Chapter 355: Arms Purchase by All Parties -
The news that Australasia has received trucks from the Solomon Islands has had a good response among the Australasian people.
The expansion of the country's territory is undoubtedly good news for Australasians who already have a good sense of national pride.
For the British, it was not a loss at all to exchange several islands in the Pacific region for Australasia to join the Entente.
Therefore, from the perspective of the United Kingdom and Australasia, the change of sovereignty of the Solomon Islands is a mutually beneficial deal.
It is precisely because of this that after the colonial government successfully took over the Solomon Islands, it also successfully accepted less than 20,000 European immigrants in the Solomon Islands.
The vast majority of these European immigrants were willing to stay, continue to live in the Solomon Islands, and become Australasian citizens.
There were only a few people who were unwilling to stay in the Solomon Islands. In this regard, Governor Mark MacOsland's attitude was to give these people a severance package and send them to the nearest British colony.
As for the property left behind by these people after they left, all of it was taken over by the colonial government and could be given to immigrants who would come to live in the Solomon Islands colony in the future.
The moderate policies of Governor Mark MacOsland made the Australasian colonial government popular with the local people.
In addition, after issuing Australasian citizenship certificates to all residents, Governor Mark McOsland began to popularize citizen welfare and policies in the Solomon Islands, allowing the colonial government and Mark McOsland to The Governor himself became more popular and accepted by the local population.
The construction of the Solomon Islands colony was very successful, which also allowed Arthur to return his sights to the country with confidence and continue to manage the domestic construction and development.
So far, the arms race among the major European powers has not been limited to weapons, equipment and ammunition.
Even in terms of automobiles, the major European powers have begun to stock up frantically to prepare for future wars.
Data from the Benz Automobile Factory shows that starting from the second half of 1912, European countries began to purchase cars crazily.
From dozens to hundreds of vehicles at the beginning, to hundreds or even thousands of vehicles now, it is enough to show that European countries attach great importance to automobiles.
In terms of all vehicle types, the transport vehicles and trucks developed by Benz Automobile Factory are the most purchased by European countries.
Speaking of the current automobile industry in the world, 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 grown. The four Mercedes-Benz automobile factories including the main factory account for more than 70% of the world's automobile market and are currently the giant of the world's automobile industry. Tyrant.
If it weren't for the fact that European countries are also supporting their own car companies, the proportion of market share occupied by Benz Automobile Factory would be even higher.
For now, in the automotive industry, Benz Automobile Factory has no rival that can compete. If some car manufacturers had not received strong support from the countries where they are located, I am afraid that Benz Motors would have unified the world car market.
The current automobile market can be divided into passenger cars and transportation cars. Passenger cars are mainly Benz One, and transportation vehicles are mainly Benz trucks.
The market shares of Benz Automobile Plant in passenger cars and transport vehicles are 65% and 83% respectively.
This also leads to the fact that European countries cannot basically hide the purchase of cars from the Benz Automobile Factory, which means that they cannot hide it from Australasia and Arthur.
It is worth mentioning that the Benz Automobile Factory built branch factories in the major countries of the Allied Powers and the Allied Powers, the United Kingdom and Germany, and also built branch factories on the other side of the ocean in the United States.
This also resulted in the Benz Automobile Factory having orders from the Allies, the Entente and neutral countries, and was not affected by the situation in Europe.
If other car manufacturers have a certain influence on Benz Automobile Factory in terms of passenger cars, then Benz Automobile has basically no rivals in terms of transportation trucks.
After all, trucks do not value appearance, but rather the practicality, load capacity, failure rate, ease of maintenance, fuel consumption and power of the truck.
In these aspects, the results of Benz Automobile Factory are better than those of other automobile factories, and it is natural for it to obtain the vast majority of the market share.
According to news from the Benz Automobile Factory, in recent times, Germany has placed an order for up to 1,000 cars and 3,000 trucks to the Benz branch factory in Germany, and requires delivery within six months.
The trucks purchased in Germany are relatively large trucks. Although this kind of truck is slower, it has greater carrying capacity and is suitable for road sections in various terrains.
Such trucks can drive unscrupulously in Germany and even most of Europe, which is crucial to help German logistics.
You know, for a country with a large army like Germany, the number of troops and equipment can greatly improve the military's combat capabilities.
At the same time, the large number of soldiers and weapons and equipment is 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 garrison locations in the future will definitely not all be near the train station. This also means that a very effective means of transportation is needed to transport materials within the distance from the train station to the military garrison.
It is actually quite understandable that the Germans would set their sights on trucks. After all, time has proven that cars are the most convenient, fast and effective means of transportation on land besides trains.
Trucks with cargo-carrying capacity are very 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 already done research on trucks and are convinced that trucks can meet their material transportation needs.
After all, the large truck ordered by the Germans is a giant that can carry more than 3 tons of cargo and maintain a speed of more than 35 kilometers per hour.
Another type of truck before 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 aristocrats. This also means that the main factory has no right to refuse this order.
In fact, Arthur would not refuse this order, after all, it also represented huge profits.
However, for the purpose of fulfilling his obligations as an alliance and also to remind Britain and France, Arthur still conveyed this news to the British and French governments.
There is a Benz automobile factory in Germany, and there is also one in the UK. The countermeasures of Britain and France were also very simple. After receiving the news from Arthur, Britain and France conducted a simple inspection and determined that the trucks had huge transportation potential. The two countries ordered four thousand and three thousand trucks respectively. trucks, and are also required to be delivered by UK car plants within half a year.
There is also a problem with this, that is, after Russia heard the news, it also had the idea of purchasing trucks. However, the British car factory's production orders have long been full, and they will not be able to take on more orders in the short term.
The Russian government had no choice but to turn its attention to Australasia. On September 27, 1913, after obtaining a loan with sufficient funds from Britain and France, Russia sent a team to Australasia to inspect the Benz Automobile Factory, and at the same time discuss the purchase order of trucks with Australasia.
In fact, according to normal circumstances, the technology possessed by the branch of Benz Automobile Factory should be equally possessed by the main plant and more sophisticated.
There is no doubt about the potential and role of trucks that are heavily ordered by Britain, France and Germany.
In fact, the main purpose of the Russian team's trip was not to examine the role of trucks, but to save more money by keeping the prices of trucks as low as possible.
You know, Russia's land area is the largest in Europe (not counting colonies), and coupled with the largest number of soldiers in Europe, Russia's logistical pressure is also the largest among European countries.
Due to the geographical environment in Russia, most 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 relieve domestic logistical pressure, the number of trucks that Russia needs to order may be the largest among European powers.
This is a huge financial drain for the Russian government, and because of this, Nicholas II sent a diplomatic team to specifically lower the selling price of trucks.
In early October, the Russian diplomatic team arrived in Australasia by airship.
After visiting the Australasian government and Arthur, the Russian team rushed to the Benz Automobile Factory non-stop to inspect the truck production status of the automobile factory.
At present, there are not many cars in Russia. The Russian royal family alone owns hundreds of cars.
Russia also has a small number of trucks in the country. Before this diplomatic team set off, Russia had already tested the actual transportation capabilities of the trucks and affirmed their role.
The Russian military, in particular, 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 possess 10,000 trucks, it will greatly improve the transportation capacity of the Russian army.
It is roughly estimated that the comprehensive combat capabilities of the Russian Army, which has a total of 10,000 trucks, can be improved by at least 30%.
Although 10,000 trucks are not cheap, Nicholas II decided to bite the bullet and purchase this equipment.
Of course, given the good relations with Arthur and Australasia, Nicholas II felt the need to keep prices as low as possible to save the government some money.
Inside the Benz Automobile Factory at this time.
"Everyone, this is our production workshop. Most of the body of Benz's truck is forged, produced and assembled here." Benz explained to the Russian representative seriously.
Next to Benz, stood a translator who was responsible for translating what Benz introduced into Russian.
Although some diplomats on the Russian diplomatic team can understand the German spoken by Benz, some are still a little hazy and need to rely on translators to convey it again.
The Russian representatives also have specialized translators who are responsible for translating the Russian spoken by some Russian representatives into German or English.
Fortunately, most current diplomats are generally fluent 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 actually achieve such a standard of assembly line production." The Russian representative couldn't help but sigh as he watched carefully as pieces of steel were forged into parts and then transported to other production lines for assembly.
Countries such as Australasia, which came from behind, are actually more innovative in industry than the established powers. Including the current countries of Germany, the United States and Australasia, 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, who want to carry out industrial reforms, must first face the business owners and capitalists of old-fashioned factories.
For capitalists, it doesn't matter whether the factory's technology is advanced or not, as long as it can produce qualified things and the cost is not high.
For the problem of relatively slow production speed, this problem is easy to solve, and it only requires crazy oppression of factory workers.
As long as the workers in these factories work overtime, the production speed of the factories will not be inferior to that of new factories.
"Director Benz, approximately how many trucks can your factory produce every day?" a Russian representative asked curiously.
This Russian representative is a senior official of the Russian military and one of the people who advocated the purchase of the truck.
"Your Excellency, we are currently able to produce two types of trucks, large and small. The production speed of small truck B1 is 75 trucks per day, and the production speed of large truck B2 is 45 trucks per day." After hearing the inquiry conveyed by the interpreter, Benz answered with a smile. Said: "If your country only needs one type of truck, we can temporarily give up the production of another truck. In this case, the production speed of trucks should be about doubled." Compared with cars, the size of trucks is nothing
. Undoubtedly a behemoth. Not only does it require a larger engine in terms of power, but it also requires a larger cabin and components.
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 were to produce ordinary Benz One cars, the production speed of the main plant could already reach at least 300 vehicles per day, with an annual output of more than 100,000 vehicles.
The Russian military representative who asked the question nodded with satisfaction. Australasian car factories are no slower producing trucks than their British and German counterparts.
This actually means that even if Russia has more orders, the time it takes for the army to equip trucks will not be much slower than that of Britain, France and Germany.
If the price of trucks can be reduced to a relatively low number, this will be great news for the Russian government and the Russian military.
The first update of 4,000 words, please vote for me and support!
Today, 10,000 per day has been updated to 4,000/10,000. Please vote for me and support!
(End of chapter)