Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 510 Castel's Expedition

Hunter has experienced more shock in the past few days than he has in the first half of his life.

If he learned how powerful Castel was on the island, then his time with the expeditionary force showed him just how incredible Castel's production capacity was.

Steam locomotives, with just the heavy machine gun mounted on top, could wipe out the entire Allied army. But these days, Castells has been sending locomotives out without returning them in order to transport them quickly.

At least three trains depart every day. These steel locomotives and carriages are treated as consumables; they are simply left here after arriving, without wasting time sending them back.

This directly doubled the rail transport capacity to the North in a short period of time.

Needless to say, the expeditionary force soldiers and weapons they sent included a large amount of building materials.

This was also the first time Hunter had ever seen the "concrete" he had been longing for.

"That's all?!"

Hunter stared in disbelief at the workers who were shoveling ash in front of him.

“Yes, mix the concrete, pour it in and pour it in. It’s that simple. It’s not much harder than playing with mud.” Hodge shrugged. “It will begin to set in a few hours, and the formwork can be removed after a whole day. If the weather is right, it can be used in a few days. Of course, according to the regulations, it will take a month to fully reach the design strength.”

Hodge exaggerated a bit. In fact, there are quite a few steps involved in building construction, from embedding the steel bars to installing the formwork and vibrating the concrete.

But Hunter had seen how fortifications were built elsewhere.

First, a suitable quarry must be found. Holes are then drilled into the huge rocks, and steel chisels are inserted to cut them into appropriately sized blocks.

Then they are polished, transported to the construction site, and stacked one by one, with chalk mortar applied in the middle like building a wall. The whole process takes several years. If we rush the work, it would be impossible to finish in less than a few months.

This is just an ordinary city wall.

The construction of city gates and crenellations requires special techniques, and they cannot be built without a suitable stonemason. If winter passes in between, additional maintenance methods are needed, otherwise the unfinished and exposed building materials are easily deformed due to thermal expansion and contraction.

Even so, the resulting fortifications were far less sturdy than concrete.

In comparison, Castel's fortifications were so difficult and slow that they were practically "no different from playing in the mud."

Hunter was an expert in siege equipment and had a deep understanding of the defensive capabilities of fortifications such as city walls, which is why he was so shocked.

Concrete is absolutely a revolutionary invention.

Without needing any additional industrial goods, simply giving Hunter this construction capability would give him the confidence to unify the entire continent.

In Castel, this was not the most advanced technology, and Hughes had never even considered using it to expand outwards.

—As for fortifications, they can be built casually. It doesn't matter much whether they're sturdy or not, since no one can charge through them while facing heavy machine guns anyway.

Looking at the fortifications that were already taking shape, Hunter was speechless.

In Castells, such fortifications would be considered utterly shoddy. The thickness of the concrete and the level of protection were negligible, and the foundations were not even very deep. They could barely withstand aerial bombs. They were merely hastily constructed temporary fortifications to deal with potential future problems.

But Hunter can assure you that no weapon in the North can breach the outer walls of this fortification.

The giant catapult, a pinnacle of siege technology, could easily dent even the thinnest walls without requiring significant time and materials to construct. Hunter estimated that it would struggle to even leave a dent in this fortification. The reinforced concrete structure, through its reinforcement, can transfer and absorb a large amount of kinetic energy, making it not only strong but also extremely resilient.

This fortress will be the wall of despair in the North, an unyielding fortress that any army can only fill with the lives of its soldiers.

And such walls of despair can be erected every few days.

As for their enemies.
The three dukes have been fighting in the North for decades without a clear victor, while Count Bazel has risen to power in one fell swoop. If they were to fight Castell...
Hunter shook his head, trying to put the matter out of his mind; his brilliant mind shouldn't be wasting it on such foolish questions.

Suddenly, Hodge, who was standing next to him, raised his head.

"Captain Hodge!" An expeditionary soldier jogged over from a distance, accompanied by a dusty messenger.

"Captain Hodge, the latest battle report from Wolfsburg!"

Hochten jumped up and rushed over to take the document from the soldier. Hunter stood up and wanted to go and take a look, but halfway there he suddenly remembered his identity and stopped awkwardly.

The battle report was short, and Hodge quickly finished reading it. He glanced at Hunter, who looked embarrassed, waved to him, and handed him the report.

Hunter glanced at it once, then his eyes widened.

"Barzel has left Wolfsburg?!"

"Yes, our soldiers quickly captured Wolfsburg, but it was already an empty city. Bazel took all the troops with him."

Castells' expeditionary force did not remain idle upon arriving in the North. Constructing some fortifications near the wagons was merely a side task; their main focus remained on the four northern territories.

The resistance was retreating at a considerable pace, and given the speed of intelligence transmission in this era, finding them would be quite difficult.

Moreover, Castell was not familiar with the North. It was already difficult enough for him to find the right place by following the map, let alone track a moving troop.

But the expeditionary force had another option:
If we defeat all the lords of the four northern territories, they will naturally have no time to deal with the resistance army.

The resistance fighters can run away, but these lords can't make their castles stand up and run away.

Therefore, the expeditionary force did not hesitate to send troops to the Grand Duchy of Dragontooth, the Count of Bazel, and the nearest Grand Duchy of Alvarez.

As for Octavia, her territory was too far away to pose a threat to the resistance for the time being, so Castel didn't bother with her.

The situation on Grand Duke Alvarez's side is special. The expeditionary force sent to the western territory of Grand Duke Dragontooth recently sent word that Grand Duke Dragontooth has personally led his troops to pursue the resistance army.

Castel had already heard rumors about this, so it was somewhat expected, but something was wrong with Bazel.

"The Earl of Bazel has been recuperating at Wolfsburg for the past six months. Why did they suddenly leave?"

Hunter frowned.

“This is not right. The strongholds near Wolfsburg have been taken by the allied forces of the three dukes. In fact, the allied forces were wiped out by Castel on their way to Wolfsburg.”

"In other words, Count Bazel should have no information from the outside world at all. Then why did they leave?"

(End of this chapter)