Chapter 726 Artillery Equipment

In the end, Shire finalized the deal at a unit price of $1.6 million.

A warship with a displacement of more than 3,000 tons is only $100,000 more expensive than a 2,000-ton warship produced by the Brest Shipyard, which is simply a bargain.

Charles knew that he had gotten a great bargain, but he pretended to be reluctant: "Okay, it's $1.6 million, but..."

Charles hesitated.

Ming Yuanjiro's heart twitched. Is there anything else that you are not satisfied with?

Charles's requirements are really harsh. He is worthy of being called "Mars of France" and is meticulous about war!

Ming Yuanjiro bent down nervously and responded: "If you have any request, please feel free to ask. We will do our best."

Charles nodded slightly: "Mr. Mingyuan, you know, we usually divide the warships into three formations, so the ideal number is 12 instead of 10."

The 12 ships can be divided into three formations with 4 ships in each formation, and the 10 ships cannot be allocated.

Charles' intention in saying this was to tell Ming Yuan Jiro: I'm not doing this for the sake of cheapness, but for practical needs.

Ming Yuanjiro was stunned.

He understood that Charles wanted to increase the order.

As long as there is money to be made, Ming Yuan Jiro will never frown.

However, the unit price of 1.6 million US dollars was not even enough to cover the cost, and Neon even paid for it in order to have friendly exchanges with France and to improve its relationship with Charles.

Now we are going to add 2 more ships?

"What? Is there a problem?" Charles' face darkened and he asked in a cold voice, "If there are any difficulties, Mr. Mingyuan should not embarrass you..."

"No, no, no problem, no problem." Ming Yuanjiro quickly replied: "12 ships, of course we need 12 ships."

A little impatience will ruin a great plan. We are on the verge of success, so how can we let it fail just because of two warships?

What's more, if you calculate carefully, the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars per ship is not a lot of money.

"Well, that's settled." Charles signed the contract with satisfaction.

Charles originally wanted to upgrade the destroyer to 3,000 tons in a while. The development of destroyers towards larger displacement is the future direction.

Now, Neon has taken the initiative to complete the upgrade of the destroyer, saving a lot of time and space for the development of the navy.

After putting away the contract, Ming Yuanjiro nodded and smiled:

"Sir, there is just one thing I have to explain to you in advance."

"The cruisers we produce for you are not equipped with ship directors, range clocks, and other gunnery equipment."

"It's not that we don't want to, but our artillery equipment is backward. I think your country would rather equip itself with your own."

(The white "disc" on the top of the mast in the above picture is the "distance clock", which is usually installed on the front and back sides, but can also be installed on all four sides)

(The picture above shows a "range clock", which was a product of the backward communication equipment during World War I. After the mechanical rangefinder measured the target distance, it was displayed to the entire ship's artillery through the "range clock" in a mechanical linkage manner. The gunner set the parameters according to the displayed distance. It was a relatively advanced equipment during World War I. Neon did not produce the first Type 4 "range clock" until 1915)

Charles said "hmm" and didn't take it seriously.

He knew that Neon was relatively backward in artillery at that time.

The reason was that Neon won the war with Russia in 1905.

Russia was an ally of Britain. Although Japan was also an ally of Britain, Britain, considering the balance of power in the Far East, stopped revealing or exporting any artillery concepts, designs and equipment to Japan from 1909.

(Note: This is a common method used by the UK. The UK can only better control several forces in a certain area if they are evenly matched and fight each other. Therefore, the UK will help whoever loses, and the winning party will be subject to a technical ban by the UK)

This put Japan about 10 years behind Europe in terms of overall artillery.

"It is enough for you to build the ship," Charles replied; "and we will take care of the gunnery equipment ourselves."

"Yes, sir." Ming Yuanjiro nodded.

After a pause, he said awkwardly, "But we need to know their size and reserve space. It would be best if you could provide us with a set of equipment, which would be a perfect solution."

Only then did Charles realize that the matter was not simple. Ming Yuanjiro had gone through so much trouble just to obtain French artillery equipment.

Charles answered simply: "No problem, I'll have someone send you a set."

This is a means to split the alliance between Japan and Britain, and let Japan know that what Britain cannot give, France can do.

Besides, it's not a big deal and it will soon be obsolete due to the development of communication equipment.

Why not use it to exchange for Japan's "cooperation"?

Ming Yuanjiro was overjoyed: "Thank you sir, thank you very much, thank you very much!"

"But," Charles added, "don't let anyone know, including the Minister of the Navy. Do you understand?"

This is telling Neon that many people in France are on the side of Britain, but Charles is not, and he can only cooperate with Charles.

"I understand." Ming Yuanjiro nodded repeatedly, his eyes full of gratitude.

Sure enough, this deal is worth it, and Neon is likely to break the years-long ban in the UK because of it.

…

As soon as Ming Yuanjiro left, Wells came to the door, bringing with him Lieutenant General Geplatt.

He was still not sure whether Charles could "influence" the decision of the Minister of the Navy. This was related to the fate of the Brest Shipyard, and he did not dare to be careless at all.

So he went to see Lieutenant General Geprat.

He said to Vice Admiral Geprat: "I don't doubt Charles' ability at all, but Charles has to face the Minister of the Navy, the parliamentarians, and the generals, and he is alone, without any naval force around him to help him."

Lieutenant General Geprat thought it made sense.

After all, Charles was a lieutenant general in the army. Although he had commanded the navy and won a battle, the direct commander of the Battle of the North Sea was Geplat. Charles' reputation in the navy could only be said to have just begun to emerge.

If the matter were to be discussed in Parliament, Charles would likely face "professional questioning", including from the Minister of the Navy.

But it would be much better with the help of Guy Pratt and Wells.

The former represents the navy and the latter represents the shipyard. They can handle any professional issues related to the navy.

However, when they arrived in Paris, they found that nothing had happened.

To be exact, it did happen. The parliament was discussing the Battle of the Meuse River intensely, and there was no issue about Neon shipbuilding at all.

"Is this a trivial matter in their eyes?" Lieutenant General Geprat said with dissatisfaction: "They don't even bother to bring it to the parliament."

"It's not a small matter." Wells, who has been in the parliament for a long time, replied calmly: "But it is not a hot spot for the Battle of the Meuse, understand?"

Lieutenant General Geprat suddenly realized.

Lawmakers are chasing hot spots so they can attract voters' attention instead of dealing with more important matters.

(End of this chapter)