Fatty Shi hurried into Lorist's study with a folder.
"What's the matter?" Lorist raised his head and asked.
Fatty Shi smiled bitterly and shook his head: "The Rock Legion had an accident during the rehearsal of disembarking and landing. A flat-bottomed boat capsized, twenty-five family soldiers fell into the water, and only seven people were rescued..."
As the main force of the Panshi Legion attacking the West Degrad Province of the Principality of Madras, it has moved to the Blade's Edge Mountains, which is the white stone beach in the middle of the secret passage where the four major families of Beiye Town used to smuggle, and set up a temporary camp there. camp. From there, it is very short to get on the boat to Silver Beach in West Degrad Province, and it only takes five or six hours. Now there are still two months before the combat time stipulated by Lorist. The Rock Legion is using the Sea Legion to assist several large ships to carry out landing drills. They did not expect such an accident to happen.
"What happened?"
"The Bodfinger Knight reported that the flat-bottomed boat used for landing was originally a lifeboat on a sea-going ship, and was used by sailors and crew members to escape. However, it was difficult for the family soldiers of the Rock Legion to master the balance of this small boat. It is easy to overturn the boat. In addition, all the soldiers are fully armed and heavy. Once they fall into the water, they will sink to the bottom. Even the life-saving boards of driftwood are useless. Now the Rock Legion has submitted a request to improve the landing flat-bottomed boats and sea lifesaving equipment… "
Fatty Shi opened the folder in his hand, took out a piece of kraft paper and handed it to Lorist.
Lorist stood up with a heavy expression on his face. It was my own negligence, planning the landing operation but not making preparations for the landing operation. Like the lifeboat on the sea ship, it has a flat bottom and is extremely poor in wind and wave resistance, and it will capsize in large waves. It doesn't matter if it's sailors and crew, everyone can swim. The sailor battalion also has this lifeboat project during training, and nothing has ever happened to them. That's because even if the boat capsizes, it can capsize again.
But now it's a landing operation, most of the family soldiers of the Rock Legion can't swim, and they wear standard equipment, plus weapons and so on. When the boat capsized, it looked like a big iron block. Eighteen family soldiers just disappeared. Thinking about it, Lorist would be very regretful. And the driftwood lifeboard, which is a piece of balsa wood that floats on water like a pillow. Generally, someone falls into the water and throws it to him to hold and float on the water surface waiting for rescue. But now the family soldiers sank to the bottom of the sea, even if they threw a driftwood life-saving board, it would be too late to catch them!
Lorist picked up a quill and drew a picture of a life jacket and a life buoy on a piece of blank paper: "This blueprint was sent to the Ironforge production base, and the manager of Camorra ordered someone to rush out. The life jacket The vest is filled with small pieces of driftwood, and this life buoy is made of driftwood into a circle and put around the waist of the person so that it will not sink.”
With life jackets and buoys, you don't have to worry about falling into the water for the time being. But what about this landing ship? If you add a wing plate under the bottom of the boat and insert it into the sea, it can indeed make the boat difficult to capsize. But in this way, landing became a problem again. The flat-bottomed boat could rush to the beach in one go, but if there was an extra wing under the boat, it would not be able to get close to the beach. The landing time was set at the end of December. At that time, it would be fatal for the family soldiers to wade ashore. No one could stand the temperature of the sea water, and they would have to freeze.
By the way, instead of adding wing plates under the bottom of the ship, you can add flat plates on both sides of the ship. Increasing the force-bearing area of the ship on the sea surface can also make the ship less prone to capsizing. A flash of inspiration flashed in Lorist's mind, yes. First, I drew a flat-bottomed landing boat on paper, and then I drew a stick straddling the boat. The two ends of the stick were two large flat plates pressed against the sea. The gap between the flat sticks does not affect paddling on the boat.
"Okay, that's it. These three balance poles are movable and will not affect the transportation of the landing ship. Put the boat in the sea first, install the three balance poles before loading the soldiers, so that it is not easy to capsize. You send I sent this blueprint to the Niujiaowan Shipyard, and first made a few ships and sent them to Bodfinger for him to test, and at the same time sent a few craftsmen to make changes on site if there is any need for improvement." Lorist handed over the blueprint Tell Fatty Shi.
Fatty Shi nodded, and took out another document from the folder: "My lord, this is the report of the Chaser Corps. Josk Knights and Yuri Knights have selected more than 28,000 soldiers from various legions and garrison teams so far. A soldier who is good at riding horses, he has formed the first chasser regiment with 15,000 people, divided into five battalions, each with 3,000 people, divided into four combat brigades, a chariot and steel crossbow brigade, and a logistics brigade. A thousand horses, a hundred steel crossbow chariots, and a hundred four-wheeled freight carts. The second cavalry regiment is being formed and is currently recruiting soldiers in the family territory."
"Huh?" Lorist asked strangely, "Why should the Chasseurs be equipped with steel crossbows? They are in charge of flexible and fast mobile guerrilla attacks. Isn't the equipment of steel crossbows a drag on speed?"
Fatty Shi looked at the document: "My lord, Josk Knight said that this is to protect the logistics of the Chasseur Cavalry Regiment, and to avoid being attacked by the enemy when the enemy is attacking the location of his food, grass and horses. People can't imagine if they haven't eaten." It's a good idea, but if there are so many horses without the feed, the Chasseur regiment will be wiped out."
Lorist thought for a while and nodded: "Okay, since Josk and Yuri are responsible for forming the Chasseur Legion, then I trust their judgment, the steel crossbow chariots they need can be ordered by Chief Camorra Appropriate to them."
"One more thing, Josk and Yuri jointly submitted a request, which was handed in yesterday, asking us to determine the long-range weapons and standard equipment used by the Chaser Legion, so that we can conduct an early inspection of the 1st Chaser Regiment. Training forms combat effectiveness. They believe that the current standard armament of family soldiers is not suitable for hunting cavalry, and hope that the family can provide lighter, stronger and more durable standard armor."
"I know about this, and they don't need to destroy it. Master Sid and Falin will come here with samples this afternoon. Come and see this afternoon. I have ordered El to send guards to deliver letters to Joe and Yuri , let them come over too." Lorist said, "Is there anything else?"
Fatty Shi picked up another document: "My lord, this is the official report submitted by Director Speer. In the past two years, our family has spent a lot of money. Last year, it cost nearly three million to reorganize 20 guard battalions. Jinford, as well as the migration of liberated slaves to the Northland and the development of Taichuanyuan in the west of the Northland, have a budget of nearly one million. Coupled with some additional expenditures, our family overruns by nearly five million Jinford last year alone.
Although the arms deal with the Fisabrunn family is estimated to earn five million this year, you have allocated one million research and development funds to Master Sid and the Gunpowder Laboratory, as well as two million Goldfords for the purchase of warships by the Sea Legion. , In addition, some daily necessities, armament purchases, pensions and rewards also reached almost one million, and almost all the profits from the armament transaction with the Feisabrun family were spent.
Now we are going to form a new hunting cavalry army, and the estimated cost is no less than three million. In addition, the budget for the war you are going to launch against the Principality of Madras is no less than one million, plus helping Kenmai The cost of the replacement of the territories of the Si family and the Shaheen family is also an expense of one million Jinford. In addition, there are some messy expenditures such as supporting the opening of Chenxi Academy in the North, and it is estimated that this year will exceed another six million yuan.
So Director Speer specially issued this official document to remind us not to be extravagant anymore. Even if we annihilate the Kingdom of Haneyabada and seized the slave kingdom’s savings of up to 27 million gold blessings for decades, if you spend money like this, my lord, the family will have no money in two or three years..."
Lorist laughed disapprovingly: "That's the way Chief Speer is, wishing that the treasury was full of gold coins. In fact, you also know that it is impossible to produce small gold coins with gold coins in the treasury, and there is a great possibility Depreciation, maybe a cow can be bought for five gold Fords now, and it will cost seven or eight in a few years. Only by letting gold coins enter the market can I earn more gold coins in the future. Now I spend too much It doesn’t mean I’m wasting money, it’s investing and laying the foundation for the future of the family.”
Fatty Shi smiled wryly and said, "My lord, this is 27 million gold dollars. What you said is reasonable, but even if it is an investment, I suspect that it is impossible for the generation of your grandson's grandson to take this money from the family territory." Get the money back. If you don’t form a new legion for new development and don’t start a war, in fact, our family’s income and expenditure situation in the past two years is very good. If we save a little, there may be hundreds of thousands of net income.
Another point, my lord, the family implements the policy of hiding blessings for the people. The tax families in the four places that have been developed, Fengle Yuan, Xing'an Yuan, Honghe Yuan, and Beihai City, only collect 40% of the tax. The households of the local garrison receive 30 percent, and the family members of soldiers and administrative officials of the serving family receive 20 percent. Family knights charge 10%. Although these taxes have offset administrative expenditures, there is still some surplus, but they are of little help to the family's huge military expenditures.
At present, the family's armed military expenses mainly rely on the purchase and sale of various workshops run by the family, thanks to the large amount of snow salt and daily necessities purchased by the Snow Salt Chamber of Commerce from our family to the Fisabrun family territory and the Kingdom of Iberia. dumping. But as you said, once the Feisabrun family opens a trade route to the four central duchies, it will obviously reduce their dependence on the purchase and supply of materials from the Snow Salt Chamber of Commerce. By then, I am afraid that the huge military expenditure of the family armed forces will become a burden...
Your Excellency, Manager Speer has made a suggestion, asking for a 10% increase in all taxes in the family territory, and increasing the 30% of our family's shares in those privately run workshops and stores to 100%. The tax rate for small private shops such as snack bars and small grocery stores that originally only charged a tax rate of 10% was raised to 30%. Compared with the 60% to 70% taxes of nobles in other territories, even if we raise them, we are still very kind to Sensitive. And in this way, we will earn more than 300,000 gold dollars every year, which is almost half of the military expenditure of the family's armed forces. "
Lorist shook his head: "Increasing the tax rate is the stupidest idea. There are plenty of ways to get gold coins out of the pockets of the common people. Put this official report from Director Speer here, and I will write him a reply when I have time." Yes. It is worthy of my gratitude that he pays close attention to the family’s expenses and offers advice and advice, but I cannot adopt his suggestion, because doing so will lose the trust and loyalty of the common people in our family’s territory to the family.”
"Okay then, I'll go out first and ask someone to do what your lord told me to do. See you this afternoon." Fatty Shi turned around and left.
…
At noon, Diliana, who was with her big belly, had lunch. She was six months pregnant and had a big belly. The pharmacist who came for the examination said that it was probably twins, and she needed to add more nutrition, so now the Diana family is young. My aunt became extremely plump as if she had been inflated, almost twice as big as before. Apart from the change in her figure, she was also very sleepy. She yawned and went to take a nap just after lunch.
As for Miss Dina, because she was successfully promoted to the silver rank, she happily took her younger sister, Miss Dina, to Nico Academy to visit her younger brother, and planned to hold a ceremony there to make herself a member of the Dina family. The female knight and the acting head of the house will hand over the power of the head of the house after her younger brother reaches the age of eighteen. It will probably take some time before returning to Rock Castle.
Lorist also went to take a nap, got up and went to the study, and more than an hour later, Schwader came in to report that the carriages of Master Sid and Falin had arrived, and Josk Knight and Yuri Knight were also there. The waiting room downstairs has been waiting for a long time.
"Let them go to the guest room on the third floor. There is a large square connected to the back mountain. If Master Sid and Falin have brought long-range crossbow weapons, they can practice there and have a look. Josk and Yuri are not satisfied. In addition, you can also call Knight Shredder over to inspect it together." Lorist said.
"Yes, my lord."
Soon everyone gathered in the reception room on the third floor of the central castle. This time, masters Sid and Falin brought three large boxes. The style of standard armor equipped is completely different. The helmet of this set of wire mail armor is in the style of a bamboo hat, like a round pointed shield.
Master Sid explained: "My lord, you said that the equipment needed for the Chaser is light and strong. I also asked many family soldiers who had been scouts and light cavalry, and adopted their suggestions before designing this set of standard equipment for the Chaser. .Since our family’s new cavalry is based on the rangers of the Feisabrun family as the imaginary enemy, and the standard equipment of the rangers is also produced by our family, so the standard equipment of this set of cavalry is also based on the characteristics of the rangers. Improved, lighter, more flexible, stronger and more defensive than the 103 cavalry standard equipment sold to the Feisabrun family.
The main attack method of the Chasseurs and Rangers is medium and long-range attacks. Rangers often dismount from their horses a hundred meters away from the enemy, launch three consecutive shots with a longbow, and then mount their horses and go away. This is the main means of harassment. The crossbow has an effective range of 50 meters, and throwing spears and throwing axes are used closer. Therefore, as a hunting cavalry, the main thing to guard against is the ranger's long-range attack, not the sprinting and fighting like our family's cavalry.
The strongest defense against long-range attacks is chain mail. We used steel wire to make this set of samples. Its defense against long-range attacks is stronger than that of plate armor, especially this hat-style helmet. The projectile is useless, and it can even be used as a shield for self-defense in close combat. As for this set of wire mail armor, there is also a set of black magic cowhide armor on the outside, which not only increases defense, but also keeps warm and windproof, and acts as a cover.
In addition, we also designed a front inlaid steel wire vest for the war horse, which provided necessary protection for the front vital points of the mount. The weight of the entire set of standard equipment plus the vest is one-fifth lighter than the 103 cavalry standard equipment of the Feisabrun family, ensuring that the mount's load and durability can be maximized. In addition, we have also made standardized improvements to the saddle and stirrups on the war horse, which are more durable, lightweight and durable than the old-fashioned saddle and stirrups you use now... "
"Very good." Lorist nodded approvingly: "Thank you for your efforts, Master Sid, Master Falin. I am very satisfied with this set of cavalry equipment. You are very considerate, but the production capacity can keep up ?"
Master Sid was very happy to receive Lorist's praise: "Of course, my lord, now this kind of steel wire is drawn by hydraulic machinery, and I have redesigned and made a set of mechanical equipment, which can easily break this steel wire. Then buckle it into a ring. Except that weaving requires manpower, other things are not troublesome. I estimate that a thousand people can produce a thousand sets a day."
"Okay, the Chaser will adopt this standard equipment, and I will instruct Chief Camorra to arrange manpower to complete the required work for the regiment as soon as possible. But Master Sid, have you designed the long-range weapon for the Chaser yet? I hope that the Chaser has a long-range weapon that can completely defeat the Rangers, so that they can increase their confidence in dealing with the Rangers." Lorist asked.
"Hehe, my lord, please come and enjoy the masterpiece designed and completed by Master Falin and I." Master Sid opened the second big box, and Master Falin took out a strangely shaped crossbow.
"My lord, this is the steel crossbow, a new long-range weapon!"
…