Black Iron’s Glory

Chapter 372: Hot Balloon Machines, Bison Hunting and Weight Loss

Claude returns to the battlefield headquarters in Lanhu Town, feeling that he is not well off in his current year, even a simple grenade production would be such a big leak, even if things were resolved, but the time and production costs would increase dramatically, which would always create a sense of imminent crisis in Claude.

Previously, information was received from the Royal Ministry of the Army regarding the Kingdom of Hicks that the Kingdom had transported two formed and trained Standing Regiments to Port Vibato two months earlier and that three more were said to be in the process of being formed and trained in the Kingdom of Hicks. At present, there are four Legions of the Hicks Kingdom in the Colonial County of Vibato on the mainland of Nubian. In addition to those two Standing Legions, there is a Voluntary Field Legion of Retired Soldiers of the Kingdom of Nasseri and a Voluntary Light Riding Legion of Retired Soldiers of the Principality of Kanas...

At the same time, Claude was disturbed by the sudden loss of contact with agents formerly stationed at Port Vibato and by the fact that no information had been sent back. The intelligence staff reported that it was very likely that he had been arrested or that something had happened, that he had sent several other agents and that no information and intelligence had come back.

It is noteworthy that the agents lurking in the port of Vibato and those who later dispatched them were Nikancas, as only the Nikancas wandered around would they be unaware of the enemy. At the same time, they can find the hard-working Nikancas of Porto Vibato and get a great deal of information from the mouths of those Nikancas.

While it was stated that the Nikanchas were discriminated against in overseas jurisdictions because of their poor integrity, it had to be acknowledged that they also had advantages. For example, there is internal solidarity and a sense of responsibility towards the family. The families of the Nikancha agents who sent them were under the direct authority of the overseas authorities, and monthly benefits and allowances were allocated to their families. In such circumstances, it is impossible for those Nikantha to rebel, and they abhor the Kingdom of Hicks very much.

The request for intelligence staff to continue sending Nikantha agents to Vibato County was stopped, and Claude took a closer look at all the information sent by the Royal Army Department about the Kingdom of Hicks over the past six months. In fact, the intelligence from the Royal Army Department has basically been delayed by more than 20 days in Claude's hands. There's no way. It's a long way to go...

Intelligence indicates that the arrival of those two standing regiments in Port Vibator two months ago by the Kingdom of Hicks, coupled with the delay in the delivery of information to the theatre of operations, meant that the two standing regiments of the Kingdom of Hicks had been in Port Vibator for three months. Claude was not worried that the enemy had increased the battle power of both regiments, but rather that the enemy's movements had not been understood for three months.

It wasn't until the latest issue of the intelligence that Claude was glaring, as intelligence said that the joint fleet led by the Kingdom of Hicks had rushed off to the continent of Nubicia within two months, and its convoy of ocean convoys was full of grass, so that food prices fluctuated and rose by an average of 10% in the Kingdom of Hicks itself...

He suspected that the food stress in the colony of the Kingdom of Hicks remained unresolved, recalling that six months ago Claudeson, the smuggler from Port Vibato who wanted to buy food but was pitted by General Van Snick. Then the Kingdom of Hicks sent two Standing Regiments to Port Vibato to refuel the fire. Otherwise, the combined fleet would not have been in such a hurry to deliver food and, in general, it would have taken at least a month's rest to return from a trip like this, rather than rushing to load the food and sail immediately.

Bring in Lieutenant Colonel Anders and interrogate the itinerary of the Thunder Division. Major Anders reported that, according to a message from the Hawk, the Thunder Regiment would be back in about two days.

This time, Berklin and Muried and others not only led the Thunder Regiment, whose border with most of the colonial counties of Cromwell and Wibateau was daunted, but also annihilated several light-mounted squads from the Principality of Kanas, which were deeply reconnaissance in the Bailinganese territory, killing more than thirty people, capturing more than twenty prisoners, paying for only three serious injuries and minor injuries to more than a dozen others themselves, none of the soldiers of the Thunder Regiment were killed.

These guys are doing pretty good, which is probably the only good news Claude's heard lately. Before they got back, Claude decided to think about the motivation.

In fact, Claude always thought that the black iron shell that threw the bomb didn't need to be processed, so he could directly cast a crack out of a mold or something. But after questioning Mr. Viberon, Claude unfortunately discovered that the mold making technicians hired by the iron ore mill were less sophisticated and that casting the smooth rolled black iron casing outside was simple, but that the technique was not within the grasp of these casters and mold technicians to create the cracked black iron casing.

In addition, even if a cracked black iron housing is successfully cast, a lathe machine will be required to modify the black iron housing to achieve uniformity of standards. At the same time, the bottom of the projectile needs to be threaded to attach the bottom of the rear flare cord, which also needs to be machined...

Claude had to paint on the drawings depressingly, and he didn't paint a steam engine because he'd never seen a steam captain. He painted a hot air balloon machine, which he remembered growing up in the country when he was a kid, and the people in the village called it a fire engine, which Claude remembered as the only power machine in his mind.

The reason why people in the village call a balloon machine a fire engine is simple, this thing is fireworks, firewood, coal, gasoline, kerosene, branch wood, rice pole newspaper or something, just throw it in burning, as long as the fire can be sustained, this thing can run all the time.

This thing is not a steam engine, it doesn't need a boiler, it uses hot air to expand in the cylinder to push the piston to run the connecting rod. Claude had seen information films online in his previous life, as if he had just been liberated, and the bus trucks on the road were loaded with these hot air balloons, burning like turtles on the road slowly driving. It was said that the country had just liberated and could not afford gasoline and diesel, and that the large trucks seized had adapted such hot air balloons, carrying half of the coal in their compartments and half of the cargo was travelling long distances.

Claude was impressed with this hot air balloon, mainly because he had one in his hometown and his grandfather thought it was a baby. Grandpa once told him that there was no electricity in the village at that time. Every harvest season, he lifted it to the tanning area, burned it with a rice rod, and connected it to a grain puncher, so that the grain bran of the rice could be knocked out. It did not need to be bagged and sent to the town, saving a lot of energy and effort.

When I was a kid, I used to wash this stuff with my grandfather a few times. The balloon structure is very simple, and the five big three are very resistant to operation. Grandpa said it was made in the first few years of liberation, and it was still intact for 30 or 40 years. Of course, Claude later found out that there was a lot of trouble with the balloon machine, not that it was unusable, but that the heat conversion rate was low and the fuel was wasted. The noise was loud, the pollution was severe and it was soon eliminated.

When Grandpa died, the village's uncle sold the balloon machine to a loser for $5, and Claude came home to visit his family and never saw it again.

Claude painted this hot air balloon machine, which he was impressed with as a child, on paper, in the furnace, on fire, and then connected it to a circular cylinder. On top of the cylinder is a piston link and a tube chimney next to it.

Fire in the furnace, hot air follows the ventilation pipe into the circular cylinder, when the hot air starts to expand, push the piston link up, to a certain height to open the pipe chimney channel next to it, the hot air discharges from here, the piston link falls, and blocks the pipe chimney channel. So when the hot air expands in the cylinder again, push the piston link again, go up, open the pipe chimney channel, eject the hot air, the piston link falls... just like that... this is the hot air balloon machine...

Looking at the hot air balloon machine, which is no different from the image on the drawing, Claude thought, is this a direct skip to the steam engine stage? Whatever it is, just use it. As long as it solves the power problems of those machines, makes projectiles, holds the ace in your hand, you don't have to be afraid of how much more troops your enemies will increase.

It is true that war promotes the development of human history and the advancement of science and technology. Claude probably wouldn't have remembered what he saw when he was a kid if he hadn't faced strong enemies. At that time, he didn't realize how much this hot air balloon opportunity he had drawn had changed the other world...

Grabbing the drawings, Claude left Ward Command, got in the carriage and said to the driver, "Go to my sister..."

Two days later, the Thunder Division returned to Lanhu Town. Senior officers from several divisions, including Berklin, Muriel and Diaveed, came to Claude to report. After this tour of Cromwell and Bering Ghana, as well as their ambush of enemy LMR teams in Bering Ghana.

Claude is strange. Why would an enemy LMT be found under Bering Ghana? Reasonably, it should be reconnaissance under Cromwell, as it is connected to Vibato Colony County in the Kingdom of Hicks. Claude can't figure out why the Duchy of Kanas's Light Cavalry went so far into Beringana?

Muried reported that enemy surveillance teams were not actually here to detect hostilities, but were exploring the hunting grounds for bison beforehand.

Claude soon came to understand that, in July, bison migration on the Albato Plains of the continental Nubian summer began again, with nearly a million bison migrating from the northern plateau of the Albato Plains to the southern plains until November, when they returned to the northern plateau for almost six months.

Experts have studied that this is likely to be an excessively large community of bison who have had to travel long distances in order to eliminate their old and weak food. Because every year between the rounds, nearly 10,000 old and weak bison are hunted by predators who follow them around the herd. And since the colonists joined the hunt, the number of bison hunted has skyrocketed to 56,000 each year...

Leather products, horn crafts and biscuits were the specialties of several towns in the Bailinganese administration, which used bison hunting as their biggest pillar of return before the outbreak of the colonial war, and were popular with native traders in the Kingdom.

After the outbreak of the war, in addition to some daring hunters forming teams to hunt bison, the youth of basically overseas jurisdictions were recruited into two overseas field regiments, unable to organize large-scale operations to hunt bison. This buffalo hunt has been interrupted for several years by a firm wall clearing order issued by Marshal Michel.

Last year, the Rangers took a break, and then were notified of their return. Next, they were busy forming five reinforced divisions, and everyone was busy. After the downsizing of most of the disqualified soldiers recruited by the two overseas field corps, some organized themselves to rehabilitate their hunting livelihoods for bison, which resulted in the encounter of a light cavalry of the Principality of Kanas following the bison herd in the Albato plains under Bering Ghana, who was killed, wounded and fled in panic.

Muried reported that from the statements of those captured by the Duchy of Kanas Light Cavalry, they found that last year the Voluntary Light Cavalry Corps of the Principality of Kanas dispatched a division of troops to hunt for bison in the Albato Prairie, killing more than 30,000 heads and gaining 780,000 gold kroner. So this year they want to continue to earn this extra money by sending these scouting teams into Bering Ghana to pre-select hunting grounds and camps...

“General, I think we can kill them.” We cannot afford to let this opportunity slip away from the tortoise shell as they are now willing to make extra money hunting buffaloes after all of Vibato's colonial counties have shrunk into defensive positions, "Berkelin requested. ”

Claude laughed: "The Thunder Division has just been formed and trained for more than six months. Are you confident that you will eat this Corps of Light Riders of the Principality of Kanas? ”

Senior officers from several divisions, including Berlin and Muried, stood together: "General, we have this confidence. ”

Claude nodded. “Okay, I get it. Go back and wait for the notice. This time you have just returned from patrol, rest for a few days and let the soldiers regain their spirit and body. ”

“Yes." Salute the officers and prepare to leave.

“Mulder, you stay.” Claude called Muriel.

“Boss, what's up?” Without anyone else, Muriel regained his old name.

Claude touched his chin and said, "My old classmate, the major who asked you to help him lose weight, how's he doing? ”

“Uh...” Muried hesitated: "Sorry, boss, I didn't do your bidding, he hasn't lost 100 pounds yet...”

“Hmm?” Claude stunned. In more than six months, Boquer hasn't lost a hundred kilos of fat. How is that possible? Claude knew how much the troops were trained on a daily basis: "What's going on? ”

“Here's the thing, boss, he's only lost 80 pounds so far. It's not that we don't try to help him lose weight, but the point is that he eats too much and can eat three or four servings a person. If it's a soldier, we might be able to force him to eat less. But he's a major, enjoying extreme school treatment, and we can't stop him. Sometimes I force him to do a lot of physical exercise, but overnight he can eat all the sweat he's shed. ”

Muried was also distressed: "When I first got here, I helped him lose more than 90 pounds, thinking that I could do what you asked me to do and let him lose 100 pounds. As a result, he had become acquainted in the division, and discovered that his rank of Major was also enjoyable in the division for the treatment of officers at the school level, so he began to eat and drink. Like this time I put him on a long tour, thinking that inspecting two direct jurisdictions plus a long journey would make him lose some weight, so he didn't lose it, and his two horseback rides lost 40 or 50 kg each..."

Claude couldn't stop laughing. Okay, Boc Al came to the Thunder Division for nothing. He could only wave: “Forget it, if you can't cut it down, don't lose it. Bring him here. I have important things to do with him. ”

Muriel was relieved not to help the fat man lose weight. But then Claude told me something important was left to the fat guy, and he didn't like it: "Boss, what else could the fat guy do besides eat? I'll take care of it. ”

Claude shook his head: "You can't do it, you're in danger. This can only be done by his size and ability to eat...”