Elena secretly sent an envoy to the Far East, and hid it so much that even the military headquarters did not know about it, let alone Isaac. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

However, in the midst of internal and external troubles, something more serious happened. The 120,000 ounces of gold that Elena had just raised to support the months of September, October, November, and December had quickly bottomed out, and it was only at the end of September that the Financial Secretary had squandered the October budget, leaving the treasury with only 50,000 gold coins, and it was as dry as a barren riverbed.

At the most tense moment, she was dragged back by the finances, which made Elena angry. She immediately held the Financial Secretary accountable. Humphrey, the "Financial Secretary and Prime Minister", was forced to report the deficit at the Royal Tribunal. Desperate, Elena made an exception and invited Bray Schroeder, the central bank's executive, to sit in on the hearing. Because at the last resort, she also hopes that the central bank will understand the government's distress and borrow more money to fill the gap in the cabinet.

Brechroed, dressed in simple clothes, stood at the last seat of the emperor with his arms bowed, and even Elena was politely refused: "I am only a humble servant, how dare I sit in front of the emperor." Since all the cabinet ministers are standing, I should also be standing. ”

Clemson glanced at the executive of the central bank, and sneered angrily: "The executive has tens of millions, and he is rich enough to rival the country. Still wearing this rough cloth robe, are you afraid that Your Majesty will open up to borrow money?"

"Don't dare. Breeschroedt respectfully said: "Although he is in the position of executive of the central bank, he has no title, so he must abide by the rules and wear cloth clothes into the palace to show respect and humility." ”

He didn't have the size of the battle, so he never was knighted, keeping in mind the distinction between respect and inferiority.

"Let's get down to business. Elena leaned on the wide imperial table, tired cheeks, frowning and closing her eyes: "Prime Minister, before September is over, the Financial Secretary has overdrawn the budget for October. Explain. ”

The Financial Secretary, Humphrey, was an old man over 50 years old, but he did not show a trace of decadence, his beard was shaved as smooth as that of a teenager, and his cheeks were white and shiny, reflecting his sleek sophistication. The eyes under the white eyebrows were clever, and the smile was extremely decent.

"Yes, Your Majesty. First of all, allow me to tell you about the latest ordnance developed by the Arsenal Factory. Humphrey beckoned back, and the secretary presented him with a plate of red silk with a fine rifle on it.

"Guns, you made them?" said Elena, opening her eyes. She saw that the rifle was slender and graceful, the metal bolt was simple and elegant, and the silver barrel was perfectly embedded in the orange wooden body, like a marriage of metal and cedar, rippling with the unique romantic beauty of the weapon.

Even Elena could see that the gun had a longer cavity and was far superior to the guns equipped by the new Praetorian Guards. Shooting stability, range, reload speed and other indicators must also be better.

The Financial Secretary did not dare to touch the sample gun on the plate, so he respectfully pointed and said, "Before that, please ask the Secretary of War to introduce the Type 1722 flintlock rifle equipped with our new Praetorian Guard." ”

Admiral Farina stood up and enumerated the numbers categorically: "Austrian Type 1722 flintlock pistols, 10,000 units were mass-produced in 1722, with a maximum range of 150 meters, an effective range of 80 meters, a reload time of 40 seconds, and a 100-meter miss-of-target rate of 78%. ”

Immediately afterwards, the financial secretary pointed to the sample gun in the tray and enumerated the numbers like a storm: "This is the Charleville Type 1777 flintlock smoothbore gun that our army captured from the Fran army, and it is in the hands of the regular infantry of the Fran Empire, and the loading time is only 20 seconds! The effective firing range is also as high as 100 meters, and what is even more terrifying is that the stability is excellent, and the miss-target rate of 100 meters is only 65 percent! That is to say, the enemy has twice the rate of fire of the infantry firing at the same rate as ours! How can we defeat the enemy?"

The Financial Secretary made a generous statement, then turned his head to scan the cabinet, and explained bitterly: "Firearms technology has advanced by leaps and bounds, infantry tactics have become increasingly prominent, and the heavy cavalry that charged intensively has been hit hard by artillery many times, while the enemy's superior infantry has launched an attack in 2~3 columns of scattered lines, but it can effectively reduce the hit rate of our army's artillery bombardment and reap rich results." We see that the expensive cavalry corps is a thing of the past, and the cheap infantry front has come to the stage of history. If we want to learn advanced tactics, we must first imitate the enemy's rifle and create excellent infantry that is evenly matched. ”

Then, the Financial Secretary turned his head to look at the Empress and asked in a loud voice: "The arsenal factory has overcome the technical difficulties of counterfeiting rifles, may I ask the Empress, will we make or not make these advanced rifles?"

Elena gritted her teeth and looked down at the Imperial Front. Except for the banker, who was staring down at the carpet, the other five cabinet ministers all looked up to them with burning eyes, their eyes burning with anticipation.

Admiral Farina must have supported the creation of rifles, otherwise he would not have joined forces with the Financial Secretary for the first time.

Elena knew that infantry encounters required brutal courage and iron-clad discipline, because the "platoon phalanx" had to march to 80 meters away from the enemy under the command of the drums before firing at each other. During this time, the enemy may fire early, and despite the low accuracy of hits, they will continue to kill our soldiers.

The reason why we maintained the ceasefire and advanced against the hail of bullets was to close the distance and kill a large number of enemies more accurately when the enemy was reloading. Therefore, the stronger the military discipline, the more able the infantry is to march with guns in the face of death. Because the march of death can be exchanged for greater victory.

However, if the enemy reloads twice as fast as ours, then these glorious sacrifices are meaningless.

Therefore, Elena had no choice, she could not force her soldiers to shoot at the enemy with inferior guns that were not as fast as the enemy's reload.

"The Empress, please. The Financial Secretary was anti-guest-oriented and aggressively asked for an edict: "New rifles, should they be made, or should they not be made?"

"Made. Mass production of 10,000 pieces. Elena approved.

"The firearms use the most advanced casting technology, with imported steel as the body, based on good fir wood, the process of brass powder warehouse is demanding, and the yield rate is less than 60%. As a result, the cost of the new guns was high, costing 13 gold coins each, costing a total of 130,000 ounces of gold. And the treasury has only 120,000 left. The Financial Secretary bowed his head and said, "This is the reason why the treasury is empty." To put it mildly, the gold in the treasury has not run out, and it is all due to the low production capacity. ”

Elena's eyes darkened, and she lowered her head to support her forehead. Her heart was dripping blood, and the guns in the hands of the new-style Praetorian Guards had only been used for thirteen years, and it was unacceptable that they were outdated and eliminated so quickly.

"It's only 1735, why is the standard rifle of the Fran Empire named 'Charleville Model 1777' smoothbore gun?" asked Elena sadly.

"Your Majesty. Paul Johnson, Minister of War and Industry, came out and knelt on the ground with his head bowed: "Wechen visited and learned that Charleville was personally developed and named by Emperor Fran the Great, and his craftsmanship is exquisite, design talent, ingenious, and extraordinary. Fran the Great was an immortal genius in the military industry, and he developed guns that were ahead of our time. Wechen felt that he named the Model 1777 rifle just to mock us for being half a century behind him. ”

The banker noticed that Frederick stood behind the table with his hands bowed to the words "Teaching of Agriculture and Grain", with a straight face, as if he had long been insensitive to the harsh reality. Empress Elena closed her eyes and held her forehead, and everyone could hear her sigh.

The Minister of War also came out from behind the table, and stood in the shape of "product" with the two ministers of military industry and finance, and spoke together: "In addition, Frank the Great is eloquent, with the help of the abundant wealth of the Bank of Paribas, to forcibly implement industrial reform in the country, although the implementation of the policy is hindered by illiteracy everywhere, and the peasant uprisings are endless, but he has built railways, optimized steam engines, and perfected smelting facilities. At that time, although the military department fought to the death, it would be difficult to recover the turmoil. (To be continued.) )