The pier of Bailu City was filled with a warm welcoming atmosphere, with military bands, honor guards, onlookers, waving flags, red carpets, the long-awaited navy fleet generals, the Kingdom's Prime Minister and local officials. This welcome ceremony was somewhat grander than expected, leaving Claude really confused as to what was going on...
I still know the smiling Prime Minister of the Kingdom, Claude, Marquis de Blancat, and I have to admit that this guy is an old fox and difficult to deal with. He is His Majesty's loyal supporter and is deeply trusted. It was only Claude's invasion of the capital that caused great embarrassment to the king and queen, and it was Prime Minister Blancart who acted as the mediator, allowing both sides to step down. Logically speaking, Claude should be a very taboo figure in the royal family. What does this old fox want to do with such a big fanfare
Anyone can do the superficial work. Claude got off the ship and embraced Prime Minister Blancart warmly, acting very intimate, just like old friends who had not seen each other for twenty years. Then he inspected the guard of honor and came to greet him. The naval admirals and local officials shook hands and said hello one by one, and finally gave a speech to the gathered onlookers. After talking nonsense, they shouted the slogan "Long live His Majesty the King" before ending.
Next is the handover ceremony of the armored warships. This is the third batch of six armored warships transferred to the Kingdom's Navy Ministry and the last batch. The first two batches have delivered six armored destroyers and four armored ocean-going armed transport ships. What needs to be handed over now are two armored cruisers and four armored destroyers. After the handover ceremony is completed, it means that the arms business between the overseas autonomous territories and the kingdom has been completed.
The six armored warships to be transferred to the Royal Navy have been refitted and renovated, and the armored shells have been repainted. The warships in the overseas dominions are all black and gray, but these six armored warships are painted silver-white. They look very noble and beautiful in appearance. The generals who came to receive them from the Navy Department expressed their satisfaction. Once you enter the cabin, you will find that the iron walls inside are all luxuriously packed with walnut boards. It is completely different from the iron walls in the cabins of the armored battleships in the Dominion Military District, which are just painted with a layer of white paint...
"Why are your naval guns different from ours?" Prime Minister Blancart boarded the battleship to visit and asked Claude this question. The only thing among the six armored warships transferred to the Kingdom's Navy that was significantly different from the warships in the Dominion Military Region was the naval guns. The armored battleships in the Dominion Military District have fully enclosed naval guns, while the six armored battleships transferred to the Kingdom's Navy Department are equipped with semi-open front-loaded heavy artillery mounts.
"This is the request of your Navy Department." Claude explained: "If you use the same naval guns as ours, then all your artillery shells will need to be purchased from our Dominion Military District. So after inspection, your Navy Department believes that it is better to It is better to equip this kind of old heavy artillery. At least you have the ability to ensure the supply of ammunition. After the naval guns are improved in the future, you can re-equip the warships with the latest artillery... "
There are many things that need not be said clearly. For example, among the first batch of four armored destroyers transferred to the Kingdom's Navy Department, one was directly pulled to the dock and dismantled into pieces for the warship designers of the Kingdom's Navy Department to study and draw. It is said that the kingdom has caught four or five spies from other countries carrying structural drawings of warships, and even implicated a noble officer from the Navy Department. His Majesty the King was very angry about this.
Claude said it very politely, but in fact it was his idea. The armored battleships can be provided to the kingdom after modification, but the new naval guns cannot be provided. They are all dismantled and replaced with heavy muzzle-loading cannons on the kingdom's sail battleships. The receiving general of the First Kingdom's Admiralty also expressed some protest, but General Murield told them that if they wanted the same naval gun, all the shells must be purchased from the Dominion Military Region, and each shell cost ten gold crowns. So the objection is gone.
Anyway, the first armored warship built by the Dominion Military Region was also equipped with this kind of heavy front-loaded musket and paper. And the agreement reached with the Kingdom for these sixteen armored warships did not mention what artillery pieces to use, so this advantage must be taken advantage of. Show the drawing and tell the Kingdom's Admiralty that the new naval guns are rear-mounted, and if you want them, you have to spend real money to buy them. Not to mention anything else, the purchase price of the cannonball alone daunted the Kingdom's Navy Department...
You must know that just to train the gunner well, a naval gun needs to fire nearly a hundred rounds to make it perfect. There are more than a dozen naval guns on an armored warship. The total cost of the shells alone is This gave the generals of the Kingdom's Navy a headache. So in the end they decided to keep it as is, at least they could provide their own ammunition for this heavy muzzleloader.
Prime Minister Blancart just said this, and the handover ceremony was quickly completed. The trained sailors and officers of the Kingdom's Navy Department boarded six warships and raised the Stirling royal emblem flag of the Kingdom of Overas and the navy's military flag, indicating that these six iron-clad warships were under the command of the Kingdom's Navy Department. Down. The onlookers on the shore let out bursts of cheers, and many people waved their handkerchiefs and small colorful flags towards the armored battleship...
"Your Excellency, Marshal, let's get in the car and take you somewhere." Prime Minister Blancart motioned for Claude to ride in a carriage with him.
Claude entered the carriage, and his adjutant, Captain Fahsselin, got into the driver's seat in front of the carriage and sat next to the coachman. The big man Germi led a squadron of guards on horseback to escort him on both sides.
The carriage galloped on the flat bluestone streets, and Claude admired the street scenes on both sides through the glass of the carriage window. Different from the ruins I saw when I passed by last time, Bailu City has been rebuilt. There are no longer those low shacks made of wooden planks and stones. The streets are lined with new two- and three-story shops, which are neat and beautiful, and you can see Out of the city, Bailu City has restored some of its old scene.
"Do you need a glass of fruit wine?" Prime Minister Blancart took out a bottle of fruit wine and two silver wine glasses from a small wine cabinet next to his seat.
"Thank you, I'm not thirsty." Claude said, "Where are we going?"
"Your home." Prime Minister Blancart said: "Your Majesty specially allocated funds to build this for you, and also sent three famous architects from the royal capital. After a year of construction, you came back just after it was completed. So it’s such a coincidence..."
Claude was stunned: "My home?"
What comes to mind is the familiar big red brick house. But wasn't the big red brick house destroyed during the Kingdom's civil war? When Claude passed through White Deer City and returned to the Overseas Dominion a few years ago, he visited Mr. Morsant's grave. The big red brick house he saw at that time was in ruins. It is said that it was destroyed by many shells during the Kingdom's civil war, and even the doors and windows were picked up by refugees to build shacks.
Claude once thought about rebuilding the big red brick house, but at that time, Bailu City was in ruins and waiting for new construction. It lacked manpower and material resources, and even qualified construction engineers could not be found. Claude had no choice but to give up this idea and returned to the overseas dominion.
Now hearing what Prime Minister Blancart said, Claude remembered the report sent to him by Steward Swenson. In September of the previous year, his mother and Kaifni returned to White Deer City and started a lawsuit with Queen Christie. Get back the 5,000 acres of Field Forest Farm that were annexed by Norman Forest Forest Farm. In the end, His Majesty King Frederic I came forward and exchanged a mansion in the royal capital and a manor on the outskirts of the royal capital for the ownership of the 5,000-acre Field Forest Farm, settling the lawsuit.
Claude rubbed the corners of his eyebrows and found that there were too many things on his mind, and he couldn't remember anything about this big red brick house. I forgot whether Butler Swenson reported on this big red brick house last time. I just remember that His Majesty the King gave his deceased father an honorary viscount or something, which moved his mother to tears, and then took him with him without looking back. Kaifani and her two children went to the royal capital.
Claude patted his forehead again. The latest report about his mother and Kaifni was probably from two months ago. It seemed that his mother and Kaifni had a quarrel and separated over something unknown. Her mother lives in a mansion in the royal capital, and Kaifani lives in a manor on the outskirts with her two children. Butler Swenson, the guard Sergeant Kester, and the old servants all followed Kaifani and her son to the manor. There was no one on the mother's side, and she didn't even know what she had done...
Claude was too worried about things in the Dominion Military Region and didn't pay much attention to the report about the situation of his mother and Kaifni. He only remembered that his mother and Kaifni seemed to have a conflict over the 30% profit sharing of the tobacco factory. . It seems that because her mother overspent on the entertainment expenses in the royal palace, she asked Kaifani to transfer the tobacco proceeds to her. Kaifani was unwilling, quarreled, and separated. Kaifani took her two children to live in the manor out of anger.
"You should go back to the capital to have a look." Prime Minister Blancart seemed to know what Claude was thinking. He shook his head and said, "The quarrel between your mother and your wife has become a bit big, and it has become a problem in the capital." A hot topic, the favorite object of gossip among the citizens. If His Majesty the King had not come forward, your wife and children would have even been kicked out of the manor by your mother."
"Huh?" Claude felt like he had a headache: "Why did they quarrel? And they even got into it in front of His Majesty the King..."
"As the Prime Minister, I cannot gossip about these noble families behind their backs." Prime Minister Blancart said seriously: "You can just send someone to the royal capital to inquire and you will know the reason. By the way, you have a big brother, right? He returned to your mother..."
Albert? How many years has he been missing and where did he appear? Claude always thought that his cheap brother was long dead. When his father committed suicide by jumping off a building, this guy found a prostitute and gave him a signed note giving up the inheritance of the family property, and then disappeared from Bailu City without any trace of responsibility. That is to say, when my mother was in the Dominion, she would sometimes mention him and say with tears that Albert didn't know whether he was alive or dead.
Anyway, Claude, his sister Anna and his brother Blovik didn't miss their elder brother at all, and treated him as a dead person. Back then, Albert didn't look like an elder brother. He regarded his three younger brothers and sisters as a thorn in his side, fearing that they would snatch his father's property from him. As a result, once his father had an accident, he never came home again. After his father committed suicide by jumping off a building because of debts, he simply left Bailu City without knowing where to go.
The carriage stopped, and the adjutant, Captain Fahsselin, opened the door. Claude stopped the random thoughts in his mind, got out of the carriage, and saw the magnificent mansion building at a glance.
This was built on the original site of the big red brick house. It is completely different from the original appearance. It is much larger than the big red brick house, and it looks more like a palace-like building. Four floors, plus five attics, with pointed roofs and cornices, a row of white stone pillars and a dozen granite steps in front of the door. There is also a fountain in the middle of the small square where the carriage is parked in front of the main entrance, surrounded by large square lawns.
It seemed to occupy the area of the original neighbor's house and the street. Claude looked at the squares of grass around him and recalled the impression of the original big red brick house and the neighbor's houses in the surrounding streets.
"Let's see if it's the same as the original one." Prime Minister Blancart said with a smile: "Of course, we can't completely restore His Majesty the Marshal's home, but we still try our best to make it consistent with the original one, so as not to let His Excellency the Marshal Losing the feeling of home when I was a child..."
Claude smiled bitterly: "I am very grateful for your majesty's love and for asking you, Prime Minister, to bother you. It's just that my home is a Hogo-style red brick apartment building, not such a palace-style mansion building. Back then, My father is just an administrative official in a small town, do you think it is possible for him to own such a luxurious mansion as his home?"
"No way..." Prime Minister Blancart was a little confused: "But when our architect showed the renderings of this mansion building to your mother, your mother said that this was the original home. It looks like it's just a little worn..."
"My mother said that?" Claude was stunned, but he immediately understood. Needless to say, my mother must have disliked the big red-brick house back then for being too outdated and shameless, so she made it look like a palace-style mansion because she was trying to be fat. But she didn’t understand that the more she did this, the more people would laugh at her.
"Come in and have a look." Prime Minister Blancart invited.
How can I put it, this mansion is indeed very luxurious, even more beautiful than the white palace building in the Norman Forest Farm. The hall on the first floor is enough to hold a dance party for nearly a hundred people. The second floor is the guest room, and the third and fourth floors are the main living room. There are five lofts above, which are twice the area of the loft where Claude lived. Equipped with complete bathroom and shower room.
Prime Minister Blancart said that to take care of the mansion, one butler, four servants, a gardener, a groom and two cooks were needed, which together cost six gold crowns per month. It's just that after the housekeeper sent the bill to Claude's mother in the royal capital, he never received a reply. Now the housekeeper and servants here have not received their salary for two months.
Because this mansion building was built with private funds from His Majesty the King, currently the local administrative office can only allocate a small amount of maintenance fees to keep the housekeepers and servants fed and clothed. Someone has to be sent to the royal capital to discuss the salary expenses with Claude's mother. After all, such a beautiful mansion will soon fall into disrepair if no one maintains it. At that time, it will be a slap in the face of His Majesty the King.
Claude had no choice but to admit his mistake. He called the butler and told him that he would open an account at the Overseas Minsheng Bank in Bailu City, and would put one hundred gold crowns into it every year. As the butler's servants, their salary expenses and Living welfare allowance. The extra money is used to maintain the mansion. If there are large expenses, you can write a letter and report to yourself. As long as the accounts are clear, there will be no problem.
Then Claude gave the housekeeper and servants three months' salary and welfare subsidies, and arranged for his men to live in this palace-style mansion. After enjoying a good dinner under the cheerful and attentive reception of the housekeeper and servants, Claude and Prime Minister Blancart went to the study on the third floor and asked the adjutant, Captain Fahsselin, to bring two bottles of good fruit wine. Then they got back to business. .
"... As the Prime Minister of the Kingdom, you came to Bailu City specifically to see me. I believe you are not here to introduce me to my new home, or to let me know about the current situation of my mother and wife in the Royal Capital. What do you want to say? Just say it straight, you know I hate nonsense and I hate guessing." Claude lit a cigar and got straight to the point.
Prime Minister Blancart played with the cigar that Claude threw to him: "Okay, I heard that you came back this time to attack the Kingdom of Hicks? Is it true..."
Damn it, Claude wanted to curse, but he had already received the news when he arrived at the capital of the kingdom, and the prime minister of the kingdom came specially to meet with him. Needless to say, it must have been revealed by some general at the military region headquarters. To know about Claude's intention to attack the Kingdom of Hicks, he mentioned it at a meeting of senior military officers, explaining why he wanted to attack the Kingdom of Hicks. This meeting is confidential to the people below, and no one without the rank of general can participate in this military meeting.
Obviously, some of these promoted generals must be die-hard loyalists to the kingdom, just like Marshal Bolognik, who only swears to obey the orders of the kingdom. He had just finished a meeting, and the news had already been received from the royal capital. Claude wondered if even the minutes of the meeting had been sent to the royal capital.
Claude took two deep puffs of cigarette: "Why, do you suspect that I am deceiving you? Don't worry, I didn't want to attack the royal capital. I am not a careerist, and I don't want to become a traitor to the kingdom. When I came back this time, I really wanted to attack Xi The Kingdom of Kes takes action, but they haven’t ended the war with the Kingdom yet. As an army of an overseas autonomous territory, it is only natural to attack them.”
"We are just curious, not suspicious of your intentions." Prime Minister Blancart said: "The staff of the Kingdom's Army Department organized a sand table simulation and believed that there are only two ways to attack the Hicks Kingdom, one is by land and the other is by sea. Land There are two kingdoms separated by the sea, and this road is impassable, so the only way is to transport troops by sea for the landing battle. They think that your plan is to let the Thunder Legion board the ship and go by sea, but that is the mainland of the Kingdom of Hicks. You can go there with one legion and then If you can fight, it will only end in death. So Your Majesty asked me to come here to advise you, don’t be so impulsive... "
Claude laughed: "I know exactly what I want to do. In fact, I am very sure that I will win. But now I have to consider some situations and will not immediately send troops to attack the Hicks Kingdom. of... ... "
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