I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France Chapter 502 Rifle Design

Shire thought Admiral Avis would put on a show of power in front of him, at least delivering a pompous lecture, but surprisingly, he did not.

When Shire and Tijani stepped forward to salute him, Admiral Avis casually returned the salute and said with a blank expression, "I have already inspected the airport with His Majesty. You have done very well here. The battlefield needs excellent commanders like you! Keep up the good work. In the near future, the Germans will be trampled underfoot by us!"

Admiral Avis exchanged a few perfunctory words with them and left hurriedly without even finishing a cup of coffee.

Shire looked at Albert I with suspicion; this was definitely his doing.

Albert I spread his hands with an innocent look: "It has nothing to do with , Major General. I just told him this is Belgium, and perhaps he realized that."

Shire rolled his eyes; this was an admission.

Tijani thought about the first special reconnaissance force and the airport guard unit that Albert I had started to build a few days ago and understood the situation. He laughed and said to Albert I, "Why do I feel this is a conspiracy, Your Majesty? You have made many preparations for today, haven’t you?"

Albert I answered very seriously, "No, no, there’s no conspiracy, absolutely not."

As he spoke, he raised his hand: "I swear, I didn’t know he would co today."

Shire and Tijani looked at each other and smiled; this was perhaps the one true thing Albert I said.

...

Although Albert I had blocked the British interference for Shire, Shire did not think this ant he was safe.

The British had command authority in Antwerp, even over the French Army.

The latter authority was indirect, controlled through Nivelle, who commanded the French Army.

Although this "control" is very limited, because Nivelle was accountable to the French Parliant, and if the Parliant was dissatisfied, they could easily dismiss him, just as they did with Xia Fei.

However, the Parliant did not understand the military.

In making combat plans, it was usually Nivelle who had the final say.

Shire reviewed his situation in his mind:

The British did not want his achievents to outshine the entire British Army, and the old French generals felt the sa. The Parliant did not want a military dictatorship to erge.

It could be said they were all his enemies.

Thus, it was impossible for the battle plans they devised to be advantageous to him!

Shire believed he could not hold any illusions and had to prepare for the worst.

"I’m going to Ghent." Shire got up, taking so paper and a pen along the way.

"Ghent?" Tijani looked puzzled at Shire’s back, then smiled knowingly: "He must be going to see his future father-in-law and mother-in-law. What a good boy, I’ve underestimated him!"

...

Ghent is the third largest city in Belgium. Its na evolved from the Celtic word "Ganda," aning "the place where rivers et," as the Scheldt and Leie rivers converge here. The convenient transportation made it a wealthy trading city.

(The above image shows architecture in Ghent)

In the eastern suburbs of Ghent, a few kiloters south of Antwerp Road near Damport Station, is the FN Factory.

Browning had an independent laboratory within the factory. Dominic was surprised to find Browning’s lab to be much more rudintary than his own; many of the equipnt was manual and quite old, with just over a dozen assistants.

Perhaps sensing the surprise in Dominic’s eyes, Browning coolly said, "Firearm design relies not on machinery, but on ideas and analysis!"

As he spoke, Browning pointed to his head: "Without ideas, the most advanced machinery is useless."

Dominic nodded, deeply understanding this point.

Browning casually hung his coat and hat on the rack, sat down at his desk, and began drawing on a piece of paper, saying as he drew:

"I know who you are, Steed’s youngest son, the likely future heir to the ’St. Etienne’ arsenal."

"But there’s one thing I hope you understand."

"When you step into this laboratory, you are nobody, just my assistant. Understood?"

Browning paused, lifting his eyes to look at Dominic with a questioning gaze.

"Understood, sir," Dominic replied nervously.

Browning seed to sense Dominic’s tension and comforted him, "Relax, we are designing firearms here, not carrying them onto the battlefield."

The surrounding assistants laughed, making Dominic a bit embarrassed.

What Browning did not know was, Dominic’s tension ca from his worries about not being able to do the job well, not from the firearms.

Once he began designing, Browning found himself in a dilemma:

He first thought of modifying the BAR (Browning Automatic Rifle), which would et the semi-automatic rifle requirents, be compatible with the BAR, and save a lot of ti.

But he found that doing so would not reduce the weight enough.

The semi-automatic could further shorten the gun’s length.

The magazine capacity could be appropriately reduced, but to how many? Five rounds? Eight rounds?

Or ten rounds?

Firearm design is trickiest in this way; many things are not conceived out of thin air. They need to be combined with battlefield needs and ultimately judged by the "users," the soldiers’ experiences on the battlefield.

All these require considerable ti for testing, modification, feedback, and retesting...

For now, making a prototype would be the first step.

Browning thought as he sketched on the paper.

Dominic familiarized himself with the equipnt alongside other assistants and occasionally glanced at Browning’s sketches as he passed by, unable to resist offering a suggestion: "Sir, if weight reduction is needed, I think we could eliminate the magazine."

Browning was taken aback; it seed reasonable. If the ammunition was within ten rounds, why not change to a double-stack internal magazine?

Browning nodded slightly, imdiately removing the magazine from the sketch.

At this mont, an assistant who had answered the phone hurriedly reported: "Sir, Shire has arrived. He says he wants to see you."

Browning was taken aback: "It’s only been a few days. He doesn’t think design a brand-new rifle is that easy, does he?"

Dominic sighed inwardly, "Sir, I don’t think Shire is here for a gun; he is very likely bringing us the design plans."

"What?" Browning looked at Dominic in shock: "Are you saying Shire has already designed it?"

Dominic nodded, "It’s very likely."

Browning laughed, "That’s impossible. He doesn’t even have a laboratory. He’s been commanding the troops all along..."

"Sir," Dominic answered helplessly, "He designed the ’St. Etienne 2’ machine gun under those conditions and even proposed the submachine gun concept."

"Submachine gun?"

Dominic suddenly realized he had made a slip. The submachine gun concept was still a military secret at this ti.