Chapter 702 — The Legacy of the Duke of the Eastern Region
Blade of Dawn · Page 1 of 3
A page turned lightly in the report, and there lay the experience and lessons won on that day on the Paramel Highlands, bought with the blades pressed to the flesh of countless soldiers.
Beside those blades that day stood not only Typhonians, but Cecil folk as well.
Every new thing is imperfect at its birth, and the more advanced it is, the more often this holds true. Even if scholars exhaust their heart's blood in calculation, even with Gao Yang—a man who had accumulated three lifetimes and a million years of experience—to guide them, human handiwork would never, in the end, be perfect.
Relying on technology and philosophy that crushed an entire era, the Cecil Legion had once swept across the whole Southern Region, swept across the Holy Spirit Plain. But when facing the Typhonians, certain shortcomings no one had ever discovered before would still be exposed. Though the Typhonians walked a different road from the Cecils, they were already a strong foe capable of forcing the entire arcane legion to fight with full commitment—and before a strong foe, any shortcoming is fatal.
"The armored train is a new thing. Even the most experienced veterans can only grope their way along when facing the Iron Throne, and it is entirely normal for flaws to appear in that process," Gao Yang said, as though speaking to himself. "That Philip could find these flaws in a short time and sum them up—that is what matters most..."
"The Typhonians have seen the armored train with their own eyes. That unit which successfully withdrew will certainly carry a great deal of key intelligence back with them," Amber said from beside him. "Will they use this as grounds to break off the railway construction agreement with us? After all, once an armored train of this sort rolls into their territory, the damage it can do is beyond anything ordinary troops could match..."
"They will recognize the danger, but they cannot refuse the enormous value of rail transport—that part does not worry me much," Gao Yang shook his head. "But they will certainly find ways to counter it: either alter the track gauge so that Cecil-standard trains cannot run straight into their territory, or install emergency cutoff mechanisms on the key border railways... all of that is possible."
As he spoke, he returned his gaze to the thick report, and found that many more pages followed. This weighty report, it seemed, was far from finished.
After he turned the next page, his gaze suddenly froze, and the expression on his face grew complicated.
On that page, Ma Qi had written only one sentence: "...The above intelligence concerning Typhon's military affairs and the suggestions for improving the Long Wind Defense Line are not the product of my mind alone, Your Majesty. The achievements of Duke Silas Loren should not be buried."
Amber noticed the change in Gao Yang's expression and leaned in again, curious: "What is it?"
Gao Yang flipped through the pages, and what met his eyes were page after page of scanned and photocopied manuscript materials from the archives of the Long Wind Fortress.
They were what Silas Loren had left behind: detailed intelligence on Typhon's border legions. Some had been written and organized by Duke Loren himself, some were reports from subordinate commanders, and some were even the original intelligence documents that Eastern Region agents had risked their lives to send back to the fortress in days gone by.
Records in text, one after another; hand-drawn topographical maps, one after another; the identifying features of several of Typhon's main knight orders, the new-style weapons and equipment they used, and even... the insignia and organizational intelligence of the Iron River Knight Order were plainly there as well.
On some of the photocopies, annotations and marks left by Silas Loren could be seen; on others, something resembling bloodstains remained.