Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 516 Absolute Truth
Soon it was the end of the month, and before the first heavy snow of winter fell, the winter celebration that made the people of the whole city happy finally kicked off.

During the three-day festival, in addition to the garden party and shooting competition which were still the reserved events, several drama performances and folk rugby games organized by the Ministry of Culture were also very popular. The drama actors carefully trained by Ash and the rugby players from ordinary civilian backgrounds became "stars" in Spark City with status comparable to that of military combat heroes. Wherever they went, they would be surrounded by a group of fans.

By the last day of the celebration, the military parade and live-fire exercises have been fully prepared and are about to begin with great fanfare.

When Harvey arrived at the parade ground on the river bank, he looked up and found that the city wall not far away was already crowded with people who came to watch. The towering city wall that was several miles long was crowded with people. It was estimated that there were about six or seven thousand people present. The remaining large number of people who did not occupy the high points of the city wall in advance went out before dawn and rode their bicycles to the garrison area on the other side of the Icefield River. They could also look at this grand ceremony from afar across the river bank.

The cold wind that had been blowing all day yesterday also subsided around noon. Dozens of huge buoy targets were erected early in the middle of the river. They will become the most important imaginary enemies in the military parade exercise and will be subjected to the baptism of artillery and bullets like a storm.

According to pre-arrangements, the interiors of these buoy targets were pre-filled with a large amount of alchemical explosives mixed with dragon flame powder. A number of alchemical explosives were also pre-buried in the shallow river bank area to increase the momentum of the artillery salvos.

As the supreme ruler of Spark City, Harvey naturally could not crowd on the city wall to watch the ceremony from afar like the common people. A row of stands of varying heights had been built in advance on the river bank near the city wall before the celebration. In addition to the city lord himself watching the ceremony from the highest covered stand in the middle, there were also a large number of slightly lower stands to accommodate officials and nobles who came from all over the southern border to attend the coronation ceremony.

"Your Majesty, the entire Northern Army is in position, awaiting your order to officially begin the military parade!" Pierce changed into a brand new commander's uniform, held the sword at his waist with one hand, and knelt on one knee to salute Harvey.

Harvey nodded and said calmly, "Let's get started."

Immediately, a personal guard walked over to the alchemical communicator and shouted, "Your Majesty has given the order! Commence the parade! Fire the cannon!"

Half a minute later, twelve deafening cannon shots rang out in unison, echoing over the entire Ice River. The birds in the distant mountains and dense forests were startled and flew high. All the nobles and officials who were originally whispering to each other fell silent, straightened their bodies and looked at the soldiers lined up below the stage.

Guided by the officer's resounding whistle, the Northern Army's ace 1st Battalion marched in neat steps towards the grandstand area. As they passed the city wall along the way, they drew loud and enthusiastic cheers from the people on the higher ground. These soldiers were all veterans who had first joined the Frontier Territory. Although many of them were not successfully promoted to officer positions due to their low level of education, they still had medals of honor from certain battles or were known as combat heroes.

Then the second and third main combat battalions marched in formation along the city wall. The people cheered and applauded in waves, which did not stop for a long time. Whenever a soldier from a combat unit passed by the platform where Harvey was, under the guidance of the officer's gesture, the soldiers would turn around and look up in unison, clench their fists on their chests, and salute Harvey with the unique military salute of the North.

"Long live His Majesty! Long live the North! Long live the people!"

"Victory to the Northern Army!"

Harvey couldn't help but feel a little excited. He stood up and waved to the soldiers who were staring at him intently in the audience. This made the people on the city wall even more excited. Many soldiers in the team also had tears in their eyes and shouted at Harvey at the top of their lungs.

In addition to the defense forces that had to be stationed in various places, the total number of soldiers participating in the military parade was about 5,000. After all of them lined up to accept the inspection of Harvey and the people, the highlight came next - the live-fire exercise stage.

After all the exercise personnel were in place, Harvey walked to the alchemical loudspeaker and shouted an order: "I declare that the live-fire exercise has officially begun!" A bird's cry that was much sharper than a normal whistle suddenly sounded. This was the first instruction for everyone to get in place and prepare for shooting.

The twenty magic-powered cannons set up just against the base of the city wall raised their barrels one after another, and the gunners desperately shook the base winch, pointing the muzzles directly at the giant target in the middle of the river eight hundred meters away - this was the shooting distance that the artillerymen were most familiar with in both training and actual combat. Even without relying on the shooting scale, it was almost impossible to miss the target based on experience and visual estimation alone.

Artillery Battalion Commander Shanmao rubbed his hands from his command post, habitually raised his thumb and squinted at the distant target. He then ordered the cannons slightly to the sides to slightly adjust their angles. Then he nodded and said to his subordinates, "Everyone, get ready! And move more properly. This isn't just an everyday training exercise. Besides His Majesty and the officials, the entire city is watching!"

A rookie artilleryman closest to him whispered, "Boss, I'm a little nervous... I just saw my mother on the city wall."

"I'm nervous too... I've never been surrounded by so many people before. His Majesty is watching from the platform too. I'm about to pee..."

"If I miss, I'll never be able to hold my head up high again. I'm afraid people will laugh at me even when I walk around town."

Lynx scowled angrily, "Shut up, everyone! Stop talking nonsense! If you have to pee, pee now and hit the cannonball right in the middle of the target!"

As he spoke, a yellow flag was raised on the platform, and Bobcat immediately shouted, "Start loading!"

The artillerymen immediately fell silent, almost subconsciously completing the prescribed actions that they had repeated countless times in the past. When the yellow flag on the platform changed to a red flag in an instant, the commander's low countdown sounded from the loudspeaker.

"Fire ready! Five... four... three..."

"Two...one! Fire!"

The moment Shan Mao swung his arms, twenty magic-powered cannons roared simultaneously. Blazing white magic light, accompanied by thick smoke from the fierce combustion of dragon flame powder, shot out from the muzzles! Just as the people on the city wall heard the deafening cannon fire, the river channel and the riverbanks 800 meters away were already rising into a towering column of water and muddy dust.

The smoke and mist had not yet completely dissipated. Bobcat squinted his eyes and stood on tiptoe to look. "Did they hit them all?"

No one answered him. All he heard was a few seconds of silence on the city wall above his head, followed by an outbreak of fanatical cheers and shouts.

Dozens of fixed floating targets in the center of the river have now disappeared...only a large amount of debris remains, washed downstream by the river.

(End of this chapter)