself rather than inherited by blood. The feudal lords in the country also served as the honorary commander of a certain legion of the Inquisition in the Holy City of Goreth. It could be said to be an exact replica of the Papal States.

The most outrageous thing is that Isengard strictly prohibits its residents from crossing the border at will, and has set up countless checkpoints of various sizes along the border line which is mainly mountainous. Once a border crosser is found, he will be killed immediately without mercy... In addition, the people of the country are devout in their faith, and most of the time they choose to accept the frequent wars and oppression of the upper nobles, and rarely take the initiative to abandon their faith and leave their homeland.

"What a closed-minded, traditional, and religious nation..." Harvey couldn't help but sigh. "When my soldiers set foot on Isengard soil, they'll probably be treated like the same vicious invaders as the US military."

(End of this chapter)