If you are empty, you are real, and if you are real, you are empty. Europeans do not understand the meaning of this sentence, but time travelers are very clear about it.

Desai knew that when his troops gathered in the northern suburbs of Zaragoza, the British hidden spies had already figured out the number and number of people going to the expedition. In fact, even Desai himself was proud and said without any concealment when he accepted an exclusive interview with his royal reporters: "The 16,000 soldiers under my command can defeat 10 times the number of enemy troops and drive the British to the Atlantic Ocean."

Talk about one thing, do another.

Desai never conceited that the impeccable and excellent character of the time traveler can make the omnipotent God stand by his side indefinitely, ignore the laws of war for thousands of years, and use the method of turning on cheaters to fight against the vast majority, and be powerful enough to the point of being destroyed. Therefore, under the premise that logistics can be fully guaranteed, Desai will certainly follow the example of "Han Xin's orders the troops, and the more the more the better", hoping that the more officers and soldiers participating in the war, the better, but act in a hidden way so that the British will continue to despise or ignore them.

On the third day after the division crossed the Ebro River, another Catalan infantry regiment with more than 1,000 people secretly joined the marching. Ten days later, when the army headed south across Madrid, the Desay Division once again obtained a new force, Brigadier General Louis Hugo (the younger brother of the old General Hugo) led an infantry brigade of 3,200 people; and at the Fortress of Badajoz, Marshal Sirte would also leave Desay two complete artillery battalions, one reorganized infantry brigade and the other incomplete cavalry regiment, with a number of about 5,000. Their commander was General Bonai, who had met with the commander of the engineer, Lieutenant Colonel Otsle, and had met in Victoria.

When Wellington and his men predicted that the Desay Division's strength would be 16,000, the future Prince of Catalonia would eventually have 25,000 officers and soldiers fighting, with a force greater than that of the Portuguese Army. Of course, the above figures do not include hundreds of non-military teams composed of field doctors, pharmacists, nurses, ordnance engineers, military chaplains (priests), legal counsel, accountants and auditors, and craftsmen vendors.

...

Getafe, a small town in the southern suburbs of Madrid.

On the afternoon of June 2, after the Desai division arrived in Madrid, it did not choose to enter the city, but instead walked around the city, and set up camp in the small town of Getafe in the evening. The next morning, the officers conveyed good news to the soldiers that the Duke of Desai decided to rest here for a day, and set off again the day after tomorrow (4th).

After hearing the news, the soldiers seemed extremely excited, and deafening cheers resounded over the barracks. In addition to the unlucky guys who needed to be on duty and continue to train, almost all the soldiers applied to the officers to leave the camp on the same day. Their target was Madrid, the Spanish capital.

In the past two months, these soldiers have either struggled in the barracks or marches in the mountains and forests, occasionally wandering around the streets of Lhasagoza. Wherever they go are ruins left by war and countless dirty refugees who are asking for food. Madrid is different. After the failure of Wellington to go to Spain last year, King Joseph's enlightened rule of Huairou gradually restored the capital to its former prosperity.

In fact, as soon as the soldiers walked out of the barracks, they already felt the "enterprise" of Madrid citizens.

Countless small vendors who heard the news gathered near the military camp early in the morning. They set up stalls with quick hands and feet, regardless of whether the other party could understand them, and verbally promoted the soldiers' goods: gold and silver ornaments, pearl necklaces, lace dresses, peach wood statuettes, silver photo frame mirrors, and even holy product boxes stolen from the church. Hundreds of prostitutes and girls had already received news in advance and obtained a business license to serve the soldiers from the military officers.

The whole scene was crowded with one another, crowded with me, and it was very lively, as if the streets of Paris were moved to Getafe, and countless Chinese languages ​​gathered here. At first they were buying and selling, then bargaining, and then they shouted and scolded each other when the business failed. If the white-helmet gendarmes who had been prepared had tried their best to suppress and maintain order, the vendors and prostitutes, and the girls would have wished to put their business in the military camp.

Because there was no war, the soldiers did not have any spoils. But those vendors with the army were not to be outdone and made a fortune. Most of the canned tin dishes and bulk cigarettes purchased from the Desay military camp. Their transaction targets were naturally those Madrid vendors and prostitutes who successfully made a lot of riyals from the pockets of passing soldiers, as well as local residents who ran over to watch the fun.

Quartermasters at all levels are also busy. Under the leadership of the logistics director Lieutenant Colonel Deva, they borrowed an office in Getafe City Hall to receive batches of farmers and traders from the suburbs of Madrid, preparing to purchase bulk food supplies from the latter, including flour, poultry and eggs, fresh meat, vegetables and spices. According to the agreement reached by the Duke of Hruna and King Joseph, all the goods purchased by the Desay Division must be paid one-third of the original price, and the remaining price difference will be compensated by the Madrid tax officials.

After seeing off the last farmer selling potatoes, Lieutenant Colonel Deva rubbed his tired eyes and waved his hand to ask the quarantine officers to pack up all kinds of contracts for sale, return to the camp first, ready to receive goods. He himself decided to lie on the soft sofa in the reception room and take a nap. From 6 am to 3 pm, except for less than 20 minutes of lunch time, he had bargained with dozens of farmers and vendors who were petty for more than 8 hours, and he was already exhausted.

Shortly after lying down, Lieutenant Colonel Deva was awakened by the noise outside the door. He looked up and found that it was the guard who was a middle-aged Spanish man dressed as if he was a farmer. Judging from his expression, it was the uninvited guest who was begging for something to the guard.

"Sorry, sir, the transaction is over." The logistics officer waved his hand and asked the guards to send the farmers away quickly.

"Mr. Officer, I am not a trader who buys and sells food. My purpose is to show you the great inventions of my brother Francesco and me!" Before the guards pushed themselves with guns, the middle-aged farmer quickly explained loudly to Lieutenant Colonel Deva in his unskilled French.

"Oh, what invention?" Lieutenant Colonel Deva asked casually because of the other party's ability to speak French.

"Mr. Officer, it's a telegram, which can transmit chemical telegrams 5 kilometers away!"

"Sorry, I am neither a scientist nor a janitor of the Academy of Sciences, and I am only responsible for military supplies. So, you should go to the Wangjia Academy of Sciences in Madrid to promote the great inventions of you and your brothers."

"They're the same attitude as they were six years ago, and they rejected the telegrams that my brother invented!"

"Then go to Manresa, Barcelona or the Academy of Sciences in Paris!"

"Yes, but I don't have any travel expenses!" The middle-aged farmer who turned into a scholar made a very aggrieved explanation, and even lowered his voice timidly.

In order to let the poor inventor or science liar leave early and not disturb his lunch break, Lieutenant Colonel Deva took out a small bag of coins from his pocket and threw them directly outside the door.

After bent down to pick up the purse on the ground, the inventor of the farmer, thanked Qian En, "Thank you, the good-hearted man. Brother Salva hopes to know your name, and I hope one day I can return your gift 10 times today!"

Telegram? Salva? When the two words were connected together, Lieutenant Colonel Deva felt familiar and seemed to have heard people mention them. After thinking about it carefully, the logistics officer finally remembered that in October last year, while accompanying the Duke of Hruna and receiving many experts and scholars from France, including Say, he occasionally heard the Duke say "Telegram? Salva?"

Thinking of this, with a whoosh, Lieutenant Colonel Deva jumped up from the sofa and shouted loudly to the outside world: "Guard, guard, intercept the guy who holds my purse and bring it back!"

A minute later, the inventor who had not yet warmed up his wallet, had just walked out of the city hall when he was thrown to the ground by the French soldiers who rushed behind him. He was then escorted back to the reception room with a bruised nose and a swollen face.

Lieutenant Colonel Deva waved his hand and asked the guard to retreat, stuffed the wallet he had returned to the guard back into the inventor's arms, and comforted him softly: "Are you Salva? The telegram you just mentioned was invented by your brother Francisco Salva?"

The middle-aged man nodded quickly like a chicken pecking at rice.

"Where is Francisco?"

"He died of illness the year before."

"What's your name?"

"Mr. Officer, my name is Alfonsus, Alfonsus Salva"

"Then you keep your brother's invention?"

"Yes, and following my brother's request, some improvements have been made."

"Oh, where is the telegram? Can I do a live demonstration?"

"The thing is there, of course it can be demonstrated on the spot." The inventor pointed out the window and the bull pull convertible cart parked on the street in the city hall.

Lieutenant Colonel Deva said with a smile: "Haha, good luck Alfonsus Salva, you can demonstrate it to me first. If everything goes well, you can return the bounty I gave you 10 times tonight!"

...

In the history of world communication, telegraph is a great invention of epoch-making significance. Although its vitality is not long, it only lasts less than 200 years. However, telegraph is the earliest and reliable method of instant and long-distance communication. It successfully connected countries around the world together for the first time and then developed into a global village.

The earliest inventor of the telegraph was not the American Morse (invented the wired telegraph in 1837), but the Spanish engineer Francisco Salva. In 1804, the Spanish inventor invented the earliest chemical telegraph.

Francisco Salva uses 27 long wires to transmit short letters. One end of these wires is soaked in acid water, and the thread ends at the other end are connected to the battery. One of the wires is fixed to one of the poles of the battery, and the other 26 lines represent 26 Latin letters respectively. In a certain order, they are connected to the other poles of the battery. When a wire end is connected to the battery, the thread end at the other end is electrochemically reacted, and gas is precipitated, so it will bubble in the acid water. Francisco Salva uses this method to transfer the text to a place 1,000 meters away.

After the chemical telegraph technology was released, Francisco Salva went to the Royal Academy of Sciences in Madrid to promote his inventions. Unfortunately, at that time, whether it was a Spanish scholar or a prince or a minister of Madrid, everyone was observing and juggling mentality. After seeing it once or twice, they felt bored. Afterwards, the Royal Academy of Sciences only sent Francisco Salva 500 riyals perfunctory and did not accept the actual use of this technology at all.

When he first encountered setbacks, Francisco Salva was not discouraged. Instead, he sold all his property and retired to Getafe, a small town in the southern suburbs of the capital. He continued to improve the chemical telegram. He also called his brother, Alfonsos Salva, who was a carpenter, to help. A year later, Francisco unfortunately died of illness due to overwork, and Alfonsos continued his brother's work.

In April 1810, the improved chemical telegram was finally released, but six years later, the Royal Academy of Sciences in Madrid still rejected the invention of the Salva brothers and did not even give any opportunity to publicly display it. In desperation, Alfonsos could only stay near Madrid, seized every opportunity, and tried to promote the invention of the telegrams to passers-by, passers-by, army, and vendors, hoping that someone could pay for it, but no one was interested in it.

...

After evening, with the help of Lieutenant Colonel Deva, Alfonsos Salva was able to demonstrate this telegraph technology to the Duke of Hruna in the barracks.

Like the chemical telegraph principle invented by Salva as described by Ritel and Zomeilin, the so-called improved telegraph equipment in front of Desai is still composed of 27 wires, batteries, and a basin of acid water, which is not a mature technology like Morse Telegraph. When I saw this, Desai was a little excited.

Despite the clever idea of ​​the time traveler and the strong assistance of people and money, Ritel and Zomeilin gradually became familiar with Morse telegraph technology, but they were never developed. The first few samples were extremely unstable in use, and frequent failures were caused, which made the battlefield communication system that Desai longed for had to be postponed again and again.

The chemical telegram in front of us is not something that is very useful. It has only changed in three aspects: First, the battery volume was successfully reduced, and the battery and acid water basin were fixed with an iron wooden box, which could facilitate free movement; Second, a command can be transmitted through the battery to multiple acid water basins at the same time; Third, 27 wires seem to be wrapped in something like rubber, and can be erected or filled outdoors to prevent interference from external objects, erosion of rainwater, lightning strikes, or artificial trampling, and the effective transmission distance extends to 5 kilometers.

In general, it is possible to build a simple and convenient battlefield communication system on a battlefield with a radius of 5 kilometers. Compared with the complex arm plate signal machine installed through the base station, it is not only much cheaper, but also has a faster transmission speed. Especially the use of rubber, which makes it not affected by bad weather and battlefield smoke, and is not easy to provoke deliberate destruction by the enemy.

"Rubber?" Desai's eyes suddenly lit up. He bent down and squeezed the black collagen substance that covered the 27 wires. He was sure that it was a rubber product and a practical rubber that had been treated with special sulfur.

In 1492, when Columbus brought natural rubber back to Europe, its only purpose was to make elastic rubber balls and become a toy in children's hands; in 1770, natural eraser added a small purpose, a graphite pencil-equipped eraser.

It was not until 1839, when Morse Telegram was published, American Goodyear discovered that the rubber products made by using sulfur and alkaline lead carbonate (Hu powder) were no longer as easy to become soft and sticky as before when heated or exposed to sunlight, and could maintain good elasticity. Therefore, rubber vulcanization was invented, and natural rubber was truly confirmed to be its special use value and became an important industrial raw material.

While excited, Desai turned his head and asked Alfonsos Salva: "How did you vulcanize the rubber?"

"Vulcanization treatment?" Alfonsus Salva obviously didn't understand the meaning. After recalling for a moment, he replied: "Last year, I accidentally put wires, rubber, sulfur, and the powder used by Oriental people to make up together in the warehouse. Because of an accidental fire, the rubber turned into a viscous solution. After solidification, it actually covered the surface of the wire, which became what it is now."

After hearing this, Desai found it funny. It was such a blessing for fools. If he hadn't seen the mystery of it, the great invention of vulcanized rubber would have been intercepted by the Americans, rather than the timid and honest Spaniards in front of him.

Desai stood up and pointed to a series of things on the ground, saying, "Alfonsus Salva, I bought the chemical telegram you and your brother invented for 200,000 Riyals, and the technology of rubber vulcanization, but you must sign a 10-year work agreement with my lawyer, and the annual salary is no less than 20,000 Riyals, and the bonus is calculated separately, how about it?"

"Okay, OK, Duke, there is absolutely no problem. I can sign a contract with you now!" The Spaniard, who had been hoping for a happy visit to the door countless times, agreed without thinking after getting the result he wanted.
Chapter completed!