The gunsmiths were located in the south-east of Port Vebator, close to the defensive line that Shiks had hired Canas' light cavalry to set up at the border.
This was a low hilly area. The highest hill was no more than two hundred meters above sea level.
However, the area known as the Blackstone Hills was the famous source of blackstone in Port Vebator.
However, nobody there had any interest in mining blackstone for fuel, as there were many bushes and forests in the colony and there was no lack of firewood. One could pick up a large bundle of dry wood from the outskirts of the town.
That was why the smelly and smoky blackstone became useless.
Claude recalled seeing an illustrated book of minerals in the mining association. Blackstone was listed as a type 4 mineral with extremely low mining value.
Liboyd set up the gunsmiths there because he valued the value of blackstone. He believed that with the development of firepower and steam engines, the value of blackstone would only increase.
After being processed by him, the Black Fire Stone could burn for a longer time and provide more heat. In addition, using the Black Fire Stone as fuel could increase the temperature of the furnace, allowing it to better fuse various metals together and refine the special steel he needed.
Bolonik, Skri, and Beechlin arrived at the Blackstone Hills in late September. After receiving Claude's eagle message, they boarded Beechlin's light cruiser from the coast to Port Vebator, then from Port Vebator to the Blackstone Hills.
They didn't expect Claude to start a military industry in the colony and produce a new type of rifle.
Claude and Eiblont came out to welcome them and took them on a tour of the gunsmiths.
General Bolonik and General Skri watched as the huge steam engine emitted black smoke and white gas, making loud noises as it pushed the pistons and connecting rods up and down, driving a series of mechanical manufacturing equipment to crush all kinds of ores, refining qualified steel, and carrying out all kinds of mechanical processing. They were very emotional and excited.
General Skri said that he had visited a few large military industries in the kingdom, but he didn't expect that the theatre of operations would finally have a firearms manufacturing workshop. This meant that the theatre of operations was no longer under the control of the kingdom, and they wouldn't have to beg the kingdom to provide them with weapons and equipment in the future.
Bolonik, on the other hand, marvelled at the wonders of the steam engine and firepower engines. He said that all the gunsmiths in the various kingdoms of Freia had to be set up in places rich in water resources.
He didn't think that Claude would be able to find a new way to start a military industry using steam and firepower.
It was obvious that steam and firepower engines would become the primary source of power for all workshops in the future.
Generals Bolonik, Screed and Beechklin had no idea what Claude meant by his new rifle. They thought it was a sort of matchlock as well.
So, after taking a look at the ore crusher and refinery, he accepted Claude's invitation to have lunch.
General Eiblont, who had arrived a few days earlier, had been playing with guns in the gunsmith workshop for the past few days. He smiled and did not reveal any information, waiting to see the shocked expressions on the three men's faces when they saw the new rifle.
After lunch and a two-hour nap, the three generals were finally brought to the shooting range by Claude. There was a row of long tables there with more than ten Sonia Type 591 rifles that had just been manufactured.
Because they were manufactured mechanically, they weren't as intricate as the five new rifles in Angelina's pasture. There were even some burrs on the edges of the guns.
However, the new rifles were enough to surprise the three generals who were seeing them for the first time. Beechlin's eyes were sharp. When he saw the copper-cased bullets beside the rifles, his eyes lit up. "Are these bullets loaded in casings like revolvers?"
Seeing Claude nod, Beechlin grabbed one of the rifles with one hand and grabbed a few bullets beside it with the other. "Quick, tell me, how do I use this?"
General Eiblont was the first to pick up another new rifle. "Watch me."
He skillfully demonstrated how to load a bullet into a magazine and insert the magazine into the lower part of the gun. Then, he pulled the bolt and inserted a bullet through the opening on the gun before taking aim and firing.
Even though he had to pull the bolt to let the cartridge pop out after each shot, the three generals were shocked to the point that their eyes almost popped out of their sockets.
Then General Bolonik and General Beechlin fired the new rifle more than fifty times in one go before stopping, while General Skri only fired about ten times before stopping. He rubbed his shoulder and complained, "The recoil of this gun is a little stronger than that of a matchlock …"
"The weight of the gun is also heavier than that of a matchlock."
Bolonik weighed the new rifle in his hand. "But compared to the ease of loading and the speed of firing, I personally think these two shortcomings can be ignored."
Claude reported the performance of the new rifle. Beechlin was overjoyed. He looked at Bolonik and said, "General, this is the weapon we need the most. If we are equipped with this new rifle, we can hold off an enemy division with a single battalion and even defeat them.
If we have a strong defensive line to rely on, I'm confident that we can make it difficult for an entire army to advance. "
Bolonik ignored him and looked at the new rifle in his hands fondly. He knew that the rifle Claude brought out was far superior to the matchlocks used by the nations of Freia. It wasn't just a matter of years, but an entire era. It was as stunning as the revolver he saw for the first time. He only hoped that the price of the rifle wouldn't be the same as the revolver.
Skri wasn't as knowledgeable as Bolonik and Beechlin when it came to weapons, but as a soldier, he knew that the new rifle would be of great use on the battlefield.
As the chief logistics officer of the war theatre, he was most concerned about the price. "How much would it cost if we were to equip them on a large scale?"
While Claude was still considering how much he should offer, Eiblont stretched out his hand and showed five fingers.
"Five crowns?"
Bolonik was pleasantly surprised. He didn't think that the price of the new rifle wouldn't be that high. Perhaps he could upgrade the equipment of all the troops in the colonies. The local garrisons were veterans of the two corps.
"In your dreams …" Eiblont flipped his palm, and everyone understood what he meant. A new rifle cost ten gold crowns.
For some reason, General Bolonik and General Beechlin both felt that the price was very reasonable. Only General Skri felt that they should haggle a bit more.
Claude waved his hand to stop Skri from asking for a lower price. He smiled bitterly and said, "Actually, you're looking in the wrong direction. The problem with the new rifle isn't the gun itself, but the bullet."
He picked up a rifle bullet. "What you don't know is that the production cost of this rifle bullet is three Sunars. If we produce more than ten million bullets, it can be reduced to two Sunars each, but it can't be reduced any further."
Bolonik, Beechlin and Eiblont didn't care about the bullet's price. Beechlin even said, "A bullet is only two sunars. That's cheap."
Claude smiled bitterly and shook his head helplessly.
Skri, who was sensitive to numbers, paled. "We can't afford to use the new rifle.
You don't know that the gunpowder and bullet used in a single shot of the Aubass Mark III are only worth four iron pennies at most.
In other words, the price of fifty shots of this gun is only equivalent to the price of one bullet. "
"According to the requirements of the Ministry of the Army, the recruits need to go through a thousand rounds of live firing training, which is equivalent to each of them spending five gold crowns on shooting.
And after that, we need to go through a hundred live firing drills every month, which means that the annual shooting cost will be six gold crowns. We have a corps of sixty-five thousand people. Including the live firing drills, the cost of the photon bullets will be 400,000 crowns a year, "Claude added.
Bolonik wiped the sweat off his forehead. "We really can't afford to use the new rifle …"
Beechlin was a little unwilling. "General, the new rifle can allow us to fight ten enemies at once and increase the combat power of the troops to the greatest extent.
If both our corps are equipped with this new rifle, I can guarantee that no enemy will be a match for us. "
"Perhaps we can halve the cost of training," General Eiblont pondered and said, "The reason why the Kingdom's Ministry of the Army has stipulated that the recruits have to go through a thousand rounds of live firing training is because it's more troublesome to load and reload a matchlock gun. We have to let the recruits familiarize themselves with every step and form a habit so that they won't panic on the battlefield. That way, they won't panic on the battlefield and can ensure that every loading and firing process is done in an orderly manner, as well as their safety.
If we adopt the new rifle, then we don't need to go through a thousand live firing training sessions according to the training syllabus.
The new rifle is easy to load and it's easy for the soldiers to master the shooting essentials. So, I don't think it's necessary for the soldiers to use up so many bullets.
If the recruits go through ten live firing sessions a month and fire fifty bullets each time, the cost of the bullets consumed for live firing will be reduced by half.
In addition, we can also reduce the monthly live firing training to one live firing session every three months. Each soldier will fire a hundred bullets each time and let them review the essentials they need to master.
After all, the new rifle is different from the matchlock. The matchlock needs to strengthen the soldiers' memory and habit of loading, but the new rifle doesn't need to be so troublesome. The soldiers only need to know how to accurately aim and shoot after loading the bullets.
Based on this calculation, the annual training cost of a corps on bullets is about 150,000 gold crowns. Although it's a huge sum of money, the increase in combat power after being equipped with the new rifle is immeasurable. As Piccolo said, our corps can fight ten enemies at once.
Compared to the cost of our defeat and the lives of our soldiers, I think this expenditure is very worthwhile and necessary. "
"You're right, but Allen, our war zone is in need of new construction. The two million immigrants from the kingdom have just settled down in the two colonies of Cromwell and Balingana. Then, we've brought the three colonies of Tyrrsim, Mormaly, and Arturas under the jurisdiction of the war zone.
"Even though we've plundered 1.4 million crowns from the three colonies and earned another two million crowns from the nikancha nation through the relocation and sale of firearms, we still haven't managed to quell the rebellion, relocate the nikancha people, recruit new soldiers and reorganize the local garrisons, as well as expand the town of Lanu and Balingana.
"The war zone's finances have already been pushed to the limit by the amount of funds needed to relocate the nikancha people, recruit new soldiers and reorganize the local garrisons. There's also the expansion of Lanu, the establishment of the Minsheng Bank, the establishment of the coastal patrol fleet and the investment in the public infrastructure of Cromwell and Balingana.
"To be honest, the war zone still has a deficit of nearly a million crowns from last year that hasn't been wiped out yet.
"Now, we can only hope that the Minsheng Bank will be able to sell the currency vouchers and that the people of the colonies will be willing to accept them instead of boycotting them. Otherwise, the war zone's finances might very well go bankrupt.
"The war zone is currently in a very difficult situation. We've already done our best to ensure the supplies of the two corps and the eighteen local garrisons.
"After all, we're still facing the threat of an attack from Shiks and we've lost contact with the mainland. We won't be able to get any reinforcements from there.
Right now, we can only rely on ourselves to get through this. "
Bolonik sighed deeply. It was obvious that he had been under a lot of pressure lately. His wrinkles had deepened and his hair had turned a little whiter.
As the acting commander-in-chief of the war zone, he had to be responsible for the military affairs of the eight colonies. The higher his position, the greater his responsibility and burden.
"Claude, your new rifle is very good. It surpasses all the matchlocks of this era," Bolonik said.
Bolonik said, "But we really can't equip our troops with the new rifles. At least, we won't be able to afford the cost of equipping them in the short term.
Do you have any opinions or requests? Can you tell us? "
Claude's smile turned even more bitter. He knew that Bolonik was telling the truth about the war zone. However, he was the one who guided Madam Sonia in the production of the new rifles. If the war zone didn't purchase them on a large scale, his workshop would be useless. He couldn't just close down, could he?
"I hope the war zone can vouch for me and get a loan of a million crowns from the Minsheng Bank to maintain the workshop's daily operations.
"I invested two hundred thousand crowns in the development of this new rifle. It took me years and many failures. Finally, with the help of Madame Sonia, I succeeded.
"Then, I used all of my family's funds to gather the necessary machinery and equipment to start the production of the new rifle.
"The workshop has only just started operating and isn't at full capacity yet.
At its current state, we can only produce 3,000 new rifles and 4 million rounds of copper-cased rifle bullets a year.
"If it's possible, I'd like to use the loan to get the workshop to the point where it can produce 10,000 new rifles and 10 million rounds of copper-cased rifle bullets a year.
Then, we can use the new rifles and bullets to pay off the loan and slowly replace the equipment of every unit in Thundercrash. That way, the war zone's finances won't be too burdensome. At the same time, we'll be able to gradually increase the fighting power of our corps. "
Bolonik pondered it for a moment. "Are you that confident in the Minsheng Bank's banknotes?
If the banknotes can't be used in the colonies, we'll all be in big trouble. "
The Minsheng Bank's loan policy was that half of it would be in coins and the other half in banknotes.
Bolonik's worries were not unfounded. The people of this world had been using gold, silver, and copper coins for almost a thousand years. Many people were not confident that they would be able to convert silver and copper coins below the silver thale into paper money.
In the event of a large-scale boycott, the war zone might be able to hold on, but Claude's workshop, which used paper money to pay wages, would most likely close down.
"General, I have no other choice," Claude said.