Ben entered the large workshop he had custom-made for the blacksmith he sent to vocational school. He gave him a small test to see how well he could weld steel plates together. The blacksmith might not have done the prettiest job, but the seams were strong and could hold up against Ben pulling on them.
He was told to place everything on hold and to practice welding for the next three days while he prepared a new project form him and his apprentices.
Over at the [Steam Engine Factory], Ben began production of ten Four double-acting steam cylinder Engines. While the ten engines were being made, he went over to the [Steam Automotive Manufacturer]
At the Steam Automotive Manufacturer, Ben started construction of ten 1925 steam-powered cars that would use the ten steam engines. The car engine and chassis are one of the top-rated pick available to him. He spent 1000g a car, not including materials.
The description claimed it would do 0 to 75 mph in just 6 seconds, with its engine turning over at less than 1,000 rpm, and it could sustain speeds of 95 mph right from the factory.
After three days Ben returned to the blacksmith and placed these ten new steam cars inside his workshop. He also brought out sketches he had made to show the blacksmith the alterations he wished to make to the cars.
Ben spent the day in his shop watching over how he tackled the car. It made him cringe a little to watch the blacksmith use a cutting torch to cut away the pristine body on the first car leaving behind a chassis, steering wheel, dashboard, and gauges.
Over the next couple of days, the blacksmith followed Ben's plan to create a new body for the car using quarter-inch steel plates welded together.
The new car body looked like a long steel rectangular welded to a car chassis. Stationed around the car were thin slits covered with perforated steel mesh to allow the occupants to look outside the vehicle.
The perforated metal mesh was designed to prevent arrows from being fired into the interior cabin. Inside the cabin, there wasn't much room, but the occupants were safe from anything a primitive battlefield could throw at them.
There are six cushioned bucket seats lined along the outer steel walls. In the center of the cabin between the seats is a large steel mount.
The steel mount held up a rifled breech-loading cannon. The cannon is contained inside of a steel plate box that is mounted to the roof of the car with the barrel protruding out toward the front. The cannon barrel is mounted to run parallel above the roof and to extend out past the front of the car.
Essentially Ben had made a steam-powered fixed barrel tank. The occupants could stand up inside the rear interior cabin to load adjust, and shoot the breech-loading rifled cannon without fear of being attacked by sword or arrow.
Ben had got the idea from his armored train car which worked so well at driving off bandits and clearing the tracks of obstacles.
Ben would have preferred to make a rotating turret instead of a fixed barrel. He would need to figure out a way to possibly motorize the rotating turret. The weight of the turret and the gun would be too heavy to move by hand and take took long if he were to use gears and cranks.
For now, he would test out these prototypes and make adjustments to improve them later. Even in their basic form they were already a huge addition to his army and could be used in many situations.
With his new tanks, he could drive them right up to an enemy army and begin bombarding them. If the enemy chose to rush the tanks they could simply put the tank in reverse while continuously sending rounds down range.
Ten tanks might not be a huge game changer, but he could use them as test prototypes to see how they perform in the field and then improve and manufacture more of them later on.
The ugly boxy tank wasn't much to look at. One thing it had was safety and speed. The tank could still reach speeds of sixty mph on the streets and the tank had a range of two or three hundred miles depending on terrain and weather.
The great thing is they run on water they could stop at a creek, river, or a lake and use the small hand pump to refill and go. They later began building racks on the back that would carry metal water containers for emergency situations.
Ben being the only one currently on the planet who knew how to drive a car learned how to ignite the engine and work the throttle. He drove it up and down the wilderness roads and across the grasslands.
The tank had plenty of direct drive torque and could climb steep inclines and decent speeds. If this makeshift tank was thrown on a battlefield on earth it wouldn't last more than an hour. This world was a different story with the biggest threat being melee weapons and arrows it would be an invisible machine.
The ten prototype tanks took some time to create. Ben did not want to leave without them, so he decided to delay the early spring invasion a few weeks. They were going to war and there was no better time to teach a few men how to drive these tanks and see how they perform in combat.
The engineers were skilled in operating the cannons, so they only needed practice in loading and firing the cannon from inside the tank. Every crew was provided with earplugs and earmuffs to protect their ears from the cannon blast. The cannon blast was bad outside but when you placed it inside a fifteen-foot-long x eight-foot wide steel box it was torture.
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A week before the planned march on the three kingdoms Ben discreetly entered the Botodor Kingdom. He went off to a wilderness location near to the Botodor capital.
He removed a large slab of stone from his inventory and began creating a teleport formation that would be linked to his large open-air formation outside of Dragonshome.
He used his Medium Military Camps which could be built even on enemy lands. As his troops began teleporting over with their gear they were assigned to wooden shacks inside the camps.
Men began erecting cooking fire stations and carpenters were brought over to put up addition shacks to hold food and supplies. In only a few days they had established a large camp of thousands of men and women.
The beasts were also brought along as well. The two black dragons, the DIre Tigers, and the War Elephants made the trip over.
Ben brought out the Wooden Mantlets which are basically a six-foot x ten-foot wall on wheels. They are used as temporary cover on the battlefield to protect troops from arrows attacks. His Wooden Mantlets had wheelbarrow type handles on them that allowed a single person to wheel them into place.
He had his men start wheeling the Wooden Mantlets out to the camp's perimeter to create a makeshift wall around the camp. It could be easily breached, but it would slow down any attacking troops while providing cover from arrow barrages.
If he wanted to get carried away Ben could have made a couple Conqueror's Castles beside one another. He did not plan to be here long so it wasn't worth the waste of money and resources to build them out here where no one would find them anyway.
This was only to be a staging point to allow his troops to prepare and organize before marching on the Botodor capital.
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The men had erected Ben's brand new military tent, he had recently purchased it was a large canvas tent that you could stand in and walk around inside of comfortably. If fifty people were to enter the new tent they would have enough room without being too crowded together.
This allowed him to place furniture inside. It would be his temporary home and command center.
He entered his tent and sat at his desk. Fancy woven carpets covered the floor and the warm wood stove and furniture gave off a cozy inviting atmosphere when coming inside from the still cool spring air.
Ben opened his virtual troops list and began looking over his troop count.
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[Current Ground Troops]
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2000: Elven: Male/Female Archers- General Victor
2000: Human: Male: Mounted Knights- General Justinus
2000: Human: Male: Heavy Infantry Spearmen- General Kaeso
2000: Human: Male: Dismounted Knights- General Decius
2000: Human: Male: Javelin Cavalry- General Cassius
2000: Human: Male: Infantry Phalanx- General Quintus
2000: Human: Female: Infiltration Assassins- General Helen
2000: Sivak Draconian: Male Heavy Heavy Armored Swordsmen
200: Half-GIant: Male Heavy Armored Swordsmen/Heavy Armored Axemen
100: Human: Male: The Immortals
2: Black Dragon Male
200: Armored Dire Tigers Half Male/Half Female
1000 Armored War Elephants
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20: Human Male Cultivator/Magi
20: Human Female Cultivator/Magi
20: Fairy Female Magi/Cultivators
238: Spiritual Sumit SECT Disciples
300: Human Male Engineers: 3 man teams [200 twelve pound breech-loading cannons]
150 Ammunition limbers holding [Canister Shot] and [Explosive Shells]
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100: Human Male Engineers to maintain and operate siege machines
20 Siege Towers
20 Trebuchets
10 Ballista
10 Battering Rams
500 Siege ladders
2500 Wooden Mantlets
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[Multi Arrow Ballista]: A ballista that can launch one hundred over-sized arrows at once over two hundred yards.
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Ben's tanks were not the only new military project he had been working on. He had created a new unit that he named 'The Immortals'. He recruited one hundred men from the Ground Forces Barracks with the Dismounted Knight class.
Before these men began their lessons or training he took them all into the Sect Library to have the HALO unlock their cultivation talents.
They were each given decent cultivation techniques but not the best. To supply them with the godly type cultivation techniques it would have cost Ben 0ne hundred thousand gold coins.
This new unit attended the same classes for the knights and the same classes as the Elven archers. This way they would learn how to fight like a frontline soldier and have the knowledge to operate a compound bow.
They wear full Mithril Alloy plate armor and slit visor helmet. They carry a longsword, a shield, two daggers, a mithril compound bow and leather quiver of arrows. Their cultivation provides them with higher attributes that allow them to easily overpower the enemy.
Ben estimated these one hundred plate armored Immortals should be able to stand against one thousand citizen soldiers in battle. As of today, they are the highest trained troops just before the all-female regiment of Infiltration Assassins who were also a Special Forces Unit to be used in particular situations.
The Immortals are the most expensive unit Ben had put together so far. He had high hopes for them in the future when their cultivation, experience, and training were all equally high.
These Immortals have only recently begun cultivating this winter. Most of them were still Stage One cultivators. They may not stand out in this campaign, but they would at least gain some combat experience.
Given another year of training and cultivating his Immortal would live up to their names on the battlefield. They would be one of Ben's battlefield trump cards that he could throw out against the enemy in dire situations or when the enemy would be too dangerous to attack with standard troops.
If he were to come across an enemy in a highly defensible position he could bring out these Immortals who could charge at the enemy with unfathomable speeds while wearing their full plate armor to protect them. The only thing they would be vulnerable against would be powerful spell casters which were few and far between.
Ben closed the menu of his troop counts and called out to one of the guards standing outside of his tent. The guard came in and saluted Ben while remaining at attention.
"How can I be of service, your majesty?"
"Send out messengers to have the generals meet me here in my tent for a mission briefing. That will be all."
"As you command, Sire!" The soldiers left the tent and sent out messengers around the camp to inform the generals to meet at the king's tent.
It appeared Ben was just about ready to make his move against their first target!