Chapter 662: The Defensive Line
Translator: TransN Editor: TransN
Having stayed in the Dream World for two days, Roland saw the grey slated roof of his castle again.
He stretched out his hands, repeatedly bending and stretching his fingers. Except for the strange heat current, he had the same feeling as he had in the Dream World. Luckily, he could take advantage of falling down to get rid of the Dream World, otherwise he could not even tell the difference between reality and fantasy.
" Could the brain simulate such a realistic world?"
Roland could not help feeling confused about that.
Especially the cluster of stars which was particularly like the Magic Cyclone. Even though he had never seen the real look of magic power, if the Force of Nature was shaped based on the magic power, everything in the Dream World should be fuzzy.
Plus the eccentric burnt-face man and the heat current that resonated with the cluster of stars... He suddenly was not sure about his previous presumptions.
He felt like his small brain could not contain such a complex and huge Dream World.
But if the Dream World did not exist in his subconsciousness, where was it?
After thinking hard for a long while, Roland could not find a satisfactory answer.
He shook his head and made up his mind to temporarily put these things aside.
Since he could not figure it out, he thought that he should focus on the more important things.
After he took Zero to the library, he learned a lot of useful design knowledge. Even if he just looked through a book, he could precisely reproduce its content.
One of the books also covered the proportioning and property of some alloys, which could greatly save the test time for Anna and Lucia.
Under such circumstances, it would be less difficult to create the third-generation machine tools used to forge higher precision parts.
Of course, he had to personally instruct the first operational workers.
People in different domains in Graycastle were continuously gathering together in the western region. Some people who had settled down here passed the universal education test and got jobs. Upon thinking of this, Roland felt extremely heartened.
This was a gradual process, but he had paved the way. When Graycastle was unified next year, Neverwinter might have an opportunity to be on the threshold of the industrialization age.
Once they entered the industrialization age, the domain would certainly undergo a tremendous change.
In the afternoon, Karl Van Bate, Minister of Construction, brought the news that Route 67 had been accomplished in less time than that of the Kingdom Main Street. Apart from a shorter distance, the workers had become more proficient in construction.
As they promised before, the batch of workers who had been developed by the Ministry of Construction had been affiliated with the border area.
"Your Majesty, if you don't have any other road-building plans, I'm planning to send them all to construct residential quarters." Karl said, "Though there will be extra salary expenditure, Neverwinter is in urgent need of residential quarters."
Roland also knew this condition. There were altogether about 5,000 people in the construction team, half of whom were busy building new residential communities in order to accommodate the large population which had been persuaded by City Hall to come to Neverwinter from the other cities. Over just one year, the town had been enlarged at least over three times, which did not include the new farming land to the south of Redwater River.
"The road-building can wait." He spread out the map of Border Area and pointed to North Slope Mountain, saying, "I'm planning to build a railway directly connecting the mine and the pier so as to load the coal which comes from the west."
"There is already a road..." Karl suddenly stopped and continued to say, "Are you saying a railway?"
"Yes, a railway or railway track." Roland nodded and said, "It's similar to the orbital transportation system of the mine, but it's made up of steel."
"I see," after a while of thinking, Karl said, "but a railway doesn't need many workers, either."
"It doesn't indeed need many workers to construct a narrowly hardened pavement." Roland smiled but did not point it out. Honestly speaking, he knew that Karl did not understand what he had said at all. In the mine, the coal depended on simple ropes, steam engines and horses to carry the loads outside. But that was not what he thought and it was for more than carrying coal.
What he wanted was trains.
Since its invention, the train had caused tremendous changes for land transport.
And this short-distance railway was an attempt.
It was not difficult to understand the principles of steamed trains, but a railway system was gigantic and complex. Even if Roland did not know how many years it took to test and improve before the train and its supporting facilities were put into practice, he thought that it must be a long process.
"Luckily, I can find the knowledge in the Dream World."
He had been so obsessed with the gigantic trains which stood for industrialization.
No matter how heavily they were loaded, the trains steadily travelled through forests and mountains as they puffed white gas. Black connecting rods drive many wheels to rotate, giving out a rhythmical clang and shortening the vast land to an acceptable distance. Afterwards, no matter what changes had taken place in the driving force, the nature of trains has never changed.
Apart from the hardware facilities, a train also needed driving by a batch of railway workers who should be responsible for their own duties. So it was much more complex than simple steam engines and machine tools.
According to Roland's plan, the railway connecting with the North Slope Mountain and the pier was not only a technological test but a training base for developing the first-generation of railway workers.
"Send 200 people to pave the roadbed towards Misty Forest to the outside of the second city wall." Roland decided.
Karl was anxious, "Your Majesty, but the railway will be exposed to the attack of demonic beasts."
Roland carelessly explained to him, "they have no interest in steel. The railway won't be finished before the Months of Demons. Besides, we won't hide behind the short mud wall next year. Don't you feel that the border area is becoming more and more crowded?"
"You mean…"
Roland pointed to the vast area to the northwest of the Impassable Mountain Range and explained to him, "we should expand the border area to the Barbarian Land where the resources are no less than Graycastle. A thin mud wall is far from enough to defend against the demons."
If the Battle of Divine Will broke out and the demons build the third Obelisk in Tuqaila, the outpost would approach the foot of the Impassable Mountain Range. Hence, it was doomed to fail if they just set defensive lines in the breaches of the western region. If the Witch Cooperation Association could follow a mountain path to the Barbarian Land before, so would the demons to enter Graycastle.
Even though the demons gave up the mountain path, his troops would struggle to deal with a group of flying Devilbeasts who flew through mountains to harass them each day.
"Only if the Impassable Mountain Range became the city wall, would Graycastle be safe."
If the Longsong Cannon were set up on each of the mountain tops, the area covered within the shooting range would be his new town.
There were no rivers in this area connecting to the inner land. If resources such as coal needed quickly transporting to the Barbarian Land, they could only rely on a railway.
"The defense plan of the future is a big project but I believe that you can do it."
It sounded fascinating for any mason to bring the Impassable Mountain Range into the territory of Graycastle. If a mason could build such a city, he would certainly be remembered by history.
"Yes, Your Majesty," Karl said with an excited look.