Chapter 582

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Protagonist:

Chen Yi

Ma La's purchase of thermal weapons also stemmed from the opening of the shipping lane.

Ever since half a year ago, when the first 10,000-ton ship arrived at the port 1,500 kilometers away in the most primitive way, the troops departing from Ma La obtained triple the previous supply.

Compared to other city-states' land transport where only one in ten arrives, sea transport loss is only about three percent, and that is due to the unfamiliarity with the sea route and the addition of weapons.

With such conditions, in the choice of ranged weapons, the superiority of thermal weapons over bows, arrows, and javelins is very clear. Not to mention anything else, a heavy machine gunner can fire tens of thousands of rounds in a single battle; West Continent archers, no matter how strong, can only manage less than a hundred arrows. Javelin throwers need not be mentioned; they are exhausted before their stamina runs out.

On the other hand, heavy machine guns and automatic rifles also have the advantage of range.

Various conditions could not yet be reflected when manpower was low, but in large-scale warfare, light infantry assault and light infantry strikes run through from beginning to end. Although these soldiers with very thin armor are consumables, they also have the advantage of low cost and large numbers. If there are no large-scale attrition measures, they will cause losses to heavy infantry and cavalry, thereby affecting the battle of Temple Knights and Divine Art Knights. The previous common practice was ballistae, trebuchets, javelins, and bows; failing that, light cavalry had to be deployed to stem the tide. After Ma La earlier swapped in a few heavy machine guns, the line was held as steady as a mountain, especially effective against mass charges. If there was any limitation, it was that logistical pressure made them unable to

but they were limited by logistical pressure and could not continue to expand.

Now, the 2,000-plus kilometer supply line has become a few hundred kilometers, and it is sea transport to boot. Never mind the knights of other city-states; Ma La was the first to switch entirely to thermal weapons.

Within this, there was also Chen Yi's support and tacit approval. Compared to a self-sufficient economic war machine, Chen Yi was more willing for them to get used to using thermal weapons.

Modern weapon production is not simple; as long as West Continent people get used to it, they cannot do without West River City-State. The cost of this economic control is far lower than political control and military control.

Mo Shaoqiu only sells arms, wishing for beacon fires everywhere. Seeing Chen Yi agree to sell to natives, why would he oppose? He left in high spirits.

Liu Xinyu waited a while, then walked out from the inner room of the office, smiling: "The Mo Family will certainly be overjoyed this time; just don't know if it's a blessing or a curse."

"It shouldn't go so far as to hurt the sinews and move the bones." Chen Yi smiled on one hand, while his gaze looked toward the middle on the other.

Actually, not only the Mo Family is happy; domestic and foreign arms companies and merchants are all happy.

Light weapons have always been the highest-selling materiel; single-unit profit cannot compare to missiles and warships, but the total volume is large enough to prop it up.

The Mo Family's massive procurement has taken this situation to another level.

200,000 pistols might only be worth tens of millions, but 200,000 automatic weapons, 20,000 heavy machine guns, and tens of millions of crates of bullets have made many people happy. These are real production orders, bringing not just final profit, but income across the entire industrial chain.

Not to mention domestic military factories that nearly starved to death; even foreign small arms companies on the verge of starving are celebrating with clasped hands.

Then, this figure grew larger and larger, quickly evolving into red-eyed jealousy.

The Mo Family's near-monopoly of the West Continent arms industry is the return Chen Yi gave the Mo Family, the result of political profit-sharing. This return was not eye-catching initially, similar to what other families got, but now, when Ma La-State's hundreds of thousands of soldiers have collectively re-equipped, when some similar city-states also demand re-equipping, and when battlefield losses grow ever larger, Mo Shao's return is ten times what it was before, and many people are unwilling to accept it.

Even in the Committee, Committee Member Liu raised objections.

Chen Yi, however, consistently remained very silent.

Not commenting is, to a certain extent, precisely a kind of evaluation.

Correspondingly, Mo Shaoqiu instantly had a sense of crisis.

He decided to earn as much money as possible, as fast as possible.

Thus, more ships loaded with arms began loading at the port, heading for the port 1,500 kilometers away. There, the continuously expanding wharf began accommodating more and more cargo ships, and familiarity with the shipping lane made transport speed faster and faster.

Correspondingly, the Water Dragon Temple side's performance in the war also got better and better.

Trained heavy machine gunners, as long as they have one or two Combat Skill Level knights as guards, can actually wipe out piles of heavy infantry; this was almost unimaginable in the past.

Enemy light cavalry often have to charge the light infantry groups first, then fall down under the heavy machine gunners' attack. Finally, the Dragon Beast Cavalry Corps composed of Combat Knights has to deploy early, which returns the war to cold weapon combat and simultaneously cedes the initiative of the war.

From the news Chen Yi knows from Ma La, the war is very likely to end within two to three years.

If true, this will be the first Temple War in a thousand years to end within ten years. The Divine Priests of the Water Dragon Temple have long been unable to hold back and have started preparing offerings. The scholars of West River City-State are relatively calm; they are all waiting for the domestic discussion on whether to participate in the Temple War, even though they have actually already participated in the war.

On the weekend, just when the fleet leased by the Mo Family expanded to 10 ships, Hai Zi's discussion finally concluded.

"The Chief of Staff has decided not to participate in the Temple War." Chen Zhongguo was solemn when conveying the opinion to Chen Yi; his tone revealed neither good nor bad, and he said calmly: "Additionally, out of consideration for compensation, the domestic side is preparing to dispatch a professional team to plan the launch of a satellite on the West Continent."

"A satellite?"

"For convenient ship positioning, and additionally it can be used to observe the situation on the battlefield."

Chen Yi raised an eyebrow, smiled, and said: "They really think the West Continent can launch a satellite up there? Forget it, let them try."

The West Continent has creatures like Dragons, after all. Small lizards turning into Dragons haven't flown too high, but even powerful Divine Art Knights can reach the height of the stratosphere; powerful Dragons reaching the planet's outer extraterrestrial orbit doesn't seem too strange either.

Actually, Chen Yi can sometimes sense the Source Energy at high altitude.

The wonders on the God Temple Battlefield will surely attract the attention of Dragons, right?

It's just a pity no one can truly guess a Dragon's thoughts.

Two days later, the satellite launch team arrived at the Channel Wharf.

The leader was still Director Lin Junren; he now counts as the most direct channel for Senior Management to the West Continent. The entire satellite team consisted of 170-plus people, plus another 40-plus security personnel.

A Martial Arts Hall student responsible for loading and unloading touched the rocket with great interest, grinning: "My childhood dream was to invent the rocket."

Another Martial Arts Hall student ran over to touch the assembled satellite, also laughing heartily: "My childhood dream was to invent the satellite; we're a match made in heaven!"

The Lieutenant Colonel responsible for security listened with a pained face, interrupted the two: "When you were little, rockets and satellites had already been invented. No touching or fiddling. Hurry up and load them onto the vehicle."

Current Martial Arts Hall students simply don't take officers seriously. "Aiyo," one laughed: "If we don't touch or fiddle, how do we load and unload?"

"Obviously use a crane!"

"Here, it's all manual loading. Watch closely." The student spoke, called over two people, and like moving a table, one person on each side lifting a leg, the middle helping support, they carried the satellite onto the ship's takeoff and landing platform. Pure manual labor, faces relaxed and at ease.

The chatting scientist team was also stunned. A young man exclaimed: "Our satellite weighs 1.8 tons; how did they do it?"

The literary stevedore turned back, answered profoundly: "Perseverance in cultivation, and a heart with a dream; one day you too can be a stevedore."

In the Martial Arts Hall, stevedore is indeed a high-end profession. Now the Outer Hall has started teaching Pocket Qi level students; the prerequisite for enrollment is having worked as a Channel stevedore.

After a brief silence, a scientist suddenly exclaimed in shock: "Exoskeleton equipment, it must be exoskeleton equipment!"

"Where did you see an exoskeleton?"

"That's the modification inside the body, endoskeleton."

"Like Wolverine?"

"About right, titanium, maybe add a bit of tungsten. You guys look at that metal wharf over there, so much tungsten gold — what's it for? Too powerful."

Amid the scientists' irrational rational discussion, a Divine Art Knight passed by, casually lifting the hundred-plus-ton Staging Rocket onto the big ship's deck.

The discussion came to an abrupt halt; a certain girl who had been listening with animated delight hesitantly asked: "This... what does it count as?"

"Our eyes blurred." The middle-aged scientist answered with absolute certainty.

Due to the Satellite Team joining, the Channel was delayed one day before setting off. The unloading speed, however, wasn't affected much.

On the day of arrival at the West Continent, the Satellite Team entered tense measurement and installation, but in the end they could only select the launch base 50 kilometers east of West River City-State; any farther, and the Wuguan Inspection Team inside the city refused to protect.

This made quite a few old scientists angry, but under Lin Junren's persuasion, the rocket launcher was still erected on time.

Next came the long wait.

Two weeks later, the first launch began.

40-plus security personnel, plus two Wuguan Inspection Teams, surrounded the crude launch site so tightly not even water could leak through.

Mo Shaoqiu arrived in high spirits to "watch the fireworks," simultaneously evaluating: "Back at the Cuba Launch Site, was it this dilapidated?"

"That kind is called camouflage, but why don't we use cement to properly fix the ground?" Aristocratic Scions more bored than Mo Shaoqiu were plenty; such an interesting thing as launching a rocket attracted at least 20 people to watch.

Chen Yi, surrounded in the middle, was quite adapted to this kind of conversation, smiling meaningfully: "Temporary stuff, not worth wasting cement."

The countdown is about to start.

The hundred-plus-ton rocket rose into the sky amid cheers and flames, then rapidly vanished behind white clouds.

At the same time, Chen Yi also felt a massive surge of Source Energy.

Nearly 10 or more Divine Art Knights all floated up from the Ground.

"What is this!" The white-coats monitoring the screens also suddenly cried out.

A faintly visible line completely blocked the rocket's path; looks like the two are definitely going to collide.

Chen Yi curled his lip, coldly saying: "Another Giant Dragon."

……(Unfinished. If you like this work, welcome to Qidian (qidian. com) to cast Recommendation Tickets, Monthly Tickets; your support is my greatest Motivation.)