The train stopped at Castle Harrod station for a day and a night, and at nine o'clock the next morning it began to move again, continuing its journey.
Claude was starting to get a headache. Where should he put Sheerah? That was a huge problem.
Bringing her home was out of the question. His family would definitely be thrown into chaos.
Even if he went to Blackstone Firearms Workshop, he couldn't bring Sheerah there.
Putting aside the issue of keeping it a secret, if Sheerah found out about his relationship with Madam Sonia, who knew what kind of trouble it would cause.
"Dear, let's alight when we reach Wickhamsburg. I have a manor nearby. You can recuperate there for now.
I'll go with you once I'm done with my work. "
After some thought, Claude felt that it would be better to stay at Wickhamsburg for a few days and leave Sheerah there.
"But I don't want to be separated from you, Claude."
Sheerah looked at Claude pitifully. "Can't I go with you?"
Claude shook his head. "Sheerah, I'm in a high position now and there are some things I can't control. I have to consider the consequences.
I don't want to be separated from you either, but you're injured and it won't be convenient for me to bring you along.
Also, the place I'm going to needs to be kept a secret. It's an important weapons production base, so I can't just bring anyone there. "
After much persuasion, Sheerah finally agreed to go to Wickhamsburg to recuperate. Claude also agreed to go with her after he was done with his work.
When the train reached Wickhamsburg, Claude brought Sheerah to the manor. It was a 1,500-hectare piece of land given to him.
Among the countless large and small private estates in Cromwell State, it was considered one of the largest estates.
The person in charge of it was a retired veteran called Piano Zrisinco.
He had served as a guard by Claude's side and performed well enough to be promoted to a platoon jarl.
That was supposed to be his path to promotion, but he was unlucky and lost a leg on the battlefield to a Shiksan's iron pumpkin.
After he was rescued, his left calf was amputated and replaced with a piece of wood. He walked with a cane and limped, but his voice was still as loud as ever.
"General, why are you here?"
Piano was delighted. Claude's manor had only been completed two years ago and he was basically in charge of it. He would only be able to meet Claude when he went to Lanu's Ferd Manor during the new year to report on the progress and profits of the manor.
"I stopped by to take a look and arranged for someone to recuperate here. It's a lady."
Claude said calmly, "You've done a good job here. It looks neat and tidy."
Piano grinned. "Thank you for your praise, General. By the way, General, I was about to write to you to report something.
Now, some trading companies were trying to unite those small private farms to implement unified farming and processing, and the participating owners would receive dividends at the end of the year.
They even sent someone to ask us if we want to join them … "
"There's no need."
Claude waved. "There's no need to add our estates. We don't want them to use our name to recruit more people. If something happens at the end of the year, we'll be dragged in as well."
In fact, the fields in Cromwell were more suitable for large-scale production, such as a joint-stock farm or something.
When it was decided to divide the land in Cromwell and Balingana into small pieces and distribute them to the soldiers of the two armies in the theatre of operations, so that they could own their own property and speed up the assimilation of the soldiers' relatives, many people objected to the immigration policy.
Many large trading companies hoped to rent land in the two states or buy large amounts of land to start large farms and ranches. That way, they could effectively increase production efficiency.
However, they were rejected by the theatre. At that time, the theatre needed a large number of immigrants to increase their own combat potential and increase the source of troops. So, the families of the soldiers became the theatre's target. The personal property allocated to the soldiers could attract their families to settle there and join the corps.
Realistically speaking, dividing the land in the two states into small pieces could indeed support the soldiers and their families, but the small farms didn't have to worry about food and water, so it was difficult for them to become rich.
So, some trading companies thought of ways to form a partnership with a large number of small farms and let them use their land to buy shares. Then, they would receive dividends at the end of the year.
The autonomous military district was aware of this situation a long time ago, but they were either powerless to stop it or had no way to stop it. They could only strengthen the approval and supervision of the agreements signed between the merchants and the landowner to ensure that the landowner would not lose his land due to economic disputes caused by loopholes in the agreements.
After all, just because the trading companies planted cash crops didn't mean that they would make a fortune. Sometimes, the market would become saturated and prices would fall, causing a year's worth of hard work to go down the drain.
In the past, many small farms were forced to sell their land to pay off their debts. That caused a huge commotion among the people.
Pjano nodded. "Alright, General. I'm thinking of planting blueberries this year. Then, we can produce our own blueberry wine.
By the way, General, who did you say was coming to recover? "
"A madam …" Claude clenched his teeth. Did you even listen to me? "Let her stay in the main house and treat her like I do. Give her whatever she wants. If you can't do it, send someone to inform me. I'll leave a squad of guards here to protect her.
Also, hire two maids who know how to serve her and have them stay by her side to take care of her. Got it? "
No matter how stupid Pjano was, he could tell that the madam who was going to stay here to recover had a close relationship with his general.
He nodded immediately. "Yes, General. I'll treat her like my wife and make sure she gets what she wants."
After bidding farewell to Sheerah, Claude rushed to Blackstone Gunsmith Workshop. Sonia rolled her eyes at him. "You should've arrived three days ago. Why did you only arrive today?
I had to postpone my trip to my father's place and wait for you here. "
There was nothing much to say. He just had to do his best.
So, the next afternoon, Claude rubbed his aching waist and walked tiredly under the guidance of the radiant Sonia to see the special rifle that could fire 38 bullets at once.
"I didn't develop this rifle. It's the result of Magus Barclay Shelifield's research," Sonia said.
"Barclay Shelifield?" Claude asked curiously.
"He's one of the four rune magi we hired with a high salary. He's well-versed in the study of mechanical structures and metal materials.
Didn't your military place an order for a thousand sniper rifles? Since I was busy with my father's heavy cannons, I had no choice but to give him the task of equipping the sniper rifles and customizing the spare parts.
In the end, not only did he complete the task of customizing a thousand sniper rifles, he was also captivated by the rifle's mechanical structure and movement process. He spent three months creating this strange-looking, custom-made rifle that can fire thirty-eight bullets in a dozen or so seconds. That's why I wrote you to take a look … "
He was brought to a strange machine by Madam Sonia. The reason it was strange was because it was square-shaped. Had it not been for the trigger and the butt of the gun, Claude would have thought it was some sort of machine and not a gun.
Then he saw Wizard Barclay Shelifield. He was about fifty years old and fit the image of a weird doctor from the sci-fi movies in his previous life. He was bald, wore thick glasses, and was thin and weak. All he lacked was a white coat.
"Hello, Doctor, I mean, Magus Barclay," Claude said as he shook his hand. "Can you shoot it now?
I'd like to see if it's effective. "
It's too heavy.
Four muscular soldiers were required to move it to a cart made of metal. That alone was enough to make Claude draw a cross.
"Why is there such a heavy iron plate under it?" Claude asked.
"Ah, that's to prevent the barrel's vibration from affecting the accuracy of the shot. So, we need to add a counterweight to stabilize it," Barclay answered reasonably.
What came next was the shooting performance. Claude found it strange that a crankshaft connected to the outside had to be rotated during the process of pulling the trigger. The bullets were indeed fired continuously. In just half a minute, 38 bullets were fired.
"It's done?" Claude asked.
"Yes, General. It's done."
"How do we reload it?"
"Oh, it's like this. Look, after firing, we need to open the back cover and take out the cartridge tray inside. Then, we need to stuff the bullets into the cartridge tray and reload the four barrels inside. Once we press the cartridge tray and close the back cover, we can fire again." Barclay personally went forward and demonstrated the operation in detail.
Claude finally understood the internal structure of the strange-looking gun. He finally understood the function of the crankshaft outside. The purpose of the crankshaft was to rotate the cartridge tray so that the bullets inserted in the tray could be connected to the barrel that had already been fired and fired again.
However, in order to perfectly connect the bullets to the chamber, the soldiers who rotated the crankshaft had to train to maintain a constant speed for a certain period of time.
Claude shook his head and felt a little disappointed.
The machine in front of him wasn't the machine gun he had imagined. It was just a machine that could fire bullets once.
He had calculated the time and found that it would take at least five minutes to remove the cartridge tray and reload it.
Five minutes was enough for a veteran to fire ten magazines of the new rifle.
Thirty-eight bullets and ten magazines of fifty bullets. It was obvious that the special rifle that could fire continuously had no practical value at all.
Claude smiled and asked, "Magus Barclay, I heard that you're very knowledgeable about mechanical structures and metal materials. What kind of magical research did you do in the past?"
"Oh, I used to help nobles design and build their family's treasure vaults and gates. These require the installation of defensive mechanisms.
After that, I made small magic bows and crossbows for sale, as well as some mechanical magic items … "Wizard Barclade replied.
So that's how it is. Claude's doubts were immediately resolved. No wonder he felt that the special rifle was too strange. It turned out that when Barclay was making it, he was still following his previous train of thought and developed it in the form of hidden mechanical mechanisms.
If this thing was installed in a dark corner of a secret chamber, it would indeed be very powerful. No one would be able to avoid thirty-eight bullets in a narrow room.
"Sonia, prepare a separate laboratory for Wizard Barclay to meet his needs for magic apprentices and magic experiment materials. His treatment will be the same as yours. Some confidential experiments will also be open to him. If you encounter any difficulties in the research and development process, you can discuss and research with him …" Since he was a talent, Claude would naturally treat him with the best conditions. Wizard Barclay grinned happily.
"But for the troops, your special rifle that can fire continuously is useless."
Giving a carrot before giving a stick would make Wizard Barclay, who was immersed in contentment and joy, snap out of it.
"First of all, this thing is too cumbersome. It can't follow the troops to carry out mobile operations. There's no way to implement rapid transfer and deployment on the battlefield.
Secondly, the continuous firing time is too short and the reloading steps are too troublesome. In combat, it's impossible to let you fire for a minute and then stop for five minutes to reload. It's not very practical for offense or defense …
The function of the continuous firing of bullets is to suppress the enemy's firepower. In other words, it's to use the barrage to block the enemy's attack and the mobilization of troops for defense.
This is to achieve the goal of defeating the enemy with a disadvantage in numbers.
Therefore, the effectiveness of continuous firing is very important.
To develop a continuous firing weapon, the firepower must meet the requirement of continuous firing.
For example, if it can fire fifty to sixty bullets in a minute, then it can still maintain this firing rate for the next ten minutes. It can also fire fifty to sixty bullets per minute, suppressing the enemy's offensive and defensive firepower, as well as the soldiers' charge and counterattack. Only such a continuous firing weapon can truly meet the needs of the troops on the battlefield. "
Claude pointed at the strangely shaped special rifle in front of him and said, "I call this continuous firing weapon a machine gun. But it's obvious that Wizard Barclay's continuous firing weapon is still very lacking compared to the machine gun I need.
It's cumbersome and its internal structure is too delicate. On the battlefield, the explosion of a cannonball will likely cause it to fail.
However, I believe that as long as you continue your research, one day, you'll be able to develop the best machine gun suitable for the battlefield.
How about this, Wizard Barclay, I have some ideas about the development of machine guns. Let's go to the lab and discuss it. I'll leave the development of machine guns to you in the future … "
Claude stayed in Blackstone Gunsmith Workshop for five to six days to examine and discuss the construction and development of machine guns with Barclade. Claude's suggestion of replacing the bulky cartridge tray with a bullet belt and using a large magazine to reduce the weight of the machine gun was hailed as a genius idea by Barclade. However, whether or not the machine gun could meet Claude's requirements would depend on Barclade's abilities. Claude had already told Barclade everything he knew about machine guns.
Madam Sonia left Blackstone Gunsmith Workshop the day before Claude. She brought a group of technicians to Port Patres to install six naval cannons on the first cruising warship built by Liboyd. In other words, they were the enlarged versions of the new light infantry field cannons to be installed on the warship for naval combat testing.
From a certain point of view, the iron-hulled warship wasn't anything special. Even though Claude had provided the designs of the battleships he saw in his past life, Liboyd didn't use them.
The warship he built was actually a replica of the popular wooden warships with sails. The only difference was that the wooden hull was replaced with an iron one.
The ship still had three large masts that were used for both sails and steam power.
What Claude was most dissatisfied about was that the warship also had a row of cannons on both sides of the ship. He was going to install twelve naval cannons on each side of the deck to increase the ship's firepower.
Claude didn't think that was necessary at all. The six naval cannons installed on the deck were the enlarged versions of the new light infantry field cannons. They could fire far, aim accurately, explode loudly, and move freely. They should be able to take down all the sailing battleships of this era. There was no need to install twenty-four old naval cannons on the deck at all.
However, Liboyd was getting on in years and had a stubborn temper. He didn't listen to Claude's kind words. There was nothing Claude could do about it. After all, he couldn't go and fight Liboyd. All he could do was comfort himself by saying that the warship was just an experimental one. He believed that after this experience, the future ones would only get better and better.
After leaving Blackstone Gunsmith, Claude returned to Wickhamsburg and accompanied Sheerah in her recovery.
At the end of May, Claude was preparing to leave for Anna Ranch. Adele was due in early June, so Claude had to go to the ranch to accompany his brother Bloweyk to welcome the birth of his first child.
Sheerah's injuries healed quickly and she could already move around freely. She was sick of staying at the farm and wanted to go back with Claude.
Claude, on the other hand, hoped that Sheerah could stay at the farm for another month to fully recover before taking her away.
Just as he was thinking about it, an urgent letter disrupted all his plans. Adele had gone into premature labor. She gave birth to a pair of twins, but she passed away due to massive bleeding.
"I have to go back immediately. Be good and wait for me here. I'll come get you," Claude said solemnly.
Sheila, on the other hand, nodded obediently after knowing that something bad had happened to Claude's family.
Claude rushed back to Anna's Ranch and saw his haggard sister. "What's going on? Didn't they say that Adele was very healthy and everything was normal? Even if she was pregnant with twins, she could still give birth smoothly?
Why did she suddenly go into premature labor and bleed? "
Anna smiled bitterly. "It was Mother. She sent a servant to see Adele, but she wrote a letter to Adele. She told Adele to leave the Ferd family after giving birth and not to bother Bloweyk. Adele was provoked and gave birth prematurely …"