Chapter 760
After the wedding of Paul and Catherine, Rodney XVIII immediately set off for the south. Paul told him about the secret society and made him feel very uncomfortable.
On the way back, Rodney XVIII specifically wanted to take the warship of the Alda Navy to return to Jingyao. Paul fulfilled the king's wish and assigned a small fleet of three warships to escort Rodney XVIII to the West Port, which is closest to Jingyao.
Also accompanying him was Myron Garnard, the head of the Wangji Special Economic Zone, who also returned to the Northwest Bay to attend Paul's wedding.
The Wangji Special Economic Zone has now become an important source of tax revenue for the Kingdom Government, and Myron has become Rodney XVIII's trusted right-hand man.
In addition to Myron, there are Viscount Willin Dylan, a former official of West Port, and Harrison, the eldest son of the Abbott family. These people who Rodney XVIII relies on have some common characteristics: young, active thinking, interested in new things, and "lack" respect for tradition.
After landing in Westport, Rodney XVIII walked and stopped along the way, wandering around. It would have taken him nearly two days to reach Jingyao by a fast horse in half a day.
The reason why His Majesty the King was so slow was that he was investigating the terrain between Westport and Jingyao and wanted to lay a railway connecting the two cities.
Rodney XVIII saw the scene of laying railways in Northwest Bay. He was very interested in any new things in Northwest Bay. After asking around, he learned that this was an efficient transportation system with high speed, large load capacity, and not relying on animal power but only on machines. He couldn't help but be very curious.
As he continued to ask, Paul showed him an oil painting, which showed the full picture of the train and railway after it was built.
Through the comparison between the painting and other scenes, Rodney XVIII was able to get a glimpse of this iconic behemoth of the industrial age. Although it only existed in the painting, its majestic power could still shock everyone who saw it.
The huge wheels rolled over the track, the front of the train spewed thick white smoke, the steam rolled up and cut through the sky, and the giant dragon made of steel shuttled across the wilderness.
The train was riveted with thick steel plates, as if it was made up of steel fortresses connected in series. The whole train was like a giant beast that broke free from its shackles, breaking through all obstacles with the force of thunder.
"We have to find a way to build a railway." Rodney XVIII immediately made a decision in his heart.
Today, there are two centers in the royal territory, one is Jingyao as the political center, and the other is Xigang as the economic center. Although the two cities are geographically close, the king wants to make the two centers more closely connected. There is no doubt that railways are the best way to achieve this goal.
After returning to Jingyao, Rodney XVIII held a military parade with great enthusiasm.
After more than a year of training, the new military construction of the royal government has begun to show results, and the young king is eager to test the results of the military construction.
In the square in front of the palace, the soldiers of the new army stood in neat formations, with solemn faces and firm eyes. They were dressed in neat uniforms, and the bright uniforms shone in the sun. The copper buttons and epaulettes on their chests flashed cold light.
As Rodney XVIII announced the start of the military parade, the soldiers began to move in unison, like a moving wall, with the same pace and deafening footsteps, as if the square was shaking.
Their movements were precise and powerful, the bayonets shone coldly in the sun, the gun barrels were straight like a forest, revealing an inviolable majesty, and every movement was full of power.
A full ten square formations rolled across the square like a steamroller, announcing that the Aldo royal family had regained control of a powerful armed force.
There were many people watching the military parade, including those stationed in Jingyao by Giles, some openly and some secretly.
The news of the king's military parade quickly spread back to Wuyang City, causing the great Duke Giles of Greedy Wolf to be highly vigilant.
What frightened him was that in addition to the quality shown by the soldiers themselves, the king's army also had muskets and cannons, which were powerful new weapons. In the Horn War, the army sent by Giles had suffered a lot from these two weapons.
Giles had tried every means to get some black powder, which was said to be the key to the weapons used by the Arda army. He gave it to his alchemists to try to crack the mystery.
The alchemists were overjoyed and started their work immediately.
This is a very finely ground powder, and the composition cannot be directly determined by observing the appearance with the naked eye.
But they determined that there was sulfur in it through the pungent smell after the black powder was burned, but sulfur was not in black powder, so it might be a mixture containing sulfur.
The alchemists requested to continue to get some samples for research, and this task was assigned by Giles to the spies lurking in Arda.
Things went smoothly. His spies sent back several batches of black powder from the heavily guarded Arda military industrial system.
The alchemists continued their research, but they separated all kinds of strange things from it, such as saltpeter, coal powder, flour, and even pepper powder.
No mistakes, one post, one content, one 6, one 9, one book, one bar!
They mixed some known ingredients, but only produced a pile of flammable powder, and the violent combustion like the original black powder was not restored.
It seems that the alchemists have to continue to work hard to live up to the generous treatment given to them by His Highness the Grand Duke.
In addition to restoring the black powder, Giles also imagined using some defensive means to resist those deadly metal projectiles, whether large or small.
But the result of the calculation was pessimistic, because in the Horn Bay War, Giles had tried his best to strengthen the defense of his beloved army, the Undead Army, without affecting the action, but even the thick metal armor worn by the strong Undead Army soldiers could not resist a small projectile at a considerable distance, not to mention the large metal bullets, which would be equal to all beings once they hit the dense crowd.
Giles had a hunch that he and Paul Graman would have a head-on confrontation sooner or later, so he and his vassals racked their brains to develop an effective defense method.
However, before he could come up with any good ideas, news came that the king was holding a large-scale military parade in Jingyao.
"Perhaps Rodney XVIII wants to deter the orcs in the north." The vassals comforted the anxious lord.
But Giles didn't think so. According to his intelligence, the north of Aldor seemed to have been entrusted by Rodney XVIII to Paul Graman, who also had a powerful army.