novelraw #216 - Section 216
#216 - Section 216
Dore's eyes flashed with displeasure, but he spoke with lighthearted teasing: "The Empire is indeed powerful, but it won't be so easy for you land races to interfere in the politics of the oceans on a larger scale, will it?"
Roger's words were implying that he could help the Sea Country destroy the Naga, but the price was to 'listen' and become a vassal of the Empire.
Completely resolving the long-standing feud with the Naga was indeed tempting, but becoming a vassal of the Empire was an unacceptable condition for Dore.
The reason he was vying for the throne with Shark was because he was ambitious, not very flexible, and couldn't bring himself to kneel.
That's why he questioned Roger, reminding him of the difference between land and sea, and that the other party's idea would not be so easily realized.
Roger smiled slightly: "Your Highness, would you like to take a walk with me outside?"
Showing off his strength?
Dore immediately understood and nodded in agreement.
He used magic to transform into a human appearance, changed into Imperial clothing, and concealed his appearance before following Roger outside the camp.
After all, this was Shark's territory. Although Roger had various privileges, directly inviting Shark's nemesis to visit was quite outrageous.
They went to the coral reef above the trench. Plankton predators and various exploding fish swam around, making it a diverse and lively scene.
"What does Your Highness think of this scenery?"
"Such lush and continuous coral reefs are a rare sight even in the deep sea."
"This place was barren yesterday. We planted these corals."
"Planting corals? This thing only grows a few centimeters a year…"
"That's natural growth. These are our secret weapons to support His Highness Shark, a modified creature that can endlessly spawn troops."
Roger looked at Dore's shocked face and briefly explained the operating principle of the base coral and the meritorious service of the bio-engineered fish in forcing Cromwell to his death.
Although Dore didn't see the power of the bio-engineered fish exploding on the spot, the arrival of the Green Vine Empire's support gave them their biggest victory since the start of the war, so its power must be extraordinary.
Now he knew that today was just a small test. These modified biological weapons rely on quantity to win, and the longer it drags on, the stronger they become.
Although the Sea Country also domesticates Sea Country War Gods, 'living weapons' like base coral have never appeared before. This is a path he had never imagined.
"This is just the Empire's initial foray into the ocean," Roger added.
The implication was that as the Empire learned more about the ocean, it would come up with more sophisticated magic, equipment, and modified creatures like these.
Dore remained silent. With such technology, even a waste like Shark could easily crush him.
With Roger's advice, he realized that he had no capital to compete with Shark.
Since he had ambitions to ascend the throne, he would definitely collect intelligence on the Green Vine Empire bordering the Sea Country. He knew that the recent series of changes in the Empire were inseparable from the handsome young Duke in front of him.
He was deeply trusted by the Empress of the Empire, and there were even some ambiguous rumors. Coupled with the surname Charles, it was enough to show his advanced position in the Empire.
Influencing the Empire's foreign policy to support him might not be something Roger Charles could do with a single sentence, but he should have enough power.
Correspondingly, supporting Shark's ascension to the Sea Emperor and continuing the current strategy was really something Roger could do with a single sentence.
"So, the Sea Emperor's ability is irrelevant to you…"
Thinking of this, Dore's expression finally changed.
With these equipments, the Empire could flatten the Naga sooner or later, and only needed a puppet to help manage the sea races. The ability of that puppet was not important at all.
Attitude might be more important.
"No, ability is also important, because our ultimate enemy is not at the bottom of the sea."
Roger smiled and pointed upwards.
"You want us to help deal with other countries on the ground?"
"Higher up."
"The sky… the Gods? Is the Empire really going to be enemies with the Gods?"
Dore thought of a piece of intelligence from a long time ago, that the Green Vine Empire had expelled the Church of the Seven Gods and prohibited its proselytization, and his face was filled with surprise and uncertainty.
"Yes, so you are not a believer of the God of Knowledge, and you are more capable. That is your advantage."
Roger smiled calmly, without further explanation, believing that Dore understood.
Shark was easier to control, but he was a devout believer of the God of Knowledge, otherwise he wouldn't be with Xia Di. If the situation developed further, there would be a lot of uncontrollable aspects.
Dore, on the other hand, was not a believer. He didn't like being inferior to others, even if the object was a god.
"Then what does Your Excellency… think now?" Dore asked.
"What I think is not important, what's important is what you want to do next." Roger beckoned, and the Night Guard appeared. "Send the Fourth Prince back. You need time to consider carefully."
Dore had no power to choose. After learning about the power of the base coral, he understood that everything was under Roger's control.
The next step was to see if he could come up with the sincerity to impress the other party…
Teleported back to Black Shark Fortress, Dore locked himself in his room for a long time, thinking silently, and couldn't help but sigh: "Green Vine… that Empress is really powerful, and really arrogant."
Powerful was the national strength, and arrogant was the Eternal Night Empress who wanted to bring the entire country and the entire world to the opposite side of the gods.
Just this ambition made him admire her. If he could bow his head to such a warship, he wouldn't reject it.
But the problem facing him now was not that he couldn't kneel, but how to kneel to satisfy the other party…
Based on his understanding of his brother, with just a few victories, Shark would lie flat in his comfort zone and be willing to exchange the Empire's support for future peace.
That guy didn't mind being a happy pet dog at all.
But he wanted to use the Empire's support to become a war wolf and destroy the Naga while standing.
Just as Dore was thinking, the Naga Empire was shocked to hear the news of the defeat on the front line, and the whole country was shocked.
Everywhere, from top to bottom, people were discussing how to retaliate against the Sea Country.
Chapter 193: The Construction of the Empire's Industrial System
Demiplane, Chapter of Imbalance.
While the two hegemons of the Sea Race were fighting for supremacy, the Empire was still developing steadily, gradually carrying out the full popularization of second-generation magic crystal machinery, and gradually eliminating first-generation machinery from the market by using the advantages of performance and price.
This process was very smooth.
The popularization of the Soul Imitation Bracelet and the 40% magic talent ownership rate made the small drawbacks of the second-generation magic crystal machinery seem insignificant compared to the huge price advantage.
No matter which world, price is one of the killer features in free market commercial competition.
Because of the upgrade of magic crystal machinery, Frankenstein was very busy.
The Chapter of Imbalance is not only the Empire's most important mechanical design and research center, but also the maker and regulator of the Empire's entire industrial system.
More and more magicians in the Empire are now choosing to start their own businesses, including magicians within the Arcane Society. Many of them voluntarily give up their stable jobs and plunge into the tide of entrepreneurship to become trendsetters in a wider world.
The Eternal Night Empress did not prohibit such behavior, but instead encouraged it very much.
Because Roger told her that industrial development must be competitive, and the contention of a hundred schools of thought will lead to true prosperity.
Everyone should contribute their command.
If one family dominates without rivals, the result will only be a decadent and corrupt ruin.
Although there are more and more competitors now, and their strength and products are becoming more mature, the Chapter of Imbalance is still the pearl of the Empire's industry.
Not only is its research and development strength at the forefront, but it also controls the manufacturing standards of the entire magic crystal machinery.
The newly established Ministry of Industry is also headed by Frankenstein, promoting the Empire's unified plan and firmly promoting the standardized production that Roger initially emphasized.
Whether it is the universal interface of the Bunny Harvester, the transmission gears of the internal transmission machinery, or the magic pressure and frequency of the core magic crystal output array, as long as it is produced by the Empire, from small nuts to large war machines, they are all under the same design standards, and must achieve parts generalization and replaceability.
This is as important as unifying weights and measures. The wheels of the world are the same width, so that the roads built can allow more cars to drive smoothly on them.
The standardization of industry is even more important than this. In the early stage, it may feel like an insignificant consumption, but the benefits in the mid and late stages are endless.
Because the fields involved in industry will only become more and more complex, there must be unified standards to mobilize the power of the entire country and concentrate social resources to tackle super projects.
At that time, the industrial reforms that the Empire is currently carrying out will truly bloom.
The Manhattan Project, the Moon Landing Program, the Two Bombs and One Satellite, and the International Space Station on Earth, if there were no unified production standards, the parts produced by different factories would not be able to match together, how could the final assembly be carried out?
Coordination is possible, but wouldn't it be better if it were a unified standard in the first place?
Even a small time calibration may cause big problems like the "Millennium Bug", causing a systemic collapse.
Therefore, magical industrialization is not about building a lot of factories, and then increasing the annual steel output by a certain percentage to succeed.
What must be completed in the end is a complete system involving all aspects of society, and no sloppiness is allowed.
Don't look at the fact that there are many countries on Earth, but there are only four countries or regions with complete industrial systems: China, the United States, the Soviet Union, and Europe.
Other countries are all drifting along in this production system. No matter how prosperous they are now, if things go on in the long run, it will be a question of whether those small countries can maintain their independence.
Look at a certain imperial graveyard. Although it dragged down dozens of times the empire, it only has guerrillas left. How bright is the future of such a place?
The lighthouse's trade blockade against the rabbit allows the rabbit to grit its teeth and endure, but if it were another country, the domestic market order might collapse directly without international trade.
The huge shortcomings in people's livelihood of the Great Hairy Bear after its disintegration limit its industrial strength and make it look more and more like a cripple relying on resource exports.
Under a highly competitive economic order, the advantages of first movers are infinitely great.
There may be unilateral overtaking on curves, but if you want to comprehensively make up for shortcomings and surpass as a whole, it really requires continuous efforts over centuries.
Mastering standards and formulating game plans are operations that first movers must do and will inevitably do.
Maybe you can't see any advantages on weekdays, but once conflicts and competition occur, those who master the rules can play the river dragon to death.
The most familiar to everyone is the new 5G standard. At the beginning, there were constant debates and rights and wrongs. Why is it so important who formulates this standard?
Because this is not just a mobile phone, but a large number of new devices surrounding the mobile phone.
It is huge economic benefits and huge opportunities, involving many fields such as information security, subsequent development, and industrial upgrading.
When the standard is set, the latecomers either abide by it and obediently pay protection fees (patent licensing), or they will not even have food to eat.
Because the equipment on the market is produced according to other people's standards, you can't find matching products if you want to bypass it and engage in another set of standards.
Unless you can establish enough related industries and call on the entire upstream and downstream production chain to follow along and conduct standard competition, this is the top camp competition.
The winner takes all, the loser gets nothing, and the first-mover advantage is infinitely great.
Even for buyers, no matter how much you boast, it is not an easy decision to switch to a new, incompatible standard.
Economic costs, time costs, and learning costs may all hinder the promotion of new standards.
A small improvement may end up being less worthwhile than patching and repairing within the original standard framework. This is the benefit of mastering standards.
Now that the spark of magical industrialization in the Eternal Night World has just been ignited, magicians who are fighting alone and whose products were originally completely personalized see a blue ocean and begin to transform their knowledge and skills into a link in the industry.
For example, they can unite to start factories, replace their hand-made magic equipment with machine tools and assembly lines, and manufacture various magic crystal machines.
Or just some parts with performance advantages, light industrial products with price advantages, etc., can enable these "scholars" to complete the transformation into capitalists.
In this era where there are still countless blank fields waiting for pioneers to explore, a new invention may create a unicorn company early on.
Whether it is Green Vine or Terra, they are trying to create such an environment that encourages innovation and provides various policies and tax incentives.
Terra is even preparing to abandon agricultural taxes and rely solely on prosperous commerce, and the Tassica government is already rich.
The Green Vine Empire, on the other hand, has the biggest first-mover advantage and gathers the most and best magicians in the world. Naturally, it must learn from the United States and the Soviet Union and become the standard setter in all aspects.
This is also a consideration that must be made for national security.
The Empire's Ministry of Industry and the Chapter of Imbalance cooperate closely to plan the direction of the Empire's industrial development, complete the formulation, implementation, and supervision of various network standards, and ensure the Empire's core interests and long-term development.
Now all the newly planned factories in the Empire, from assembly line construction to product parameters, must be fully incorporated into the same production standard and quality inspection standard.
Factories that do not meet the standards are not allowed to be built, and unqualified products cannot be put on the market. The entire industrial system must be standardized, orderly, and regulated.
Many magicians object to these regulations that "restrict their creativity". Standardized parts are a heavy shackle on their design and performance.
After completing a satisfactory work, they also have to modify the design to use various standard parts and meet various standards of the Ministry of Industry, and the materials must also meet certain specific conditions…
After this series of operations, new products that might have been very advanced and competitive become mediocre, losing their original competitiveness, or experiencing a substantial increase in costs.
If they are lucky, they can continue production, only earning a little less. If they are unlucky, the final calculation reveals a design failure, leading to direct elimination.
In the past, mages freely crafted their equipment. It was already good enough if they could buy something; only those with fortunes could pick and choose their magical equipment.
But now, the Empire has directly deprived them of their freedom. If they want to create something new, they are tethered to the Ministry of Industry, naturally drawing criticism from many mages.
However, no amount of opposition is of any use.
Standardization is a route that the Empire's magical industrialization has long been oriented towards. How could they abandon it because of a few negative effects?