Chapter 1368: Going Hand in Hand

The next in line was advancing the ammunition production line.

Although Roland's design of the production line could be considered streamlined, it was nothing in the eyes of military specialists, or to put it bluntly, terrible. In their own words: "Such a framework and process are relatively too simple and 95% of it could be automated with machines. By relying on machines, production can basically be increased to non-stop 24 hours a day."

The new military proposal did not require much investment for the early stages of the new production line but was capable of starkly reducing manpower. Simultaneously, it also increased the production of bullets by more than ten times. Provided that personnel involved in the production remained constant, the production rate was estimated to increase further.

Once 'Project Cornerstone' for Project Nüwa was set in place, the equipment needed by the new production line no longer faced any theoretical technical challenges. Once the propellant was enhanced, precision and lethality of the firearms would automatically be upgraded.

Looking at this segment of the report caused Roland to gasp with admiration towards the other party's accurate foresight.

Ammunition had ultimately been the main problem for the First Army.

Although the number of workers involved in production moving to the Fertile Plains had been increasing, it did not alleviate the lack of ammunition. The expenditure of the Aerial Knights solely from training alone was enough to deplete a majority of the ammunition, but training was an essential process. Iron Axe had raised the complains from the frontlines many times to Roland because of that.

If the amount of ammunition could be increased, the possibility of Demons relying on numbers to break through the First Army's defense line would further decrease. Or in other words, the stalemate at the frontlines would come to an end.

As for light weapons, the specialists did not provide further comment. It was not because there was no room for improvements, but the practicality to price ratio was not high. The combination of using general-purpose machine guns, bolt action/semi-automatic rifles were sufficient in dealing with the threat from inferior Fallen Evils. With regards to offensive capabilities on the battlefield, the consensus was to rely on artillery and heavy weapons.

In other words, so long as they could flatten their enemies to death first, the infantry soldiers could occupy territory with ease.

Rather than pouring resources into enhancing firearms, why not manufacture more cannons, since cannons were required to clear the way—regardless of going on the offensive, retreating, reinforcements, or to be defensive. Unleashing a few artillery shells to plow the enemies first was considered the safest option.

With the priority placed on the quarter year plan, their main concern was targeted towards fast and effective results.

In the Five-Year Plan, light weapons were considered an extremely major project.

But Roland was most interested in the Annual Plan.

Its benefits were lower than gunpowder and ammunition and the required investment was much higher, but it was crucial at determining the outcome of the war.

The plan comprised of Neverwinter's current heavy weapons, including two improvement projects and two brand new projects. The Army and the Aerial Knights took up half each.

Firstly was the old topic in Graycastle's Design Bureau—the caterpillar tractors and the subsequently developed armored tanks. This was the only chance for Master Xie to make an appearance as well. Unexpectedly, the specialists did not criticize the plans at all after seeing the design sheets; instead, they felt that the designs deserved merit under the circumstances where little technology was available. Compared to the armored vehicles, the specialists were more focused on how its "nuclear-powered core"

When Roland revealed the Magic Cube, the entire mood took an unexpected turn. Even the government officials that had knowledge of the true story were dumbstruck.

Till date, he could still vividly recall the entire scene.

At the beginning, everyone revealed their complicated expressions upon seeing the seemingly ordinary 'stone cube'. After all, every single one of them came from intellectual and professional backgrounds. Out of respect for Scroll, everyone remained took the entire presentation seriously. To be frank, the action of taking out a rock and calling it a nuclear power unit was indirectly calling the professionals fools.

When Rock suddenly signaled to Head Liu a few times, Head Liu decided to call for a temporary adjournment and prevent the awkwardness from continuing. After all, they had built up the collaborative atmosphere through great difficulty.

But under his insistence, a dynamics professor reluctantly took the cube and sent it to the test laboratory for his team to conduct a simple test. His lab assistant left with an ineffable and contemptuous expression, but returned back agitatedly half an hour later to the point of not being able to say a word.

The entire meeting room plunged into mania.

Under the indisputable reality, Roland discovered that everyone's eyes seemed to burn when looking at him, and even President Wu had to pull Head Liu out of the room directly. No one knew what they talked about, but the change in viewpoint was immediate. The security around the factories was beefed up by several levels the following day. The armed police were replaced with real army troops, so much so that the gates were replaced with sentry posts and military walls. If not for Roland's identity as a martial artist which left ordinary means against him useless, he would have had a private lane, personal bodyguards, and other top notch services wherever he went.

This entire event was suggested by Anna, and not Roland's intent to show off deliberately.

After running through the events that day with her, Anna got angry, frowned and worked up a 'revenge plan,' which was to use magic power to remodel the professionals' world view. The result was far better than what Roland had anticipated. Not only was everyone rather respectful of Scroll, but they also acceded to every request of his and hoped to receive a portion of the Magic Cube to conduct tests. Due to that, the outcome of the meeting was adjourned one day after another.

To modern scientists and technological groups, wielding tangible research objects would allow them to propose and conduct feasible plans with much more ease.

That was how the tri-tank Magic Cube was phased out.

The replacement was an even more reasonable and high-pressured Magic Cube. Not only was its theoretical output doubled, but its volume and vibrations had also dropped by nearly 30%. It only required a week for the prototype to be trialled and tested on trucks and tractors before being confirmed as the final product.

Besides the enhancements of the Magic Cube engine, the projects team supplied a design plan for a small-scale truck with only 20-30 horsepower and used a diesel engine that was capable of running on diesel oil. Diesel oil was a byproduct from refining fuel oil for biplanes. With a loading capacity of one to two tons, it had an extremely simple structure which didn't even have an operator cabin and looked like a four-wheeled square headed tractor at first glance.

Roland quickly realized the usefulness of the small-scale truck. In terms of production, it was far easier to manufacture as compared to steam trucks, and they were capable of manufacturing many units in a short period of time. Using the former for short distance transport was no doubt a waste, but the latter was just perfect. It boasted higher efficiency as compared to animal-drawn vehicles and was the best choice in overcoming routes with different elevations.

The last portion of the Annual Plan was the true core.

It constituted of two parts—improvements for the current 'Fire of Heaven,' increasing its advantages over the Devilbeasts in terms of flight and power, while developing child versions over its base foundations to adapt to different combat requirements.

The second was to manufacture and develop a new model of long distance bombers.