What's wrong with building a steel torrent in a dungeon?

"Well, the army has expanded a little." Wallenstein said, "but not by much. Her army still maintains a size of 4,000 people."

"Four thousand people? That's not even the number of one of our legions," said Earl Tilly with disdain.

"But these four thousand men are fully equipped with sufficient firearms," ​​said Wallenstein.

"Her firearms production is so high?" Margaret was surprised.

"Even if they are equipped with ten firearms each, so what?" Count Tilly said, "No matter how good the weapons are, if the soldiers are not adequately trained and tempered on the battlefield, they still cannot become a strong army. Your Majesty, think about the Venetian army. Their soldiers can even have a light armor! But

The Venetian army has always been known to be weak."

Margaret asked, "What's your suggestion?"

"I suggest that we only need money this time, not people." Earl Tilly said, "After the last actual battle, we have fully mastered Fran's musket tactics. Not only that, we have also invented a new type of tactic for cavalry - the half-turn tactic! I believe that as long as we experience enough battles, we will definitely have

More experience in using firearms than Fran."

"But according to intelligence, Fran's troops train every day."

"How can drill be the same as actual combat on the battlefield?" Count Tilly glanced at Wallenstein.

Under Margaret, Count Tilly was far superior to Wallenstein in both military achievements and command ability. If Wallenstein had not formed a special military advisory group to help him lead the army, Wallenstein might not even have been able to become a general.

It is for this reason that Count Tilly has always looked down on Wallenstein, especially when she made some military-related suggestions.

"It's a good idea to cut off the chance for Fran's army to go to the battlefield." Margaret said, "Then let Fran indulge in the dream of making money during this war."

"When your majesty regains control of the Holy Roll Empire and has a capable firearms unit, it will be time to turn around and deal with her." Earl Tilly said with a smile: "At that time, her property and her wealth will all become jewels in your majesty's crown!"

Hearing this, Margaret narrowed her eyes and smiled, "Isn't this too cruel to little Fran? If she obeys me, I don't mind letting her continue to be in charge of her Jingxi Chamber of Commerce, let her continue to serve the empire, and continue to serve me."

After saying these words, Margaret found that Wallenstein was still frowning, so she asked: "Why, do you have other concerns?"

"Yes." Wallenstein said, "Once the port is given to Fran, it means that Fran has the ability to trade in the ocean. I am worried that her ability to make money will rise to a higher level. If this is true, we may not be able to suppress her. As you know, many laborers have been attracted to Europe recently.

Lila City."

"No matter how powerful their ability to amass wealth is, can it be stronger than Venice and Genoa?" Count Tilly obviously disagreed with Wallenstein's words: "You know the fighting power of those countries...

"But the Venetians and Genoese are just traders. They make money mainly by buying low and selling high. But Fran is different. She is a producer." Wallenstein said: "So far, her cloth sales are amazing. She can sell hundreds of pieces a day in Vienna alone. This was unimaginable before."

"It's just clothes. Can she drown us with clothes?" said Count Tilly.

"Her productivity can be used for clothes, and of course it can also be used for weapons." Wallenstein said, "In addition to producing clothes, she can also provide us with muskets, cannons, and even a large amount of ammunition, the amount of which far exceeds our own workshops."

"That's because our workshop is not good enough!" Count Tilly said unconvincedly, "Besides, even if they have strong production capacity, so what? War relies on soldiers! It relies on courage! Weapons are only secondary!"

"If it were before, I would agree with you." Wallenstein said, "But after the advent of firearms, the form of war has changed! This is not only reflected in firearms, but also in logistics. In order to transport ammunition and repair muskets, if firearms are really popularized on a large scale, the pressure on logistics will be dozens of times greater than it is now!

The future of war is likely to change, and the competition will be about logistics and productivity. "

"I admit that logistics is important to the army!" Count Tilly said, "but I don't think it plays a decisive role. Remember when we fought the Beshags? Without water and food, we still ran in the desert for a long time and finally defeated them."

Wallenstein wanted to argue something, but was interrupted by Margaret. She said, "I was just about to talk about firearms. Why is our production capacity so low? We can't even make ten muskets in a week! What are those alchemists doing?"

After hearing this, Wallenstein said helplessly: "Although they have successfully imitated firearms, the craftsmanship and complexity of making muskets are beyond their imagination. So the production capacity cannot keep up!"

"I have captured so many craftsmen and brought them into the alchemy workshop! But the production capacity is not even as good as that of Aurora City!" Margaret immediately showed an unhappy expression on her face, and then said: "How many craftsmen are there in Aurora City! Can it be compared with Vienna? Are those craftsmen slacking off?"

"This... Wallenstein said: "In fact, the alchemy workshop is already working overtime to rush it."

"You are too kindhearted and don't have the heart to spur these craftsmen. They are like this. If you don't use some harsh measures, they will just slack off." Margaret said, "Military affairs are under Tilly's charge, and firearms are under your charge! Go and tell them that if the production capacity can't keep up, hang them all! Replace them with a group of capable people.

People come."

Wallenstein wanted to argue for the craftsmen, but when he saw Margaret's expression, he had to bow his head and agree.

On the other side, the Orila City Workshop.

Goronil stood with his hands on his hips, holding a paper-rolled microphone and shouted to the many craftsmen below.

"Since Beelzebub took the throne, more than ten city lords have come to Orila City! They are all bastards! Beasts! Flat-chested! Parasites! But our City Lord Fran is not a bastard, not a beast! Not a parasite! I admit that she is a good city lord! Recently, in order to reward the outstanding works made by the craftsmen in our workshop,

Make a contribution! We have decided to give everyone an extra bonus!"

“Hurrah!!”

"Great!"

"Long live the city lord!"

The craftsmen below cheered.

"Of course, please continue to work hard after this! Make more firearms! Teach more apprentices!" Gorronil said: "Now our workshop has produced 70 muskets a day, and all indicators are very good! The city lord said that when the daily production of muskets can be stabilized at 100, it will be

Give us another bonus.”

"Very good!"

"I will definitely work overtime! I can sacrifice my life, but the machine cannot run idle!"

"To achieve a daily output of 100, let's go!"

Seeing this, Gorronil put his hands on his waist and shouted with all his strength: "Ping...Long live Lord Fran!"

"Long live Lord Fulan!"

Chapter 112: Won't you play with me?

"Margaret didn't invite us to fight together?"

Fran was stunned for a moment when she heard the news that Margaret's army had already set out.

"She's obviously wary of us, especially you!" Christina said, "It must be because you've made too much money recently and created so many weird things."

"I have no choice." Fran said helplessly, "I also want to bide my time, but if I do that, I won't be able to make so much money.

"So... she doesn't want to take you with her to fight. She wants you to settle down and make money. It would be best if the army is disbanded." Christina said, "After she has dealt with all the lords in the country, she can deal with you next. By then, all the money in your treasury will be hers!"

"Humph! How could I be so stupid!" Fran said, "Does she think that if she doesn't take me to fight, my army will be useless? My men are not those young soldiers raised by Venice."

Christina said, "But soldiers need to be baptized by the battlefield. If Margaret doesn't let you go to the battlefield, then you will have no war to fight. Are you going to let your men become mercenaries?"

"Who said I have no war to fight?" Fran said, "My army is busy!"

"Oh?" Christina became interested and said, "Tell me where you were fighting. You can't be helping Grand Duke Vasa to fight bandits."

"That's not the case. No matter how weak the Grand Duke's troops are, there will be no problem in suppressing the bandits." Fran said, "The training place of the Orila army is in the third area of ​​the underground world."

"There? Are you sending people to explore deeper?" Christina asked curiously.

"Rather than exploration, it's better to say recovery." Fran said, "The places I'm going to now are all places that have been explored by previous people. It's just that because the power of the city lord has been abandoned for too long, those places have been occupied by a large number of low-level monsters. Now my soldiers are fighting hard against the monsters! The overwhelming monsters

The fighting strength of a creature is several times stronger than that of a weakling."

Christina then remembered that Fran also owned an entire underground city. There were a large number of minerals and rare products in the third area, but there were also many dangers. It required a large amount of manpower and well-trained soldiers to complete the exploration! This was indeed a good place to train troops.

"Not only that." Fran said, "I also opened an officer school. As you know, the skills required to command firearms troops are different from those required to command cold weapons. So I promoted those who made outstanding contributions to on-the-spot command to officers, so that they could communicate and learn from each other, and then collect these valuable experiences and unify them.

teach!"

"Also, firearms are different from cold weapons. Sharpshooters are trained one bullet at a time! Margaret's gunpowder production is very limited, so it's impossible for her to train like me. Without accuracy, it's useless even if the soldiers have a good mentality!"

Watching Fran talking endlessly about her, Christina couldn't help but feel relieved. Her sister had finally grown up, although she still looked the same in some places.

"Oh, by the way, sister, since Margaret won't take us to play, are you interested in going to the Volsas Plain with me?"

"The Volsas Plain?" Christina asked, "You just got the port, and you're already thinking about sailing? Is the fleet ready? Have you recruited sailors?"

"Although the fleet is not ready, the ships are already being built!" Fran said, "As for the sailors, they have already been trained."

"What? How could it be so fast?" Christina was surprised. You know, Fran had only obtained the right to use the port for a few days, how could they have started building ships so quickly?

"Preparing for a rainy day?" Fran said, "Actually, after defeating the Yellow Four Wolves, I sent people to Venice to buy a shipyard and sent many craftsmen to learn shipbuilding. Coincidentally, there is a group of people from Venice in Orila City. They can't stand the oppression of the Governor of Venice, so they take the Governor.

He hanged himself on the city wall, and then brought his family and clansmen here. "

Fran introduced them with great joy: "They are all talented people! However, after they came to Orila City, they were tricked into becoming slaves by the Yellow Four Wolves. I burned their slave contracts, and they surrendered to me. The leader of this tribe is called Harald. It is said that he was a very powerful captain in the past, and he has four brave sons.

He is a good sailor. When he heard that I wanted to form a fleet, he started to help me train sailors. "

"I didn't expect you to start planning so early." Christina said.

"Not only that." Fran smiled and said, "I also sent a 500-man construction corps, disguised as a caravan, to wander around the port, taking the opportunity to survey the terrain and design the docks and ports. The day after Margaret rented these ports to me, they began to work intensively. With the blessing of cement, it will be easy to get out of the port.

The old port can be mostly restored in one month."

"So, we can really go to the Volsas Plain in a while! I haven't left the continent of Calradia yet. I wonder what the situation is over there." Christina's eyes were full of anticipation.

"Eh? Sister, haven't you been to the Volsas Plain? I remember that the Holy Alliance holds regular meetings! This alliance is made up of various religions that fought against the demons together back then. The Shinra Church should have also made great efforts at that time." Fran said.

"Don't even mention it. With the current influence of the Shinra Church, there's no way we can possibly receive an invitation." Christina felt extremely depressed. "But even if we don't receive an invitation, it's not bad to go and take a look."

"According to convention, the Holy Alliance meeting will be held in a few months. If we hurry, we may be able to make it." Fran said, "Among the participants, in addition to dwarves and orcs, there are also elves from the far eastern continent! I heard that all elves are very beautiful, but I don't know if it's true or not."

"Of course it's true. Doesn't your casino with a million magic crystal coins have half-elf waiters? They look not much different from elves, right?" Christina said, "But elves are not easy to get along with. After all, the Elf Empire is still the strongest force in the world. In addition, they have art and culture.

This also makes them very arrogant.”

Fran immediately said, "No matter how pretty the elves are, they are not as pretty as my sister! And I am not going there to build good relationships with the members of the Holy Alliance this time. I just want to clear the way."

"Open the way? What do you want to buy from the Volsas Plain?"

"There are so many things to buy! Wool, spices, gems! And of course the most important thing is - food!" Fran said.

"Well, the food in the Volsas Plain is indeed very cheap and plentiful," Christina said, "but you know, it takes at least two months to get there and back, and the food they produce can't be stored for that long. Otherwise, we would have imported it from them a long time ago!"

"That's a ship. The current ships won't work." Fran said, "I have prepared a brand new ship for this purpose."

"Brand new ship?"

"Yes!" Fran said, "I moved the steam engine onto the ship."

Chapter 113: Helping in times of need

Steam engines moved to ships?

Before this, Christina had visited Fran's workshop and had a clear understanding of the power of the steam engine.

But how to use a steam engine to propel a ship?

Just as Christina was confused, Fran drew a sketch for it.

Originally, two huge wooden wheels were installed on the side of the ship. When the time comes, under the action of the steam engine, the wooden wheels will roll rapidly and push the ship forward.

Of course, Fran knew very well that this was only a temporary solution.

My original design was to use a propeller to drive the ship forward, but unfortunately my technology was not yet able to make such a strong propeller, and the strength of the steam engine was far from enough, so I could only design it that way for now. When the materials and the output power of the steam engine are further improved, then not only will wooden wheels not be needed, but even sails will be enough.

Remove.

But compared to the steam engine, Christina was more curious about Fran's change of direction.

She originally thought that Fran's focus would be to continue running her business on the mainland, but she didn't expect that she would set her sights directly on the ocean.

Create a navy, build an ocean-going fleet, expand trade routes, seek offshore alliances, etc. This is the focus of Fran's next move! In the process, the city of Orila will expand its territory in the Holy Roll Empire.

Fran told Christina that with the advent of firearms, the cruelty of war would exceed everyone's imagination. At that time, the Holy Roel Empire would be in chaos. Add to that the interference of foreign enemies and the involvement of various agents, and it would be a mess.

It is true that you can fish in muddy waters, but more often than not you will end up getting yourself into trouble.

Besides, Margaret didn't ask her for help, and she didn't have the opportunity to take action herself. She could just stay in the city of Orila and sell arms and supplies. Why not do it?

Not only that, the several continents on the other side of the sea are very rich, and their output can well make up for the insufficient resources of the city of Orila.

At present, Orila City has no shortage of coal or ore, but only food. The Holy Roel Empire has been at war for years, and the land is barren. It cannot be expected to become a granary in a short time. Orila City is dark and can only rely on growing mushrooms and capturing low-level monsters for food.

If there could be a stable food channel, our shortcomings could be greatly alleviated.

Not to mention, the Volsas Plain is also a large natural pasture that produces countless wool! Because there is so much wool that it cannot be consumed, they even use it as fuel, which makes Fran cry out that it is a waste.

If we could import cheap wool from them, process it ourselves, and then ship it to all parts of the world for sale, the profits would be staggering.

Of course these are not the most important.

The most important thing is the open and secret struggles between himself and Margaret.

After all, the city of Orila is too close to Vienna.

The core areas of the two were tightly together, which was definitely not a good thing. When the two really fell out, Margaret had a vast empire behind her as a buffer, while he only had a remote underground city. Whether in size or height, he could not compare with Margaret.

Fran must solve this dilemma

At least when Margaret's army was approaching and most of Fran's forces were firmly trapped in the city of Orila, she could open up a second battlefield behind Margaret, and then use the force of the two sides to force her to retreat.