Claude really didn't have any other choice. Money flowed like water.
As a lieutenant-general and an honorary viscount, his salary, benefits and other allowances amounted to around 300 to 400 crowns a year.
All the other generals in the theatre, even Bolonik, who was a lieutenant-general, only earned half of what he did.
Bolonik wasn't an honorary noble of the kingdom, so he didn't have a pension of 200 crowns a year.
However, the salary, benefits and allowances were all taken care of by Kefnie. As a soldier, Claude's basic necessities were all free in the corps and he rarely had the chance to spend money.
That wasn't to say that Claude was a poor man who gave all his salary to his wife. Rather, his side income was even higher than his salary. For example, when he led Thundercrash to victory in the third colonial war, his share of the spoils of war alone amounted to nearly two thousand crowns. That was all deposited into another national bank account for safekeeping.
Don't forget about the 350,000-plus crowns worth of Shiksan's military fees, the profits from selling the grenades to the corps, the profits from selling the grenades and revolvers to Borkal, and the 10,000-plus crowns Claude got from managing Bison Bull.
Simply put, Claude had more than 500,000 crowns in cash on hand.
However, Claude was also a quick spender. He spent around twenty thousand on the ranch for Angelina, and that was only the tip of the iceberg. The bulk of it was 100,000 crowns for Angelina and Madam Sonia to complete the equipment and purchase various materials for their experiments.
Had it not been for the two of them squandering the money in the lab, Madam Sonia wouldn't have been able to create the new rifle in two short years even if Claude had a clear idea of what to do.
Additionally, Claude took in around 160 orphans for House Ferd and set up a small elementary and middle school in the ranch to nurture the orphans into talents that would aid the family in the future.
The amount of money spent on that wasn't a small sum either. It cost around ten thousand crowns a year.
The orphans didn't have to spend much on food, clothing, and lodging. The bulk of it came from hiring talented instructors to teach them, as well as the teaching equipment and so on.
The mine that Claude and Weyblon built was divided into three parts.
The first part was to excavate iron ore and refine it into fine iron, or add other metals to forge alloy steel.
This part of the profit was not much, so he could only maintain and continue to slowly expand the scale of the iron mine.
The second part was the production of projectiles, from which Claude earned ten thousand crowns.
However, there was no war at the moment, and the theater of operations could not afford to use up a large number of projectiles.
It would take a long time for the soldiers to use up the grenades that they had already purchased. In the short term, they wouldn't be able to rely on the war zone to purchase more grenades.
The third part was the Power Machinery Workshop, which manufactured power machinery such as fire engines and steam engines.
However, he had already promised Weyblon that all the profits from the workshop for the first three years would be used to expand the workshop and improve the research of steam engines.
This year was only the third year, so he would have to wait another year to get his dividends.
The next step was to set up the gunsmithing workshop. Even though Borkal provided the Shiksan gunsmithing equipment for free, Claude asked Liboyd and his daughter to choose the location for the workshop.
He also asked Liboyd and his daughter to choose the location for the workshop, purchase the land and the rights to mine for blackfirestone, and hire the machinists and rune magi in the colony.
Transforming the hydraulic machinery into firepower and mechanical power, constructing the basic facilities of the workshop, housing and other buildings, hiring workers for training, and transforming the gun-making equipment for making the matchlock into a production line for the production of new rifles, as well as a production line for the production of copper-cased bullets.
Claude invested a total of 270,000 crowns to set up the gunsmithing workshop.
While Liboyd was the manager of the workshop in name, Madam Sonia was the one in charge of it.
After careful calculations, they told Claude that the workshop only had around a thousand workers and technicians, but it could only produce around three thousand new rifles and four million rounds of copper-cased rifle bullets per year.
In terms of profit, the workshop would still incur a certain amount of losses. At most, it wouldn't make a profit, because the workshop's maintenance cost was around 30,000 crowns.
The ideal situation would be to hire more workers for training and bring the number of technicians to two thousand. That would increase the maintenance cost to 50,000 crowns per year.
However, they could produce ten thousand new rifles and ten million copper-cased bullets per year.
Moreover, the cost of the production of the new rifles and the copper-cased cartridges was included in the upkeep, so that even if the rifles were sold for eight crowns, there would still be two or three crowns for each rifle.
However, Claude only had around a hundred thousand crowns in reserve. He still had to give Angelina and Madam Sonia funds for their experiments. He also had to experiment with grenade launchers and mortars. Apart from that, he also had to modify the light infantry cannons to be able to fire explosive shells instead of just solid bullets. That was something he couldn't do without.
Liboyd's research had already shifted from firearms to mechanical engineering, so Claude had to provide him with funds for his experiments.
While the hundred thousand crowns he had seemed like a lot, it wasn't something he could use.
To put it bluntly, he couldn't even afford to maintain the workshop for two years.
So, he hoped that the theatre could vouch for him and get a loan of a million crowns from the Minsheng Bank to help him out.
As for Bolonik's worry that the Minsheng Bank's currency would be boycotted by the natives, Claude didn't care about it at all.
Firstly, the theatre's reputation would vouch for the currency and it could be exchanged for real money. As long as he had a thale, he could go to the Minsheng Bank to exchange it for a large thale.
Secondly, he could use the currency to pay taxes. That would guarantee the paper value of the currency and allow it to circulate in the market.
At the same time, he would increase the supervision of the market. Any merchant who refused to accept currency would be fined and their qualifications revoked.
Thirdly, all the troops under the war zone, be it the two legions or the local garrisons, would receive their salaries, benefits, and allowances in accordance with the principle of using paper money in lieu of gold coins.
Given enough time, the natives would realise the benefits of currency. At the very least, they wouldn't have to carry bulging bags of coins out and attract the attention of thieves and thieves.
Bolonik finally nodded. "If you insist on taking the loan, the theatre can vouch for you.
But I hope you can reconsider, Claude. This isn't a joke. If the coupons are rejected and become worthless, you'll only get half of the money you borrowed. That means you'll lose half a million crowns first. "
"Wait," General Skree said, "I don't understand, Claude. Why do you insist on a loan? And a million?
Actually, you can just share the risk with others.
If you're willing to take out a small portion of the shares, I believe there will be many wealthy people in the colonies who are willing to invest in the shares. They'll buy it at a premium price, and you'll be able to easily make a fortune … "
Claude shook his head. "I'm taking out a million crowns because I need to conduct more weapons experiments. I need to research the development and changes of weapons needed for future wars.
Grenades, for example, are supposed to be offensive weapons. But based on the one on the Nasrian smuggler's ship, while it's cumbersome and inconvenient to move, it can be used in defensive positions. It can be thrown further than the ones our troops have.
If we encounter an enemy like that in the future, it'll pose a greater threat to our soldiers.
That's why I need to experiment with newer weapons to ensure we leave the enemy behind. For example, we can modify light infantry cannons to be able to fire explosive shells.
Obviously, if I were to sell the shares, even if the new shareholders don't own much, they'll still object to my investment. I need to make all the accounts public.
I can't be bothered to argue with them. Also, having too many shareholders will affect the secrecy of the new weapons. That's why I won't sell my shares. "
Claude knew that Skri's suggestion was made out of good intentions, but his explanation left the generals speechless.
Everyone's investments had to be reaped in returns.
But if Claude were to invest all his money into the bottomless pit of testing new weapons, nobody would be willing to be the spendthrift.
"Then let us be the guarantor and let you borrow a million crowns from the Minsheng Bank." Bolonik made the decision.
If the notes could be circulated in the colonies, Claude's workshop would be able to produce ten thousand new rifles and ten million rounds of copper-cased rifle bullets every year. It would only take five years for the loan to be repaid.
Naturally, the loan would be interest-free. The theatre would only need to pay off the loan with 200,000 crowns a year.
Claude wanted to ensure that he could produce that many new rifles and bullets for the theatre's troops. As for what he wanted to experiment with with the rest of the money, that was none of their business.
Since the theatre was willing to guarantee Claude's loan, the matter was set in stone.
Claude breathed a sigh of relief. "Come to my office. I have a promising business to talk to you about. Perhaps you'll be willing to take a stake in it."
The generals were all surprised that Claude wasn't willing to sell his shares in the gunsmiths. Instead, he said that he had a business that had a bright future. Could it be better than the gunsmiths?
The workshop had already produced a new rifle that surpassed all other muskets. The only downside was that it was too expensive.
It was so expensive that even the theatre didn't dare to fully upgrade the two corps. They could only follow Claude's suggestion and use the annual loan to buy new rifles and copper-cased rifle bullets produced by the gunsmiths to upgrade their equipment on a small scale.
After entering the office, Claude took out a scroll of blueprints and spread it on the table for everyone to see.
The drawing depicted a black iron fellow with a horizontal cylinder on top. On top of the cylinder was a protruding chimney, and below it was a cuboid. On both sides of the cuboid were rows of steel wheels, and the wheels were connected to long iron axle rods.
Behind the cylinder, on top of the cuboid was a small room that looked like a carriage.
One of the renderings depicted the black iron guy puffing out white smoke. Behind it were a dozen long carriages with iron wheels on both sides, driving on the plains.
What was noteworthy was that the ground wasn't flat like the carriages or paved with gravel. Instead, there were two parallel rails, and below the rails were thick sleepers.
"What's this? Is it a carriage?" Birkin asked curiously.
Claude nodded. "Yes, it's a train. The road below is a railway.
The main component of the train is the locomotive at the front. It uses a steam engine to move the steel wheels forward and pull the dozen carriages behind it along the railway.
Liboyd confirmed that the locomotive could be manufactured. He's already started experimenting and has achieved initial success.
The locomotive he built drove ten wagons filled with Black Fire Stones on the temporarily laid rails for three laps for more than 1,500 meters. In the end, because the casting material was not up to standard, the locomotive leaked air.
However, he promised to solve the problem within three months and improve the internal structure of the locomotive.
Our war theatre is simply too big. It would take a month to travel from Port Vebator in the north to Aduras in the south on horseback.
It would take about 20 days to travel by ship. However, the sea was dangerous. Even though it was a coastal transport, there was no guarantee that it wouldn't be attacked by pirates or shipwrecks.
On the other hand, it would only take seven days and seven nights to travel from Port Vebator to Aduras at a speed of thirty kilometers per hour. It wouldn't take more than ten days.
The reason was simple. Riding a horse would require rest and stamina. Ships would have to stop at a safe place at night.
Trains, on the other hand, can travel day and night. Passengers only have to rest in the carriages or lie down to sleep. By the time they wake up, their destination would be right in front of them.
From a military point of view, trains and railways can ensure that our troops don't have to travel long distances. All they have to do is sit in the carriages and send them to the frontlines. That's good for us to send reinforcements.
For civilian use, trains can transport large amounts of goods and allow people to travel with ease.
The only thing they need to consume is the burning of black flint and steam. "
Claude only needed to explain the functions of the train and not its effects. The generals present could easily tell the changes the train would bring to the war theatre.
They didn't doubt Claude's words at all. It was indeed a good business. As long as they could get a share in it, they would be able to bring their families a fortune that would last for generations.
"How do you want us to get a share?" Bolonik asked.
"Each of you will contribute 10,000 crowns. I'll give you two percent of the shares. The four of you will take 8 percent.
I'll take 12 percent myself. Together with your money, it'll be 100,000 crowns.
Liboyd and his daughter, as well as their engineering team, will take 10 percent of the shares.
I'll use the remaining 70% to raise funds. Each share will be worth 20,000 crowns. The 1.5 million crowns will be used to build the railway and run the company. "He had long since made up his mind and gave the four generals a clear answer.
"But there's the Dorinibla River between Balingana and Robisto," Eiblont said.
"There are two plans," Claude said, raising two fingers, "One is to build the railway all the way to the Dorinibla River. There will be trains on both sides and passengers will have to board the train after crossing the river.
The second plan was to build a railway bridge over the Dorinibla River, connecting the two colonies together.
However, it'll be more expensive and technically difficult. I'm not sure if it'll work.
Who knows, we might even need to dilute everyone's shares to raise funds to build this railway bridge … "