I will be crowned king

"Please come in."

Anson gently put down the coffee cup in his hand, stood up from the sofa, and spoke.

The closed door was slowly pushed open, and William Gottfried, who was hiding in the shadows, cautiously poked his head out from behind, like some kind of rodent, observing the surrounding environment.

The room is large, spacious, and bright. The light-emitting fireplace is set against the sofa, blankets, and warm-toned wallpapers, giving people an atmosphere of naturally relaxing their vigilance, and tense nerves can involuntarily relax.

"What would you like to drink, rum, wine, or coffee?"

Although he said that, Anson had already walked to the fireplace and skillfully played with the coffee pot, and the rich fragrance filled the whole room.

William cautiously saluted, carefully placed his hat on his chest, hesitated for a few seconds before speaking:

"Coffee, no sugar or milk, thank you."

"Do you like drinking neat?"

"I don't like it that much, but the doctor at the college once forced me to drink more milk and eat more sugar. I hate being asked and asked in life, so..." William shrugged.

Holding two cups of scalding hot coffee, Anson turned around and looked at this "genius scholar" who had a haggard appearance, a pair of dark circles under his eyes, and almost had "malnutrition" carved on his forehead, and he was slightly startled. :

"They might be right."

"I know, I just hate the way they talk."

William nodded lightly, glanced at the sofa with blankets and cushions next to him, and took a deep breath: "Can I sit down - my legs and feet are not very good, and the doctor said it is best not to stand for too long."

I don’t like sugar and milk, but I am willing to sit, so it’s all determined by the tone of voice, right? Anson couldn’t help but complain in his heart, but the smile on his face remained:

"Of course, please take a seat."

After receiving the hot coffee from the commander-in-chief, William took a seat and breathed a long sigh of relief. The rising and falling of his chest and the extent of his breathing seemed to prove that the short journey just now had consumed most of his energy.

Anson looked from top to bottom at the "technical consultant" who Sophia had repeatedly warned him about. His appearance didn't look anything special, and could even be said to be extremely ordinary.

To be more precise, there is not even a trace of blood power or aura related to the Three Old Gods in his body.

As for the legendary ancient runes that can summon evil gods or use magic... To be honest, he prefers to believe that Cole Dorian and the others really misunderstood, or they just provided a suitable excuse to arrest him. In fact, there was another reason.

This is not his random speculation. Similar things are not uncommon for the Inquisition, especially when it comes to college professors - the Church of Order's management of "knowledge" is extremely strict, and any scholar suspected of advance research or technology leakage, There is almost no chance of survival.

Searching or arresting people just because of "knowledge" really cannot be used as an honest excuse. They can only be charged with "suspected magic" or "heretical research" to avoid affecting the reputation of the church.

The associate professor William Gottfried in front of him should be one of the unlucky ones targeted by the church's "knowledge blockade" in Anson's eyes.

“I have always believed that judging people by their appearance is not a skill worth studying.”

William, holding the coffee cup in both hands, suddenly spoke.

Um? !

Anson, who was slightly lost in thought, pursed his lips, smiled and said, "What... do you mean?"

"No, it's just a matter of fact - colleagues in sociology have put forward a view that one can make a rough assessment of a person from the observation of appearance, clothing, habits and facial details; usually people who have just come into contact with this kind of thing can make a rough assessment. People in skills and other disciplines are less rigorously called 'judging a book by its cover'."

William explained: "Through my observation of you just now, I subjectively believe that your existence is the most powerful refutation of this subject."

"A young man who is passionate about history, archaeology, supernatural and mysterious phenomena, according to the views of my beloved colleagues in sociology, must have the characteristics of being more emotional, delicate in heart, and more susceptible to external influences."

"And your characteristics seem to be completely opposite to these, realistic, rational, confident, and methodical. Forgive me, I don't see a young history enthusiast, but...a senior deacon of a large chamber of commerce or bank. "

Anson's eyes narrowed:

"You know me?"

"No, this should be the first time we meet today, His Excellency Brigadier General Anson Bach." William shook his head:

"But I did hear about you from Professor Mace Honnard. He mentioned that he had a very outstanding student who was transferred to the Royal Military Academy because of his awakening of blood power... and it happened that the name of the Commander-in-Chief of the Colonial Legion was , exactly like that student.”

Does he know Mace Hornard? !

Anson, who was stunned in his heart, nodded slightly, with a look of nostalgia and regret in his eyes: "Yes, he was my favorite history professor and my very important mentor... once."

"It was precisely because of his evaluation of you that I concluded that sociology is a pseudoscience."

Taking a sip of coffee, William seemed not to want to continue on this topic: "Your secretary told me that Governor Sophia Franz has appointed me as a consultant to the colony, responsible for solving technical problems for you."

"That's what happened." Anson was also happy to change the subject quickly, so as not to let the other party find out that he was more involved with Mace Hornard, and why he did not meet his judgment of "judging a book by its appearance":

"She said you were a good mathematician and well versed in practical techniques, which we are currently lacking."

This slightly flattering introduction made William frown slightly: "That's all she said?"

Anson was stunned for a few seconds, but his smile remained:

"...What do you mean?"

"I am a criminal wanted by the trial for suspected research on evil gods and heresy." William's expression looked particularly puzzled:

"Didn't she tell you such important information?"

Looking at his surprised and serious expression, Anson was suddenly speechless.

Even a nerd who can't speak can't be stupid enough to say "I am a wanted criminal" in front of others as casually as "What did you eat last night?" right?

Facts have proved that he still underestimated the other party.

He is now basically certain that Associate Professor William Gottfried has no normal social experience at all. He is very subjective in dealing with people. He never considers other people's feelings. He says whatever he wants and does whatever he wants. type.

Just from these few minutes of communication, Anson could imagine how irritated Miss Franz was after communicating with him, and her fair cheeks turned into pink eggs.

But now that he had spoken, Anson could no longer pretend to be indifferent, so he chuckled: "Yes, she did mention this little thing."

"However, we have always believed that this must be due to a misunderstanding, which led the Truth-Seeking Cult to think that you might be involved with the Old God Sect; this is not a strange thing, there are not a few innocent people arrested for similar situations every year, most of them In the end, it was nothing more than nothing, and I believe your crime was definitely..."

"it is true."

William suddenly said: "They did misunderstand, but... it was just a wrong direction. I did come into contact with certain projects that were explicitly prohibited from research by the church."

"So they were right to arrest me, even though they made the mistake of arresting me for the wrong reason, or maybe they made the mistake intentionally."

Anson, who was intercepted, hesitated to speak, with a smile frozen on his face.

"In short, they think that the ancient runes I studied can summon evil gods, release magic, or both summon evil gods and release magic. Obviously I can't."

William didn't seem to notice Anson's expression at all, and continued to talk to himself: "With the help of runes, I can communicate with many beings that I couldn't communicate with before, and sense subtle changes that normal people cannot detect... This is a very special skill. I have only uncovered a small part of the knowledge of the world, and I suspect that Saint Isaac knew more."

"If you ask me to describe it, it is like a communication tool... just like the language and writing we use, but the way is slightly different from normal writing; if it can be promoted on a large scale, I think it can be of great use benefit society."

"It's a pity that my colleagues, the people from the Church of Order and the Tribunal don't think so."

"Obviously, that's because they don't know how to respect you and the value of the discipline, but Beluga is different."

Although he was rolling his eyes crazily in his heart, in order to make the other party serve him obediently, Anson could only follow his words: "You can make any request, and if you can satisfy it, Beluga Port and Storm Legion will do their best to satisfy it."

"Of course, the premise is that you must complete the tasks assigned to you by the colonies and legions; the most important thing right now is that we urgently need a batch of high-quality and cheap weapons and equipment to arm the soon-to-be-expanded legions and colonial militia organizations."

"Equipment?" William chewed on the word and pressed the hot coffee cup to his chest:

"You want me to help you design a new weapon?"

"I hope you can find ways to speed up the production efficiency of military factories and steel plants. It is best to optimize some unnecessary production processes and ensure sufficient equipment." Anson has begun to ignore the other party's frequent interruptions:

"Of course, if you can design it, that's fine."

"For example?"

William raised his eyebrows.

"for example……"

Anson took a deep breath: "An infantry weapon that is both a musket and a melee weapon needs to be designed as simple as possible, so that people with little training can use it, and the material requirements are as low as possible; there is also a support weapon that does not require too much range. It must be far away, but it must be able to provide fire deterrent, and the structure must be light and can be operated by two or three people.”

Yes, he was deliberately making things difficult for the other party, but at the same time, it was also out of practical considerations.

Since the indigenous people are to be used to form a shooting army, they naturally need to be equipped with corresponding weapons. The problem is that the equipment currently available is not suitable.

The Leyden rifle is cheap enough, simple and durable, but as a muzzle-loading rifle, its training cost is actually not low. The shooting steps are at least twice as complicated as those of a breech-loading rifle like Leopold. The Taitong Aboriginal Association is quite difficult.

As for Leopold... its original intention is to reduce the learning cost of infantry mastering, improve the success rate of firing, and at the same time, custom-fitting paper shells can also reduce logistical pressure - but it is too expensive, even Anson finds it uncomfortable to equip the Storm Legion. not enough.

Another support weapon was the idea of ​​the officer corps. Due to the shortage of soldiers due to the expansion of the corps, Leo, the commander of the 4th Infantry Regiment, suggested providing each infantry regiment or battalion with a support weapon to make up for the lack of firepower caused by the lack of soldiers.

Anson's initial idea was to equip each regiment with an additional artillery piece, but the problem is that the current number of artillery pieces does not allow him to do this, and if the six-pounder gun is not used for positional warfare, it is somewhat cumbersome for an infantry regiment; but if If replaced by a three-pounder or imperial four-pounder, the firepower is obviously insufficient.

After many discussions, the current opinion is to equip each battalion with several organ cannons - this thing is to tie several dozen rifles in a row to the gun carriage. When needed, they fire collectively to suppress the shooting. .

If it were on the battlefield of the old world, this kind of inefficient weapon would be almost on the same level as a toy; but here is the new world. Whether it is street fighting or dealing with small groups of enemies that suddenly appear in the field, it still has its uses in medium and short range, and It's very simple to make...it's a forced choice.

But since Associate Professor William Gottfried is willing, he is also happy to find something for the other party.

"Ok, I see."

As if unaware of the "malice" in Anson's words, William nodded and looked at him seriously with dark circles: "Two weeks... no, within a week, I will hand over the plan to you, if there are no problems , I will take another week to draw a design sketch to the military factory, and provide samples within thirty working days at the latest.”

"Then I'll wait and see."

Anson chuckled and put down the coffee cup in his hand, not paying too much attention to this promise.

Just when he stood up and was about to send the other party away, William suddenly spoke again:

"Your Excellency Anson Bach, have you often had strange dreams recently?"

"……Dream?"

"Yes, I'm not sure about the content, but... it's probably related to the three old gods, magic, indescribable knowledge and some memory flashbacks from the dark ages." William speculated:

"This kind of dream usually happens to a spellcaster who is about to undergo a mutation. As he becomes more closely related to the type of magic he is exposed to, the dream will become more and more real, and eventually he will be unable to distinguish between dream and reality. The difference is; the other situation is the result of the presence of extremely high-level beings around, constantly exerting influence on the victim."

"In short, I suggest you observe the people around you and your daily diet, because this kind of influence usually requires some kind of media... That's it, farewell."

After saying that, William put down the almost untouched coffee in his hand, turned and left the living room.

Anson Bach was left standing there, dumbfounded.