I Will Be The Crowned King

The latest website: Red Hand Bay, the northern defense line of the New World Corps.

While Boley Levent was still struggling with the security war, Louis and Anson had just received the first courier "sent" from Black Reef Harbor.

Passing through a trench that is three kilometers deep and two meters wide, the two came to an artillery position that was still under construction, surrounded by soldiers who were busy ramming earth and building bricks, so that not many people noticed. The two have entered the center of the construction site.

In front of them were neatly arranged in two rows, sixteen new four-pounder guns and ten eight-pounder guns, each equipped with a matching gun carriage and towing device, which looked as if they had just been left out of the factory. How long is the same.

Of course, this is the new product that just left the factory. More precisely, it is a new product that Bernard Morwes ordered from the Royal Armoury of the Snapdragon Principality for Arthur Hereid's legion.

And there are stacks of neat weapon boxes next to these artillery pieces, and it should be seen that the weapons in the logo should be rifles; according to the standard of three guns in a box, this is only the construction site used as a temporary transfer site. , there are at least three hundred rifles.

However, compared to the real "big deal", these things are nothing... Dozens of fully loaded ammunition trucks are piled up in all corners of the entire construction site, and it is almost difficult to get in and out normally, making the surrounding area still busy The soldiers were terrified, lest they accidentally fall on Mars and blow up the entire position into the sky.

It's just that they obviously thought too much. All these weapons and equipment, the wooden boxes of guns and ammunition, are tightly sealed, and they have never been opened since they left the factory.

Looking at these new and unrenewable "express", Rao Shilou had already prepared in his heart, but he was still taken aback: "This, these are the officers of the jihad, who agreed to sell them to us?"

"That's right, and it's three times higher than the market price." Anson nodded, his expression seemed a little careless: "Of course, these are not all."

"Not all?!" Louis looked at him in astonishment.

"These things in front of us only account for one-tenth of this batch of goods... Because we are close and just want to speed up the army's change, we sent the **** troops directly to the position."

Nodding lightly, Anson pointed in the direction of Red Hand Bay: "In addition, there are some that are not suitable for deployment on this side of the position, some can be used as combat readiness storage, and some are best not to be discovered by the opposite side for the time being... They should all be there now. In the warehouse in Red Hand Bay."

"…for example?"

"For example... ah, thank you very much." An Sen, who thanked softly, took the list from the little secretary behind him and glanced at it casually: "For example, two thousand pairs of military boots, plus bandages, spirits, medicines, ropes, and Two hundred cases of grenades, one hundred cases of Borny rifles, one hundred cases of Garland rifles, one hundred cases of Miller rifled shotguns…”

Due to the emphasis on artillery but not infantry, and the vast territory, the empire did not appear to be dominated by the "Leiden Military Industry" like the Clovis Army. The major principalities and even the central cities have their own military factories to design and equip themselves. Developed weapon rifle.

Among them, there are high-end goods such as Borne, which are exported to various countries and are loved by nobles, as well as the imitation of Leiden, which turns out to be worse than Leiden, but the price can be doubled. The cost is comparable to that of Borne, and the range and accuracy of Miller are excellent...

The silent Louis opened a weapon box, took out the Miller rifle, and completed the whole process of loading the front-loading rifle in only ten seconds, skillfully stunned the soldiers who were still working next to him. .

But the young knight was not happy at all.

He's not a fool... This kind of Miller rifle is produced in the Grand Duchy of Adelaide and is mainly used to equip snipers on the ship's lookout; one or two can be said to be an accident, and a batch of Miller rifles can only explain the Mujahideen Army The Adrian knights and officers inside must have also participated in the smuggling.

With what he knew about the Adelaide army, without the acquiescence or secret instigation of his father, those people would never have the guts to do so; even through some informants early on, he had reached certain agreements with the Archbishop of Clovis, Luther Franz. Agreement is not impossible.

But at the same time, his father also strongly supported the jihad operations of the empire and the church, not only gave up the fleet of Port Adland and the Bernard family, but also sent the family's vassals and knights to actively help Arthur Hered. Form a legion, and even ask yourself to surrender to the Mujahideen...

This inconsistent and contradictory behavior has left Louis completely stunned. What does his father want to do?

"Ah, in addition to this, there are two 18-pound naval guns and two 24-pound cannons." Anson turned back two pages and added lightly:

"Because it is too heavy, each gun needs at least four to six pack horses to be able to pull it, so it is still halfway there, and it should be able to arrive in the afternoon."

"Eighteen pounds and twenty-four pounds...two doors?!"

The young knight with round eyes cried out, directly attracting the attention of all the people around him.

"To be precise, four doors."

An Sen twitched the corners of his mouth helplessly. He originally planned to suppress this matter. After such a toss, everyone would know 100%.

"We are going to use all these four artillery pieces to arm the Red Hand Bay as a surprise for the Mujahideen - they must think that our coastal defense batteries are all small-caliber artillery pieces, and then use these big guys to treat them well. This group of guests from afar."

"Ah, very good!"

The young knight who realized that he had lost his way hurriedly straightened his face, braced his waist, and put his hands behind his back: "The Red Hand Bay must be made into a real iron wall, so that the enemy can no longer advance half a step and plunder the free Confederate. territory!"

"Not only that, but we will always remember the sacrifice of Miss Paulina Frey, and launch a counterattack from this line of defense under our feet to retake Grey Dove Castle and Sail City, and drive the Mujahideen from the land!"

At the same time as the voice fell, the young knight clenched his right fist and raised his arm vigorously; the knights of Sail City who followed immediately took the lead, and then the soldiers in the construction site waved their wooden shovels and hoes, bursting out. Excited cheers.

"The Crusaders—"

"Expulsion from the land—!!"

"The Crusaders—"

"Expulsion from the land—!!"

"The Crusaders—"…

The messy and majestic cheers soon spread from the artillery positions, and the excited shouts of the soldiers could be heard throughout the northern defense line.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Anson and Louis also hurriedly left the position where the inspection had not ended, and went to a place where construction had just started and there were not many people.

"Really all these materials were sold to us by the jihadist army?!"

Before he could breathe a sigh of relief, the young knight asked impatiently, "Even if the guns and ammunition can be concealed, how can the four naval guns be explained?!"

"Uh...you guessed it, not all."

"Not at all?"

"That's right, it's not just the Mujahideen that do business with us, but also the fleets that send them to the New World." Anson patted him on the shoulder, signalling not to get too excited:

"Accurately speaking, the jihadists themselves are still secondary. These people are our most important suppliers at the moment - they are not the jihadists, but they are basically well armed, and there is no risk of being recruited to the battlefield, so Very happy to sell us weapons that we don't need at hand."

"Of course, the price is not cheap. It is generally much more expensive than the one in the hands of the jihadist army, which is basically more than five times." An Sen spread out the account book in his hand and pointed to the column above and said:

"The advantage is that there is no risk after the fact, and you can get some weapons and equipment that the officers of the jihadist army would never dare to hand over to us."

For example, an 18-pound naval gun... Louis nodded slightly, still with an incredible expression on his face: "Then what are we paying for - wood, coal or steel?"

"How is that possible?"

Anson shrugged: "Even if they are willing to accept it, we can't transport so much cargo from the rear to the front line in one go, and we have to let the army stationed in dozens of colonies with only a dozen people deliver the goods to them. After all, Bo Those people like Ray Levant aren't fools, at least not pure - for real money, of course!"

This answer, which sounds very reasonable, confuses Louis even more:

"Do we have a lot of cash?"

"Uh, unfortunately not." Anson shook his head:

"The scarcity of precious metals has always been a particularly troubling problem in the New World. Even our own banks use steel and coal as general equivalents for pricing. The only gold mine is a small mine with very limited output. , there is no way to support our private transactions with the Mujahideen."

"But fortunately we still have some gold and silver deposits left over from the past, which can barely pay for part of the payment; in addition, it happens that we also have what the enemy needs most right now."

"The most needed thing... is it food?"

"It's very close." The corners of An Sen's mouth rose slightly:

"It's salt."

"salt?!"

"There are basically only two sources of salt in the whole New World - the trade with the three countries in the North Sea, and the self-production and sales of the colonies." Anson explained: "The former needless to say, the Nakhir Kingdom Civil War has almost interrupted most of the The output of the colony was basically concentrated in Sail City, several coastal salt fields in the Beluga Harbor colony, and small salt mines inland."

"When we retreated, we took away almost all the salt stock, and also destroyed the salt pond in Yangfan City. The jihadist army will either loot and loot, and it should be impossible to get a lot of salt in a short time."

"It's that simple?!" Louis still didn't believe it.

"It's that simple." Anson nodded: "At least for us, that's how it is."

"To us... eh?!"

"I just said that we don't have much real money, but it doesn't mean that the jihadist army on the opposite side doesn't have it." An Sen silently announced the answer:

"The jihadist army lacked salt, so they could only find a way to purchase it. The only option in the short term was us; the officers who got our salt wooed and bought off the head of the logistics department and asked them to buy the salt at a high price. The problem is Isn't it resolved?"

Of course, because of this, the soldiers of the grassroots jihadists lacked ammunition, and the weapons were not enough to be installed. Also, because of the high price of salt, they could only eat bland food, so it had nothing to do with them—this belongs to the invisible hand of the market, and the relationship between supply and demand Rebalance, love to play or not.

In fact, due to the high complementarity of each other’s needs, the trade between the two sides has long been not only about salt, but coal and iron ore have long been in each other’s trade.

Because the ports on both sides have been blocked, the local pirates in the New World can only be responsible for "smuggling" to the Black Reef Port - there are too many forces in Yangfan City, and it is difficult to do it - into the returning ships.

And those who undertake the transaction and negotiation are the Knights of No Faith and the bank branches left in several colonies; these banks are still, at least on the surface, presided over by the Colonial Governor Sophia Franz of Clovis, as long as they are not blamed can continue to maintain.

In other words, not only did the trade in the New World not decrease because of the war, but on the contrary, there was an increasing trend—of course, this kind of thing was not a last resort, and Anson would not tell the honest man Louis.

"I just want to know a question now..."

Resisting the shock in his heart, the young knight clenched his teeth and looked at Anson: "Since the implementation of the flexible defense plan, how many arms have we bought from the Mujahideen Army?"

"Uh, it's not a lot." He flipped through the account book again, An Sen's face was calm: "It's not hard to guess, the jihadist army is not blind, how could the loss of a large number of materials go unnoticed - I said That's right, Ellen?"

"Exactly, Mr. Anson!" The little secretary next to him said with a smile:

"It is very regrettable that although we very much hope to purchase more weapons from the jihadist army, the transaction volume has not increased much, and each time we only agree to maintain about one-tenth of the trade volume. , the main commodities are still gunpowder, lead and all kinds of shells."

"However, because the New World can hardly produce gunpowder independently, and the production of lead bullets has never been able to increase significantly, it is still beneficial to us to maintain the current trading method."

"How much is that?" Louis asked reluctantly.

"What do you mean specifically..."

"Weapons, Rifles and Artillery!"

"Ah... As I said just now, these only account for about one-tenth of the trade volume. It is really difficult to give accurate figures until the specific accounts are obtained." The little secretary showed an embarrassed expression:

"But if you insist on asking, you can only give an estimated number below, which is probably..."

"Twenty thousand rifles of various colors, sixty artillery pieces, plus two barques... right?"