Road to the Crown

Chapter 272: First car flex in the world!

15th August 1574

"We will be reaching the gates of Krakow shortly. If that won't be a problem, we would love if you could deal with any problems arising, sir."

Turning his head away from the visor, the navigator of the first properly finished steam carriage smiled to me. With an entire week of the practical tests conducted both on the track and offroad back in the mining town, there was no problem in driving it all the way to the capital, outside of the potential reaction of the city guards!

"Don't worry about it. Causing commotion is part of our job!"

Despite the driver being as far from being the noble as one could be by the bloodline, I still smiled at him and nodded my head. What some might take for gross misconduct for disrespecting my own noble status, was just another statement of authority with which I continued to express my willingness to go with the changes proposed with the new set of Tarnowian Location Laws. 

Sitting on the large sofa that made up half of the free space within the entire carriage, I rested my arms on the side of the vehicle. With how it was made to be just a representational model, rather than having it covered by the roof, we just had a simple, waterproof material that could be wrapped on top of the special scaffolding as to shield us from the rain in case it ever proved to be necessary.

Yet, basking my face in the warm rays of the sun for the entire day worth of the journey, proved that my negative assumptions towards the weather turned out to be incorrect. With how a lot of stuff that I didn't directly control going against me, those pleasant atmospheric conditions was the very first positive surprise that the world prepared for me.

Sadly, the navigator's heads-up came just in the right time, as within just two minutes the driver had to reverse the pull of the engines, quickly pulling the entire machine to a complete stop.

"HALT!"

Most likely unable to believe that such insane contraption could be produced locally, the guards used the german language to order us to stop, as if they were blind to the fact that we ceased to move right before they even opened their mouth.

"Who are you?!"

Even sooner than I expected, the same guard that ordered us to stop proved that his german proves was as great as the government of the post-communist Poland of the future. Or in other words, he simply had no qualifications to do the job he attempted to do!

"Mike from the Tarnow with the retainers. I'm here for the Senate summons."

Being stopped right at the city gates was still a huge giveaway that the warlike atmosphere already reached this place. While I was prepared to face the guards somewhere in the city with how unusual my means of transportation were, the fact that guards actually patrolled the main entrance to the city proved that Ostros betrayal hit the country even harder than I expected.

"May your summons be fruitful, sir! Make way!"

And here came another surprise. From how just recently I was considered a traitor by the men in the royal castle where the senate would operate, even with how the entire situation was cleared out, I still expected them to hold some grudge towards me. After all, if one were to catch a man in one's wife room, even if it turned out he was just an innocent electrician attempting to fix a broken cable, meeting that person on the streets would still prove to be an unpleasant experience!

This was the main reason behind my concern. With how insane and direct influence those selected few nobles in the senate had over the city, I expected that anyone hearing my name would still react as if I was a haughty noble daring to challenge the current system! Seeing a guard actually acting respectfully was a hint that despite all my initial guesses, those few nobles that governed the country in the King's absence weren't as incompetent as I always was taught to believe they were!

"Ride forth. Sadly, we can't use our top speed, as the folk would rip us apart. Just let everyone watch while driving as slow as possible."

There was no way I would openly admit to how I wanted to let the townsfolk create their own impression about me. Even with the clear efforts of the senate to clear my name in place, I was still going to do everything in my power to ascertain that no one would ever dare to go against me in the future! After all, if I was capable of creating a self-driving carriage, then everyone's imagination was sure to go wild when thinking about what else I was capable of!

In the end, the ride towards the royal Wawel castle wasn't as exciting as I expected it to be. With my wounds still bothering me, I could only sit on my sofa with my hands on top of my crane's handle, as if I was some mafia boss visiting the region under my control. Without the proper roof in place, there was nothing stopping me from observing the reactions of the people around, just like that was nothing that could bother their sight on me. 

And those reactions varied quite a bit. 

Some people simply couldn't be bothered to even cast a longer look at my craft, as the daily challenges of the life in the current era made them immune to all the possible distractions. On the other hand, those who were either already rich enough to not care all that much about their deadlines or simply poor enough to actually have free time showed the entire spectrum of human emotions. 

From fascination, through curiosity all the way to the fear and repulsion. In a sense, it was a good thing that the guards were present everywhere around the route that we took, as I realised that all it would take for the mob to throw themselves at my carriage, was just a simple man throwing a stone at this 'devil's contraption'!

"I'm starting to regret that we didn't take the mountable reaper gun with us"

Due to the blueprint of the end-product already being finished and more or less perfected, while there were a few pieces created either for the sale as the high-end product for the richest or just for the use of the most important people in the soon-to-be New Tarnow, most of the factory resources were directed towards creating three types of the steam carriages.

With the war in the east basing on the numbers rather than the quality of the troops on the attacking side, there was no point in outfitting all of those mobile fortresses of death with real cannons. That's why, the lightest type of the steam carriage, named "Henry" from the name of its designer, used the spare weight limit saved on the weapons to increase its mobility. From what I heard, as that single model was still in the testing phase, it could even reach the speeds of modern tanks that I knew off!

On the other hand, while having a lightly armoured vehicle was useful for quickly moving one's forces around, there was no denying that using those machines without banking on their carrying potential would be simply stupid. Even though Henry-type could serve as a mobile fortress for the troops travelling in it, the main focus of the entire factory lied in "Pancer" type of the steam carriage.

The name itself, was quite misleading for some, as despite its proper armour, it wasn't a vehicle that could outshine the fortifications of the current times. Rather than that, it took one of the strange Commonwealth cavalry formations as the source for its name.

Pancer cavalry was actually a type of military unit that only recently was reformed into proper light horsemen. Initially, they were a type of infantry that was using horses to quickly relocate, allowing them to save on the insane cost of resupplying the mounts after every battle. And while Pancer cavalry was already the main cavalry type through Commonwealth's lands at the current time, the name of this early tank of mine still sourced itself from what they initially were. 

In the battle, that medium-type of battle vehicles would be unable to break through the enemy lines. It wouldn't be something they would be outfitted for in the first place! Rather than that, with three reaper guns of the most modern design, supplied with ammunition via the feeding system integrated into the vehicle itself, was to be used as the main points of the formations, spearheading the way for the foot troops.

And lastly, the most expensive, reaching a cost of a thousand gold coins each, "Hussar" type of vehicle. 

There would be no shame to call it a heavy tank of the current era. 

Initially, I wanted to have a vehicle outfitted with those backloaded cannons, but after talking this entire matter through with my advisors, I realised that in the current situation, there was simply no need for such vehicle. Rather than wasting both the carrying capacity and the space required for this type of huge cannon, not only was the size of the carriage nearly doubled, but the number of steam engines it was outfitted with was actually tripled!

Every single "Hussar" carriage used twelve steam horses. But this kind of investment was warranted by what it was aimed to achieve.

Twice as long as the normal carriage. Three reaper guns mounted with additional armour plates on its sides, along with two more both at its front and at its back. This was the ultimate weapon that I was capable to come up with against the onslaught of the Muscovites!

With its insane power and reinforced tracks, it was supposed to carry its passengers right in the middle of the enemy formations, before clearing their surroundings with the use of all the reaper guns loaded on it!