Wells had just left with Fusenden when Steed entered the conference room.
In fact, Wells and Steed had passed each other in the hallway, but they merely nodded in greeting without saying much.
This was a kind of tacit understanding; they usually acted like they were unfamiliar with or even antagonistic towards each other, but they both supported Shire. This gave them more persuasive power in parliament.
Additionally, they had to keep their distance from Arman, not only because Arman was right-wing, but also because he was a Royalist.
At this time, the citizens of France generally saw the restoration of the monarchy as a backward, regressive idea, and many were even hostile towards it.
(Note: Bourgeoisie was widely criticized for secretly accepting Royalist funds, and capitalists seized on this to publicly denounce him, claiming he was a puppet supported by the Royalists with the ultimate aim of restoring the monarchy. Having become accustomed to and viewing parliamentary systems as advanced, French citizens would not allow this to happen and thus abandoned Bourgeoisie, even though he hadn’t actually done or intended to do so.)
This was also why Shire had never met with Arman and occasionally even insulted him.
One could say that while parliament seemed wonderful on the surface, internally it was rife with unknown forces and interest exchanges, with the only party kept in the dark being the French citizens.
When Steed entered, Shire was standing by the window drinking coffee. With Halloween approaching, he could clearly see several teenagers below enthusiastically carving pumpkins through the large floor-to-ceiling glass window.
Shire felt a bit envious of them.
Only they could set aside war and worries and still enjoy the fun of the holiday.
Steed gently knocked on the door to remind Shire, then stepped forward to shake hands with him, saying, "The production of the rocket propellant and rockets is going very smoothly, Major General. We mastered the production process in just three days."
Shire responded with a "hmm".
With detailed production methods and data, on-site technical training, and students from the "Saint-Étienne" arsenal, it’s only natural that they would progress quickly.
Steed asked doubtfully, "But I don’t quite understand, Major General, it doesn’t seem much different from the ’Congreve’ rocket."
"Really?" Shire did not rush to explain.
"Although it can fly further, it doesn’t mean the accuracy is higher."
"When considering wind conditions, in actual use, we might still have to attack balloons from only a few hundred meters like the ’Congreve’."
This was the dilemma of "balloon busting" at the time.
The Germans knew very well that balloons were easily destroyed by French aircraft once airborne, yet they persisted in launching balloons to guide their artillery.
Just like how the French Army, aware that attacking was often futile, still continued to charge forward relentlessly.
The battlefield is a place of continuous innovation, constantly threatening lives and forcing people to come up with new methods, but it also retains a sense of stubbornness.
However, Shire’s goal was not "balloon busting."
"The British rockets seem to be about seventy millimeters, right?" Shire asked, recalling some statistics he had seen in Antwerp but not quite remembering clearly.
"Yes," Steed replied, "76.2MM, with a range of about 2.7 kilometers."
(Note: This is data for the British "Land Mattress" rocket launcher.)
Steed added, "That’s the range when launched from the ground, much less when fired from aircraft."
Wind conditions in the air greatly affect rockets, often causing them to deviate significantly, potentially even turning around and hitting themselves.
"Don’t worry about that," Shire said, "Can we make it 107MM?"
Steed hesitated, "Of course we can, Major General, but as I mentioned, it doesn’t seem very meaningful..."
If it were an ordinary subordinate, Steed wouldn’t hesitate to scold them and kick them out.
But this was Shire in front of him, the man who had successfully developed numerous pieces of equipment.
Faced with Shire’s persistence, Steed could only introspect: Could he have been wrong?
Steed’s eyes lit up: "Major General, do you have a way to solve the accuracy problem?"
Shire shook his head slightly; no one could solve the accuracy problem, at least not until modern times.
(Note: Modern technology introduced guided rockets, essentially turning them into missiles.)
Steed’s eyes showed a hint of disappointment. Without solving the accuracy problem, simply increasing the range seemed pointless.
Shire returned to the table and put down his coffee, leisurely pulling out a design drawing from his briefcase and handing it to Steed.
Steed took the drawing and was stunned.
It was clearly a series of iron tubes connected together, arranged in three layers, with four tubes per layer, the structure simplicity itself.
(The image above shows the 63-type 107mm rocket launcher from our country, known as the top of the guerrilla trio, along with the AK and RPG.)
(The image above shows a modified 107mm rocket launcher mounted on the back seat of a pickup truck, making it easy to install and dismantle, allowing for rapid conversion of civilian vehicles for military use.)
Steed then understood its purpose. He looked up at Shire in astonishment and asked, "Is this used for launching rockets?"
"You guessed it," Shire replied, "I call it a rocket launcher."
Steed examined the drawing, then looked back at Shire, seemingly hesitating to speak.
This device was too crude; using it to launch rockets would certainly still face accuracy issues. If it couldn’t hit its targets, how could it be effective?
Shire saw through Steed’s thoughts and calmly explained:
"The key is cost-efficiency, sir."
"It doesn’t require expensive cannons and can be mass-produced quickly."
"Rockets are also cheap, right?"
Steed nodded; that was true. New ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄhapters are published on 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡•𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮•𝕟𝕖𝕥
Artillery was costly, especially the cannon barrels, which were difficult to produce, expensive, and had limited lifespans. Poor quality often resulted in barrel explosions.
But a rocket launcher was just a series of tubes, with its main cost concentrated on the inexpensive, mass-producible rockets.
"So," Shire concluded, "why don’t we use these cheap devices to launch a bunch of rockets? Even randomly fired, they could still destroy some targets. Besides, artillery on the battlefield often bombards without precise targets, and that’s the role of the rocket launcher."
Steed was greatly impressed by these words.
Yes, although it lacked precision, if the quantity was sufficient, it would provide area coverage of the target.
Artillery barrages were like that too, sometimes bombarding trenches for days and nights, regardless of precision! The same approach could be replaced with cheaper rockets!
"I understand, General," Steed nodded with a smile, "This is a cost-saving method, especially given the current shortage of supplies."
Shire smiled without further explanation.
This device was not only cost-efficient; combined with certain tactics on the battlefield, even the Germans’ 105MM howitzers wouldn’t be able to handle it!