People in the Middle Ages, draw cards to get promoted

Chapter 738 Dragon and Airship

Chapter 738 Dragon and Airship

There were bursts of fire from the town behind them, and the rain poured down on them, stirring up thick smoke.

The shouts, gunfire, and crying were particularly harsh in the night.

Losa looked at it from afar, feeling somewhat complicated.

Black slaves with strong physique and docile personality were specially selected as farm tools. Those who were thin, had poor genes and were unruly were not qualified for breeding at all.

But now it seems that farm tools are not as docile as the slave owners imagined.

In the darkness behind Lothar, a pair of scarlet eyes lit up, and he crawled and moved his body quickly.

Lothar could see that it was a big cat similar to the saber-toothed tiger of ancient times.

This is what the colonial people often call "wild beasts". Different from ordinary wild beasts, they have greater destructive power and so is their resilience. People generally regard them as dark creatures similar to werewolves and vampires.

But in fact, they are not. They are just spiritual creatures of this new continent, widely distributed because of the sparse population. Among them are many ancient dragons that have become extinct in Europe.

Even Northern Europe, where both worlds are dragon paradises, now has a population of five million, not to mention other places. This is also the reason why dragon riders are gradually becoming extinct.

During the westward expansion of the North American colonies, the biggest problem they faced was the ferocious beasts in the wild, and the indigenous people had to take a back seat.

The monster sieges described in the novels become less rare the deeper inland you go, and to this day, the population of the west coast of North America is much larger than that of central North America.

Lothar only revealed a little bit of his dragon power, and this ferocious beast that could order food in ordinary human towns turned around and ran away, whimpering, with its fur ruffled. The oppressive power of dragon power, which is rooted in the genes of wild beasts, is perceived more clearly by wild beasts than by humans.

The drizzle gradually turned into heavy rain, the wind was howling, and the trees were shaking wildly.

Lothar was soaked all over. He whistled and a cheerful one-horned, black-scaled giant horse jumped out of the woods. It stepped on puddles as it went, stirring up bursts of black smoke.

When it came to Losa, it was like a happy puppy, opening its mouth full of sharp teeth and licking Losa's palm.

"I'm just going to leave you here for an hour."

Losa shook off the saliva on his hands, turned over and jumped onto the horse's back: "Let's continue to move forward and follow the coast. Our target is the main force of the British. According to the information provided by the newspaper, they are almost in Florida."

"What, where's Florida?"

Losa patted Eclipse's big head and said in a teasing tone: "If North America is compared to a giant, Florida is its penis. Do you understand?"

The fierce roar of the steam airship engine was heard in my ears. A dozen shirtless boilermen were shoveling high-quality white coal mixed with magic stone powder and filling it into the roaring machine.

At the other end of the steam airship, farthest from the power cabin, is the expeditionary force's headquarters.

The young captain shook the magic stone powder in the bottle and said, "We are conquering the wolf tribe in Texas just for these things? I really thought it was to eradicate evil."

"Don't underestimate this bottle of magic stone powder in your hand. Whether it's your flagship or the Land Cruiser, the proud steel fleet of the empire cannot be operated without this little thing. Any magic stone mine is invaluable to the British Empire."

Admiral George, who was wearing a neat military uniform, had gray hair, carried a ceremonial sword, and wore the Order of the Garter on his collar, said so.

He was the commander-in-chief of the Texas Expedition and the highest commander in this battle. Of course, Princess Louise, a member of the royal family, was excluded here.

The colonel shrugged. As the captain of a steamship, how could he not know the importance of magic stones? "Of course I know that magic stones are precious, but I doubt how long it will take to earn back the war funds after this expedition."

The high cost of modern warfare is truly terrifying. He has heard his father, the Minister of Finance, complain more than once about those war machines, which are all a group of gold-devouring monsters.

He sighed: "We already control enough magic stone veins. Let the Texans mine for us and then trade with them in pounds. Wouldn't it be cheaper?"

"This is not something you should worry about, soldier. Isn't it enough to just think about how to win the war? Or are you eager to take over your father's job?"

Admiral George paused for a moment and continued, "The magic stone veins in Texas are of very high quality. They are not like the inferior products that can only be ground into powder and used as a one-time catalyst. They can be used in many precision machines and magic arrays. If the news gets out, we will not be the only ones interested in this place."

"Besides, Colonel Brown, we fought very badly in the Boer War, which gave a lot of confidence to the challengers of the Empire."

“We often say: South America is our pasture, North America is our cotton plantation, India is our tea plantation, South Africa and Australia are our mines.”

"Everyone in the UK is so proud of this statement, but why do we have this?"

"The French kicked out Napoleon III, whom we had supported for a long time, and have been clamoring more than once to take back Alsace-Lorraine and reshape Europe's hegemony. The Germans also believe that they should get a share of the colonial world that matches their national strength. The Tsarist Russia is eyeing Central Asia and is ready to march south to India at any time, using their endless gray livestock to seize the most dazzling pearl of the British Empire."

The admiral asked, "No matter how much the cost of conquering Texas is, it can't be one-tenth of the cost of going to war with any of these three powers, right?"

Colonel Brown obviously disagreed with this view, but he obviously would not go against his immediate superior, even though his father was Lloyd George, the Empire's Chancellor of the Exchequer.

"I understand what you mean. This war is not only for profit, but also to demonstrate the power of the empire, so that those challengers who are ready to make a move and covet the throne of the empire will retreat?"

"Yes, that's it."

The Admiral sighed, "The world is so small, and the Empire has taken up too much of it. During the Boer War, almost all the European powers, including the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, Germany, Russia, France, and Denmark, sent volunteers to join the war. It seems that the Empire is still as powerful as ever, but we can't be the enemy of the whole world after all. Choosing Texas, a target that is not accepted by Europe and has a bad reputation, will not only make us gain benefits, but also establish our prestige. Why not do it?"

Apart from Texas, if Britain wants to use any other country to establish its power, it will probably be interfered with by other countries. If it then suffers another tragic victory like the Boer War, its reputation will be completely ruined.

Neither of them mentioned the slave rebellion in Louisiana. In their opinion, it was not something worth worrying about. Even if the entire state of Louisiana was destroyed, the damage to the empire would be insignificant.

As for the arming of black people?

No matter how powerful they are, they are only at the level of colonial militia. Such castrated military force is really not worth mentioning.

At this moment, Colonel Brown suddenly saw a huge black shadow flash past the porthole of the airship.

The black shadow was moving extremely fast and the field of view through the porthole was so narrow that he was unable to see the true face of the black shadow for a moment.

"There's something outside. Pass my order on. All ships on alert!"

The Admiral looked at Colonel Brown in some surprise.

He said seriously: "Believe me, Commander, my eyesight is not that bad. Although I don't know what it is, it must be a big guy."

The admiral thought for a moment and said, "Maybe it's a wild beast. North America is too primitive. Who knows, there might be some giant beasts still surviving. Anyway, I'll listen to you and send the order to be on guard."

Colonel Brown nodded and hurriedly led his men away from the command post.

Steam airships were built to observe enemy situations and carry out bombing from high altitudes. Even with the addition of armor plates and anti-aircraft machine guns, they are still extremely vulnerable to aerial enemies.

Therefore, the Big Ben Science Institute has launched a new experimental aerial vehicle designed to escort steam airships, an experimental aircraft called the Steam Destroyer.

But except for those crazy people in the Academy of Sciences, most people still prefer to call it by its more approachable abbreviation - "airplane".