[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-rise-of-the-empire-spain":3,"chapter-rise-of-the-empire-spain-rise-of-the-empire-spain-chapter-405":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Rise of the Empire: Spain",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2365333,4632,"Chapter 405: Canned Food","rise-of-the-empire-spain-chapter-405",405,"\u003Cp>Very soon, Gao Da understood why the French were so generous in handing over the blueprints for the previously classified M1897 75mm field gun to Spain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It turned out that in a certain battle, the French army had already used this new type of 75mm rapid-fire gun. This gun, with its extremely high rate of fire, had not only taken France's enemies by surprise but had also shocked many other European nations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>German officers hurriedly reported the news of France possessing a 75mm gun with an extremely high rate of fire back home, and the German government immediately demanded that the famous military industrial enterprise, the Krupp Company, produce a gun with a rate of fire comparable to their opponent's in a short period of time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The German government's order left the Krupp Company stunned. They had not even seen what the French rapid-fire gun looked like, so how could they copy a similar rapid-fire gun?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were completely ignorant of the principles the French rapid-fire gun utilized and what components it contained internally; under such circumstances, it was simply impossible to produce a similar rapid-fire gun in a short time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In order to complete the task assigned by the German government, the Krupp Company requested that the German government purchase several rapid-fire guns from France; once they had samples, the research and imitation tasks would become much simpler.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, long before the Krupp Company made the request, the German government had already contacted the French side. France was not unwilling to sell the M1897 75mm field gun, but the target of the sale did not include Germany.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It is no exaggeration to say that France would rather sell this gun to the British than hand over a single component of the gun to any country or force connected to Germany.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their willingness to hand over the blueprints for this gun to Spain also came with a prerequisite: that the Spanish side promise that the blueprints, the finished guns built from the blueprints, the components, and everything else would be prohibited from being exported to Germany and its allies for the next 10 years.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The reason for setting a 10-year limit was, firstly, that the French felt their own artillery technology would have made significant progress after 10 years, and naturally, there would be no need to hide or hold back on obsolete products.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Furthermore, Germany's own military industrial technology was not poor; even if they could not copy a similar gun in the short term, there was still hope that they could replicate the gun within 10 years.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Upon learning of the French government's requirements, Gao Da did not hesitate in the slightest and immediately had the diplomatic delegation agree to the French side's demands.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For Spain, this was basically equivalent to a gift delivered for free, so it was certainly impossible to return it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the future, Spain could refer to this 75mm gun in the development of small and medium-caliber artillery, thereby developing rapid-fire guns of various calibers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When Spain's artillery rate of fire was several times that of the enemy, one has to ask how the enemy should fight this war. As long as Spain's logistical supply was sufficient, they could completely adopt a method of fire suppression, bombarding the enemy's defensive lines without restraint to achieve the goal of rapid advancement.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Doing so could also effectively reduce casualties; all that would increase would be the consumption of shells and military expenditure.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Spanish diplomatic delegation stayed in France for a full three days, after which they took a train south from France, crossing the border into Spanish territory.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This diplomatic visit to France was originally a deterrent to the British and the Germans, and after achieving its purpose, this diplomatic visit naturally had to end.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the very least, Gao Da had not yet decided on his alignment, and under such circumstances, he certainly could not give the Germans the illusion that Spain had already allied with France.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the diplomatic delegation returned to Spain and had a period of rest, Spain would send new diplomatic delegations to the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Doing so was also to tell the Germans that Spain was currently still neutral and would not stand on the opposite side of Germany.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao Da did not want to be dragged into the confrontation between the two major military blocs for no reason; even if he were to be dragged in, it would have to wait until Spain had obtained sufficient benefits.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A single set of artillery blueprints was clearly unable to satisfy Gao Da's appetite, and besides, the time point for the outbreak of the World War was still too far away, and there was no clear need for Spain to take a side for the time being.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When the diplomatic delegation brought the M1897 75mm field gun back to Spain, Gao Da immediately handed the artillery blueprints to the Royal Arsenal and issued two orders.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>First, within the next few years, use these blueprints to build a large number of 75mm rapid-fire guns to equip Spain's Royal Army and the Imperial Guard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Second, according to the principles of the French 75mm rapid-fire gun, copy guns of smaller and larger calibers to increase the rate of fire of these guns.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just imagine, if Spain's future artillery of over a hundred millimeters in caliber could also achieve a rate of fire of more than ten rounds per minute, this would completely widen the firepower gap between the Spanish Army and the armies of other countries.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Considering the sturdy defensive facilities and bunkers in the Great War, Gao Da also decided to increase the firepower of the Spanish Army.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>How to increase firepower? Naturally, by equipping some giant guns with more exaggerated calibers to increase the artillery's ability to destroy defensive facilities made of reinforced concrete.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, it was certainly impossible to manufacture the kind of exaggerated giant guns that Germany manufactured during the Great War.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That kind of giant gun was too troublesome to transport, and its lifespan was extremely short; most of the time, it was not cost-effective.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They could only be used when attacking the enemy's extremely important defensive facilities, such as when Germany attacked Paris. For Spain, the 11-inch and 12-inch main guns mounted on the already phased-out ironclad warships were already completely sufficient for the Spanish Army.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The caliber of the 11-inch main gun reached as high as 278mm, and the caliber of the 12-inch main gun reached 305mm. Although current battleships used main guns with larger calibers of 13 inches or even 13.5 inches, the 11-inch main gun could still penetrate 20 centimeters of warship steel armor at long range.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Using such artillery to attack the enemy's reinforced concrete fortifications, even if one or two shots did not have much effect, bombarding them with a dozen or so consecutive shots could still easily destroy the enemy's fortifications.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It just so happened that the Spanish Navy had a large number of ironclad warships in service; once dreadnoughts were born, these ironclad warships would completely lose their utility.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that time, it would be entirely possible to dismantle the naval guns from these ironclad warships and convert them into giant guns or railway guns that the army could use, providing powerful fire support for the army in future wars.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Royal Arsenal, having received Gao Da's order, did not dare to be the least bit careless and immediately began to study the artillery blueprints gifted by France.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Regarding the M1897 75mm field gun, which could be called a French masterpiece, these weapons design experts at the arsenal discussed it carefully for a long time and were ultimately completely won over by French military industrial design.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One has to admit that although France had weakened in terms of industry and economy, France's foundation in military industrial technology still existed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without these blueprints, even if they had witnessed with their own eyes how exaggerated the rate of fire of this gun was, they still would not have been able to copy a similar rapid-fire gun.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, as long as there were blueprints, all imitation work became simple.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One only needed to produce the various components required for the artillery according to the blueprints and then assemble them according to the blueprints, and a brand-new M1897 75mm field gun would be fresh off the line.\u003C\u002Fp>",1396,"2026-06-25T09:27:15.200Z",1,"Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite","309f4e1c058913b011b10e26bfc554c49c534a5c48c284b57b1b5c91e417de22","rise-of-the-empire-spain-chapter-406","rise-of-the-empire-spain-chapter-404",493,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Frise-of-the-empire-spain-cover.jpg"]