Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 487 Military Units
If there's one thing Li Wei hates most, it's meetings.

Unfortunately, as the leader of the Thistle Knights and an Imperial Earl, he still had to attend some meetings.

In particular, there was a military conference specifically for the Kingdom of Krant, and Miss Anne, another person Levi brought back from the biological world, also joined the conference as a special guest.

Although Francis surrendered, his resistance was not meaningless. In order to defeat Francis in one fell swoop, the Kingdom of Krant also deployed its elite forces, and their new types of troops were naturally recorded by the Empire's spies.

Li Wei naturally saw photos and some intelligence about these military units at these top-secret military meetings.

First, there's the army.

The army of the Kingdom of Krant still relies primarily on burrowing beasts, but their vanguard has been replaced by beastmen. These beastmen are incredibly resilient, possess thick hides, and are extremely fast. According to reports from the front lines, Francis's soldiers fired a whole magazine of bullets at the beastmen without managing to kill them.

To kill these beastmen, heavy weapons such as landmines or artillery must be used. However, the beastmen are incredibly strong and fast. If they are used as vanguards to charge into the camp, the camp will almost certainly be defeated.

Krant refers to these beast-like soldiers as beast-like armored soldiers, and their numbers are currently not large. Levi also provided information obtained from Annie: the creation of beast-like soldiers typically takes about a week. Considering that this world lacks advanced biotechnology, meaning that many mature biotechnological equipment and instruments from the biological world cannot be manufactured here, it will only take longer.

Therefore, it is unlikely that beast-type soldiers can be deployed on a large scale in this world in the short term.

Next up are the giants.

Levi had seen them in Port Dreyfus. According to Anne, these giants were "waste reused," which meant they were failed bio-engineered soldiers whose brains were removed, and then they were made to grow rapidly using a growth-enhancing culture medium. Finally, their nervous system was used to connect them to their manipulators.

However, in the biological world, since bio-soldiers are already quite advanced, there's not much of a market for these giants. It seems they mainly focus on developing specialized giant synthetic beasts as large-scale weapons for combat.

The Kingdom of Krant in this world obviously couldn't afford such extravagance, so they could only resort to the more primitive method Anne mentioned.

The giants are naturally comparable to the Empire's mechs, and their height is similar to that of the knight mechs. However, according to Annie, the giants have a drawback: after a lot of activity, they must rest for a long time. If they engage in intense battles continuously in a short period of time, it will cause the giants' muscles to become overloaded and dissolve. This is one of the reasons why the Krant Empire in the biological world eliminated the giant unit.

After all, they can't fight continuously and need to be properly cared for, which is pure cost.

Next up are the armored beasts, as tough and resilient as rhinoceroses. Levi had seen these on the battlefield of Port Dreyer before; they're the ones that leave smoke trails. The Empire doesn't have a direct counterpart, but according to Anne, these synthetic beasts, known as armored beasts, function more like a combination of a tank and a battering ram.

Its main function is to rely on its speed and thick skin to break through the enemy's defensive lines and create an opening for friendly forces to launch subsequent attacks.

In the biological world, these armored beasts are usually released in the first wave, followed by the beastmen. Once the armored beasts break through the enemy's defenses, the beastmen can take the opportunity to rush in and wreak havoc.

And it seems that the Kingdom of Krant in this world does the same thing.

There are also pack animals with great endurance that are responsible for pulling carts, and goats that can easily climb over steep cliffs. Of course, these are all auxiliary troops and have little impact on the main battlefield.

Having discussed the army units, let's now talk about the air force.

The mainstay of the air force is the firebird. According to Anne, this firebird is actually blind, meaning it is completely blind. In contrast, the firebird can keenly detect sound, especially loud noise, which will annoy it and cause it to actively attack the noise.

In the biological world, flamingos are primarily used to deal with large groups of enemies, because with more people, there will inevitably be more noise. In this world, however, for flamingos, their greatest enemy is naturally noisy steel machinery.

Airships and air battleships belong to this category.

However, firebirds also have a drawback: they cannot fly out during stormy weather. If there is thunder and lightning and continuous heavy rain, they can only hide in their nests and remain motionless.

Then there's Leviathan.

Li Wei had seen this thing before, and even shot one down. To him, it didn't seem that powerful. But after seeing battlefield photos and Annie's explanation, Li Wei realized it was completely different. Leviathan was more like a combination of a giant airborne aircraft carrier and a bomber, capable of dropping biological and chemical bombs from high altitudes onto the ground—well, that's the polite way to put it.

To put it bluntly, it's Leviathan's excrement.

However, this excrement is not just disgusting; it is extremely flammable and corrosive, and its harm is not much different from that of white phosphorus bombs.

Furthermore, Leviathan and the Firebird have a symbiotic relationship. The Firebird primarily lives on Leviathan's body, and if attacked, the Firebird will immediately take off, surround Leviathan, and completely eliminate the enemy threatening it. Under the Firebird's protection, Leviathan can then recklessly spray acid and excrement from the air.

It's disgusting, but it's also dangerous.

Of course, the Krant Navy also has its own behemoth unit, but there is not much information available; all that is known is that it is called the Kraken.

Fortunately, Annie filled in the gaps in the intelligence. According to her, the Kraken resembled an octopus hiding in a shell, and its main fighting method was to use its tentacles to entangle and destroy ships, then drag them into the sea. The intelligence department agreed, as they had encountered similar intelligence before. During the battle with the Kingdom of Krant, Francis's merchant ships had disappeared several times, and survivors later reported that monsters had attacked these ships, their descriptions closely resembling Annie's.

Since the Storm Sea separates Francis from the Empire, and the only connection between the Far North Sea and the Imperial ports is Dlai Port, a navy would be indispensable if the Empire and Krant really went to war.

Fortunately, the Empire was not entirely unprepared to face Krant.

In response to the Zoanoids, the Empire is currently producing a brand-new type of powered armor, a simplified version of the Steam-Powered Soldier armor. Wearing this armor, Imperial soldiers can effortlessly wield a Gatling gun like Steam-Powered Soldiers, and the thick armor ensures that ordinary bullets cannot penetrate its protection.

Clearly, this was prepared for the beastmen. Since the enemy pursued ultimate speed and power, the Empire pursued ultimate defense and firepower.

It all comes down to who's more awesome.

Regarding mechs, the Empire is currently developing a brand-new Guardian-class mech. Unlike ordinary mechs, it has four legs, making it more robust, and it also has three giant turrets that can fire simultaneously—clearly, this is also intended to counter Krant's giant units.

On the air front, under the Queen's orders, current reconnaissance airships are beginning to resemble Levi's Eye in the Sky design. While they don't need as much firepower as the Eye in the Sky, anti-aircraft guns are a must. This will at least provide air defense and a degree of ground support, preventing them from being completely helpless against aerial threats.

As for dealing with the Firebirds, the military's research and development department seems to have developed special shells for dealing with them, just as Li Wei had said. However, whether they are effective or not will only be known once they are on the battlefield.

In response to the Kraken, the military has developed depth charges, and from now on, reconnaissance airships will sail the seas alongside the Imperial fleet, serving a reconnaissance and patrol function. Once the Kraken appears, the reconnaissance airships will be able to detect it immediately and launch an attack.

This is why Li Wei believed this war was inevitable; the Empire had invested heavily in the research and manufacture of these weapons. Even after using the Rothsfield family incident as a warning to others and reaping some benefits, half of that investment had already gone into the empire.

Especially power armor, which is all about quantity. The number of people equipped with it is at least five figures. Even if it's a simplified version of steam-powered infantry, the cost is unimaginable.

If it weren't for the Queen's confiscation of property and extermination of the clan, Li Wei felt that the Empire probably wouldn't have dared to adopt this equipment.

This raises another question: just how rich are those Itt people...?

Li Wei also mentioned his newly developed missile at the meeting. Unfortunately, while most people were very surprised by the missile's range, they also doubted whether it could actually hit its target at such a distance. Moreover, many people felt that the range was too far, and if it missed, it would be a joke.

In short, people are not very optimistic about this new type of "shell," but there's nothing that can be done about it. After all, this thing needs to be put on the battlefield to show its effectiveness before people will know how powerful it is.

"call……………"

Stepping out of the Imperial Parliament building, Levi felt utterly exhausted. He stretched his body and took a breath of fresh air before he recovered.

"It's terrible, that's why I don't like meetings."

"But this empire gives a good impression."

Anne walked beside Levi and spoke.

"I originally thought I would be seeing one of those long, pointless meetings filled with a lot of nonsense..."

“Those kinds of meetings will definitely happen, but anyone who dares to do such a thing in front of Her Majesty the Queen is asking for trouble.”

Li Wei pursed his lips as he spoke. "There must be meetings like the one Annie mentioned, but the problem is that this meeting is with Her Majesty the Queen. If you waste your time in front of Her Majesty the Queen, aren't you wasting your own life?"

The meeting might end just as your life countdown comes to a close.

"It seems that leaders are indeed crucial to a country."

Anne nodded thoughtfully, while Levi took out his pocket watch, checked the time, and then looked at Anne.

"By the way, we still have some time. How about I take you to meet someone?"

"Who?"

Li Wei smiled slightly in response to Annie's question.

"Of course, it's you in this world."

(End of this chapter)