Claude rushed back to Lanu at the end of the tenth month. The Minsheng Bank that had been under construction for nearly ten months was finally set up and would be open for business on the 25th of October.
As one of the five heads of the theatre, Claude had to attend the opening ceremony to show his support for the bank.
At the same time, he had to sign a loan agreement with the bank. As the bank's first loan, Claude would receive interest-free treatment.
Naturally, all of that had been agreed upon beforehand. The bank would lend Claude a million crowns, but the one to repay the debt would be the theatre command.
Every year, the theatre would take out 200,000 crowns to repay Minsheng Bank. Claude, on the other hand, would have to supply 10,000 new rifles and 10 million copper-cased rifle bullets to the theatre. It would take five years for the loan to be repaid.
One side was willing to take the beating and the other was willing to take the beating. Claude would be able to maintain the gunsmithing workshop and have enough money to research and develop new weapons.
The theatre would also be able to get new rifles to gradually increase the combat power of their troops.
As for the bank, even though it was an interest-free loan, the amount was huge enough to let the doubtful see its strength and close relationship with the theatre.
With the support of the theater of operations, the ambitious Viscount Gooditch believed that the Overseas Minsheng Bank would soon become the number one bank in all the colonies in the theater of operations.
What he didn't expect, however, was that less than half an hour after he returned to Weyblon Manor, he received an emergency signal officer from the war zone command center, requesting him to head to the war zone command center as General Bolonik was holding a military conference.
The other generals had already gone to the theatre command and were waiting for Claude alone.
Apart from the opening of the bank the day after tomorrow, there didn't seem to be any warnings for the colonies.
Claude was about to take a hot bath, but he had no choice but to put his clothes back on.
When he got on the carriage to head to the theatre command, he pondered for a long time but couldn't come up with anything.
What greeted him was Bolonik's gloomy face. Claude's heart skipped a beat and he had a bad feeling about it. It seemed that something really important had happened. Otherwise, the general wouldn't have such an expression.
He hurriedly asked, "What's wrong? What happened?"
Bolonik didn't answer Claude's question. Instead, he asked, "If I get Minsheng Bank to give you a loan of three million crowns, how many new rifles can your workshop produce in a year?"
Claude smiled bitterly. Some things couldn't be done with money.
However, he had heard Master Liboyd mention this before, so he could answer, "If we continue to hire workers for training, with the gunsmith workshops working overtime day and night, we can only produce 30,000 new rifles a year at most.
This was mainly due to the limitation of the scale of the production machinery and equipment. At the same time, it would take half a year to adjust the production.
It's just that in this way, working overtime day and night will inevitably increase production costs, no matter if it's the waste of resources or the labor costs … "
"What about bullet production?" General Bolonik asked.
"It's still ten million rounds. We designed and assembled this copper-cased rifle bullet production line ourselves. According to the standard of a hundred bullets for a new rifle, even if we produce ten million bullets annually, it would be enough for the soldiers to complete their training and combat preparations.
In two years, when we have more new rifles, we can assemble another production line, "Claude explained.
"Alright, your loan this time will be three million crowns. When you return, get the gunsmith workshops to produce the new rifles and equip Thundercrash as soon as possible," Bolonik decided without hesitation.
"What in the world happened?"
Claude was bewildered. Bolonik's attitude made it seem like he was prepared to arm his troops at all costs to increase their combat effectiveness. It even seemed like he wouldn't mind selling everything he had.
Bolonik smiled bitterly. "Shiks is at it again. This time, they really prepared ten standing corps."
"That's impossible!"
Claude didn't believe it at all. "It's just a rumor. Even if Shiks prepared ten standing corps, where could they possibly land?
We only have three ports suitable for large scale disembarkation, but we've made sufficient preparations to defend them. It's impossible for Shiks to take our port cities with their seaking and allied fleets.
If they don't take the ports first, it's impossible for their ten standing corps to land. They might as well jump into the sea and feed themselves to the fishes.
"Also, if Shiks wants to learn from Prince Hansbach's approach, I'll be more than happy to welcome them on the beach.
Prince Hansbach took advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention to the coast to launch a surprise attack on the royal capital.
Most of our coastal waters are surrounded by reefs and the coast is heavily guarded. Their ships won't be able to get close to the beach. How are they supposed to get their soldiers to land in the shallow waters of a kilometer to two kilometers? How are they supposed to transport their cannons? Without any supplies, what are they supposed to eat and how are they supposed to rest at night? If they don't bring their muskets to shore, who will? "
"Can you let me finish first?"
Bolonik shook his head helplessly. "I know that better than you!
The problem is that the ten standing corps of Shiks aren't planning to attack our ports or land in our colonies. They're planning to gather all their forces on the west coast and march south. "
"What did you say?" Claude asked, "Where did you get the news from?"
"Colonel Borkal sent an aide back with a lot of newspapers from the colonies on the west coast. Even though most of them are from two to three months ago, the news of Shiks renting Fochs' colony in Nubissia to gather their forces and march south has already spread like wildfire.
The latest news is that Shiks might have come to an agreement with Fochs and will send two standing corps to Fochs' colony in the first half of next year at the latest. "
The Fochs Islands United Kingdom was located in the southwest of Freia. It consisted of six large islands and dozens of smaller ones. It was only separated from Freia by the Strait of Gelis.
Claude recalled that the Fochs United Kingdom was mentioned in his country's history books. A thousand years ago, it was the birthplace of the Kramer pirates. They would often plunder the coasts of Freia with wooden boats.
After the Sacred Light Calendar was implemented, the six archdukes of Fochs held a conference and elected one of them as king, thus establishing the kingdom.
The only difference between them and other kingdoms was that the King's term of office was limited. After twenty years, the King would step down and the six archdukes of the Archipelago would elect one of them to be King again.
Fochs had always been known for their navy, the strongest on Freia. They had a total of four fleets named after the deities revered by the ancient Kramer people.
They were also the first kingdom to explore and colonize Nubissia. They had four colonies on the west coast, but they weren't connected.
It was said that Fochs also had six colonies on the east coast of Nubissia. It could be said that they had the largest number of colonies on Nubissia.
Bolonik pointed at the meeting room. "Let's talk inside. There are so many newspapers here anyway. Not all of them are rumors. Many of them are from other colonies and contain a lot of news about the kingdom.
Sigh … "
It seemed that the news about the kingdom wasn't good news. That was why Bolonik was sighing.
Claude pushed the door open and saw Birkin and Eiblont arguing in front of a map by the wall. Skri was sorting out the newspapers on the table and marking out the most important ones.
When he saw Claude enter, he nodded and pointed at a folder on the table, gesturing for Claude to read it first.
Inside the folder was a summary report of Colonel Borkal's trip. He brought along three staff officers from the intelligence department, his aide, and a total of eleven guards to board Triumph on the 27th of August. Under the escort of two other warships of the same class, Whirlwind and Flying Fish, they set off from Port Vebator and formed a patrol squad to head north.
After seven days of sailing, the patrol detoured around the Cape of Morox and arrived at the western coast. They were now out of the Nikancha Nation's territorial waters. The Nikancha Nation's colony next to the Nikancha Nation was the fourth colony on the western coast of Nubissia. It was also the smallest colony, only a third of the size of the Tyrrsim colony.
To be more precise, the colony known as Cape Loducus was surrounded by mountains on the south and east. It was now the territory of the nikancha nation.
To the west was the sea and to the north was the colony of Lesnia, another country in the south of Freia.
Thus, the fourth colony of Fochs was confined to the small valley of the bay and couldn't expand.
It was said that the most famous explorer of Fochs, Rodrigo, made a very famous location error.
Since the six islands were the main parts of Fochs, the people of Fochs weren't as united as the people of other kingdoms.
They were more used to fighting and insulting each other.
Just like their ancestors, the Kramer pirates, the fighting between the islands had lasted for nearly two centuries.
Generally speaking, the countries along the coast of Freia would first occupy a piece of land in Nubissia, then expand until all the unclaimed land was adjacent to the other countries' colonies.
Fochs was the only exception. For example, if the people of the first island occupied a piece of land, the people of the second island would look for another unclaimed land. The people of the third island wouldn't stay in one of the two colonies and would look for another, unwilling to be adjacent to the other two.
It was the same for Rodrigo. When they came south from the west coast, they saw Cape Morox and thought that they had reached the end of Nubissia, so they came ashore.
They found that the bay was calm and the fish was plentiful. The land was flat and lush with vegetation, so they decided to occupy it as a colony.
But when they explored south and east, they found that those two directions were surrounded by mountains, and that to the north was the desolate Gobi Desert and desert. So the colony was confined to the valleys and plains that were half surrounded by the bay and the mountains, unable to expand.
Borkal's patrol team came ashore in search of supplies under the pretense that they had lost their way. The officials of the colony didn't make things difficult for them.
However, when they heard that they were the Aueran patrol fleet, they had a strange expression on their faces. However, they still allowed the soldiers to go ashore to rest.
The moment they arrived at the tavern at the docks, Borkal and the others were surrounded by curious onlookers. Two local newspaper reporters even rushed over to interview them about Shiks' plans to rent Cape Loducus from Fochs, as well as their predictions on who would emerge victorious in the war between Aueras and Shiks.
Borkal and the others were dumbfounded. They only understood the truth after the enthusiastic onlookers explained it to them.
In the middle of November last year, Shiks sent an envoy to Fochs to request to rent Cape Loducus. The reason was that they wanted to use the colony to gather their forces and use ten standing corps to wipe out the nikancha nation in one fell swoop. Then, they would have a showdown with the Aueran colonies.
That news reached the western coast in the first half of the year. There was a lot of discussion among the colonies. Some were adamantly against it, such as the neighboring colony of Lesnia.
They were worried that Shiks would gather ten standing corps in Cape Loducus and send them north instead of south. If that happened, Lesnia's colony would be the first to suffer.
There were also newspapers in distant colonies discussing whether or not there was a need to enact a colony mutual aid treaty. When a colony of a country was invaded or rioted, the colonies of nearby countries had the obligation to send troops to help … However, it was obvious that such a treaty would not be signed, because sometimes neighboring colonies would go to war over resources such as water, minerals, and other resources …
Fochs, on the other hand, was rather interested. They didn't want to rent the colony and instead wanted to sell it to Shiks. They had plenty of colonies anyway.
Apart from the beautiful scenery, Cape Loducus didn't create much economic value for Fochs.
So, they offered a sky-high price for it.
Shiks wouldn't be able to afford such an astronomical price.
So far, Shiks had raised the price and asked for a five-year lease. Fochs was still considering it.
Some newspapers predicted that Shiks would send an expedition to check on the situation in Cape Loducus in the first half of the year. They believed that the lease would be finalized in the second half of the year. That way, Shiks would be able to send their ten standing corps over in a steady stream in the first half of the year.
"Cape Loducus is adjacent to the northern mountainous region. There are plenty of mineral resources there. Why don't the Fochs expand their colony there?" Claude asked Skri.
Skri knew the answer to that question. "The Kramers of Fochs call themselves a people of the sea. What they hate the most is climbing mountains.
If it was a hill, they might be interested in exploring it, but the mountains and cliffs along the northern coast would be daunting to the Kramers. They would automatically stop at the edge of the mountains and would not go any deeper … "
Perhaps that was a characteristic of their race, even if it was a little odd.
Claude continued reading the report on the folder.
Colonel Borkal said that after he received the news, he immediately gathered all the newspapers from the ships anchored in the bay, regardless of whether they were from a few days ago or a few months ago. He bought all of them at a high price and sent his aide to bring them back to the colonies.
He planned to bring the three intelligence officers and guards to disguise themselves as agents of the Wild Bull Trading Company to check on the economic situation of the colonies. He also planned to contact the large trading companies that traveled between Nubissia and Freia. In the first half of the year, he would send two intelligence officers to join the merchant fleet and return to Freia.