The so-called terrible new weapon refers to poison gas bombs. Ever since Dena debunked that the Germans were producing and storing usable gas bombs in chemical plants, every country in the world with even a modicum of scientific research has stepped up research in this area. The UK is no exception. Like the Germans, the British experimented with methyl isocyanate, but after discovering the storage difficulties posed by its corrosive properties to metal, the British changed the direction of their research. (The United Kingdom is different from Germany, it has a global presence, and the requirements for convenience and safety of storage and transportation are higher.) Soon a variant of poison gas, developed by the Germans, came into the sight of the British. That's what a double light is. Gas.

and gaseous light. The gas is different, double light. Gas is in a liquid state, which also makes it more convenient in terms of storage and transportation. And once heated, it decomposes into two parts light. Gas. It is a highly toxic asphyxiating gas that is effective against unprotected enemies.

In its original history, until World War II, this poison gas was still used in large quantities on the battlefield. For example, when the Japanese locust army was fighting with the Chinese army, it used double light many times. Gas. (The Japanese are actually equipped with mustard gas, which is more toxic, but mustard gas remains for a long time, is inconvenient to disinfect, and requires full body protection, and the Japanese army itself cannot protect mustard gas well, in case of an accident may bring severe consequences.) In contrast, to deal with light. Gas accidents, as long as there is a gas mask, it will do. And the Chinese army does not have gas masks at all, and it cannot protect against any poisonous gas. Therefore, in order to use it safely and conveniently, the Japanese locust army still mainly uses double light on the Chinese battlefield. Of course, when it started a war with the United States and Britain, no matter how badly it was beaten, little Japan did not dare to use any chemical weapons, not even non-lethal tear gas. Because there are more such things in the United States and Britain.

"Your Excellency, as far as we know, the Boers have no comparable weapons, so we need not fear equal reprisals. In addition, as far as we know, the Boers did not have the means of defense. This makes the use of such weapons very effective. If we had used them, we would have avoided huge casualties and quickly put down the Boer rebellion. "Another minister was very supportive of the use of such weapons.

"But if we use such a weapon, will it lead us to be passive in public opinion?"

"If we don't take Johannesburg quickly, we will face more than just public opinion!"

……

After taking the Kimberley, Lord Roberts gave the army a week's rest. On the one hand, this is to allow the troops to recover from fatigue, and on the other hand, it is also to wait for the reinforcement of logistics supplies. The role of making things like fortresses bigger is not actually that they can't be attacked, and there are never fortresses in the world that can't be attacked. The greatest military significance of the fortress is to save troops. In the absence of a fort, you'll have to deploy more troops near the most important targets to protect them, and if you have a strong fort here, you'll need fewer troops to defend yourself and use the extra to attack your opponents. For example, the Kimberley fortress has a total of only more than 6,000 troops, but it can withstand the attack of tens of thousands of people for a long time. Pin them down near the Kimberley, which freed up more of the Boers for other things, such as harassing the British supply lines or something.

The distance from Cape Town to the Kimberley was still short, and the number of British troops held back by the Kimberley fortress was relatively small, so Lord Roberts still had enough troops to repel the Boer harassment and protect his logistical supply lines, but if he continued to advance and besiege Johannesburg, the logistical line would be lengthened, and the siege itself would require more troops, and the logistical line would become dangerous.

Therefore, Lord Roberts also used this time to build a number of bunkers along the railway line, and converted several trains into armored trains to protect the railway line.

A week later, Lord Roberts' troops began to continue their advance towards Johannesburg.

……

It's October 1898, and it's early spring in the Southern Hemisphere. Although the sun is already a little warm during the day, it is still a little cold at night. Although the wind from the sea is generally slightly warmer, St. Lucia is drifted by a cold westerly wind, so even the sea breeze is not warm. In addition, during the war, the port was blocked by the British, and no ships could approach, so even during the day, there were no two people in sight on the port, and at night it was even more deadly.

However, on this night, the lights suddenly lit up on the dark sea outside the harbor, and they flashed and flashed. Then the lighthouse, which had been closed at the port, was lit up, and after a while, a strange-looking ship with a very low bridge, painted black, appeared near the port, and at this time several lights on the berth were also lit up, guiding the ship slowly to the dock. Then all but one that wasn't too bright was turned off. A large crowd of men with various weapons could be seen gathered around, and then a door was opened in the bow and stern of the strange ship, and some people removed one box after another from it, and the boxes were immediately carried by others to the carriage parked nearby.

Yes, this is the transport submarine of the MacDonald consortium, which is on a transport mission.

To be honest, the efficiency of this kind of submarine is really a problem, firstly, it is less loaded itself, and secondly, although there are two non-pressure-resistant cargo compartments on this submarine, as a non-pressure-resistant structure, it can open a larger door, but this door is not big, and what is more terrible is that the things that can be placed in this warehouse must meet some conditions, that is, either it can withstand huge water pressure, or it can be put into a special container that can withstand huge water pressure. And most of the goods are not able to withstand this kind of water pressure. If you want to pack it in a special container, good guys, a third of the shipment will be consumed on the weight of the container. What the? You said put it in the pressure-resistant shell, this, the congestion of the internal space of the submarine, where can it be stuffed!

So the cost of this mode of transportation is really ridiculously high. This time, however, the transport of weapons was secondary, and it was more important to transport a shipment of gold from South Africa.

Johannesburg was about to fall under siege, and although the Boers felt that the city was impregnable and that the British could not conquer it, it was not safe to put all the gold in the city that was about to be besieged. But the Boers had no other place to be safer, so they thought of transshipment the gold to the banks of other countries. According to the information provided by Scrooge, Rothschild is basically behind the big banks in Europe. Rothschild, on the other hand, sided with the British Empire on the South African issue. So, naturally, many of the banks in Europe were excluded, and could it be that the Boers kept their money in the banks and then let them lend it to the British? As a result, they don't have a lot of options, and all that's left is a few banks. Not long ago, Morgan helped the British sell a batch of war bonds in North America, so at least in North America, the only bank that could make the Boers trustworthy was MacDonald Ventures.

As a result, the Transvaal government began to transfer large quantities of gold to MacDonald Ventures. The mode of transportation is, naturally, the use of transport submarines of the MacDonald consortium. Of course, it would be a waste of resources to let the transport submarine run empty anyway, so the submarine sent to pick up the gold also carried a lot of arms and other goods.

After the munitions were removed, some men in black carried some small boxes onto the submarine. The boxes weren't big, but they were so heavy that it would take two big men to move him. And inside these chests, there is no doubt that they contain heavy gold.

During the Boer War, it remains a mystery how much of this money was secretly deposited at MacDonald's Ventures. In short, after the end of the war, the British were unable to find any gold from the captured city of Johannesburg. Later, the Transvaal government was divided, with some people in exile organizing a government-in-exile that declared a bloody war with the British, while others surrendered to the British in the name of the Transvaal government, both claiming ownership of the large deposit, and their arguments continued until both sides were destroyed. And because many things were lost in the war, and some of the people who handled them were killed in the war, it is not even clear to the Boers themselves how much the Transvaal government had in MacDonald. As for McDonald Ventures, they must know everything about it, but they said they couldn't divulge their clients' secrets, so they had "nothing to say." In short, this mysterious gold has been on the account of McDonald Ventures Bank and is being held in the vaults of the Federal Reserve. Theoretically, it still belongs to the government of the Transvaal Republic, although it no longer exists.

……

By the time the day began to turn white, the transport submarine had already completed the task of loading and unloading cargo. The boat slowly left the dock in the morning mist and began to dive...... R1058