Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 619: Dissenting Opinions
Harvey and Salas left the magic network plane and returned to the real world. Dawson, who had received instructions in advance, had already summoned all the high-ranking officials of the kingdom to the palace, and an emergency meeting immediately began.

Although Dawson had revealed a little in advance, when Harvey and Salas arrived late and told everyone in detail what had happened, the faces of most of the kingdom's high-ranking officials changed drastically. The senior military generals attending the meeting even stood up and kicked the stools under their butts to the ground.

Minister of Population Management Orange Peel, who had just completed a new round of troop recruitment in the southwest of the kingdom in cooperation with the Ministry of National Defense, accidentally knocked over the tea served by the waiter in a panic. He looked helplessly at General Pierce who was sitting at the top. He found that although the other party's face was a little gloomy, at least he did not lose his composure directly. He finally put his heart at ease for the time being.

As the ruler of the kingdom, Harvey did not hide the key truth that the fusion of inheritance fragments led to the invasion of alien races. In fact, if he had not single-handedly led the plan to explore the magic core, the United Kingdom itself would not have achieved a leap forward in magic technology, let alone a firm foothold in the southern border where it had many enemies. The repeated invasions and suppressions by the Church and other vassal kingdoms alone would probably have made them unable to cope... let alone reach the prosperous situation they have today.

The high-ranking officials of the kingdom present were all fellow travelers firmly tied to the giant ship of Harvey. They were also the ones who gradually gained real power and shared the lucrative profits in the process of the kingdom's development and growth. Naturally, it was impossible for them to put all the blame on the emperor alone. So even though the truth was indeed unexpected, they subconsciously began to consider the next step and how to continue to expand the interests of the kingdom.

There was no need to ask what Reiner, Asdalen and Pierce thought, and the reactions of the others were basically within Harvey's expectations.

Harvey's original plan for a united front against alien races was to unite the secular regime in the south, the old federation and the seven wizarding kingdoms to the utmost extent possible... At the same time, to ease the tense relationship with the church, and to pull the dwarves, elves and even the sea people into the same boat, so that they could completely unite as one and advance and retreat together.

If possible, he even thought about trying to win over the demons who were currently fighting the demon lizardmen, and let them block the enemy to the north of the Evil Moon Mountain in the western border, breaking the embarrassing situation of the human race in the southern border being attacked from both sides.

However, after Sarath detailed the historical origins of the magic core, which was also the inheritance fragment, and the church's willingness to voluntarily hand over the fragment and request troops to reinforce the holy city of Goris, most of the kingdom's high-ranking officials immediately changed from their original doubtful attitude to naked resistance.

Reiner, who always followed Harvey's will, immediately said that the State Department had just completed the overall development plan for the new year. Whether it was the East Expansion Base entering the second round of development, or the mechanized planting that was about to be carried out vigorously in the southern part of the kingdom, industry, education, and scientific research all needed to allocate funds to support them. In terms of military affairs, a sky-high annual military expenditure had just been allocated. The financial situation was really stretched at the moment... In short, there was no money available for the time being.

Seeing that the Kingdom's Chief Minister took the lead in resisting, the Ministry of National Defense immediately backed down, stating that the Ice Sea Base was currently being frequently harassed by the Lizardmen, and the large-scale rotation of garrisons and the deployment of war materials could not be stopped for a moment. The border defense line between the Kingdom and Isengard also needed to continue to be built and consolidated to ensure that there would be no accidents... The southern border had just undergone a round of military expansion and conscription. The new recruits were currently gathering for training in Wangshan County on the border of the Principality of Yarid, and they would not be able to meet the conditions for being deployed to the battlefield in a short period of time.

If we rashly send troops to the Papal State of Goris and engage in direct combat with the massive number of Lizardmen... it might lead to insufficient manpower reserves on the remaining defensive lines, and all previous strategic plans would be completely disrupted.

Compared to the sharp attitudes of the two kingdoms' highest-power departments, the statements of the heads of other departments were much more moderate. Construction Minister Haru stated that the southern border is currently focusing on building a long railway line that runs across the kingdom and directly connects to the northern capital. The line starts from Spark City in the north, passes through Grizzly Castle, Sancha Town, Fengyuan City, Jinhui City... and finally reaches Silver Pine City on the border of Barkley in the west, and goes south to Black Mountain Port, which borders the Principality of Faros.

Construction on the project just began in the spring. If they can wait for the full year and a half, they might save considerable manpower and material transportation, achieving twice the result with half the effort. Newly appointed Minister of Agriculture, Ambich Kenny, cautiously pointed out that food price controls and a ban on grain sales had just been enacted in the new year, and there were currently no plans to import large quantities of grain from foreign countries. Food reserves could be strained by sudden military action. If word spread, the people of the southern cities, already far from the kingdom's core power, would likely experience an uncontrollable food shortage panic.

Chris, who also serves as the Minister of Industry, did not say it explicitly... but the factories in the Royal Capital Industrial Park that never stop working around the clock clearly show that the current military manufacturing and logistics production have reached their limit.

In short, each department head expressed their own opinions and suggestions, offering all sorts of bizarre and far-fetched reasons. Their message to the Emperor was remarkably unified: "Your Majesty, please consider this carefully. You must not use your own capital to benefit the Kingdom's long-standing enemy, the Church!"

The other spellcasters involved, including the two legendary chiefs, were independent consultants who did not interfere in the kingdom's political affairs on the surface. Seeing that the leading chief consultants Asdalen and Duncan did not speak, they could only remain silent out of courtesy.

An emergency meeting discussion suddenly fell into a deadlock.

Harvey sat on the throne on the stairs, looking speechlessly at the kingdom's high-ranking officials who were arguing below. Suddenly, his eyes met with the Propaganda Minister Ash who was huddled in the corner at the bottom.

After a brief, silent exchange, Ash immediately understood. He stood up and, with a grin, asked the military officials led by Pierce, "Wasn't the original plan to send reinforcements to the kingdom's western front, occupy the mountain kingdom of Yarid, and ultimately station troops to besiege the holy city of Goris a crucial strategic deployment that the Ministry of National Defense strongly advocated? Why can't we send troops to rescue them now?"

Pierce's face was gloomy, and he tilted his head without answering.

Dave, who was sitting behind him, ignored Vaughn's attempts to pull him away and suddenly stood up, shouting, "How can attacking the church and attacking the demon lizardmen be the same thing? Why should we send troops to rescue these charlatans who have always opposed us?"

He stood on tiptoe and finally saw the arrogant man who dared to ridicule him, but he was shocked to find that the other party was his Majesty's childhood best friend Ash. The second half of the words that were about to come out of his mouth were immediately choked, and his tone changed from anger to gentleness.

"You, the Minister of Propaganda, are in charge of us... Oh no! Mr. Ash's proposal might be worth discussing..."

(End of this chapter)