"Bang"

Later that night, the Prince of Arthas returned to Lordaeron through the portal, but instead of immediately meeting his father, he went to the laboratory of a master engineer who was a vassal of the royal family of Lordaeron.

He placed something heavy on the table in front of the dwarf engineer's eyes, a black axe gun made of steel and special wood, and a magazine full of seven rounds, but it didn't look like the one Rured was using.

"Can this thing be imitated?"

The prince's face was somewhat gloomy, and in the face of his question, the diminutive dwarf engineer took up the heavy weapon, looked at it repeatedly, and after a few minutes he nodded, and said in a sharp voice:

"Of course it can be copied, Your Highness, this thing is based on the principles of goblin engineering, and it is the same model as the dwarven musket developed by our gnomes, but in general, it is not beyond the scope of our understanding... Do you need such a weapon? I can order one for you within 3 days. ”

"No, Master of Chains, you didn't understand what I meant."

The prince shook his head, he looked at the dwarf engineer in front of him, and he said in a deep voice:

"It's not that I need to, how long will it take for me to equip all of Lordaeron's soldiers with weapons like this?"

"Huh?"

The dwarf engineer was stunned, he looked at the axe gun in his hand, the various parts of this thing have strong traces of assembly line production, the gnomes are no strangers to this, in some workshops in the dungeon of Nomorigen, they will also use such assembly lines, but the problem is that Lordaeron, no, in the entire territory of the human empire, can not find a complete assembly line workshop, and the upper echelons of the human race, to be honest, seem to trust magic more than the power of engineering.

Therefore, in the face of the question of His Royal Highness the Prince, the dwarf engineer said with some regret:

"If I have a complete manufacturing workshop, a sufficient supply of raw materials, and enough apprentices and workers, then for 100,000 people to change armaments, I can guarantee that it will be completed within 2 months, but the problem is, I don't have these, Your Royal Highness, I actually know what you mean, and I also know what you want me to do..."

The dwarf engineer, who had been in the human kingdom for more than ten years, smiled sadly, pushed the engineering eyes on his face, and said to the prince:

"Finally, there is a big man who realizes the power of engineering to a collective, but unfortunately, in terms of assembly line production and business model, the undead in Southern Xinjiang have been at least 20 years ahead of the human empire, and in terms of the use of engineering ideas and development planning, at the level of thinking, they are even ahead of us by nearly a hundred years, Your Royal Highness Prince, I have heard some friends describe the operation mode of the Black Iron Business Federation, I can only tell you a pessimistic fact."

"Even if we start producing armaments from now on, following the Darkblade's business model, we won't be able to catch up with them... Do you remember the blueprints that our spies stole from Hesuo's lab last month? I can pat my chest and tell you that that thing is in the Black Iron Zone, and any engineer can see the clue, but in the entire human empire, there are no more than 100 people who can understand it, do you know what I mean? ”

The dwarf engineer looked at the sluggish prince, he sighed, and put the axe gun in his hand back into the prince's hand:

"Darkblade regards engineering as the basic force of domination, while the human empire treats the same power as a toy and an unreliable science, whether it is the basic industry, the talent pool, the design ideas, and the official attitude, all of which are completely different... I can copy and even design a better axe gun in a matter of days, but it doesn't make sense... Because in the space of a few days, the factories in the Black Iron District can produce nearly 100,000 such weapons..."

"Maybe I shouldn't say that, but Your Highness... In the eyes of those of us who study engineering, the fall of the empire was actually doomed as early as the establishment of the Black Iron District, humans like magic, because magic is more mysterious and gorgeous, but the undead of the Dark Blade worship another kind of magic, which is the magic of steel and fire, which is enough to help them conquer the world... It's a pity, but we've missed the best period to catch up. ”

"I'm sorry for hitting you, but it's already... The advantage of technology crushing. ”

After saying this, Arthas's face was already hard to see, but he was not a person who would anger others after all, not to mention, when he was young, the master of steel chains made a lot of interesting gadgets for him... Finally, the prince took a deep breath, and he looked sincerely at the dwarf engineer in front of him, and he whispered:

"Then, Master, write a report on what you have just said, and I will sign my name and submit it directly to our Emperor... We are already lagging behind, and we can no longer be blindfolded and beaten by the undead. ”

————————————————

"Alsace... Terenus taught a true wise king. ”

One day later, in the lonely city of the Alterac Mountains, the Human Emperor wore glasses, in the brightly lit office, repeatedly reading the report sent by Arthas, and in the wooden box in his hand, there was the axe and gun that the Darkblade Legion equipped for the undead infantry, these two things were put together, so that the Emperor of Lothar finally saw the last mystery in front of him.

Question as to why the power of the Darkblade Legion suddenly swelled to a level high enough to confront the demons of the extraterrestrial realm... If it weren't for the undead Rured saved by Lieutenant Thassarian who pierced this layer of window paper, who would have thought that engineering, which had always been resisted by the human hierarchy, would become the magic weapon of the Darkblade Legion's victory?

At this moment, the Emperor of Lothar was shocked by the long-term strategic thinking of Tyrion, the two sides have fought for so many years, Lothar is very aware of the history of the development of the undead in southern Xinjiang, although the most well-known force in northern Xinjiang is the Difia Federal District, which can be called a "great rebellion", but the emperor knows very well that the Black Iron Commercial Federal District is the real first stronghold of the Dark Blade in Azeroth.

That said, he had recognized the importance of engineering the moment Tyrion crossed the Dark Gate with the Darkblade Legion, and perhaps he had been preparing for it before then.

"Magic... Technology... It's really distressing. ”

Lothar put down the report in her hand, took off her glasses a little tiredly, leaned back in her chair, and rubbed her forehead.

Arthas and the Copperchain Master's report opens up a new path for the future of the Empire, but Lothar does not feel that simply copying the model of the Darkblade will allow humanity to finally defeat the undead, and he must chart a future path for the Empire, a path better than the Darkblade.

But how easy is that?

From the recent situation, Lothar had a premonition that a storm was coming, and in the middle of the night, he even dreamed of his old friend who had passed away more than once... Medivan, he dreamed of a scene from when they were children, and this dream brought the emperor a hint of ominous prophecy, perhaps... Lothar, the man who escaped death from a mortal battlefield a few years ago, is also about to usher in the true end of his life.

Lothar is not afraid of death, what he is really afraid of is that after his death, the human empire that he worked so hard to rebuild will be divided again after crossing to the west, judging from the current situation, even if they migrate to Kalimdor, Tyrion will not let them go so easily, and once the human empire is divided again, it means... This civilization will completely lose hope.

So, he had to prepare himself for a possible end... But Arthas, this wise prince is too young, although he has been through a lot, whether he can take on this heavy responsibility, Lothar does not know, he cannot risk putting Arthas in this position, although the qualifications that the prince has shown so far are very suitable.

"Huh"

Just as Emperor Lothar was thinking about the heavy event, the curtain behind the window of his office was suddenly blown up by a gust of wind, and this movement interrupted the Emperor's thoughts, and he looked up to see that the curtain was still beating, and it seemed that everything was normal.

"Click"

The Emperor picked up the black axe gun at hand, and after loading, he aimed the cold black muzzle at the corner of the room:

"Friend, come out... Or, I use it to "please" you out. ”

"After all these years, things are wrong, but you still haven't changed, Marshal Lothar..."

A low and hoarse female voice sounded in the room, and her salutation made Lothar flutter for a moment, and the next moment, a woman with a white mask and black leather armor appeared in front of Lothar's eyes, her mask was very distinctive, it was a pale mask, there was no decoration on it, only black eyes, which looked somewhat strange.

"Garona?"

Despite the Assassin's disguise, Lothar still recognized her identity at a glance, and of course he would not mistake her, the Assassin in front of him, who had assassinated his best friend from his youth, Ryan, in front of him a few years ago. Ureon... It was also because of her assassination that Stormwind was captured during the orc invasion.

If there was one person Lothar hated the most in her life, it was the assassin in front of her.

"You... How dare you appear in front of me? ”

There was a tremor in Lothar's voice, the emperor had not been so angry for a long time, the axe and spear in his hand were wrapped in the sheen of flames, the blood of the barbarian king was beating, the power, the power of hatred and revenge, that made Lothar's body tremble.

On the other hand, Garona, she was not too nervous in the face of this emperor who might pull the trigger at any time and kill her completely, in fact, Garona's attention at this time was not on Lothar at all, otherwise with the stealth methods of her top assassin, the emperor would not have thought of perceiving it at all.

"Just when you're wasting your time, a person who has been secretly helping you is hanging by a thread..."

Garona spoke:

"I can't tell you who he is, but I can say that he has left a way back for the stormy human empire, as well as the capital for you to fight back, I don't know why he did this, and I don't think you guys are worth the risk he had, but you listen to me, Lothar!"

"I'm not here to play a game of revenge with you, and the irony is that even if you have two eyes, you can't see the whole story... You can't see the truth... What a waste..."

The orc assassin removed a ring from her fingertip and tossed it to Lothar's desk, and she said with a hint of sarcasm:

"He thinks you can change everything, but I don't think so, you and your empire are already hopeless, but you still have to put his life on the line... What can I do with the lives of the people I care about? ”

"You'd better get out, you'd better do what he wants you to do, if you can't..."

Garona's figure slowly disappeared in front of Lothar's eyes like fluttering in the wind and quicksand, and her last sentence, full of bitter emotions, fell into Lothar's ears completely:

"If you can't, then your existence... It's pointless, I'll keep an eye on you, if you dare to waste the opportunity he gave you everything, if you really dare to do it, I won't hesitate to kill you... Every single one! ”

Lothar's axe failed to fire, and despite the 10,000 voices in Lothar's head yelling at him to keep the assassin here when confronting Garona, he didn't pull the trigger.

It wasn't because Lothar was merciful, it wasn't because Lothar had let go, in fact, this bitter hatred had not been relieved in the slightest bit by the passage of time, and the reason why he remained calm was because he realized from Garona's poignant voice and emotions that this orc assassin was playing for real... If he really can't do that, Garona will really go crazy and really use her dagger to kill the current high-level of humanity, one by one.

This practical threat of terror forced Lothar to focus on the ring that had been thrown on the table, and he wondered what it was that could trigger such a chaotic mood from a top-tier assassin like Garona?

Is it really as she said... Is this the last path that some great victim he didn't know was fighting for the empire of mankind?