Chapter 27: , Fort Calais (2)

　　　　 Lieutenant Colonel Antoine de Villefort, commander of the fortress, is a tall man in his forties. He seemed very happy about Joseph's visit.
　　 "Ah, Mr. Bonaparte, I thought it would take a few days for you to come." Commander Villefort said, "I didn't expect you to come so quickly. Well, do you need a break?"
"Thank you, but no need." Joseph said, "Actually I arrived last night. It was just late when I arrived, so I just took a rest in the hotel. Therefore, I didn't need more rest. Up."
"You are enviable." Commander Villefort smiled. "When I was as old as you, no matter how busy I was, I didn't feel tired. Since you don't need to rest, then the work related to the expansion of the fort, We can start. Well, Captain Cisse, you first take Mr. Bonaparte to settle down, then take him to the library to check relevant materials, and take him to the field. Ah, Mr. Bonaparte, you If you have any needs, you can also speak directly to Cisse."
　　 "Thank you for your care." Joseph replied.
　　 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 Paris, but you can only be wronged. It's a moment."
　　 "It's a small hotel called'Crowder Hotel'." Joseph replied, "Also, you can call me Joseph."
"Ah,'Crowder Hotel'?" Cisse laughed, "Joseph, you must see it is close to the port, and it looks good outside, and the price is affordable, right? Well, you lived there yesterday I must have not slept well at night. Their hotel beds are famous for having bed bugs!" As if afraid that Joseph felt he was laughing at him, Cisse added: "Well, I have been fooled by them before. That boss, Claude, is a capable guy, but he didn’t think much about how to run the hotel. Well, I’ll take you to the officer’s quarters to see..."
　　 I want to say that the conditions of the officers’ dormitory in the Fort Calais are actually slightly better than those of the teachers’ dormitory in the Paris Military Academy. After all, the prices of land and other things here are much cheaper than in Paris.
　　 After settled down, it was already noon. Cisse took Joseph to the officer’s cafeteria for lunch. Calais is close to the sea, and all kinds of fish are much richer and cheaper than Paris.
"Let me say, your life is much better than Paris. The money we got in Paris is no different from yours, but the prices in Paris are much more expensive than here." Joseph put a piece of fish into his mouth, vaguely Say.
"But Paris is Paris after all." Cisse said, "The prices in Paris are indeed more expensive, but most people here are still more willing to go to Paris. Well, these places in other provinces are actually more suitable for elderly care, but they are not special. 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 tolerate higher prices. If it’s just for money, it’s more money to go overseas. It’s just nothing like us It’s not easy to go to Paris for people on the road."
　　 Indeed, Paris has more opportunities. For ambitious people, Paris is unmatched by any other province.
　　 "Maybe, um, Cisse, are you Captain Artillery?" Joseph said suddenly.
　　 "Yes? What's wrong?" Cisse asked.
　　 "I want to ask you about some things about the fort. After all, I'm just a mathematics student. I don't know much about the artillery." Joseph explained.
　　 "Oh, I thought you knew some way to help me get 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, I'm seasick!" Cisse said, "Is there no other place to lack people?"
　　 "I haven't heard of it yet." Joseph shook his head and said, "Aren't you a navy? How come you get seasick?"
Cisse's face reddened slightly: "The navy...the navy doesn’t have to take ships. It’s also the navy who guards the port’s fort. I serve on the port’s fort, and I don’t have to go on board. My artillery skills are very good. I can’t find a few gunners better than me in the navy. If it’s not because of seasickness...so, doesn’t your school need artillery instructors?"
　　 "I haven't heard of this for the time being." Joseph said, "And you also know that even if there is a need, this position will probably 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 surpass the navy.
　　 "That's it." Cisse was a little disappointed, but he still said, "Joseph, you are in Paris and you know a lot of news. If you know some way, I hope you can remember me."
　　 "I must remember it," Joseph said.
　　 Joseph's answer is not all polite, he also needs to have a little relationship with the Navy. In the next few years, the harvest in northern France has not been very good, but there is actually no shortage of food in southern France, just because France at this time is still a feudal country, with numerous domestic barriers, artificially leading to higher commodity transportation costs. If you can get through the relationship with the navy and get food directly from the south, and then transport it to the northern port by navy warships, you can have a lot of benefits. If it is smuggled directly from the UK across the sea, the benefits 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 added, "You are here, but there are actually many opportunities. Maybe, I have them. We also need your help. In short, we are friends. If we have the opportunity in the future, we must help each other, don’t you think?"
　　 "You are right. Then it's settled." Cisse said.
　　 In the next few days, Joseph and designer Michele discussed the plan to renovate the fort. As the commander of the artillery on the fort, Cisse was also involved.
"The first requirement of a fort is to be able to control the passage of ships in and out of the port. Our current fort is not enough to control the entire channel. So we plan to build a new fort at this location, so that the two forts can work together to enter and exit the port. The channel can be controlled..." Michelle pointed to the drawing and introduced.
　　 "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 the trajectory of the artillery. There are also many specific designs of the entire fortress that need your opinion." Michelle replied.
"It's a pity that the existing artillery and the lack of suitable highlands nearby have caused our artillery to have too close a range. Although it can barely cover the channel, it is far from enough to cover the fleet's departure from the port. In case the fleet is blocked in the port. Now, there is still no way to go out to fight." Joseph said again.
　　 Naval operations need to line up first. In this way, it is convenient for the firepower to be used for maneuvering, so that one's own person will not block his own shooting circle for a while, and later his own warship will collide with each other while maneuvering. The space in the military port is limited, and the fleet certainly cannot complete the formation in the port. To complete the formation, you must first drive the ship to the wide sea outside the port. And once the enemy fleet blocked the entrance to the port first, they would naturally not allow the warships in the port to leave the port and prepare a formation. It will definitely attack them before the fleet leaving the port has time to arrange a team. If the range of the artillery of the port battery is far enough, it may provide protection for the fleet's departure formation.
　　 Generally speaking, there are two ways to do this. One is to install giant cannons on the fort. A major advantage of a gun emplacement over a warship is its carrying capacity. The fort is built on a solid ground, so there is no need to worry about being crushed by a cannon. Therefore, it is possible to place a cannon much larger than that on a warship. A larger cannon is always easier to have a greater range. UU reading www.uukanshu.com
　　 But this approach has problems. The first is that the production cost of the cannon is too high. However, the rate of fire of giant cannons is too low. For example, the Turk’s Urban Cannon can fire up to seven cannons per day. Of course, that was something from the fifteenth century, but the improvement in the rate of fire of today's giant guns is still quite limited. Such a slow rate of fire is not enough to complete the task of covering the fleet.
　　 The second method is to set up 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, which will sway with the ship, (due to the sway of the ship, as long as the target is slightly farther away, the cannonball will not know where it will fly) so the effective range is The natural will be bigger. In this way, it is possible to provide a space for the warships in the harbor to deploy their formations.
　　 But there is no natural highland in the right place near the port of Calais. If you want to achieve such an effect, you must rely on artificial piles of soil, pile up a high ground artificially. This requires more manpower and material resources, or to be more straightforward: it needs to spend more money.
"The navy believes that there will be no fleets in the Port of Calais that need to line up. So the fort only needs to be able to block the channel and prevent the enemy from attacking the port." Designer Michel replied, "After all, Calais It's not Toulon. There will be at most one or two frigates here. Calais is mainly a commercial port, merchant ships and so on, but there is no need for a battle line. Look at Dover on the opposite side. There is a natural highland there. It's much more convenient than here, but even so, the British didn't put a few warships there."
　　 Because of the limited scale of the newly built fort, the difficulty of the whole project is relatively low. This is actually not a bad thing for Joseph, who was involved in such things for the first time.