Claude ended his visit to the Pamigal National Republic on August 11 and returned to the Patres Military Port Shipbuilding Base in the Overseas Dominion. The results of this visit were good. Both the Overseas Dominion Parliament and the Dominion Military Region were very satisfied with the results achieved. Marshal Bolonik, the acting speaker of the Dominion Parliament, led a group of members to the Patres Military Port to welcome Claude back, and expressed great appreciation for the economic cooperation agreement reached between the Overseas Dominion and the Pamigal National Republic...
Claude knew very well that most of the investment projects in the economic cooperation agreement reached between the overseas autonomous territories and the Pamigal National Republic were controlled by the family business firms and private joint-stock industries of these congressmen. They now have an interest in Pamigal. Every gold crown invested by the National Republic will bring rich returns of dozens of gold crowns or more in the future, so they will happily run here to welcome themselves back.
Of course, Claude is not lacking in benefits in this area, and no one can forget his share. On the contrary, it was General Boker who accompanied him on his trip and obtained the exclusive authorization for the aphrodisiac liquor for Bison Trading Company. In other words, only the Bison Trading Company, a joint venture between Claude and Boquear's father, has the right to sell the kind of aphrodisiac medicinal wine brewed by the Pamigal people in the overseas autonomous territories. I believe that this medicinal wine with unique effects will bring benefits to Claude. Countless gold coin gains...
Compared with the economic cooperation agreement, Claude valued more the military cooperation agreement signed between the Dominion Military Region and the Pamigal National Republic. Its effect was very obvious, making all the colonial countries on the west coast have bad intentions towards the Pamigal National Republic. At the same time, he also weighed whether his country had the strength to offend the Dominion Military Region behind the Pamigals. Claude's high-profile visit made it clear that the Dominion was the backer of the Pamigal people. On the contrary, it made those colonial countries more scrupulous and did not dare to easily provoke a war.
The lease agreement of Port Philimuz further deepened the impression of the colonial countries on the west coast that the overseas autonomous territories had formed a de facto military alliance with the Pamigal National Republic. Under such circumstances, invading or attacking the Pamigal National Republic is tantamount to challenging the dignity of the overseas autonomous territories. The autonomous military regions will easily have an excuse to join this war.
In the eyes of the colonial countries on the west coast, the only valuable colony among the three colonies where indigenous peoples were rioting was the Pamigal National Republic, which had established an independent country. The territory occupied by the Rusman Chiefs Alliance is desert and wasteland. Although the area is large, it has little development value. Not to mention that the Rusman nomadic tribes in this colony are currently fighting each other. The geographical location between the overseas autonomous territories and the Pamigal Republic has made those colonial countries give up on conquering this colony. plan.
The other is the colony of the Vasilik Principality. The situation in this colony is more complicated. This is a hilly and mountainous area. Two indigenous peoples, the Skolos and the Gisdes, are vendetta against each other in the wild. Rather than saying that they are rioting, they are not. Said they were waging a genocidal war against each other. The Principality of Vasiliko has exhausted its vitality in the two expeditions and wars. Now it has decided to abandon this colony and is quietly evacuating the immigrants from their principality...
The colonial garrison of the Opsaro City-State Alliance, which was originally asked for help by the colonial authorities of the Vasilik Principality, only occupied a few seaports and towns along the coast after entering the colony. They did not dare to march inland or withdraw their troops. That's it. stationed there. It seems that they want to annex this colony but don't have the courage, for fear that they will be involved in the war between the two indigenous peoples...
Therefore, the most abundant and delicious of the three colonies is the territory of the Pamigal people. Although it has established an independent country, no west coast colonial country has recognized it. But now that the overseas autonomous territories and the Pamigal National Republic stand together, all the west coast colonial countries that have an idea of the Pamigal people have to think carefully in their hearts. In order to catch a rabbit, they will anger the elephant behind it. Is it worth it...
If the Pamigal National Republic is not interested, then the only remaining colony of the Resnian Kingdom, which currently has little ability to protect itself, becomes the best target. The Colony of the Kingdom of Carmenline and the Colony of the Principality of Leriolo once again turned their attention to the territory sandwiched between their two colonies, but they also faced the risk of a naval blockade and declaration of war by the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands and did not dare to do so easily. Make a decision.
Claude, who returned to Lanhu City, was busy again. In the last few days of his visit to the Pamigal National Republic, Claude went to visit the volunteer corps stationed there in the Dominion Military Region. Although General Beachlin used two divisions of the Rock Corps and retired members of the local garrison to form this volunteer corps known as the Overseas Dominion Civilian Veterans to Assist the Pamigal People, Claude only paid a visit to this volunteer corps. Found that the situation is not optimistic...
The situation of the two divisions of the Rock Corps was relatively good due to the rotation policy implemented by General Beach Kerin, but most of the veterans of the local garrison decided to stay in the Pamigal National Republic after leaving the Volunteer Corps. Instead of deciding to go back to live in the overseas dominions. The reason is simple. If you stay here, you can marry two Pamigal women. After the war with the expeditionary forces of the three colonial countries, the half-year recuperation period allowed these retired soldiers of the volunteer corps to be found near the station. My own crush...
The Pamigal National Republic is happy to see such a situation. Even some retired soldiers who have made meritorious service on the battlefield have received a promise from the Pamigal military. After they leave the volunteer army, they can have a job in the newly formed standing army of the Republic. A mid-level officer position to continue a military career. Claude had no way to deal with this, everyone had their own ambitions, and since these retired soldiers decided to stay here, he had no way to stop them.
Only in this way, Claude discovered that in addition to the two rotating divisions of the Rock Legion, most of the retired soldiers who made up the other two divisions of the volunteer army would stay in the Pamigal nation, except for a small number who decided to return home. Republic life. At least it is convenient to find a wife here, and you can also marry two wives. This is a welfare benefit that the autonomous military region cannot match...
In short, this volunteer corps has been abolished. After the two Rock Corps divisions returned to the overseas autonomous territories, the volunteer corps can no longer retain this organization. This means that the autonomous territory military region has trained a large number of actual combat talents for the Pamigal National Republic. Experienced military talent. This made Claude start to worry that when the Thunder Legion came to garrison, the Pamigal people would use the same method to seduce a large number of soldiers...
At the end of September, the Dominion Navy's ocean-going transport fleet once again transported more than 400,000 Hicks military immigrants. This was the fourth transportation mission completed in the 606th year of the Holy Light Calendar. However, there are still more than one million military dependents gathered in the Patkara Port leased to the Dominion Military District by the Breault Kingdom, as well as the Thunder Legion and eight Hicks Returning Divisions that need to be transported. It is expected that it will take at least four more times to complete the immigration transportation. Task.
This time, the total number of military immigrants from the Kingdom of Hicks is nearly 3.8 million. After the overseas autonomous territories digest this batch of Hicks military immigrants, the total population will reach about 11 million, which is almost a human population. Pass line. This will allow one-third of the territory of the overseas autonomous territories to be developed and utilized, instead of leaving the towns where immigrants gather and looking around at a deserted and desolate scenery.
General Muriel took advantage of the fact that all ocean-going transport ships were undergoing a brief inspection and renovation, so he went to the Dominion Military District headquarters in Lanhu City and pestered Claude to ask the military district to allocate funds to build fourth-generation iron-clad battleships and let the second All armored warships of the era were decommissioned. Claude looked at the shipbuilding report submitted by the Navy, and when he first saw the final requested amount of appropriation for shipbuilding, he rejected General Murield's shipbuilding application without hesitation.
Just kidding, where did the Dominion Military Region get a sum of 20 million gold crowns for the navy to use to build the fourth generation of ironclad warships? Moreover, the higher the technical content of today's armored battleships, the more expensive they are. Claude remembers that the cost of a first-generation armored battleship did not exceed 50,000 gold crowns, and the cost of a second-generation armored battleship was close to 10,000 gold crowns. Ten thousand, and the cost of the third-generation armored destroyer has exceeded 150,000 gold crowns, and the armored cruiser is even quoted at 220,000 gold crowns. Only the armored transport ship is the cheapest, with a price of nearly 100,000 gold crowns.
As for the fourth-generation experimental iron-clad battleship that Master Bird has now completed, its cost is close to 350,000 gold crowns. Although large-scale construction will spread out some costs, it is not that exaggerated to reduce the cost by more than 100,000. It is very good to reduce the construction cost by 30,000 to 40,000 gold crowns. The Navy's funding application for the construction of the fourth generation of armored warships submitted by General Murield was as high as 20 million gold crowns. This posture is clearly preparing to eliminate the third generation of ironclad warships... .
Today, when the first and second generation armored warships can conquer the world, Claude would be really out of his mind if he approved this navy's shipbuilding application. After scolding General Murray, General Murray produced a piece of evidence. Claude looked at it and was shocked. He hurriedly summoned the director of the Military Intelligence Department, General Fordler. As a result, Fordler General Si told Claude that the Military Intelligence Department did not know about this situation because the military region did not deploy intelligence investigations against the Wang Navy...
The evidence that General Murray produced was information about the Royal Navy of the King of Overas. Before the Hicks Kingdom attack plan was carried out in the Dominion Military District, Claude went to the Kingdom's mainland White Deer City and handed over sixteen pieces of information to the Royal Navy. An armored warship completed the arms transaction between the Dominion Military Region and the Kingdom. Then the Dominion Military Region stopped paying attention to the sixteen armored warships of the Royal Navy. They were all outdated and refurbished. They could deal with sailing wooden warships, but they were not on the same level as the armored warships of the Dominion Navy.
Only General Murray, as the admiral of the Dominion Navy, has been paying attention to the intelligence of the Royal Navy. Of course, this is related to the fact that General Murray regards the Royal Navy as an imaginary enemy. After all, the Royal Navy is equipped with sixteen armored ships. Battleships, even if they are all discarded products of the first generation, are still more difficult to deal with than the sail fleets of other navies.
It’s just that no one expected that the Wang Navy would perform such a showy operation on these sixteen armored warships. From the beginning, three of the sixteen armored warships were taken to the dock and disemboweled as research samples and redrawn. Various tests are carried out on the drawings. Among these three armored battleships, there is one destroyer, one cruiser and one transport ship, so the Royal Navy has invested a lot of money.
After a year-long research, the kingdom began to imitate these marine engines. However, starting from scratch brought great difficulties to the kingdom's technical experts. They imitated iron-clad battleships without anyone's guidance and only samples. The work was proceeding with great difficulty.
According to a report from a technical expert who was bribed by the Dominion Navy, the Stirling royal family specially approved a special fund of five million gold crowns to imitate the ironclad warship. However, the funds are about to be used up, and there is still no big progress in the imitation task. . ...
In order to fool the imperial ministers sent by His Majesty the King to inspect, the Royal Navy built a huge iron-clad warship, then dismantled two iron-clad destroyers, and moved all the ship's power from the two iron-clad destroyers to the air-rail On hull ships, it is used to drive iron-hulled ships. Their coping plan was successful. The imperial envoy who came down for inspection did not understand it at all. Seeing that the huge iron-hulled warship built by the kingdom could be driven on the sea, he thought that the imitation work was successful, and happily reported to the superiors that the imitation work was progressing smoothly. ... ...
So His Majesty the King once again allocated a huge sum of five million gold crowns to build an armored fleet that was not inferior to the overseas autonomous territories. It’s just that the Royal Navy is sitting on the fence. No one expected that His Majesty the King would be so eager. He had no choice but to continue to mess around and continue to build huge iron-hulled warships. Here, he ordered a batch of marine power from overseas autonomous territories. Since the kingdom's mainland is an obsolete generation of marine power, the Dominion's mechanical power workshop also accepted this batch of orders.
As a result, the five million gold crowns of the Royal Navy's shipbuilding funds were quickly spent. In order to deal with the royal family's inquiries, the Royal Navy had the idea of the remaining eleven iron-clad warships, which were sunk on rocks, training accidents, and storms. For various reasons, five armored warships were scrapped and sunk, and then secretly sold these five armored warships to other coastal countries at high prices to collect millions of gold crowns for continued development.
The news that General Muriel received was that the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands purchased two armored warships in a package at a high price of more than 400,000 gold crowns. In addition, three coastal countries also purchased the remaining three armored warships, but they all used agents. Therefore, the technical personnel of the Royal Navy who were bribed by the Dominion Navy did not find out the names of those three coastal countries. ... ...
This all happened in the second half of last year. General Murray Ed believes that other coastal countries have invested more money in the development of iron-clad warships and have more professional technicians, unlike the Kingdom's own Royal Navy, which is struggling . He believes that in the second half of this year or next year, the four coastal countries that have obtained ironclad warships will make great progress and are very likely to develop their own ironclad warships, thereby posing a threat to the ironclad fleet of the Dominion Navy.
Therefore, General Murray Ed, on behalf of the Navy, hopes to eliminate all second-generation iron-clad battleships and replace them with fourth-generation iron-clad battleships. Only in this way can we form a generational advantage over the enemy's armored fleet in the future, and still be able to crush them at sea...
General Fodeles, director of the Military Intelligence Department, expressed his doubts about the intelligence submitted by General Murray Ed. He personally believed that it was impossible for the Royal Navy to carry out such an operation. But Claude told him that the intelligence submitted by General Murield was very likely to be true, because last year Speaker Bennett of the Dominion Parliament received several protests from the Prime Minister of the Kingdom, Marquis Blancart, saying that the Dominion Military Region had The transaction of armored warships conducted by the Royal Navy involves a shoddy scam. Several armored warships suffered training accidents, suffered shipwrecks, were sunk or scrapped...
Speaker Bennett did not take these protests seriously. These circumstances can only be blamed on the Wang Navy's own improper operations and bad luck. Later, he told this as a joke to Claude, and no one took Prime Minister Blancart's protest to heart. Anyway, the deal has been completed. If anything happens to the Wang Navy, they can only blame themselves for their misfortune.
But now, taken together, the Wang Navy is very suspicious, and they may indeed do this. General Foderes doubted that the Royal Navy had such courage to deceive superiors and subordinates. Claude could only tell him with a wry smile that according to the Royal Navy's usual character, he believed that His Majesty the King's twice allocated tens of millions of gold crowns. It would be great if half of the funds can be used to implement the work of imitating iron-clad battleships.
Most of the appropriations have been misappropriated or embezzled. This has always been the bureaucratic custom of the Royal Navy. Now the Royal Navy has no way to make extra money. They can only focus on these appropriations. Anyway, if there is a financial shortage, it will be unlucky. Taking the blame, no one is willing to spit out the benefits again. Therefore, the senior leaders of the Wang Navy were forced to come up with the idea of armored battleships. This was an inevitable result.
Claude assigned General Foderes a new task to find out all the secrets that happened in the Royal Navy in the shortest possible time. As for General Murield, he was still severely reprimanded by Claude. Could it be that the Dominion Navy couldn't defeat the new enemy without relying on the advantage of generation difference? It's obvious that the enemy only got the first-generation armored battleships, so there's nothing to worry about. The second-generation armored battleships can definitely deal with the first-generation armored battleships, don't you know...
In the end, the Navy's shipbuilding application report was thrown into the trash can by Claude. Claude said seriously to General Murray Ed that there would be no large-scale shipbuilding plan in the Dominion Military Region in the next few years. The four major shipbuilding workshops at the Patres Military Port Shipbuilding Base only have one military dock left, and can only build four supplementary warships for the Dominion Navy a year. If they are fourth-generation ironclad warships, they are likely to be built due to the high cost. , the Dominion Military Region could not afford it, so it could only build third-generation iron-clad warships.
General Murield finally went back dejected...