Chapter 134 Saint-Etienne Arsenal

In the 16th arrondissement of Paris, Steed and Bonnet, owner of Le Petit Journal, strolled on the golf course, with a caddy on each side carrying golf clubs and other equipment a few steps behind them.

Steed and Bonnet both belong to the Republican Party, which is the Republican Party under the Republican Party.

This is a bit confusing. "Republican" is a general term for all left-wing parties, and "Republican" refers to the "Republic" of the Third Republic.

There is another party on the left called the "Republican Party", which literally means "Republic".

Steed is the leader of the Republican Party. He chose this party name intentionally to cause misunderstanding among others. When others hear this party name, they will mistakenly think it represents the entire powerful left wing, and thus the Republican Party will be accompanied by victory and cheers all the way.

However, this still cannot prevent the Republican Party from being gradually marginalized on the left.

"Creativity, Bonnet, we need creativity!" Golf is a leisurely sport, but Steed, who is already in his sixties, can't relax at all: "They have kicked our machine guns out of the army, and now they are trying to use the same method against rifles. If this goes on, we will have nothing left!"

Bonnet nodded in agreement, for he knew that Steed was referring to the French government's plan to replace the Lebel rifle with the Berthier rifle.

The Berthier rifle actually evolved from the Lebel rifle. It was originally a cavalry rifle. The barrel was shortened, the tubular magazine was changed to a vertical magazine, and it used a 3-round leaky clip for loading.

This was a change made to facilitate the cavalry. The French army even regarded it as inferior equipment and threw it to the colonial army. Unexpectedly, this rifle became very popular.

Soldiers reported that the Berthier rifle was much better than the Lebel rifle, and was easier and cheaper to manufacture.

The result of the parliamentary discussion was to stop the production of the Lebel rifle, optimize and improve the Berthier rifle to make it suitable for infantry use, and eventually replace Lebel.

The point is that the task of improvement was given to the American Remington Company, not St. Etienne!

The Saint-Etienne Arsenal was only responsible for small arms. Machine guns were out. If rifles were out, what would Saint-Etienne have left? Almost just decorative revolvers?

Steed found a golf ball on the grass. He took the club from the caddy and stood beside him. He swung the club in a standard and natural posture. The golf ball bounced a few times on the grass, slowed down, and fell accurately into the hole more than ten meters away.

But there was no joy on Steed's face. Instead, he sighed deeply towards the hole.

In this age of the rise of machinery, a small creative idea can bring a company back to life, just one!

However……

Steed helplessly found that he had no ideas at all. His head was like a well that had been dry for many years and he couldn't squeeze out a drop of water no matter how hard he squeezed!

It seemed that he could only watch helplessly as the industry he had built gradually withered away, just like the sycamore trees on the roadside. One morning, when he opened his eyes and drew back the curtains, he suddenly discovered that all of their lush leaves had fallen to the ground, leaving only bare branches.

Steed cast his eyes towards the lake beside the grass, and unconsciously thought of the man who made him jealous to the point of madness. It was said that he had a new invention. He successfully brought a machine gun onto the plane and won the victory!

"Lucky guy!" Steed muttered to himself, "God gave him the best gift!"

Bonnet, who was following next to him, didn't know what to say. He knew that this was how it would be when playing with Steed. Steed didn't need anyone. He just needed someone to listen to him.

At this moment, an attendant ran towards this side like the wind.

Bonnet immediately became nervous, knowing that there was another urgent news.

Sure enough, the attendant ran over and said breathlessly: "Sir, Charles has a new invention, and his father is registering the industrial property rights!"

Upon hearing this, Steed turned his head sharply, and his eyes, which had been as dull as a pool of water, instantly regained their brilliance: "What is it? What did he invent again?"

"It's something called a 'hand grenade'!" The attendant explained, "I don't know the details yet, but from the description, it should be a hand-thrown light weapon used to replace hand-thrown explosives!"

Steed's breathing became increasingly rapid, with greed flashing in his eyes. He suddenly threw away his golf club and walked quickly toward the exit, walking faster and faster until he was jogging, shouting anxiously, "Drive the car over here, go to City Hall right now!"

Bonnet chased after him: "Mr. Steed, we can take it slow. I'll have someone steady him..."

Steed has a heart disease and he can't do strenuous exercise or be stimulated. Bonnet doesn't want anything to happen to him at this time.

But Steed didn't take Bonnet's words seriously at all. He walked away and said, "We can't miss this time. It may be our only chance! The only one!"

The last time the industrial property rights of the tank were not successfully purchased, perhaps there was hesitation about it being "inappropriate", after all, it involves heavy equipment with high technical content such as engines.

But now, the "grenade" is a real light equipment with low technical content and easy production. It is absolutely suitable for the Saint-Etienne Arsenal and it is the hope of Saint-Etienne!

…

VIP room at City Hall.

Deyoka, who was applying for industrial property rights, filled out the form with confusion. He didn't understand what Charles' purpose was in inventing this gadget.

Making money?

Tractor factories, motorcycle factories, and aircraft manufacturing plants, any one of them makes more money than this thing called a grenade!

It is even a dangerous substance, a bomb that needs to be filled with gunpowder, so a separate factory must be set up in an open area, otherwise it may affect the surrounding areas.

To produce it, a large amount of money will definitely be needed in the initial stage, but the profits that can be obtained are not optimistic.

Just when he was losing interest, more than a dozen cars stopped one after another in front of the city hall. After a while, an old man with a cane and panting hurriedly appeared in front of the VIP room. He looked at the government employee Manuel with an inquiring look.

Manuel nodded slightly, indicating that he had caught up and the industrial property rights had not been sold. There was still a hint of confusion in his eyes, as if to say that others would not be interested in this little thing, so there was no need to be so anxious!

Deyoka also noticed the old man standing at the door, and then he stood up with an exclamation: "Mr. Steed!"

The owner of the Saint-Etienne Arsenal, who was responsible for the production of almost all light weapons for the army, there were not many people in France who did not know him.

Steed breathed a sigh of relief. He walked forward slowly, dropped his cane, shook hands with Deyoka, and said with some relief: "Mr. Deyoka, let's talk about the industrial property rights of grenades! If you can cooperate with us, it would be great!"

Djokovic was so shocked that he suddenly understood what Charles meant: "I will let my allies come to me."

I also understand why Charles designed the "grenade" at this time!

(The picture above shows the Saint-Etienne Arsenal, which had 10,000 workers and produced 30,000 weapons a year in normal times. During World War I, the number of workers increased to more than 16,000, doubling the output. The Saint-Etienne Arsenal showed signs of decline before World War I, but the demand for arms during the two world wars kept it alive. It then declined in the 1970s and was finally officially closed in 2001)

(End of this chapter)