Chapter 1490: Chapter 1490

1490: Chapter 1486: Laying Out 1490: Chapter 1486: Laying Out Real combat is always the best teacher.

The most well-conceived tactics in plans and blueprints might shatter on the battlefield with a single blow.

Once, humans and Fishmen compared their underwater maneuverability…

Even with the help of underwater motorcycles, even with the boost of Divine Blessing in this regard, humans spent a tremendous amount of money to gain the upper hand in speed, only to find it meaningless.

What use is sheer speed?

Your underwater motorcycle follows a straight path, but can it change direction like a live fish, accelerating and decelerating along the underwater currents?

Not to mention the Fishmen’s standard “Radar Skin” and “Sonar Exploration,” which are overwhelmingly advantageous in the low-light, no-light environments of the deep sea.

In real combat, as Lu Ping’an experienced, when you throw a punch, not only does water pressure distort your movements, but your opponent, sensing the pressure change, easily dodges…

The physiological differences between the two sides make both naval and land battles utterly unfair, with Fishmen being equally uncomfortable on land.

In water, hot weapons and firearms are mostly useless, heavy weapons are difficult to deploy, and swinging a sword or a long handle is quite uncomfortable.

In contrast, daggers and harpoons, the “piercing” type weapons, are somewhat more effective…

and the Fishmen opponents are masters of these.

But humans are not to be trifled with.

After a period of hard struggle and deadly battles, they had already found new tactics and armaments.

“I never expected Vortex Stone Weapons to sell so well here…”

Merely relying on kinetic energy, traditional weapons, once adapted for contamination, had astonishing effects.

Underwater, where most gunpowder weapons fail, merely requiring a bit of self-heating can bring about potent kinetic energy weapons such as underwater hammers, jet-propelled harpoons, and shotguns, with excellent effects at short to medium range.

In water, the control is too poor to be reliable.

“…The only issue is that this world isn’t the material source, and the production is limited.

Also, transportation costs from exotic realms are too high.

But with Eastern Country stepping in, that seems not to be a problem anymore.

This part of the business should belong to me.”

Lu Ping’an is arguably the most formidable arms dealer in this world…

Mass production and customization of Contamination Weapons and Taboo items, and even if a few craftsmen can compete, none can throw them off the production line like he can.

Magic Pets (including Magic Plants) and Extraordinary Weapons are his most profitable product lines, and also the foundation supporting the increasingly huge Rebirth Chamber of Commerce.

In fact, Lu Ping’an was invited to the frontline to sell weapons…

to push forward the construction of logistics.

“Are we starting the Bird Cage Tactic already?

Lu Ping’an wasn’t the only merchant around; his eyes spotted more large ships arriving.

These cargo ships had just arrived when they began dropping items by opening one side of their railings.

House-sized giant diving bells were thrown into the water, where they would rest at predetermined depths and become permanent local sites.

If the battlefield environment doesn’t suit us, then, let’s change the battlefield.

One by one, underwater structures were thrown in, most of which would become uncontrollable or destroyed by attacks, but if there were enough of them, and enough reinforcing troops, a permanent defensive line could be established underwater.

Right before Lu Ping’an’s eyes, something even more preposterous happened.

That cargo ship, having dumped all its cargo, began to slowly sink right before his eyes.

But bizarrely, it sank slowly, maintaining its balance with lights still flashing on its surface, seeming to still be operating normally.

Watching the giant ship slowly sink into the sea, Lu Ping’an understood.

“…Having fortresses isn’t enough, do we also need walls and mountains?”

More ships slowly sailed in, completing their transport tasks and then themselves becoming underwater shelters.

Facing an open skirmish with aquatic ethnic groups without cover?

Better to give us some time to set the stage and return to what we’re best at, entrenching and engaging.

“Really, there’s no cost-effectiveness at all…”

This push-tactic had long been proven effective; first, constructing an underwater city equated to blocking all directions of Fishmen’s attacks while gradually pushing inward.

But this thing is too costly, for small and medium forces, it’s better to just directly engage a ship in combat.

“With the Big Shot paying, spend freely throughout the venue…”

Now that the Eastern Country, this super Big Shot, is footing the bill and it’s destined to be a prolonged war, there’s no need to hesitate in continuing to pour in resources.

Construction on the water had never stopped; within the range of Lu Ping’an’s sight, he could see at least five large artificial islands.

Not only were there houses on them, but also factories and entertainment facilities,

This technology is also in the hands of a Big Shot from Lin Nu’s Church…

“It seems not only me, everyone else is also full from the influx of orders.”

From what Lu Ping’an had seen, due to the excessive manufacturing orders, only in this half-month, the price of metal ores, and finished metal ingots had risen by at least thirty percent, even the mining excavators, transport ships (marine excavation), underwater explosives for mining, etc., all began skyrocketing.

Lu Ping’an actually had a big order in his hands too.

How to make Lamp Flowers survive underwater and also have piercing brightness, isn’t this troubling me?”

Although complaining thus, Lu Ping’an had no intention of shirking it.

The division of spoils in this world…

in terms of industrial division, the most valuable thing Lu Ping’an handled was the “Lamp Flower Trade,” as its basic ability for lighting and heating was very useful; its slight contamination repelling trait made it a welcome addition to anyone’s home.

Because Lamp Flowers were so useful, even when this world’s “electric lights” came out, nobody bought them.

“Why do lights need to be wired and consume electricity?

Just the electricity cost, one Lamp Flower can last for many years.”

It really bothered those Big Shots from Lin Nu, to open up mass production of lights, they still had to solve the problems of power supply and water pressure, research funding was sufficient, but who knew how long the research would take.

So, it’s better to “use the mysterious when science can’t handle it,” as long as the funding and interests are in place, let the Big Shot show personally how to handcraft it.

Customizing underwater lanterns that could provide underwater illumination was Lu Ping’an’s biggest current order…

The sales per unit weren’t high, but once it became a necessary part of the military supplies, it would become a long-term and huge order.

“I have no doubt that for underwater illumination, they would sprawl out underwater Lamp Flowers.

Compared to directly building underwater fortresses, this little money is nothing…” Just imagining the situation underwater lit up with lights, Lu Ping’an felt it would be a direct windfall.

At this moment, Lu Ping’an truly had high hopes for his side; unless there is a generational capability gap in war, it would ultimately come down to a comparison of comprehensive national power.

With the Eastern Country officials, this wealthy Big Shot heavily investing, the victor would naturally be the side with more money and resources.

Lu Ping’an’s progress in developing underwater Lamp Flowers was going quite smoothly, after all, this wasn’t starting from scratch, but more about integrating past “examples.”

Over ten years, Lamp Flowers and Lamp Trees had already developed countless variants, these weren’t the products of Lu Ping’an and the Rebirth Chamber of Commerce, but rather, released “samples” were partly cultivatively modified by other Gardeners, and partly from natural reproduction, change of generations, ultimately leading to a weird status where Lamp Flowers were everywhere in the world, but with shapes, types, and traits that weren’t of the same kind.

Civilians had long been bringing Lamp Flowers underwater; the offspring hybrids produced by their merging with aquatic plants had already presented new examples.

What Lu Ping’an needed to do was to collect these kinds of underwater hybrids, extract their Biological Modules, repeatedly trial and error, and finally produce a cost-effective underwater Lamp variant.

In fact, Lu Ping’an had achieved this just a few days after arriving at the frontline, but now, he was still trying to improve it, hoping the underwater Lamp Flowers would have stronger deep-sea adaptability, able to protect themselves underwater.

In fact, with this investment, he was developing the weaponization of underwater Magic Plants.

“Is this swindling funds?

I’m being responsible for the users; since the funding isn’t exhausted yet, we must deliver the best product…” At least that’s what Lu Ping’an himself said.