The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

A knight lay on his horse and galloped all the way into the capital.

In the outer city, no one dared to stop the knight who was rampaging through the capital on horseback, and once he reached the inner city, the nobles dared not do so either.

The knight's cloak and the banner he was carrying clearly indicated that this was an urgent military report. Not only would it be considered deserved that the people in the outer city were killed, but the nobles in the inner city who stopped him would also be held responsible, especially in the current highly tense situation.

When the knight arrived at the palace, he was too weak to walk and was practically dragged by the guards to see Lilith.

"Your Majesty, a great victory! A resounding victory! Victories on all three fronts!"

Although several horses had died from traveling day and night, and the knight was so thirsty after speaking that he began to retch in the palace, Lilith and those around him paid no attention. Instead, they ordered the guards to quickly take the knight away to rest and rewarded him.

There are indeed some means of long-distance communication in magic, but they must pass through several transit stations and there may be distortion. Lilith had already received the good news from the court mage, but she was not completely relieved until the knights of the Southwest Allied Army appeared in front of her.

In addition to the new equipment, Judith also volunteered to leave the capital and go to the front line to oversee the battle, and finally defeated the Anjou professional army in open field battle.

It should be noted that since Augustine III, the rulers of the four realms have been forbidden from leaving the capital unless absolutely necessary. However, this rule is not absolute and is basically based on the king's personal will, so Lilith still agreed to the request.

Although Lilith knew that there was a lot of exaggeration in this report, not losing was winning, and not only did the Kingdom of Capet need this victory, but Lilith also desperately needed it.

The entire capital erupted in cheers the moment the good news was confirmed. Lilith punched the Anjou king who had harassed her in the face, finally venting her anger.

In an instant, all the rumors and gossip vanished overnight, as if they had never existed. The nobles who had criticized the dukes of the two southwestern borders raised their glasses in celebration, and some shamelessly even came out to claim credit.

It was all because he inspired the dukes of the southwest that the allied forces were able to achieve such a great victory this time, and he even analyzed it in great detail.

Even Claire came to congratulate Lilith on behalf of the royal family.

However, when Lilith received the detailed battle report later, she quickly calmed down.

In reality, two of the three fronts were never actually fought. The only front that could be considered a victory was that they held out until the enemy retreated, and that was only with a duke personally overseeing the rear.

Judging from the current situation, Capet's Southwestern Allied Army is actually under great pressure when facing the opposing professional legion. Due to the absolute disadvantage in the number of professionals, coupled with the range problem of muskets, they can only take a beating.

If Judith hadn't personally taken charge this time, and the commanders on all three fronts hadn't withstood the pressure and avoided a crushing defeat, they might have been routed by the enemy's long-range firepower and cavalry harassment.

Moreover, the outcome of the fight was still uncertain, with the initiative always in the hands of the opponent.

If Anjou is a magic knight who has studied magic diligently, is proficient in both magic and martial arts, and has achieved excellent results, then Cape is a bloated knight who relies on temporary drug use, stakes half of his family fortune, and takes out loans to buy a bunch of weapons and equipment.

They look intimidating, but they actually lack any real fighting ability.

This is also why, after winning the battles in the southwest, they immediately retreated back into the city and continued to huddle there.

The nobles in the capital were well aware of this.

But a win is a win. No one will condemn the victor, nor will anyone ask how the victor won. Originally, they only thought that winning one game would be a success, but they didn't expect to win all three.

Even if the victory is extremely ugly.

"His Majesty..."

Nora placed a report on Lilith's desk.

"This is the bill for the weapons and equipment purchased this time, sent from the Gray Collar team."

Lilith looked at the thick bill and sighed. The muskets and miracles weren't free. Although the muskets were mainly used to help procure supplies in the southwest, the capital couldn't possibly not contribute a single penny.

Of course, Lilith could choose to default on the bill and simply hand it over to Judith and Scott, but in that case, those muskets would probably be aimed at the capital.

Lilith had gone to great lengths to make the Southwest Allied Army realize that they were loyal not only to the two dukes, but also to Her Majesty Queen Lilith, and now she had to solidify that impression.

Do we still have money?

Seeing Nora's pained expression, Lilith already knew the answer.

The palace budget is occasionally overspent, frequently.

After reviewing the bill, Lilith said, "I've looked at it carefully. It would be more cost-effective to use raw materials to pay off the debt. Since our plan is unlikely to be realized in the short term, let's just use all the raw materials to pay off the debt."

After carefully examining the raw materials, Lilith discovered that only a small portion of the materials required by the gray-collar workers were for making muskets; most of the materials, such as ballast rubble, were unusable for muskets.

This is a piece of rubble in the railway system that is used to support the railway tracks, mainly to facilitate drainage and to straighten the tracks.

Furthermore, the raw materials for those magical waterproof materials and sleepers are, without any attempt to conceal, completely unrelated to the manufacture of muskets; they are more like materials for laying railway systems.

If you were to ask Lilith, who isn't a railway professional, why she's so familiar with these industries, it's because one of Lilith's purposes in reclaiming these industries was to lay railways. To that end, Lilith was collecting these industries and materials when she first started implementing the new policy, and almost all the industries reclaimed under the new policy were related to this.

Lilith also tried boiling water, but after finding that it didn't work, she still planned to lay the railway.

Although steam trains can't be built anymore, we can still use horses to pull carriages.

This isn't Lilith trying to emulate some old hag from her past life. The absurdity of the horse-drawn train lies not in the horse itself, but in the fact that it's a train.

Horse-drawn carriages not only appeared as early as the 16th century, but also operated stably for at least half a century, laying the foundation for later railway tracks.

Even in the early days of train development, when some trains were out of service due to malfunctions, they could be directly switched to horse-drawn carriages.

The idea of ​​a horse-drawn carriage is entirely feasible, but now all the materials that Lilith has painstakingly accumulated are going to be taken away by the gray-collar workers.

These are Lilith's last remaining assets. Originally, these raw materials were intended for use in the industries that Lilith had taken back, but now it seems that the tram project will have to be postponed again.

"His Majesty..."

Nora had also seen the bill report and knew that the governor, who worked in the gray and white collars, probably wanted to build the railroad system.

When Nora first heard Lilith's suggestion, she was not only amazed, but also enlightened. The carriages could transport almost twice the number of people and goods, and Lilith was gradually taking back the necessary production plants, accumulating a considerable amount of raw materials.

If the tram system can be successfully implemented, the capital city might be able to regain its former prosperity.

But unexpectedly, the governor, who was in a gray-collar position, had the same idea as His Majesty.

Nora is now truly resentful that the fruits of others' labor have been stolen.

"On the bright side, this can at least save us a lot of money, right?"

Hearing Lilith say this, Nora wanted to say that it was nothing compared to the benefits of having horse-drawn carriages.

But seeing Lilith's forced smile, Nora immediately realized that Her Majesty the Queen was trying to comfort her, and she felt a mix of emotions.

Indeed, even if we forcibly use monetary payments instead of raw material payments now, there will be no money to deploy the tram in the future, not to mention that the tram project has a very long return cycle.

From this perspective, it would be better to simply hand over the raw materials to white-collar workers.

Thinking that these plans were originally her job, Nora nodded and said, "I understand, Your Majesty. I will make the arrangements."

Turning back, Nora quietly wiped away her tears, determined to dedicate her life to protecting Her Majesty the Queen.