Road to the Crown

Chapter 269: Automated Carriage

8th August 1574

"Are you sure you can go? I would really prefer if you kept resting for at least a few days more!"

With the stabilising bandages and other contractions that the medics used to keep me from moving, finally gone, there was no way I could accede to Elia's request. Not with how important this next project of mine was.

"I'm sorry dear, but you know how little my health is worth when we look at the situation of the entire country. If I decide against sacrificing a bit of my comfort, how can I expect others to sacrifice their blood and life for the sake of our commonwealth?"

Picking up a cane, specially handcrafted for me by the wood factory head administrator, I finally moved up from the bed, taking a long while to get used to the standing position once again.

"If you say so Just try to be as careful as possible, okay?"

Hugging her soft self to my arm, this lovely wife of mine helped me get to the doors and all the way downstairs. In front of the mansion doors, this excruciating travel of mine was finally over, with the first model of Henry's cart already waiting for me.

"To think that he would come up with the design so quickly I guess investing in him was one of the better ideas I had."

One could say that the most important quality of the lord or ruler, was not to be the best at everything but to be capable of finding people that would be the best in their respectable fields.

With how little I knew about the mechanical construction of the moving vehicles, rather than trying to tackle its design completely by myself, I created a few blueprints of those few mechanisms that I knew how they worked, before passing them to Henry. But to think that he could take them and turn the knowledge contained within into a proper prototype!

"Sir, I hope you will like the ride!"

Opening up the simple, wooden hatch located on top of this bulky vehicle, Henry himself emerged from the innards of the craft. His smile alone could serve as the proof that even if not perfectly, this automobile of his was at least already working!

Taking a taxing look at the general ideas that he put together, I couldn't help but be amazed. With the modular tracks replacing the standard wheels, and its general length reaching the double of how long your usual carriage would be, I had some doubts whether the power of the steam horse hidden inside would be enough to propel it once the thin wooden parts would be replaced with proper steel sheets, but for now, I could at least use it to move around without much effort.

"I'm very much looking forward to it. I assume you know our destination."

Slowly traversing those few meters that separated me from the vehicle while supporting myself on the crane, I finally entered this prototype. While from the outside it looked like a luxurious bathtub slowly overcoming its heavenly tribulation to become a proper tool, only when I got inside did I realised on how early stage of construction this piece of machinery was.

If I were to separate it into three equally long parts, then the one at the very back would be responsible for all the movement. Consisting of four mark three steam engines, integrated fuel feeding system and the smoke expelling tube, it was so packed, that even fitting a piece of paper between its parts would pose a challenge. 

The middle part was where all the passengers had to stay, with three sets of double wooden slabs posing as both the bench and the leg rest. If not for the fact that the entire roof was made with just a wooden skeleton with a thin piece of fabric wrapped on it, I could already tell that it would create quite a claustrophobic feeling. But the real magic was located at the very front of the vehicle.

For some reason, the front part of the vehicle, not only consisted of two small seats, one for the driver and the other one for what appeared to be the guide, but also a lot of machinery that was confusing even for me!

"Henry, would you mind elaborating what those parts are?"

Pointing my hand at the tangled mess of small conveyors, tubes and handles, I stared at the man behind this ingenuity. While I didn't want to doubt his abilities, if all this mess was in place only for the sake of actually controlling the way in which the vehicle would drive, then this entire project would have to be scrapped!

"Sir, those parts are not finished yet. If not for our urge to prove that the vehicle itself is working already, we would still take at least one or two weeks before giving you the first ride. As for their future use, they will be manipulated around a bit so that the front part of the vehicle will be able to fit an extendable cannon created with the modified blueprints of what you provided us with, sir."

Only after hearing the explanations did I realise why despite how messy this piece of machinery looked like, I could still feel a bit of familiar vibes from it. 

With how fast the models of my weapons were constantly upgrading, there was no way that I would leave the big guns outside of this flow of innovation. Rather than putting my hopes in unreliable, slow and generally weak front-loaded cannons, I drew what a backloaded artillery should look like and delivered it to Henry's new plant. And if my guess was right, rather than just going with the tank route and slapping a long barrel at the front of the machine, he actually decided to make it expandable from within the vehicle itself!

"Sir, I know what you might want to ask. Why bother creating problems if we could just add most of the invulnerable design to the outside. But while this is just a prototype, when I first saw its test run, I realised one thing. With this thing, carriages will turn obscure. As long as one can find some wood to power this thing up, it will be capable of carrying way more cargo than a normal wagon, without relying on the good road conditions all that much thanks to the tracks system. And it was this idea that made me add some complexity to the project, so that in the future if an enemy spots one of those automated carriages, they will never know whether its a battle unit or just a logistical one!"

Giving Henry ample time to explain himself, I was about to congratulate him on his foresight, when the driver sitting at the very front of the vehicle, finally pressed one of the pedals. 

"Keep in mind to not let your feet fall down! Without the floor shielding, if it gets tangled into moving machinery, only God will be able to save you from losing your limbs!"

With this warning resounding in my ears, I instantly looked down, only for a powerful roar from behind to scare the shit out of me!

Due to the driver finally letting the engines operate at their full potential, endless metal rods started moving like in some kind of elaborate torture device, before the vehicle sharped violently and finally started slowly moving forward!

Thanks to the tiny holes in the side casing of the metal carriage, I could see that albeit slowly, it was really using the force of my engines to push itself!

"We will start to speed up now!"

Hearing the driver's warning, I instantly grabbed the nearby handle mounted on the side of the vehicle, expecting another drastic change of momentum Yet this time, my expectations betrayed me. Rather than instantly jumping forward like some kind of rocket, this vehicle had to take its time to reach even the speed at which normal carriage would go! But despite this very slow accelerating speed, it continued to raise its velocity to the point where not even a galloping horse would be able to outpace it!

"The destination, new military area!"

While I already knew that this vehicle could ride on its own from the simple fact that it appeared at the courtyard of my mansion, experiencing the ride myself was still an exhilarating feeling. But as great as it was, due to the insane speed it could achieve while riding on the recently finished road connecting my mining town with the detached military area, I still couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed with how quickly the ride was over!

But rather than being depressed over this silly part, I scrambled out of the vehicle, once again using the crane to help myself. Yet, rather than focusing on the impressive sight of the already working vehicle behind me, I directed my full attention towards the painfully ugly and practical sight in front of me. 

"Sir, welcome to the main gate of the New Tarnow detached military complex. While the barracks and training grounds are still being built, how about we give you a tour through the armoured carriage factory?"

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