Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 765 Searching for the Gun
In autumn, the Eisengard plains stretch as far as the eye can see, an endless expanse of golden yellow. The yellow and green grasses ripple in the breeze, and from the air, one can see a mobile force of the Northern Army moving through this vast sea of ​​grass.

Benny held up his binoculars and leaned half his body out of the car window. Taking advantage of the vehicle being at the highest point of the grassy hill, he looked down and saw a dense forest in the low-lying area in the distance, which was their destination - Sand Gold Town.

As the eastern defense line of Eisengard gradually moved north, the large number of Lizardmen who originally occupied the area were gradually wiped out by the Northern Army's mobile forces. Many local people who had migrated south began to return and regroup in this small forest town.

The reason why they were able to risk being attacked by alien races at any time to return, and even dared to stay in the town, is actually a story of people dying for money and birds dying for food.

The town is named after the ancient riverbed behind it, which was completely dried up but full of gold dust. After an earthquake decades ago, a section of the ancient riverbed, which was more than ten miles long, was moved to the surface, and the gold dust sealed in the riverbed was thus revealed.

The Kingdom of Piaoqi was rich in gold, and the nearby nobles and lords were not particularly interested in this low-quality placer gold. As a result, this place became a rare paradise for gold prospectors, and within a few years, thousands of people gathered here, eventually forming a sizable town.

Benny's battalion was originally tasked with mobile patrols in non-enemy-occupied areas, with the main objective of eliminating small groups of Lizardmen who occasionally broke through the eastern defense line and harassed transport convoys in the rear.

As His Majesty the Emperor issued the order to expedite the reception of refugees and rescue as many compatriots as possible, troops like theirs, who were not assigned to frontline combat missions, also joined the work of transferring and rescuing refugees.

Two months ago, he visited the town of Shajin to assist a transport team in sending more than a thousand stranded residents to the border area. However, as time went on, the air patrol team discovered that the town's population had increased rather than decreased, with more and more people lingering there.

Because the first line of fire had shifted north, the Northern Army's mobile forces were frequently active in the surrounding area, which gave the locals a great sense of security... Occasionally, some alien races would slip through the net and appear nearby, but they were rumored to have been dealt with by the mine protection teams spontaneously organized by the local people.

This is one of the two important matters that Benny needs to handle during his visit.

Although the evacuation was not mandatory, bringing back one more laborer for the United Kingdom would provide them with more manpower for production and combat. The battalion commander only assigned him the task of gathering five hundred people for the evacuation... to be honest, it wasn't that difficult.

But another matter is a bit tricky... The intelligence personnel operating on the outskirts of Sand Gold Town revealed to him that someone in the town's mining protection team was suspected of using a ranged magical weapon that was very similar to the magic gun. This was the main reason why they were able to successfully kill the winged creature that had wandered into the forest outside the town.

Although the giant bat was injured, it would not be easy for the two low-ranking bloodline warriors leading the mining team to deal with it alone... The Kingdom of the Cavalry already had few spellcasters, so it was even less likely that some wild wizard who happened to be passing by would do it.

The question of why military weapons ended up in the hands of civilians, or even foreign civilian armed groups, is extremely sensitive. Even if it's just a few pieces of firearms and ammunition that were accidentally lost, once the news reaches the top ranks of the military, the several regimental commanders currently directing operations on the eastern front will likely face accountability and punishment.

"Boss, are we going to camp directly in the town this time, wait for the transport team to arrive tomorrow, and then organize an evacuation?" The adjutant, focused on driving, couldn't help but ask. "With so many people gathered in the town, are they going to start panning for gold again? They're such money-grubbing bastards!" In fact, when Benny first came here, he happened to run into a roaming group of demon lizardmen ravaging the town and its surroundings. A mere twenty or so winged creatures slaughtered nearly ten times the number of innocent civilians. By the time the Northern Army arrived to rescue them... the corpses were piled up all over the town's streets and the nearby streams.

The evacuation went very smoothly. A full 80% of the people were willing to follow orders and evacuate with the army in batches. The rest of the people also spontaneously drove oxcarts, horses, and donkey carts all the way south. Almost no one dared to stay in the town and wait to die.

"Wayne's troops defeated a major force of the Lizardmen in Rhinoceros Horn City to the north. Many of the city's residents fled south to this place. Together with the locals who had returned on their own earlier, the city became lively again in just half a month."

Benny shook his head helplessly and said in a deep voice, "If we go directly into the town, the transport team won't be able to deliver all these people in one trip."

A squad of over a hundred Northern Army soldiers drove their alchemy wheeled vehicles, rumbling down the grassy slope towards the town below. In less than half an hour, they arrived at an open space outside the town, where they had previously set up camp.

The townspeople also noticed the arrival of the Saint Valentines and gathered around to watch, occasionally huddling together and whispering among themselves.

The original mayor and nobles of Sand Gold Town either died in the massacre by foreign tribes months ago, or they withdrew with the Northern Army long ago. At present, the entire town seems to be temporarily taken over by the mining protection team.

Benny jumped off the cart and immediately spotted a tall, muscular local mercenary with a broadsword hanging at his waist. He quickly waved and said, "Summon the leader of the mine protection team to see me and discuss the evacuation of the people."

The mercenary was well aware of the identity and origin of the Saint Valen man in front of him, and dared not be negligent. He quickly bowed and turned to leave... Before long, he returned with two equally robust middle-aged men.

Watching the two figures hurrying away, Benny narrowed his eyes and fixed his gaze on their shoulders—these two low-level bloodline warriors were carrying a standard magic-powered gun produced by the Starfire City military factory in the capital!
However, the entire gun was bound with some dirty strips of cloth, making it difficult to roughly identify the specific model and style of the gun from its external outline and shape alone.

The two adjutants standing behind Benny also noticed something was amiss. Taking advantage of the captain's glance as he turned around, the three of them quickly reached a consensus.

Currently, most of the crowd is gathered around watching. If they were to attack the mining team on the spot, it could lead to the situation getting out of control. If the refugees start rioting... Benny's hundred-man squad wouldn't be able to withstand the onslaught of thousands of people, unless they were to open fire indiscriminately in response.

For now, we can only pretend to be blind and wait until we have negotiated the evacuation with these mining teams before we can find an opportunity to contact the intelligence agent hiding in the town and find out how the army's standard weapons ended up in their hands.

(End of this chapter)