The fortress commander, Lieutenant Colonel Antoine de Villefort, was a tall man in his forties. He looked very pleased with Joseph's visit.

"Ah, Monsieur Bonaparte, I thought it would be a few days before you came," said Commander Welford. Commander Welford said, "I didn't expect you to come so soon. Well, do you need a rest?"

"Thank you, but no." I arrived last night," Joseph said. It was just late when I arrived, so I rested in the hotel for the night. So, I don't need any more rest.

"Youth is enviable." Commander Welford laughed, "When I was your age, I didn't feel tired no matter how busy I was. Since you don't need to rest, then we can start the work related to the expansion of the battery. Well, Captain Cisse, you first take Mr. Bonaparte to settle down, and then take him to the library to look up the relevant information, and take him on a field trip. Ah, Mr. Bonaparte, if you need anything, you may also speak to Cisse directly.

"Thank you for your kind attention," Joseph replied.

When he came out of the building, Cisse asked, "Mr. Bonaparte, where is your luggage?

"It's still in the hotel," Joseph replied.

"Which hotel?" Cisse said. Cisse said, "I can send two men to bring your luggage to you. Well, we'll put you up in the officers' quarters over there. The conditions here are not comparable to those in Paris, so I'll have to ask you to stay here.

"It's a small hotel called "Hotel Claude. Joseph replied, "Besides, you can call me Joseph.

"Ah, the Hotel Claude?" Cecil laughed, "Joseph, you must have stayed there because it's close to the port, and it looks nice outside, and it's affordable, right? Well, you must not have slept well last night. They're notorious for bedbugs in their hotels! As if Joseph didn't think he was laughing at him, Cisse added, "Well, I've fallen for them before. The owner, Claude, is a capable guy, but his mind is not focused on how to run the hotel at all. Well, I'll show you the officers' quarters first ．．．．．．"

The conditions of the officers' quarters in the fortress of Calais are slightly better than the teachers' quarters in the military academy in Paris, after all, the price of land and other things here is much cheaper than in Paris.

After settling in, it was already noon. Cisse took Joseph to the officers' mess for lunch. Calais is by the sea, and the fish is much more abundant and cheaper than in Paris.

"If I may say so, your life is much better than in Paris. The money we get in Paris is no different from yours, but the prices in Paris are much more expensive than here. Joseph said vaguely as he stuffed a piece of fish into his mouth.

"But Paris is Paris, after all." But Cisse said, "Paris is more expensive, but most people here prefer to go to Paris. Well, these places in the provinces are better for the elderly, but not particularly for young people, who should go to Paris if they want to achieve something. If I could go to Paris, I'd rather put up with higher prices. If it's just for the money, there's more money to be made overseas. It's just not easy to get to Paris for people like us who don't have much access.

Indeed, there are more opportunities in Paris, and for the ambitious, Paris is like no other provincial city.

"Perhaps, well, Cisse, you are a captain of the artillery, are you not?" Joseph suddenly said.

"Yes? What's the matter?" Cisse asked.

"After all, I'm only a mathematics student and I don't know much about artillery," Joseph explained. Joseph explained.

"Oh, I thought you knew something that could help me get to Paris," Cisse joked. Cisse joked.

"Well, as far as I know, there is a shortage of marine experts at the Paris Military Academy. If you can do it ．．．．．．" Joseph also said with a joke.

"Hell, I get seasick!" I'm seasick!" said Cisse, "Isn't there any other place where there is a shortage of people?

"Not yet." Joseph shook his head and said, "Aren't you a navy man? How could you get seasick?"

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Cecil's face flushed slightly: "Navy ．．．．．． The navy is not always in a boat, and those who guard the harbor batteries are also navy. I served in the port battery, but I didn't have to go on the ship. You can't find a few better gunners than me in the whole navy. If it weren't for seasickness ．．．．．． I don't think you need a gunnery instructor at your school?

"I haven't heard of that for a while," Joseph said. The first thing you need to do is to get a military officer," Joseph said.

Unlike Britain across the sea, France had always been a so-called land power. In the French army, the status and influence of the army are greater than that of the navy.

"That's how it is." Cisse was a little disappointed, but he said, "Joseph, you're in Paris, you know a lot of information, if you know something, I hope you'll remember me.

"I'm sure I'll remember," Joseph said. Joseph said.

Joseph's answer was not all polite; he needed to make some connections in the navy, too. In the next few years, the harvests in northern France had not been good, but there was no shortage of food in southern France, just that France was still a feudal state, and the cost of transporting goods had risen because of the many barriers at home. If the navy could get the food directly from the south and transport it to the northern ports by naval ships, there would be a lot of profit. It would be even more profitable to smuggle directly from England across the sea.

"Calais was also a good place, it was one of the most important ports in the North. There will be plenty of economic opportunities. Joseph added, "You have a lot of opportunities here, too. Maybe I need your help with something too. Anyway, we are friends, and if we have the opportunity to help each other in the future, we must help each other, don't you think?

"You're right. Then it's a deal." Cisse said.

In the following days, Joseph discussed with Michel, the designer, the plan to renovate the fort. As the commander of the artillery on the battery, Cisse was also involved.

"The first requirement of the fort was to be able to control the passage of ships in and out of the harbor. The battery we have today is not enough to control the entire channel. So we plan to build a new fort at this location so that the two forts will work together to control the shipping lanes in and out of the harbor. ．．．．．．" Michel pointed to the drawing and said.

"This should be a good location." Joseph looked at the drawing and said, "Is there anything I should calculate?

"The main thing is the ballistic data of the artillery. There is also a lot of advice on the design of the entire fortress. Micheal replied.

"Unfortunately, the existing guns, and the lack of suitable high ground in the vicinity, make the range of our guns too close, and although they can barely cover the channel, they are far from enough to cover the fleet out of the harbor to start the formation. In case the fleet is blocked in the harbor, there is still no way to fight out of the harbor. Joseph said again.

The navy needs to be informed first. This way, it would be easier to use the firepower for maneuvering, and not to have one's men blocking the firing line of one's men, and one's ships colliding with each other during the maneuver. There was limited space in the harbor, so the fleet could not complete the formation in the harbor. To complete the formation, we had to drive the ships to the wide sea outside the harbor. Once the enemy fleet blocked the entrance of the harbor, they would not allow the ships in the harbor to leave the harbor and form up again. They would attack the ships before they could form up. If the range of the guns in the harbor battery was long enough, it was possible to protect the information of the ship out of the harbor.

To do this, there were generally two ways. One was to install huge guns on the batteries. One of the major advantages of a turret over a warship is its load-bearing capacity. The fort was built on solid ground, so there was no need to worry about being sunk by the cannons, so it was possible to place much larger cannons on it than on a warship. It was always easier to have a larger gun with a greater range.

However, there were problems with this approach. The first is that the production cost of huge guns is too high. For example, the Turks' Urbain cannon could fire at most seven shots per day. Of course, that was in the 15th century, but the improvement in the rate of fire of the present cannons was still quite limited. Such a slow rate of fire was not enough to accomplish the task of covering the fleet.

The second way is to set up the guns as high as possible. This will increase the range of the guns significantly. Considering the stable position of the cannon on the turret, unlike the cannon on the ship which would sway with the ship, the cannon would be swayed and the shells would fly to a distance of a little bit, so the effective range would be naturally larger. This would give the ships in the harbor a space to spread out their formation.

However, there is no natural high ground near the port of Calais. To achieve this effect, it was necessary to pile up the earth by hand and build a high ground by hand. This would require more manpower, or put it more bluntly, more money.

"The Navy did not think there would be any ships in Calais that needed to be lined up for battle. So all the battery needed to do was to ensure that the shipping lanes were blocked and the enemy was prevented from attacking the harbor. After all, Calais is not Toulon," replied Michel, the designer. After all, Calais is not Toulon, and there will be at most one or two patrol ships here. Calais is still a commercial port, and merchant ships do not need to be lined up on battle lines. Look across the river at Dover, where there is a natural high ground and it is much easier to build forts than here, but even so, the British didn't put many ships there.

Because of the limited size of the new batteries, the whole project was relatively easy. This was not a bad thing for Joseph, who was involved in this kind of thing for the first time.