Chapter 107： Six hundred and sixty-six plans

Many people gathered on the beach to watch the new ship test sail, among them were Bennett Todd and several of his businessman friends.

He asked the friends around him: "Have you all seen it clearly? That boat doesn't seem to have a single oar."

"You read that right, there is indeed no oar, and it is all driven by wind." Salt merchant Godwin confirmed to him.

"I don't know if the lord's summoning of us this time will be related to this ship."

"what?"

"Didn't Lord Graeman mention the establishment of an ocean-going trading company before? But at that time, there were no ships suitable for ocean-going voyages, and they have been shelved since then. Now such a ship has been built."

"I don't know how it works yet."

Businessmen chattered on the beach.

…

In the afternoon, the city hall once again convened merchants from the port of Fuland and its surrounding areas. Sure enough, Earl Graham once again mentioned the matter of ocean-going trade.

"After building the second ship, I will conduct an ocean trial!"

So Paul announced to the merchants.

"The destination is tentatively determined to be Balmo Harbor in the kingdom. If possible, we will drive southward to Horn Bay."

Balmo Harbor is located at the mouth of the Seine River, the largest river in the kingdom, from where it can go upstream to the King's Capital, Jingyao Fort.

Soon someone asked: "Master Greiman, will your ship be sold to us folk merchants?"

"Of course, the more you buy, the happier I will be. But it must be after meeting the needs of the army. We must have a powerful navy to ensure the safety of the route. You don't want to encounter pirates after going out to sea, right?"

"Everyone can go to the shipyard to place an order now, first order first served!"

"Director Hansel of the Government Affairs Council will leave for the capital in the south in a few days. You can go south with him or send representatives to investigate the market conditions in the south."

After hearing this remark, the businessmen were overjoyed and geared up for a big fight.

In the two places of Arda and Bairdin under the administration of the Government Council, more than a dozen private factories have sprung up with the technical support of Paul. They are either sole proprietorships or joint ventures, and the products they produce include paper, porcelain and canned food. , and several salt farms have been established along the coast, and the price of salt in the local and surrounding territories has begun to decrease.

Of course, the private operators who invested in these industries have made a lot of money, and they are eagerly looking forward to expanding the scope of the market.

To Paul's great surprise, when he "invented" the can, because the information in his memory said to use a wide-mouth glass bottle, he followed the information, but the folk can producers actually replaced the glass bottle with a glass bottle. Clay pots are used, which greatly reduces the cost.

This can be regarded as a very good "innovation". Sure enough, the profit-seeking nature of businessmen is terrible.

In order not to let the canning factory he built be eliminated, he ordered that clay pots should also be used to make cans.

…

While Paul was making big pies for the businessmen, a military meeting was also going on in the heavily guarded naval base.

Those present at the meeting included Chief of Staff Schroeder, Navy Commander Austin, Minister of Armaments Kelly, Minister of Logistics Ron, and Battalion Commander Bryce of the First Battalion of the Army who had just arrived in Port Flanders.

"Chief of Staff, this is the development outline we have drawn up."

Austin respectfully handed a stack of papers to Schroeder.

Schroeder took it and looked at it carefully.

He frowned, and passed the outline to others for circulation.

Bryce, who was the first to receive the outline, glanced at it, and said in a trembling voice: "Is the navy's appetite too big?"

"Expand to 600 people in the next two years?"

"60 large and small artillery pieces?"

"Equip at least 6 sailing warships?"

Bryce slapped the table and said rather annoyedly: "Austin, you are not kidding me, are you? There are only 8 artillery pieces in the entire army that can really be called artillery."

Austin pointed out to him: "You have to look carefully, many of these 60 cannons are gadgets like rotary cannons."

Bryce shook his head: "That's too much!"

Austin said: "This is the result of our deliberation, which is quite conservative. 600 people, 60 guns, and 6 warships, referred to as the '666 plan'."

He explained to everyone: "My lord ordered the navy to open the route to the south as soon as possible and ensure the safety of the route. With these few galleys, hundreds of recruits equipped with only swords and a few guns, how can we eliminate those large ships along the way?" Pirates big and small?"

"The navy must ensure that four ships are on patrol, one ship is training, and one ship is overhauling at the same time."

Bryce asked: "The training is understandable. After the ship is built, it needs to be overhauled?"

"Of course I need it!"

Austin patiently explained to a group of landlubbers: "It takes a long time to build a qualified warship, but in order to be able to equip it as soon as possible, our first batch of warships must be rushed. For example, the current Hope For more than a month, many parts of the wood have not been fully dried, which will cause the hull to corrode quickly, so we need to overhaul the warship frequently. Of course, even for those qualified ships, regular overhaul is necessary. "

"Then what's going on with the 'Marine Corps'? Isn't there already our army?"

"It is necessary to have a group of personnel who are proficient in land warfare. Pirates will not just float on the sea and let us bombard them with artillery. If the situation is not good, they may run to land, and their lair is either on the island or At a certain point along the coast, we have to go ashore to wipe them out, and at this time, going to inform the army to cooperate will probably delay the fighter plane."

One reason after another came out of the mouth of the navy commander, making it impossible for everyone to refute. At the end, he added:

"I think you all understand the urgent need of Arda for ocean-going trade Once the trade starts, the Government Council will be able to collect more taxes and allocate more military expenditures to us."

"Not just from the navy, but also from the army."

That last sentence is a very rosy prospect.

Schroeder pondered for a long time, and said to Austin: "I agree with this plan in principle, but in the end, the earl needs to make a decision. The current resource allocation has been very inclined to the navy. More than 1,000 people in the army are equipped with 8 cannons, while the navy There are only a few hundred men equipped with 10 cannons, and many army officers are very critical of this.”

Austin glanced at Bryce, who was still aggrieved, and thought to himself, "Isn't there one in front of me?"

"Even in the face of Emden's threat, this inclination has not changed. Many soldiers in the newly expanded third battalion are even only equipped with wooden sticks. Fortunately, God bless, the Kent family has no plans to use force for the time being."

Schroeder stared at Austin and said word by word: "So, the Navy must produce convincing results."

Austin stood up, saluted everyone present, and said firmly:

"Please rest assured, my lord, please rest assured, the chief of staff, please rest assured, we are already working with the intelligence department to investigate and sort out the information of various pirates, and we will take action soon. I promise, after a year, the Northwest Gulf There is only one armed force of our army in this sea area."

Schroeder stood up and patted him on the shoulder and said, "Very well, in order to support the Navy's operations, the Armament Department will build a new ordnance factory in Port Flanders to provide the Navy with nearby guns, gunpowder and other types of equipment. arms."

This is really good news, Austin said very excitedly: "We will definitely live up to Lord Graeman's high expectations."