Volume 1: The Rise of Elanhill Chapter 0022 Scam
From the very beginning, Chris was worried about the training of soldiers. On the one hand, his troops were powerful enough to crush any army in the mortal world since the day they were born, but on the other hand, his troops were built on the basis of traditional ancient armies.
Those cold weapon troops armed with swords, spears, swords and halberds could never be a match for his troops: as long as modern howitzers launched an attack, no cold weapon troops could withstand the hellish bombardment head-on.
But it was not easy to get the troops who were originally armed with swords, spears, and halberds to accept those hot weapons. The qualified veterans could not understand those new weapons, and the recruits did not have the tenacity of the veterans.
What made Chris even more depressed was that this world had not only cold weapon troops, but also magic troops that he had no way to refer to and compare their attacks.
Therefore, the fighting methods that appear in novels, which can rely on the advantage of weapons to crush the enemy all the way, will not work in this world - in the next war, the enemy may have terrible creatures such as dragons or magicians, so Chris feels that he has no reason to be arrogant just because he is armed with a few cannons.
Once his troops come into conflict with the Magic Empire's army, things will have to be re-evaluated. At least, Chris, who has watched countless movies, feels that weapons from the World War II era may not be able to shake the dragons and advanced magic.
At least from his perspective now, although he controls a principality at this moment, he has to pay a large amount of taxes and is responsible for the development of three cities - the burden on his shoulders is heavier, and more and more people will covet his wealth.
What was beyond his expectation was that the person who coveted his wealth came too quickly, and was an untouchable presence from the beginning.
"If we confront General Zorn now, things will immediately become complicated." In another meeting room, Des frowned and said, "Even if I take the money and leave for Alante now, it will be too late."
"Yes, we can't delay that long. They have already given me an ultimatum." Chris leaned back in his chair depressedly and said to several retainers who came to give him advice: "I proposed the conditions for raising taxes, and they said that 20,000 gold coins can be deducted... If I don't agree, they will leave immediately..."
"Alas..." Deans shook his head, sighed and said, "Now our defense depends on these twenty or so cannons..."
Since the establishment of the Principality of Elanhill, Seris has only produced two cannons. In addition to 20 90mm caliber cannons that were almost entirely handmade, there are only two new 75mm caliber infantry guns.
There are many reasons for this situation. On the one hand, Chris decided to abandon the wrong development policy of manually making weapons and put the focus of improving military strength on cultivating military talents.
Another reason is that because of the steady development strategy of economy and industry first and military later proposed by Mr. Gurlo, Seris is slowly and steadily developing its own industrial system and is not in a hurry to produce more weapons and equipment.
Of course, the most important reason is actually because: everyone previously judged that 22 cannons could meet the current defense requirements , and there was no need to rush and waste time to expand armaments.
But now, General Zorn has taken a fancy to these new weapons and has clearly mentioned them in his orders. He also emphasized that they are new weapons that can explode at a distance and are comparable to magic...
In this way, not only would their own strength be weakened, but the military strength of Ailan Hill might also be leaked in advance. Whether it was leaked to the Alante Empire or the Holy Demon Empire, it would not be good news for Ailan Hill.
"It's not that there is no solution. We can produce some inferior artillery and send them to the Alante Empire, and keep the good ones for ourselves..." This is the only feasible solution Chris could think of.
In fact, he had been thinking about whether he should use some junk like "Red Cannon" or "Godly General" to send away these country bumpkins from the Alante Empire.
"It's not that this method isn't possible, but are you sure... you can get worse weapons and still make sure those people can't figure out anything?" Des asked after finally coming up with a solution.
Chris nodded and replied, "Sure, I can make something with the same principle... It's not that hard. With our current production capacity, we won't lose much money if we make a large batch and send them to these couriers."
"It's just..." He thought for a moment and continued to say to Des, "Once they really see our artillery, the junk we sent to the Alante Empire will be immediately exposed. And the conflict between us and the Alante Empire will be completely irreconcilable."
Des thought seriously for a while, then said, "As long as we can buy about a year, we can meet your industrial production requirements and equip enough troops... By that time, we won't have to worry about the Alante Empire anymore."
From the day it accepted Desel's funding, the Alante Empire was destined not to be Chris's ally. So whenever possible, Chris didn't mind blackmailing this corrupt old power.
After discussing the countermeasures, Chris spent an hour to come up with a blueprint of the red cannon. Then he took Des out of the castle and came to a metallurgical factory outside the city.
"Come on, cast a sample according to this drawing!" Chris spread out the drawing and handed it to an old craftsman.
The craftsman took a look at the blueprint, nodded, and started to work. Smith, who was watching the excitement, came over, bowed deeply to Chris, and then looked down at the blueprint.
Then, he was stunned. He didn't know what this thing was used for, but he was talented and could tell how heavy it was at a glance! Although it was not high-quality steel, it was really a whole piece of iron!
Smith swallowed his saliva, looked at Chris, lowered his voice and asked: "Your Majesty...what is this thing...used for?"
"This is a cannon..." Chris had a sly smile on his face, like a liar who had gotten an advantage.
Smith hadn't reacted yet. He frowned and looked at the blueprint. He asked in confusion, "Don't we already have 75mm infantry guns?"
Des was completely impressed by Smith, who had just been appointed by Chris as the Minister of Industry of the Principality of Ailanhill. He reminded him in the smallest voice: "Give the Alante Empire the cannons..."
When he said this, Smith finally understood. He nodded and looked at the blueprint again: "No problem! Although it will cost a lot of materials, we can make it in a few days at most!"
Casting cannons is not an easy task. If it weren't for the incredible performance of Cerist iron, which can greatly improve the performance of ironware when added to ordinary iron materials, the cannon casting process alone would have taken a much longer time.
Modern technology is actually faster in producing cannons, while ancient iron and copper cannons require casting with clay molds, which makes the process slower.
"It's a good idea to finish them together!" Chris took out a few other blueprints from his pocket and handed them to the chief craftsman Smith: "Since the other party wants shrapnel, we can only give the shrapnel to them..."
"And the formula for gunpowder! If we want it, we'll give you the whole set!" Dess echoed with a smile on his face, "We'll even give them the blueprints for the artillery! Ailanhill's loyalty to the Alante Empire is clear as day and night!"
Muzzle-loading guns and incendiary shrapnel were invented very early, and they were not very powerful and were very unsafe. However, they were indeed better than the catapults of this era, so Chris was indeed offering a "new weapon".
After hearing Des's reminder, Chris quickly found some paper and pen and drew out the instruction manual for the muzzle-loading cannon in the workshop - if he was going to do a show, he had to do it in full, and he decided that this time, he must give the greedy Alante a big gift!
The next day, Chris met with the Alante messenger for the second time and put the blueprints in front of him: "The new weapons are too big and heavy. I believe it is not convenient for you to carry them all the way back. Here are the blueprints and instructions for use of the weapons. Please take them back to Alante."
"This..." The confused messenger didn't know what Chris was up to. After taking the drawings, he didn't know what to say for a moment.
He hesitated for a moment, then said, "I must bring a sample back! No matter how inconvenient it is, this cannot be changed..."
"That's no problem!" Chris nodded in agreement, seeming to be honest and not having any bad intentions at all: "I have had someone drag a cannon back from the border... You just have to wait a few more days and you can see the real thing!"
A few days later, the Alante messenger who saw the sample believed what Chris said: the sample cannon was huge and heavy. The people he brought were not enough to transport the two cannons.
As if he had taken a reassurance pill, the messenger no longer doubted whether Chris had evil intentions. After watching the artillery test firing performance, he was completely stunned by the power of the artillery.
The messenger who felt the power of fire immediately rushed back to his residence, packed up the blueprint Chris gave him, took the sample cannon, and headed south at the fastest speed, leaving Seris City and returning to the Alante Empire...
