"What about our steel and military factories at the moment?" Ace asked the same question he was concerned about.

Forget about the steel mills, because of the equipment, Australia can build more and more steel mills at any time, but the staff will have to train for a while if they want to reach that level of proficiency.

But that military factory is different, in this era when military technology has not yet taken off, the most advanced weapons are machine guns and artillery.

As the former commander-in-chief of Ireland, Duke Arthur naturally had a strong interest in weapons and equipment, and also single-handedly founded the current Connaught Integrated Military Factory.

What is an integrated military factory? It is a large-scale military factory integrating the R&D and manufacturing of light and heavy weapons and artillery.

Even most of the employees of this military factory were excavated by Duke Arthur from the Royal Small Arms Factory in Enfield.

The Enfield Royal Light Weapons Factory is well-known in Britain, and the Lee Enfield rifle developed and manufactured is the standard equipment of the army throughout the British Empire's sphere of influence.

The performance and power of the Lee Enfield rifle even surpassed that of another famous rifle, the Kar98k rifle.

You know, the Kar98k rifle is a standard rifle used by Germany during World War I and World War, and it is also one of the world-famous sniper rifles.

Speaking of which, both rifles were born at about the same age, and the Lee Enfield rifle had a prototype in 1888, the Lee Maitford Magazine Rifle, which was officially renamed the Lee Enfield Magazine Rifle five years ago.

The predecessor of the Kar98k rifle, the Type 88 rifle, was also born in 1888, but because of many shortcomings in its own design, the Mauser company developed a new rifle in 1898, that is, the Mauser Type 98 rifle.

During World War II, Germany was obsessed with the development of tanks and airplanes, and did not pay attention to the development of light weapons.

Thus, the shortened Mauser Type 98 rifle, also known as the Kar98k rifle, officially appeared on the stage of history.

The reason why the Lee Enfield rifle is not as famous as the Kar98k rifle in history is that the British did not pay attention to the sniper tactics that were already very important during World War II, resulting in the Lee Enfield rifle, which had a slight advantage in sniping, was far less famous than the Kar98k rifle and the Mosin Nagant rifle after the quadruple lens was added.

But at this point in time, no one can deny that the Lee Enfield rifle is one of the most powerful rifles out there, and that its lead will be able to hold for at least another fifty years.

As a comprehensive military factory with high hopes for Duke Arthur, the Connaught Military Factory, under the strong influence of Duke Arthur, introduced Lee Enfeld's production line and technology, and was able to achieve the ability to independently produce Lee Enfield rifles and their supporting parts and bullets.

In terms of heavy weapons, the Connaught Integrated Arms Factory also has a good achievement. After the Maxim heavy machine gun became famous all over the world, the Connaught Military Factory soon introduced this technology and researched and produced an imitation of the MA-96 Maxim machine gun.

In addition, the Connaught military factory is also involved in artillery, although it has not mastered the research and production of heavy artillery, but the technology of small-caliber artillery has basically been completely mastered.

For example, 37-mm guns, 65-mm cannons, 88-mm howitzers, 105-mm cannons.

It is worth mentioning that, in particular, the 37 mm minimum caliber artillery, the Connaught military factory has made good achievements, and in terms of artillery automation, there has been some progress, and the 37 mm machine gun has been independently developed, that is, the CA-1 machine gun.

How powerful was the CA-1 cannon? Because of the initial semi-automation, although the caliber of this gun is small, the rate of fire is as high as more than 70 rounds per minute, which is enough to crush other caliber guns in terms of fire output.

As for why the technology of semi-automatic artillery is only applied to 37 mm caliber guns, it is because the strong recoil generated when large-caliber guns are fired is enough to destroy automated devices, and the current technology cannot make large-caliber guns semi-automated.

But the semi-automatic of small-caliber artillery was also proud, and the semi-automatic artillery of other countries did not appear until two years later, in 1902, and the Connaught military factory was two years earlier.

"The steel plant will not be built until the government has planned the industrial zone, but until then, we will continue to pay our employees as usual." Steward Hunter explained: "The location of the military factory has not yet been determined, and it will have to wait until Your Highness personally decides. ”

Whether it is a steel mill, a military factory or a shipyard, the most valuable thing for Arthur is not only the equipment, but also the employees who have traveled thousands of miles to come to Australia.

Employee benefits at these factories are high, well above the average in the UK, let alone in Australia.

This is why Arthur is so easy to let these employees come to Australia, and no one is willing to give up this stable and well-paid job, even if it has to move abroad.

These factories have indeed lived up to expectations and have always been in a state of loss. Before, when I was in the UK, it was okay, and the loss every month was not much. But now, the four factories together are losing more than £200,000 a month to Arthur, and £2.4 million a year.

But the gains from this loss are definitely worth it, and the steel mills are not mentioned for the time being, and the military factories and shipyards, even if they are placed in Europe, can definitely be regarded as technologically advanced factories.

The people and the equipment, and the technology in the arsenals and shipyards, are a treasure that cannot be exchanged for even hundreds of millions of pounds.

Duke Arthur also relied on his powerful power to create these factories for decades.

"What is the situation of the workers? Is there anyone who is not satisfied with your current life? Arthur asked.

After all, he came to a new country, and even before the factory started, Arthur was paid according to his salary, and it was very normal for his mood to fluctuate.

"It's basically fine, Your Highness. We are paid as usual, and all employees are given accommodation and nationality. At least for now, no one has shown dissatisfaction, but they are all adjusting to life in their new country. Steward Hunter explained with a smile.

It is also true that although they live in a different country, they can also bring their whole family with them, and they also provide accommodation for their whole family, and their wages are paid as usual when they are not working.

Such treatment is much better than that of the greedy capitalists in Europe, and even in the whole world, it is not common.

"That's good, Steward Hunter. The location of the military factory also began soon, the industrial area is expected to be in the western mining area, and the location of the military factory is in Western Australia. The construction of the steel plant should be started quickly, and at least a certain amount of steel production capacity should be guaranteed before the completion of the military plant. Arthur commanded.

The military factory is also a big beast that swallows iron, if Australia does not have a certain steel production capacity before the military factory is built, then it can only look at the drawings of various weapons and shed tears.