Black Iron’s Glory

Chapter 591: The West Coast of Changing Wind and Clouds

“I am sorry, Marshal, that we have not reached a procurement agreement with the Special Envoy of the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands.” General Mantewitt, the head of the Equipment Department, and General Condwalker, the head of the Military Administration Department, stood before Claude and reported this bad news to him.

"We tried to get the envoy to purchase a second-generation Ironclad warship, but he refused," added General Kandwerk, head of the Ministry of Military Affairs. Even if we told him that if he purchased a second-generation warship, the delivery date would be one year in advance, but after thinking about it, he rejected our offer and insisted on purchasing all first-generation Ironclad warships... "

“From his personal officers, the Naval Intelligence Department received this information. This time, the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands sent envoys to procure 48 Ironclad warships, which were earmarked for conversion, with so much disbursement, and did not provide the envoys with additional funds to enable them to procure second-generation Ironclad warships to try out their operational distinction and effect from the generation of Ironclad warships.

And most importantly, the Ironclad warships from our autonomous shipyards, all without artillery, have left their turrets on the deck. So in the eyes of this envoy, these purchased Ironclad warships will have to install their own artillery, which has no effect on the enemy Ironclad warships, so it doesn't matter whether they are Generation 1 or Generation 2 Ironclad warships. ”

The head of the Equipment Department, General Mantewitt, was able, through the Naval Intelligence Service, to hear some insights from the Special Envoy for Procurement from the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands, because even large and heavy guns developed by the Autonomous Territories themselves on one or two generations of Ironclad warships could not achieve the result of more than a dozen shells sinking another, even if the target was a generation of Ironclad warships.

Only the replacement of new guns and armour-piercing shells on third-generation Ironclad warships developed by autonomous military regions poses a deadly threat to the first- and second-generation Ironclad warships. Now the Autonomous Territory has several shipbuilding base workshops in the port of Vibato, the production and construction of a generation of second-generation Ironclad warships are completely free of guns, and when the construction is completed, the purchaser will drag them back to install the guns himself.

Those are large or heavy bronze front-loaded black powder firing solid bullets loaded on windsail ships, and the threat to a generation of second-generation Ironclad warships is really not that great. No wonder the Fox Islands UK procurement envoy had to have a generation of Ironclad warships, and one generation and two generation of Ironclad warships really didn't make a difference until the existing artillery cannons could be used to ensure that the ships were sunk. Even if it's fast, agile, and more resistant, it doesn't do much good. Doubling the price is the least expensive deal...

“So the procurement envoy insists on a generation of Ironclad warships, and our major workshops at the Port Vibato Shipbuilding Base are already full of battleship orders from the Kingdom of Cameron and the Principality of Leriolo, and no new Ironclad warships can be ordered in the coming year, right?” Claude raised his head: "Didn't you say that the port of Vibator was still building shipyards and building new docks? ”

The head of the Ministry of Military Affairs, General Kandwerk, replied: "There are indeed plans to expand the shipbuilding base in Port Vibato, with four additional shipbuilding workshops and eight new docks to be built within six months. However, this expansion will not be completed until at least April next year, and it will take a lot of time to install the various auxiliary shipbuilding machinery, which will be very good to put into operation by June of the first half of next year.

It is a pity that this order, placed by the Special Envoy for Procurement of the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands, was very large. It's just that they insist on just one generation of Ironclad warships, not two generations of Ironclad warships, or we can deliver the active second-generation Ironclad warships to him after renovation. That would only require modification and renovation of the shipbuilding base at the military port of Patres.

The problem now is that the port of Vibato is not on schedule, the Patres military port shipbuilding base is refusing to take over a generation of Ironclad warships, and their workshops and docks are piling up orders for new ships. If this Ironclad order from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is to be taken, construction will have to begin as soon as possible in the second half of next year.

That is why we were unable to reach an agreement with the Special Envoy for Procurement of the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands, who asked us to begin immediately the construction of a single Ironclad Battleship and to deliver the first twelve Ironclad Battleships six months later, which we were unable to do. There is also a first-come, first-served order from the Kingdom of Cameron and the Principality of Leriolo. ”

“In that case, let's simply reject this order from the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands without further delay. We don't have to, for 48 generations of Ironclad warships.” Claude made the decision, then stood up, walked to the wall, looked at the map of the colonies of the West Coast countries hanging on the wall, shook his head and smiled.

“I really don't know what the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands is going to do next,” Claude pointed at the two remaining UK colonies on the map: "Without the Ironclad, the two colonies are likely to fail. When the orders for Ironclad warships from the Kingdom of Cameron and the Principality of Leriolo are fulfilled, the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands will have to fear that they themselves will be blockaded on the Fox Islands and will not be able to accommodate the two remaining colonies on the West Coast.

The Wades Hill seaport colony, which is already the only colony on the far north end of the west coast, is the Gobi wasteland to the north, with no grass. The colony of the Principality of Federo, which was also close to a hundred miles from the desert mound, had always enjoyed good relations and should have been preserved without the intervention of other countries. However, the colony of Mount Vader's seaport, rich in mineral resources and an excellent deep-water harbour, was also a fat piece of meat in the eyes of other colonial powers, but it was not known who would eventually be cheaper.

In addition to this Wades Hill Harbor colony, the only remaining colony in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Port Loupshire colony next to the Union of the States of the City of Opsaro. Luckily, it was caught between the Union of the States of Opsaro and the colony of the Principality of Federo, unlike the colony of the neighbouring Principality of Rigliolo in the centre, which had been forcibly occupied by the colonial authorities of the Principality of Rigliolo. But this Port Loupshire colony is now also in danger of being annexed by the Union of the States of Opsaro, if the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands defeats another battle at sea... "

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland had four colonies on the West Coast, the smallest of which had been given to the Overseas Autonomous Territories, and the remaining three were located at the northern, central and southern ends of the West Coast. The northernmost is the Wades Hill Harbor colony, all hilly and rich in mineral resources, which the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland intends to use as a military base for the construction and production of Ironclad warships.

The central part was a colony of the plains and the most productive of agricultural products, but it was now occupied by soldiers from the colonial authorities of the Principality of Régliolo, a colony that had disappeared. To the south, the colony known as Port Lupusel is not far from the Pamigal National Republic, and there is only a separation between the colonies of the Principality of Vassilico and the State Union of the City of Opsaro.

The colony of the Principality of Vasiliko is half broken, while the Union of the States of the City of Opsaro is happy, preceded by a colony abandoned by the Principality of Vasiliko and a colony of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Falks, which has been overwhelmed by armed forces on land. With the annexation of the colonies of the Principality of Basilico and the Port of Lupusaro, the colonies of the Union of the Cities of Opsaro on the West Coast could almost triple. Only out of respect for the maritime power of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, did the colonial authorities of the Union of the States of Opsaro persist...

Without negotiating a production order with the Autonomous Leadership Region for the Ironclad Battleship, the United Kingdom's procurement envoy turned to the Autonomous Territory's first commercial powered mechanical workshop to place an order for the configuration of 60 generations of marine steam powered mechanical devices and propeller spindles, with a total value of 3 million gold kroner, equivalent to 50,000 gold kroner for a marine steam powered mechanical device and propeller spindle configuration. With the approval of the Autonomous Territory, the order was closed and the transaction was completed within three months.

The Naval Intelligence Department believes that the so-called purchase of Ironclad warships by the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands is in fact a cover for purchasing this shipboard steam-powered mechanical device and propeller spindle configuration from the ruling military region. This could very well mean that the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands has developed its own Ironclad warships or replicated the Black Sail Pirates, covering them with copper leather or iron armor and retrofitting them with marine steam-powered mechanical devices and propellers.

A month later, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland dispatched a sub-fleet of sailboats to the Fox Islands, off the southern coast of the Farea continent, to receive six armed ocean carriers with twenty marine steam-powered mechanical devices and propeller spindles. But what they didn't expect was that 300 miles from the Fox Islands were ambushed by the Combined Maritime Fleet of the Kingdom of Cameron and the Principality of Leriolo...

The Kingdom of Kamanlain launched two cruise battle units, twelve Ironclad warships, minus two armoured carriers filled with black stone coal, and two generations of Ironclad cruisers and eight generations of Ironclad Destroyers, or ten Ironclad warships, were actually engaged in the battle. The Duchy of Leriolo has not yet received the first customized Ironclad warships and has launched only twelve pelagic fast sail cruisers.

The United Kingdom of the Fox Islands is a sub-fleet of a Windsurf fleet of 18 Class III Windsurf Battleships (i.e. five masts of three layers of artillery, the main battleship with forty-eight front loaded heavy artillery on each side of the battleship) plus six armed pelagic carriers, plus four pelagic fast-sail cruisers for a total of twenty-eight Windsurf Battleships against ten Ironclad Battleships and twelve pelagic fast-sail cruisers of the Combined Maritime Fleet of the Kingdom of Cameron and the Principality of Leriolo...

The result of this naval battle was another great defeat for the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands, and if the rescue fleet hadn't arrived quickly, the 28 sailboats might have sinked to the bottom of the ocean. In terms of the fleet's firepower, the United Kingdom's Windsurf sub-fleet of the Fox Islands has an overall advantage.

But the 10 Ironclad Battleships of the Kingdom of Cameron are not dominated by side strikes when facing each other at sea, but rather use the power of the aircraft to chase the tail of the warships, throw white phosphorous bombs and destroy the ship's rudder compartment, making the firepower advantage of the warships simply impossible to exploit, or useless, and become targets at sea...

Only three of the 20 vessel steam-powered mechanical devices and propeller spindle configurations on board six armed ocean carriers remained, and only one armed ocean carrier survived the rescue. The remaining five armed ocean carriers were all sunk and the seventeen power units and propeller spindles carried were all seabed. This huge loss allowed the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands to send another envoy to the Overseas Autonomous Territories, this time waving a bank draft demanding the purchase of twelve second-generation Ironclad warships, which were completed six months later...

Second-generation Ironclad warships are twice as expensive as first-generation Ironclad warships, with twelve second-generation Ironclad warships totalling 3.6 million KK. Twelve second-generation Ironclad battleships from the fleet, which General Muried laughed at, were handed over to the Port of War Shipbuilding Base for renovation and alteration, to be delivered to the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands six months later. This side ordered 12 new 4th generation Ironclad warships from Master Byrd's Ship Design Center...

When the combined maritime fleet of the Kingdom of Cameron Rhine and the Principality of Leriolo ambushed the United Kingdom's Windsurfer division of the Fox Islands and the news of their complete victory reached the West Coast, the Union of the States of Opsaro finally took control of the neighbouring Fox Islands, the British colony of Port Lupusel. The Union of the States of Opsaro sent a regiment to occupy the colony of Port Lupusel and to ship three more ocean vessels to deliver officials and family members of the colonial authorities of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the Fox Islands.

As for the Wades Hills seaport colony, the northernmost part of the west coast, it became the only remaining colony of the United Kingdom on the west coast of the Fox Islands. In order to preserve the colony, the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands had deliberately entrusted the Principality of Federo, with whom it had good relations, to guard the seaport colony of Mount Des. It was only when the Principality of Federo hesitated and finally decided to send the troops of a local guard corps to look at it that it was discovered that the port colony of Mount Vader had been occupied by the Blacksail pirates silently.

It can only be blamed on the fact that the colony of the seaport of Mount Vader is a little too far north, and that even the adjacent colony of the Principality of Federo is more than a hundred miles from it on land. If it had not been for an excellent deep-water harbour, it might have become a colony abandoned by the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands. Fortunately, this colony is rich in mineral resources, effectively filling the mineral shortage of the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands as an archipelago nation.

For more than a hundred years, the Wades Hill Harbor Colony has been the largest mineral resource collection site in the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands. They are practising two systems here: slavery in mountain mines, where slaves are purchased from other colonies or groups of pirates in various ways to serve as miners and exploit mineral resources for the Kingdom. Downhill seaport is a normal colonial system, establishing towns, setting up governors, emigrating...

To be honest, the Wades Hill Harbor colony is supposed to be the largest colony of the United Kingdom on the west coast of the Fox Islands, but because of its northern tip, remoteness, and mountainous hills everywhere, it is not popular with UK immigrants in the Fox Islands. For more than a hundred years, only two or three towns have been built around seaports beneath the mountains, with fewer than 50,000 immigrants.

It was not until the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands decided to build the Wades Hill seaport colony into a military shipbuilding base capable of producing Ironclad warships that a large number of immigrants and dependants arrived here and began building shipyards and setting up laboratories and such. With the presence of four powerful sailing fleets at sea, the authorities of the Wades Hill Harbor colony could not have dreamed of being attacked by pirates.

Then the colony of the seaport of Mount Vader was suddenly attacked by dozens of pirate groups, led by Blacksail pirates, who had just arrived at the seaport to prepare a carnival night. More than a hundred battleships were either seized by pirates or burned to ashes. The United Kingdom of the Fox Islands somehow lost a sailing fleet.

Immediately after that, the Black Sail pirates swept through the rest of the harbor, all the machinery and armaments in the warehouse, the metal casings of the six Ironclad warships, the shipbuilding experts and technicians recruited by the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands, and several scribes, all falling into the hands of the Black Sail pirates. It can be said that the Black Sail Pirates returned full of colonies from the seaport of Mount Vades...

This is followed by the three remaining Windsurf fleets of the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands, which have gone mad all over the world looking for the pirate forces that attacked them. The United Kingdom of the Fox Islands did not find the culprits of their attack until one of their wind sail fleets met Black Sail Island in the Nubari Sea and fought a massive defeat in the sea.

Soon the Black Sail Pirate's Ironclad Battleship attacked the United Kingdom's richest colony in the middle of the West Coast again, destroying a wind sail fleet and plundering coastal towns to make it clear that the trend of Ironclad Battleships replacing Wind Sails was irreversible.

Instead of helping the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands deal with the Black Sail pirates, the Kingdom of Cameron and the Principality of Leriolo fell to stone at this critical juncture, a colony that seized the Kingdom of Reasonia and a colony that annexed the central part of the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands. Forced the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands to turn its back on the two enemy States, ignoring the Black Sail pirates.

That is how the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands left behind the Wades Hill seaport colony, which had been attacked by black sail pirates, until even the Union of the States of Opsaro took control of the Port of Lupusel colony and remembered a Wades Hill seaport colony. But it was only then that it was discovered that sometime the Black Sail Pirate had come back with a horse gun, and the Wades Hill Harbor colony had fallen into the hands of the pirates...