Just as Shire and Matthew were discussing further details, a secretary walked into the research department and approached Shire: "General, Mr. Dejoka wants you to go to the office, someone wants to see you!"
"Alright," Shire replied, "I’ll be right there."
Meanwhile, he was puzzled, wondering who had such influence to arrange a meeting with him through Dejoka.
Shire didn’t think much about it; he gave Matthew a few instructions and followed the secretary to the office building.
Entering the office, Shire saw a middle-aged man in his fifties wearing a suit and tie, who looked wealthy.
The middle-aged man was talking with Dejoka. Upon seeing Shire in his military uniform, he hurriedly stood up to greet him, speaking excitedly, "You, you must be General Shire? It’s an honor to meet you, General!"
Shire cast a puzzled look at Dejoka.
Dejoka stood up and introduced, "This is Mr. Stokes, the owner of the Scott Machinery Company in England. Most of our tractor parts are supplied by his company."
So it was a business partner. Shire maintained a smile and shook hands with Stokes, "It’s an honor for me too, Mr. Stokes."
Vaguely, Shire felt that the name sounded familiar, as if he had heard it somewhere before.
The group sat back on the sofa, and Dejoka lifted the blueprint on the coffee table and waved it towards Shire, smiling as he said, "Would you believe it? Stokes coincidentally came up with the same idea as you; he also designed a mortar but you got ahead of him."
Shire was taken aback and took the blueprint for a look. It was indeed a mortar.
The next second, Shire thought: Stokes? The guy who truly invented the mortar in history?
(The above image is of Stokes, the president of the machinery company. He knew nothing about artillery and accidentally heard from a reporter that the army lacked indirect-fire artillery, then took a few months to invent the mortar. At the time referred to in the text, he was 55 years old.)
(The above image is of Stokes testing his self-invented mortar) ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ꜰʀᴏᴍ N0velFire.ɴet
"I designed this last year," Stokes said nervously, "Unfortunately, I made some mistakes. Because I didn’t understand military equipment, I always used powdered black powder as propellant. Later, I learned that I should have used granular black powder. When I successfully tested it and demonstrated my invention to the military, guess what they said?"
(Note: Powdered black powder compresses together, causing it to burn incompletely due to lack of oxygen when ignited, resulting in a sustained burn akin to a solid propellant. In contrast, granular black powder has gaps that ensure it ignites and burns explosively)
Stokes shook his head, looking at Shire incredulously:
"They told me: ’Sorry, Stokes, Shire beat you to it. His mortar has been used on the battlefield for some time. Haven’t you heard? He even achieved victory using the mortar!’."
"I can’t believe it, that such coincidences exist in the world."
Then, feeling somewhat embarrassed, Stokes added:
"But please don’t misunderstand, I have no intention of competing with you for industrial property."
"You have absolute ownership, there’s no doubt about that. Your mortar came earlier and is more advanced than mine."
"Please believe me, I just wanted to express my... admiration."
Shire nodded, "I believe you, Mr. Stokes."
Shire felt a bit guilty and turned his gaze to the blueprint in his hand, sincerely praising, "Great idea, I believe if you knew more about military things, or if you were a soldier, you might have invented it earlier than I did."
Hearing this, Stokes couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief, "Thank you very much, General, thank you for your trust and recognition."
Shire didn’t answer but instead asked, "Why don’t we collaborate, Mr. Stokes?"
"What?" Stokes was stunned, "In what way?"
They were already in a cooperative relationship.
Shire’s mortar was mature and didn’t need collaboration.
"Artillery," Shire shook the blueprint in his hand, "You have research and interest in artillery, and more importantly, you are creative. You know, we are in wartime, and we need talents like you."
Shire’s words embarrassed Stokes:
"No, General, I think you misunderstood."
"I’m not an artillery design expert, I could even say I know nothing about artillery."
"I’m just a mechanical designer, though I’d love to collaborate with you, but..."
Shire interrupted Stokes, "I know, Mr. Stokes. But many things about artillery require not so much artillery knowledge as mechanical knowledge. It is essentially a kind of machine."
Although Stokes agreed with this, he still didn’t quite understand: "For example..."
He hoped Shire could give an example to let him know where he could be useful.
"For example, we need to shorten the breechblock," Shire replied.
"Shorten the breechblock?" Stokes was puzzled. Does the military even have this requirement?
"Yes," Shire explained unhurriedly, "Ordinary artillery may not have this need, but if we want to fit this artillery into a tank turret..."
With an "oh," Stokes suddenly understood, and his eyes instantly lit up:
"You’re right, General, this is something we can indeed do."
"My God, this will be a great invention. All tanks will have similar needs. Its potential is unimaginable!"
"Oh my God, we are going to make a fortune, it’s a great project, General! This is fantastic!"
Shire proposed "Shire B1" precisely because of the breechblock issue. At that time, there were no specialized tank guns, and oversized breechblocks made it impossible to fit large-caliber artillery into turrets.
If large-caliber artillery must be used, it would require an extraordinarily large turret.
And to move such a turret, greater power would be needed, plus the turret would need thick armor, resulting in the need for two engines...
Eventually, it became a cycle of "adding more water because there’s too much flour, and adding more flour because there’s too much water," culminating in the creation of the "Shire 2C" super heavy tank.
The only solution was to install large-caliber artillery in the hull, just like the "Shire B1."
Though this reduced some of the artillery’s flexibility, it resolved the issue of having a large gun.
"So," Shire asked, "Do you agree?"
"Of course!" Stokes enthusiastically nodded, standing up to shake Shire’s hand, "Of course, General, thank you very much for giving me this opportunity!"
(The above two images depict the situation when the breechblock moves up and down. This is a dedicated tank gun with a shortened breechblock. During the First World War, there were no dedicated tank guns, so tanks either had rotating turrets with small-caliber guns or no turret with large-caliber guns. The "Shire B1" layout was the best choice to ensure firepower without a dedicated tank gun.)