Black Iron’s Glory

Chapter 390: Don't Be Surprised

By the time the carriage arrived at the firearms repair workshop, Claude had negotiated with General Scully about funding for the construction of five castles in the Cromwell and Bering Ghana jurisdictions, nothing more than deducting 60 per cent of the gold and silver mine output.

However, in order not to provoke the Kingdom's treasury, General Scully proposed a tentative three-year period, that is, to use the deductible gold and silver ore output for construction costs over the next three years, and return it to the Kingdom's treasury after three years, so that all sides can account for the past...

As far as mining and business associations are concerned, 60 per cent is divided into 55 per cent, and half of the gold and silver ore produced is handed over annually to the theatre. So they get 10 percent more each year, they get rid of the cost of escorting gold and silver ingots over long distances, and they work with Claude to calculate 60 percent of the gold and silver production that they hand over for free.

Claude drilled out of the wagon and found the wagon parked at the entrance of a valley, which had to be checked by a forward post. General Skerry also stepped out of the carriage, introducing that the security of the firearms repair workshop was under the responsibility of a guard battalion under the command of the theatre, which was staffed with a guard squadron that required inspection and registration.

A lieutenant with two black star stamps hurried over, saluting in front of both General Claude and General Scully, while ordering his guards to immediately remove the roadblock and place the carriages of the two generals and their attendants in the valley. Claude waved to let the carriage in first, and he was ready to walk around with General Scully, in the carriage for about three hours, just in need of movement.

General Skerry said that the firearms repair workshop was set up here, mainly on the nearby hilltop lake, with plenty of water, with a slight renovation to form an artificial waterfall, with enough drop height to power the repair workshop's hydraulic machinery and guarantee that the workshop could forge ancillary devices other than the barrel.

The valley looks large, with an estimated area of 30 to 40 acres, and the ground has undergone initial manual finishing and is flat. A lot of bungalows were built in the middle of the valley and near the edge of the cliff, and a stone wall over two metres high surrounded all the houses. At the gates of the stone wall, there were also four guard soldiers on duty.

“Over there is the firearms repair workshop.” General Scully said.

Claude heard rumbling machines coming from the gun repair workshop, but didn't hear the waterfall splash. Looking up, he saw more than a dozen half-metre diameter cast iron pipes hanging from the cliff and falling straight from the top of the cliff onto the top of the bungalow at the bottom of the cliff.

“That's a flood power line.” General Scully saw the cast iron pipe hanging from the top of Claude's notable cliff, and introduced it: "This is coming from the top lake to the bottom, and using this water lag to power the hydro-mechanical inside the bungalow below...”

“Stunning...” Claude exclaimed, not expecting people in the world to use water so much. He thought it was using the falls to drive the wheel structure of the mill to run the machine, and he couldn't even look at a waterfall, but using this cast iron pipe to take full advantage of the falls.

General Scully smiled: “What's so amazing is that the gun factories in the kingdom are really shocking and amazing compared to this gun repair factory. I went to the second largest gun base in the kingdom on official business, the Valencia Union Gun Workshop. The waterfall is more than a thousand meters apart, and the cast iron plumbing is two meters thick. It is said that the water flows straight down and drives thousands of tons of forged and pressurized machinery to forge the unique and superior barrel of guns in our kingdom and produce the most advanced firearms in the entire Farea continent..."

Forget it, Claude didn't want to argue with General Scully about the advanced nature of the fireline gun. He pointed to the gun repair workshop in front of him: "Are we going in? ”

“No," General Skerry shook his head, pointing to the other side: “We went there and the new director was once a famous firearms master in the East, who was awarded the title of Count Emeritus by the Kingdom. After taking office, he built his own firearms laboratory, where he spent most of his time doing his own tests. ”

Following General Scully's direction, Claude found a sparse little forest on the other side of the valley, with a three-story wooden villa hidden in the woods and a row of four logs. The environment is nice, with green grass in the small woods, but what seems somewhat uncoordinated is that the exterior walls of the log bungalow seem to show signs of smoke burning.

“The new director, who also lived in a firearms repair workshop, only accidentally burned the laboratory twice during his experiments, prompting a strong protest by the inspector that his experiments posed a danger to the firearms repair workshop. Finally, I sent someone to build him a home and a lab here, which calmed the contradiction between them.” General Skerry said as he walked.

"How do I feel about you taking good care of this gun repair shop manager," said Claudette. ”

General Scully laughed: "Because this firearm master I am also famous for a long time, one of my subordinates was very close to his daughter. So help me when you can, lest my former subordinate complain that I didn't take care of them..."

So Claude didn't think much of it, so he continued to follow General Scully to that wooden villa. Through the woods, you can see a teenage boy sitting under an oak tree in a gray shirt and a vest on the outside.

“Hey, little Mark, where's your grandfather and your mother?” General Skerry was very friendly and greeted the little boy.

The little boy looked up amazingly and saw Claude and General Scully walking, happily jumping up: "Uncle Scully, what are you doing here? ”

As the distance between the two sides approached, Claude suddenly felt a palpitation. He looked at the little boy, looked familiar, but could not remember where he had seen him.

“Grandpa should be taking a nap. He's about to wake up. Mom's in the lab.” The little boy said.

“Uncle went to your grandfather, you called your mother, and today a guest came to the door.” General Skerry touched the little boy's head.

The little boy looked at Claude curiously: "Is he a guest? His shoulder stamp is the same as yours. He's also a general? ”

“Haha, he's not only a general, he's also the chief commander of the war zone, he's the boss of uncle, even uncle has to do what he says. He came to visit your grandfather today. Well, call your mother. ”

The little boy jumped to his mother.

Claude looked back at the shadow and was confused: "Scully, is this little boy the grandson of the director? But we came to visit his grandfather, and that's because of the number of barrels he lost in the test, why did you ask him to call his mother? ”

“The reason is simple," replied General Skerry, "is that it is not the supervisor who wears out the barrel, but his daughter, the mother of this little boy. She is also the honorary Baron of the Kingdom seal, and like her father, she is also a master of firearms. Because the family was the only three of them, she accompanied her father to the war zone to take up the position of director of the firearms repair workshop. ”

“It turns out that fathers and daughters are gunmasters, which is a rare family heirloom.” Claude praised: “It's just that she's lost more than 800 barrels in six months and a little too many, and I'm curious what kind of experiments she's doing...”

“I don't know about that either, but I once heard her father say that she is now inventing a brand new kind of gun, a completely different kind of gun from a traditional fireline gun.” General Skerry pointed to the cabin in front of him and said, "Let's not hang around here, let's go inside. You can ask the Baroness yourself if you're curious. ”

Soon, in the wooden lobby, Claude met the new director of the firearms repair workshop, General Scully's Gun Master.

“Hello, General, welcome. I'm Librevide. Miloski, the new head of the firearms repair workshop.” This is an old man in his sixties with white hair and black framed crystal glasses on his nose. Older but spiritual, he has a gentle and gentle temperament and feels approachable.

Claude suddenly became fond of the old man because he noticed that the old man had not reported the title of Honorary Count of his kingdom, not knowing whether he had deliberately ignored it or had not cared. If he asks for the title, then Claude will have to pay his respects in advance, but now he only asks for his position and places himself in Claude's subordinate position.

But Claude was a little confused, and he always felt like he'd heard the name somewhere, but he couldn't remember it. After introducing each other, he sat down and the old man instructed his maid to serve tea to two distinguished guests. Served with black tea, only black tea with lemon chips and honey, and a few petals.

“Please taste this flower tea from our hometown, unlike vegetarian tea that your kingdom is used to drinking, nothing is added, if that is the original taste of the tea.” The old man pointed to the tea invitation.

Claude picked up the teacup and lightly decorated it with two bites: “Very nice flavor, aromatic, sweet, with a refreshing taste. But we didn't all drink vegetarian tea. I loved milk and honey in black tea when I was a kid. My brother and sister loved it very much, but my father scolded me for wasting it, and I enjoyed it. When I grew up, I earned money and could add anything to black tea at will, but I didn't have the childhood interest. Instead, I liked the slight bitter taste of black tea. Perhaps this is the price of growth...”

“Well said, General, you are young and at a high level, and you have such an understanding that your future is very promising.” The old man looked at Claude with great appreciation.

Claude was trying to be modest and listened to the voice of a woman coming out the door: "Trouble, if no VIP comes, you trick me out of the lab and watch your ass. Uh, where did you get so many guards? ”

The guard of General Skerry, who stood guard at the gate, obviously knew the owner of the voice, and said hello to the big man, Gemmy, who was also standing outside the door, and made way, and a woman took the little boy's hand into the lobby.

“General Claude, this is little girl Sonia, and she's holding my grandson, Maleks.” The old man stood up and introduced himself.

“When” Claude's cup fell on the floor, he was shocked and looked at the woman who had come in.

And when this woman saw Claude, she was equally shocked, and she shouted, “How could it be you? ”

There was a strange silence in the lobby, and Claude and Sonia, the old man's daughter, were facing each other, and their mood had not yet subsided. And the old man looked left, he looked right, he didn't understand what was going on. The little boy may be a little frightened, hiding behind his mother's back, and then spotting a half face staring at Claude. Only General Scully, the gods are still down in the cup to taste the flower tea.

“General, Sonia, you... Do you know each other?” The old man asked impatiently and cautiously.

“Turns out you're the famous Bird Gun Master...” Claude now understands why he heard Librevide. The name Miloski is familiar to me. As for his daughter Sonia, that's all the more unforgettable, she was also the first woman in her world, a dew-water affair that healed her trauma from being born and dying on the battlefield, and made herself a true man from a green boy.

Claude couldn't help but look at the little boy hiding behind his mother, palpitating and feeling familiar from the first sight, and a thought naturally emerged in his heart. In counting time, I've been with Sonia for almost 10 years, and the boys are just about the same age. She was a single widow when she met Sonia, and she didn't have any children...

“He's...” Claude pointed at the little boy.

“He's my child. His name is Librevide.” Sonia reacted, squatting down and holding the little boy, resolutely said. Is that not a confession?

Claude laughed bitterly, and he didn't think about robbing Sonia of her child: “Why didn't you write to me about something so big...”

“What's the use of telling you? You were a little lieutenant yourself...” Sonia looked a little excited: “It was during the war, I went back to Swanburg, my father was very ill, and then I found myself pregnant. Had it not been for the rapid siege of your kingdom's army, my father and I would have been forcibly sent to the kingdom of Nasri. After a year, I had a little Mark, and Grand Duke Eskilin surrendered to the city. I wanted to find out about you, and then your kingdom collapsed on the Kanas Prairie, and they said that your guerrilla camp was on the prairie, and I thought you were dead..."

General Skerry stood up: "Master Byrd, I think we can go for a walk in the woods outside and leave this place for those who need it. ”

The old man looked back and said haha: "Yes, it's a lovely day for a walk. Little Mark, come with Grandpa. Your mother has some personal business to take care of. ”

Claude looked at General Scully, and now he understands what General Scully said, that one of his former subordinates was very close to the daughter of the head of the gun repair workshop, so he had to take care of them: “Old man, that's how you pit me... since you already know why Sonia and her mother didn't tell me sooner..."

General Scully shrugged his shoulders: "What do you want me to say? I'm just skeptical. Besides, I know Master Byrd didn't know their relationship with you when he became head of this firearms repair workshop. It wasn't until I found out that little Mark looked a little like you, and Baroness Sonia had a relationship with you in Squirrel Village 10 years ago, that I was sure they had nothing to do with you. And you are directing the battle on the front line at this time, I can't yell my guess everywhere, I was just about to ask you when to come, you sent it to the door yourself..."

Soon there were only Claude and Sonia left in the lobby, little Mark was taken away by Master Byrd, and General Scully closed the door when he went out.

“Sonia, I'm sorry you suffered.” Claude walked to his lover ten years ago and wanted to hold her in his arms.

Sonia, however, resisted Claude's embrace in a fierce way: "First of all, say yes, little Mark is mine, and he will inherit our Miloski family name and not change your name. ”

Claude couldn't cry: “Well, I promise not to take him back..."