Volume 1: The Rise of Elanhill Chapter 0005: Big Deal
"A loom... I didn't expect it could be used in this area..." Hearing Chris say this, Des nodded with an expression of sudden enlightenment .
After a few seconds of silence, Des suddenly raised his head and stared at Chris. "I've decided to invest in your machines."
"Investment? That's interesting." Chris was waiting for this opportunity. What he lacked now was the initial capital, so he could only choose this small-scale expansion model: "How much do you plan to invest?"
"One million and a half gold coins." Without even thinking, Des said a price he thought was reasonable.
Chris nodded, then suddenly realized something and looked at Des. "How much did you say?"
Deans and Strid, who were standing nearby, were also shocked by the number they heard. Adding up all the projects operated by Seris City, the total value might not exceed 1.5 million gold coins.
But the other party mentioned the number as easily as if he was talking about dinner, without even any hesitation.
"Are you planning to buy these equipment? With this money?" Chris suddenly became interested in Des in front of him and asked with a smile.
"No, Lord Chris, although these devices are sophisticated, they are still not worth 1.5 million gold coins." Des shook his head and said formally.
He looked at Chris and told him his plan: "I want all your subsequent achievements. The Longtate family wants to monopolize the sales rights of these machines."
"Hahahaha." Chris laughed out loud after hearing what Des said. He laughed unrestrainedly, as if he had heard something extremely funny.
From Des's perspective, this investor was obviously very bold . He was willing to spend 1.5 million gold coins to monopolize the equipment that Chris was still on the drawing board. This could be described as a great spirit of adventure.
But from Chris's perspective, the fruits of scientific civilization in his mind are far from being monopolized by 1.5 million gold coins.
The intelligence resources of both sides were unequal, which turned the originally grand venture capital into an extremely naive speculation.
"Mr. Des, do you want to hear a story from me?" Chris asked Des patiently.
Unexpectedly, the other party was unwilling to immediately decide on the cooperation after hearing the 1.5 million gold coins. Des frowned slightly.
With money as the mainstay, the Longtate family was invincible. However, this time the same trick did not have the expected effect, which made Des feel uncomfortable.
It was a kind of uneasiness that was beyond his control, but curiosity made him remain silent. He looked at Chris and waited for him to finish his words.
Chris then told his story: A long time ago, a businessman was discussing the profits of businessmen with his father. He asked his father, "How many times can you make from farming?" His father said, "About ten times." Then the businessman asked again, "How many times can you make from selling pearls and jade?" His father said, "Maybe a hundred times." Finally, the businessman asked again, "How many times can you make from investing in the monarch of a country?" His father said, "Too many, impossible to calculate."
At this point, Chris looked at Des and asked, "You only plan to spend 1.5 million gold coins to buy a future empire... Isn't that a bit too stingy?"
"Huh..." Des let out a breath and nodded, agreeing with Chris's point of view. "If you can really build an empire, then my price is really low."
After he finished speaking, he looked at Chris again and continued to ask: "But the question is, what can you come up with to build an empire? And after you build the empire, how much benefit do you plan to give me?"
"I'll take you to see something in a moment... I promise that after you finish watching it, you will believe everything I say." Chris tapped the woodworking machinery beside him with his fingers and said confidently: "As for the benefits I can give you..."
He paused, his eyes sharpened : "The Longtate family will become the richest family in the world, no doubt about it; and there is only one voice in this family, and that is your voice!"
"Hiss..." Des took a deep breath and narrowed his eyes. Although some things were the lifelong dreams of many members of the Longtate family, the momentum was different when they were said so straightforwardly.
"I need to see something before I can make a decision." After a long wait, Des finally broke the silence between the two of them. "Lead the way."
If he had a choice, Chris wouldn't want to show his newly developed trump card to someone he wasn't familiar with.
But the opportunity before him would never come again, and he wanted to seize the capital giant Desail to speed up his primitive accumulation process.
As long as there is financial and logistical support, Chris can grow rapidly in Seris City, and then launch his own expansion plan to strengthen his strength as much as possible.
There is no way around it: if you only have ways to make money but don't have the corresponding power, you can only live under the oppression of Alante.
Taxes will only increase, and any dissatisfaction will lead to being strangled by enemies ten or a hundred times more numerous. Chris has come through time and space, but he doesn't want to put his life in the hands of others. He wants to seize his own destiny and let the world have his own voice!
Chris took Des out of the woodworking workshop and put Des in his carriage. In order to keep it secret, Deans drove the car himself. Des and Chris didn't even bring their own guards.
The three of them came to the edge of the forest, where they saw a makeshift barracks. Although it was very simple, it was well-defended.
"What is this?" Under the guidance of Wagron, Chris took Des to see a strange thing. Des had never seen such a thing before, so he asked curiously.
He stroked the black "iron pipe" lying between the two wheels with his hand. The coldness transmitted to his fingers made Des feel inexplicably frightened.
"With this, the thick city walls will turn into fragile quicksand, and there will no longer be unbreakable fortresses in the world." Chris smiled and explained to Des the most powerful weapon of war he had produced - the cannon!
This is a European infantry field gun from around 1880. The gun mount is made of metal, weighs 1.2 tons, and has a caliber of 90 mm, an unusual number.
However, even though this thing is still very primitive, it is not easy for Chris to make it: he has to find various steels for smelting experiments, and organize people to find the raw materials for black gunpowder. It was only a few days ago that he actually completed the manufacture of this cannon.
Moreover, this type of artillery and the shells it uses are basically all made by hand, and the manufacturing efficiency is very low. Chris also tried his best to make just a few of them.
Although it is a muzzle-loading version of the cannon, and although its range is only about 6 kilometers, it is still the world's first cannon, a new weapon that can change the mode of warfare.
"Excuse me, but even if you make a crossbow out of metal, its power won't be much better than a wooden one." Des said with a pout, using his knowledge of weapons to guess the power of the weapon in front of him.
It’s not that his family doesn’t sell weapons. In fact, several of the oldest business families have their own arms businesses - they understand war and even sell war, and make huge profits from it.
"Hahahaha." After hearing Des's comment, Chris couldn't hold back his laughter before he could say anything.
Two days ago, when he was testing this new weapon, he also said this to his city lord Chris. But when this weapon really roared, he became a die-hard fan of Chris.
Wagron even revised the oath of the cavalry, ordering everyone to swear allegiance to the city lord, Ailanhill Chris, with their lives.
"Please forgive his rudeness," Chris said to the embarrassed Des. "We'll be practicing this new weapon soon. You can give us your opinion after you've seen it."
Des didn't have to wait too long before a dozen soldiers came forward and began loading ammunition into the two cannons in front of Des.
They had already been trained, so they prepared skillfully according to the manual written by Chris and quickly completed the launch preparations.
As Des watched curiously, one of the artillery pieces fired a shell at a target 1,000 meters away.
"Boom!" The deafening noise made Des fall to the ground. He watched the black iron pipe spew out a puff of white smoke. Just a moment later, the mound of earth that was used as a target was torn apart by a huge force, and mud splashed everywhere.
"This... this is magic! Gods... this is magic!" Regardless of his own embarrassed appearance, Des shouted loudly as he looked in horror at the mound in the distance that had not yet completely calmed down.
For the first time, scientific and technological civilization has made its voice heard in this world, and that voice is so deafening and powerful that it can change history.
"It's not magic." Chris smiled and stretched out his hand to Des, who was sitting on the ground, and pulled him up. "It's a weapon! Developed by the Ailanhill family, a weapon of war!"
"..." Looking at the firing cannon, Des was a little bit unconvinced. Holding on to a last glimmer of hope, he pointed to the remaining mounds in the distance and asked, "Can I... designate a target?"
"Of course!" Chris took the torch from a soldier and handed it to Des. "You can also fire it yourself!"
Des took the torch, selected a target, asked the soldiers to adjust the angle of the artillery, and then stood next to the artillery.
He waited for a while, took a deep breath, and then resolutely pressed the torch onto the fuse.
"Boom!" With a loud bang, the second shell flew far away and hit the mound designated by Des, flattening it...
