Black Iron’s Glory

Chapter 389: 60%

Although the senior generals of the Overseas Territories' war zones were labeled as powerful by the Grand Prince Hansburg, the storm wave in Wangdu was too far away for them. Like Claude, he was a civilian, grass-roots officer who was seen and promoted by the Great Prince, and was favoured by Marshal Michel, who walked step by step in the Royal Army with his own combat efforts to the present point and became an official Major General of the Kingdom.

Even if he had heard from Mr. Viberon about Marshal Michel's injuries, there was nothing he could do to help Claude. The continents of Nubicia and Farea are too far apart from one another from a silent ocean. Moreover, Marshal Michel was assassinated more than five months ago, but he knew nothing about it, most likely because the Marshal deliberately withheld the information and was reluctant to distract the crowd here.

In some ways, it is the five reinforced division regiments in the direct territorial theatre that are the units of the Grand Prince of Hansburg, and more precisely, the five reinforced division leaders and most senior officers are students of Marshal Michel, from the civilian population, who join the Royal Armed Rangers, following Marshal Michel loyal to the Grand Prince of Hansburg.

That is why the Royal Army and other regiments of the Kingdom do not expect to see the Rangers. It happened that the Kingdom of Hicks had waged another colonial war, and the Rangers came to their senses and were reassigned to the overseas territories of the mainland of Nubian to resist the invasion of the colonial garrison of the Kingdom of Hicks.

It was only unexpected to all that the Rangers were so magnificent in the war zone of the direct administration that they won two colonial wars, wiping out the seven standing regiments of the Kingdom of Hicks. The Kingdom's heaviest military service, the Royal Ministry of the Army, had to pinch its nose to expand the Ranger Corps into an army, promoted a large number of successful officers, and General Michel was promoted to the rank of Kingdom Marshal.

Other members of the Royal Sterling family and the Royal Army, in view of General Michelchi's great prestige in the Ranger Corps, have decided on a strategy to recall Marshal Michelchi and the Ranger Corps, although cadre officers and elite soldiers of the Ranger Corps have been retained in overseas areas of direct jurisdiction and converted into five local second-line reinforced divisions, respectively.

The Royal Army then joined a large number of high-ranking officers with blood ties to the Sterling royal family into the Ranger Corps, known as the Real Royal Army. In fact, it cut off the influence of Marshal Michel in the Ranger Corps and, while handing over command of the Ranger Corps to the Sterling Royal Family, abolished the Ranger Corps' fighting power.

It's not that Marshal Michel doesn't understand these schemes of the Royal Army and the Sterling royal family, it's just that he's blunt, selfless, doesn't have the idea of a Ranger Corps, and his mind is on this colonial war waged by the Hicks kingdom in the immediate war zone. So since the Royal Army adopted his proposed post-departure strategic deployment, he cooperated in removing the Ranger Legion as the senior senator of the Royal Army Ministry and a clerk next to the Grand Prince Hansburg.

As for the Overseas Territories battle zone following the departure of Marshal Michel, in the eyes of the Royal Ministry of the Army and the high echelons of the Kingdom, they are already doomed victims and cannot escape the fate of the cannon ashes. Simply put, the Kingdom of Hicks has declared the formation of ten standing regiments to be transported to the Nubian mainland, vowing to bring this colonial war to an end and not to end.

If the kingdom of Auvellas had not experienced five years of war in the eastern part of the country, perhaps it would have been better to break its wrists with the Kingdom of Hicks on the continent of Nubicia. Less than eight years after the end of the war, however, the Kingdom's treasury was empty and, although it occupied three principalities during the five years of war in the eastern region, all of its territory was in full swing, requiring time and financial investment to slowly regain its vitality.

The Kingdom had also had to form three standing regiments to defend the newly occupied territory, so tight that it had little leeway to support the colonial war that had taken place on the Nubian continent. So, by contrast, the high ranking of the Royal Army and the kingdom's powerful figures are pessimistic about this colonial war, just as the bottom line they have handed over to the immediate war zone is to secure the Amphiston administration and secure the territory of the next three overseas territories.

It's just no one would have guessed, succeeding Marshal Michel, commander in chief of the war zone, Major General Claude of the Kingdom. The Honorary Baron Han Field will be so fierce. This scapegoat, originally seen by senior members of the Royal Army, took the initiative to launch an attack on the colonial garrison of the Kingdom of Hicks with his thunderous division, the mountain version of the Rangers.

Not only did the Third Colonial War destroy its three main regiments, but two of them were also the main regiments employed by the Kingdom's dead enemies, the Kingdom of Nasseri and the Principality of Kanas. This end completely changed the strategic situation in the entire Overseas Territories war zone and even forced civil strife in the Kingdom of Hicks, which for a period of six months to more prevented the Kingdom of Hicks from providing effective military support to its colonies in the Nubian mainland...

The Royal Army and the Royal High-Level realized that this was a very good strategic moment to send the Admiral of the Kingdom, the hereditary Count Algers. General Kay Osborne, who had come to assume the post of Supreme Commander of the zone of direct jurisdiction, was prepared to strike a deadly blow at the Kingdom of Hicks, seize Port Vibator, cut off its traffic and maritime destiny with the hinterland colonies and end the colonial war once and for all.

Claude, on the other hand, made clear the intentions of the Royal Ministry of the Army and the high echelons of the Kingdom through the Wangdu newspaper sent by Mr. Viberon, but he was unable to change this established result. On the continent of Nubian, even if he could soon be promoted to lieutenant general of the kingdom, he had no access to the ruling class of the kingdom, and in the eyes of those above him he was just a more courageous senior fighter.

Mr. Vibran came here not only to send intelligence, but also to talk to Claude about the business of the two joint iron mines. The success of the bomb throw had already given him a large business order, and Claude had decided to give each division 10,000 bomb throws. Half of them were for live ammunition training and the other half were stockpiled for combat. So what Mr. Viberon has a headache with right now is just how to complete the order for 50,000 projectiles in the shortest possible time.

Profitably, the internal selling price of a projectile is one gold crown at a maximum cost of no more than one silver tower, which means you can earn four silver towers by selling one projectile. This profit is already comparable to robbing a bank. Mr. Viberon now leaves even the family's mineral business to others to take care of. He wants to set up this joint factory with the Fields family. After all, the profits from the arms are so exciting...

The current theatre was not one of financial strain at the time of Marshal Michel's departure, thanks to Claude's victory in the Third Colonial War and the capture of the battlefield, which had a balance of tens of thousands of gold kroner on the account of the theatre command. Now that the new Chief Commander of the theatre is coming to office in a month, Claude will certainly not leave the money on the books to spoil it for his successor. So when he made a huge swing and asked the Zone Logistics Department to procure all kinds of armaments to increase the combat power of the five divisions in the Zone, the first place was to throw bombs.

In addition to the production of projectiles, Mr. Viberon also negotiated with Claude the replication and sale of the balloon machine, which Claude called a fire engine. Following Claude's lead of the Thunder Division attack, Mr. Viberon engaged in continuous refinement and simulation of the engine at the Iron Mine Workshop. According to him, the iron ore mill now had five different types of fire engines of varying sizes, which were popular with miners and factory owners, and he now had more than a hundred orders.

Mr. Viberon hoped that Claude would not take away the share of proceeds from the iron ore mill in the course of the three years, but would instead devote them to the expansion and completion of the iron ore mill. He pledged to build within three years the largest iron ore mechanical workshop in the Overseas Territories, when it was time to sit down and enjoy dividend earnings. Claude was delighted to say yes to Mr. Viberon's request.

The next morning, Claude continued to move on to theatre headquarters. A dinner with General Skerry, head of the Department of Logistics, will be held at noon to exchange views on the allocation of funds for the reconstruction of Castle Wickham. He was walking to the Logistics Department building, but heard a loud voice shouting, then General Scully's good words persuaded him, and finally the loud voice calmed down, some unhappy to say a few words before leaving.

Claude walked into General Scully's office, and when he saw him rubbing his temple, he asked him with a smile. What made him feel so embarrassed and sad?

The two men were friendly and naturally did not see each other very well. General Skerry smiled bitterly: “That was not our war zone, but an inspector sent by the Royal Army Department to oversee the firearms repair workshop. He came to the scene because the new director of the firearms repair workshop had tested and consumed more than 800 barrels in six months. Such a large barrel drains him from this responsibility, asking us to warn the new director of this firearm repair workshop and produce a supporting document for this drained barrel..."

Claude was curious: "Why is the kingdom so strict about gun control? ”

“This is very simple, because each barrel can be assembled into a firearm, and the firearm of our kingdom of Ovieras is the most advanced firearm on the entire Farea continent. As long as you control the gun, you control the lifeblood of an army.” General Scully picked up a cup of tea: "Don't look at the five reinforced divisions in our theatre, but as long as the Royal Army Department controls the guns, the weapons and equipment, and doesn't supply us, we won't be able to fight for long. Because guns and guns are the biggest consumables on the battlefield. ”

After a sip of tea, General Scully went on to say, "What's on your mind? I know it's nothing more than to capture enemy weapons for use. The question is, are you accustomed to using advanced artillery from the kingdom, and you can see the enemy's backward weapons? Of course, if the enemy is replaced by another regiment in the kingdom, don't say anything, but you have to think ahead of time about how many people will follow you in rebellion.

So, don't look at us as far as the Nubian mainland, but the Royal Army still controls us. That's why they run only one firearms repair workshop here, not a gun factory. The opening of a firearms repair workshop will allow the local use of undamaged barrels to be assembled into new firearms, which will greatly reduce the cost of repairs and will only require the delivery of worn barrels from the mainland of the Kingdom. If, on the other hand, a gun factory is opened, it is likely to be controlled by the local garrison, resulting in its disobedience to the orders of the Royal Army Ministry and de facto separation. ”

General Skerry dropped the teacup: “It's very simple control, but it's very effective. Okay, I'm not bullshitting you. Why don't you come over at noon and let's get this straight. I have to go to that gun repair workshop after dinner to see what the hell the new director is up to. How can he lose so many good barrels..."

“Find you a meal and discuss the allocation of funds to rebuild Wickham Castle.” Claude has a serious answer: "I don't think the cost of rebuilding Wickham Castle and the next four castles in our war zone can be covered by military spending, but the Kingdom should be asked to allocate construction money. If the above disagrees, I think it is advisable to deduct the gold and silver ingots from the war zones under the direct jurisdiction. The Mining and Commerce Association is deeply dissatisfied with the fact that 60 percent of the production is handed over annually to Wangdu's National Bank free of charge..."

This was the last thing Mr. Viberon and Claude discussed last night, and he was also commissioned by the Mining and Commerce Association. Currently, the tax revenues of the seven overseas jurisdictions have all become the bulk of the military expenditures of the five divisions in theatre, since the Royal Ministry of the Army is unable to support them, so the theatre is in fact in a position to levy independent expenditures locally.

However, the production of two large gold mines and several silver mines belonging to the Amphiston-administered Mining and Commerce Association is also handed over to Wangdu's National Bank headquarters at no cost to 60 per cent per year. This is a gain valued at more than 200,000 gold kroner, the remaining 40 per cent less expenses and mining costs, less to be left to mining and commercial associations, plus the score of fairies from all walks of life, which leaves very little to be gained by the members of the association.

The so-called wealth is impressive, and the mining and business associations are also seeking ways to hold the proceeds of gold and silver in their own hands, rather than handing them over to Wangdu's National Bank headquarters free of charge. After learning of Claude's plans to hand over to the Ward Command to rebuild five defensive castles in Cromwell and Beringana, the Association sees this as a good opportunity to retrieve the 60 percent of the gold and silver mine that he handed over free of charge by supporting overseas territorial construction...

After years of working with Claude, General Scully understood what he meant and shook his head: “This is not a good thing to do. The production of gold and silver is handed over to the National Bank's headquarters, which is under the jurisdiction of the Kingdom's Ministry of Finance and has nothing to do with the Royal Army. After all, annual Royal Military Expenditures are budgeted and expenditures are pre-established and verified. However, we are in a war zone, walking with special war funds, and the Kingdom does not have the money to pay us all taxes from overseas jurisdictions.

In the meantime, we don't need to look at the face of the Royal Ministry of Finance and the Royal Ministry of the Army. Anyway, if we report on it, both of them will just reply, "No money, let's do it ourselves." Now that we have done so ourselves, we deduct this gold and silver mine production as a post-war town construction cost for the two jurisdictions.

This is a public expense, and if the Royal Ministry of Finance does not like it, ask him to peel off the Royal Army. I'm sure the Royal Army Department will blame us, but secretly it will only be good. The report was, however, a preemptive one, and of course the production of this gold and silver mine cannot be mentioned in the report.

We have to wait for the reply from the Royal Ministry of Army and the Ministry of Finance, which has no money to allocate, to deduct the gold and silver mine production, so that in the future, if they can be held accountable, they can see the reply without money. And, as the commander in chief of the theatre, there is a good chance that he will be held accountable for it. ”

Claude Haha laughed. In a month's time, he will not be the commander in chief of the war zone. This black pot can be carried by the future of the kingdom who wants to be promoted to Marshal: “Okay, let's eat first, we'll go to the gun repair workshop with you after dinner, and we'll put this together on the way...”