Chapter 8 Chapter 8 Longtan and Tiger's Lair
After a few weeks, readers who have been watching the young Alsatian's prosperity and his relationship with Mr. Schulz will probably not be surprised.They were already inseparable.Working, eating, walking in the garden, drinking beer and smoking a pipe, they all acted together.The former professor at the University of Jena had never met a collaborator who was as close to him as Marcel, with whom he understood, and who could use his theoretical data so quickly.
Marcel was not only an outstanding person who was proficient in all fields of the industry, but also the most lovable companion, the most industrious worker, the most humble and creative inventor.
Mr. Schultz was very pleased with him.Every day, he repeats these words in his heart many times:
"If you find a treasure! This young man is really a treasure!"
In fact, Marcel read the temper of his terrible boss at a glance.He can see that the main characteristics of the boss are selfishness, insatiable greed, and a great vanity everywhere. Therefore, he always acts cautiously according to these characteristics of the other party.
In a few days, the young Alsatian learned to play the special fingerings of Schulz's piano very well, and played him in the palm of his hand.His strategy is actually very simple, which is to show his talent as much as possible, but always leave a chance for the opponent to show that he is better than himself.
For example, he completed a drawing, which was very good, but there was always an error that was easy to find and correct. In this way, the former professor immediately discovered it and corrected it happily.
If he had an idea in theory, he managed to show it in conversation with Mr. Schultz so that the latter thought he had discovered it himself.Sometimes Marcel was even more forthcoming, for example, when he said:
"I have finished the battleship with the movable prow horn you asked me to draw."
"I asked you to draw it?" asked Mr. Schultz, who had never thought of such a thing.
"That's right! Haven't you forgotten?...A movable bow horn can launch torpedoes directly into the belly of the enemy ship, and it will explode in three minutes!"
"I have no memory at all. I have too many things on my mind!"
So, Mr. Schultz took this new invention as his own with peace of mind.
However, he may not have been completely deceived by Marcel's tricks. In fact, he probably felt that Marcel was better than him.It's just that there are always some weird ideas in people's minds, so Schultz is naturally satisfied with "showing" superior skills, especially satisfied with giving his subordinates this illusion.
"This guy has a good brain, but he's still an idiot!" He sometimes thought to himself, and smiled silently, revealing the thirty-two "dominoes" in his mouth.
Besides, his vanity was soon compensated in other ways.He thought, only he can realize this kind of industrial dream in the world! ...these dreams had value only through him and for him! ...Marcel is in the end just one of the cogs in the mechanism he, Schulz, created, etc...
Besides, he didn't open his mind, as everyone said.After Marcel stayed in the Bull Tower for five months, he didn't know much about the inside story of the headquarters.However, his speculation has almost become the truth.He became more and more convinced that Stahlstad was hiding a secret, and that Mr. Schulz must have other motives besides profit.From the nature of his concerns, and from the nature of his industry itself, it is quite possible to suppose that he has invented some new type of weapon.
However, the answer to the mystery is still unknown.
Marcel soon realized that he would not be able to solve the mystery without major changes.But he couldn't see any signs of a change, so he decided to stir up trouble.
This was after dinner on the evening of September 5th.On this day a year ago, he found the body of his little friend Carl in the Albrecht Mine.
In the distance, the whole plain of American Switzerland is still covered with its white mantle of the winter so long and so severe.However, in the garden in Stahlstad, the climate is still as warm as in June, and the snow has melted before it hits the ground, so it is not snowflakes that fall, but raindrops.
"This sauerkraut sausage is delicious, isn't it?" said Mr. Schultz, who remains attached to the dish despite his fortune from Indian ladies.
"It's delicious," Marcel replied.Even though he's finally tired of the dish, he still eats it every night without fear.
With nausea, he finally decides to try a ruse he's been thinking of.
"I even wondered," Schultz went on, "how people who don't have sausage, sauerkraut, and beer can stand that kind of hard life!" He said with a sigh.
"It would be like a day to them," replied Marcel, "and it would be an act of charity to bring them together in the German Empire."
"Well! Well! . . . there will be such a day . . . there will be such a day!" cried the Iron King. Islands, you will see what steps we will take across the globe!"
The servant brought two pipes.Mr. Schultz filled his own pipe and lit it.Marcel deliberately chose this most leisurely hour of the day to try his trick.
"I'm telling the truth," Marcel said after a moment of silence, "I don't really believe in conquering the world!"
"Conquer what?" asked Mr. Schultz, who had stopped thinking about the topic just now.
"It's up to the Germans to conquer the world."
The former professor thought he had heard wrong.
"You don't believe that the Germans can conquer the world?"
"Do not believe."
"Ah! What is that called? It's too much! . . . I should like to know what grounds you have for your suspicions!"
"Simple, because the French artillery will end up being superior and will overwhelm you. My fellow Swiss, who know French artillery well, have a fixed notion that a Frenchman who has been taught When two. 1870 was a lesson, it will return to punish those who taught others. No one in our little country doubts this, sir, and, if all must be told to you, I can say, then, that this is the view of some of the most powerful men in England."
Marcel's tone of voice was calm, crisp, and sharp when he said this, which only enhanced the effect of the sharp and harsh words on the Iron King.
Mr. Schultz was stunned, speechless, and extremely angry.Seeing the blood rushing to his face, Marcel worried that he had gone too far.However, when he saw that his "victim" was recovering a little after he had almost fainted, he added:
"Yes, it is a very angry thing to hear, but it is the truth. If our opponents are quiet, it is that they are hard at work. Do you think that since the war broke out, Haven't they learned anything? While we are foolishly busy adding weight to our cannon, be sure they are preparing new weapons, and we will be the first to bear the brunt!"
"New weapons! New weapons!" Schultz lisps. "We're making them too, sir!"
"Ah! Yes, let's talk about that! We are merely replacing the copper cannons of our forefathers with steel ones! We have only doubled the power and range of the cannons! "
"Twice the increase!..." Mr. Schultz retorted, as if to say in that tone: In fact, it is not a question of doubling the increase!
"After all," continued Marcel, "we are only plagiarizing. Now, would you like me to be honest with you? We lack the genius for invention. We have invented nothing, and the French, they have Invention, you should believe it!"
Mr. Schultz had calmed down a little on the surface.However, his lips were trembling, and his face turned from flushed to pale, which clearly reflected that he was still very excited inside.
Is it necessary to endure such a great insult?His name is Schulz, he is the absolute master of the world's largest factory and first-class cannon foundry, even the kings and parliaments of all countries bow down at his feet, but even a little Swiss draftsman said that he Lacking inventions, he is not as good as a French artilleryman! ...And, this thing happened at this very moment?Now, right next to him, behind a thick iron wall, there was something that would amaze and silence the big talker, and make his foolish opinions go to hell.No, it is impossible to endure such a torture!
Mr. Schultz rose to his feet so suddenly that he broke his pipe.Then, with mocking eyes, he gritted his teeth and said to him, or he squeezed out the following sentence from his teeth:
"Come with me, sir, and I'll show you whether I, Mr. Schultz, lack invention!"
Marcel took a dangerous move, but because his words were bold and unexpected, which shocked the other party, and because the former professor Mr. Schulz was more vanity than prudent, he fell into Marcel's aggressive method, so Marcel I won.Schultz is impatient to reveal his secret.He walked into his office involuntarily, closed the door behind him, walked straight to his library, and pressed one of the wall panels.Immediately there was a gap in the wall, behind a row of books.It was the entrance of a narrow passage with a staircase leading directly to the bottom of the Bull Tower.
There is an oak door under the tower, which is opened with a small key.The key never leaves the owner of the tower.Then there is the second door, which uses a combination lock, similar to a safe.Mr. Schultz turned the combination, unlocked the lock, and pushed the heavy iron door open.The back of the door contained a complex explosive device, which Marcel must have been eager to examine out of professional curiosity.But Schultz didn't let him take a look.
At this time, the two came to the third door. There was no lock on the door, and it opened with a slight push. Of course, there must be certain rules.
After passing through these three gates, Mr. Schultz and his companions began to climb an iron ladder with 200 steps, and then went up to the top of the bull tower overlooking the entire city of Stalstadt.
On this impenetrable granite tower stood a circular bunker with several muzzles and a steel cannon in the centre.
"Look!" said the professor.He didn't say a word all the way.
It was the largest siege gun Marcel had ever seen.It must weigh at least 300,000 kilograms and be loaded with shells through the bolt.The caliber is one meter fifty.The gun carriage was mounted on a steel gun carriage, which could be turned on the steel plate, and because of the toothed wheels, it was so easy to operate that even a child could play with it.A rectifying spring is installed at the rear of the gun carriage, the purpose of which is to make it recoilless, if not completely eliminate the recoil, at least produce the same reaction force, so that the gun barrel returns to its original position after each shot.
"How much penetration is this cannon?" Marcel couldn't help but admire such a cannon, and couldn't help asking.
"With one shell, we can penetrate a 40-inch-thick metal plate 20,000 meters away, as easily as cutting a cream cake!"
"Then how far is its range?"
"Range!" shouted Schultz excitedly, "Ah! You just said that our ability to imitate is limited, and at most double the range of the current gun! Well, with this gun, I can be accurate Shoot a cannonball ten leagues away!"
"Ten miles!" cried Marcel, "ten miles! And what new powder are you using?"
"Oh, now I can tell you everything!" replied Mr. Schulz in a strange tone. "There is no longer any inappropriateness in disclosing my secrets to you! Large grains of gunpowder are now obsolete. I use thundermercury powder, which is four times more explosive than ordinary powder, and I use ten Potassium nitrate was added to the ratio of eight to increase its explosive power by five times!"
"But," Marcel pointed out, "no cannon, not even of the best steel, could withstand such an explosion! Yours fired three, four After one or five shots, it will be damaged and can no longer be used!"
"Even if only one shot is fired, this cannon is enough!"
"That would be too expensive!"
"One million, because that's the cost of the cannon itself!"
"One shot in a million!..."
"If it can destroy a billion, what is a million!"
"A billion!" cried Marcel.
However, he refrained from expressing that mixture of admiration and horror that this marvelous destructive creature produced.Then he added:
"It is certainly an astonishing and wonderful piece of cannon, but, in spite of its many functions, it fully bears out my statement: only some improvements, some imitations, not inventions!"
"Not an invention!" replied Mr. Schultz, shrugging his shoulders. "I tell you again, I have no more secrets from you! Come!"
So the Iron Lord and his companions left the bunker and returned to the lower level, where the hydraulic lifts lead to the upper platforms.There were quite a few long cylindrical objects placed there, and from a distance, they thought they were some other disassembled cannons.
"That's our shell," Mr. Schultz said.
This time, Marcel had to admit that the ammunition bore no resemblance to the ones he knew.
These are huge tubes two meters long and one meter and ten in diameter, with a shell of lead, engraved with spiral patterns that fit into the barrel of the gun, a bolted steel plate at the rear, and a percussion gun at the front. The steel pointed arched tip of the utensil.
What are the characteristics of these shells?It's not obvious from their appearance.It is just that they can feel that there must be some kind of terrible explosives in their stomachs, and the explosive power exceeds all explosives so far.
"You can't guess, can you?" Mr. Schulz asked Marcel, seeing that he was silent.
"I can't guess, sir! Why is a cannonball so long and so heavy? At least on the surface, it looks very heavy."
"Appearances are deceiving," replied Mr. Schultz, "it weighs no appreciably differently from an ordinary shell of the same caliber... Well, I'll tell you all about it! ... It's a glass rocket shell, The outside was clad in oak and filled with liquid carbonic acid at a pressure of seventy-two atmospheres. As soon as the shell hit the ground, the shell exploded and the carbonic acid gasified. The result: the temperature in the entire surrounding area dropped to about minus one hundred degrees, and at the same time, a huge amount of Carbon dioxide gas. All creatures within a radius of 30 meters from the impact point will be frozen to death and suffocated to death. The 30 meters I mentioned refers to a calculation base. In fact, the range of effect is much larger. It may reach a radius of one or two hundred meters! Another advantage is that because carbon dioxide gas is heavier than air, it will accumulate in the lower layer of the air for a long time, and the poisonous gas in the dangerous area will remain for several hours. Any living thing that tries to enter this area will surely die. So, this shot has an immediate effect, and it will continue to do so! ... Therefore, with this shell, no one will be injured, only will be dead!"
Mr. Schultz was clearly enjoying explaining the various capabilities of his invention.He was in high spirits, triumphant, flushed, and grinning from ear to ear.
"You see, from here," he added, "what would happen if a sufficient number of my guns were aimed at a besieged city! Let us assume that each gun had a range of one hectare, and the one of a thousand For a city of hectares, ten guns are needed for a team of one hundred guns. Then, assuming that all our cannons are in place, aiming at the target, there is no resistance from strong winds, and the wind direction is good. Finally, we use the phone to order the launch Orders, thousands of guns fired... In one minute, there is not a single living thing left on the ground of a thousand hectares! The city will be submerged by a "sea" of carbon dioxide gas! And this idea was my last year. It came out of nowhere when I saw the doctor's report on the accidental death of a small miner in the Albrecht mine! I had already been inspired when I visited Naples. However, this accidental death gave it final shape. You See the principle? An artificial 'ocean' of pure carbon dioxide! And the air needs only one-fifth of this gas to be unbreathable."
Marcel said nothing.He really has nothing to say.Mr. Schultz felt very strongly that he had the upper hand, but he didn't want to bully too much.
"There's only one detail that bothers me," he said.
"What details?" Marcel asked.
"It is that I have not succeeded in muting the sound of the explosion. My cannon would then be indistinguishable from an ordinary cannon. Just imagine what it would be like if I could make the cannonballs go out without sound ! On a quiet night, suddenly, a hundred thousand people died at the same time without knowing it!"
Mr. Schulz was intoxicated by the vision he described, and if Marcel had not interrupted him, he would have indulged in the dream of self-admiration for a long time.Marcel pointed out to him:
"Excellent, sir, excellent! But a thousand of these cannons would be time-consuming and expensive to build."
"Money? We have plenty of it! Time? ... Time belongs to us!"
In fact, the stupid German really believed what he said!
"Even so," replied Marcel, "but your carbonic acid cannonball is not entirely a new invention, since it is a variation of gas bombs, which have been around for many years. However, it Its destructive power is huge, I don't deny this, it's just..."
"Just what?..."
"It's quite large, but relatively light in weight, if it doesn't shoot ten leagues! . . . "
"It was built to shoot only two leagues," said Mr. Schultz, smiling. "However," he added, pointing to another shell, "it is a cast-iron shell. This shell is full, and contains a hundred small barrels arranged in order, like the barrel of a telescope. One inside the other, after firing, they become small cannons, and then fire their own small cannonballs filled with fuel. They are like a artillery team, after I fire them, they are like an inextinguishable sky fire It seems to fall on the whole city, bringing fire and death to the city! The weight of this shell can make it shoot as far as I say ten leagues! The test will be carried out soon, you who don't believe I will personally touch the 100,000 corpses lying on the ground!"
The "domino" in Mr. Schultz's mouth is shining with an unbearable light at the moment, and Marcel really wants to go up and smash it to relieve his hatred.But he still suppressed the anger in his heart.He hasn't finished listening to what he wants to inquire about.
Sure enough, Mr. Schultz was saying again:
"I told you, a decisive experiment is about to take place!"
"How? Where?..." Marcel asked loudly.
"How? Fire one of these shells from my cannon on the platform, and it will fly over the Cascades! . . . Where? In a city not more than ten leagues from us, the city It is impossible for anyone in the world to expect to be hit by such a 'lightning strike', and even if they expected to be hit by it, it would be impossible to prevent the catastrophe! Today is the fifth of September... Well, the thirteenth At 11:45 in the evening, the city of France will disappear from the land of America! The fire will be comparable to the Great Fire! It's Professor Schultz's turn to spread the fire!"
This time, when Marcel heard the unexpected uproar, all the blood in his body boiled suddenly!Fortunately, Mr. Schulz did not see the change in Marcel's mind at all.
"Here!" he added, in a free tone, "we are here doing the exact opposite of what the creators of the City of France were doing! We are seeking the secret of shortening the life of man, and they are seeking to prolong it. But what they do is doomed to failure, and life is reborn only through the death we sow. But everything in nature has a purpose, and Dr. Sarrazan is building a When I was alone in the city, I didn't expect that this city would become my best testing ground."
Marcel could hardly believe what he had just heard was true.
"However," he trembled unconsciously when he spoke, which seemed to arouse the Iron King's vigilance for a moment, "the residents of France City did not offend you, sir! As far as I know, you have no reason to provoke them!"
"My dear," replied Mr. Schultz, "your brain is otherwise very good, but you have some Celtic ideas in your bones, which, if you live long, will be of great importance to you." Is very harmful! Power, wealth, evil are all purely relative, completely conventional. Only the great law of nature is absolute. The law of the struggle for existence is exactly the same in nature as the law of gravitation. It is foolish to try to escape this law .It would be wise to obey it, and act in the direction it points us. That is why I am going to destroy Dr. Sarazan's city. With my cannon, my fifty thousand Germans The hundred thousand fantasists who are gathered there to die will be easily wiped out."
Marcel knew that it was futile to try to reason with Mr. Schulz, so he didn't want to tease him to continue talking.
So, the two left the shell room, closed the secret door, and went down to the living room.
Mr. Schultz brought his beer glass to his lips with a very natural expression, rang the bell, and asked the servant to bring him another pipe to replace the one he broke, and then asked the servant:
"Where are Arminius and Sidhime?"
"There, sir."
"Tell them to stay where I can get them."
Immediately after the servant walked out of the living room, the Iron King turned to Marcel and fixed his eyes on him.Facing the other party's stern gaze, Marcel didn't lower his head.
"Are you really going to carry out that plan of yours?" asked Marcel.
"Yes. I know the location of the French city like the back of my hand, and its latitude and longitude have an error of at most a tenth of a second. At 11:45 p.m. on September 13th, it will die."
"Perhaps you should have kept this plan strictly confidential!"
"My dear," replied Mr. Schultz, "you will never speak again. I am sorry, but I am even more sorry to see you die so young."
Marcel stood up when he heard the last words.
"How do you not understand," added Mr. Schultz coldly, "that I only tell my plans to those who will never tell them again?"
He rang the bell again.Two giants, Arminius and Sigime, appeared before the living room door.
"You have always wanted to know my secret," said Mr. Schultz, "and now you know! . . . You are dead now."
Marcel said nothing.
"You are too clever," continued Mr. Schultz, "and now that you know what my plan is, you don't expect me to keep you alive. To do otherwise would be unforgivable indiscretion." , that would be illogical. My purpose is too great to allow me to influence its success by considering the life of an insignificant human being. Even a man like you, my dear, one whom I greatly appreciate Not even a quick-witted mind. So I really regret that, with a little vanity, I went too far, and now I have to get rid of you. But you should understand that in the face of There is no emotion in the success or failure of what I am engaged in. I can tell you honestly that your predecessor Thorne died because he learned my secret, not by a pack of dynamite! … ...The regulations are absolutely not allowed to be broken and must be strictly enforced! I will never change this point.”
Marcel looked at Mr. Schulz.From the tone of the other party's voice, he understood that this bald guy was inhuman, and he knew that he was finished.Therefore, he didn't want to bother to argue a few words.
"When will I die? How?" he asked.
"You don't have to worry about such details," Mr. Schultz replied. "You're dead, but you won't suffer. Some morning you won't wake up, that's all."
The Iron King waved his hand, and Marcel was taken to his room and locked up. The door of the room was guarded by the two giants.
When he was alone, trembling with sorrow and rage, he thought of Dr. Sarrazan, all his kin, all his countrymen, all whom he loved!
"It's all right for me to die," he thought, "but how can the danger that threatens them be prevented!"
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