Black Iron’s Glory

Chapter 396: Midnight Gunshot

Claude looked over and over at this invitation in his hand and felt a little strange. The new commander in chief of the war zone, Admiral of the kingdom, and hereditary Count Algers. Didn't General Kai Osmorin go to the Rock 1st and 2nd Division for an inspection these past two days? What does it mean to be free to invite himself to his private dinner at night?

Do you want to pull yourself together, or because you haven't been with him for two days so much that he feels like he's deliberately fighting him and ready to find a reason to deal with himself? No, if that were the case, you wouldn't be sending invitations to invite yourself to dinner, a private dinner, representing a rapport, a gesture of intimacy and friendship, or a private discussion...

“Did you say General Algers returned to command this morning?” Claude questioned Colonel Anders, the personal deputy who sent the invitation.

Colonel Anders nodded: "Yes, according to the itinerary, General Algers should be visiting the First Division of the Rock today for a total of five days. But somehow, General Argers canceled his decision to conduct a troop inspection, returned to theatre headquarters in the morning, and then sent you this invitation from his deputy. ”

Claude thought about it and asked, "Did General Bolognick come back with you? ”

“No, General, I checked. General Bolognick went back to the Rock First Division.” Colonel Anders replied.

“Well, you tell the deputy who sent the invitation that I'm happy to accept General Algers' invitation to attend his private dinner on time.” Claude said.

It was late at night and the carriage made a rolling noise on the stone-paved road. Claude sat in the trunk of the car, rethinking that he had no idea that General Algers had invited him to a private dinner at night for the purpose of throwing bomb drawings and licensing.

With only two people at the dinner, General Algers set up a state-of-the-art box to welcome Claude at the most luxurious Mexican Grand Tavern run by the Langhu Town Mining and Commerce Association. This surprised Claude, who thought there would be a lot of people at this dinner, and he really didn't expect General Argers to hire himself.

The atmosphere was a little awkward at first, but General Argers was a man of old nobility and a master at regulating the atmosphere of conversation. Though he was almost twenty years older than Claude in terms of age, there was not much separation between him and Claude. Starting with a few Wangdu passages, then talking about the child's education, and Claude talking to his sister Anna about the big ranch that she was running, Claude quickly made it feel relaxed and natural, laughable, and extraneous speculation to talk to General Algers.

After a full meal, remove the bowl and serve the black tea after meal, and General Argers and Claude talk business. Claude only then understood that General Algers had interrupted the troop inspection and assessment mission, mainly because he had seen the offensive combat drill commanded by General Sevicht in the Rock II Division and had discovered the weapon of attack by throwing a bomb, thus giving full confidence in the attack on the port of Vibato, thus suspending the inspectorate.

General Algers said it was only after seeing the explosive power of the projectiles in the attack that he understood what was the key to Claude's command of the Thunder Division's efforts to wipe out the three main regiments of the Hicks kingdom and win the Third Colonial War. Upon learning from the mouths of General Sevicht and General Bolognick that the projectile had been invented by Claude, he hurled back to Lake Lang town for the sole purpose of inviting Claude, first to procure the projectile for the Guard Corps and, secondly, to obtain a production permit from Claude for the projectile.

As a representative figure in the Royal Army from an ancient aristocratic family, General Algers is naturally not a generalist. Although his military career has been somewhat volatile due to heavy casualties among his men, his unbeatable track record and title are solid, otherwise he would not have become a general of the kingdom.

He is well aware of what it means to throw a bomb in an offensive battle, which for the Royal Army is a strategic offensive weapon that reduces the heavy casualties of the offensive forces and is indestructible and pervasive. Had it not been for the identity and status of its inventor Claude, perhaps General Argers would have been more willing to authorize the production of projectiles in some other way.

Claude is naturally aware of this, and in fact, trying to emulate a projectile is simple, and getting a few pieces to disassemble makes its internal structure clear. And there are no patents in the world, like the old nobleman family behind General Algers, who saw Claude's invention throwing bombs and could produce them in the hills, simply by changing the cylinder to a circular appearance. General Algers has clearly expressed his goodwill when he approached Claude to negotiate a production license for a Chinese bomb drop.

Claude responded to General Algers' request, signed a formal authorization document, and painted a schematic diagram of the internal structure of the projectile on the spot on a blank piece of paper, with detailed markings of some of the more technical features. This surprised General Argers so much that Claude was so intrigued that he presented a bill of exchange denominated at KNK 10,000 as an authorized return for Claude.

It wasn't until Claude found out where General Argers' real gratitude was manifested that he placed an order for 20,000 projectiles for the Guard Regiment, but not the internal price of one Golden Krone, one projectile sold by Claude to five reinforced divisions in the theatre, but the high price of three Golden Krone, one projectile. General Algers told Claude that the price of one Golden Krone, which had previously been sold to 50,000 projectiles in theatre, could be marked as a trial offer, and that the official purchase would have to be set at one of three Golden Krones in the future, otherwise there would be a loss.

How is that possible, Claude? The cost of producing a projectile is around one silver tare, and the rest of the mess costs no more than two silver tares, selling one gold kroner and earning three silver tares. Now that the dropping of the bomb has proven its power and effectiveness in action and training, as well as in the drill, how can the Royal Army lose money if it is bound to buy more?

General Algers laughed and told Claude that he envied the good relationship between the five divisions in the Overseas Territories. There's no fighting here, there's no leaning against each other. Unlike the competition and involvement of the kingdom's legions of aces, such as the illness that I can't get and won't let you live, the most frightening thing is the pig teammates who specialize in pulling back legs.

A dropping bomb is priced at three gold kroners, not General Algers' greed, nor is the old noble family behind him trying to make a profit. Instead, two of the three gold kroners must be priced as PR expenses, so that all those associated with the matter have a profit to share in order for the production of the projectiles to be in the hands of his family, so that no other military workshop in the Kingdom produces the same imitation.

Now Claude has two more National Bank bills, one of 10,000 gold kroner, which is a licensing fee for the production of projectiles and can be included in his own private lumbar bag. The other was 60,000 gold kroner, and General Argers paid the full price of the 20,000 bomb throwers customized for the Guard Regiment in advance, and he told Claude bluntly that the money was for the Guard Regiment's military expenses, not for the war zone.

This time, in order to assume the post of commander in chief of this theatre, seize the port of Vibato and gain the success of the battle to be promoted to the Kingdom Marshal, he carried with him 300,000 gold kroner in military expenses, ready to spend them all in this battle. It had to impress Claude with the grandeur of the old aristocratic family. The money, of course, was not from General Algers personally, and the families behind most of the noble officers in the corps of guards that he came with helped.

General Algers told Claude not to worry about how long he would stay in the position of the commander in chief of the war zone, and this time he came to overseas, he was fighting for it. After taking over the port of Vibator, he will soon return to the mainland of the kingdom with a regiment of forbidden guards, at which time the position of commander in chief of this theatre will remain that of Claude...

But now that Claude is sitting in the carriage, recalling General Algers' promise, he wonders whether the kingdom will retain its theatre after the capture of Port Vibato. Without the threat of invasion of the colonies by the Kingdom of Hicks, the Kingdom is likely to restore the system of governor-governor responsibility for overseas territories, when its own Thunder Legion and three Rock Legions will somehow find their way, and perhaps be subject to massive disarmament, retaining the structure of only one Legion of Shelf, just like the second-line Legions in those parts of the Kingdom itself.

When the wagon was about to arrive at the Viberon estate, it suddenly stopped and the atmosphere suddenly became a little nervous due to a security order issued by the big Gemmy. Claude looked out the window and saw the guards next to the carriage sitting on the perimeter, carrying a firearm that lit the flaming rope as a state of alert.

“What happened?” Claude asked.

Big Gemmy will be back shortly to report: "General, there were just five or six drunkards, who were supposed to be new immigrants, making a mess by the road. They've been driven far away. It's okay. We can move on. ”

It seemed a little fussy, just a few drunk immigrants, but there was no need to be so nervous. However, since becoming Squadron Leader of Claude's Close Guard Squadron, Big Gummy has been meticulous in carrying out security escort duties and is subject to security regulations at all times.

When Claude came home, he routinely handed over public food to his wife, Kevin, and then fell asleep with Kevin. But soon Claude woke up with a crisp gunshot, and the Viberon estate began to make noise and the candles sparkled.

Caffrey fell asleep and drowned. Claude slowly lifted his wife's hand from a limb on herself, got out of her nightgown and came out of the bedroom. Soon, Big Gummy held a gun that lit the fire rope, and her clothes appeared untidy in front of Claude.

“General, are you all right?” Big Gummy weighs around very vigilantly.

“It's all right. Who shot him?” Claude lit the lighthouse candle in the living room, and the gentle candlelight lit up the room, relieving Big Gummy.

“Shots fired by rooftop snipers, he said, three shadows were found climbing in from the walls of the estate, he shot one of them, it seemed, those three shadows did not know if they had escaped or snuck into the estate, we needed to search the entire estate immediately..." Big Gummy reports.

“Probably a thief,” Claude didn't think so: “During this time, I heard that the town of Langhu was a little insecure, and General Shazorak had complained several times. Instead of relying on a squadron of more than fifty patrols to maintain security in a town of nearly 100,000 people, he needs to form a local guard force in Lake Lan town. But the battlefield didn't give him the money to build a local guard battalion, maybe I should try to remind General Algers sometime tomorrow..."

Lanhu Town can now be upgraded to a city. After the arrival of 100,000 immigrant families under the direct authority of Amphiston, many hand-skilled immigrant families were reluctant to become farmers, and instead took a real estate loan to open family handicrafts and small shops in Lanhu Town, so that Lanhu Town expanded three or four times. The expansion of manpower and area also poses great security risks. There are numerous security incidents such as thieves petting alcohol and fighting. A squadron's patrol police station was already exhausted and unable to cope with the security problems of Lanhu town as a whole.

General Shazorak, who is responsible for the local armed presence in theatre, as well as for local policing and counter-intelligence, intends to set up a local battalion in Lake Lan town to assist in policing and maintaining order, subject only to the selection of troops and lack of funding. After all, this is a theatre of battle. Everything is focussed on battle. The formation of a local guard force needs to wait for General Beechlin's Rock 4th Division. Oh, now it's time for the 3rd Division to be formed.

Only after the formation of General Beechlin's division came the good news that Claude led the Thunder Division to victory in the Third Colonial War. At the same time, because of the heavy casualties of the Thunder Division, pre-screened recruits prepared to form local guards were transferred to supplementary units of the Thunder Division, causing General Shazorak to die of anger. But there's no way, who makes him a local guard armed, that all front-line troops in theatre are a priority.

General Shazorak has reported for the third time the formation of a local guard battalion in Langhu Township, and has encountered a change of position, which Claude is not mindful of. Neither did the new commander of the theatre, General Algers, intend to meddle in these local affairs, but he is concerned about the fighting power of the three divisions of the theatre rock, as well as the degree of recovery of the guard corps under his command, and can't wait to capture Port Vibato.

It was not until the burglary of his own estate in the middle of the night that Claude realized that the security problems in Langhu Town had reached the point where they needed to be rectified without delay. Even his estate, the Legion Commander of Thunder Legion, had ideas, wondering how serious the security problems were in Lan Lake town.

Big Grimes placed two hidden snipers on the top roof of the estate every night as a supplementary security force for the night patrol, not expecting to play a big role tonight. The shooting sniper was taken to Claude, who said that the three shadows had not crossed the fence until the patrol team had passed by.

Just as the clouds scattered in the sky, under the moonlight he saw the three shadows crossing the wall and fired a warning shot. Then the clouds covered the moonlight, and he didn't know if the three shadows had escaped or dived into the estate. But for sure, the shot he fired should have hit one of the shadows.

Later, a small beach of blood was found near the wall, and according to the traces of blood, the three shadows were supposed to have escaped over the wall again. However, Claude personally led a search of the estate, causing the Chicken Dog to jump all night.

The next morning, General Shazorak came to the news, Claude and he returned to theatre headquarters, and after hearing about the incident, General Algers made a huge wave, allocating 20,000 gold kroner to General Shazorak to finance the formation of a local guard battalion in the town of Langhu and allowing him to fix the security problems throughout the town of Langhu as soon as possible.

When Claude returned to the estate, he discovered that Mr. Viberon had come and had also sent three black Kraut hounds so that he would not have to worry about any more thieves sneaking into the estate at night.