Chapter 355 Military Purchases of Trucks by Various Parties

Chapter 355 Military Purchases by All Parties - Trucks

The news that Australasia took over the Solomon Islands received a good response from the people of Australasia.

The expansion of national territory is undoubtedly good news for the Australasians who already have a good sense of national pride.

For the British, it is not a loss at all to exchange several islands in the Pacific region for Australasia to join the Allied Powers.

Therefore, the change of sovereignty over the Solomon Islands is a mutually beneficial deal for both Britain and Australasia.

It is precisely because of this that after the colonial government successfully took over the Solomon Islands, it also smoothly accepted less than 20,000 European immigrants in the Solomon Islands.

Among these European immigrants, the vast majority are willing to stay, continue to live in the Solomon Islands, and become citizens of Australasia.

Only a few people are unwilling to stay in the Solomon Islands. In this regard, Governor Mark McOsland's attitude is to give these people a severance pay and send them to the nearest British colony.

As for the property left by these people after they left, they were all received by the colonial government, which was just right for the immigrants who would come to live in the Solomon Islands colony in the future.

Governor Mark McOsland's moderate policy made the Australasian colonial government welcomed by the local people.

In addition, after issuing the Australasian citizenship certificate to all residents, Governor Mark McOsland began to popularize the welfare benefits and policies of citizens in the Solomon Islands, making the colonial government and Governor Mark McOsland himself more welcomed and accepted by the local residents.

The construction of the Solomon Islands colony was very successful, which also allowed Arthur to put his eyes back to the country and continue to manage the construction and development of the country.

So far, the arms race among the major European powers has not only been limited to weapons, equipment and ammunition.

Even in terms of automobiles, the major European powers have begun to stockpile frantically to prepare for future wars.

Data from the Benz Automobile Factory shows that European countries have begun to buy cars frantically since the second half of 1912.

From dozens to hundreds of vehicles at the beginning to hundreds or even thousands of vehicles now, it is enough to see the importance that European countries attach to automobiles.

Among all types of cars, the most purchased by European countries are the transport cars and trucks developed by Benz Automobile Factory.

Speaking of the world's automobile industry, the one with the longest development time and the highest reputation is naturally the Benz Automobile Factory in Australasia.

At present, the scale of the Benz Automobile Factory in Australasia has also developed. The four Mercedes-Benz automobile factories, including the headquarters, occupy more than 70% of the world's automobile market and are the giants of the world's automobile industry.

If European countries were not also supporting their own automobile companies, the proportion of market share that Benz Automobile Factory could occupy would be even higher.

At present, in the automobile industry, Benz Automobile Factory has no rivals that can fight. If some automobile manufacturers had not received strong support from their countries, I am afraid that Benz Automobile would have unified the world automobile market long ago.

The current automobile market can be divided into passenger cars and transport cars. Passenger cars are mainly Benz One, and transport cars are mainly Benz trucks.

Benz's market share in passenger cars and transport cars is 65% and 83% respectively.

This also means that European countries can't hide their car purchases from Benz, which means they can't hide from Australasia and Arthur.

It is worth mentioning that Benz has built branches in the main countries of the Allies and the Entente, Britain and Germany, and also in the United States across the ocean.

This also means that Benz has orders from the Allies, the Entente and neutral countries, and is not affected by the situation in Europe.

If other car manufacturers have a certain influence on Benz in passenger cars, then Benz has basically no rivals in transport trucks.

After all, trucks don't value appearance, but rather the practicality of trucks, load-bearing weight, failure rate, ease of maintenance, fuel consumption and power.

In these aspects, Benz's achievements are better than other car manufacturers, and it is natural to obtain the vast majority of market share.

According to the news from the Benz Automobile Factory, Germany has recently placed an order for up to 1,000 cars and 3,000 trucks to the Benz branch in Germany, and required delivery within half a year.

The trucks purchased by Germany are relatively large trucks. Although this type of truck is slower, it has a stronger carrying capacity and is suitable for roads in various terrains.

Such trucks can be driven unscrupulously in most parts of Germany and even Europe, which is crucial for the help of German logistics.

You know, for a large army like Germany, the number of troops and the number of equipment can greatly improve the combat capability of the army.

At the same time, a large number of soldiers and weapons and equipment are also a test for the country's transportation system and logistics capabilities.

The transportation of artillery, weapons and ammunition, and even soldiers in the army requires more convenient tools, and trucks are a good choice.

After all, the battlefields and military bases in the future will definitely not all be near the railway station, which also means that within the distance from the railway station to the military base, a very effective means of transportation is needed to transport supplies.

It is easy to understand why the Germans set their sights on trucks. After all, time has proved that cars are the most convenient, fast and effective means of transportation on land besides trains.

And trucks with cargo capacity are likely to be the most convenient and effective means of transportation on land besides trains.

The fact that the Germans were able to place an order for 3,000 trucks in one go is enough to prove that they have done research on trucks and are sure that trucks can meet their material transportation needs.

After all, the large trucks ordered by the Germans are giants that can maintain a speed of more than 35 kilometers per hour on the basis of carrying more than 3 tons of cargo.

Another type of truck before the Benz Automobile Factory was a small truck that could carry more than 1.5 tons and reach a speed of more than 45 kilometers per hour.

The Benz Automobile Branch in Germany cooperates with local German nobles. This also means that the head office has no right to refuse this order.

In fact, Arthur would not refuse this order, after all, it also represents a huge profit.

However, in order to fulfill the obligations of the alliance and to remind Britain and France, Arthur still conveyed the news to the British and French governments.

There is a Benz car factory in Germany, and there is also one in Britain.

The countermeasures of Britain and France are also very simple. After receiving the news from Arthur, Britain and France conducted a simple investigation and determined that trucks have huge transportation potential. The two countries ordered 4,000 and 3,000 trucks respectively, and also required the British car factory to deliver within half a year.

There is also a problem in this way. That is, after hearing the news, Russia also wants to buy trucks, but the production orders of British car factories have been full and they are unable to accept orders in the short term.

The Russian government had no choice but to look at Australasia. On September 27, 1913, after obtaining sufficient loans from Britain and France, Russia sent a team to Australasia to inspect the Benz car factory and discuss the purchase order of trucks with Australasia.

In fact, under normal circumstances, the technology owned by the Benz Automobile Factory branch should be owned by the main factory and even more advanced.

The potential and role of the trucks that Britain, France and Germany have ordered vigorously are naturally beyond doubt.

In fact, the main purpose of the Russian team's trip was not to investigate the role of trucks, but to lower the price of trucks as much as possible to save more money.

You should know that Russia has the largest land area in Europe (excluding colonies), and the largest number of troops in Europe, resulting in the largest logistical pressure in Russia among European countries.

Due to the geographical environment, most of Russia's domestic exchanges rely on land transportation, that is, trains, cars, and horse-drawn carriages.

This also means that if Russia wants to use trucks to ease domestic logistical pressure, the number of trucks that Russia needs to order may be the largest among European powers.

This is a huge financial expenditure for the Russian government, and it is for this reason that Nicholas II sent a diplomatic team to specifically lower the price of trucks.

In early October, this Russian diplomatic team arrived in Australasia by airship.

After visiting the Australasian government and Arthur, the Russian team rushed to the Benz Automobile Factory to inspect the truck production situation of the automobile factory.

At present, there are quite a few cars in Russia. The Russian royal family alone owns hundreds of cars.

Russia also has a small number of trucks. Before the departure of this diplomatic team, Russia had tested the actual transportation capacity of trucks and affirmed the role of trucks.

In particular, the Russian military has repeatedly requested the government and Nicholas II to purchase at least 10,000 trucks.

The reason given by the military is that if the Russian army can have 10,000 trucks, it will greatly improve the transportation capacity of the Russian army.

It is roughly estimated that the comprehensive combat capability of the Russian army with a total of 10,000 trucks can be improved by at least 30%.

Although 10,000 trucks are not cheap, Nicholas II still decided to bite the bullet and buy this batch of equipment.

Of course, given the good relationship with Arthur and Australasia, Nicholas II felt it necessary to lower the price as much as possible to save some money for the government.

At this time in the Benz Automobile Factory.

"Everyone, this is our production workshop. Most of the bodies of Benz trucks are forged, produced and assembled here." Benz explained to the Russian representative seriously.

Next to Benz stood a translator who was responsible for translating Benz's introduction into Russian.

Although some diplomats in the Russian diplomatic team could understand the German spoken by Benz, some people were still a little hazy and needed to be conveyed again by the translator.

On the Russian side, there were also special translation officials who were responsible for translating some Russian representatives' Russian into German or English.

Fortunately, most of the current diplomatic officials are generally proficient in English, French, German and Russian. Otherwise, Benz, a German who only mastered simple English, would be in a somewhat embarrassing situation at this time.

"It's incredible that your factory can achieve such a standard of assembly line production." The Russian representative watched carefully as pieces of steel were forged into parts and then transported to other production lines for assembly, and couldn't help but sigh.

The latecomers like Australasia are actually stronger in industrial innovation than the old powers. Including the current Germany, the United States and Australasia, the industrial technology is actually more advanced, and the resistance to reform is not too great.

But the old powers led by Britain, France, and Russia want to reform in industry. The first thing they have to face is the owners and capitalists of old factories.

For capitalists, it doesn't matter if the factory's technology is not advanced, as long as they can produce qualified things and the cost is not high.

As for the problem of relatively slow production speed, this problem is easy to solve, just crazily oppress the factory workers.

As long as the workers in these factories work overtime, the factory's production speed is not much inferior to that of new factories.

"Director Benz, how many trucks can your factory produce every day?" A Russian representative asked curiously.

The Russian representative is a senior official of the Russian military and one of the people who strongly advocated the purchase of trucks.

"Sir, we are currently able to produce two types of trucks, small and large. The production rate of small trucks B1 is 75 per day, and the production rate of large trucks B2 is 45 per day." After hearing the inquiry conveyed by the translator, Benz smiled and replied: "If your country only needs one type of truck, we can temporarily give up the production of another type of truck. In this way, the production rate of trucks should be able to be increased by about twice."

Compared to cars, the size of trucks is undoubtedly a behemoth. Not only does it require a larger engine in terms of power, but it also requires a larger carriage and parts.

This actually means that the cost of a truck will be higher than that of a car, and the production time will be longer.

If it is to produce ordinary Benz One cars, the production speed of the main factory can reach at least 300 vehicles per day, and the annual output is more than 100,000 vehicles.

The Russian military representative who asked the question nodded with satisfaction. The speed of truck production in Australasia's automobile factories is not slower than that of automobile factories in the UK and Germany.

This actually means that even if Russia has more orders, the time it takes for the army to equip itself with trucks will not be much slower than that of Britain, France and Germany.

If the price of the trucks can be cut to a relatively low number, it will be great news for the Russian government and the Russian military.

First update of 4,000 words, please vote for me, please support me!

Today's daily update is 10,000, and 4,000/10,000 have been updated. Please vote for me, please support me!