Fox of France

Lieutenant Colonel Antoine de Villefort, commander of the fortress, was a tall man in his forties. He seemed very pleased with Joseph's visit.

"Ah, Monsieur Bonaparte, I thought it would be a few days before you came." Commander Villefort said, "I didn't expect you to come so soon. Well, do you need a rest?"

"Thank you, but it's not necessary," said Joseph. "Actually, I arrived last night. It's just that it was late when I arrived, so I just slept in the hotel for the night. Therefore, I don't need more rest." gone."

"It's enviable to be young." Commander Villefort smiled. "When I was your age, no matter how busy I was, I never felt tired. Since you don't need to rest, the work related to the expansion of the fort is We can start now. Well, Captain Cisse, you take Mr. Bonaparte to settle down first, then take him to the library to look up relevant materials, and take him on field trips. Ah, Mr. Bonaparte, you If you need anything, you can also tell Cisse directly."

"Thank you for your attention." Joseph replied.

After coming out of the small building, Cisse asked, "Mr. Bonaparte, where is your luggage?"

"Still in the hotel." Joseph replied.

"Which hotel?" Cisse said, "I can send two people to bring your luggage. Well, we will arrange for you to live in the officer's dormitory over there. The conditions here are not comparable to those in Paris, and we can only wrong you." It's over."

"It's a small hotel called 'Claude Hotel'." Joseph replied, "Also, you can call me Joseph."

"Ah, 'Claude Hotel'?" Sissy laughed, "Joseph, you must have lived there because it was close to the port, looked good from the outside, and the price was affordable, right? Well, you They must not have slept well at night. Their hotel beds are famous for bedbugs!" As if afraid that Joseph would feel that he was laughing at him, Sissy added: "Well, I have been fooled by them before. That boss, Claude, is a capable guy, but he didn't put his mind on how to run the hotel at all. Well, let me take you to the officer's dormitory first..."

To say that the conditions of the officers’ dormitories at the Fortress of Calais are actually slightly better than those of the teachers’ dormitories at the Paris Military Academy. After all, the prices of the land and other things here are much cheaper than those in Paris.

After settling down, it was already noon. Cisse took Joseph to the officers' mess for lunch. Calais is close to the sea, and all kinds of fish are much more abundant and cheaper than Paris.

"Let me tell you, your life is much better than in Paris. The money we get in Paris is no different from yours, but the prices in Paris are much more expensive than here." Joseph stuffed a piece of fish into his mouth, vaguely say.

"But Paris is Paris after all." Cisse said, "Paris is indeed more expensive, but most people here still prefer to go to Paris. Well, these places in other provinces are actually more suitable for retirement, but they are not particularly It is suitable for young people. If young people want to achieve something, they should still go to Paris. If I can go to Paris, I would rather endure higher prices. If it is only for money, it will be more expensive to go overseas. But it is nothing to us It's not easy to go to Paris for people who know the world."

Indeed, Paris has more opportunities than any provincial city for the ambitious.

"Maybe, um, Cisse, are you the artillery captain?" Joseph said suddenly.

"Yes? What's the matter?" Cisse asked.

"I'd like to ask you about some things about the fort. After all, I'm just a student of mathematics. I don't know many things about cannons very well," Joseph explained.

"Oh, I thought you knew a way to get me to Paris." Cisse joked.

"Well, as far as I know, the Paris Military Academy has always lacked a marine expert. If you can do it..." Joseph also said jokingly.

"Damn it, I'm seasick!" said Sissy. "Is there no shortage of people anywhere else?"

"I haven't heard of it yet." Joseph shook his head and said, "Aren't you a navy? Why do you get seasick?"

Cisse's face blushed slightly: "Navy...Navy ships are not always used in the navy, the navy also guards the port fort. I serve in the port fort, and I don't need to go on a ship. My artillery skills are very good. There are not a few better gunners than me in the navy. If it wasn't for seasickness... By the way, wouldn't your school need a gunnery instructor?"

"I haven't heard of this at the moment." Joseph said, "And you also know that even if there is a need, most of the positions will choose an army officer."

Unlike Britain across the sea, France has always been a so-called land power country. In the French army, the status and influence of the army surpasses that of the navy.

"I see." Cisse was a little disappointed, but he still said, "Joseph, you are in Paris and know a lot of information. If you know something, I hope you can remember me."

"I'm sure I remember," Joseph said.

Joseph's answer was not all polite, he also needed to make some connections in the navy. In the next few years, the harvest in northern France has not been very good, but there is no shortage of food in southern France, just because France is still a feudal country at this time, and there are many checkpoints in the country, which artificially increases the cost of commodity transportation. If you can get through the relationship with the navy, get food directly from the south, and then use the navy's warships to transport it to the northern port, you can make a lot of money. If it is smuggled directly from the UK across the sea, the income will be even higher.

"In fact, Calais is also a good place. This is one of the most important ports in the north. There will be many economic opportunities." Joseph said again, "You are here, and there are actually many opportunities. Maybe, I have Things also need your help. In short, we are friends, and if we have a chance in the future, we must help each other, don't you think?"

"You're right. Then it's settled." Cisse said.

In the following days, Joseph and the designer Michel discussed the plan to renovate the fort. As commander of the artillery on the battery, Cisse was also involved.

"The first requirement of the fort is to be able to control the channel of ships entering and leaving the port. Our current fort is not enough to control the entire channel. Therefore, we plan to build a new fort at this location, so that the two forts cooperate. The waterway can be controlled..." Michelle introduced while pointing to the blueprint.

"This position should be good." Joseph looked at the drawing and said, "Is there anything I need to calculate?"

"It's mainly some data on artillery ballistics. There are also many specific designs of the entire fort that need your opinions." Michelle replied.

"It's a pity that the existing artillery, and the lack of suitable high ground nearby, caused our artillery to shoot too close. Although it can barely cover the channel, it is far from enough to cover the fleet's departure from the port. What if the fleet is blocked in the port? I still can't leave the port to fight." Joseph said again.

Naval operations require formation first. In this way, it is easy to use firepower to maneuver, so that one's own people will not block the shooting range of one's own people for a while, and one's own warships will collide with each other while maneuvering. The space in the military port is limited, and the fleet will definitely not be able to complete the formation in the port. To complete the formation, the ship must first be driven to the wide sea outside the port. And once the enemy fleet blocks the entrance of the port first, they will naturally not allow the warships in the port to leave the port and form a formation. They will definitely attack the fleets leaving the port before they have time to organize their teams. If the guns of the harbor batteries had a long enough range, it was possible to provide protection for the fleet's outbound formations.

There are generally two ways to do this. One is to install giant cannons on the fort. A major advantage of a fort over a warship is its carrying capacity. The turret is built on solid ground, so there is no need to worry about being sunk by cannons. Therefore, cannons much larger than those on warships can be placed on it. And bigger cannons are always easier to have with greater range.

But there are problems with this approach. The first is that the production cost of the cannon is too high. What comes next is that the rate of fire of the giant cannon is too low. For example, the Turks' Urban cannon can only fire seven shots a day at most. Of course, that is something from the fifteenth century, but the improvement in the rate of fire of the current cannon is still quite limited. Such a slow rate of fire is not enough to complete the task of covering the deployment of the fleet.

The second method is to mount the artillery as high as possible. This can significantly increase the range of the artillery. Considering that the position of the cannon on the turret is stable, unlike the cannons on the ship that will sway with the ship, (because the ship cannon shakes, as long as the target distance is a little farther, the shell will not know where it will fly) so the effective range Naturally it will be bigger. In this way, the warships in the port can be provided with a space to expand their formation.

But there is no well-placed natural elevation near the port of Calais. If such an effect is to be achieved, it is necessary to pile up soil artificially and pile up a high ground artificially. This requires more manpower and material resources, or to put it more bluntly: it requires more money.

"The Navy believes that there will be no fleets in the port of Calais that need to line up. Therefore, the fort only needs to be able to block the channel and prevent the enemy from attacking the port." Designer Michelle replied, "After all, Calais Not Toulon. There will only be one or two frigates here at most. Calais is mainly a commercial port, and merchant ships don’t need to line up. Look at Dover opposite, there is a natural highland there, and it takes a lot to build a fort. Much more convenient than here, but even so, the British didn't put a few warships there."

Because the scale of the new fort is limited, the difficulty of the whole project is relatively low. This is actually not a bad thing for Joseph, who was involved in this kind of thing for the first time.