Chapter 557: Troops at the City Gates

The shock brought by the steam train lasted for a very long time; those nobles who had originally intended to leave after congratulating the birth of Luolan abruptly changed their itineraries.

Although they did not understand the train, they knew the immense potential of this thing; given this, who wouldn't want their own territory to possess such a "Divine Artifact"?

Therefore, for the next several days, the nobles were consulting Zhaozebao for relevant information, seeing if they could also build a train and lay a few railways in their own territories.

Such business negotiations were still presided over by Chahaer, but Luoning was also present.

Things like railway lines need to be spearheaded from the top down and require unified planning.

However, the nobles here are equivalent to individual small countries; if a line passes through the territory of Noble A, and one day this noble takes the wrong medicine and cuts off the tracks, the impact would be enormous.

Before Luoning has unified these places, he naturally must negotiate the terms well and also agree upon the responsibilities of both sides; if someone deliberately causes damage, they must bear the corresponding consequences.

Of course, Luoning doing all of this is naturally not free.

Although the steam train is in his hands and other nobles do not need to worry about that aspect, the railways involving their own territories require them to pay out of their own pockets.

Labor costs, the costs of various materials like steel and railway sleepers, plus the costs of the Wubei Territory's professional technical team—added together, one hundred thousand gold coins would absolutely not be enough.

Besides this, after the railway is running later, they would also need to pay transportation fees and so on to the Wubei Territory.

Therefore, as soon as the issue of money was involved, ninety percent of the nobles backed out.

Luoning had long known it would be like this, so he did not count on all the nobles having the ability to join the massive project of railway construction.

He aimed his main focus at those nobles who had mines in their territories and those with a huge demand for transportation.

After talking for several days, apart from Lulansi who fully supported it, the other nobles all very cautiously said they would go back to consider it carefully and give an answer as soon as possible.

Luoning could also understand, as this was a major project after all.

But he also realized that to lay railways to every place, it needs to be spearheaded from the top down.

Once a railway has a finalized plan to pass through a certain noble's territory, it should be able to pass through, and the local noble should not have the right to refuse.

Fortunately, there is no rush for now; let's finish building the railway from Wubei Territory directly to Wushan Castle and the branch lines along the way first.

As for the other nobles, let them consider it slowly.

After the lively celebration, Zhaozebao returned to its former tranquility.

Every day, besides taking care of Luolan, Luoning began to tinker with concrete; the high-quality clay from West Wind Hill and the limestone from Jushi City could be used together, and the new building materials could also be applied to the construction of Wubei City and Wubeichengbao.

Besides these matters, Luoning would also receive letters from other members of the War Council; for example, when Flame Seal Knights appeared among the enemies faced by Waerjisi and Yiben, Luoning would arrive to handle these troubles for them.

As for the front and the eastern battlefield, although Flame Seal Knights also appeared, relying on Ruidar and Maiken was enough to cope.

After a period of attrition, the losses of Luoning's army were relatively small, but the losses of Waerjisi and Yiben were relatively large.

Although they were ultimately victorious and were constantly occupying territory that originally belonged to the Feilunsibao Principality and the Black Thorn Principality, they were not growing as fast as Luoning and Lulansi at all.

And in the ensuing two-year war, it was not hard for Luoning to discover that although the Telixiya Kingdom was still resisting in segments, the powerhouses appearing on the battlefield were becoming fewer and fewer.

This "powerhouse" refers to Level 8 and Level 9 Transcendental.

Often after a battle, the strongest combat power on the opposite side was only a Golden Knight.

Although the number of Golden Knights was a bit high, they could not stir up any trouble.

It seems that ever since Selandier died, the opponent's ability to mass-produce powerhouses had plummeted, completely unable to keep up with the consumption rate of powerhouses on the four battlefields.

Above Bakesi City, Luoning and Ruidar stood in the air, watching the intense clash taking place below.

"The strength erupted by that Flame Seal Knight on the opposite side should be nearing the Meteor level."

Ruidar pointed to the battle group on the lower right and introduced: "However, our side only needs one Golden Knight and two Silver Knights to execute the Flame Battle Array to take him down!"

Luoning looked over; the three of them coordinated closely, and between their movements, there was always a feeling of them echoing each other.

Special cultivation Secret Tomes, plus the assistance of external objects and a series of training, gave them a sense of synchronization.

With the three of them besieging, the enemy's Flame Seal Knight was already at the end of his rope.

"That Golden Knight seems to be Qiaofuli, right?" Luoning asked.

Ruidar laughed, "Yes, my lord. Two years of war have caused Qiaofuli's strength to advance by leaps and bounds; now he has reached the late Golden Grade. The one beside him is Babulin; although he only became a Silver recently, he has the potential to serve as a garrison officer, sheriff, or similar positions."

Qiaofuli and Babulin both walked out of savage tribes; to have today's achievements, it can be considered a legendary experience.

In fact, relying on Luoning's resource tilt of Enhancement Potion toward his old subordinates, many people had good growth in these two years.

For example, Luogena, Damon, Tangmu, and so on, and the strongest among them is Kalada, who is now a Meteor Knight.

While the two were talking, the war below had already ended.

With this, the three large cities, five medium cities, and more than a dozen small towns between Miwu and Dragon City were all taken into Luoning's pocket.

"South of Bakesi City is the Dragon Avenue; the end of this road, which is over sixty li long, is Dragon City, the capital of the Telixiya Kingdom."

Luoning, high in the sky, gazed toward the south, and could vaguely see the outline of Dragon City.

In fact, the intensity of the war in the last half-year has not been high, mainly because the opponent's army has completely lost its morale.

If it weren't for Tailuo using money to incentivize them and threatening their lives, this group of people would have long wanted to throw down their weapons and give up resistance.

Even Bakesi City, which belongs to the bridgehead of Dragon City, had defensive forces nowhere near as strong as the Battle of Miwu back then.

"My lord, when are we preparing to attack Dragon City?" Ruidar said with some anticipation.

Luoning pondered slightly.

Now his Magician level progress has reached (57327/60000); it only takes four months to cross into Legendary and become a Sage.

He has waited for two years; there is no need to rush for a moment.

"Before the spring plowing next year."

Luoning said: "It just so happens that the war in the Vila Principality should also end by September or October; we can just combine our forces then."

Vilachengbao was captured by Lulansi and Maiken a year ago, and they have continued to attack other cities to the east during the subsequent period.

Besides Maiken, Kalada's fleet has already bypassed the Vila Principality, stepped onto the land of the Telixiya Kingdom from the south, and has now occupied two small cities, with impressive results.

Ruidar nodded, "You are still consistently steady regarding Dragon City."

Luoning couldn't help but laugh.

Now Hameng's intelligence system has covered Dragon City; even if something happens in the Wangong, Luoning can grasp it precisely.

For these past two years, he had been waiting for the opportunity for Yanyi to leave the Ten Thousand Palaces, so that he could launch a blitzkrieg with Ruidar and behead the opponent.

It was just a pity that the opponent, whether out of cowardice or caution, had not stepped a single half-step out of Wangong in two years, holding fast to the formation and refusing to come out.

Hameng did not know much about Yanyi, so in order to avoid any accidents, Luoning gave up on aggressive strategies.

The current method and pace of conquering a city and then governing it were quite good.

Moreover, as the duration of the war dragged on, the reputation of the arrogant soldiers and fierce generals under Luoning spread, and his prestige was established, reaching its zenith.

Although the War Council still existed, whether it was Waerjisi or Yiben, they had already completely handed over the decision-making power.

The operation of the Auduin Kingdom, before anyone realized it, had already come to depend entirely on the will of Luoning. (End of this chapter)