Claude really has no other choice, spending money is like water. As a lieutenant general and honorary viscount of the kingdom, his annual salary, benefits, subsidies, etc. can add up to more than 300 to 400 gold crowns. All the generals in the war zone, even General Bolognik, have the rank of lieutenant general, but their income is only half of his. Because General Bolognik is not an honorary noble of the kingdom, he lacks a noble annuity income of two hundred gold crowns per year.
It's just that these salaries, annuities, welfare subsidies, etc. are all taken care of by Kaifni. As an active soldier, Claude enjoys free food, clothing, housing and transportation in the legion, and rarely has the opportunity to spend money. This is not to say that Claude has tracheitis or something, and his salary is given to his wife, but that his extra money is higher than his salary. For example, he led the Thunder Legion to victory in the Third Colonial War, and he only received the spoils after paying in cash. His share was nearly two thousand gold crowns, which was deposited into another national bank account and kept by Claude himself.
Don’t forget the private Hicks fee worth more than 350,000 gold crowns, as well as the profits from selling grenades to the Legion, as well as the proceeds from transferring the production license for grenades and revolvers, and finally Bockar received a dividend of more than 10,000 gold crowns from managing the Buffalo Trading Company Claude. To put it simply, Claude once had more than half a million gold crowns in liquid cash...
But Claude also spent money quickly. He helped his sister Anna buy a ranch and build it. He spent 10,000 to 20,000 yuan. This was only a small amount. The bulk was allocated 100,000 gold crowns to his sister Anna and Mrs. Sonia to improve the laboratory. Equipment and purchase of various test materials. If there hadn't been this huge sum of money for the two of them to waste in the laboratory, even if Claude had clear ideas and guidance, Mrs. Sonia would not have been able to create a new rifle so quickly in just two years. .
In addition, Claude adopted about 160 boy and girl orphans for the Field family, and set up a small elementary school and junior high school on the ranch, intending to train these orphans to become talents and become the family's help in the future. The amount of money spent in this area is not a small amount. It requires about 10,000 gold crowns a year. Food, clothing, housing and accommodation for the orphans are not a big expense. The bulk of it is hiring teachers with real talents to teach them, as well as the teaching equipment, etc...
The iron mining workshop jointly run by Claude and Mr. Veblen is divided into three parts. The first part is to mine iron ore and refine it into refined iron, or add other metals to forge it into alloy steel. There is not much profit in this part, so we can only maintain and continue to slowly expand the scale of the iron ore.
The second part was the production of grenades, from which Claude gained ten thousand gold crowns. But there is no war now, and grenades cannot be consumed in war zones. The purchased grenades will take a long time to be consumed by the soldiers for live-fire training. There is no need to expect large-scale purchases of grenades in the theater in a short period of time.
The third part is the power machinery workshop, which manufactures power machinery such as fire engines and steam engines. However, Claude has promised Mr. Veblen that all the proceeds from the power workshop in the past three years will be invested in expanding the workshop and improving the research of fire engines and steam engines. This is only the third year, so you have to wait another year to get dividends in this area.
The next step is to open this firearms manufacturing workshop, although Bokoal provided this complete set of Hicks Kingdom's firearms manufacturing machinery and equipment almost free of charge. But Claude asked Master Bird and his daughter to choose the location of the workshop, purchase the land and the mining rights of black flint, and recruit mechanical talents and wild rune mages from the direct territory. Transform hydraulic machinery into firepower and mechanical power, build workshop infrastructure, field accommodation and other buildings, hire workers for training, and transform the firearms manufacturing machinery and equipment for manufacturing matchlock guns into a mechanical production line for the production of new rifles, as well as supporting facilities Copper shell bullet mechanical equipment production line. Claude invested a total of 2.78 million gold crowns to own this firearms manufacturing workshop that produces new rifles.
Master Bird is the nominal director of the gun manufacturing workshop, but it is Lady Sonia who is actually responsible for the execution. After careful calculation, they told Claude that the firearms manufacturing workshop currently has more than a thousand workers and technical talents, with an annual output of only more than 3,000 new rifles, plus more than 4 million rounds of copper-cased rifle bullets. In terms of income, this production state will still produce a certain amount of losses, and at most it will be neither a loss nor a profit, because the annual maintenance expenses of the entire firearms manufacturing workshop, including production costs, require about 30,000 gold crowns.
The most ideal situation is to continue to hire workers for training, so that the number of skilled workers in the workshop will reach 2,000. In this way, the annual maintenance cost will increase to 50,000 gold crowns. But the annual output of new rifles can reach 10,000, and the annual output of copper-cased rifles can reach 10 million rounds. The maintenance funds already include the production costs of new rifles and copper-cased rifle bullets, so even if the new rifle is sold for eight gold crowns, each new rifle will still make two to three gold crowns.
But Claude now only has a reserve fund of about 100,000 gold crowns. He also needs to allocate test funds to his sister Anna and Mrs. Sonia. Next, he will conduct experiments on grenades and mortars, and he will also try It is indispensable to invest in converting the light infantry field artillery equipped by the troops to fire canister-type explosive shells instead of being used only to fire solid projectiles and canisters.
Master Bird's research direction has shifted from firearms to power machinery, and Claude also needs to provide him with part of the experimental funds. Calculating it this way, the wealth of more than 100,000 gold crowns around Claude seems to be a lot, but it is not very useful. To put it bluntly, he couldn't even come up with the funds to maintain this firearms manufacturing workshop for two years. Therefore, he hoped that the war zone could guarantee him a loan of one million gold crowns from the Overseas Minsheng Bank to meet his urgent needs.
As for General Bolognik's concern that the issuance of Overseas Minsheng Bank note vouchers would be boycotted by immigrants from various territorial kingdoms, Claude didn't take it to heart at all. First, the credibility of the war zone guarantees the banknote vouchers, which can be exchanged for real gold and silver. As long as you collect one silver thaler, you can go to Overseas Minsheng Bank to exchange for a large silver coin of one silver thaler.
Second, you can use banknote vouchers to pay taxes, which can ensure the paper value represented by banknotes and enable them to circulate in the market. At the same time, supervision of the market will be intensified. Any vendor who refuses to accept banknote vouchers will be fined and disqualified from trading.
Third, for all troops under the theater, whether they are two legions or local garrison soldiers, the payment of salary and welfare subsidies will be carried out in accordance with the principle of using banknotes and vouchers for all units below Yintaler. As time goes by, the residents of the kingdom under the direct jurisdiction will discover the benefits of paper money vouchers. At least they will not need to carry a bulging bag of copper coins when going out, thereby attracting the attention of others and thieves...
General Bolognik finally nodded: "If you insist on a loan, the war zone can guarantee you. But I hope you can think about it again, Claude, this is not a joke, if the paper money vouchers are boycotted and become waste paper If you take a loan of one million gold crowns and actually receive only half of the gold coins, then you will have lost half a million gold crowns first."
"Wait a minute," General Skerry said: "I don't understand, Claude, why you insist on a loan and a million. In fact, you can share the risk with others. If you are willing to take out a small part of this As for the shares of the firearms manufacturing workshop, I believe there will be many wealthy people in the direct jurisdiction who are willing to invest and purchase the shares. They will buy them at a premium, and you can easily obtain a large amount of wealth... "
Claude shook his head: "I loaned one million gold crowns to conduct more weapons tests and study the development and changes of weapons required for future wars. Just like throwing grenades, they were originally offensive weapons, but according to Judging from the throwers equipped on the Nasseri Kingdom smuggling ship, although it is very heavy and inconvenient to move, it can be placed on the defensive position. It can throw farther than the throwers equipped by our troops. If in the future Encountering such an enemy will pose a greater threat to our attacking soldiers.
So I need to experiment with making newer weapons and equipment to ensure that I leave the enemy behind in terms of weapons and equipment, such as converting light infantry field artillery into explosive shells. Obviously if I sell my shares in this firearms manufacturing workshop, these new shareholders, even if they have very small shares, can still object to the funds I invest in the experiment. I need to disclose all the ledgers. I am too lazy to argue with them. At the same time, the shareholders have a very negative impact on the confidentiality of new weapons. This is why I will not sell my shares. "
Claude knew very well that General Skerry's suggestion just now was also out of good intentions, but his explanation left the generals present speechless. Everyone's investment needs returns and benefits. But if Claude invests all his funds into the bottomless pit of testing new weapons, then it is obvious that no one is willing to take advantage of him by providing funds.
"Then let's use our war zone as a guarantee and let you borrow one million gold crowns from the Overseas Minsheng Bank." General Bolognik made the decision.
If paper money vouchers can be circulated in the war zones, then Claude's firearms manufacturing workshop can produce 10,000 new rifles and 10 million copper-cased rifle bullets every year, and it will only take five years to pay off the loan. . Of course, this loan is interest-free. The war zone only needs to allocate an annual military expenditure of 200,000 gold crowns to repay the loan. What Claude wants to ensure is that he can produce so many new rifles and bullets every year to provide equipment to the troops in the war zone. As for the remaining money, no one can control what new weapons he wants to test.
Since War Zone is willing to provide Claude with a loan guarantee, the matter is a done deal. Claude breathed a sigh of relief: "Go to my office. There is a promising business that I want to tell you about. Maybe you are willing to take a share in it."
The generals were all surprised. Claude was unwilling to sell his shares in the gun manufacturing workshop, but he said that there was a promising business. Is this business better than the gun manufacturing workshop? You know that the gun manufacturing workshop has already produced A new rifle that surpasses all matchlock guns, the only regret is that the equipment cost is too expensive. It was so expensive that the war zone did not dare to completely re-equip the two legions. They could only use Claude's suggestion to pay back the loan every year to obtain new rifles and copper-cased rifle bullets produced by the gun manufacturing workshop. It’s like updating equipment...
Entering the office, Claude took out a roll of drawings and spread them out on the table for everyone to see. The drawing depicts a dark iron guy with a horizontal cylinder on top. There is a protruding chimney on the top of the cylinder. The bottom is a cuboid. On both sides of the cuboid are a row of steel wheels. The wheels are connected to long of iron shaft. Behind the cylinder, there is a small room that looks like a carriage carriage on top of the cuboid.
There is a rendering depicting this black iron guy blowing out white smoke, with a dozen long carriages with steel wheels on both sides hanging behind him, driving on the plains. It is worth noting that the ground is not a flat road or a road paved with gravel and then flattened, but there are two parallel rails, and under the rails are sections of thick sleepers.
"What is this? Is it a car?" General Beachlin asked curiously.
Claude nodded: "Yes, this is a train, and the road below is a railway. The most important thing about this train is the locomotive at the front. It uses a steam engine to drive the steel wheels below to rotate forward, and finally pulls the ten trains behind it. Several carriages are speeding on the railway. Master Bird has confirmed that this locomotive can be manufactured, and has now begun experiments and achieved initial success.
The locomotive he built drove ten trucks filled with black flint to go around the temporarily paved railway track for nearly 1,500 meters three times. In the end, the locomotive leaked due to poor casting materials. However, he promised to solve the casting problem within three months and improve and streamline the internal structure of the entire locomotive.
The area of the war zone of our overseas territories is too large. From the territory directly under the jurisdiction of Vibato Port in the north to the territory directly under the southernmost territory of Arturas, it would take a month to travel on horseback. If you take a boat, it will take about 20 days, but the risk at sea is very high. Although it is an offshore transportation, no one can guarantee that you will not encounter shipwrecks and pirate attacks.
And if you take the train, at a speed of thirty kilometers an hour, it only takes seven days and seven nights, or no more than ten days at most, from the Vibato Port Direct Territory to the Arturas Direct Territory. The reason is simple. When riding a horse, you need to ensure the rest and physical strength of your mount. The ship needs to be anchored in a safe place at night. The train can travel day and night. Passengers only need to sit in the carriage and rest, or they can lie down and sleep. When they wake up, their destination will be right in front of them.
From a military point of view, trains and railways can ensure that our troops do not need to march long distances. They only need to sit in carriages to send our soldiers to the front line, which is conducive to us mobilizing troops for support. For civilian use, trains can transport large amounts of goods and allow people to travel easily. And its consumption only requires the burning of black flint and the steam of water..."
In fact, Claude only needed to introduce the function of the train without describing its effects. The generals present could naturally judge the changes that the train had brought to the war zone. They all believed in what Claude said. This was indeed a good business. As long as they could hold a small share in it, they could bring a huge amount of wealth that could be passed down to their family.
"How do you want us to participate?" General Bolonik asked.
"Each of you pay 10,000 gold crowns, and I will give each of you 2% of the shares. The four of you together will account for 8%. I will account for 12% myself, and with your money, I will make up 10%." Ten thousand gold crowns. Master Bird and his daughter and their technical team for manufacturing locomotives occupy 10% of the technical shares. I will use the remaining 70% of the shares to raise funds, twenty thousand gold crowns per share, This fund of 1.5 million gold crowns will be used to build railways and operate railway companies." Claude had already planned to give a clear answer to the four generals in front of him.
"But there is a Dolinibara River between the Beringana Territory and the Robistore Territory..." General Albert said.
"Two options," Claude raised two fingers: "One is to build the railway to the banks of the Dolinibara River, with trains on both sides, and passengers can get off the train and cross the river before boarding. The second option is Build a railway bridge over the Dolinibara River to completely connect the direct jurisdictions on both sides. However, this method is relatively expensive and technically difficult. I don’t know if it is feasible. Maybe we will need to dilute everyone’s share capital and proceed again. Private equity raising to raise funds to build this railway bridge..."