Chapter 427 — The War Machine Turns Again

The news Gaoyang had been waiting for finally arrived.

Taking the intelligence Amber handed him, he scanned it at a glance and could not help but smile. "The fleeing remnants of the nobility have all reached Rock Fortress, exactly as we predicted—they can only take temporary refuge there. Spirit Plain would not receive them. And for now the fortress stands isolated, with no support coming from the royal court or from Spirit Plain."

Amber found it hard to believe. "The people in the capital really just gave up Rock Fortress that easily? That's Rock Fortress we're talking about!"

"They haven't given it up—they've been forced to set it aside for the time being," Gaoyang said, reducing the intelligence to ashes with a flick of his hand, explaining in high spirits. "The Eastern Legion under Duke Silas Loren is the most powerful army in Ansul. They have already broken through the eastern gate of Spirit Plain in a short time and planted themselves in the plain's great eastern stronghold. A few more key forts, and they can march straight down the King's Highway to attack Saint Sunil. The eastern rebels' aim is clear: they are out to overthrow the Second Dynasty. To the people in the capital, that is the greatest threat."

He paused, thought briefly, then went on: "But they have by no means decided to hand Rock Fortress over. I can guess what the people in the capital are thinking—they will use Rock Fortress's sturdy walls and its soldiers to hold out and buy time. Rock Fortress lies athwart the mountain gap between the Southern Region and Spirit Plain; its unique terrain makes it nearly impossible to besiege. The Cecil army can only attack from the south, while Rock Fortress can draw an unending flow of supplies from Spirit Plain to the north. It was designed from the outset to withstand long, intensive assault, so in the capital's eyes this will be a long war. If Rock Fortress can hold out long enough, the royal house can catch its breath from the crisis in the east. By then the western army, and even the northern mountain legion, can march south to reinforce them…"

Amber blinked. "So we have to take the fortress before the capital can react, is that it…?"

"Go and bring Byron, Philip, Sojilin, and Hetty here. Oh, and Rebecca too." Gaoyang nodded. "The noble remnants' halftime is over."

A short while later, the military commander of Cecil, along with the steward of internal affairs and the steward of technology, arrived in Gaoyang's study.

Before Gaoyang even spoke, they had guessed why they had been summoned. And once inside, Rebecca was still looking around with open curiosity: she rarely had the chance to be called by the Mystic Vein Sect to attend military meetings. The girl could not see what use she could possibly be, knowing nothing of such matters, but that did not keep her spirits from soaring.

Byron looked at Gaoyang with anticipation. "My lord, are we finally going to move against Rock Fortress?"

"Why do you look so pleased?" Philip could not help remarking from the side. "I never noticed you enjoyed war so much before."

"Don't even mention it. I promised Pea I'd bring her a present once Rock Fortress is taken. That boast has been out there for nearly half a month."

"Ahem." Gaoyang coughed twice, cutting off the exchange between these two masters of the art of language, then gave a slight nod. "As Byron says, the halftime of this war is over. Philip, how are the preparations in the north?"

The young knight stepped forward half a pace. "My lord, for the past half month we have been shipping components for all types of heavy and light artillery, along with industrial parts, to the Carol region, and using the existing magic-net there to build an arsenal for manufacturing weapons and ammunition. At present the northern region has sixteen 'Justice' railguns and one hundred twenty-seven 'Persuader' light railguns on standby, with ample ammunition. In addition, two thousand soldiers of the First Combat Corps and two thousand of the Second Combat Corps are waiting in the north."

"That will do." Gaoyang nodded slightly. To take over the lands of the nobles throughout the Southern Region and maintain basic order in the several control zones, he had to leave a certain number of troops behind in the Southern Region itself. And he had no intention of attacking Rock Fortress with the traditional human-wave siege tactics; in his view, the forces currently assembled in the north were sufficient.

Then he looked at Sojilin. "Can the Steel Rangers take part in real combat now?"

"New soldiers must see blood sooner or later," the high ranger replied. "They have waited a long time for this day."

"Very good. There is a task suited to you," Gaoyang nodded. "Your task is to work with our agents inside Rock Fortress…"

After laying out the Steel Rangers' assignment, he turned to Hetty. "On the matter of grain reserves and the recent propaganda work…"

Gaoyang confirmed the situation within the domain one by one and assigned each person their task, but he never mentioned Byron. After a while, the middle-aged knight of mercenary origins finally could not hold back. "My lord, and me? What is my task?"

Gaoyang looked at Byron and pondered briefly. "There is indeed a task for you, and an important one, but first I must confirm another matter… Rebecca, how goes the progress on the Rainbow Light device at Camille's end?"

"Rainbow Light device" was not a final name, merely the designation of a project in progress. Though the project belonged to Camille, Rebecca was the highest person in charge of the entire Magical Technology Research Institute, and she knew its progress inside and out.

At Gaoyang's question, Rebecca, who had been slightly woolgathering, snapped back to attention and put on a rather troubled expression. "Still the heat dissipation problem… With an energy-focusing structure that large, the accumulated heat simply cannot be channeled away in time. We are trying to use ice-and-snow magic circles to forcibly suppress the temperature of the focusing structure, but so far we have not found an ice-snow rune substrate that can operate stably under strong interference—the previous cooling rings all burned out very quickly."

"So apart from the heat dissipation problem, the Rainbow Light device can already operate?"

Rebecca nodded. "Yes, both prototypes can run—just not for more than a few seconds."

Gaoyang nodded slightly, then turned and looked at the huge map hanging on the study wall.

Rock Fortress was indeed utterly different from the "stone forts" found in most of the Southern Region. It was a fortress in the truest sense, one armed with powerful magical technology. It possessed a formidable magical barrier, and that barrier could draw on the magic of the natural world to continually repair itself. Unless its operation could be interrupted, the effect of bombarding the fortress with heavy guns would be greatly diminished.

According to Camille, the Rainbow Light device, which destroyed its targets with pure magical energy, was better suited to dealing with magical shields than the magic-crystal cannons. So in any case, he hoped to use this new weapon when attacking Rock Fortress.

In his mind's eye, surveillance images from the high-altitude satellites surfaced.

The terrain of Rock Fortress and its surroundings appeared clearly "before his eyes." He saw the Dolgon River rushing south all the way from Spirit Plain, splitting in two at the mountain pass before Rock Fortress: one branch flowed into the mountains, the other poured into the southern marches and became the Southern Region's artery of life—the Whitewater River.

Gaoyang turned back and looked at Rebecca. "Perhaps we should broaden our thinking. The heat dissipation problem need not be so hard to solve…"