Volume 2: Empire Chapter 103 War Fortress
When Luke followed the eunuch to the emperor's study, Queen Christina was holding a swan feather pen and quickly writing her opinion on a document. Her expression was very focused, revealing the majesty of a monarch, making the officials waiting on the side dare not make any sound.
After Christina finished writing, she took out a seal from the square box at hand, put some alchemical ink on it and pressed it on the document.
After handing the approved documents to the official, he said, "The cotton-padded clothes and fire crystals for winter must be delivered to the North as soon as possible. Also, the necessary medicines and magic potions must be replenished to the warehouses in the North according to the maximum reserve.
From today on, the cost of the palace will be halved, and the royal industry will raise funds to supplement the treasury. You prepare according to the order, and don't worry about the money. "
"As you command, Your Majesty."
The officials took the order and left, and Queen Christina asked everyone else to leave.
Luke saluted Christina and said, "Your Majesty, you summoned me. Is there any purpose for you to do so?"
"Don't be so restrained, sit down and talk." The Queen invited Luke to the lounge area nearby. When the two sat down on the leather sofa, an alchemical puppet brought out tea sets and poured tea. "You just heard that fighting two wars at the same time has put the empire's finances in a very tight spot. Fortunately, you and Agatha solved the problem of the West, so that the empire does not have to face the situation of fighting on three fronts.
But the fiscal gap remains very large.”
Luke had talked to Agatha about military expenses. Purchasing war materials, mobilizing soldiers, and training the army were all big money-eaters. The current empire was trying every possible way to extort money, and the cabinet had already begun discussing the collection of war taxes from the people.
Luke said, “Your Highness… With the expansion of the city, the fight for sea power, and the support for the Western Territory, the financial pressure on Raging Waves City itself is also very great.
Now, Raging Waves City can still borrow from the World Bank to meet its own expenses. However, after the war with At County begins, the World Bank will most likely stop subsequent cooperation.
I'm afraid that Raging Waves City can't give much in donations."
Facing Luke's crying poor, Queen Christina smiled and said, "Don't worry... I'm not summoning you this time to ask you for money.
This is a quotation for war materials. Do you have any questions? "
I'm not asking for money!
Luke breathed a sigh of relief.
He took the piece of paper handed to him by Queen Christina and found a big problem after just two glances.
"These...are these alchemical products?"
Queen Christina picked up the teacup and took a sip, then said slowly: "I also thought it was an alchemical product at first, but I sent someone to investigate...it's not.
Just like the teacup I’m using and the tea I’m drinking, they’re all ordinary things.”
Luke looked at the list in his hand again and couldn't help but sigh: "Such a quotation can't be considered as fleecing, it's simply ripping off the skin.
They wouldn't go so far as to do that, would they? "
Water cup... price 100 Reichsmarks each.
Shovel... price 1200 Reichsmarks each.
Sword blank...unit price 5500 Reichsmarks.
…
Sobering potion... price per unit: 23,000 Reichsmarks.
Energy supplement liquid... price per unit: 32,000 Reichsmarks.
Great recovery potion... price per potion: 105,000 Reichsmarks.
…
Queen Christina sighed and said, "They didn't dare to use the war to make money so blatantly. This batch of supplies was reported in other accounts. Your Majesty is in poor health and can't see so carefully, so they let them get away with it.
But these are just small amounts of money!"
“Is this still small change?”
Luke was very surprised. He thought he was a black-hearted businessman, but he didn't expect these people to be even more black-hearted than him.
And if this is a small amount of money, how amazing it would be if it were a large amount of money.
Luke straightened his attitude and acted like he was learning.
Queen Christina said: "I can tell these are exaggerated quotes. As for some large weapons and equipment, especially those that integrate new technologies, they really quote whatever they want.
Anyway, I don’t understand it.
Purchasing officials, review officials, and cabinet ministers were all their people, and the empire could only pay according to the prices they set.
Just one latest-model offensive and defensive war fortress would cost 10 billion Reichsmarks."
When Qingkong was wanted in Nutao City, the most expensive one was only 1 billion Reichsmarks. One war fortress is worth ten Qingkongs, it's too easy to make money!
Luke said, "The manufacturing difficulty of a war fortress is much lower than that of a full metal battleship. My Unit-01 class battleship only sold for 1 billion Reichsmarks each. A war fortress costs 10 billion. No wonder the empire's finances are so tight."
Queen Christina asked: "Is it easier to build a war fortress than a full metal battleship?"
Luke knew that the Queen didn't understand the difference between a battleship and a war fortress, so he explained to her: "A war fortress is a movable castle when fighting on land. As long as the chassis is strong and has enough power, the superstructure can be freely piled up.
The North is mostly plains, and movable war fortresses allow the army to deploy battle lines according to changes in the war situation. Offense, defense, garrison, armed transportation, the structures of war fortresses with different functions are different, but overall they are very simple, and the materials can be steel, wood, and bricks.
The buoyancy of a warship must be considered. This means that the warship must be comprehensively considered in terms of space, defense, and power, and all potential must be tapped as much as possible under limited conditions.
The cost of 10 billion Reichsmarks is really...
Your Highness, if you give me this money, I will add an engine to Unit-01, remove a part of the navigation equipment inside and install tracks, and then it will be ten war fortresses that can go ashore."
When Queen Christina heard what Luke said, she immediately became interested: "Can the Unit-01 battleship really be converted into a war fortress?"
Luke didn't expect Queen Christina to take it seriously and look like she wanted to place an order immediately. He quickly said, "Unit-01 is a sea vessel after all, and its shape is not suitable for land combat. But the machinery factory I just built in the Cape District of Nutao City has the ability to develop and build war fortresses.
The major shipyards in Raging Tide City can also provide materials and components for my mechanical factory.
As long as the Empire gives me orders, Raging Waves City can continuously produce cheap and sufficient war fortresses for the Empire."
Queen Christina became more interested, but she asked worriedly, "Raging Waves City is far away from the North, and we have to cross the mountains. How can we transport the war fortresses we have built? The war fortresses currently in service in the Empire are all built in Saint Lun City, and then transported to the North by dedicated railways."
When he encounters an opportunity to make money, Luke's IQ instantly soars to the sky.
"That's easy! Raging Wave City has the technology to build all-metal warships, so we can build large tugboats with a capacity of over 10,000 tons. I'll have the machinery factory seal the outer shell of the war fortress, and after it's built, the tugboat will directly pull it from the sea to the northern coast for landing.
The transportation cost and efficiency are better than railways, and it can save the empire a lot of money. "
Queen Christina was very happy to hear that the City of Raging Waves had the ability to transport the war fortress by sea.
In the wars in the North, due to the terrain, war fortresses have always been highly consumable. And the high cost of war fortresses makes the Empire feel painful every time it receives an application from the North for war fortresses.
Now that Meteorite has taken action, luxury goods have become very cheap, and Queen Christina is more confident in her ability to supervise the war in the north.
But Queen Christina did not completely believe Luke's words. After all, although the war fortresses purchased by the cabinet were expensive, there had been no major mistakes. If they rashly changed to purchasing cheap war fortresses from Fury City, would there be serious quality problems?
After all, war involves human lives and national destiny, and we cannot just consider saving money.
The war fortress is definitely not what Meteorite said, it is a low-tech weapon, that is only relative to the all-metal battleship.
"Raging Wave City has never had any experience in building war fortresses. How can I believe that you can adapt to the war in the North when you build a war fortress for the first time?"
Luke laughed inwardly.
The City of Raging Tides has no experience in building war fortresses, but the players do!
The hobbies of the player group are varied. Some like to study warships, while others like strange weapons such as war fortresses.
A war fortress is an enlarged version of an armored vehicle. Depending on its size and function, it can carry dozens to thousands of soldiers. The armor of offensive and defensive war fortresses is generally very thick, and existing artillery can hardly penetrate the armor of war fortresses of the same level. Therefore, the battle between war fortresses on the battlefield is like a knight's charge, a one-on-one collision on an open ground.
After the collision, the special ramming horns can basically open a hole in the opponent's war fortress, and then the soldiers of both sides will engage in close combat.
Shelley once served in the Steam Fortress and served as the commando captain and the third mate of the fortress.
Ten thousand tons of steel fortresses collided, and sometimes the war fortresses of both sides would cluster together and play bumper cars in the wilderness. Dozens of war fortresses collided, and tens of thousands of people fought in the steel jungle. Just thinking about that scene made people's blood boil.
In the game world, many players have too much money to spend in the later stages, and some of them play War Fortress. There is even a "last base" brawl, where a group of War Fortress enthusiasts gather on a battlefield with their own War Fortresses. Whoever's War Fortress can still be started after the brawl is the winner.
In order to win, players use their imagination to add all kinds of weapons to the war fortress, such as thunderbolts, laser knives, high-pressure steam rams, etc., and then add defense equipment to the corresponding weapons.
The next step is to upgrade the power equipment, use alchemy and all means to make your war fortress thicker, faster and stronger.
Finally, floating technology became standard equipment for every player's war fortress, and ground collisions became sky collisions.
Of course, this kind of war fortress made by players is not suitable for consumption in national wars. But Luke just copied a low-profile blueprint from the mobile phone database, and it was a war fortress that surpassed this era.
Therefore, Luke confidently said to Queen Christina: "As long as the Empire places an order for the War Fortress of Fury City, I dare to promise to deliver the goods first and pay later. It is even no problem to wait until the Northern Legion is satisfied with the use before paying.
At that time, as long as Your Highness says that my war fortress is not practical, I will not take a penny.
You can write my promise on the purchase agreement of the War Fortress. "
"Okay!" Queen Christina felt that she had no reason to refuse. She was going to the North to supervise the war, so of course the more weapons she could have, the better. The cabinet continued to order war fortresses. No matter how badly built the war fortresses in Raging Wave City were, they were still thousands of tons of iron lumps. Transporting them to the North meant more combat power. If the war fortresses built by Raging Wave City were both good and cheap, wouldn't the chances of winning the war in the North be greater?
Queen Christina signed an order agreement for war fortresses with Luke on the spot. The first batch of ten offensive and defensive war fortresses, worth a total of 10 billion Reichsmarks, were to be delivered within half a year.
After signing the order, Luke was in a very happy mood.
He was thinking in his mind that according to the industrial system and production capacity of Nutao City, the first batch of thirty war fortresses could be built at the same time. Then, the production capacity could be expanded while the construction was going on, striving to reach the small goal of producing one hundred fortresses per year.
During the war, as long as the goods passed the battlefield inspection, they would not have to worry about not being able to sell. Raging Waves City relied on sea transportation, so it could buy anything it wanted.
Moreover, this thing is used for collision on the battlefield. If you lose the collision, it is gone, and if you win the collision, it also needs major repairs. The subsequent service can make a lot of money and support a large group of people.
Luke happily put away the purchase order. He didn't expect that the Cape District Machinery Factory would get such a large order just after it was built.
At this time, Queen Christina suddenly said as if she had an epiphany: "I summoned you here to discuss important matters, how did it become purchasing war fortresses from Raging Waves City?"
Luke also became alert: Yes! How did we get to the point of purchasing a war fortress?
However, Luke said without blushing, "Purchasing war fortresses is also an urgent matter. I wonder what Her Majesty the Queen wants me to do by summoning me and showing me this list?"
Queen Christina felt that since the purchase agreement had already been signed, there was no need to worry about how to change the topic.
"There are too many blood-sucking bugs clinging to the Empire. The new nobles of the Cross have lost their previous ambition and ideals, and are only thinking about how to use the power in their hands to seek benefits for themselves.
There are too many problems in the cabinet and the palace. I pushed you into the cabinet so that you can check and balance them. If you have the ability to take big actions and investigate and try them, I will fully support you. "
After hearing what Queen Christina said, Luke calmed down instantly.
"Your Highness... you had to leave the palace and go to the northern border to take risks in order to protect yourself. What can you give me to support me?"
Christina's whole body suddenly tensed up, and her expression changed from calm to nervous.
"I went to the North to boost the morale of the Northern Army. Don't make random associations."
"It doesn't matter if I'm just making random assumptions. What's most fatal is that you've crossed the line too much. Gabriel and the Cross Society are not that easy to deal with. You should consider whether you can withstand the first wave of the Art County Alliance's offensive in the North.
And we also have to consider whether that person... can return to his position."
After saying that, Luke picked up the tea and drank it slowly.
