Chapter 520 - 326: Guests from the North (Part 2)

Chapter 520: Chapter 326: Guests from the North (Part 2)

The arms business had become an important source of income for Zog.

This stuff really sold itself.

"However, you might have to wait a bit. The current orders are already backed up for several months. And, as an old friend, I can give you a little inside information. The gun models we’ve already released are due for a production line upgrade in a few months. When that happens, the cost will drop a bit, the price will come down, and they’ll be a much better value."

"Thank you for letting me know, but I’m afraid I can’t wait that long," Figxin said with concern.

"Can’t wait?"

Zog didn’t quite understand what she meant by "can’t wait."

Was the Northern Domain about to face a devastating disaster?

That would be picking a fight with his Zog Group. The Northern Domain was the group’s most important source of raw materials.

"Yes," Figxin said with a serious expression. "Based on my projections, the Loman Empire is very likely to make a move soon. If they decide to attack Sutton, the Northern Domain is the best target. Our forces are weak, and once they break through, they’ll have a straight shot into Sutton’s Central Plains Region."

Historically, the Northern Domain wasn’t considered a valuable strategic location.

The climate there was just too terrible. If a war dragged on for even a short while, it became torture for both sides.

But in Figxin’s view, with the advance of industrial technology, the natural barrier provided by the Northern Domain’s climate was no longer so formidable. She had reported this to the Royal City multiple times, but had received no response.

For a Princess who was out of favor, had managed to develop that godforsaken land of the Northern Domain, had extremely high prestige locally, and was at odds with the powers in the Royal City—no matter how legitimate her reasons for requesting grain and troops, to the other members of the Royal Family, it all sounded like an excuse.

Who could guarantee she wasn’t planning on marching on the capital?

Figxin had no such thoughts for the time being, but she had to protect her own domain.

If she couldn’t get more troops, her only option was to increase the combat effectiveness of her existing forces.

Upgrading their weapons seemed like the most efficient method.

In the war for Augustine City, the Devils, using highly unreliable tactics, had demonstrated the highly reliable combat effectiveness of Zog’s weapons.

Likewise, Villain, backed by Loman, had also shown that they were seeking to upgrade their weapons, even though they ultimately ended in failure.

When there’s a generational gap in weaponry, tactics and the like become useless.

No matter how elite the cavalry, no matter how clever their tactics, they could never break through the position of a Marking Mechanic.

Hearing Figxin say this, Zog felt a little annoyed. He didn’t usually pay much attention to wars, but he had heard some rumors about public outrage within Loman and calls to restore the Empire’s former glory.

There were currently two factions within the Loman Empire.

The hawkish faction believed they should issue a "Declaration of War on All Nations."

The conservative faction, meanwhile, thought the hawks were too conservative; they should skip the declaration and just start fighting.

It was understandable. When a nation is riddled with internal conflicts, finding an external enemy is always a good solution.

Finding a whole bunch of external enemies wasn’t out of the question, either.

The problem was, if the Loman Empire decided to start a war, it wouldn’t be a regional conflict like Villain’s was.

It was very likely the entire Continent would be thrown into chaos again.

He was speaking from experience.

Zog had personally witnessed Loman’s ability to stir up trouble.

In the past, he wouldn’t have minded these countries going to war. In fact, a war would have made his "zero-cost acquisitions" even more convenient.

But not anymore.

Of all his current business ventures, only the arms trade would profit from a war. Everything else would take a major hit.

"How certain are you?"

Zog was asking about her certainty that Loman would go to war.

"Quite certain."

"Is there any way to stop it? For example, a decapitation strike or something."

"A decapitation strike probably wouldn’t do much. Their current situation seems to be one of collective warmongering."

"Sigh..."

Zog felt a headache coming on.

"Alright, how about this? I’ll see if I can pull some people and make the weapons you need first."

"Thank you so much. Besides the weapons, I’d also like to order a batch of training facilities."

"What kind of training facilities?"

"Facilities for firearms practice. You have to learn how to use a new weapon before you can fight with it, right? I previously acquired a shotgun and designed a training program specifically for it. It’s part of my plan to reform the Northern Army..." Figxin spoke quickly.

Zog had never really considered the issue of training.

’In his mind, shooting was just... a firing range, and then you just feed it bullets, right?’

As for training methods and such, he was truly clueless.

This was a real blind spot in his knowledge. Not just training, but many aspects of firearms were a blind spot for him.

However, what interested him more right now was the plan to reform the Northern Army that Figxin had just mentioned.

"What are you reforming?"

Zog asked curiously.

"Could you tell me about it, if it’s convenient?"

"Of course," Figxin was taken aback, not expecting Zog to be interested in this. "Perfectly convenient."

As Figxin explained, Zog couldn’t help but marvel. ’This Princess really seems to be a person ahead of her time.’

’The golden toilet wasn’t a wasted gift.’

Most of Feilin’s military systems were still in a fairly primitive state.

This was related to the overall social system—in simple terms, it was a bona fide feudal system.

The King was the most powerful super-Lord in the land, and the territory within the kingdom was enfeoffed to a host of lesser Lords.

And these lesser Lords all had their own private armies.

If the King wanted to go to war, he first had to notify these enfeoffed Lords, and those with money would contribute money, while those with men would contribute men.

There were also those who contributed neither.

This was because the King didn’t actually have complete control over the entire country.

The so-called "my vassal’s vassal is not my vassal" was a common phenomenon here.

The various Lords did indeed have a certain obligation to protect the security of the nation, but not much of one.

Setting aside whether orders could even be effectively carried out, even the military standards within a single Kingdom were not uniform.

As for the Lords’ private armies, they were abstract to the point of absurdity.

The number of full-time, professional soldiers was very small. Most of those who fought in a war were temporarily conscripted farmers who had received only a few months of training.

It was difficult to ensure uniformity in unit designations and tactical organization even within a single domain.

To call such a hastily assembled army a disorderly mob would be a compliment.

You could say they could only fight when they had the advantage. The moment they sensed the tide turning against them, their will to fight would instantly collapse, and they’d run away right in front of their Lord.

Despite the steam-powered industrial revolution already being underway, and Zog himself having initiated a new revolution of magical industrialization, the system had not yet been updated to match the development of productive forces. The reason was very simple.

This world truly had "hero units."

The resistance to reform was immense.

Moreover, the army itself wasn’t highly valued. The true foundation of every Lord’s power was actually their small number of Transcendents. These were the "high-end units" that could truly decide the outcome of a battle.

A professional Transcendent with a bit of power could easily take on dozens of opponents.

A more High Level one could even fight against a hundred.

And against a "superhero unit" of Zog’s caliber, it wouldn’t have mattered how many Ordinary people you threw at them in the past.

Thus, the "Fighting General" duels that appear in historical romance novels were very common here.

If one side’s hero unit lost, the battle was basically lost.

As for those temporarily conscripted militiamen, their jobs were basically to transport grain, act as attendants, clean up the battlefield, and, when the hero units got tired, to hunt down the enemy’s ordinary units.

It was truly difficult for them to be taken seriously.

They even had to pay for their own equipment and food, and as for military pay, there was none.

The only benefit they could receive was the brief "right to plunder" after their side was victorious.

They couldn’t even take the best stuff; that was reserved for the Transcendent masters.

Therefore, for an Ordinary person, joining the army was like a game of chance.

In comparison, Loman’s military system was slightly more advanced.

But it wasn’t that much more advanced. It was probably at the level of the *fubing* system.

There was simply no need for change.

But this deeply ingrained rule had begun to loosen after the birth of the small inventions from the firearms workshop.

Ordinary people now truly had a way to kill Transcendents.

If one shot wasn’t enough, they could just fire a few more.

The critique of arms!

Figxin was one of the pioneers who realized that the importance of an army of Ordinary people would gradually increase.

Although her theories were still crude and her concepts unclear, she already understood the need for a professional army of Ordinary people—one with combat effectiveness, clear rules, and a strong sense of morale.

This would play a huge role in future wars.

And what made Zog click his tongue in wonder was that Figxin hadn’t just thought about the system; she was also thinking on a higher level.

"What should an army fight for?" she asked, staring at Zog with eyes full of confusion.