Iron Powder and Spellcasters

  Chapter 478 Blazing Fire (2)

   The conflict between the Vineta Army system and the Navy system has a long history. On weekdays, the "golden hat brim" and "big leather boots" that are high on the top are competing with each other in the city hall, which can be called a sea blue scene.

  In a sense, the entire Republic of Vineta has gone through thirty years without any danger in this kind of merchant guild-style noise.

  As the saying goes: rivals last longer than friends. Over the years, Army officers and Navy officers have become accustomed to an atmosphere of mutual contempt and competition. Under the principle of fighting without breaking, occasionally some tacit cooperation can be staged.

   But just in the last three years, the animosity between the Army and Navy has reached new heights.

  In 558 Imperial Calendar, after the consul de Bella announced that "the war of conquest of Taniria has achieved complete victory".

The Navy and Maritime Trade Affairs Committee of the Republic of Vineta (hereinafter referred to as the Maritime Affairs Committee) ignored the huge waves of criticism and opposition, and insisted on passing the "Formation of the Third "Big Party in the Province of Taniria" in the five-member parliament. Fleet" plan.

   Immediately afterwards, the Maritime Affairs Committee forced the astonishingly large-scale "Navy Armament Supplementation Plan for the 28th Year of the Republic" to pass the first and second trials at the annual budget preparation meeting.

  In the final public vote, when the representatives of the Army system unanimously voted against, the participants from the Third Army cast a decisive vote in favor.

  The dispute between "delayed shipbuilding" and "urgent shipbuilding" has since come to an end.

  The rapid reconstruction of naval power at any cost has become the guiding principle at the national level of Vineta.

   In terms of the navy, a new main fleet has been added, which is equivalent to a large number of vacancies overnight.

  A large number of midshipmen and junior officers who had been struggling on the deck for many years finally waited for the dawn, and naturally there was joy.

  As for the army, due to the huge amount of bonds issued by the government to raise funds for shipbuilding, the army's military spending will shrink sharply in the next few years or even ten years, and the dissatisfaction and resentment in the army can be imagined.

  The "betrayal" of the Third Army has also left many army officers in their hearts.

In order to make the Taniria Fleet, which only exists on paper, form combat power as soon as possible—and to calm public anger—the drafter and promoter of the new fleet plan, the high-ranking commander of the Inland Sea Fleet [Reniero de Nara] Lei Xiao] voluntarily resigned from his position.

  Admiral Naresio has since left the center of power, exiled himself to the Taniria Islands, and transferred to the "commander of the light" of the newly established large fleet.

  The former deputy commander of the Inland Sea Fleet [Martino Dandolo] was promoted to the commander and admiral of the Inland Sea Fleet.

   In other words, the appearance of Martino Dandolo at the Army Headquarters meant that for the first time since the completion of the "Royal Palace", a high-ranking naval official at the commander-in-chief level visited.

  It has been three years since a naval officer stepped into the "Imperial Palace" last time.

  The last time—the eve of the Taniria War—the Military Council held a meeting at the Army Headquarters, and the Navy Command sent four brigadier generals to attend. Admiral Zio ordered the opening of the "Throne Hall" to show his sincerity.

  This time, Admiral Dandolo, who was of a higher rank, visited, but was not invited to the luxuriously decorated meeting room on the fourth floor of the Army Headquarters. Instead, he was led directly to the stairwell leading to the underground building by the Army Colonel in charge of the reception.

  [Vitor Pisani] was puzzled, but he didn't ask any questions.

  As the most junior captain among the three, and as a "Pisani" with a glorious surname on his shoulders, Vettel can't be stage fright.

  So, Vettel shrugged, followed the colonel with a smile into the underground of the "Imperial Palace".

  Passing through triple access control, down two flights of stairs, and through a dark, damp corridor, the colonel led the three visitors to a basement door.

  The colonel opened the heavy wooden door nailed with felt and iron sheets, and the strong smell of herbs gushed out immediately, which made Vettol cough.

  He turned his head to look at Captain Tiye and Commander Dandolo, and saw that the two of them also frowned.

  When the oak door was fully opened by the colonel, a small room was introduced to Vettall.

  At the far end of the small room, six rows of sealed filing cabinets for storing important documents are placed against the wall. In the narrow space between the filing cabinet and the door, a simple table not much bigger than the door was temporarily erected.

  An old man with white beard and hair and a dignified demeanor sat behind the table, closing his eyes and resting his mind.

  A burly man with a terrifying face, Dama Jindao sat on the left hand of the old man, fiddling with the ring impatiently.

  The button of the man's jacket has been unbuttoned to his chest, revealing his lush hair, but the uniform is still about to burst.

  When the door was opened, he just glanced at the four people outside the door coldly, and then continued to turn the "Ring of the Great Alliance" on his knuckles.

  On the right hand side of the old man sat another handsome middle-aged man, flipping through the files on the table.

  After the door opened, the middle-aged man put down the file in his hand, smiled and nodded towards the three people outside the door.

   Without the introduction of the army colonel in charge of the reception, Vitor Pisani also recognized who the three people in front of him were:

  The old man sitting in the middle is the governor, one of the members of the five-member council, and the general of the army [Carlo Zio];

  The strong man on the left hand side of Carlo Zio is the famous army major general [Rost Leighton] in the war of conquest of Taniria;

  The middle-aged general on the right hand side of Carlo Zio is the commander of the 4th "Perald" Legion, Major General [Jacob de Bar].

  Compared to the three army generals, the fourth army officer sitting on the edge of the simple table attracted Vettall's attention even more—because that person was clearly wearing a school officer's uniform.

  Compared to the chairs under the generals, there is only a bench under the school officer's buttocks. His hands were placed stiffly on his knees, his shoulders were also tense, and his expression was more cramped than uneasy.

   Seeing Vitor Pisani and others outside the door, the school officer let out a sigh of relief, and his shoulders relaxed a little.

  Since the head of the "Philadelphia" regiment appeared in the room, Vettol guessed that the colonel should be the representative of General Antonio Serviati, the head of the "Grand Vineta" army.

   But now is not a good time to ask.

  The army colonel in charge of the reception, Su Rong, raised his hands to salute the generals in the basement, and stopped outside the door.

  Vetor would naturally not be moved by the battle of the army, he glanced at the two fellow travelers with a smile, and strolled into the room.

  The heavy oak door was closed again, blocking out all sound.

Vettol Pisani threw the three-cornered hat on the table casually, and while pulling out the seats for the two elderly companions, he asked leisurely: "We are invited to come to the army headquarters, and we are asked to wear casual clothes, but we have sent a team An eye-catching cavalry escort? As expected of a respectable colleague in the army, he always makes people puzzled."

  The three generals of the army frowned. The shoulders of the school officer sitting on the side that had just been lowered unconsciously retracted again.

   "The reason why you are forced to come here is really unspeakable."

  Rear Admiral Barr responded politely. He put the file at hand back into the file box, and then pushed the wooden box in front of the three naval officers:

"Because these—the documents that I want to show you, have the highest classification. They cannot be viewed or discussed outside of this file room under the Army Statute of Secrecy. Honestly, Even within the army, there are only a handful of people who can enter the archives, and there are only a few officers who know the contents of these documents. The fact that you can set foot in this archives means that we have shown great sincerity .”

  Vetor raised his eyebrows and was about to speak, but Captain Tiye, who was sitting on the other side, spoke first.

  Lorenzo Thier didn't look at the wooden box at all, he stared at the three army generals in front of him, and asked coldly, "Say so much nonsense, why don't you show it to us in the end?"

  As soon as this remark came out, Roster Leighton, who was already suppressing his anger, finally couldn't bear it anymore and complained: "You may be used to being kings on ships! But our army has rules and systems!"

  Vertoll Pisani immediately retorted: "It turns out that the Army's rule is to put butter on fat pork and mix mud in dog shit?"

  “[Indecent language]!” Layton was furious.

  Wettall not to be outdone: "[Old language version of vulgar language]!"

   "Okay!" Admiral Zio shouted angrily, "Don't be ashamed!"

  The people in the archives room were almost blown out of their eardrums. It's hard to imagine such a loud voice coming from such a thin old man.

   Layton gritted his teeth hard, straightened the chair that had been kicked down, and sat down angrily.

   "Guarantee your safety." Carlo Zio said succinctly: "It's Antonio's request."

   "That's right." The school officer on the side echoed in a low voice: "Lieutenant General Serviati attaches great importance to your safety. The cavalry escorting you is also the cavalry of the Third Army."

  Tie narrowed his eyes and looked at the officer.

"This is Colonel Sebastian Vauban." Rear Admiral Barr took the initiative to introduce to the naval officers: "Representative of General Serviati. Dear colleagues in the navy can be honest with us, and it is thanks to General Serviati No."

   "We are willing to come to your 'Imperial Palace'." Vettol Pisani snorted softly: "Not because of Antonio Serviati, but because of His Excellency Naresio's face."

  Jacob de Barr said meaningfully: "It seems that we have some 'pacifists' among each other, don't we?"

  The major general pronounced the word "pacifist" very hard, causing the other major general beside him, Rost Leighton, to snort coldly.

   "Finish what needs to be done first." Admiral Zio put an end to the rhetoric in the archive room.

  Vertol Pisani and Captain Tiye exchanged glances, and finally Vettol reached out to take the file box and distributed the documents in it to his colleagues.

  Army's top-secret documents, each bound in heavy cardboard.

  Only the serial number and the classification level are written on the cover. After opening, the first page is written with the sender and sender, the second page is the summary of the content, and the second page is the original copy glued to the paper.

   The first file Vettel got in his hand successfully attracted his attention.

  The overview on the second page shows that the content of the file is about the routine winter hunting ceremony of the imperial family in the Castile Peninsula last winter.

   Turning back, there are three original copies, all of which are handwritten copies.

  The first original is the hunting records of members of the imperial family in winter hunting;

  The second original is the bill for the consumption of wine, meat and flour during the winter hunting in the Imperial Palace;

  The third original is the shortest, but it records the eating habits and behavior of Henry IV during his stay in Castile.

   Considering that the survival of the empire and the fate of the alliance depended largely on the life and health of Henry IV, this information was invaluable.

  Wector was disappointed to find that the physical condition of the pseudo-emperor still showed no signs of problems.

   During winter hunting in Castile, the pseudo-emperor's personal catch included two deer, a bear, and several foxes and wild boars.

  According to the content of the report, the puppet emperor only slept for six hours a day, and would get up at dawn, run, ride a horse, practice swordsmanship, and then deal with official duties. Lunch with the princes of Castile in turn at noon, receive petitioners in the afternoon, continue business in the evening, and finally go to bed. During winter hunting, every day.

  The puppet emperor had no entertainment other than public activities, and did not drink alcohol unless necessary. Even the author of the report marveled at the pseudo-emperor's seemingly inexhaustible energy and superhuman efficiency.

  The only thing in the file that makes Vettol feel a little happy is the record of the false emperor's nightlife.

  According to the reporter's records, apart from handling official duties, the puppet emperor had no nightlife to speak of. Nor did he sleep with the queen, at least not once during the winter hunt.

   Vettol couldn't help but raise the corner of his mouth. He turned back to the first page, wanting to see who was observing the daily routine of the imperial family so closely, but he only saw one code name—Desert Cat.

  He shook his head, put the file in front of Admiral Dandolo, and took another file from the box.

  Opening the cover, just after scanning the first line of text, Vettel's brows immediately frowned.

  The second file he got was a statistical report.

  A statistical report on "logging permits" issued by the Governor's Office in the Northern Territory of the Empire.

  Six years ago, a tragic battle broke out between the Royal Navy of the Empire and the Flemen fleet in the Far East Sea. The sea was discolored, and the wreckage of the ship burned for a whole day and night.

   This time, the Royal Navy washed away the shame of thirty years ago, destroyed the Sultan's fleet in one fell swoop, and successfully recovered Rhodes Island.

  In the official announcement of the Empire, every sunken and captured warship in the Fryman Navy was listed in detail, but the loss of the Royal Navy was kept secret.

Since the main form of naval warfare in the Far East is boarding, the main ships of the Royal Navy and the Fryman Navy are also galleys and extra-large galleys, so the victory is often achieved by the sailors of one ship killing the other. The sailors came to realize it, which was very tragic.

  According to the post-war patrol situation of the Royal Navy, the Vineta Navy internally judged that the Imperial Royal Navy had lost at least half of its combat power, otherwise it would never stop at Rhodes Island.

   But that was already six years ago. Finding out the current size of the Royal Navy—and more importantly, figuring out the future size of the Royal Navy is the top priority of the Vineta Navy.

   As long as the information that the Vineta Navy wants to get, the Imperial Navy Department will definitely guard against it. Therefore, so far, the Veneta Maritime Commission's investigation of the Imperial Navy's shipbuilding plan has been like a blind man feeling an elephant.

  At this moment, the "logging permit statistics" in the Army's secret archives office, which has a different approach, actually caught Vitor Pisani's eyes.

  With the destruction of the kingdoms in the north, all the treasures of the vast primeval forest on the south coast of the Narrow Sea fell into the hands of the empire.

  According to the Army's intelligence, in the past two years, the Governor's Office in the Northern Territory of the Empire has issued at least 60,000 logging permits for oak trees over a century old to "fill the timber reserves of the Royal Shipyard".

  Another order transcribed in the archives shows that the False Emperor’s Minister of the Navy has approved the request of the First Royal Dockyard to “use wood that has not been completely dried in the shade as appropriate” to meet “His Majesty’s progress requirements”.

  Wector has no doubt that those towering oak and needle wood will eventually become warships of the false emperor.

Only a rough conversion is needed: the flagship Glory of the Inland Sea Fleet uses about 1,200 hundred-year-old Plato oak trees; the harvesting of 60,000 mature oak trees means that there will eventually be at least fifty ships of the Glory class The warship was launched.

  And the standard of materials used for the Glory far exceeds that of conventional warships. If a warship is built with a combination of hardwood and softwood, 60,000 oaks will eventually be able to produce far more than fifty warships.

   What's more, judging from the description on the second page, the Army's statistics on logging permits are bottom-up, not top-down. The actual number of logging permits issued will definitely exceed the number counted by the Army.

  After the kingdoms on the south coast of the narrow sea fell, the "heretical kingdoms" on the north coast of the narrow sea also bowed their heads to the false emperor, which meant that the empire could still obtain high-quality timber from the north of the narrow sea.

  The scale of the Royal Navy's shipbuilding program will be more terrifying than the wildest imagination.

   Vitor Pisani cleared his throat, and handed the file in his hand to Admiral Dandolo.

   "Your Excellency." Vettall tried not to show nervousness, he said calmly: "You need to take a look at this."

   Admiral Dandolo took the file silently.

   Vettol took the document from the admiral, as if he was just exchanging reading.

He hastily glanced at the newly obtained army archives, and the description on the second page is very bluffing: Imperial foreign minister Barack de Champagne submitted to the emperor at the request of the pseudo-emperor, top-secret information about the "future foreign policy of the empire" memorandum.

  Wector read through the handwritten memorandum obtained by the Army at a glance.

"[Old Speech] Politics and trade meant that the Fremen (Saracens) were natural allies of the Senas Confederacy." Champagne wrote: "[Old Speech] The Senar Confederation was at the edge of the continent, taken from the periphery of the Continent Benefits are easier. So the friendship between the Senas Alliance and the Fremans is predictable. The empire must return to its traditional policy of containing the Saracens westward and dividing the two mountains and narrow lands. When the future empire and Senas When the Alliance comes to war again, it must be ensured that the lords of the Broken Lands become allies of the Empire..."

   "A cliché." Vettel pouted, thinking to himself, "Nothing new."

  He closed the cover again, and put the Army's top-secret documents back into the file box.

   At the same time, Martino Dandolo also read the statistical report submitted by Vettel.

  The admiral took off his eyes, pondered for a moment, looked at Carlo Zio in front of him with still bright eyes, and asked hoarsely: "So, let's see these, why?"

   It was the general who greeted Dandolo with the same piercing eyes, and answered loudly: "In order not to let you make mistakes!"

   [Thanks to the leader of the book friend [Kai Fengqing], thank you very much! ]

   [Recommend book friend's seedling "Birshina's Kingdom"]

   [Supplementary explanation: Navy rank]

   [Whether it is the rank of the army or the navy, it all evolved from the position. Army and Navy ranks are not equal]

   [Admiral - Fleet Commander]

   [Vice Admiral - Fleet Deputy Commander]

   [Rear Admiral—Commander of the Guard Fleet]

   [Commodore - Squadron Commander]

   [The military ranks of the Vineta Navy are not as systematic as the modern navy, and are still in an unfinished state. So the Vineta Navy rank is both a position and a rank. It is the position when promoted, and the military rank when resigned]

   [In principle, the Vineta Navy has one carrot and one hole. That is, a vice admiral can only be promoted to admiral if the position of fleet commander is vacant]

   [But the ranks that have been conferred will not be deprived unless punished. That is, even if the admiral leaves the post, he still retains the rank of admiral]

  (end of this chapter)