It was time to scaling the network. With the Alhambra-to-Almería proof of concept fully operational, the House of Wisdom shifts from prototyping to mass deployment. Granada's mountainous terrain (the Sierra Nevada) provides a massive geographic advantage for both defense and power generation. The river grid would be the fast-flowing mountain streams coming off the Sierra Nevada that are tapped to power dedicated, enclosed waterwheel generation stations. These act as the primary power hubs, continuously charging massive centralized banks of Gravity Cells. The stategic network is the telegraph lines are rapidly pushed across the remaining strongholds of the Emirate. Lines are run from Granada to the vital coastal port of Málaga, the mountain fortress of Ronda, and northern frontier outposts like Loja and Baza.
The Scribe Bureaucracy: The hundreds of scribes have successfully cataloged the Arabic translations of basic metallurgy, surveying, and cryptographic protocols. A new class of state official is born: the Telegraph Operator. Using custom ciphers, the Emir now receives tax reports, grain supply levels, and troop movements from the coast in seconds rather than days.
As I oversaw the scale up and mass deployment, in early 1482, Castilian forces launch surprise incursions along the western frontier (historically targeting Alhama de Granada). In real history, Alhama fell because Granada didn't know it was under attack until it was too late. Since I already know the history, we already stay alerted. The moment Castilian scouts cross the border, a frontier watchtower operator taps out an emergency distress code. Within five minutes, the Emir and his generals in the Alhambra read the decrypted dispatch. While the Castilian army is still marching, the Emir has already deployed Granada’s elite cavalry and garrison forces to intercept them. The court is stunned as strategic coordination happens at the speed of light.
That decisive victory gained the state confidence, while the threat still looming at us in the distance.
While I’m drafting the firearm upgrade, some people in the order already weaponized the grid. As the "powerful firearms" promised to the Emir are still in deep development by the metallurgists (who are currently mastering chemical refinement for gunpowder and steel barrel drawing via the Wikipedia library), we can use our current electrical grid defensively. His name is Tariq ibn Sami. He once got electrocuted while building the grid and he got distinct burnt scar on his palm. He suggest using the high-voltage outputs from the waterwheel-driven generator banks, engineers run hidden, uninsulated iron wires along the outer stone walls and narrow mountain passes leading to key fortresses. When Castilian sappers or heavy cavalry try to scale or breach these checkpoints at night, operators connect the main battery banks to the lines. The resulting massive electrical shocks panic horses and incapacitate armored knights, creating a terrifying, invisible defense that the superstitious invaders attribute to defensive sorcery or Jinn.
But now I’m facing a resource strain and copper shortages due to rapid expansion by the end of 1483. Sourcing enough zinc ore (calamine) to cast the thousands of "crow's foot" anodes needed for the expanding battery banks is exhausting local mines. Then there is Castilian spies with sabotage threat, they realize that the Emirate's terrifyingly coordinated defense relies on the "wires on poles," begin attempting to cut the lines. This forces the House of Wisdom to develop line-testing protocols (measuring resistance drops to pinpoint exactly where a wire was cut) and establishing heavily armed "Line Ranger" cavalry units to patrol the infrastructure.
I proposed to the Emir, not only the weapon but also a vehicle like mine that can outrun horses, a wagon that goes for miles without needing horses. So the order is currently split in half, Horseless Wagon and Hand Cannon development team.