Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, it had been half a year since the Rangers and Marshal Michelich returned to the Kingdom. It is May of the 589th year of the Holy Light Calendar. This is the fifteenth year since Claude traveled through time. He is currently thirty-one years old and is the youngest civilian in the history of the Kingdom of Orvelas. Major General of the Kingdom, the supreme commander of the Overseas Directly Administered War Zone of Nubicia Continent, and the division commander of the Thunder Division.
Claude was very grateful to Marshal Michelchi, who appreciated and promoted him, allowing him to take over his position and become the supreme commander of the theater. At the same time, Marshal Michelich also helped him set up the entire new theater headquarters and equipped it with suitable deputies and subordinates. This allowed Claude to take office smoothly after Marshal Michelich returned to the kingdom, and allowed the entire theater command to continue to implement the established strategic plan in an orderly manner.
At present, about 80,000 immigrant families from 100,000 households have arrived, and the last batch of immigrants is still left. The first and second batch of immigrant families arriving have already sown the seeds of hope on the fields assigned to them, waiting for the harvest in September. But similarly, no one would have thought that there would be so many problems in the process of resettling 100,000 immigrant families. Although most of the difficulties were solved with the assistance of the Ministry of Civil Affairs headed by Sir Bennett, the civil affairs affairs in the war zone It still involved most of Claude's energy.
The Thunder Division was the first of the five reinforced divisions to be fully replenished, followed by the First, Second, and Third Panshi Divisions, leaving only the last Panshi Division. The Fourth Division is still a shelf division. They have to wait until the last batch of immigrants arrive to replenish their troops and complete the formation task.
Claude once asked Major Generals Albronck and Beachcling how they were originally supposed to be the First Reserve Division and the Second Reserve Division, but they were renamed into the Third and Fourth Rock Corps. As a result, the two were defeated. Lord's seniors who were promoted to the Kingdom's Major General at the same time said that they felt that the name "Preparation" was unpleasant and made them feel inferior to others, so they protested with Marshal Michelich. After pestering the Marshal for a long time, he had no choice but to change the name to rock
Fortunately, Claude's younger brothers were very capable, and they took over most of the training and discipline work without Claude having to worry about the Thunder Division, and successfully completed the six-month training mission. Now headed by Murray Ed and Belklin, he took most of the Thunder Division to Cromwell and Beringana, two territories directly under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China, to conduct inspections and familiarize themselves with the terrain training, leaving only Lanhu Town. A guerrilla battalion composed entirely of veterans led by Mike was captured.
"General, the biggest problem that troubles us now is pack horses, healthy horses and transportation capacity. Most immigrant families need to buy pack horses or farm, and they also need healthy horses as mounts for transportation. But our war zone and the three territories directly under the rear are basically There is no way to provide so many draft horses and strong horses. The price of draft horses has tripled in the past three months, almost the same price as war horses." Sir Bennett's hair has turned half gray from worry about this.
Claude couldn't solve this problem. The five reinforced divisions in the theater were equipped with insufficient horses. There were more than 30,000 war horses, and more than 10,000 pack horses and healthy horses. But the Thunder Division alone is equipped with 30,000 war horses, as well as nearly a thousand pack horses and healthy horses. This is because the nature of the Thunder Division is offensive mobile combat power. Following the example of the former Ranger Division, it must have such More horses can ensure mobility.
The remaining pack horses and strong horses were divided among the four divisions, so there were no more. The Logistics Department has been complaining about insufficient transportation capacity and requesting the purchase of more horses. But the current situation is that there is no place to buy it. If it is transported from the Kingdom, even if the price of the pack horse has tripled, it will still be a loss compared to the expensive long-distance transportation cost. Because at sea, no one can guarantee whether anything will go wrong, and transporting packhorses is a very risky business.
Three months ago, when Sir Bennett first proposed that several newly established towns for immigrants lacked packhorses for transportation, Claude took out nearly a thousand packhorses from the five divisions and handed them over to the Civil Affairs Office. Let them distribute these pack horses to various new towns and rent them to immigrant families. Fortunately for Claude, he had originally instructed that these pack horses were not allowed to be sold, but could only be rented out, because Claude had always thought that the immigrant families could not afford the pack horses.
It turns out that Claude was overthinking. After the distribution of this batch of draft horses, the supply exceeds the demand, or it can be said that it is a drop in the bucket. People in this world are familiar with horse plowing rather than cattle plowing. Cattle are used as providers of meat, not as livestock power for farming and pulling carts. Basically, these immigrants don’t know how to use cattle for farming and pulling carts.
The plain area under the direct jurisdiction of Amphiston is vast and sparsely populated. There are no complete transportation facilities and road construction. Immigrant families are resettled in this area to engage in agriculture and animal husbandry. So what they need most are strong horses and carts for transportation. and draft horses for farming. Since they all received settlement funds from the emerging business aristocrats when they moved to the war zone, buying a camel was not a burden to them. But the problem is that the war zone cannot provide each household with a pack horse or a healthy horse, and the entire Overseas Territory of Nubisia Continent cannot do this.
"Perhaps we can purchase some donkeys from the Nikancha people to replace the packhorses and use them to pull the carts." Major General Skerry, the head of the logistics department, came up with an idea.
The Nikancha people here on the mainland of Nubisia like to breed donkeys for riding and carrying things. Sometimes, when describing a Nikancha person's family background, they say how many donkeys their family owns. Maybe it would be a good idea to acquire some donkeys from the Nikancha people to pull the carts. But Claude is worried that immigrant families prefer to kill donkeys for meat. In the Kingdom of Ovelas, donkey meat has always been praised as a delicious and nutritious meat product.
"It is said that some ranches in the three territories directly under the rear are preparing to breed and herd horses on a large scale. It seems that the increase in the price of draft horses has also given these ranchers hope of making a fortune." Major General Bolonik said: "A few of the people I know Friends have been asked, and those ranchers hope to obtain some war horses from our war zones to be used as stud horses to improve the quality of cross-bred draft horses."
This is a solution. The only problem is that it takes too long. It will take at least two or three years before there are grown-up draft horses for sale. But what the war zone is facing is the shortage of pack horses that urgently needs to be solved. Even if one-third of the 100,000 immigrant families want to buy a pack horse, they still need 30,000 pack horses. This is not a small number, but a demand that is difficult to solve.
The final result of the meeting was not to discuss any solution, but to adopt Major General Skerry's suggestion to purchase some donkeys from the Nikancha people to use as draft animals to temporarily solve the problem of transportation and travel difficulties for immigrant families. .
When Claude returned home, he found that Mr. Veblen had brought his wife here again. This time, the couple brought a large number of baby supplies in the name of visiting the newborn. More than a month ago, Kaifani gave birth to another son for Claude, named Baiergasi. It means blue lake in the ancient Hertz language, which is named after the beautiful Orchid Lake next to the villa. Claude is now also the father of two children.
After dinner, Claude took Mr. Veblen to the study. Mr. Veblen took out several documents from his briefcase and handed them to Claude and said: "General, our association agrees that you own the explored iron ore in the East Mosilaga Mountains, and you can mine and build industries there. At the same time, our Mining and Business Association will also absorb you as a member of the association, with all the benefits and mutual assistance rights that members have. This is your mining license and iron ore ownership industry certificate, as well as the title deed of the mountainous area where the mining area is located "
Claude was very happy: "Thank you, my friend, you really helped me a lot."
It’s just that Mr. Veblen doesn’t quite understand: “General, can I ask why this is? As we all know, iron ore is a mineral with the least return on investment. The kingdom’s mainland produces the most iron ore, and the iron ore in the overseas territories is the It has the least value for mining and investment. Our association only owns one iron mine, but the farm tools and various daily necessities produced are enough to meet the needs of all overseas territories. The annual rate of return is the lowest among all minerals.
That is, last year, the first and second batches of immigrants arrived. The orders for the agricultural tools and tools they needed, as well as those daily necessities, made the report a little better. But at present, the Ministry of Civil Affairs of the war zone has handed over the orders needed by the following immigrants to the iron mine of our association. General, even if you develop the iron mine and build workshops, you will not be able to earn more from the subsequent immigrant families. Money, after all, every family cannot need a lot of iron."
Claude burst out laughing: "Don't worry, my friend, please also tell the mine owners who own the iron mine in your association that I don't want to become a competitor with them. I want this iron mine." What the iron mine produces is military supplies, not daily necessities, not agricultural tools and tools, but a kind of weapon. So I refused the help you offered and asked your association's iron mine to provide me with products for free. I insist on owning The ownership of this iron ore mine is due to the need to keep it confidential.”
Mr. Veblen breathed a sigh of relief, but became curious again: "General, as far as I know, the kingdom has always had strict requirements and restrictions on the production of military supplies. It has strict requirements and restrictions on the weapons and armaments needed by the overseas territories of Nubisia Continent. We would rather transport the supplies from the Kingdom itself. How could they allow you to open a workshop to produce weapons here in the war zone?"
Claude shook his head: "They did not allow me to open a workshop to produce weapons here in the war zone. In the war zone, there are only gun repair workshops and supporting ammunition workshops that the kingdom agreed to set up, and they are still under the close supervision of the King's Ministry of Preparation. I The kingdom's approval is not needed because the weapons I want to produce are my own inventions and are not the standard weapons and equipment of our kingdom. So I need an iron mine and open a workshop by myself. I will first make a trial batch for the troops to try. If I can If the combat capability of the troops is increased, the theater will purchase large-scale purchases.”
Mr. Veblen suddenly realized that he understood something. He looked at Claude with admiration, thinking that Claude was really shrewd and had found an undoubted way for him to make money. It's very simple. Even if Claude develops the iron mine and casts it into pig iron eggs in the workshop, as long as he kills an enemy on the front line, the war zone will have to pinch his nose and admit that the victory is extraordinary. As the supreme commander of the theater, Claude can order the theater logistics department to purchase large quantities of pig iron eggs produced in his workshop, and legitimately make a lot of money.
Claude didn't understand how darkly Mr. Veblen thought of him. He asked the Mining and Commerce Association to give him this iron ore that had been surveyed for more than 60 years but had not been developed. The main reason was to find an iron mine. Produce grenades in a place that can be kept secret, and then see if he can produce landmines. These are his weapons to deal with the next colonial war.
It's just that the safe explosive that Claude asked his sister Anna to test failed, or it wasn't a complete failure. The reason is very simple. Anna finally successfully synthesized a safe explosive in the magic alchemy array. She used a red clay from the Nubisia continent to successfully stabilize and passivate the nitroglycerine, making it a safe explosive. Dynamite.
But the problem is that the nitroglycerin that can be synthesized in the magic alchemy array cannot be produced in large quantities because the temperature needs to be cooled down when synthesizing nitroglycerin. In the magic alchemy array experiment, sister Anna can control the temperature and use freezing spells to cool down. But in actual large-scale production, sister Anna didn't know how to design this cooling system at all. She was powerless, and neither was Claude.
The amount of nitroglycerin that can be produced in the magic alchemy talisman array is very small each time. In the end, the safety explosive produced can only fill up three grenades at most, and it takes a long time. One production takes almost four or five hours. . It was impossible for Claude to let his sister stand in front of the alchemy magic talisman array every day to produce this small amount of safe explosives for him. That would be very uneconomical.
Since large-scale production of safety explosives is no longer a reality, it doesn't matter if the grenades are larger and more black powder is used. The big deal is to change the way of human throwing. The important thing is that the grenade can explode when it hits the ground, which will bring a big surprise to the enemy. The artillery of this era fired only solid projectiles, except for the shotgun shells that shot into a large area. Claude has decided that after successfully designing the landmine, the next step is to let his sister Anna see if she can design a flowering artillery shell.
It is very simple to change the investment method of grenades. The average soldier can only throw it twenty or thirty meters with all his strength, so Claude designed a throwing structure, which is to use a spring bottom plate used for anti-shock of a carriage and an iron plate. It is assembled into a very simple throwing structure. When using it, place the iron plate flat on the ground, break off the spring bottom plate, put the grenade into the throwing slot, pull the string and release the spring bottom plate, and the grenade can fly fifty or sixty meters away. .
After several experiments, Claude felt that it could be used directly on the battlefield, so he asked the Mining and Commerce Association for the iron ore mine area that had been abandoned for more than 60 years, and decided to open his own workshop to manufacture weapons such as grenades and landmines. Mr. Veblen helped him make his request to the Mining and Commerce Association and complete all the formalities.
"My friend, I still need your help. If possible, I hope you can also become a shareholder and help me manage this weapons workshop, because I lack a reliable manager," Claude said truthfully.
Mr. Veblen thought that Claude was repaying him for his help. After all, an iron mining workshop that could make money just by casting pig iron eggs did not need strict management. He said humbly that he was helping Claude out of friendship and did not need any reward. But at Claude's insistence, he paid two thousand gold crowns for 20% of the shares, and signed a share agreement and a confidentiality agreement.
It’s just that Mr. Veblen doesn’t know what the 20% share means. He thinks that since Claude is willing to let him have a share of the pie, he shouldn’t be stingy. In his opinion, the two thousand gold crowns he paid can completely recruit people to develop the iron mine and build an iron ore foundry. Claude does not need to pay any money, he only needs to get the theater logistics department, and then he can rest. Make money
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