Thousands of sparks

Chapter 102 Straightforward (4K6, so it counts as two chapters)

When Duchamp cried poorly, he was smooth, strong and righteous.Anyway, in the Imperial Navy system, only a crying calf can drink milk. 42 colonial stars means that there are 42 colony garrison navies.The task of guarding the navy is not very onerous. Most of the time, their positioning is to "fight against star thieves and smugglers".Compared with "soldiers", their positioning is closer to the "marine police" that Du Sande knew in his previous life.

However, the garrison navy is also an out-and-out armed force.At least no country's coast guard will be equipped with three battleships - that thing is not suitable for hunting down star thieves and smugglers.

The main opponent of a capital ship will always be the enemy's capital ship.After destroying all the enemy's capital ships, the fleet will consider turning around and destroying those large cruisers and destroyers like chopping melons and vegetables.

So Duchamp began to cry poor.

The masters of the Admiralty are really stingy, and the annual maintenance funds allocated for ships will never be enough.In order to keep the fleet under his command in good operating condition, the Newsail Garrison Navy had to misappropriate maintenance funds for auxiliary facilities time and time again, concentrating funds on the maintenance and repair of battleships and large cruisers.

It is a very frustrating fact that the other ground facilities of the garrison navy are not adequately maintained.Other maintenance services of the Newsail Garrison Navy are now basically carried out by Duchamp to his son's industry, the vehicle repair shop under the Belford Automobile Works.

Dusande's repairs are basically losing money, and the IOUs of the Newsail Garrison Navy are piling up in the accounting room of the automobile factory.This expense is all shared by Du Sande's own dividends.

"Du Sande has been angry with me for a long time in order to delay the maintenance payment." In order to show that he is really poor now, Du Shande did not hesitate to pull out his son, "Your Excellency General , even if it is for the integrity of my family, the Admiralty must support me with at least five battleships as soon as possible!"

"Even if Lord Dusand agrees with you to replace the debt with a capital ship, the empire will not do this kind of thing." General Horn couldn't laugh or cry, he really didn't expect Dusan to be so unreasonable when he cried poor, "The matter of maintenance funds, I can urge the appropriation when I go back..."

"I don't need the appropriation, anyway, everything that needs to be repaired has already been repaired." Duchamp waved his big hand, "Battleship, I just want a battleship! Give me five battleships, and I can make that little thing Dusand willingly give The garrison fleet repaired the car for ten years!"

General Horn looked at Duchamp with an excited expression, and suddenly asked, "I have read all the applications and reports you submitted to the Admiralty before. Your enthusiasm for battleships was not as high as it is now."

Duchamp has been in the position of fleet commander for 12 years. During these 12 years, Duchamp spent most of his time calling for the garrison navy to be equipped with more large cruisers and destroyers.

"This is because the threats we face are different—in the past 12 years, at least around the Newsail star field, our opponents and main threats have always been star thieves and smugglers." Dushan said helplessly, " But, Your Excellency, the situation is completely different now than it was ten years ago."

"Personally, I can understand your worries, and I can also understand your need to increase the strength of the garrison navy as soon as possible." General Horn said with a sigh, "But those accountants in the Admiralty who are responsible for configuring the fleet are not so reasonable—they Strong evidence is needed."

"Unless you throw the evidence that the alliance fleet has appeared near Newsail directly in their faces, these accountants will never agree to the request to deploy five capital ships for a garrison fleet." General Horn sighed helplessly "As long as you have evidence, I can even help you smash the evidence in their faces."

Duchamp showed a pensive expression, and after a while he asked cautiously, "As long as... there is evidence?"

"As long as there is evidence." General Horn nodded solemnly, and said with emphasis, "As long as there is evidence."

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"Such evidence... they may not recognize it." In the office of the House of Commons, Du Sande had an urgent meeting with his father.He looked at Duchamp with a somewhat tangled expression, and advised, "So far, two attacks on that information have been realized, but the Bureau of Arms still has reservations about the source of this information."

The alliance's main fleet attacked the two imperial colonial stars as promised.Their attack was the same as before—sudden and without warning.And after the alliance's fleet launched its attack, the blockade of the colonial star also launched at the same time.Up to the present position, the Imperial Navy cannot even determine whether the two Imperial colony planets are still under the control of the Empire.

"This may still be a very bold strategic deception." Du Sande explained to his father earnestly, "With the size of the alliance's main fleet, it is not particularly difficult to destroy the local garrison navy in an instant after the warp. "

"According to common sense, the encounter between the two imperial colonial stars is enough to prove the value of that information. But the 'gentlemen' of the Heraldry Management Office have other opinions. They think it is a strategic deception by the allies—by blocking two Colonial star, mobilize the empire's strategic reserve team to support the next four colonial stars. After the strategic mobilization is successful, they will immediately launch an attack on the completely empty hinterland of the empire." Dusand rubbed his head and said, "This It's scary to speculate, but the scariest part is you have to admit it's possible."

This is the scariest part of strategic deception. It is more like "smash" in chess than ordinary "deception".Extremely irritating and there's not much you can do about it.

It is unknown whether the Allies have grasped the coordinates of the hinterland of the Empire or even Olin, but the Imperial Army cannot take the risk in any case.

With the blessing of the Yipsilon Mine, the traditional "layers of defense" plan has no value at all.The allies can easily pass through the light and need to run a long distance for several years, and then appear in the orbit of the capital star of the empire in an instant.

And drop all the heavy firepower of their ships on the imperial capital.

After hundreds of years of war training, both the imperial people and the allies have a new understanding of "war".Strategic deception and intelligence operations are just one of the most common links - more incredible tactics and combat methods are applied to the battlefield every day.

Decades ago, the Confederates even poisoned smuggled goods in an attempt to murder a large number of nobles at once to cause unrest in the empire.

Dusand had no hope for the value of this information, and it was hard for him to imagine that the empire would give Dusan more support because of this information.

But Duchamp seemed to be full of confidence, "You don't need to worry about this—just issue a warning from the Coat of Arms Management Office, even if it might be a trap by the allies, you can always make an early warning based on this information."

After getting his son's assurance, Duchamp finally said the following "task", "Pack up your things and come with me now."

"What are you going to do?" Dusand immediately raised his vigilance. When did his father learn this kind of surprise attack?
"To meet someone." Duchamp smiled slightly, "an old friend."

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On the training ground, Rosen was shouting loudly.

Rosen Company is expanding rapidly. The security department alone now has more than [-] employees.

The vast majority of these employees are armed only with ordinary revolvers and batons, and are responsible for the security work of paying customers in the Upper Albyn area.Their usual task is to wear conspicuous uniforms, walk up and down the streets, and enter all back streets and alleys to investigate or drive away the rats and beggars gathered inside.

Among these employees, those who are not tall but strong and powerful are specially selected.Now, more than 200 people are training in the Belford Automobile Factory training ground.

The training "equipment" is a truck that has undergone preliminary transformation.They were replaced with the tracks and differential steering that the tank would soon receive, and "adaptive devices" that obstructed vision were installed in the cockpit.

According to Dusand's request, before the first formally installed tank leaves the workshop, Rosen's company must have at least fifty drivers who can drive this strange vehicle.

At the same time there must be fifty commanders who know what they are doing, 150 gunners and a hundred loaders.

In other words, Dusand is going to come up with a tank battalion of fifty tanks.

Of course, two hundred armored soldiers alone cannot support a combat-capable battalion-level unit.In order to allow this team to have sufficient mobility and assault capabilities, Dusand is also recruiting great technicians and technicians at the same time, and designed a special maintenance vehicle with a small steam engine-driven boom on the tank chassis. Bridge vehicles and fuel and ammunition transport vehicles.

A battalion-level combat unit composed of [-] armored soldiers needs at least [-] logistics personnel to guarantee operations.

So, Rosen was so busy that he almost died.

The training of fifty commanders and fifty drivers was bundled together. These one hundred people drove the rumbling crawler car over and over again. The noise was so loud that Rosen even wanted to shoot two shots into the sky.

And he had to direct fifty tracked vehicles to drive along the prescribed route under this kind of noise, and stop or accelerate at the same time.

The difficulty is outrageous.

On the training ground on the other side, fifty gunners and fifty artillery loaders are undergoing cooperative training.This set of training equipment comes from the artillery unit of the Imperial Army—as the most technically demanding branch of the entire army, the army has worked hard to make the illiterate conscripts into qualified gunners.

Among them is a set of "steam cannons" propelled by high-pressure steam, which can make loud noises and fully conform to the action of the shelling recoil.

Since they are all newbies, the combination of gunners and loaders is extremely inefficient and stumbling.What started as a "salvo" drill ended up being "an irregular and prolonged 50 shots," sometimes 49, sometimes maybe 48.

The other [-] gunners and [-] loaders are conducting simulated shooting and reloading training on the sidelines-the training of rapid-fire guns cannot be left behind.

Rosen was furious, but for everything that happened on the training ground, he really lacked the management ability.Just when he couldn't help but want to touch the pistol on his waist, he stopped training by firing a shot at the sky.As a result, the moment his finger touched the pistol, he suddenly saw an old man with a white beard standing beside the training ground through his peripheral vision, looking at the scene inside curiously.

Rosen immediately found a channel to vent his unhappiness.No way, everyone in the audience knew each other. The "old acquaintances" who came out of the industrial area, compared to them, yelling at an old man with a white beard and telling him to get out of here is obviously a more peaceful way to vent his anger.

So Rosen did just that.He walked quickly to the old man with one arm missing, and shouted with all his strength, "Get out of here quickly, can't you hear the gun?"

But what people didn't expect was that the old man was neither scared nor angry after hearing what Rosen said.He looked inside curiously, then pointed to the experimental tank and asked, "What is that?"

"Don't ask what you shouldn't ask." Rosen said angrily, "Leave quickly, Cannonball doesn't have eyes!"

Although not very angry, Rosen is still not a bad person in essence.On the one hand, he drove the old man away to vent his anger, and on the other hand, he was a little worried about the safety of the old man who was missing a hand.

The guns are booming in the training ground, and the guys who drive the tanks are still newbies.It's nothing new for tanks to crash into fences in case one gets out of control.The surrounding walls have been knocked down by novices, this is really not a good place to watch the excitement.

The old man didn't pay attention at all. Now he is already half a head taller than himself, a big guy with muscle mass all over his body.He squinted his eyes, looked at the training field which was "in a state of chaos and chaos", and then made a judgment, "You have never been a soldier, have you? This training method is nonsense!"

Rosen's original disdain for the old man disappeared immediately.The way he looked at the old man suddenly changed drastically.

With an arm missing, a firm expression and calm eyes, isn't this just like a retired veteran officer who has experienced many battles!

Rosen had already suggested to Dusand that an officer must be found to help train these young men.But Du Sande refused to find anyone—whether it was an active or retired officer, he didn't intend to pull him on the training ground.

If you want to shock everyone with an armored weapon like a tank, you must first ensure that this news will not be leaked out.

It's just that Rosen's request is not to be able to take the initiative to find an officer.He didn't say that Rosen was not allowed to grab a veteran who came forward to ask for advice.

Rosen put on a fawning "flattering" smile. Although this kind of smile was a bit unfamiliar to him, he was still trying to "flatter" and asked flatteringly, "You...you are a retired veteran Bar?"

Horn was taken aback for a moment, then laughed out loud, and patted Rosen on the shoulder with his remaining arm, "Good boy, you have eyes!"

Rosen was overjoyed, and directly grabbed Horn's good arm and walked into the training ground, "You came at the right time, you have to teach me how to train this group of recruits. I tossed about a dozen times God, they still can't even follow orders!"

Horn nodded with a smile. He indeed has an extremely "abundant" interest in these new toys inside, and he is also willing to convey some of his experience in leading troops in training.

"It's easy to talk to you, but I have to find someone first." Horn followed Rosen for two steps, and suddenly remembered his purpose of arriving at the Belford Automobile Factory. He said a little embarrassedly, "That... ...How do you get to the rubber research center here?"

According to Duchamp's intelligence, Dusand appeared at the Rubber Research Center much more frequently than in the chairman's office.

"You can't leave here now." Rosen smiled embarrassedly, "According to Mr. Chairman's order, those who enter the training ground are not allowed to leave here for a month—a month later there will be a Only the observation team from Olin is coming, and after they have seen our display, you can leave."

Rosen also knew that his "request" was very unreasonable, so he quickly added, "Of course, we won't let you work for nothing. In the training camp, we will meet all your needs for free. And, After the training is completed, I can personally give you a reward of 30 gold pounds. Your income is the same as that of an active naval lieutenant colonel."

Horn was dumbfounded when he heard that, he was a rear admiral of the imperial navy commando, was he kidnapped in the empire's colony?
(End of this chapter)