Chapter 98 News From Congo

After Skarloy went to Germany and invited Conrad to Greece at a high price, under his guidance, after three months of concerted efforts by the rapid-fire gun development team, in September 1989, they successfully relied on Conrad's anti-recoil system patent to produce a 75mm rapid-fire gun prototype.

After hearing the news, for the need of confidentiality, Constantine only notified the Army Chief of Staff Emmanuel and the owner of the Military Technology Office, Chaimis, to go to the shooting range in the suburbs of Athens to observe the first test firing of the new rapid-fire artillery.

At the shooting range in the suburbs of Athens, standing behind the breastwork piled with sandbags, Constantine, Chaimis, Skarloy, and Conrad hung binoculars on their chests and looked seriously at the artillery team busy around the cannon 20 meters away.

After the loader pushed the brass shell into the barrel, the artillery squad leader gave an order, the cannon roared, and the muzzle spit out orange-red flames.

The four people who watched the test firing quickly took off the binoculars on their chests, and saw the target marked by the white line one kilometer away, raising smoke and dust.

The first test firing was successful!

The round barrel of the cannon was seen to retract a distance under the push of the aftereffect force, and then restored its position.

The four people who observed this phenomenon nodded to each other. In any case, this reaction force system did work. Without human intervention, the barrel of the cannon automatically restored its original position, instead of the cannon that is commonly equipped in various countries now, which must be pushed by the crew members to restore it.

This shows that Conrad's patent is indeed beneficial to increasing the firing rate of the cannon.

After the first test firing was successful, the cannon roared continuously and fired three shells in rapid succession. There was no abnormality in this experimental cannon during this process.

Even Conrad, who had experienced several failed experiments in Germany before and was already discouraged, was worried at this moment, praying that he could succeed in the next test.

The artillery squad leader trotted to the breastwork and reported respectfully: "Commanders, the test artillery performed normally in both single and triple firing. Please give instructions."

"Mr. Conrad, how is it? Can we continue the test?" Constantine asked.

After receiving a positive reply, Constantine instructed the squad leader in front of him: "We can proceed to the next test, the maximum rate of fire test."

After receiving feedback, the artillery team responsible for the test first picked up the gun brush to clean the barrel. After everything was ready and checked, the maximum rate of fire test of this rapid-fire gun began.

Under the operation of the gun crew, the gun rumbled continuously and fired 30 rounds in a row. Everyone listened to the deafening gun sound, eagerly raised their wrists, and looked at the watch on their wrists. It took only one and a half minutes!

Seeing this result, everyone was shocked. This rate of fire is several times that of the cannons commonly equipped by various countries today!

After designing several more shells, the gun suddenly stopped roaring. Conrad's face changed, and he thought to himself: Is it still like this?

The squad leader of the test artillery team quickly walked to the bunker where everyone was and said to everyone: "The test gun has an abnormality, the hydraulic device has leaked oil, and the gun's recoil mechanism has failed. Please stop shooting."

Although the test failed, everyone except Conrad was still very happy. It was really the gun's firing rate performance that was too eye-catching.

The only drawback was that after a short period of full fire, the gun malfunctioned.

After Conrad's reaction force system technology proved its great effect on increasing the firing rate of the gun, although there were still flaws, Constantine and Chamiis still decided to buy this technology for 500,000 drachmas.

After witnessing the rapid-fire cannon's full firepower and jaw-dropping performance, with the full support of Constantine, Emmanuelle and Chamiès, the rapid-fire cannon R&D team received the unanimous support of the three, and the funding application was green-lit.

The biggest difficulty faced by the R&D team was that the hydraulic system oil leakage problem had not been solved for a long time. The entire R&D progress was stuck here and could not make further progress. It seemed unlikely to break through Conrad's technical defects in the short term.

The R&D progress of the rapid-fire cannon was inevitably delayed.

Just as Constantine was worried about the unfavorable progress of the R&D, the Tatoi Palace welcomed two guests that Constantine had been looking forward to - Banning, the governor of Congo, and Brut, the current main person in charge of Greece's military forces in Congo.

In the garden of the Tatoi Palace, Constantine received his two confidants who were sent to Africa.

Looking at the two people in front of him, who obviously had different temperaments and appearances, Constantine said sincerely: "Thank you for your hard work."

To be honest, these two people have made great contributions to the current situation in Congo.

Since Constantine began to plan the Congo region, Banning has been advising him. After the Berlin Conference, he went to Africa and worked hard to manage this resource-rich land of hope for Greece.

And Brute, under his own orders, also traveled across the ocean to assist Banning in stabilizing the local situation in Congo.

It is because of the efforts of these two people that Congo can become a stable source of raw materials and a market for some commodities in Greece.

"Banning, tell me about the current situation in Congo," Constantine asked impatiently.

Although Banning often reports government affairs to Constantine, the King of Congo, through telegrams, after all, it is just cold text, how can there be such detailed first-hand information.

"Yes, Your Highness, Congo has entered a stable development stage. The annual import and export trade has reached 370 million francs. The Congo regional government can already achieve a balance of payments," Banning said proudly.

"Among them, the main exports are gold, ivory, rubber, copper, palm, and opium, and the imported goods are mainly industrial products from Europe and the United States, such as cloth, ironware, and medicines."

Since the news that Congo has gold mines spread, Congo has also become a place where gold diggers from various countries have flocked to. So far, many people in Greece have also gone to the Congo colony under the temptation of gold, so that in the original historical time and space, the Greeks' enthusiasm for immigrating to the North American continent has been affected.

Thanks to the efforts of these crazy gold diggers, the total amount of gold exported from Congo in 1888 reached an astonishing 1,000 kilograms.

Among them, a considerable part of the gold was stolen and dug without the consent of the Congolese authorities.

Moreover, the momentum of gold export is still increasing rapidly. Constantine, in order to rapidly develop the economy of Congo, not only did not curb this serious illegal gold mining, but secretly fueled it.

Because Constantine understood that for Greece at this time, the most important thing was the threat from Europe. As for the disorderly mining of precious gold resources in Congo, that was something that needed to be solved later.

As long as the 10% tax was paid when the gold flowed out of Congo.