Your war hammer is too fake

Hearing this, Namtaru pondered for a few seconds. "Let the other two biological warships approach you and prepare to teleport," the Demon Prince ordered decisively, "We will immediately support the bait."

"Now?" The main control mother said in surprise while conveying the order: "You have prepared a trap over there. Should we wait until the trap is triggered before going over? ... Um, sorry, sir."

"Only if we rush over immediately will Tzeentch's minions really take the bait. You don't think they would be so stupid as to throw all their strength into it without testing it, do you? Their main force must still be waiting and watching," Namtaru said calmly, "Also send a message to Nadel." When Namtaru mentioned this name, her consciousness fell into a brief trance, as if something was surging from the depths of her memory. The Demon Prince shook his head vigorously to get rid of this strange feeling.

"...Sir?" The clan mother asked cautiously, "What instructions do you have for Master Nadel?"

"Tell her," Namtaru took a deep breath, even though as a demon, she didn't need to breathe, "she and her ground forces can move, just follow Plan No. 3."

After that, Namtaru walked to the corner of the small chamber, where some refined dimensional stones were lying in the shadows, emitting an ominous green light through the crude and dirty sacks. The former Nest Overlord, now the Demon Prince, only had a thought, and all the sacks deflated at the same time, and the dimensional stones inside were freed from the constraints of material form and restored to their true form: a ball of primitive and violent magic wind.

Obscure spells echoed in the chamber, and magic surged in a realm invisible to the naked eye. First, the Ark of Plague, then the other two biological warships of the same type approached. Powerful magic took shape in a very short time. The wind of magic that should have been unruly danced under the will of the Demon Prince, and obeyed docilely like a sheep.

The next moment, the three plague-spreading arks, which had slowed down to almost a stop, disappeared from their original locations at the same time.

……

Eclipse, command bridge.

“Disappeared?” Yrel looked up from the map, frowning. “What do you mean by ‘disappeared’?”

"It's exactly what it says, sir," the commander replied. "I've confirmed that all three Meco teams gave the same description. The three approaching Plague-spreading Arks suddenly disappeared from the display."

"Illusion?" the fleet commander asked, "Just like the three one-eyed heads before."

"The Shadow Wind is currently at a low ebb, sir," said Guan Tongchang, "so it can't be an illusion. Although humans are not as good as us in the way of magic, they have their own unique research on magic. The human 'Eye of Heaven' is an extremely effective detection device, and ordinary shadow magic cannot be hidden from it."

Irel then pondered for a while, then looked up at his master. Facing the gaze of his subordinates, Morgan, who was holding a powerful artifact but had almost no room to play in the entire battle, shook his head slightly.

"Let the sky knights and flying beasts go back to rest," Irel said to the commander, "Let the Meko squadron fly around the main force of the fleet to ensure that there are no blind spots in all directions."

"Yes!"

Guan Tongchang sat down at his seat and began to convey orders with the help of the communication matrix, while Irel said to Morgan: "Your Majesty, if this is not an illusion... is it teleportation? Where is their destination?"

"I have just verified that neither the Forest Shade Territory nor the Salt Wind Territory has seen the enemy, at least so far." As the Lord of the Holy Scripture, Morgan can unconditionally obtain the vision of any system unit under her command, and she has just checked them one by one. "The same is true for several important outposts and independent facilities."

"What about Lady Naisi?"

"I've seen it, too." Morgan showed an extremely unhappy expression when he mentioned this. "The Caledo people have been refusing to allow reinforcements to enter the fortress to help defend it... They even showed the intention of attacking our army."

“If the Outer Gods ever decide to destroy Ulthuan, allow me to lead the fleet to aid them, Your Majesty,” said Yrel. “They deserve this for their insolence.”

"The main question at the moment is, where did the three biological warships go? If they had the ability to teleport directly to the Antarctic wasteland, they would have done so long ago, and would not have waited until now," Morgan said annoyed, and was too lazy to hide his annoyance. "That means they are still somewhere in the south... What exactly do they want to do?"

"If the rotten bugs are not planning to attack our territory for the time being, I suggest that we return to Torch Harbor to rest and recuperate, Your Majesty. We have lost almost a quarter of our strength, and we are in urgent need of ammunition replenishment."

"So be it, then. To be able to teleport three such huge biological warships away at once, there must be a spellcaster on the other side who is not weaker than me, or even stronger than me. Tsk, when did such a person appear in those guys under Nurgle who can only run membership restaurants?" As he spoke, Morgan walked to the porthole with the Staff of Seven Questions in his hand and looked at the sea of ​​clouds in the distance.

Queen Evergreen stood there without saying a word. Suddenly, she turned her head and looked in a certain direction. A moment later, the voice of the commander of the Observation Department rang out: "This ship has received a communication... It's Lady Nais! Uh..."

"What did she say?" Morgan asked without turning his head.

"The Lizardmen teleported back the reinforcements we sent to Dawnhold, along with our dwarven allies," the Guantongchang replied. "Lady Nais requested to speak with you in person."

"Come in."

"Hello, hello? Morgan, actually Kigar wants to talk to you directly. It..."

"Lord of the young race, lower your fleet. I need to transport them to where they should be right now," Kigal's voice, which was very different from that of most races in the world, squeezed in amid the noisy voices. "The prophecy was deviated. A powerful being interfered with my observation of the stars. After the correction, I made a new prophecy. Now..."

Morgan took a deep breath. Morgan began to rage.

"Shut up, you unreliable fat toad!" King Changqing grabbed the intercom and roared at it: "Because of the wrong information you provided, we were caught off guard by the enemy! Do you think I will still believe your stupid words?!"

If it was just a heavy loss, Morgan wouldn't be so angry. Three of the 11 frigates were lost, and all of them belonged to the two governors! Even though he knew that An Jiyue and Xiao Yiyue would not vent their anger on him, Morgan still felt embarrassed and resented Kigar.

"Unless you can provide solid and reliable intelligence, you can't expect our people to act according to your ideas!" After shouting, Morgan cut off the communication and looked at the fleet commander he personally selected.

"Notify the entire fleet," Irel nodded slightly in response to his master's gaze, "Return!"

The author says:

Author's words: I bought a pack of cold noodles at RT-Mart for 12 yuan, but when I opened it, I found that it only had a pack of noodles, a pack of soup (which tasted so sour and had no beef flavor at all), and a small pack of chili sauce and chili oil. No, you dare to sell this for 12 yuan? ? ? There's not even any kimchi, it's really a bit too much.

Chapter 495: The Dawn of the Cruiser

Noon on September 9, Xuanshui, Anxi Jiedusi.

When Anxi Jun led Jin Zhifan into the meeting room, the Bing sisters had already taken their seats. Since Bing Ruolan only had two hours of free time a day, the meeting had to be held in advance at noon; at the same time, due to some considerations, this meeting, which was supposed to be attended only by the Lord of the Holy Scripture, finally invited Bing Ruomei to come as well.

"Everyone is here," Jin Zhifan pulled out a chair and An Jiyue sat in it, "Let's get started."

There were nine armchairs in front of the round conference table, each with an Indian number on the back. An Jiyue's chair was marked "02", Bing Ruolan's was "01", and Bing Ruomei's was "09". To be honest, Aunt Bing couldn't figure out how these numbers were arranged, and why her second sister was at the front?

Following the Jiedushi's order, Jin Zhifan walked to the corner of the conference room and sat down. There was a separate table and chairs, and on the table were some military green painted equipment that Bing Ruomei couldn't understand. The deputy captain of the Jinyiwei operated the equipment for a few times, and then projections appeared on the six empty chairs in front of the main table one by one.

Elves, dwarves, Tessi, and even the undead. The Bing family's aunt glanced around and silently memorized every face.

"Thanks to the newly commissioned Grasshopper communication boat, we can have a face-to-face meeting like this even though we are thousands of miles apart," An Jiyue spoke first. "We all hate long-winded nonsense, so let's get straight to the point. Just yesterday, the fleet we emptied our family's savings to put together had a battle with the Chaos Nest."

As he spoke, An Jiyue looked at Morgan's projection and nodded gently. Morgan took out a crystal ball, and without any movement from Kaldorei, some live video footage began to play.

No one spoke. Everyone, especially Bing Ruomei, stared motionlessly at the unimaginable battle scene presented in the video, and couldn't help but think about what the Zhendan Empire would do if it faced such an enemy. Would it be able to win? What would it cost to win? ... And the conclusion she came to was not very optimistic.

After the video was finished, An Jiyue reached out and knocked on the desk in front of her, attracting everyone's attention. Facing everyone's gaze, she said, "While our military technology is advancing with each passing day, our enemies are also not idle. This air battle is a warning, warning us not to be complacent with our achievements."

"We have been expanding our armaments, but the problem is that our production capacity cannot keep up," said Dustan, who leaned his staff against the chair. "The Eclipse-class frigates should be a common armament for my forces and the Zhemu King's Court, but the first six were all given to the Kaldorei." Seeing that Morgan wanted to say something, the wizard waved his hand and said, "I'm not blaming you. Damn it, the situation over there is much more serious than mine. It's normal that the warships are provided to you first."

"The first Hammer-class ship is scheduled to roll off the production line in January next year," said Barrel, the second person to speak. The Lord of Plateau Castle and Dustan were both in Kewang Castle. "This is already the fastest speed. You know, it's not easy to deal with the stubborn old man in the Engineers Guild... Fortunately, our Emberstone Clan originated from a ranger clan, so we are very open-minded in this regard."

"Kaldorei has warships but no bases, and Plateau Castle has bases but no warships. What kind of a joke is this?" Evelyn complained. "By the way, how long will it take you to produce your own warships?"

The person the Elector asked was King Evergreen. After hearing this, the latter thought for a moment and said, "If the Light Spear, Heavenly Furnace, and Shield Generator continue to be outsourced, the shipyard will be ready by the end of the year."

Aiwen looked puzzled: "Oh my goodness, the main weapon, protection and energy source all have to be outsourced?"

"At least it can save the Tianhe Shipyard a slipway and shipbuilding workers, which is already very good," An Jiyue said, "The shield generator is the latest technology, so it's not surprising that you can't produce it yourself for the time being. What about the light spear and the celestial furnace?"

"It's the same old problem. It's really not easy to make a group of people whose understanding of industry is still stuck in the handicraft workshop model understand and adapt to large-scale industrial production. Almost all the details need me to teach them from scratch." Morgan felt angry when he talked about this. "The production process and process specifications need to be explored from scratch, and the operating rules are formulated while cleaning up the mess left by the production accidents..."

"There were hundreds of production accidents in Juhui Port last month alone. Although none of them were serious, I just can't understand why there are so few factories in total, how could they cause so many troubles?!... Fortunately, I equipped them with life spellcasters from the beginning, otherwise my first batch of industrial workers would all become disabled in a short time!"

Even though they were thousands of kilometers apart, everyone could feel the resentment in His Majesty King Changqing that was so strong that it seemed to be materialized.

"... Let me summarize. The Zhemu Royal Court and Gaoyuan Fort will not be able to produce their own frigates until January next year." An Jiyue had a headache and could only take a sip of the tea brewed by Jin Zhishi. "Oh, and West Territory."

"By the way, your frigate is about to be launched soon?" Dustan looked at Aiwen with envy: "Who designed it?"

"Belissarius Cawl, leader of the Adeptus Mechanicus," Evelyn replied, "is truly the chosen one of Ishamara, the God of All Machines." When he mentioned "the God of All Machines," the Elector deliberately emphasized the words, "This guy is truly amazing. He has never come across such a complex weapon system before, but he just looked through the design drawings of various existing flying warships and quickly came up with his own design, which he calls the Sentinel-class frigate."

"What are the performance characteristics?" An Jiyue and Morgan asked in unison.

"A large grasshopper," Evelyn shrugged. "The Sentinel class continues the design principles of the Empire line of flying ships. It and the Eclipse class are exactly two extremes. The Eclipse class is specialized in air defense and has very poor ground defense capabilities, while this thing is specialized in ground defense, emphasizing ground defense capabilities and the ability to detect ground targets."

"The right one is the best," An Jiuyue said, "At least this thing sounds like it meets the needs of the empire... There are too many messy monsters in the old forest of the empire."

"Speaking of monsters," Morgan said hastily after hearing a certain word, "Palatis contacted me several times afterwards, and their intentions were still the same. They hope to obtain the public recognition of the legitimacy of their regime by the Royal Court of the Crucible, and to sign a non-aggression treaty, conduct trade, and so on. In addition, their Archbishop William took the initiative to propose that they are willing to apologize and compensate for the matter of Ms. Deedlit."

"The first and last ones are both making things difficult for us," An Jiyue's expression was very subtle. "It's good enough that they can acquiesce, but you want to admit it publicly? The empire will be furious. As for the last one..."

"That's what I told them. Even though NATO hasn't been formally established yet, we and the Empire are already quasi-allies. We can't do something that disregards the feelings of our allies," Morgan said. "As for Deedlit's matter, I told William that only Deedlit's apprentice, Arwen Duskstar, has the right to forgive the Order for what it did. Then I told him that Arwen is currently receiving treatment in a secret holy place due to her injuries, and it's inconvenient for her to contact the outside world."

"That's right," An Jiyue nodded approvingly, "We can only put this matter on hold for now. Anyway, it's Paradis who should be anxious, not us. Oh, by the way, I have good news to share with you all."

After looking around, the Outer God Leader said, "Through the compilation and excavation of the Faceless's database, the Xuanshui Arsenal has successfully mastered their memory infusion technology. The Faceless's technology is very advanced. Not only can it instill memories stored in the brain, but even muscle memory can be instilled... In other words, we can now quickly train advanced technical soldiers."

The Lords of the Holy Scriptures looked at each other. Bing Ruolan exchanged glances with the others, then whispered to her eldest sister the meaning of some proper nouns.

"The biggest problem restricting the expansion of the fleet has been solved, and another good news is that the second phase of the expansion project of Tianhe Shipyard has been completed, and four brand new Swift-class ships will be delivered to the troops in five weeks. In addition," An Jiyue took a deep breath, "I have found a way to break through the tonnage bottleneck and build large ships."

"Our army will have cruisers soon."

The author says:

Author's note: I've been lying in bed for almost the entire day... I'm not feeling nauseous anymore, but I'm still weak all over, and my knees will protest if I stand for a while.

Chapter 496 News from Tianzhu

In the conference room, the meeting or chat group is still going on.

"All of our existing flying ships, without exception, use the ancient ship structure of the keel," said An Jiyue, and a translucent projection appeared on the desk in front of him. "This is the structure diagram of the Swift class. Because the force bearing mode in the running state is completely different, the keel of the surface ship is at the bottom of the ship, while the keel of the flying ship is under the deck."

As the Anxi Army Jiedushi spoke, the keel of the Swift-class turned red in the translucent light blue projection. "When the gun mount of a warship uses the central axis layout, the keel is right below the gun position, which makes it impossible for me to equip the main gun with a hoist. In actual combat, I can only use manpower to deliver ammunition from the ammunition depot to the deck. Overall, this not only reduces the operating efficiency of the main gun and the firing rate cannot be increased, but also requires the gun position to use a semi-open structure."

"This is actually a very fatal weakness. Before our fleet engaged the Ark of the Plague, it had already experienced a series of air battles in the South. Actual combat results show that the semi-open gun positions expose the gun crews directly to the outside. Once the enemy successfully boarded, not only would the operation of the main guns be hampered, but the gun crews would inevitably suffer casualties. Secondly, in extreme weather, such as the heavy rain that is very common in the South, the semi-open gun positions would often be soaked by rain."

"Adding to the myriad other issues, to sum up, only fully enclosed armored turrets are the future development direction," An Jiyue picked up the teacup and took a sip of tea. "Keelless flying ships are the general trend, and this is not just because keeled ships are too big. Hmm? Lord Bing, please speak."

After getting permission, Bing Ruomei, who was specially invited to attend the meeting, asked: "May I ask Lord An, why can't a ship be built bigger even if it has a keel? Your Highness Dong is in charge of the navy of the country, and he has countless warships, the largest of which can be up to 1 tons (Note ). The largest warship under the command of the two lords is less than tons. Why is there such a big difference?"

"Again, the way they are subjected to force is different, and the most important thing is that the operating environment is completely different," An Jiyue explained. "Let me give you the most intuitive example. Surface ships can be equipped with artillery, and there are dozens or even hundreds of them, and they are all heavy artillery, because there is water to help buffer and withstand the recoil. Airships fly in the sky, surrounded by air, and are extremely sensitive to recoil, so they can only use projectiles with much lower recoil."

"As for the keel, the load that a flying ship's keel has to bear is much greater than that of a surface ship's keel. Even the earliest flying ships in service in our army have iron ribs and wooden hull structures, and the keel is made of steel. Even so, the flying ship cannot be driven too wildly when sailing, otherwise it is likely to cause damage to the hull structure."

"I calculated a long time ago that without a decisive breakthrough in materials science, the upper limit of keel ships is 2,000 tons, unless special materials such as star iron are used for the keel. The question is, what is the price of star iron? Using it for keels? You have to know that our warships are consumables unless they are battleships!"

"Come to think of it, the Hammer-class armor seems to be made of star iron?" Morgan said.

"Yes. According to the design, rune blacksmiths will hammer runes on it to further strengthen it," Barrel nodded. "Only my Plateau Castle can gather so many rune blacksmiths, and they are willing to help the engineers."

"Unlike my work, which mainly relies on structure and shield to resist attacks, the Hammer-class designed by Grim Brockson has a powerful shield, powerful armor, and solid structure. It is the ultimate iron turtle with three blessings, and the key point is that it is invincible," An Jiyue spread his hands, "but this is in line with the needs of dwarves. Dwarves really can't afford to lose people, and because of their innate physiological characteristics, there are very few dwarves who can serve as air forces."

"Forget about the air force. There are very few dwarves who can serve in the navy," Barrel complained. "When I stayed at Eternal Peak, I drank with many kings. One time, I was drinking with Byrnos of Sea Gate, and he complained that the fleet of Sea Gate has never been fully staffed since the day it was established. Malakai even sent a boatload of people to feed the fish!"

"It's not unfair for Malakai to be expelled from the Engineers Guild," An Jiyue nodded in agreement, "This guy is really capable, but it's a pity that his ability to cause trouble is even stronger."

"The building seems to be tilted." Xiao Yiyue, who had never spoken much, reminded.

"Ahem... well, what was I talking about just now? The tonnage limit of keelboats is there. Two thousand tons is too small for a cruiser. Especially the air battle that happened yesterday, which further proves that we need larger warships and stronger firepower. Ideally, the new cruiser should be around six to eight thousand tons. However, considering that the ships we built before were only a few hundred tons, a huge jump would cause a crash, so the new cruiser was finally decided to be four thousand tons."

"So," Xiao Yiyue looked at An Jiyue's profile, "how did you solve the tonnage problem?"

"Since dragon bones are getting in the way, then we'd better not have them." An Jiuyue replied.

"This... without a keel, how can it be called a ship?" Bing Ruomei was stunned: "This is not a sampan!"

"I call this new structure a 'load-bearing frame'," An Jiyue said, as the translucent projection in front of him changed to another warship. "Master Bing, you can understand that the hull itself is a steel frame. Not only the 'frame', but even the hull installed on the 'frame' is part of the load-bearing structure."

When talking about this, An Jiyue deliberately omitted many details. For example, the entire research process was not as easy as she said, but it went through many tests and failures, and burned a lot of research funds before successfully overcoming technical difficulties.

"The specific technical details are numerous and complex. Considering that everyone is very busy, I won't waste time talking about them," An Jiyue said, glancing at a Dragonborn who only had two hours of free time a day. "The research and development of the load-bearing frame is quite difficult, but after actually getting started, I found that it was not as difficult as I expected. At least it is much easier than the navigation system of the phase torpedo... especially with the tunnel system of the rift worm as a reference."

"How does this involve the underground world?" Morgan asked.

"Because the tunnels and caves drilled by the rift worms are essentially a larger, more complex, and of course more effective load-bearing frame. Their creations are miracles of engineering, and are monuments that civil engineers can only look up to. After referring to the creations of the rift worms, many technical difficulties that might have taken a year or even longer to solve were finally solved within half a month. Once the new 10,000-ton slipway is completed, the construction of the cruiser can begin."

"Ten thousand tons?" Dustan asked in surprise, "Didn't you say that the new cruiser is only four thousand tons?"

"I said it above, the ideal cruiser should be 6,000 to 8,000 tons, but the ones we're currently building are all small boats of several hundred tons, and I'm afraid they'll capsize if we make such a big leap, so we've compressed the tonnage to 4,000. Well, even so, it's still far-fetched," An Jiyue shrugged. "We won't build too many new cruisers, about four to six will be enough, and then I'll design a bigger cruiser. Okay, that's about all I have to say. Do you have anything important to say here?"

"I have basically completed the suppression of the vassal forces of Spire City," Xiao Yiyue said, "but the 'immigration' work is still a bit difficult, and I need your support."

Because Bing Ruomei was present, the Lords of the Holy Scriptures could not say some things directly, and could only use jargon instead. For example, "immigration" was actually a reference to the civilian recruitment function of the Holy Scripture of War. As for "a bit difficult", it meant that the points were not enough.

After hearing what Xiao Yiyue said, An Jiyue thought for a moment and said, "50, is that enough?"

"For the first batch, 20 will be enough. You will also host the founding conference of NATO, so your finances should be tight," Xiao Yiyue said. "There is another thing... After hearing that I conquered Minaret City, Baladiwa sent an envoy here. On the one hand, he is investigating the situation and confirming whether we are friends or enemies. On the other hand, he is trying to win us over diplomatically."

"It's a normal operation. You can decide on this kind of small matter yourself... Hmm? Is there anything else?"

"I heard that the envoy drew a portrait of me after he returned. Not long after, he came again and brought many gifts," the governor of the Shuofang Army said expressionlessly, "Baladiwa proposed to me."

The meeting room suddenly became so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. About three seconds later, everyone burst into laughter, with a mummy laughing the loudest... Only Bing Ruomei sat in her seat with an embarrassed look on her face, not understanding why these people reacted like this.

Xiao Yiyue didn't say anything, but just glanced around with a smile. Then his laughter stopped abruptly.

"It seems that the envoy's painting skills are very good," An Jiyue rubbed his face as if kneading dough, "Well, you should not have killed anyone, right? I mean the envoy."

"I told him to get out with the gifts. I told the envoy that this would be the last time he would set foot on my territory intact," Xiao Yiyue said, "We can't squat in the same trench with the Caledo people, and now we have turned hostile to the other side of the Indian civil war. This will be a big variable when you consider how to conquer India."

"It doesn't matter, let's fight. After all, our strategic goal is the entire Tianzhu," An Jiyue said with a look of disapproval, "Our conquest is not the kind of small tribe overcoming a big country. From the beginning, we and the original ruling class of Tianzhu have been incompatible. You just pointed this out in advance, don't worry about it. Remember, the strategy for conquering Tianzhu is based on your opinion. Unless you think it is necessary, all related matters are decided by you."

"Is there anyone else who has something that needs to be said here? Hurry up, the old lady's exercise time is almost up."

"Hey, I told you she's not an old auntie!"

……

Note 1: About 3100 tons. It is generally believed abroad that the tonnage of the treasure ship is tons. As Warhammer is a magical world view, double that is still a lot.

The author says:

Author's words: That scumbag came back after being quiet for a day... He got the key from somewhere and tried to open the door to get in, but unfortunately I have a good habit of locking the door when I close it, even if I'm going out soon. He tried to get in for a long time outside, but the scumbag actually locked the door from the outside! Let me explain here, my house is relatively old, and the lock of the anti-theft door is half broken. Only the outer lock hole can be used normally. The key can be inserted into the inner lock hole but it can't be turned, not even a little bit. Once someone locks the door from the outside, I can't get out... In the end, I was forced to have no choice but to remove the door lock completely to get out, damn it.