Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 510: A Case for Declaring War

It was not Harvey's sudden idea to let Ambichi Kenny, a breeding expert, be responsible for raising the energy-absorbing beetles. Instead, it was because a large number of military factories in the territory had launched production increase plans during this period. In addition, the Northern Army had been conquering almost continuously throughout the year, resulting in the rapid consumption of all ammunition and supplies, forcing Harvey to pay attention to the reproduction and production rate of the raw material beetles again.

Ever since he successfully devoured the magic core in the underground ruins of the South Slope base, Harvey has completely acquired the strange talent of sensing all soul creations. At the same time, an additional ability has also emerged... the ability to control these huge numbers of energy-absorbing beetles.

The swarm of insects seemed to regard Harvey as the "queen bee" in the hive. They were trying to get close to him all the time and trying to feed him the pure magic energy stored in themselves. Unfortunately, as a flesh and blood body, he could not directly swallow the liquid magic energy. Maybe when his body aged and was completely replaced by an alchemical body, this group of beetles would completely become his billions of portable power banks.

Through his ability to control the swarm of insects, Harvey also fully realized the uniqueness of these strange creatures that were born from the magic stone veins - their living habits are extremely stereotyped, and their intelligence is extremely low. At most, they can only understand a few simple commands released by Harvey. Once it exceeds the scope of their cognition, they will only be anxious and gather around in a circle.

For example, when Harvey gave the order to "eat frequently" or "start reproducing," he received absolutely no feedback from any individual in the swarm. Perhaps this group of pure energy creatures, devoid of any brain tissue, simply couldn't understand why they would continue to eat when they were full, or why they would reproduce before the time was right...

In the end, he could only hope to ask the shepherd knight Ambich Kenny, who was good at raising poultry and livestock, to come and try to use the animal breeding method to see if he could figure out the true habits of the beetles.

……

After leaving the shepherd knight at the South Slope base to study with Supervisor Pep, Harvey himself took the alchemical vehicle back to the castle through the underground tunnel.

As soon as I returned to the study, Asdalen and Pierce hurried in.

It was naturally impossible to tell what Asdalen was looking at, but Pierce clearly had a look of joy and excitement that he could hardly conceal.

"Sir, the secret police we sent to the border area of Isengard have sent back the highest level of red intelligence!" Asdalen handed a secret letter copied from the magic brain communicator to Harvey.

Harvey unfolded the letter and took a glance, only to find it clearly written on it:

[The current King of Isengard, Hercules, has been driven mad by demonic rituals and has ambushed and killed several of his noble vassals who also served as commanders of the Holy City's Inquisition. The situation in the capital, Iron Hill, is unstable, and there are signs that the border garrison is being mobilized to provide reinforcements.]

Harvey crushed the letter, stood up, and said in disbelief, "We had just decided to attack Isengard when their king was suddenly bewitched by the devil and went mad, and the domestic situation instantly became chaotic... Don't you think it's too much of a coincidence?"

"Isn't this a perfect excuse for war?" Pierce said excitedly. "Besides, the King of Isengard's madness wouldn't happen overnight. We simply happened to catch this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

Asdalen pondered for a moment and said slowly, "It's indeed too coincidental. The Pope of the Church has taken the initiative to show weakness to us, and Isengard, the most powerful Church vassal state in the South, has suddenly erupted in civil unrest at this very moment... All signs seem to indicate that the Church's influence in the South is beginning to crumble."

Harvey nodded and turned to look at Pierce. "A casus belli? An excuse to force them to open their borders so we can take in and provide relief to refugees affected by the war?"

Pierce blushed and hesitantly said, "Isn't this your best tactic, my lord? Using the excuse of rescuing refugees as a pretext for sending troops will give you the moral high ground in public opinion and prevent you from betraying the people." Asdalen interrupted Pierce's proposal, shaking his head. "We can't accept this from the people of Isengard... These people are devout believers in the Church."

Harvey walked to the map and looked up at the vast plains and winding mountainous borders belonging to Isengard.

"How are the General Staff's pre-war preparations going?"

Asdalen immediately responded, "After repeated calculations, the General Staff believes that due to the long distance and lengthy supply lines involved in this cross-border operation, it's recommended that the number of troops deployed to the battlefield should not be too large...it's best to keep it within 2,000."

After all, their main goal was to open a safe entry route to the Great Rift in the Godspine Mountains, set up a permanent military base there that could provide long-distance transmission, and complete the "leakage detection and patching" work of the natural defense line of the Godspine Mountains in advance. They did not want to march directly to the capital of Isengard, Iron Hill, and drive out the king who was bewitched by the devil and went mad.

On this long marching route, the first place they need to cross is the wizarding kingdom of Daeus, which is sandwiched between the two countries. Although they can use the relationship of the Federation to open up diplomatic relations between the two countries in advance, after all, it is the famous and powerful army under Harvey, the King of the North, and their open entry into other countries will cause some shock to the local situation. It is definitely impossible to seek supplies nearby, which means that the expeditionary force needs to be self-reliant and carry a large amount of war supplies.

The first obstacle encountered when officially entering Isengard is the naturally existing mountainous area on the border of the country. The only few passages available for crossing are all heavily guarded by high walls and fortified defenses. It is time-consuming and laborious to take any one of them.

They also had to guard against the Bloodline Knights and Combat Priests in Isengard - most of these people belonged to the radical Divine Punishment Faction within the church, and regarded spellcasters and mortals who used magic weapons as blasphemous heretics. Taking this into consideration, the General Staff specifically requested that two high-level combat mages be sent along to deal with sudden attacks from these extraordinary people.

"Which border checkpoint is most suitable for breaking through right now?" Harvey pointed to the punctuation marks on the map with red flags. There were as many as three of them, and each checkpoint belonged to the fiefdom of a border lord.

"Judging from the marching distance, the fastest route to reach is definitely Langya Ridge. However, this pass has the largest garrison because it is used for years to defend against the wizard kingdom of Daeus, which they have always been hostile to. Furthermore, a large number of bloodline knights and battle priests are also accompanying the troops."

"The weakest defense is Foehn Fort, a little further away. It's Baron Ramirez's fiefdom, and has less than a thousand troops stationed there. However, Foehn Fort is located high on the cliffs of the canyon, making it an extremely easy-to-defend and difficult-to-attack position. Without deploying airships, it's difficult for us to inflict a devastating blow on it."

The last Thorn City is the farthest away, almost adjacent to the edge of the Golden Forest of the Eastern Elves. If Harvey's expeditionary force chooses to enter from there, it will take at least one more month of marching time, and no supplies can be obtained in the mountains along the way. Harvey rejected this idea on the spot.

"Let's hold off on deciding the main attack location. We can't always rely on our firepower advantage and choose a frontal assault... The expeditionary force's ammunition reserves and supplies can't withstand this level of consumption. There are even more obstacles before entering Isengard territory. We must precisely control the cost of each battle."

Harvey waved his hand and said after a moment's silence, "Let me think of other ways..."

For example, we could start with the current mad king and see what the rumored demon sacrifice was that led to his complete corruption... Perhaps we could get some truth by asking Mr. Inner Demon, who hasn't visited us for a long time.

(End of this chapter)