Finally, there was Claude's post-war summary speech on this war. He said a lot. The Thunder Legion had never suffered such heavy casualties since its establishment, and almost half of its troops were lost in battle. However, they were able to withstand the Hicks' counterattack and win the final victory. They were already qualified to grow into a strong legion. Such battle losses would become the glorious history of the legion and the honorary inheritance of the iron-blooded military spirit.
Claude talked about the difference between grenades in offense and defense, and also talked about the bullet supply problem of new rifles. He only briefly mentioned the emergence of sniper rifles and landmines, but these two new weapons were not included in the discussion. It was truly proven in this war. The main reason is that the number is too small and the scope of use is not wide.
What Claude talked about the most was about the melee and the bloody battle, which he had personally experienced and witnessed. When he was so excited, he even yelled at General Bolognik for being a stingy man in front of everyone attending the meeting, making General Bolognik dumbfounded and unable to argue with Claude.
Because what Claude said was all true, General Bolognik understood Claude's sadness because of the heavy casualties suffered by his men, especially the feeling of regret after discovering that the heavy casualties could have been avoided.
Claude said that if the war zone could equip all junior officers of the two legions with a portable revolver before the war began, then the Thunder Legion could at least avoid thousands of casualties in the melee. The sacrifice of so many outstanding junior officers made Claude feel extremely heartbroken. If there were revolvers, many of them would not have to sacrifice.
But before the war, General Bolognik only offered five gold crowns for a revolver. Such a price could not even reach the cost price. He had to at least double it to ten gold crowns to be able to afford it, so the war zone So I canceled the order for the revolver.
Compared with the lives of the 20,000 to 30,000 wounded and disabled soldiers and the pensions paid in the war zone, is it so difficult to increase the expenditure of 50,000 gold crowns? This is why Claude slapped the table and yelled at General Bolognik for being stingy. , General Bolognik was truly speechless.
In fact, it was not that General Bolognik was stingy, but that he did not realize that the revolver could play an important role in close combat. He believed that with the new rifle, enemies could be eliminated from a long distance, so the short-range revolver would become a dispensable decoration. When military expenditures in the war zone were tight, and he did not realize the huge benefits that could be obtained by clearing out the Hicks Kingdom's inland colonies, he canceled the order for revolvers because one copper coin served as two envoys.
Claude then talked about the performance of the various units of the Thunder Legion. He agreed with General Beachlin that when replenishing the troops, a group of veterans should be recruited back to serve as the backbone of the grassroots and better help the new recruits grow up. On the battlefield, the presence of veterans will allow recruits to perform better, and they will learn more combat experience from veterans.
After Claude finished speaking, General Bolognik said a few more words, in other words, he asked the senior officers in the theater who participated in the meeting to do their part in the next few days, complete the tasks assigned to them by the theater, and then adjourn the meeting. . It's just that Claude and the others can't leave yet. Next is the decision-making meeting of the five giants in the war zone to discuss the follow-up matters of this colonial war.
Or to a certain extent, what this decision-making meeting really wants to discuss is whether the cooperative relationship between the war zone and the Nikancha people to jointly resist the Hicks should be maintained. At the beginning of the meeting, Claude, General Albert, and General Beachlin all said in unison that they could no longer cooperate.
General Beachlin complained that when resisting the attack of the Hicks, he put more energy into the Nikancha people than the Hicks people, and even had to beware of those Nikancha people causing trouble for him. trouble. Disobeying orders and violating military discipline are trivial matters that are not worth mentioning. The most important thing is that the Nikancha people have always been eyeing the troops equipped with new rifles in the war zone. This is the most intolerable thing for General Bichikerin.
General Albert has always been resentful of the Nikancha battalions garrisoned in important areas in the northern frontier mountains, especially their refusal to participate in the attack on the Hicks camp during the great melee. He also believed that cooperation with the Nikancha people would not be of any benefit to the war zone. Instead, it would drag down the war zone and even cause the troops in the war zone to suffer greater losses in the subsequent war, especially in the transportation of logistical supplies.
Claude was confused by the ignorance of the Nikancha people. He asked himself that he had always been kind to the Nikancha people, otherwise he would not have sent troops to help the Nikancha people clean up and occupy the entire Hicks Kingdom. The inland colonies were established, and 30% of the spoils were distributed to the Nikancha people who were watching the soy sauce. After the war, it was calculated that these 30% were gold and silver ore ingots worth more than 4 million gold crowns. General Skerry, who knew the news, was so angry that he cursed Claude as a prodigal.
However, the kindness of the war zone did not result in the wholehearted assistance of the Nikancha people during the war. At the beginning, one hundred thousand young and strong Nikancha troops were mobilized and handed over to the command of the war zone to cooperate with the war zone in clearing the country. The huge pressure brought by the large-scale attack by the Sri Lankan soldiers. Not to mention the escape and poor performance at the beginning of the war, finally a hero volunteered to die, which boosted morale. However, in the middle and later stages, he returned to his old ways and started to have troubles again.
Let’s not talk about such trivial matters as disobeying orders and taking decisions on one’s own initiative. Anyway, it is they themselves who suffer the consequences. The transportation of logistics materials is inexplicable. So much has been dropped for no reason that even under the cliff, you can just turn a blind eye and let it go. But the idea of the new rifles of the two regiments exceeded the scope of alliance and cooperation. These Nikanchas had crossed the line.
What made Claude the most angry was that he brought the Thunder Legion back to the northern mountains to rest. The Nikancha battalions stationed in key areas in the frontier mountains dared to force him to hand over the captured iron pumpkins and throwers produced by the Kingdom of Hicks. give them. After Claude rejected their request three times and five times, these Nikancha people gave up the frontier mountainous areas and left without saying goodbye, thinking that this would force Claude to submit. I really don't know where they got this confidence.
Claude was really angered by these ignorant Nikancha people, and directly ordered the Thunder Legion to occupy the entire northern mountainous area. No matter whether it was the front or the rear, no more Nikancha people were allowed in. Since you gave up on your own, don't say that we took it without telling you. Claude's order was very clear. From the day those Nikancha people quietly evacuated, the entire northern coastal mountainous area became part of the war zone.
General Buechlin believed that it would be easier for the Nikanchas to become enemies in the theater than allies in the theater. To become an enemy, you only need a local garrison regiment to keep an eye on these Nikancha people. To become an ally, you need to consider sending several regiments to protect these Nikancha people every time you deploy a defensive operation plan. Otherwise, once they collapse on the battlefield, it will affect the defensive operations of the entire front.
General Albert hated these Nikancha people who disobeyed orders. He believed that if they were allies in the territorial war zone, the Nikancha people must learn to obey orders. They don't need to be brave in battle, but they must at least become qualified cannon fodder. If you can't even serve as a qualified cannon fodder, then the war zone doesn't need such allies.
Claude's meaning is very simple. Regardless of whether the war zone continues to cooperate with the Nikancha people or turns against the Nikancha people and becomes enemies. Anyway, the northern coastal mountainous area occupied by the Thunder Legion cannot be handed over to the Nikancha people. The territory that has become a war zone is no longer the territory of the Nikancha country.
General Bolonik smiled bitterly. He believed that even if he wanted to fall out with the Nikancha people, he should at least wait until the colonial war was over. How could he end the cooperative relationship with his allies only an hour and a half into the war? It would take at least half a year for the Hicks to launch another attack. He planned to wait for Colonel Bockal to return from Rodex Bay Colony before sending him as a special envoy to the Nikancha country to see what was going on. Put this issue aside for now.
Among the five giants in the war zone, General Skree is the most conflicted. He agrees with the views of the three Claudes, but is reluctant to give up his alliance with the Nikancha people. After all, it is not easy to catch someone who is taken advantage of in a war zone. In the six months before the war started, one-third of the military supplies produced in the war zone were sold to the Nikancha country at a high price. The previously captured junk weapons from the Hicks Kingdom were packaged and sold to them at twice the price. The theater profited from these Nikancha people alone was nearly two million gold crowns.
Such Nikancha people should be enshrined in Kaizi's major customer war zone, especially Claude, a prodigal son. When he sent troops to help them clean up the inland colonies of the Kingdom of Hicks, he also gave them to these Nikancha people. Thirty percent of the loot. At the beginning, General Bolonik and General Skri didn't care much. They thought that the so-called trophies were nothing more than mining tools, and it didn't matter if they were all given to the Nikancha people.
Who would have thought that within two years those Hicks mining bases would accumulate gold and silver ore ingots worth 1,700 gold crowns. After learning this news, General Bolognik and General Skerry finally understood the financial resources of the Hicks Kingdom. That's where it came from. Why did it have the confidence to form ten standing legions to continue this colonial war after three disastrous defeats
But then they began to stomp their feet with regret, just because Claude promised to divide the Nikancha people into 30% of the spoils. Fortunately, General Skri bullied the Nikancha people who did not understand mathematics and ordered that the gold and silver ore ingots worth 17 million gold crowns be divided into two piles, one pile worth 13 million gold crowns, and one pile worth 13 million gold crowns. Four million gold crowns. Then he pointed to the gold and silver ore ingots worth four million gold crowns and said to the Nikancha people, this is 30% of your income.
The Nikancha people calculated that 30% of the 13 million gold crowns was 3.9 million gold crowns. In this way, the war zone also gave an extra gold and silver ore ingot worth 100,000 gold crowns, so they happily took away the gold and silver ore ingots. Gold and silver ore ingots worth four million gold crowns. He also believed that General Skerry was very loyal and would not care about the small interest.
Therefore, General Skerry has no objection to falling out with the Nikancha people, but the prerequisite is that the war zone must first obtain the four million worth of gold and silver ore ingots from the Nikancha people. During this time, General Skerry was actively organizing officials from the Theater Logistics Department to sell various living supplies to the Nikancha people. Half of the orders he placed for the production workshops in the various territories were for the Nikancha people.
This issue was finally shelved by General Bolognik, who decided to see if the Nikancha people had any explanation after the welcoming night. The next decision was to take over the defense, which was quickly decided. The war zone would dispatch six local garrison regiments from each directly-administered territory to the northern coastal mountainous area and the eastern mountainous area to take over the forward mountainous area and three defense lines.
With the local garrison formed by these six veterans to take over the defense, the troops deployed by the Thunder Legion and the Rock Legion in the forward mountainous areas can be withdrawn for rest and replenishment. At least it gives the war zone more peace of mind than those Nikancha battalions stationed there. When the Thunder Legion and the Rock Legion go again in half a year, these six local garrison regiments will also assist the two legions in resisting the Hicks. attack.
The third topic was revolvers. General Bolognik accepted Claude's criticism humbly and decided to equip all grassroots officers in the theater with a revolver. The price was the cost price of ten golds that Claude said A crown, with thirty rounds of ammunition. However, Claude thought for a while and still refused to let Blackstone Gun Manufacturing Workshop take the order.
Claude explained that the Blackstone Gun Manufacturing Workshop was working hard to produce new rifles, and they really had no energy and no way to distract themselves from building another revolver production line. What Claude meant was to simply re-establish a military industry to produce grenades and revolvers specifically for war zones. It just so happened that the production and development of grenades also needed to be rectified this time. Claude decided to separate Mr. Veblen's iron ore workshop that produced grenades and build a revolver production line. Of course, everyone is welcome to invest in this military industry.
Nothing keeps people closer than a community of interests, and Claude's advice really pleased everyone. So the four generals present each paid 10,000 gold crowns, each occupying 10% of the military industry to be established. Because Claude was the inventor of grenades and revolvers, he also paid 10,000 gold crowns and took 30% of the shares. The remaining 30% is going to be given to Mr. Wieberhorn, who is in charge of production management, and 10%. Of course, he will also have to pay. For the 10%, he needs to pay 100,000 gold crowns.
Another 20% of the shares are reserved for future use and can be rewarded to those who invent new weapons. General Bolognik was very worried that the new military industry to be established lacked sufficient start-up funds, so he gave Claude an interest-free loan guarantee of 500,000 gold crowns from the Overseas Minsheng Bank in the name of the war zone. At the same time, when the agreement was signed, the order quantity of revolvers had increased to 20,000, and the price had unknowingly become eighteen gold crowns.
After everything was settled, everyone continued the meeting to discuss. The current topic was to discuss Colonel Boker's proposal on whether to send a batch of grain to Rodex Bay Colony for sale in the name of smuggling. The price of food there has increased tenfold. Selling a batch of food can bring huge profits to the war zone, which is even more profitable than robbery.
Generals Albert Lund and Beach Green firmly opposed it, believing it to be an act of aiding the enemy. At the same time, they also believed that by selling food to the enemy for profit, if the Hicks recovered their strength and completed their rest, they would probably launch a surprise attack while the war zone was unprepared. At that time, the war zone would probably have shot themselves in the face. Feet, it’s too late to regret.
General Skerry thinks it should be sold, but the war zone won't provide much food, so smuggling in small quantities should be fine. He believes that selling food will not only bring profits to the war zone, but also allow the agents of the Buffalo Trading Company to gain the trust of the Hicks people and better collect intelligence.
General Bolognik was in a dilemma and felt that everyone was right. Finally, he asked Claude whether he should sell grain to Rodex Bay Colony.
Claude thought for a while and said that Colonel Fodeles from the Intelligence Department mentioned that Rodex Bay Colony is currently experiencing a food shortage. The Hicks people have gone to the colonies of various countries in the Western Continent to urgently purchase food. It will take time to buy and ship it back. It is estimated that they will not have food shipped back until a month later. And during this month, whether it was the residents of Rodex Bay City or the standing army of the Kingdom of Hicks, they could only rely on ale and sea fish and seafood to fill their stomachs and survive this month.
Since those Hicks people will not starve to death within this month, then we will sell them a month’s worth of food. Counting those Hicks people plus the residents of Rodkes Bay City, there are a total of 100,000 people. Three kilograms of grain per person per day is equivalent to 300,000 kilograms, and the maximum is 10 million kilograms of grain in a month. I don’t believe that the Hicks people can recover with these ten million kilograms of grain. Can they save half of it just by saving more? , how could they have the courage to attack us when they were half-fed
So the matter was decided, allowing the Bison Trading Company to sell 10 million kilograms of grain to Rodex Bay Colony in the name of smuggling. General Skerry was very happy. At ten times the price, the war zone could get a profit of 40,000 gold crowns. This 40,000 gold crowns seemed very inconspicuous, but it was not without small benefits to the war zone. It was a pity that it could be sold at a high price. Just this once
Next, the five generals discussed and decided on some matters regarding pension amounts and disability allowances, and then encountered the awkward problem of how to solve the promotion of the soldiers who had made meritorious service in this war. In the past, after the war, the list of officers and soldiers who had made military exploits and needed to be promoted was usually reported to the Kingdom's Army Ministry for approval. After verification, the Kingdom's Army Ministry issued a list of officers and soldiers approved for promotion.
Rewards are not a difficulty. The theater has financial independence and can directly distribute the reward amount. At the same time, the funds obtained by the troops after selling the trophies will also be distributed to the troops themselves. After winning the previous three colonial wars, the Ministry of War of the Kingdom would also allocate a sum of money as a bonus when they were promoted to the list. Therefore, many veterans looked forward to fighting when they had no money. If they won, they would naturally have money.
It's just that the overseas territorial war zone and the kingdom's mainland are now cut off from sea transportation. It's not clear to what extent the civil war in the kingdom is going, and it's not clear who of the two princes will have the last laugh. Under such circumstances, it is naturally impossible to submit the promotion list to the Kingdom's Army Ministry. So what should the soldiers who have made military exploits this time do? Can they be promoted
For Claude and the five generals, it doesn't matter whether they are promoted or not, but for the lower-level officers of the legion, promotion is related to their future. If only rewards were given without promotions, it would probably dampen the morale of the troops, but if the theater decided to promote them, it would be a bit overstepping their authority. General Bolognik, General Skerry, and General Beachlin were all hesitant at this time.
In the end, it was Claude who made the decision. Promotions, from non-commissioned officer to lieutenant colonel, were based on merit and rewards. If a colonel has meritorious service in battle, remember it first. After all, promotion from a colonel to a general in the war zone cannot be decided and requires the approval of the Kingdom's Ministry of War and the King. The rest will all be handled according to the normal promotion procedures. At the worst, you can just go through the reporting procedures after contacting the Kingdom.
During the war, the priority was to win the war, and everything else was ignored for the time being. The remaining four generals thought about it again and again, and finally agreed to deal with it as Claude said.