Pioneer Lord: Starting From Daily Intelligence

Although many engineering projects within the Imperial Engineering College are full of whimsical ideas, they serve no purpose other than wasting finances and grants.

Yet, among them are some projects that have greatly enhanced the Empire’s power.

Especially after witnessing Shilude the Sun Goddess’s status as the Divine Chosen, they have shown immense enthusiasm.

After introducing the Engineering College, Shilude continued to outline the exchange outcomes: ”The Imperial Engineer College has agreed to visit our territory. Besides helping us build a White Castle, they have promised to assist in reconstructing various productive machinery, such as the Half-Elf’s plowing machines, constructing city gates and water lift systems, and even improving our steam machinery.”

”Steam machinery?” Su Li’s eyes lit up; he heard about it again, last time from Dwarf Demi-God Master Gao, who mentioned steam tanks on the dwarf side.

Shilude patiently explained, ”In terms of engineering technical proficiency, humans and dwarves each have their focus. Dwarves emphasize gunpowder research, and steam power is their invention. However, due to the dwarves’ self-satisfaction, it is humans who have become more innovative in steam technology. I heard that in the Empire’s capital, humans even possess steam land ships.”

Land ships, which are crudely built knock-offs of enormous, cumbersome dwarf steam tanks, funded by major merchants. They are a conglomerate of armor plates, excessive decorations, and other irrelevant items.

The concept was initially proposed by a rather restless engineer from the Imperial Engineer College named Hixiga Gutman, who assembled a prototype in a remarkably short period, combining steam power, shipbuilding technology, and some ”inspired” innovations from Gutman. The entire product looks more like a theatrical prop of odd dimensions rather than a warship or steam tank, a rather shameful imitation, yet somehow it still operates normally!

Regarding its complexity, this land-going vessel bears some resemblance to an actual steam tank, but it at least met the original design requirements—from its massive armor and overly ornamented hull to its oversized, lethal boiler and a rudder system that can only be described as a result of muddled thinking.

In combat, the land ship is a chaotic spectacle; it is nearly a towering mobile fortress on the battlefield, with the long-barrel cannon (a light cannon mounted at the ship’s bow, proven to be immensely destructive in the cannon family) thunderously roaring and crushing enemies under its wheels, while its crew remain (almost) safely on the upper decks. Provided it operates normally, if its wheels accidentally fall off, the boiler explodes, or the ammunition chamber catches fire… the deck crew will have their hands full, not only in controlling the ship and preventing impending disasters like ship capsizing or boiler explosion, but also striving to fire at targets with deck sweeper rifles (a salvo of rifles) and deck guns (guns fixed on deck mounts).

This contraption is akin to the dwarf Thunder Airship, belonging to a legendary and frenzied militaristic unit.

Su Li genuinely could not grasp the purpose of fitting a ship with four wheels over ten meters high and pushing it to run across the land.

Su Li felt the Imperial Engineer College’s focus might be misplaced; they should research whether there’s a way to improve current cumbersome productive machinery. For instance, whether heavy-duty plowing machines could be steam-driven, or at least reduce the force needed to pull them, from two Combat Rams down to one Combat Ram.

Upon seeing Su Li’s interest in all this, Shilude went on, ”The greatest advantage of the apprentices from the Imperial Engineer College lies in their dare to indulge in limitless creativity; all this is of great value. For example, dwarf cannons, when modified by them, can be transformed into war chariots, making the cannons’ speed match the cavalry’s advance.”

”Moreover, wherever the Engineering College is situated, survival machinery generally develops and is perfected, and our territory’s production efficiency will increase by at least 20 to 30 percent.”

”Most importantly, their remarkable talent in industrial production will aid us in setting up production lines for factory workshops. Our Holy Industrial Alliance Hesse Armory and Bauhinia Holy Flame Foundry can bolster their output by nearly half.”

What Shilude said finally roused Su Li’s spirits.

He could disregard those whimsical war machines, as his Knight Order worships the Sun Goddess, already one of the world’s strongest knight orders, supported by dwarf technology and gunpowder, enabling him to conduct warfare. As long as he increases the army size, it would suffice against most threats.

However, this affirmed that agriculture is of paramount importance. If the Imperial Engineer College truly helps improve production in the Hesse Territory, even a 20% enhancement in average production efficiency would result in a yearly fiscal growth of at least 30,000+ Golden Crowns.

While Su Li mused, Shilude added, ”And that’s not all; the Imperial Engineer College is most renowned for their production of large-scale Vibranium Rune Armor. This is due to their possession of the [miniature spring machine for deadly lead’s multiple precipitation], which allows precise tool processing of Vibranium Plate Armor, albeit with an extremely low probability, further compressing the metal during production, allowing the armor to bear an additional rune.”