Infrastructure: Part Twenty Six

The third winter of what was then called the rule of the rule of the Committee came and passed, and as it did more a stockpile of arms was built up. The New Arsenal assembled gun after gun, sword after sword and cuirass after cuirass. Six more cannons were cast and put onto their mounts. Uniforms, backpacks and sleeping bags were also stockpiled and large quantities of gunpowder and bullets. A fair number of carts were built. A few muskets and powder was sold to Vorslab, which had risen in prominance at the expence of becoming more and more dependant on Dalatyr. The purpose of which was made clear as spring began.

A general recruitment drive was set out by the Committee early in spring, seaking recruits and lots of them. And for three months they came in at a trickle, men and a couple of women. A few criminals were put into service, reservists called to active duty as well and a handful of detentional labourers were brought up. At the end, they resorted to conscription by lottery to finally fill out the ranks. They were moved to a new set of barracks nearby Dalatyr. In the end, they gathered a force 480 soldiers in strength. Four companies, each with its own cannon were readied for a new wave of expansion.

As the last of these soldiers finished their training, preperations were being made. A meating was gathered and they were given a speech by Drive on the comming plan outside the mess hall. It express the details of the operation and confidence in their capacity. Drive was straight to the point and rather uninspiring, despite the fact that speach was not one of his skills. They were then met by Supernova oddly enough

"Soldiers, Tommorow we shall push forward once more. As your Commander has told you, we shall move against several warrior holds. We have every confidence in you to complete your objectives as what we have created here is the strongest fighting force that these lands have ever seen. Two years ago this army ended the reign of three fearsome warlords. They may boast about their strength as they guzzle ale all they wish, but they will be met with a retort of lead.

"As you march forward, remember what you fight for. You are not savage Warriors out for rape and plunder. You fight against them, and you fight to end them. You fight to purge this world of their cruelty and spiteful incompetance. For once the smoke has cleared, the enemy defeated and our banner flies above their towns, we shall begin our work with them. We shall keep these lands safe from raids, rebuild their walls, drive out bandits and we shall build. We shall connect these newly annexed towns to our homes with roads and bridges. Trade will flow between them and they shall thrive. They will provide resources and able hands and with these, we shall reshape this world.

"Image, if you will, an end to the violent cycle of raids and massacures that hangs over the Coldlands. Were men and women do not need to always need worry of raids. Every one of you has lost someone to this senseless warfare or knows someone who has. We shall end that. Look at Dalatyr, under the rule of the Committee it is thriving like it never has before. There is plenty of food and fuel. Wealth flows into it through trade and it can now make so much more than it once could have.

"What we shall build is more than just roads and bridges, even more than homes and workshops. What we shall do is we shall build a great machine. Made of many smaller machines, roads, towns, mines, workshops, factories, carts, farms and people. A thousand villages acting as one. A web that shall take in the raw wealth of clay, ore, coal, timber and food, refine it, process it, store it and move it to were it is needed. Now consider it being enhanced with various devices designed to make jobs easier for the man who does them. Irrigation, mechanical reapers, blast furnaces, printing presses, the list goes on. It shall feed the people and give them all shelter and purpose. And it will defend what it makes from those who would destroy it or take it to deprive those in need. What has been created so far is proof that this shall work, and when history is writen, those brave men who fought to bring it about shall be spoken of with the greatest respect and honor. Those who swept clean the squabbling domains of the warlords so that in their place would be built this great Network of roads and efforts that shall support everyone.Those that brought about the glorious Age...of Infrastructure!"

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