Black Iron’s Glory

Chapter 428 Funds and Prospectus

Claude is really no other way, spending money like water. As a kingdom lieutenant and honorary viscount, his annual salary and welfare subsidies can add up to more than three hundred to four hundred gold krona. All the generals in the theater, even General Bologna, are also the ranks of lieutenant generals, and only half of them can earn. Because General Bologna is not an honorary aristocrat of the kingdom, there is one aristocratic annuity income of two hundred gold krona per year.

However, these salary, annuity, and welfare subsidies are all taken care of by Kafoni. Claude is an active serviceman. The food, clothing, housing and transportation are all free of charge in the Legion. There are few opportunities to spend money. This is not to say that Claude is a bronchitis or something, and the salary is given to his wife, but his extraordinarily faster than the salary, for example, he led the Thunder Legion to win the third colonial war, and he won the light after the trophy was paid. The one that was nearly two thousand gold krona was deposited in another National Bank account and was kept by Claude himself.

Don't forget the hidden money of the Hicks Kingdom, worth more than 350,000 kronor, the profits from the sale of the Legion's throwing bombs, and the proceeds from the transfer of the throwing and revolver production licenses. Finally, More than 10,000 gold krona dividends obtained by Bok Aldrich Buffalo Claude. To put it simply, Claude once had the cash in hand of more than 500,000 kronor...

But Claude also spends a lot of money. It helps the younger sister to buy the ranch and build it. It costs a thousand or two. This is still a small head. The big head is to pay 100,000 gold krona to the sisters Anna and Sonya to perfect the laboratory. Equipment and purchase of various test materials. If there is no such huge sum of money for the two of them to squander in the laboratory, even if Claude has a clear idea and direction, Mrs. Sonia will not create a new rifle in just two years. .

In addition, Claude adopted a hundred or sixty boys and girls orphans for the Field family, and set up a small national and national school in the pasture, ready to train these orphans into talents, and become the family's help in the future. The money spent on this aspect is not a small amount. It takes about 10,000 Jinkran a year. It is not a big expense for the orphans to eat and wear. The big head is to hire real-life lessons to teach them, as well as those teaching tools and so on...

The iron ore workshop jointly organized by Claude and Weibulen is divided into three parts. The first part is the mining of iron ore into refined iron, or the addition of other metals forging into alloy steel. This part of the profit is not much, only to maintain and continue to slowly expand the scale of iron ore.

The second part is the production of throwing bombs, from which Claude earned 10,000 gold krona. But now there is no war, and the theater can't consume the throwing bombs. The purchased throwing bombs require the soldiers to carry out live-fire training for a long time to consume. In a short period of time, it is not necessary to expect the theater to purchase a large number of throwing bombs.

The third part is the power machinery workshop, which is the power machine that manufactures the fire machine and the steam engine. However, Claude has already promised Mr. Wei Bolun that all the proceeds of the power workshop in the first three years have been invested in the expansion workshop and the research on the fire engine and steam engine. This year is the third year. I want to wait another year for dividends in this area.

The next step is to start the firearms manufacturing workshop, although Bokal is almost free to provide the complete set of Hicks Kingdom's firearms manufacturing machinery. However, the master and daughter of Claude Bytobold chose the address of the workshop, purchased the mining rights of the land and the black flint, and collected the mechanical talents who were directly under the jurisdiction and the in-laws. Transform hydraulic machinery into firepower and mechanical power, build workshop infrastructure and homes and other buildings, hire workers to train and transform the firearms manufacturing machinery that manufactures muslin guns into a mechanical production line for the production of new rifles, and The production line of copper shell bullet machinery. Claude invested a total of 278,800,000 gold to own the firearms manufacturing workshop for the production of new rifles.

Master Bird is the general manager of the nominal firearms manufacturing workshop, and is actually responsible for the execution of Mrs. Sonia. After careful calculations, they told Claude that the gunsmithing workshop now has more than 1,000 workers and technicians, with an annual output of more than 3,000 new rifles and more than four million copper-shell rifle bullets. In terms of revenue, this state of production will still produce certain losses, at most, no loss or profit, because the annual cost of the entire firearms manufacturing workshop, including production costs, will cost about 30,000 gold kronor.

The most ideal state is to continue to hire workers for training, so that the workshop has 2,000 skilled workers, so that the annual maintenance funds will be raised to 50,000 gold kronor. But the annual output of new rifles can reach 10,000, and the shell rifle bullets are 10 million. While the maintenance costs already include the cost of production of new rifles and copper shell rifle bullets, even if the new rifle is sold at eight gold krona, each new rifle will still have two to three gold krona gains.

But Claude now has only a reserve fund of 100,000 Jinkelang. He also needs to give the sisters Anna and Sonya the test funds, and then to test the grenade and mortar, and try again. It is indispensable to invest in the light infantry field artillery that the troops are equipped with to launch the projectile-type explosive projectiles instead of only to launch solid projectiles and shotguns.

Master Bird’s research direction has shifted from firearms to power machinery, and Claude also needs to provide him with some experimental funds. In this way, the wealth of the 100,000 gold krona around Crowder seems to be a lot, but it is not very useful. To put it bluntly, he could not even get the money for the two-year-old gunsmithing workshop. Therefore, he hopes that the theater can guarantee him, and borrow one million gold krona funds from overseas Minsheng Bank to solve his urgent needs.

As for the issue of the overseas Minsheng Bank banknotes issued by General Bologna, the issue of immigration by the directly-regulated kingdoms was ignored. Claude did not pay attention to it. First, the credibility of the theater is a guarantee for the banknotes. It can be exchanged for real gold. As long as you fill a silver tower, you can go to the overseas Minsheng Bank to exchange a silver coin.

Second, you can use the banknotes to pay taxes on behalf of the gold, which can guarantee the paper value represented by the banknotes, so that it can be circulated in the market. At the same time, the supervision of the market will be intensified. Any vendor that refuses to accept banknotes will be fined and disqualified from doing business.

Third, all the troops under the theater, whether they are two legions or local armed soldiers, will be paid in accordance with the principle that all the banknotes below the banknotes. As long as the time is long, the residents of the kingdoms under the direct jurisdiction will find the benefits of the banknotes, and at least they can go out without having to carry a large bag of copper coins that are bulging, thus attracting the attention of others and the thief...

General Bologna finally nodded: "If you insist on a loan, the theater can guarantee you. But I hope you can think about it again, Claude, this is not a joke, if the paper money is resisted and becomes a waste paper. If you borrow one million gold krona, you can actually receive only half of the gold coins, then you are equal to the first loss of 500,000 gold krona."

"Wait a minute," General Scrim said. "I don't understand, Claude. Why do you insist on a loan and a loan of one million? In fact, you can share the risk with others. If you are willing to take out a small part. If this firearms manufacturing workshop shares, I believe that there will be many wealthy people directly under the jurisdiction who are willing to invest in the purchase of shares, they will buy at a premium, you can easily get a large fortune..."

Crowder shook his head: "I have a loan of one million gold krona. I need to conduct more weapons tests to study the development and changes of weapons needed for future wars. Just like throwing bombs, it was originally a weapon of attack, but according to The thrower equipped by the smuggling ship of the Nasri Kingdom is very inconvenient to move, but it can be placed on the defensive position. It can be thrown farther than the throwers equipped by our troops. Encountering such an enemy will pose a greater threat to the soldiers we attack.

So I need to experiment with making new-style weapons and equipment, and to ensure that the enemy is left behind in terms of weaponry, such as converting light infantry field artillery into cannonballs that can explode. Obviously, if I sell the shares of the firearms manufacturing workshop, these new shareholders will still be able to object to the funds I have invested in, even if the shares are small. I need to disclose all the books. I am too lazy to talk to them, and shareholders have a very negative impact on the secrecy of new weapons, which is why I will not sell shares. ”

Claude knew that General Skerri’s suggestion was also a good intention, but his explanation made the generals present somewhat speechless. Everyone's investment needs to be rewarded and profitable. If Krode puts all the money into the bottomless pit of experimenting with new weapons, then it is clear that no one is willing to do the big money to fund this.

"That is still guaranteed by our theater, let you borrow one million gold krona from overseas Minsheng Bank." General Bologna made a decision.

If the banknotes can be circulated in the various jurisdictions of the theater, then the firearms manufacturing workshop of Claude will produce 10,000 new rifles and 10 million copper shell rifle bullets every year. It will take only five years to pay off the loan. . Of course, this loan is interest-free. The war zone only needs to pay 200,000 gold kroner per year to pay off the loan. What Claude wants to guarantee is that he can produce so many new rifles and bullets for the troops in the theater every year. As for the rest of the money, he will not be able to control any new weapons.

Since the theater is willing to provide credit guarantees for Claude, it is a matter of course. Claude sighed: "Go to my office, there is a promising business. I want to talk to you, maybe you are willing to participate in it."

The generals were amazed. Claude was reluctant to sell the shares of the gunsmithing workshop, but said that there is a business with a promising future. Is this business better than a gunsmithing workshop? It is important to know that the firearms manufacturing workshop has created a new type of rifle that surpasses all arquebuses. The only regret is that the equipment costs are too expensive. You don’t dare to completely replace the two regiments in the war zone. You can only use Claude’s suggestion to use the new rifle and copper shell rifle bullets produced by the gunsmithing workshop every year to make small small fights. Noisy update equipment...

Into the office, Claude took out a roll of paper on the table for everyone to watch. The drawing depicts a dark iron guy with a horizontally placed cylinder with a prominent chimney on top of it, a rectangular parallelepiped on the underside, and a row of steel wheels on either side of the cuboid. Iron shaft. Behind the cylinder, there is a small room on the cuboid that resembles a carriage.

There is an effect picture depicting the dark iron guy with white smoke, behind him a dozen or so long carriages with steel wheels on the same side, driving on the plains. It is worth noting that the ground is not the kind of flat that is driven by a horse-drawn carriage or is paved with gravel and flattened. Instead, there are two parallel rails. Below the rails is a section of coarse sleepers.

"What is this, is it a car?" General Beechklin asked curiously.

Claude nodded: "Yes, this is the train. The road below is the railway. The main thing about this train is the front locomotive. It uses a steam engine to drive the steel wheels underneath to rotate forward. Finally, the rear ten is pulled. Several train cars are flying on the railway. Master Bird has confirmed that the locomotive can be manufactured, and has now begun trials and achieved initial success.

The locomotive he built drove ten trucks filled with black flints to circumnavigate three or more laps on the temporarily paved rails. Finally, the locomotive leaked because of the lack of casting materials. However, he promised to solve the casting problem within three months and to improve and streamline the internal structure of the entire locomotive.

The area of ​​our overseas direct jurisdiction is too large. From the northern port of Vibatato to the southernmost Atulas, it takes a month to ride the road. And if you take a boat, it will take twenty days, but the risk is very high at sea. Although it is offshore transportation, no one can guarantee that it will not be hit by shipwrecks and pirates.

If you take the train, then at the speed of one hour and thirty kilometers, it takes only seven days and seven nights, and no more than ten days, from the direct administration of the port of Vibatato to the governor of Atulas. The reason is very simple. Horse riding is necessary to ensure the rest and physical strength of the mount. The sea boat needs to be parked in a safe place at night. The train can travel day and night, the passengers only need to sit in the carriage to rest, or they can lie down and sleep, and when they wake up, the destination is close at hand.

Militaryly speaking, trains and railways can guarantee that our troops do not need to travel long distances. They only need to sit in the carriage to send our soldiers to the front line, which will help us to mobilize our troops for support. In civilian use, trains can transport large quantities of goods, making it easy for people to travel. And its consumption only requires the burning of black flint and the steam of water..."

In fact, Claude only needs to introduce the function of the train without describing the effect it brings. The generals present can naturally judge the changes brought by the train to the theater's direct jurisdiction. They are convinced of Claude's remarks. This is indeed a very good business. As long as it can occupy a little share in it, it can bring a huge inheritable wealth to his family.

"How do you want us to share shares?" asked General Bologna.

"You each give out 10,000 gold krona, I give you 2% of the shares, and the four of you add up to 8%. I own 12%, plus your money to make up ten Wanjin Krone, Master Bird and their technical team that make the locomotives account for 10% of the technical stocks. The remaining 70% of the shares I will take out to raise funds, a 20,000 krona, The $1.5 million in funds will be used to build the railway and operate the railway company.” Claude had a plan to give the four generals a clear answer.

"There can be a Dolly River between the governor of Ghana and the rulings of Robisto..." General Eblon said.

"Two programs," Claude raised two fingers: "The first is to build the railway to the banks of the Dolly River, there are trains on both sides, passengers get off the river and then get on the train. The second option is Building a railway bridge on the Dolly River, the two sides of the direct control are completely integrated. However, this method is relatively expensive and technically difficult. I don't know if it is feasible. Maybe we need to dilute everyone's share capital again. Private placements, raising funds to build this railway bridge..."