Claude strode into the frontline headquarters, took off his military hat, and at the same time handed the riding crop in his hand to his adjutant, Lieutenant Colonel Anders. While taking off his cloak, he asked the approaching General Albert: " Have there been any movements among the three standing legions of the Hicks in Rodex Bay Colony in the past half month?"
Something happened at the Blackstone Gun Manufacturing Workshop some time ago, and Claude needed to make the final decision. In addition, the grenade developed by his sister Anna and Mrs. Sonia has made great progress, and Claude has to rush over to fill in the gaps. Therefore, Claude left the frontline headquarters and stayed in the gun manufacturing workshop for nearly half a month. Just came back today.
General Albert was on duty at the frontline headquarters during this period to respond to emergencies. He shook his head: "There is no big move. It is still the same as before. Most of the officers and soldiers of the three standing regiments of the Hicks are conducting daily actual combat drills and pre-war training in Rodex Bay Colony. At the same time, they Troops were also sent to set up a very crude defense and warning front on the mountainous border in the north and east, and a regiment of troops were assigned to guard each.
In addition, the Falcon message sent by the spies said that their ale business was very good and very popular with these Hicks veterans. Half of the second batch of 50,000 barrels of ale shipped over has been drunk. In the name of the Buffalo Trading Company, they will provide these Hicks with 100,000 barrels of ale in the next six months, and they will still be packed in 100-jin barrels. The amount was more than 40,000 gold crowns. Our war zone can earn an additional 10,000 gold crowns from the Hicks just from this ale business. "
Ale is a low-alcohol wine, somewhat similar to the beer in Claude's previous life. In a tavern in a war zone, a cup of ale costs about five pfennigs, weighing about a pound. A small barrel of ale weighs fifty kilograms, and a large barrel of ale weighs a hundred kilograms. The market price of a large barrel of ale is five riyals, which is half a silver thaler.
However, the price of the ale sold by the Buffalo Trading Company to the Hicks is double the market price. A large barrel sells for two silver thalers, which is twenty riaso. Plus shipping and other factors, the order of 100,000 large barrels can be sold in the war zone. Among them, the profits were divided into 10,000 gold crowns. No wonder General Albert was stunned by the generosity and wealth of the Hicks...
As long as the raw materials are available, an ale brewing workshop with more than 100 people can produce 20,000 to 30,000 kilograms of ale a day. With a few more brewing workshops for 100,000 barrels of ale, the order can be completed within three months. The two direct territories of Cromwell and Beringana have become two major grain-producing provinces under the jurisdiction of the war zone. In the past two years, thanks to the hard work of the two million royal immigrants who reclaimed wasteland, they have successively achieved bumper harvests. The amount of food harvested is worrying.
Unexpectedly, the Hicks' ale order found a new outlet for the excess food in the direct territory. The three standing legions that came first alone could consume so much ale. It is conceivable that the subsequent seven After the standing army comes, the order for this ale will continue to increase. If you sell grain to the enemy, no one in the war zone will agree, but if you sell ale to the enemy at a high price, no one has any scruples. It just feels a little strange to make money from enemies like this.
Claude couldn't help but laugh. It was really ridiculous to earn a little money from the enemy before the battle started. After receiving the stack of Falcon messages handed over by General Albert, Claude looked at them carefully. The first thing was the intelligence sent by the spies from Rodex Bay Colony. In fact, what they registered was the daily life of the three standing legions of the Hicks. Indeed, as General Albert said, the enemy behaved quite well. , nothing unusual happened.
Then came the report sent back by General Bichklin, who was responsible for surveying the terrain in the eastern and northern mountainous areas of the Nikancha country and supervising the implementation of the decision by the Nikancha settlement to strengthen the walls and clear the country. He said in the Harrier message that the survey of the eastern mountainous area has been completed and a defensive front is currently being constructed. And a main field division of the Rock Army he brought was also performing the task of training the Nikancha people's armed forces and supervising the construction of defensive positions by the young and strong Nikancha people.
Then there was a Falcon message jointly sent by Colonel Belklin and Colonel Murray. Each of them led two regiments of the Thunder Legion. With the guidance and logistical supply support of the Nikancha people, they were on their way. It swept across the inland colonies of the Hicks Kingdom with the force of the autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves. The progress is going smoothly, the casualties are extremely light, and the seizures are very generous. It's just that the inland colony of the Hicks Kingdom is a bit too big, and most of it is in mountainous areas. They have only captured half of its territory now, and it will probably take another two months to complete the mission and return... .
Finally, there was the routine briefing from General Bolonik and General Skerry. General Bolonik mainly asked Claude whether a reserve army should be formed in the war zone to prevent the frontline battle with the Hicks from causing too many casualties. The occurrence of the defeat... It seems that the Hicks people still put a lot of pressure on General Bolognik. After all, this time there are ten standing legions with more than 600,000 troops.
The Falcon message sent by General Skerry was to inform about the preparation status of various logistical armaments and the ongoing arms transactions with the Nikancha people. This time the Nikancha people were hemorrhaging a lot of money and spent a lot of money. They almost packed up all the muskets and artillery captured in the war zone warehouse from the previous three colonial wars and the Hicks Kingdom. Then he made a request, hoping that the war zone could sell Obas type III standard matchlock guns to them.
Currently, the Thunder Legion and the Rock Legion, as well as the eighteen local garrison regiments composed of late-stage veterans of the two legions, are equipped with the Obash Type III standard matchlock gun. If Claude had not directed the invention of the new Sonia Type 591 rifle, then the Obash Type 3 standard matchlock gun could be regarded as one of the most advanced matchlock guns in the Faslan world, and it would still be ranked at the top. , at least the top three.
The biggest feature of the Obash Type III standard matchlock gun is that its precise aiming range can reach about one hundred meters, and this is mainly due to the special customization and processing method of its barrel material. After the projectile is fired from the barrel, it can maintain a stable trajectory within a straight line distance of 100 meters, which provides the most powerful guarantee for accurate aiming and shooting within a distance of 100 meters.
No matter how many countries in Farea continent imitate the Obash Type III standard matchlock guns, their precise aiming and shooting range is only within 70 or 80 meters. For example, the matchlock gun equipped by the standing army of the Kingdom of Hicks can be accurately aimed and fired at a distance of seventy meters. This means that there is a difference of thirty meters between the two. When the soldiers of the Kingdom of Hicks can carry out precise aiming and shooting at the troops in the directly-administered war zone, they need to endure the precise aiming and shooting of nearly thirty meters by the Overas king. distance to launch a counterattack against the enemy...
Before this colonial war broke out, the Kingdom of Overas did not pay much attention to the armament status of the local defense forces in the seven overseas territories. Because the Obash type 1 and type 2 standard matchlock guns equipped by the local garrison are enough to suppress the riots of the Nikancha people and collect taxes from the Nikancha settlements. Until the Rangers came to the mainland of Nubisia in response to the Hicks Kingdom's invasion of the overseas territories.
The Ranger Regiment has a full strength of 32,000 men, all equipped with Obash type III standard matchlock guns, and there are also 3,000 spare muskets. Later, the Ranger Division was expanded into a legion, and two overseas field legions were reorganized as junior troops. The kingdom shipped another 100,000 Obash Type III matchlock guns. In order to make up for the loss and damage of muskets on the battlefield, a musket repair workshop and ammunition production workshop were built in the territorial war zone.
After the victory of the Second Colonial War, Marshal Michelchi was ordered to return to the kingdom. In order to appease him, and also to express support for the strategic concept proposed by Marshal Michelchi to deal with this colonial war. The Kingdom once again transported 100,000 Obash III standard matchlock guns to form five reinforced second-line divisions and strengthen the combat power of the local defense forces in the directly-administered territories.
The Third Colonial War, under the leadership of Claude, annihilated the three main legions of the Kingdom of Hicks. However, this war was relatively fierce and cruel, with nearly 20,000 casualties and thousands of damaged muskets. However, General Alges later led the Guards Division to compete for credit. Although an assassination occurred, the Colonial County of Port Vibato was occupied by General Bolognik and became the eighth overseas territory in the war zone.
When the completed Guards Division returned to the Kingdom, they left their spare muskets, ammunition and other military supplies in the war zone, and boarded the ship with rich trophies and local specialties from overseas territories. General Skerry organized manpower statistics and found that the directly-administered territorial theater currently has a total of about 240,000 Obash type III matchlock guns. This is due to the fact that when the Ranger Legion returned to the Kingdom, Marshal Michelci ordered to leave all weapons and equipment behind and get on board empty-handed, so the directly-administered war zone was able to have one more legion of weapons and equipment...
The Thunder Legion and Rock Legion have 130,000 troops, plus 18 local garrison regiments, for a total of 220,000 troops. Therefore, the theater logistics department still has about 20,000 spare Obash type III matchlock guns in reserve. Of course, less than half of them are second-hand muskets that have been repaired by gun repair workshops. It was these second-hand muskets that General Skri wanted to sell to the Nikancha people.
Without Claude's new Sonia 591 rifle, War Zone would never have thought of this Obas III standard matchlock gun. But now that there are new rifles for comparison, General Bolognik and General Skerry no longer look down on this very backward and primitive matchlock gun. General Skerry wanted to sell the Obas III standard matchlock gun at a high price to subsidize the high cost of equipping the troops in the theater with new rifles.
Each of the captured Hicks Kingdom muskets was sold in the war zone for five gold crowns. The standard light field artillery produced by the Hicks Kingdom was sold to the Nikancha country at a high price of one hundred and fifty gold crowns. Of course, The war zone also needs to provide instructors to teach the Nikanchas how to fire artillery. But now the Nikancha people are interested in the Obas III standard matchlock guns equipped by the troops in the theater, saying that General Claude agreed to sell them to them. General Skerry was ready to sell the repaired second-hand pistols to them, and quoted a sky-high price of twenty gold crowns for each.
Claude felt a little dizzy and had to slow down first. It's not that the war is coming, why are all the spies sent out busy doing business with the Hicks, and even General Skerry only cares about the Zanikancha people. Fortunately, there is now a firearms manufacturing workshop in the war zone, which can produce new rifles to replace the Obash Type III standard matchlock gun. Otherwise, after a big battle, there will be no spare muskets in the warehouse, and it will be over...
Therefore, Claude did not hesitate and directly wrote an approval letter and asked Adjutant Anders to send it to General Skerry using a hawk eagle. The only thing he emphasized was the price of twenty gold crowns a piece, and the Nikancha people were not allowed to bargain. A new rifle costs only ten gold crowns. One Obash III standard matchlock gun sold to the Nikancha people can be replaced by two new rifles. This is a good deal.
As for the other Falcon letter sent by General Bolognik to Claude, Claude curled his lips and prepared to ignore it. This letter stated that General Bolognik was preparing to order 10,000 revolvers from Claude in the name of the war zone, to issue them to all officers in the army, and to form several commandos equipped with revolvers to strengthen night raids. ability.
This is a good idea, and Claude also has such a plan, but the price offered by General Bolognik is a bit contemptuous. He is only willing to pay the price of a revolver in hardware crowns, and hopes that Claude can understand the financial constraints and financial constraints in the war zone. Difficulty... Claude said in his heart that I understand you, but who understands me? The thousand revolvers ordered in the last war zone cost twelve gold crowns each. I have given you a discount and only cost ten gold. Crown, I'll spare you thirty bullets.
Because the quantity is so small, there is no need to set up any production lines. Sister Anna and Mrs. Sonia stayed up for seven or eight days, directly created all the spare parts in the alchemy magic talisman array and assembled them to complete the order, earning two to three thousand gold crowns in hard work.
Now the war zone wants to order 10,000 revolvers, and they only pay the price of hardware crowns. Claude also needs to understand the financial constraints of the war zone. This is simply a joke. These fifty thousand gold crowns may not even be enough to assemble and produce a mechanized production line for revolvers. Not to mention anything else, the wealth squeezed out of the hands of the Nikancha people in the war zone this time was as high as gold and silver ore ingots worth more than two million gold crowns, and the Thunder Legion helped the Nikancha people capture the inland colonies of the Hicks Kingdom. The property seized is estimated to be in the millions of gold crowns...
Not to mention the cost of replacing all the troops in the theater with new rifles and training, it is more than enough to pay for the rewards and pensions after the war, and to recruit another 100,000 recruits to form two reserve corps. It can be said that when Belklin and Murield return with their seizures two months later, the war zone will be extremely rich...
The offer for a revolver was only five gold crowns, and Claude decided to ignore General Bolognik's falcon message as if he had not seen it. Besides, the Blackstone Gun Manufacturing Workshop has just reached full production capacity. This is what I went to deal with this time. All the energy is devoted to the production of new rifles. Where will the manpower come from to assemble a mechanized production of revolvers? The production line doesn’t even have time to train technical workers.
Besides, Claude defines a revolver as a self-defense weapon. Its biggest shortcoming is its short range and lack of lethality at long distances. With the new rifles, the revolver could play an extremely limited role on the battlefield.
Besides, if their sisters Anna and Mrs. Sonia have time, they are still busy developing ideas and concepts for several new weapons provided by Claude. If these are successfully developed, they will be much more powerful on the battlefield than revolvers. So there is no need to discuss the production of revolvers at this critical juncture. Claude has never been very fond of bargaining...
After reading these falcon messages, Claude said to General Albert: "It seems that our arrangements some time ago did not make the Hicks nervous. I don't know if they are absolutely confident or if they have a death order from above. No, They are allowed to act rashly. It seems that only in two or three months, when the next two standing legions are delivered, will the Hicks launch an attack on the Nikancha country... "
In fact, it is not that Claude has not thought of the three Hicks standing legions that have just arrived at Rodex Bay Colony, but the Thunder Legion has just replaced the veterans and brought the new recruits to complete this time with one against three and a weak one. Claude was unsure of Shengqiang's attack.
Therefore, he instructed newspapers directly under the war zone to vigorously declare the war zone's military assistance to the Nikancha country, including selling captured muskets and artillery produced by the Kingdom of Hicks to the Nikancha country, and sending instructors to guide the Nikancha armed forces. training and conducting operations, etc.
The only thing not mentioned is that the troops in the war zone have entered the northern and eastern mountainous areas of the Nikancha country. Instead, it is said that the war zone has deployed heavy troops on the border with the Nikancha country and is confident that it has the ability to defend the kingdom of the overseas territories. Immigrants continue to live a stable and happy life.
Claude believed that the spies of the Kingdom of Hicks would pass newspapers and news from the overseas territories to the commanders of the three standing legions. If anyone could not withstand the temptation, he wanted to take advantage of the untrained Nikancha armed forces. If he launches a raid on the Nikancha country, Claude can happily close his net and fish.
He even planned to surround the enemy for reinforcements and capture the three newly arrived Hicks standing legions in the mountainous area. At that time, I really wanted to see the expressions of the Hicks people. After the subsequent two legions arrived, they found themselves alone and could only build fortifications in the Rodex Bay Colony to defend themselves. This would make the Kingdom of Hicks a A big joke for all countries in Farea.
It is a pity that these three Hicks standing legions were not fooled, and did not even send a small team of scouts into the border mountains to conduct reconnaissance. The security arrangements at the military camp in Rodex Bay Colony were also loose on the outside and tight on the inside, leaving no opportunity to take advantage of it. This made Claude very disappointed...