Jérôme Bonaparte looked at the Secretary of State of the Admiralty standing in front of him in surprise. Unexpectedly, he would hear the news that Minister of the Admiralty Dicko would no longer be working in the Admiralty in his "lifetime".
This is simply like the sun coming out in the west!
"That's right!" replied the Secretary of State of the Admiralty to Jérôme Bonaparte.
"What a miracle!" Jérôme Bonaparte turned to Valewski beside him and joked: "Our busy minister has learned to combine work and rest. It is really a matter of joy!"
Walewski, who did not hear the disgust in Jérôme Bonaparte's tone, also nodded. Among all departments in France today, Dicko is the well-deserved king of scrolls.
This force drove the entire French Navy to achieve high efficiency and became the most efficient department among all departments, so much so that its efficiency even exceeded that of the War Department controlled by Jérôme Bonaparte.
"No... Your Excellency the Minister is not resting!" The State Secretary of the Navy Ministry immediately explained to the consul who misunderstood what he meant.
"Then where is he now?" Jérôme Bonaparte asked, looking at the Secretary of State in confusion.
After the Secretary of State’s explanation, Jérôme Bonaparte finally understood.
In order to complete the task that Jérôme Bonaparte casually told him, Dickault, then Minister of the Navy, and the Marquis Allais, assistant to the Minister, have now gone to the Vincennes district in eastern Paris, where Dickault specially tested qualified armor plates.
A testing ground for manufacturing.
"After a long time of trouble, our minister just moved his office!" Jérôme Bonaparte sincerely admired Dicko's overtime spirit. There has never been a person who served the navy as wholeheartedly as Dicko.
There is reason to believe that Dicko can make the French Navy great again: "In that case, let's go to Vincent too!"
Jérôme Bonaparte and Valewski called the Secretary of State of the Admiralty to go to Vincent.
After a period of turbulence, the carriage finally arrived at the Vincent district in the eastern suburbs of Paris at 9 o'clock in the evening.
In this vast wilderness, a deafening sound of shelling came from a distance.
The horse that was hit by the sudden shelling fell into a brief panic. It raised its head and tried to escape. The coachman tightened the reins with his strong arms, and then whipped the frightened horse hard with his whip.
The horses that had suffered physical pain finally calmed down. Jérôme Bonaparte pointed at the noise coming from the front with a gloomy face and asked: "What on earth is going on?"
The State Secretary explained awkwardly: "Maybe the experiment has started!"
"Test?" Jerome Bonaparte was a little confused. What kind of solid line could be used to use the artillery? Just by listening to the sound of the artillery, he could tell that the artillery should be a 50-pound artillery.
Artillery pieces like this are mostly used as siege guns or artillery on warships, unless Dicko dismantles the warship artillery for experiments.
After this absurd idea appeared in Jerome Bonaparte's mind, it spread like grass.
According to Dicko's stubborn character, maybe he can really do something like stock trading.
Because the sound of the naval gun explosion was too loud, Jérôme Bonaparte and others had to walk to the testing site.
When Jérôme Bonaparte and others covered their ears and arrived at the testing site, the sound of naval guns stopped.
Under the leadership of the soldiers, Jérôme Bonaparte came to the Navy Minister Dicko and the Assistant Minister, the Marquis Allais. At this time, Dicko, the Marquis Allais, and Jérôme Bonaparte did not know each other.
The guys all had smiles on their faces.
If you don't look closely at the dark circles around their eyes, they look like energetic guys.
The arrival of Jérôme Bonaparte surprised Dicko and others, and they hurriedly bowed to Jérôme Bonaparte.
"This is..." Jerome Bonaparte asked, pointing to the guy standing next to Dicko.
"Your Excellency!" The middle-aged man who was pointed at by Jérôme Bonaparte quickly saluted Jérôme Bonaparte!
"Your Excellency, this is Pierre Armand Guilles, who is now working as the designer of the armored floating turret!" Minister Dico hurriedly explained to Jérôme Bonaparte.
Jérôme Bonaparte looked up and down at the designer in front of him. He had a slender figure, black hair, and black eyes. There was perseverance and sharpness in his eyes, as if nothing in the world could defeat him. He had been fighting against the waves since he was a child.
The temperament that talents have.
"Are you from Marseille?" Jérôme Bonaparte asked Pierre Armand.
"I am!" Pierre Armand responded briefly but proudly: "I have lived in Marseille since I was a child, and we all grew up fighting against the waves!"
"It can be seen!" Jerome Bonaparte nodded to Pierre Armand in affirmation, and then he turned to ask Dico: "How is your implementation going?"
"Your Excellency, we succeeded!" Dicko responded excitedly to Jérôme Bonaparte: "Our armored version can already withstand the attack of about 24 pounds of shore defense artillery, which means..."
Before Dicko could finish speaking, Jérôme Bonaparte said immediately: "This means that the French fleet can attack the fort at close range!"
"That's right!" Minister Dicko nodded, and he said with high spirits: "As long as qualified armor plates are installed on our gunboats, we can launch attacks on the fortress at close range. Nelson's words are destined to become history, and warships
You can also have the ability to fight against fortresses!"
Jérôme Bonaparte applauded Minister Dicko and praised: "Mr. Minister, you have opened my eyes to a brand new era! You are creating an era, an era that belongs only to you! All the previous naval battle ideas will be turned upside down.
With the changes, the previous authority will be completely subverted! Seeing you, I see the hope and future of France! I see the era when France can hold the trident like his sisters!"
Jérôme Bonaparte did not hesitate to praise him. The transformation of the ironclad was indeed an important opportunity for France to overtake in a corner. As long as it could close the distance with Britain, even if it could only see Britain's taillights, it would be considered a great achievement.
Big progress.
Jerome Bonaparte's praise made the three people present feel a little overwhelmed for a moment. Pierre Armand immediately responded "candidly" to Jerome Bonaparte. This was just experimental data. He wanted to be completely successful.
It will take at least nearly a year.
"I can wait! France is willing to wait for you!" Jérôme Bonaparte encouraged them with a gentle attitude. "I hope you can continue your efforts and strive to develop warships with stronger defense capabilities and more power for France!"
"
"Yes!" Dico and others expressed their understanding in unison.
After the experiment, Jérôme Bonaparte took Dicko to the office alone.
In Dicko's office, Jérôme Bonaparte first severely criticized Dicko for not caring about his body. Dicko could only reply to Jérôme Bonaparte that he would definitely correct himself.
Jérôme Bonaparte also knew that it would be extremely difficult for Dicko to correct himself.
Immediately, Jerome Bonaparte began to get to the point that he must do.
"What are you going to do about the disciplinary action against the Kingdom of Hawaii?" Jérôme Bonaparte asked Dico.
Dicko looked at Jerome Bonaparte in surprise. He had never thought that an island country full of indigenous people would be interested in Jerome Bonaparte.
According to the missionaries' information, the population of the entire island country is probably less than 80,000.
So what if it is a country recognized by Britain and France? (In this era, the United States of America does not count as a person)
How many countries were recognized by Britain and France, but were not killed in the end.
"I plan to use five third-class battleships to cooperate with the Far East Fleet to launch an attack on the Kingdom of Hawaii!" Minister Dicko reported to Jérôme Bonaparte while taking out a map of the Pacific region and pointing to the Kingdom of Hawaii on the map: "
The battleships will surround Honolulu Harbor and then launch a devastating attack on them!"
"How many people are you going to use to capture this place?" Jérôme Bonaparte said, pointing to the capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii.
"Attack?" Minister Dicko didn't seem to have considered attacking the capital. In his opinion, only symbolic punishment was needed.
"We have used so many resources, so naturally we are going to launch a war of national annihilation!" Jérôme Bonaparte said to Dicko.
"But on the British side..." Dicko was not worried that the French Republic would not be able to defeat the Kingdom of Hawaii, but he was a little worried about the attitude of the British Kingdom.
"Don't worry! The Kingdom of Britain and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will settle the matter!" Jérôme Bonaparte assured Dicko that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be settled.
"In that case! I hope to lead two battalions of Zuav troops!" Dicko said loudly to Jérôme Bonaparte.
The Zuaf troops can be said to be the pinnacle of light infantry in France and even Europe. Every Zuaf soldier has the ability to fight ten of them. Especially when coupled with the minigun, the accuracy and shooting distance are even higher.
"You are really a lion with a big mouth!" Jérôme Bonaparte shook his head and responded: "France only has 9 battalions of Zuaf soldiers. It's not enough to give you a quarter of it all at once!"
"How about a battalion!" Dico lowered his request again.
"Let me think about it!" Jérôme Bonaparte glanced at Dicko. He saw Dicko's little idea at a glance. He wanted to use the officers of Camp Zuaf to help him train the ship-based landing force.
As the ship-based landing team, the predecessor of the French Marine Corps, there is a big gap between their combat effectiveness and that of the "Zouaf" battalion, not to mention the Far East Fleet in its infancy.
"I can mobilize two battalions of Zu'Af troops for you, but..."