Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 407 Canned Foods
Carlo soon understood why the French had so readily handed over the previously confidential blueprints for the M1897 75mm gun to Spain.

It turns out that the French army had already used this new 75mm rapid-fire gun in a certain battle. This extremely fast-firing gun not only surprised France's enemies, but also many other European countries.

German officers quickly reported back to Germany that France possessed a 75mm cannon with an extremely high rate of fire. The German government immediately demanded that the renowned military-industrial company Krupp produce a cannon with a rate of fire comparable to its opponent's within a short period of time.

The German government's order completely stunned Krupp. They had never even seen what a French rapid-fire cannon looked like; how could they possibly copy one?
They had no idea what principles the French rapid-fire artillery used or what its internal components were. Under such circumstances, it was simply impossible to produce a similar rapid-fire artillery in a short period of time.

In order to complete the task assigned by the German government, Krupp requested that the German government purchase several rapid-fire cannons from France. Once they had samples, the task of research and imitation would become much simpler.

However, the German government had already contacted France long before Krupp made its request. France was not unwilling to sell the M1897 75mm howitzer, but Germany was not included in the sale.

It is no exaggeration to say that France would rather sell the cannon to Britain than hand over a single part of it to any country or power with ties to Germany.

Their willingness to hand over the blueprints for this artillery piece to Spain was conditional: Spain was required to promise a 10-year ban on the export of everything, including the blueprints, the finished artillery piece built from them, and its components, to Germany and its allies.

The reason for setting a 10-year timeframe was that the French believed their artillery technology would have made significant progress in 10 years, so there was no need to hide outdated products.

Furthermore, Germany's own military technology is not bad. Even if it cannot replicate a similar artillery piece in a short period of time, it is still possible to replicate it within 10 years.

Upon learning of the French government's request, Carlo did not hesitate and immediately instructed the diplomatic delegation to agree to the French demands.

For Spain, this is essentially a free gift, and it's certainly not something they can return.

Spain can refer to this 75mm gun in the future development of small and medium caliber artillery, so as to develop rapid-fire guns of different calibers.

When Spain's artillery rate of fire was several times that of the enemy, the question arises: how should the enemy fight this war? Provided Spain had sufficient logistical support, it could have employed suppressive fire, relentlessly bombarding enemy lines to achieve a rapid advance.

This approach can effectively reduce casualties; the only increase is in the consumption of artillery shells and military expenditure.

The Spanish diplomatic delegation spent three full days in France before traveling south by train and crossing the border into Spain.

This diplomatic visit to France was originally intended as a deterrent to Britain and Germany, and having achieved its objectives, the visit should naturally come to an end.

At least Carlos hasn't decided which side to take yet, and under these circumstances, he certainly can't give the Germans the impression that Spain has allied with France.

After the diplomatic delegation returns to Spain and rests for a period of time, Spain will send new diplomatic delegations to Austria-Hungary and Italy.

This also serves as a message to the Germans that Spain remains neutral and will not stand against Germany.

Carlo didn't want to be dragged into the conflict between the two military blocs for no reason. Even if he were to be involved, he would wait until Spain had gained enough benefits.

A single cannon blueprint was clearly not enough to satisfy Carlo's appetite, and besides, the outbreak of world war was still too far off, and Spain had no need to take a clear side at the moment.

When the diplomatic delegation brought the M1897 75mm cannon back to Spain, Carlo immediately handed over the cannon's blueprints to the Royal Armory and issued two orders.

Firstly, in the coming years, this blueprint will be used to mass-produce 75mm rapid-fire cannons and equip them to the Royal Army and the Royal Guard of Spain.

Secondly, based on the principle of the French 75mm rapid-fire cannon, smaller and larger caliber cannons were copied to increase their rate of fire.

Imagine if, in the future, Spain's artillery with a caliber of over 100 millimeters could also achieve a rate of fire of more than ten rounds per minute, which would completely widen the firepower gap between the Spanish army and the armies of other countries.

Taking into account the strong defensive fortifications and bunkers built during World War I, Carlo also decided to increase the firepower of the Spanish army.

How to increase firepower? Of course, by equipping ourselves with some giant cannons with even larger calibers to increase the artillery's ability to destroy reinforced concrete defenses.

Of course, it would be impossible to manufacture the enormous cannons that Germany produced during World War I.

Those giant cannons were too troublesome to transport and had a very short lifespan, making them uneconomical most of the time.

It was only used when attacking extremely important enemy defenses, such as during the German attack on Paris. For Spain, the 11-inch and 12-inch main guns mounted on the obsolete ironclads were more than sufficient for the Spanish army.

11英寸主炮的口径高达278毫米，12英寸主炮的口径更是达到了305毫米。虽然现在的战列舰采用的是口径更大的13英寸甚至13.5英寸的主炮，但11英寸的主炮仍然能够远距离击穿二十厘米的军舰钢甲。

Using such artillery to attack the enemy's reinforced concrete fortifications, even if one or two shots don't have much effect, a dozen or so consecutive shots can still easily destroy the enemy's fortifications.

At that time, the Spanish Navy had a large number of ironclad ships in service, and once the dreadnought was invented, these ironclad ships became completely useless.

At that time, the naval guns on these ironclad ships can be dismantled and converted into giant cannons or railway guns that can be used by the army, providing powerful fire support for the army in future wars.

The Royal Arms Factory, having received Carlo's orders, dared not be careless in the slightest and immediately began studying the artillery blueprints gifted by France.

The weapons design experts at these military factories spent a long time carefully discussing the M1897 75mm howitzer, which can be described as a French masterpiece, and were ultimately completely impressed by the French military design.

It must be acknowledged that although France has weakened in terms of industry and economy, it still possesses a strong foundation in military technology.

Without these blueprints, even if they witnessed firsthand how incredible the cannon's rate of fire was, they still wouldn't be able to replicate a similar rapid-fire cannon.

Of course, as long as you have the blueprints, the entire replication process becomes simple.

Simply manufacture the necessary parts for the cannon according to the blueprints, and then assemble them according to the blueprints; a brand-new M1897 75mm cannon is ready. As long as the uniformity and quality of the parts production are well controlled, the assembled cannon will not have any quality problems.

Although copying is simple, understanding the principles of this cannon and making similar modifications to cannons of different calibers according to Carlo's orders is quite difficult.

Fortunately, the blueprints provided a useful reference, which to some extent reduced the workload for the weapons design experts at the Royal Arms Factory.

Although it was only 1901, Carlo was already planning some preparations for the future First World War.

In addition to advancements in military technology, Carlo also intends to improve the food rations of the Spanish army as much as possible, so that they can have enough food when fighting in foreign lands.

This is actually quite easy to solve. As early as 100 years ago, the famous French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte offered a reward of 1.2 francs for a technology that could keep food fresh for a long time to supply his army with food.

After five years of repeated experiments, French food merchant Nicolas Albert discovered that placing boiled meat in wide-mouthed glass jars and then sealing the jars with cork and wax could keep the food fresh for a long time.

This discovery not only earned him a reward of 1.2 francs from Napoleon Bonaparte, but also successfully pioneered the history of canned food.

However, such canned goods have significant drawbacks. Glass jars are not only fragile, but the wax in them can also melt if exposed to light for extended periods.

Even if the wax doesn't melt, food will still rot if it's exposed to light for a long time. This means that glass jars not only need to be stored carefully, but also in a dark, light-protected environment.

Following glass jars, British businessman Peter Durand quickly invented a tin-plated tin can, which effectively improved upon the fragility and intolerance of light in glass jars.

Metal cans are more convenient to transport, and even if accidentally dropped, they are guaranteed not to break. Furthermore, metal cans themselves block sunlight, so as long as they are properly sealed, the food will not spoil.

The long era of canned food in Europe officially began with tin-plated tin cans.

In remote areas, canned food can be used to supplement the consumption of meat and fish, since fish are practically nonexistent in inland areas far from the coast.

The only drawback of tin cans—their difficulty in opening—was soon overcome. A tool was invented that allowed for quick opening of cans, making metal cans not only easier to open but also making them more widely available.

Nowadays, canned food is very common in people's lives.

Like the newly emerging working class in Spain, many people choose to open a can of food at lunchtime instead of going to the factory canteen or other shops.

This era is not like later times, where lunch breaks and meals can last up to two hours. Currently, in the Barcelona industrial base in Spain, the longest lunch break is only one hour, and for a considerable number of companies, it's just over half an hour.

Under such circumstances, workers naturally need to save every bit of time they can to get more rest.

Canned food is indeed more convenient than other methods in this situation. A meal can be prepared in just a few minutes, and the remaining time can be used for a short nap.

Because of the wide variety of food available in Spain, the country also has a diverse range of canning factories. The royal family has invested in several large private canning factories, but there are no canning factories directly owned by the royal family.

Carlo is not considering opening a cannery himself for the time being. After all, given the public's affection for Carlo, they are likely to compete for the royal cannery, which would squeeze the survival space of other private canneries.

While Carlos doesn't mind having more and more money in his hands, there's no need for him to dabble in every industry and squeeze the development space of Spanish domestic capital.

For Carlo, he would certainly be happy to see these local businesses develop.

When it came to the problem of supplying food to the army during the war, Carlo's preferred solution was all kinds of canned goods.

Canned fruit, canned meat, and canned vegetables—these three types of canned goods are sufficient to meet the daily needs of soldiers.

The production methods for these three types of canned goods are relatively simple. Spain is a major producer of fruits and vegetables, and it also has no shortage of meat.

Supplying the army with these three types of canned goods was not a large expense for Spain.

With this in mind, Carlo didn't hesitate at all. He immediately instructed the military to contact several large canneries in Spain and have them develop canned meat, vegetables, and fruits specifically for the military. They were to produce a trial batch for the military and see how the soldiers reacted.

Canned goods generally have a long shelf life; they can last for a month or even several months without preservatives. If preservatives are added, the shelf life can be extended to a year or even several years.

In this situation, even producing a suitable batch of canned goods would not result in waste.

After making contact with the military, these canneries attached great importance to their cooperation with the military.

According to the military, as long as the soldiers are satisfied with the canned goods they produce, they will be ordering in large quantities.

This was quite a rare opportunity for these canneries. After all, at that time, apart from the workers and the middle class, few people would buy relatively expensive canned goods.

Although canned goods use ordinary ingredients, the processing and packaging costs are an expense in themselves, not to mention the profit of the canning factory.

If a stable order can be secured from the military, it will not only allow the cannery to continue to survive, but also enable it to expand its scale and thus broaden its reach into the civilian market.

After all, for canneries to survive in the long run, they need to find ways to expand public demand. Relying solely on the military market without tapping into the civilian market is not a guarantee of long-term survival.

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(End of this chapter)