Claude looked over and over at the invitation in his hand, feeling a little strange in his heart. The newly appointed supreme commander of the theater, general of the kingdom, hereditary earl General Algeske Osmolin, isn't he going to the 1st and 2nd Rock Division for inspections in the past two days? Why would he invite himself at night when he is free? What does it mean to go to his private dinner?
Was he trying to win over him, or was it because he hadn't been with him during the troop inspection in the past two days that he felt that he was deliberately going against him and was ready to find a reason to deal with him? No, if that were the case, I wouldn’t have sent an invitation to treat myself to a meal. A private dinner means building relationships, showing closeness and friendliness, or discussing things in private.
"You said General Alges returned to the headquarters this morning?" Claude asked his personal adjutant, Lieutenant Colonel Anders, who had sent the invitation.
Lieutenant Colonel Anders nodded: "Yes, according to the itinerary, General Alges was supposed to go to Panshi First Division for inspection today, and the round trip took a total of five days. But for some reason, General Alges canceled the inspection of the lower unit. He decided to return to the theater headquarters in the morning, and then sent his adjutant to deliver this invitation to you."
Claude thought for a while and asked: "Did General Bolognik come back with him?"
"No, General, I have inquired. General Bolognik has returned to the 1st Rock Division." Lieutenant Colonel Anders replied.
"Well, go and tell the adjutant who sent the invitation that I am happy to accept General Alges's invitation and will attend his private dinner on time." Claude said.
It was late at night, and the carriage made a rolling sound on the gravel road. Claude sat in the carriage with his eyes closed and meditated. He really didn't expect that the purpose of the private dinner that General Alges invited him to in the evening was actually to obtain the drawings and production license for the grenade.
There were only two people at the dinner party. General Alges booked a top-grade private room to entertain Claude at the most luxurious American Tavern run by the Mining and Commerce Association of Lanhu Town. This surprised Claude, who originally thought that many people would attend the dinner. He really didn't expect General Alges to invite himself alone.
The atmosphere was really awkward at first, but General Alges was worthy of being from an old noble family and was a master at adjusting the atmosphere of the conversation. Although he is nearly twenty years older than Claude in terms of age, there is not much barrier between him and Claude when talking. We started with some dirty jokes in the royal capital, and then talked about the education of the children, and the large ranch that Claude was running for his sister Anna during this period. When it came to the purchase of the family property, Claude soon let De felt relaxed and natural, talking and laughing freely, and talking with General Alges was particularly interesting.
After they were full of wine and food, they removed the dishes and served the after-dinner black tea, and General Alges talked to Claude about business. Only then did Claude understand that the main reason why General Alges interrupted his trip to inspect and assess the combat effectiveness of the troops was because he had seen the offensive drill commanded by General Severit in the Second Rock Division and discovered the attack of throwing grenades. weapon, and thus confident in conquering the port of Vibato, he suspended the trip to inspect the troops.
General Alges said that after seeing the explosive power of the grenades during the attack, he understood what was the key to Claude commanding the Thunder Division to annihilate the three main armies of the Kingdom of Hicks in one fell swoop and win the Third Colonial War. After learning from General Sevicit and General Bolognik that the grenade was Claude's invention, he immediately rushed back to Lanhu Town and entertained Claude for two purposes. One was to honor the Guards Division. To purchase grenades, the second is to obtain the production license for grenades from Claude.
As a member of an established noble family and a representative figure among kings, General Alges is naturally not an ordinary person. Although his military career had some twists and turns due to the heavy casualties suffered by his subordinates, his record and title of being invincible and invincible were real, otherwise he would not have become a kingdom general.
He knew very well what the effect of throwing grenades in offensive warfare meant. For the King's team, it was a strategic offensive weapon that could reduce heavy casualties of the offensive troops and was indestructible and invincible. If it weren't for the identity and status of its inventor Claude, perhaps General Alges would be more willing to use other methods to license the production license for the grenade.
Claude naturally knew this very well. In fact, it was very easy to imitate the projectiles. Once you got a few and took them apart, the internal structure was very clear. Moreover, there are no patent rights in this world. The old aristocratic family behind General Alges is interested in the projectile invented by Claude. General Alges was able to seriously approach Claude to discuss the production license of Chinese grenades, which has clearly expressed his good intentions.
Claude agreed to General Alges's request, signed a formal authorization document, and drew a schematic diagram of the internal structure of the grenades on a piece of white paper on the spot. He also had some technical features of some of them. The places are also marked in detail. This move greatly surprised General Alges. Unexpectedly, Claude was so sensible, so he presented a money order from the National Bank with a face value of 10,000 gold crowns as Claude's authorized income.
Then Claude discovered where General Alges' real gratitude was. He placed an order for 20,000 grenades for the Guards Division, but the price was not what Claude sold to the five reinforced divisions in the theater. The internal price of one gold crown and one thrown bomb was the high price of three gold crowns and one thrown bomb. General Alges told Claude that the price of one gold crown for the 50,000 grenades previously sold to the war zone can be marked as a trial discount. In the future, the official purchase must be set at three gold crowns, otherwise it will be certain. Will lose money.
Losing money? How could it be possible? Claude couldn't figure out why he was losing money. The production cost of a throwing bomb is only about one silver thaler, and the other miscellaneous expenses are no more than two silver thalers. The selling price is one gold crown, and a profit of three silver thalers can be earned. . Now that the grenades have been proven to be powerful and effective in actual combat, training, and drills, the King's Team will definitely spend a lot of money on purchases. How could they lose money?
General Alges laughed and told Claude that he actually envied the good relations between the five divisions in the overseas territorial theater. There is no intrigue or mutual affection here. Unlike the competition and involvement among the ace corps of the Kingdom, such as I won't get it and I won't let you live a good life, what I fear most are those pig teammates who are holding back.
A grenade was priced at three gold crowns. It was not because General Alges was greedy, nor was it because the old aristocratic family behind him wanted to make a huge profit. Instead, two of the three gold crowns must be priced as public relations expenses, so that everyone involved in the matter can have a profit share, so that the production of the grenade can be controlled by his family. , so that no other military workshop in the kingdom produces the same imitation.
Now Claude has two more money orders from the National Bank, one for 10,000 gold crowns. This is the production license fee for the grenade, which can be put into his own private pocket. The amount of the other card was 60,000 gold crowns. General Alges generously paid the cost of 20,000 custom-made grenades for the Guards Division in advance. He bluntly told Claude that this money The military expenditures of the Guards Division are taken, not the military expenditures of the war zone.
This time, in order to assume the position of supreme commander of the war zone, capture the port of Vibato, and gain the meritorious service of being promoted to the marshal of the kingdom, he brought with him a military expenditure of 300,000 gold crowns and prepared to spend it all on this battle. This had to make Claude lament the wealth of those old aristocratic families. Of course, this money was not personally provided by General Alges. The families behind most of the noble officers in the Guards Division who came with him also contributed.
General Arges told Claude not to worry about how long he would stay as the supreme commander of this war zone. He came to the overseas territories this time to gain military exploits. After capturing Vibato Port, they will soon lead the Guards Division back to the Kingdom. By then, the position of supreme commander of the theater will still belong to Claude
But now Claude is sitting in the carriage, recalling General Alges's promise, and doubts whether the kingdom will retain the war zone settings after capturing Vibato Port. Without the threat of the Kingdom of Hicks invading the colonies, the Kingdom is likely to resume the system of governor-general responsibility for overseas territories. By then, its own Thunder Legion and three Rock Legions still don’t know where to go, and they may be disarmed on a large scale, like Like the second-line corps in those parts of the kingdom, they only retain the structure of a shelf corps.
Seeing that the carriage was about to arrive at Veblen Manor, it suddenly stopped. The alert order given by the big man Germi made the atmosphere suddenly tense. Claude looked out of the window and saw that the guards guarding the carriage had placed their mounts on the outside and were on alert with their muskets lit with match ropes.
"What happened?" Claude asked.
The big man Germi soon came back to report: "General, there were five or six drunkards just now, they should be new immigrants, making a mess beside the road. Now we have sent people to drive them away, they are all right. We can move on."
This seems a bit fussy, just a few drunk immigrants, but there is no need to be so nervous. However, since the big man Germi became the squadron leader of Claude's personal guard squadron, he has been meticulous in performing security escort tasks and must follow the security regulations at all times.
After returning home, Claude handed over the public food to his wife Kaifuni in a polite manner, and then fell asleep holding Kaifuni in his arms. But soon Claude was awakened by the crisp sound of musketry, and the Veblen Manor began to be noisy, with firelight and candlelight shining.
Kaifuni was sleeping soundly. Claude slowly opened his wife's hand on a certain body part of his body, got off the bed and put on his pajamas. He came out of the bedroom and soon the big man Gemmi took it. Holding the musket that lit the match, a disheveled man appeared in front of Claude.
"General, are you okay?" The big man Gemie looked around cautiously.
"It's okay, who shot?" Claude lit the candle on the lampstand in the living room, and the soft candlelight illuminated the room, and the big man Gemi breathed a sigh of relief.
"It was a shot fired by a sniper on the roof. He said he saw three black figures climbing in from the wall of the manor. He fired a shot and seemed to hit one of them. The three figures escaped. It's better to sneak into the manor, we need to search the entire manor immediately," the big man Germi reported.
"Maybe it's a thief," Claude disagreed: "I heard that the public security in Lanhu Town was a bit bad during this period. General Xazolak has complained several times. He needs to form a local garrison in Lanhu Town instead of relying on A patrol squadron of more than fifty patrolmen is responsible for maintaining security in a town of nearly 100,000 people. But the war zone did not allocate funds for him to set up a local garrison. Maybe I should find time to remind General Alges tomorrow."< /p>
Lanhu Town can now be upgraded to a city. After 100,000 immigrant families arrived in Amphiston Direct Territory, many immigrant families with manual skills were unwilling to become farmers. Instead, they took out a home loan to live in Lanhu. Family handicraft workshops and small shops were opened in the town, so that Lanhu Town expanded three or four times in one fell swoop. The expansion of manpower and area has also brought about great security risks. Public security incidents such as petty theft, drunkenness, fights and troubles have emerged one after another. The patrol station of a squadron was already exhausted and unable to deal with the security problems of the entire Lanhu Town.
General Xazolak, who is responsible for the local garrison in the war zone, as well as local security and counter-espionage affairs, plans to set up a local garrison battalion in Lanhu Town to assist in maintaining security and order, but is limited by the selection of soldiers and the lack of funds. After all, this is a war zone, and everything is focused on war. The formation of local garrison troops needs to wait until the formation of General Beach Kerin's Fourth Division, oh, now the Third Division is completed.
It was just that after the formation of General Buechlin's division was completed, the good news came that Claude led the Thunder Division to victory in the Third Colonial War. At the same time, due to the heavy casualties of the Thunder Division, the recruits who were pre-selected to form local garrison forces were assigned to the Thunder Division as supplementary soldiers, which made General Xazolak half angry to death. But there is no way, because he is a local garrison armed force. Everything in the war zone gives priority to the frontline troops.
General Xazolak had reported for the third time that he was going to set up a local garrison camp in Lanhu Town. As a result, he encountered a change in his duties. Claude had no time to pay attention to this trivial matter. The newly appointed supreme commander of the theater, General Alges, has no intention of getting involved in these local affairs. He is focused on the combat effectiveness of the three Panshi divisions in the theater and the recovery of the officers and soldiers of the Guards Division under his command. He can't wait to go. Capture the port city of Vibato.
It wasn't until his family's manor suffered a theft in the middle of the night that Claude discovered that the security problem in Lanhu Town had reached a point where it was necessary to rectify it without delay. Even the manor of him, the commander of the Thunder Legion, is being planned. One can imagine how serious the security problem in Lanhu Town is.
The big man Germi arranged two hidden snipers on the highest roof of the manor every night as a supplementary security force for the night patrol. Unexpectedly, they played a big role tonight. The sniper who fired the shot was brought to Claude. He said that the three shadows waited for the patrol team to pass by before climbing over the wall.
Just then the clouds in the sky dispersed, and under the moonlight he could clearly see the three black figures climbing over the wall, so he fired a warning shot. Then the clouds blocked the moonlight again, and he didn't know whether the three dark figures escaped or sneaked into the manor. But it is certain that the shot he fired should have hit one of the black figures.
Later, a small pool of blood was indeed found beside the wall. Judging from the traces of the blood, the three black figures should have escaped over the wall again. However, Claude still personally led the team to search the entire manor, causing a restless night.
Early the next morning, General Xiazolac heard the news and ran over. Claude and him returned to the theater headquarters. After General Alges heard about the incident, he allocated 20,000 gold to General Xiazolac with a stroke of his pen. Kerang used the funds to set up the local garrison camp in Lanhu Town and asked him to rectify the public security problems in the entire Lanhu Town as soon as possible.
When Claude returned to the manor, he found that Mr. Veblen had also come running over, and he also sent three black krater hounds, so that he no longer had to worry about thieves entering the manor at night.