Chapter 74 Sample Cannon (please order first)

The news that Alphonse had just deposited a huge sum of 150,000 livres into the bank spread like wildfire. Everyone knew that the first step of the business alliance was about to take place! Now that the investment has been put in place, the start-up capital of the business alliance will be

It was no longer a problem, so major construction work began in Calais:

First, two more wooden plank roads were built on the west coast of the original four plank roads. At the same time, construction of two new stone plank roads started further away. These new plank roads will provide more and larger berths.

Larger merchant ships docked, which was also the foundation of Calais' commercial expansion.

In the area immediately adjacent to the four plank roads, dock warehouses, lifting equipment and warehouses have begun to be built. Only larger warehouses and more convenient equipment and transportation can expand the entrepot trade of Calais. You must know that, as the largest port in Beihaikou,

As a narrow port, Calais’ re-export trade potential is much greater than that of Amsterdam!

Alphonse also bought the abandoned west coast wasteland not far from the four new plank roads with a wave of his hand. Half of it was kept in his own hands, and the other half was sold to the merchant alliance. At the same time, each of them contributed money to build a new port area;
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The Merchant Alliance mainly builds commercial streets, taverns, exchanges, warehouses, hotels and other consumer places; while the Alphonse side builds shipbuilding workshops, mirror-making workshops, ceramic workshops, carpentry workshops, and paper-making workshops.

Workshops and textile workshops were built, and large areas of vacant factory buildings were even built to serve as workshop areas for the production and supply of various specialty products.

In this way, the business alliance will focus on providing better services to businessmen, and thus better attract foreign businessmen to come to Calais to invest and trade; but what about Alphonse? He can just take advantage of this wave of traffic to himself

There is no need to worry about how to obtain customers and sales channels. He only needs to rent out space to businessmen to build factories. No matter what products these businessmen produce, he can make steady rent!

Further away, the Calais Lighthouse has also begun to be built on the cliff to guide passing merchant ships at night; at the same time, a small sea defense line will be built along the lighthouse and a fort will be set up to defend against foreign enemies or pirates.

Invasion. Alphonse also built a large stone firearms workshop nearby. In the future, artillery, artillery carriages, shells and gunpowder will be produced here to provide self-supply for the entire chain. At the same time, a stone warehouse will also be built for use.

Reserve finished products and raw materials!

The whole of Calais suddenly became more prosperous than ever before! Originally, the rapid-fire gun business gradually declined, leading to a decline in the overall demand of the supply chain; but now that there is a business alliance, the whole of Calais is naturally revitalized!

Recently, Alphonse set up a mirror exchange in the name of the Merchant Alliance, and unified the exchange to auction the mirrors produced by merchants from all over the country every day. Because the mirrors produced on that day will only be auctioned once, the price remains high; at the same time, pre-sales are launched

Every day, 3 mirror vouchers are auctioned to members of the business alliance at a starting price of 50 livres. The profits from the auction are used in the business alliance employee lottery, and are divided into 100 rewards for the employees who win the prize.

As a result, although the businessmen who joined the business alliance did not get any benefits themselves, many people were willing to work for the franchisees of the business alliance even if their wages were less for this lottery. This made many franchisees dissatisfied with such a system.

Extremely supportive...

Large-scale construction has brought about prosperity in all aspects: a large demand for workers, a large demand for raw materials, and a large demand for living materials and consumption; probably everyone in the business alliance except Alphonse, who is spending money like water.

You can actually make money from it!

"Is this the large-caliber artillery launched by the workshop in Calais?" Colbert asked, looking at the prototype cannon in front of him, which Rieux sent all the way from Calais.

"Yes, this is the first prototype gun, a French 16-pound gun." Rieux replied. Before coming, he asked Alphonse to test-fire it once before he dared to bring it back and report.

Colbert looked up and down:

This is an iron cannon, and it is thinner than ever before, which means the barrel wall is too thin; and it is a very strange, bare barrel, with no pattern at all, oh no, there are a few fleur-de-lis patterns, but it is still ugly.

So miserable.

In addition, the muzzle design is also different from that of a cannon. It is actually a bell mouth, and the size is 1/3 foot longer than the standard 18-pounder gun. It is obvious that this is a unique design and not ordered from the Netherlands or the United Kingdom.<

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"What is this line?" Colbert asked, looking a little confused about the thick white paint strip under the barrel.

"The prototype gun failed. The gun had a slight curvature, but fortunately the barrel was designed to be tilted, so shells could still be fired, but they had to be placed along this line so that the shells could have a smooth inner tube trajectory."

Ai replied.

"What am I going to do with my failed attempt?" Colbert's face suddenly turned dark.

"If he has developed a successful prototype, why does he need investment? Sir." Rie replied in a neither humble nor condescending manner. Anyway, if he likes to invest or not, Kolber has to bear the blame!

Now if you want to make a gun, I will give it to you. If you don’t invest, you have to go and tell His Majesty yourself. If you let me go, I will definitely tell His Majesty to invest, which is ten thousand livres!

Not to mention, Rieux stopped Colbert with one sentence. Yes, if others have successfully developed artillery, what investment is needed? Wouldn’t it be over if they directly produce and sell it? Anyway, there is no need to invest money to continue research.

; After thinking for a while, he asked again: "How long will it take to complete the design?"

"Mr. Alphonse believes that this is unable to break through the casting technology of long-barreled artillery. He needs to explore the technical difficulties of mortars and cannons, and needs to re-explore and sum up experience from 9-pounders and 12-pounders;

He doesn't know the specific time, but he thinks that this design has at least confirmed its power. Then the next technical difficulty is only the casting length, and the prospect is still optimistic." Of course, Rieux himself does not understand such professional rhetoric, and what he is saying now

, Alphonse wrote it down on a piece of paper, and Rieux recited it himself.

Colbert nodded and shook his head. He nodded because if the difficulties of artillery power and shape design had been overcome, success would not be far away. He shook his head because it might not just be a problem with the curvature of the barrel, but also this.

The shape has caused the artillery to always have a curvature, so maybe it needs to be completely overturned and re-explored.

Thinking of this, he knew there was nothing more to ask, so he said, "Thank you for your hard work. Go back and have a good rest for a few days. Leave the sample with me for now."

After Rieux left, Colbert immediately ran to report the matter to Duke Letelier. Faced with such a crooked-neck cannon, Duke Letelier finally decided to let the National Artillery Factory copy the artillery, and then strive to carry out production in the near future.
Chapter completed!