The train stopped at Harold Castle station for a day and night, and started on the road again at nine o'clock the next morning to continue its journey.
Claude started to have a headache. Where should he place Sheila? This was a big problem. It is impossible to take it home. You can imagine that there will be an uproar at home. Even if he was going to the Blackstone Gun Manufacturing Workshop now, he couldn't take Sheila there. Let’s not talk about the issue of confidentiality or not, but if Sheila discovers the relationship between herself and Mrs. Sonia, who knows what kind of trouble will happen...
"My dear, when we get to Wickham Castle, let's get off the car. I have a farm nearby. You can recuperate there first. After I finish my official duties, I will go over and accompany you." After thinking about it, Claude felt It would be better to stay at Wickham Castle for a few days and place Sheila there.
"But I don't want to be separated from you, Claude." Sheila looked at Claude pitifully: "Can't I accompany you to perform your official duties?"
Claude shook his head: "Sheila, I am in a high position now, and there are things I cannot help but do, and I must consider the impact. I don't want to be separated from you, but you are injured now, and it is not convenient to take you with you. Another thing is that the place where I am going to perform official duties needs to be kept secret. It is an important base for weapons production in the Dominion. I cannot bring anyone in casually... "
After much talk, Sheila finally agreed to go to the farm owned by Claude at Wickham Castle to recuperate, and Claude also agreed to go over and accompany her after finishing his official duties. After the train arrived at Wickham Castle, Claude took Sheila to the farm, which was a field allocated to him personally, fifteen hundred acres. Among the numerous large and small private farms in Cromwell State, it is one of the largest.
The manor of the farm was a veteran named Piano Zlishenko who had retired due to disability. He served as a guard beside Claude and performed well before being transferred to the army to become a squadron leader. This was originally a path to promotion, but he was unlucky and broke a leg on the battlefield, blown away by an iron pumpkin thrown by the Hicks. After being rescued, his left calf was amputated and was now replaced with a piece of wood. He was walking with a limp on crutches, but his voice was still as loud as usual.
"General, why are you here?" Piano was very happy. The construction of Claude's farm has only been completed in the past two years, and it was basically entrusted to him. Only during the Chinese New Year did he go to the Field Manor in Lanhu City to ask Claude Only after De reports the income and progress can he meet Claude.
"Stop by to have a look, and arrange for someone to recuperate here. She is a lady." Claude said lightly: "Piano, you have done a good job here, it seems to be in good order."
Piano smiled broadly: "Thank you, General, for the compliment. By the way, General, I was about to write to you to report something. Now there are business houses that are working together to unite those small private farms to unify them." Planting, breeding and processing, the participating household heads will pay dividends at the end of the year. They also sent people to ask our farm if we want to join... "
"It's not necessary." Claude waved his hand: "Our farm doesn't need to be added, so as not to let them use our farm name to attract more people to join. That way, if something happens at the end of the year, we will He will also be implicated."
In fact, the fields in Cromwell are more suitable for large-scale production, such as large joint-stock farms. It was originally decided to distribute the land in Cromwell and Beringana to each household, divide it into small pieces, and distribute them to the soldiers of the two legions in the war zone, allowing them to own personal properties and speeding up the absorption of immigrants from the soldiers' relatives. The policy has been opposed by many people.
Many large commercial banks hope to lease land in these two states or purchase large amounts of land to start large farms and ranches, which can more effectively improve production efficiency. However, it was rejected by the war zone. At that time, the war zone needed a large number of immigrants to enhance its war potential and increase the source of troops. Therefore, the relatives of these legionnaires became the targets of the war zone. The personal industries allocated to the soldiers could attract them. His relatives settled here and joined the legion...
From a practical point of view, dividing the land in these two states into small pieces can indeed support the soldiers and their relatives, but it is difficult for small farms to have enough food and drink to become rich. Therefore, some commercial banks are trying to unite a large number of small farms and ranches, let them use their fields as shares, implement unified planting, breeding and other agricultural production, and then pay dividends at the end of the year.
The Dominion Military Region has long been aware of this situation, but is unable to stop it or has no way to stop it. It can only strengthen the approval and supervision of these trading companies and farm owners when they sign equity agreements to ensure that economic disputes arising from loopholes in the agreement will not cause the farm owners to lose their money. own fields.
After all, those businesses that cultivate cash crops do not necessarily mean they will make a fortune. Sometimes the market is saturated with supply, causing prices to drop, making a year's hard work of the farm owner all in vain. In the past, many small farms were implicated by the trading firms that connected them and were forced to sell their land to pay off debts. This caused great civil unrest.
Piano nodded: "Okay, General, I'm thinking of planting blueberries this year, so that I can produce blueberry fruit wine in my own farm. By the way, General, who did you just say will take care of the injury?"
"A madam..." Claude bared his teeth. Are you listening to me? "Let her live in the main house. All the hospitality will be the same as mine. She wants to Give her whatever you want. If you can't do it, send someone to inform me. I will leave a small team of guards here to protect her. In addition, you can hire two maids who know how to serve and stay with her. Take care of her by your side, do you understand?"
Now, no matter how stupid Piano is, he understands that the relationship between the lady who is staying here to recuperate and her general is not simple. He immediately nodded: "Yes, General, I will treat her as if she were the general's wife, and I will ensure that she is satisfied..."
After saying goodbye to Sheila, Claude rushed to the Blackstone Gun Manufacturing Workshop without stopping. He was greeted by Mrs. Sonia's eyes: "You should have come three days ago, why did you only arrive today? So I had to postpone it." The trip to my father's place is waiting for you here..."
There is nothing to say, nothing more than dedication and dedication. So at noon the next day, Claude rubbed his sore waist and walked tiredly. Under the guidance of the radiant Lady Sonia, he went to visit the so-called special rifle that could shoot thirty-eight bullets in a volley.
"...This rifle was not developed by me, but the research result of Master Barclayd Sherifed." Mrs. Sonia introduced.
"Master Barclayd Sherifed?" Claude asked doubtfully.
"He is one of the four wild rune mages hired by our workshop with a high salary. He is very proficient in the research of mechanical structures and metal materials. Didn't your military region place another order for a thousand sniper rifles this time? Because I am busy In order to study the heavy artillery on the ship that his father wanted, he had to leave the task of equipping the sniper rifle and customizing spare parts to him.
As a result, not only did he successfully complete the task of customizing a thousand sniper rifles, he was also fascinated by the mechanical structure and movement process of the rifle. It took him three months to create such a special rifle with a weird shape. It can fire thirty-eight bullets within ten seconds, so I wrote to you to come and take a look..."
Claude was brought to a very weird machine by Mrs. Sonia. The reason why it was weird was that the thing in front of him was square. If it hadn't been for a trigger and a gun stock, maybe Claude would have thought what the thing in front of him was. A machine, not a gun.
Then he met Master Barclair Sherified. He was about fifty years old. He fit the image of the strange doctor in the science fiction movies of his previous life. He was bald, wore thick eyes, and was so thin that he only wore a white coat.
"Hello, doctor, no, Master Barclay." Claude shook hands with him: "Can you shoot it on the spot? I want to see if it has any combat effect."
Too heavy and unqualified. It took four strong soldiers to transfer it to the iron cart with difficulty. This alone could give Claude a cross.
"Why is there such a thick iron plate underneath?" Claude asked.
"Ah, this is because to prevent the vibration of the barrel from affecting the accuracy of shooting when firing, it is necessary to add a counterweight to stabilize it..." Master Barclay's answer made sense.
Next came the shooting show, but what surprised Claude was that during the process of pulling the trigger, a crankshaft connected to the outside needed to be continuously rotated, but the firing of bullets was indeed continuous, in just half a short period of time. Thirty-eight bullets were fired within minutes.
"Is it over?" Claude asked.
"Yes, General, the shooting is over."
"Then how to load it?"
"Oh, it's like this. You see, after firing, we need to open the back cover, take out the bullet tray inside, stuff the bullets into the bullet tray, and then load bullets on the four barrels inside. Press the bullet plate up, close the back cover, and you can start shooting again." Master Barclay personally stepped forward and gave a detailed demonstration of the operation.
And Claude finally saw the internal structure of this weird-looking gun clearly, and finally understood the function of the crankshaft inserted outside. The function of this crankshaft is to rotate the bullet disc so that the bullet inserted in the disc can be connected to the already fired gun. After firing the bullet, shoot again. Just to perfectly connect the bullet with the gun barrel, the soldier who needs to turn the crankshaft needs to train at a constant speed for a certain period of time.
Claude shook his head, feeling a little disappointed. Because the machine gun in front of me was not the machine gun I imagined, it was just a mechanical device that fired bullets at once. He calculated the time just now and found that it would take at least five minutes to remove the bullet tray and reload it. And these five minutes are enough for a veteran to fire ten new rifle magazines.
Thirty-eight bullets, compared to the fifty bullets in ten magazines, it is obvious that this special rifle that can fire continuously has no actual combat value at all.
Claude smiled and asked: "Mage Barclaid, I heard that you are very knowledgeable about mechanical structures and metal materials. What kind of magic research did you do before?"
"Oh, I used to help the nobles design and build their family's treasure troves and gates, which all needed to be guarded. Later I made small magic crossbows for sale, as well as some mechanical magic items..." Buck Mage Ryder replied.
So that's it. Claude suddenly solved his doubts. No wonder he felt that this special rifle was too weird. I dare say that when Master Barclay made it, he still followed the previous ideas and used a hidden mechanical mechanism. developed. If this thing is installed in the corner of the wall of a dark secret room, it will be very powerful indeed. No one can avoid the thirty-eight bullets sprayed out in the small room.
"Sonia, prepare a separate laboratory for Master Barclaid to meet his needs for magic apprentices and magic testing materials. His treatment is the same as yours. Some confidential experiments are also open to him. During the development and testing process, You can discuss and study the difficulties you encounter with him..." Since he is a talented person, Claude will naturally not hesitate to give him the best conditions, and Master Barclaid grinned happily.
"But for the troops, your special continuous-fire rifle is useless." Giving a carrot first and then a stick can wake up Master Barclay who is immersed in complacency and joy:
"First of all, this thing is too bulky to follow the troops for mobile operations, and it cannot be quickly transferred and deployed on the battlefield. Secondly, the continuous firing time is too short, the reloading step is too troublesome, and during combat, it is impossible for you to shoot a single shot. minute and then stop for five minutes to allow you to reload, which is not very practical for both offense and defense...
The function of the continuous firing of bullets is to suppress the enemy's firepower, or to use barrage to block the enemy's attack, and to mobilize defensive forces, causing serious casualties to the enemy. In order to achieve the goal of defeating the strong with a small number and the weak. Therefore, the timeliness performance of continuous fire is very important. To develop a continuous-fire weapon, it is necessary to meet its firepower requirements for continuous shooting.
For example, if fifty or sixty bullets can be fired in one minute, then within the next ten minutes, this firing frequency can still be maintained, and fifty or sixty bullets can be fired per minute, suppressing the enemy's offensive and defensive firepower and For soldiers' charge and counterattack, only such continuous-fire weapons can truly meet the needs of the troops on the battlefield. "
Claude pointed to the weird-looking special rifle in front of him: "I call this weapon that can fire continuously a machine gun, but obviously, the continuous fire weapon of Master Barclaid is not the same as the machine gun I need. There are still big shortcomings. It is bulky and the internal structure is too delicate. The explosion vibration of a shell on the battlefield is likely to cause it to fail.
But I believe that as long as you continue to research, one day you will develop the best machine gun that is most suitable for the battlefield. Let's do this, Master Barclay, I also have some ideas about the development of machine guns. Let's go to the laboratory to discuss it with each other. From now on, you will be responsible for the project of developing machine guns... "
Claude stayed at the Blackstone Gun Manufacturing Workshop for five or six days, inspecting and discussing the structure and development of the machine gun with Master Barclaid. Among them, Claude proposed using bullet belts instead of bulky bullet trays, and using large The magazine is inserted externally to reduce the weight of the machine gun. Master Barclay called it a genius idea, but whether he can develop a machine gun that meets Claude's requirements depends on Master Barclay's ability. In Claude's memory All that needs to be said about the little knowledge and impressions about machine guns has been said.
Mrs. Sonia left the Blackstone Gun Manufacturing Workshop the day before. She took a group of mechanical technicians to Port Patres to install six naval guns on the first iron-hulled ocean-going cruise warship built by Master Bird. It is to install an enlarged version of the new light infantry field artillery on the battleship and conduct naval battle launch tests.
In a sense, this all-iron-hulled battleship is completely different. Even though Claude has provided the appearance designs of the battleships he saw in his previous life, Master Bird, who was responsible for manufacturing this iron-hulled battleship, did not Not adopted. The all-iron-hulled warship he built was actually a replica of the popular sailing wooden warships. The only change was that the wooden shell was replaced by an iron shell. There are still three large masts on the ship, which are used for sails and steam power.
What dissatisfied Claude the most was that this iron-hulled warship also had a row of gun windows on both sides of the ship's walls, and planned to arrange twelve naval guns in each cabin on both sides below the deck to enhance the warship's firepower. Firepower. In Claude's opinion, this is not necessary at all. The six new naval guns installed on the deck are enlarged versions of the new infantry light field artillery. They can shoot far, aim accurately, explode loudly, and can freely rotate the direction of the turret. It should be able to defeat all sail battleships of this era. There is no need to install twenty-four old-fashioned muzzle-loading naval guns below the deck...
However, Master Bird has become more stubborn as he gets older. If he doesn't listen to Claude's kind words, there is nothing Claude can do. After all, he can't fight with Master Bird by himself, so he can only comfort himself on this iron-shelled ship. The battleship is the first experimental one. I believe that after this experience and lessons learned, the next iron-shelled battleships will be better and better.
After leaving the Blackstone Gun Manufacturing Workshop, Claude returned to the farm at Wickham Castle to accompany Sheila to recuperate from her injuries. Until the end of May, Claude was preparing to leave for Anna Ranch. Because Adele's due date was in early June, Claude had to go to the ranch to accompany his brother Blovik to welcome the birth of his first child. .. ...
Sheila's injuries recovered quickly and she could barely move freely. She was tired of staying at the farm and wanted to go back with Claude. Claude hoped that Sheila could stay at the farm for another month and wait for her body to fully recover before taking her away. While doing ideological work, an urgent letter disrupted all Claude's arrangements. Adele was born prematurely. She gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl, but died of postpartum hemorrhage...
"I have to go back right away. Just be good and wait for me here. I will come to pick you up." Claude said to Sheila with a serious expression. And Sheila understood the truth now, knowing that something unfortunate happened in Claude's family, so she nodded obediently.
Claude rushed back to Anna's ranch and saw his haggard sister Anna: "What's going on? Didn't the original examination say that Adele was in very good health and everything was normal, and that she could give birth smoothly even if she was pregnant with twins? How could she suddenly have premature labor and heavy bleeding?"
Sister Anna smiled bitterly: "It's the mother. She sent a servant to see Adele, but she wrote a letter to Adele. The letter asked Adele to get out of the Field family after giving birth to the child and not to pester Burawoy. Gram, Adele gave birth prematurely due to this stimulation... "