Alien Knights

Aisha, who entered the soul space for the first time, saw all kinds of people in the conference room, her eyes widened in disbelief, and she didn't recover for a long time.

After a while, Aisha rubbed her face with her palm, and stammered, "I, I remember you stabbed me on the head with something, and then we came here?!"

Todd, who was busy sorting out the data, sat in front of the computer, pointed to the conference table and said, "Sit down anywhere, and I'll bring the next person in now."

"Next person?"

In just a split second, a young man in Arabic attire suddenly appeared beside the conference table. It was the scholar Abu bin Sabah Kendi.

Kendi had just entered the soul space, and greeted the king respectfully, but when he saw Aisha, his expression changed drastically, and he shouted angrily: "It's you! I've been looking for you for a long time! If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be thrown into prison at all!"

Facing Kendi's accusation, Aisha rolled her eyes indifferently.

Todd knocked on the table with the folder, and said to the two of them: "Let the past matter pass by, I have brought you here today because I have more important things to talk about!"

Seeing that Kendy's anger calmed down, Todd called Terrence and Elijah in again.

Looking at the four "guests" with puzzled expressions in front of him, Todd turned on the 3D projector in the conference room and said, "I called you here today to talk about the future military pressure in Muxi City."

Terrence straightened his waist and asked strangely: "Military pressure?"

Todd turned his attention to Aisha: "First of all, I have a question to ask you. If the current Southern Empire and Muxi City go to war, who will have the advantage on the battlefield?"

Watching everyone focus on her, Aisha crossed her arms and said without hesitation: "I don't know about it on land, but the fleet of Muxi City on the sea can't even hurt the smallest warship of the empire."

Elijah, who was in charge of designing the hull, couldn't sit still at this moment. He stood up from his chair and was about to ask Aisha something when Terrence beside him coughed heavily and said, "Let her finish."

Seeing the disbelief of the people in front of her, Aisha cleared her throat: "In the empire, warships are commonly used in four classes. The fourth class of warships is called a reconnaissance ship, with a length of 32 meters, a capacity of 140 people, and 20 gun bays. They are often used for coastal defense, enemy detection, or merchant ship attacks."

"The third-tier warships are also called cruisers. They are generally double masts, with a hull length of 40 meters, a crew of 220, and 28 gun bays. They are often used for long-distance raids and naval cooperation."

"The second-tier warships are called capital ships. There are two-masted and three-masted types. The hull length can reach 48 meters, and the gun bays can reach up to 40. They are the backbone of the Imperial Navy. I don't know how strong this class of warships is. Anyway, I always see capital ships around."

Todd asked: "What about the first-tier battleship?"

"I have no idea."

"you do not know?"

Aisha shrugged: "I just heard that the empire has installed battleships that are bigger than battleships, but I have no way of knowing how powerful they are."

Todd pursed his lips and nodded: "Can you show the warships you know in the form of models?"

Aisha's eyes widened: "Model? Demonstration? What do you mean? These types of warships are all in my mind, how can I take them out?!"

Pointing to the 3D modeling machine in the middle, Todd said, "Try to visualize the details of those ships in your mind and 'push' them onto the platform."

"Your Majesty, you are joking, aren't you?"

Having said that, Aisha still followed Todd's instructions and began to recall the shape and structure of the imperial battleship.

After a while, a light blue single-masted battleship appeared in front of everyone in the form of 3D projection.

Seeing that the things in her mind really appeared on the table, Aisha shouted excitedly: "This is amazing!"

The faces of the others were not so good.

Terrence carefully looked at the structure of the ship, and it took a long time before he exchanged a glance with Elijah.

On the other side, Todd asked Kendy: "When you were in your hometown, did you know about the manufacture of imperial warships?"

Kendy shook his head: "The direction of my research does not include shipbuilding, but I know something about sailing, navigation, and hull stability."

Todd still didn't give up: "What about the artillery?"

Kendi sighed: "Firearms and artillery are the strictly secret technology of the empire. Only those scholars and craftsmen with special permission can get in touch with these things. And if you are engaged in the work related to these weapons, you can only live in the inner city for the rest of your life, and you will never be able to come out again."

Todd rubbed his temples with a headache, and then turned his attention to the two masters and apprentices: "Compared with the shipbuilding skills of the Southern Empire and Muxi City, what is the difference?"

Elijah stared at the model: "Watertightness, horn sails, cables, balance, hull... The southern empire is indeed better than the north in terms of shipbuilding design. If I were to evaluate it, the shipbuilding in the north is still in the ancient Tyro period, but the south has entered a new era."

"You should know that what I want to hear is not praise. Is there any way for Muxi City to narrow or eliminate this gap?"

Elijah nodded: "With the design drawings, Muxi University can start the research and development of the new hull."

Todd asked again: "How long will it take from the beginning of development to the final use?"

Elijah turned his head, discussed and calculated with his master Terrence, and finally gave Todd a number that made him despair—seven years.

"Seven years?! How could it be so long?!" Todd exclaimed in surprise.

Aisha, who was fiddling with the 3D projection system, glanced at Todd: "This number is not wrong, and I think they are a little optimistic. A ship involves countless revisions and reworks from design to experimentation to launching. Just the materials of the hull, sails, and drying are enough for you to be busy for a long time. If you don't believe me, I heard someone say in a tavern that a single-masted warship of the lowest level, even a skilled Imperial shipyard, would take a year to complete."

Speaking of this, Aisha blinked: "And, my lord, have you forgotten a big trouble?"

Todd frowned: "What?"

"artillery."

Seeing everyone's dull expressions, Aisha smiled and said: "There is a saying in the imperial proverb that a warship without artillery is like an eagle without its beak. The artillery of the imperial warships is divided into eagle cannons, snake cannons, cannons, and mortars, and each cannon has more than ten types. It is simply not something that can be manufactured and installed in a short period of time."

Todd closed his eyes, leaned back in the chair, and sighed heavily.

"As early as a thousand years ago, when the Tyro people were still busy dealing with the barbarians, many empires in the south had already discovered the secret of gunpowder." Aisha turned the model of the hull with one hand, and rested her chin with the other hand: "Thousands of years, countless scholars' careful research, a lot of testing and processing, and countless data and samples. This is the advantage of the empire, and there is no way for Muxi City to imitate it at will."

What Aisha said was a bit too slapstick, Kendy was anxious, Terrence was shy and helpless, Elijah was slightly angry, and only Todd had a calm face and sharp eyes.

Because, he heard a key word from Aisha's mouth - the advantage of the empire.

If the advantage of the Southern Empire lies in superior technologies such as muskets and artillery, then what is the advantage of Muxi City?

Todd's eyes lit up.

Alien species are Muxi City's biggest advantage!

Todd finally woke up at this time. During this period of time, fixed thinking limited his thinking. He always thought of using technological advantages to defeat his opponents, but he forgot that in the conventional technological tree, Muxi City was already far behind the Southern Empire. If you want to win, you can only choose a brand new, even hidden military technology line.

This line of technology is heterogeneous technology.

Turning his gaze back to the hull in 3D modeling, Todd suddenly said to everyone: "I want to build a heterogeneous warship made of parasites, bacteria and viruses!"