Ming Dynasty and New Rome and Infinite Magic Machine

Chapter 1680 March
Moreover, this phone booth can be further utilized, allowing users to jump to other phone booths via the Cybrania hub.

This presents a problem—while it's manageable for two or three people to make a call, it becomes too slow if hundreds or thousands of people need to move around. And most importantly, the phone booth is too small. For fully armed soldiers, the booth sometimes can't even hold their backpacks and weapons. Especially the flintlock pistols currently used by the armed Jinyiwei (Imperial Guards), which are simply too large.

So the second, more convenient route was found—the door under the photography studio.

The door, which slid open to the left and right, was as big as the doors to two telephone booths. It could not only allow a large number of people to enter and exit quickly, but also transport objects as large as a horse.

However, vehicles larger than horses would have difficulty entering. The equipment inside Cybernia was either manufactured after entering the spirit world or transferred as a whole with Alexander. Without that gate, it would be very difficult for the royal army to transport troops in on a large scale.

In some ways, Cyprus was indeed impregnable. Anyone wishing to enter Cyprus could only do so through extremely narrow passages, requiring individual approval. For example, the telephone booth, when in use, could actually be used as a trap, luring Rome's enemies into a spiritual abyss.

At times like these, the small door beneath the studio, much like the forgotten door in Constantinople in 1453, is a crucial element in the breaching of the fortress.

The gate wasn't large, and the path leading up from it was quite rugged, but it was large enough for cavalry to pass through. Once the Swift Horses and Danish Hounds entered Cybernia, the Royal Army could re-deploy as light combined arms units. The Danish Hounds could provide intelligence, while the Swift Horses could serve as vehicles. Military operations against Thebes could then commence.

"Alright, it's settled." Shangluo walked back from outside. "The Royal Army and the Legion will launch a joint expedition to deal with the problem. However, after the problem is resolved, the Legion will hand over the defense zone to the Royal Army."

In other words, this event will serve as an opportunity for Rome to completely withdraw from reality, at least in the east.

The Roman legions will continue to maintain a presence in Europe for some time, but this presence will end with the conclusion of the war.

"My father, he agreed?"

“Hmm.” Shangluo nodded. “Your father seemed to agree very readily, as if he had discussed it with someone. When I went there, he just told me some details, every step was very specific, he had everything prepared, as if he was just informing me. But he arranged it very well, and I didn’t need to interfere too much—so he really did discuss it with someone, right?”

"You're asking me? Who should I ask?" Victoria said helplessly. "Didn't I spend some time with you recently?"

"Oh, that's true."

"Have you guessed anything?"

"I reckon he reached an agreement with the retired emperor. The old men have already made their decisions; it's just a matter of us handling it."

“Hmm,” Victoria nodded, “There’s just one thing I haven’t figured out yet: why would my father agree to let Rome fall completely? Did he know something, or was he promised something? Or maybe he made some deal with Emperor Taihe.”

"In short, we probably have no way of knowing what they traded."

Fortunately, everything was going according to plan. "Whatever," Victoria muttered. "I'm not one to pry. They've got things done, so we just have to follow their lead."

"But I want to ask a few more questions. What exactly did they agree on?" Shangluo didn't know, but he really wanted to know.

However, considering that the current actions were not deviating from his plans, he decided to postpone getting to the bottom of things.

"By the way, isn't there anything you want to understand?"

“Of course there is,” Victoria looked at him. “For example, I do want to know what happens when I sleep. But I also know that sometimes knowing too much isn’t a good thing. Many things are bad precisely because too many people know. As the pinnacle of mystical feudalism, I still hope I know less. What about you? You want to understand everything?”

Shangluo shook his head: "It depends on the situation. For example, regarding my father, I've actually been avoiding the topic since there's no one else here, as you probably know. I don't really want to think about it. But I always feel like there's some connection between these things."

However, Thebes is where they should be going right now.

"Speaking of which, what exactly is Thebes?" Shangluo asked Victoria. "Is it merely the headquarters of the Dragon Tooth Soldiers?"

“Well, that’s a long story. Thebes is an important region in the spirit world—there are many regions in the spirit world, and each region is significant. For example, the metropolis that Neo-Anteyoc saw. Thebes, the city of a thousand pillars, the ancient city known as Vaset in Egypt, holds an extremely prominent position in the spirit world. It is the starting point of the god Amun and the end point of many pharaohs. I can say that this is where I think about it.”

Victoria searched through her limited vocabulary: "This place was actually where the Egyptian pharaohs guarded the gates of the kingdom."

"Ah, I understand." That's a very apt metaphor.

Thebes is located in the middle of the Nile River—not in the middle of Upper and Lower Egypt, but in the middle of the entire main Nile basin. Traveling upstream from Thebes leads to the world of the Nubians. At the same time, it is far from the conflicts of Upper Egypt, making it less vulnerable to external invasions.

Therefore, this wasn't entirely a case of the emperor guarding the country's gates. For the frequent invading enemies from the east, Thebes served as a crucial rear base. And for Nubia, which was worth conquering, armies departing from Thebes could obtain gold, ivory, ebony, and other valuable resources from the south.

“Thebes still exists,” Victoria explained. “However, Thebes is divided into two parts—the Temple of Amun and the Valley of the Kings. As I said before, one place belongs to the living and the other to the dead. If the Dragontooth soldiers all gather there, they will most likely be trying to open the gates or something like that.”

What are their goals?

“Alexander received the certification of being the ‘son of God’ at the Temple of Amun. I think that’s why they went there.”

(End of this chapter)