Chapter 496: Iron-armored Battleship and Steel Helmet
The negotiations between the envoys from the Royal Capital and the Executive Committee of the Overseas Dominions broke down again. In the eyes of these envoys from the Royal Capital, the Overseas Dominions have truly become rebellious. This is because they have put forward conditions that the Kingdom cannot agree to, and they want to use the Kingdom's power this time.
The mainland is facing a crisis of widespread agricultural failure and famine, and the kingdom is at war with the invading Nasseri Kingdom. This has resulted in the de facto secession and independence of the overseas autonomous territories. If this is not rebellion, then what is rebellion?
The conditions proposed by the generals of the Dominion Military Region headed by Claude were that they could nominally recognize the Kingdom of Ovilas as the suzerainty and maintain a consistent diplomatic and military attitude toward the outside world. However, in the administrative policies, personnel appointments, and finance of the overseas Dominions,
Financial, military and other aspects maintain an independent status and are not subject to the jurisdiction of the Kingdom. However, the Kingdom's Army Department can be accepted as the nominal supervisory unit. The promotion of non-commissioned officers and military rank promotions will be issued to the Kingdom's Army Department. This is just
Notification, rather than requiring review and approval.
In addition to the conditions proposed by the Dominion Military Region, the Dominion Executive Committee also proposed a series of terms for the ocean trade between the two sides. For example, both parties will also adopt low or no tariffs on incoming goods and materials. In the past, the Kingdom's local goods entered overseas directly under the jurisdiction.
There are no customs duties in the territories, and special products from overseas territories must pay high taxes when entering the Kingdom. This is also a way for the Kingdom to restrict the development of manufacturing industries in overseas territories.
To a certain extent, the Kingdom itself has spared no effort to limit the development of its overseas territories. This should also be regarded as the foresight of the late King Sterling X. The overseas territories have such a large territory and so many rich resources that the Kingdom will
The relocation of local manufacturing workshops will obviously reduce and significantly reduce the cost of production resources.
If the Kingdom does not impose restrictions on this, a large amount of private wealth will flow to overseas territories. The flow of wealth will mean an increase in population migration, because manufacturing requires various technicians and skilled industrial workers. Waiting for the development of overseas territories
If it rises, it will be difficult for the kingdom to effectively govern it. After all, it is separated by an ocean of tranquility. Too far away means an increase in variables. Therefore, overseas territories directly under the jurisdiction can still be the source of local resources for the kingdom...
.
It was only a colonial war that changed the future of the overseas territories. Various reasons and opportunities resulted in the current situation of the overseas territories. As predicted by the late King Sterling X, the economic development of the overseas territories meant that they would break away from the territory.
Under the control of the Kingdom, overseas autonomous territories can no longer be regarded as resource producers where the Kingdom can do whatever it wants.
The Dominion Executive Committee proposed such ocean trade terms because today's Dominion can produce all kinds of goods needed by the Kingdom, both in quality and price, which are better than those produced in the Kingdom. And the Kingdom has two thousand
The population of more than seven million people is a huge sales market in the eyes of the members of the Dominion. Therefore, the high tariffs imposed by the Kingdom on goods produced in the overseas Dominions have become the first target to be abolished.
There are also various commercial clauses regarding ocean trade, the purpose of which is that the members of the overseas dominions want to break the various commercial privileges monopolized by the old aristocratic families and emerging commercial aristocrats in the kingdom, such as the pricing of goods, the price of goods in a certain
Exclusive agreements in a region, etc. What they want is a product sales market and are not afraid of free competition.
It can be said that the parliamentarians of the overseas autonomous territories who are related to the manufacturing industry are the real promoters of commercial freedom. They are not the so-called emerging commercial aristocrats of the Kingdom who advocate commercial freedom.
When we talk about commercial freedom, we actually want monopoly commercial interests and do not allow commercial competition.
In this regard, the parliamentarians of the overseas autonomous territories are much more straightforward. They are not afraid of competition, but want fairness and market access passes. As long as the products of the overseas autonomous territories are allowed to be sold in the Kingdom, they will have the confidence to use the high-quality and low-priced products produced by the autonomous territories.
The goods defeated all competitors and seized the kingdom's local sales market.
Of course, in order for the Kingdom to agree to these conditions put forward by the Dominion Military Region and the Executive Committee, the overseas dominions promised to pay an annual tax of 300,000 gold crowns and a tribute of 100,000 gold crowns from the Stirling royal family, adding up to 400,000 gold crowns.
.And can provide a one-time supply of food and agricultural products worth 1.2 million gold crowns to the Kingdom, as back taxes paid by overseas autonomous territories to the Kingdom in the three years after the end of the colony.
As for the mineral resources in the overseas autonomous territories, the Executive Committee rejected the free provision requested by the Kingdom, but could provide low-interest loans to the Kingdom, allowing the Kingdom to purchase various mineral resources in the overseas autonomous territories at 20% off the market price to meet the Kingdom's current needs.
Arms production requirements. The security for this low-interest loan can be pledged by future annual taxes and tributes paid by the Dominion to the Kingdom.
It's just that the conditions proposed by the Overseas Autonomous Territory Military Region and the Executive Committee were all treasonous lies in the eyes of the envoys from the royal capital. They angrily rejected these conditions and ignored the fact that the Autonomous Territory Military Region and the Executive Committee had first forwarded these conditions.
He requested to go to the royal capital to show the high-level powerful people, and the negotiation broke down.
However, due to the critical situation facing the Kingdom, these Kingdom envoys tried their best to please and plead with each other, as well as working as members of parliament in private, and finally the Overseas Dominion Parliament passed the only resolution on negotiations. That is, the Overseas Autonomy took the lead in providing the Kingdom with
Food and agricultural supplies worth 1.2 million gold crowns were delivered to the mainland to help the kingdom resist the threat of the upcoming great famine. At the same time, this supply was also regarded as back taxes paid to the royal capital by overseas autonomous territories in the past two years and this year.
This was confirmed by the signatures and deposits of several kingdom envoys.
After negotiating this matter, several envoys from the royal capital returned to the kingdom's mainland along with the ocean-going cruise fleet escorting grain and grass. For these envoys, they had this gift worth 1.2 million gold crowns.
The amount of food and agricultural products is enough to go back and deliver the goods. Moreover, if these food and materials are saved, it should be able to enable the kingdom to survive this food shortage crisis.
For Claude and the others, sending away these envoys from the royal capital can be regarded as completing one thing. The Dominion has too many things to do now, and there is really no time to tangle with these envoys from the royal capital. Anyway, this batch of food
In the minds of those members of the Dominion, they can only be regarded as a small amount of money to send to poor relatives. The more prosperous and prosperous the Dominion becomes, the more no one wants to return to the period when it was under the jurisdiction of the Kingdom.
At this time, Claude went to the Port of Patres in Robido State to discuss with Master Bird the finalization of the first batch of iron-clad ocean-going battleships. After three sea trials of iron-clad ocean-going ships, Master Bird finally
It is admitted that the pictures of ironclad battleships that Claude drew for him still make some sense. He canceled the gun windows under the deck and installed the heavy forward-loaded naval guns, and enlarged the bottom tank and the part below the waterline to stabilize the ship.
body.
However, the final shape of the battleship seemed to Claude to be a little oval and not slender enough. The most important thing was that Master Bird was unwilling to cancel the three masts on the battleship. His reason was that in case the black stones loaded at sea burned.
If the speed is too low, then the warship can only rely on sails for power to travel on the sea. Even if the speed is very slow, it can still retain the hope of returning to the harbor...
Forget it, Claude doesn't want to compete with Master Bird in these aspects. After all, Master Bird also became a monk halfway and learned about battleship design. Those who were with him were designers of sailing battleships. The iron-clad battleship design they completed was always
It is inevitable that it will bear the shadow of sailing ships. Claude can only hope that after the first batch of iron-clad battleships are launched, they will slowly improve and become better in the future.
The first batch of finalized iron-clad warships totaled six. They were all imitations of ocean-going light cruising three-masted sailing warships, which were defined by Claude as destroyers. Six medium-sized naval guns were installed on the ships, which were enlarged versions of the new infantry light field artillery.
. Four at the front, two at the back, and three fixed-mounted light infantry field artillery on both sides.
During the sea trial, the effective range of the medium-sized naval guns was 1,800 meters to 2,000 meters, and the effective range of the light naval guns on both sides was about 1,200 meters. In the current naval battle mode, the sail warships are two to three hundred meters apart.
The era of using muzzle-loaded naval guns to blast each other, and then gradually getting closer to joining the gang and killing with swords, has been advanced for countless years. The only worry is that naval artillery battles require the best gunners to aim at the enemy warships with their eyes.
, whether the hit is successful or not depends more on experience. Claude is not yet capable of making any aiming instruments for naval artillery warfare...
As the admiral of the ocean cruising fleet of the overseas dominions, Murield fell in love with the iron-clad battleships after a sea trial on the iron-hulled ocean-going ships. He told Claude that it didn't matter whether the enemy warships could be hit in the artillery battle.
, the enemy can't hit his own iron-clad warships anyway. Besides, if the cannonballs can't hit, why are you worried about hitting and sinking the enemy's warships? These thick iron-shelled warships can completely dominate the sea, and there is no problem in a fight with ten.
The Port of Patres in Robido State has now become the largest shipbuilding base in the overseas autonomous territories. In order to cooperate with the manufacturing of armored warships, the five generals of the autonomous military region gathered many congressmen and invested in the nearby East Mosilaga Mountain.
A large iron ore refining workshop specializes in manufacturing rust-proof iron armor and marine stainless iron plates needed for armored warships. For this purpose, two rune mages were specially hired with high salaries and benefits to study how to produce large-scale navigation materials.
Metal iron plates and special steel plates with anti-corrosion, waterproof and anti-rust functions...
In the long-range planning of the overseas autonomous military regions, an ocean-going iron-clad fleet consisting of more than 40 iron-clad warships will be established in the future, as well as more than 100 ocean-going iron-hulled transport ships, with a total investment of 12 million
It will be completed in ten years, with an investment of only 1.2 million gold crowns per year. Therefore, the large iron ore refining workshop has very good investment prospects. After the formation of the armored fleet and the transport fleet, it is expected that three
It takes four years to earn back all investment costs in ocean trade transportation.
It can only be said that the armored battleships of this era were still in a very crude and rough structure, and they all resembled the construction layout of sailing battleships. If Claude had not insisted, Master Bird even wanted to cancel the water-proof tank in the bottom tank.
Design. The reason is very simple. He believes that sailing wooden-hulled warships need to have a water-proof tank structure in the bottom tank because wooden-hulled sea-going ships are not strong. And the iron-clad warships they built have such thick iron plates welded together as a whole.
Strong enough to ensure no leakage...
Fortunately, Claude finally convinced him that there was no waterproof tank. If a hole was broken at sea and water leaked, the ship would sink faster, even if it took an extra month to install the waterproof tank in the bottom tank.
The construction period is also worthwhile. Master Bird originally planned to complete these six so-called ironclad destroyers within four months, and then design and build an ironclad as big as a second-class five-masted ocean-going sailing battleship named cruiser by Claude.
Battleship.
By the time Claude returned to Lanhu City, it was already January of the 599th year of the Holy Light Calendar. It wasn't that Claude didn't want to go back to Lanhu City for the New Year's Eve, but that Sheila had become a little naughty and knew that Ke
If Lord went back, he would definitely go back to the Field Manor to spend the New Year's Eve with his mother and wife Kefni, leaving her alone and deserted. So she pestered Claude and insisted that she liked the sea and would go for a walk on the beach every day.
, forcing Claude to stay in Port Patres and spend the New Year's Eve with her.
In the end, Claude accompanied Sheila on the beach in Port Patres for more than two months in the cold wind. After the New Year's Eve, Sheila was almost done staying there and was tired of eating seafood. Then she and Clod
De returned to Lanhu City. Of course, Sheila also knew that Claude was obedient to her because she had not seen him for more than ten years and felt guilty, so she drove Claude away after returning to Squirrel Manor in the western suburbs.
Went home.
The New Year's Eve and New Year's Eve at Field Manor were really deserted. Basically, few people came to visit. Even the ladies who were very close to their mother and Caifuni came to the door in a hurry to deliver gifts and said they had something to do.
After saying goodbye and leaving, the mother and Kaifani were particularly uncomfortable. The mother, in particular, had a lot of words to say but no one listened carefully, which made her very unhappy.
"Why did you come back just now?" The mother blamed all this on Claude, thinking that it was because he was not at home that the guests did not come to the door.
Claude replied that he was busy with military affairs and couldn't get away from it.
But my mother complained that the colonial war was over, how could you do so many things, and you didn’t need to go to the battlefield, so why not take time to stay at home for two days? Then you might as well resign from this position...
Claude could only smile bitterly, unable to explain clearly to his mother. She often used her deceased father as an example, saying that when Mr. Morsant was the administrative director of White Deer Town, he had so many official duties to handle, but he still returned home every night.
At home, we entertain guests at home from time to time.
At that time, the Field family was so prosperous in White Deer Town. When I went to town to buy things, everyone would give me face, either at a discount or selling them at a reduced price. Unlike Claude, he had become a general and had to travel around. He didn’t have much time in a year.
At home, he is not as good as his deceased father, Mr. Morsan.
Probably the only mother in the world would compare Claude, the general with the highest military power in the overseas dominions, with his late father, Mr. Morsan, who was the town administrator, and she would conclude that Claude was not as good as his father, Morsan.
Sir's judgment. Claude looked at Kaifuni and wondered if she had told her about Sheila in front of her mother, so her mother deliberately talked about her not going home in order to beat herself up. But Kaifuni acted very
Normally, Claude took off his military uniform and put on casual clothes at home...
As soon as Claude came home, someone came to visit him. It was Mr. Veblen who brought his wife as usual. Mother was very happy that she finally had someone to talk to, so she took Mr. Veblen's wife to drive them away.
Went to the gossip tea party. And Mr. Veblen came to tell Claude the good news, because the Lanhu City military industry he was in charge of finally produced its own flagship product, and Claude provided creative soldier helmets.
Mr. Veblen brought a sample. The helmet was somewhat oval in shape, with a peak on top. Four small holes were drilled on the raised edges on both sides of the helmet, which were used to tie the lining inside. With the lining,
, there is no need to put the helmet directly on the head, so that a bullet or shrapnel hitting the helmet will not cause a broken neck bone and severe concussion. This is the task Claude gave to Mr. Veblen, and now he finally
Done.
But what Claude didn't understand was why there was a peak on the top of the helmet?
Mr. Veblen explained that several technicians in the military industry felt that the bare helmet looked unsightly. After adding a peak, they could put on tassels or something like that during the review, which would make it look more powerful...
Claude could only shake his head. A steel helmet is a steel helmet. It provides head protection for soldiers during battle. It can effectively prevent matchlock gun fire and shrapnel attacks from grenades in this era. It is the biggest function. There is no need to make it so fancy.
.Getting a peak and putting on a tassel makes the helmet lose its practicality. On the battlefield, if soldiers want to drink hot soup and cook something to eat, they can use the helmet as a pot or a ladle in a basin during their free time in battle.
Water comes. Adding an extra peak is equivalent to punching a hole in the top of the helmet, and these practical functions are gone.
If Claude had not seen the statistical report on the cause of death of soldiers killed in battle, he would not have thought of asking Mr. Veblen to make some steel helmets. Because that statistical report said that 60% of the causes of death of soldiers killed on the battlefield were due to
He was hit in the head by a gun or shrapnel and died on the spot, so Claude then thought of asking Mr. Veblen to make a steel helmet.
"Remove the spire, and there should be no holes on the top of the helmet." When Claude explained the practicality of the helmet, Mr. Veblen suddenly realized it, and he immediately followed suit.
"Tomorrow, take these helmets to the theater headquarters and let General Bolognik and the others take a look. If they pass the inspection, then we will place an order to manufacture 200,000 helmets to equip the two legions of the military region. As for whether the local troops want them
We have to think about equipping the steel helmet again." Claude thought for a while and then said: "After the production of this steel helmet, you can try to make the engineer shovel I drew for you last time. These equipment will soon become our
The standard equipment of the military region troops is very profitable..."