Volume 1: The Rise of Elanhill Chapter 0007 Greedy People
"It's so beautiful..." In the Lord's Mansion of Maine City, Lord Ensel was rubbing his hands while looking at ten identical chairs.
"You said that this was made by that kid from the Ailanhill family in Seris City?" He reached out his hand to touch the shiny paint surface and asked the merchant beside him with great greed.
"Yes, sir! I spent 20 silver coins on each chair. It was indeed produced by Seris. I confirmed it many times." The merchant replied respectfully.
Seris had a new woodworking process, which made the Lord of Ensel salivate. He hoped to get this process and make himself richer.
"And these beautiful fabrics..." After looking at the tables and chairs, Ensel looked at the fabrics again, his hands stroking the soft fabrics.
It was an indescribable wonderful feeling. Ensel even forgot to speak. He just looked at the rainbow-like fabrics, admiring them wholeheartedly.
Finally, this greedy city lord walked out of his own little world and withdrew his gaze from those gorgeous fabrics. He finally looked like a superior.
"Very good...very good!" He nodded pretentiously and looked at the general beside him: "If we attack Seris, what are our chances of winning?"
When the general heard his city lord ask this question, he knew that he was thinking of starting a war. So he hesitated for a moment and answered, "There is about a 70% chance of winning."
Although Seris's soldiers were elite and had the specialty of ferromagnetic iron, and their armor and weapons were superior, the enemy had too many directions to defend.
"We only need to defend two directions, but they need to defend four directions. Although they have more troops, they need to be dispersed... This is our advantage." The general was quite capable and proposed an attack plan that seemed feasible.
"We will gather our troops first, and then suddenly launch an attack on the border! Seris City will be caught off guard and will inevitably suffer heavy losses." He did not pin his hopes of victory on his own troops, but wanted to prolong the war and expect other forces to join in: "When our attack is effective and the enemy has to retreat to Seris Castle, the forces in other directions will reap the benefits."
Everyone knows that money can move people's hearts. After listening to the plan proposed by his general, the Lord of Ensel immediately felt that it was a feasible option.
At that time, as long as he distributes the benefits to the lords in other directions, the Alante Empire will most likely not mobilize its troops to deal with such trivial matters.
As long as he paid the 1,000 gold coins tax tribute of Seris City, the Alante Empire would not suffer any loss. If he was willing to pay an additional 300 gold coins, his position might even be able to move up.
Thinking of this, Ensel could no longer hold back his temper: "Gather all the soldiers! Arm the peasants! I will lead the army myself to attack Seris!"
"Your Excellency is wise! Such excellent craftsmanship... those craftsmen should all belong to me, Maine!" On the other side of Ensel, his trusted retainer praised with a sly smile.
"Send a message to Lord Grier of Ferry City! Borrow 500 elite soldiers from him! As long as we capture Seris City, I'll give him half of the benefits!" Ensel, who felt that his own strength was not enough, made a decision that he thought was safe.
…
On the other side, Chris, sitting on the high platform, looked at the first generation of artillerymen who were training in the distance, and the joy on his face could not be hidden.
After making two prototypes, he improved the design drawings and manufactured 20 more advanced cannons using a clumsy method of pure manual labor and machine assistance.
With a more powerful smelting formula, Chris's blacksmiths mixed new steel with a special material, pyrophyllite, to forge a powerful modern artillery barrel.
In addition to the use of rifling technology, the new artillery adopted a series of new technologies such as rear loading and fixed loading, and the shells also used contact-type explosive fuses, which increased the power by dozens of times.
Compared to the 1880-style artillery that Des saw, the weapon in Chris's hand now has almost reached the level of around 1900, almost as advanced as the artillery of the First World War era.
Chris has improved the artillery's gun mount these days and installed a hydraulic recoil device, which instantly made the artillery in his hand into the prototype of a modern artillery.
It is precisely because of the inexhaustible technical experience in his mind that the weapons in his hands have made leaps and bounds in development.
20 90mm caliber howitzers, with a range of 7 kilometers, are powerful and quick to reload. Whether in field battles or sieges, these artillery pieces can provide very strong firepower support for the troops.
Also to serve these artillery pieces, Chris personally selected 50 soldiers from among the veterans for training, and used supplementary lessons to impart knowledge such as modern artillery dispatch and command.
What is restraining Chris from expanding his army crazily now is the basic knowledge of his subordinates and the shortage of industrial equipment. He even has the design drawings of the American F22 fighter in his mind, but unfortunately he doesn't even have an electric machine tool...
The artillery and shells made using the most traditional methods already possessed a powerful force that surpassed this era, but Chris knew in his heart that at this moment he was far from being able to withstand the consumption and destruction of war.
At this moment, he was like the Eighth Route Army during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. His industrial foundation was too weak and he could only barely solve the problem of whether or not there was food, but was unable to support a protracted large-scale war.
There is good news for him now: after all, other countries of this era do not even have such an industrial foundation!
"Ranger 40! Loading complete!" At the distant artillery position, the officer in charge waved the small flag in his hand and shouted the command loudly.
The soldiers who had been practicing loading solid training shells made of iron blocks repeatedly pulled the heavy shells out of the barrels breathlessly and began preparations for the next loading.
The shells were too expensive, and the number of people required for artillery was also considerable. Among the 500 recruits recruited by Chris, 400 were specially trained for artillery.
Each cannon was operated by 10 soldiers, including 1 commander, 1 gunner, 3 operators, 3 loaders, and two people specifically responsible for the traction carriage.
In addition to these 10 soldiers, there are another 10 soldiers as substitutes. They have no operational tasks, but are responsible for learning so that they can be used in the future expansion of the artillery.
"Sir, the news just arrived is that the special carriages prepared for these cannons have all been manufactured. Now these cannons can keep up with the marching speed of the cavalry." Wagron walked up to the platform and delivered the good news.
As a man who knows the future of industry, Chris prepared carriages for the entire army in order to enable the entire army to move quickly. In this way, he has a fast-moving army that can quickly rush to the direction of the crisis.
His artillery had a four-horse four-wheeled carriage for every five people, which was responsible for transporting food, artillery shells, tents, tools... and the standard infantry also had carriages for transportation, with one carriage for every ten people.
Because of the large amount of gold coins spent, Chris's "mobile force" was quite luxurious. He prepared 100 carriages of various models, so that the entire force had "wheels".
"Now, no matter which direction a problem occurs, we can immediately send 500 cavalry and 500 infantry to that direction. " After twenty days of hard work, Chris breathed a sigh of relief. He was now ready to deal with future battles and had the power to protect his wealth.
"There have been some unusual movements in the earth fort recently. It seems that the barbarians in the north are interested in us." After reporting the good news, Wagron told Chris some not-so-good news.
Wealth should not be shown off. Seris's wealth has already attracted the covetousness of surrounding forces. This situation is not good. The current peace is increasingly like the calm before the storm.
"Send 100 more soldiers to the north! Increase the border guard force to 300 people! We must make our attitude clear! We cannot show weakness in this regard!" Chris ordered with a frown.
"Yes, sir!" Wagron also felt the pressure like a mountain. In addition to the 500 new soldiers newly recruited by Chris, the 300 soldiers were almost all the troops they could mobilize now.
If the northerners made any further moves, Seris would need to dispatch cavalry and new troops to the northern border. This was definitely not good news for Chris, who did not have many mobile troops.
"In addition, Mr. Dessel kept his promise. He paid the taxes of the Alante Empire for us. The tax collector of the Alante Empire just delivered the tax payment receipt and praised our positive attitude towards paying taxes." Wagron felt a little painful when he mentioned this matter.
Seeing Wageron's expression, Chris laughed: "Hahahaha, the tax collector is so reasonable. Strid must have spent a lot of money, right?"
"When the tax collector left, he filled an entire carriage with the most expensive purple cloth," Wageron complained in a muffled voice.
"It's not expensive! As long as the Alante Empire doesn't put pressure on us, the money will not be wasted!" Chris, who had already felt the pressure of defense, smiled and waved his hand.
What he lacks now is not money, but time for development and manpower for defense. If these problems can be solved, then spending some money will definitely be worthwhile.
"One last thing... Sir, the parts you requested yesterday have all been made... Sir Chris from the blacksmith asked me to bring a message saying that the steam engine can be assembled." Wagron seemed to remember something and spoke again.
"Let these artillerymen continue training! Hurry up! What we lack now is time!" Chris stood up, patted Wagron on the shoulder and ordered: "After all, there are more good news than bad news, this is the best news!"
After saying that, he walked down the platform, jumped on his horse and ran towards the factory.
