Make France Great Again-Chapter 737 - 728 Mauser Rear-loading Rifle 1.0
"Make... make money????"
William Paking, whose mind had not yet caught up, looked at Jerome Bonaparte with a confused expression. He didn’t understand what use his failed experiment could have.
"That’s right!" Jerome Bonaparte explained to William Paking, "The majority of the dyes we currently use are natural dyes. Not only are they expensive, but they are also scarce in variety!
The dye you produced is firstly cheaper than natural dyes, and the reduction in the cost of dyeing doesn’t just mean a decrease in production costs, it also means that the dye you produced will be more popular in the market.
Every product that is loved by the market usually has limited prospects.
So, Mr. Paking, could you sell this technology to me!"
"Sell?" Paking looked at Jerome Bonaparte in surprise. In his mind, aniline purple originating from the laboratory should belong to the laboratory.
"This belongs to you, so we of course need to negotiate with you!" Jerome Bonaparte persuaded him earnestly, "How about 100,000 francs plus a 10%... no, 15% share in the dye company?"
"I..." William Henry Perkin stared blankly at Jerome Bonaparte.
For Perkin, born into a middle-class family, it would take his entire family about five years of work to save up 100,000 francs, not to mention a 15% share in a fuel company.
Paking believed that the Emperor’s company would certainly not be a small one.
Not satisfied? Jerome Bonaparte thought to himself.
"150,000 francs... plus a 17% share!" Jerome Bonaparte offered a completely new price once again.
This time, not only Paking, but everyone, including Louis Pasteur, was surprised by Jerome Bonaparte’s offer.
"Consider this my investment in you!" Jerome Bonaparte patted Paking’s shoulder, "I can promise you that after you complete your studies for a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry at École Polytechnique, you will be awarded the title of professor, and the newly established dye company will also make you the chief consultant."
Faced with such favorable conditions from Jerome Bonaparte, Paking immediately chose to concede, "I am willing!"
"Very good!" Jerome Bonaparte responded kindly to Paking, "Mr. Paking, I will have Bashirio sign an agreement with you!"
"Your Majesty, can I continue working here?" Paking asked Jerome Bonaparte nervously.
"Of course you can, Mr. Paking!" Jerome Bonaparte answered Paking, then shifted the conversation to say to Paking, "However, Mr. Paking! I believe your future does not lie in synthetic quinine, but in synthetic dyes!
I believe in your talent!"
"Your Majesty, I still want to give it a try!" Paking said to Jerome Bonaparte with firm eyes.
Although he knew he might be more adept in synthetic dyes, he was still unwilling to leave the path of synthetic quinine.
He had originally embraced the idea of curing malaria when Principal Hoffman sent him to Louis Pasteur’s laboratory for "advanced studies".
"You can!" Jerome Bonaparte nodded, agreeing to Paking’s request.
Then, after conversing with Louis Pasteur for a while, Jerome Bonaparte, escorted by Louis Pasteur, left the Protective Umbrella Research Institute with his entourage.
Walking on the road, Vilnius curiously asked Jerome Bonaparte why he wanted to do business with Paking. He obviously could have just taken the aniline purple from Paking.
"Vilnius, we must respect other people’s scientific research achievements!" Jerome Bonaparte replied to Vilnius, "Mere coercion and robbery is not something a wise person should do!"
"But he’s working in the research institute!" Vilnius retorted confidently to Jerome Bonaparte.
"Does working in the research institute allow you to take away all of someone else’s hard work?" Jerome Bonaparte thought of some ridiculous things from his past life, laughed in exasperation, and said, "You must remember, the most precious thing in the world is not the results of research, but the people who achieve the research results."
Then, Jerome Bonaparte said meaningfully, "In the 19th century, nothing is more precious than people!"
"What’s so precious about people!" Vilnius responded dismissively, "I actually think there are too many of us now!"
"Not too many! Not too many at all!" Jerome Bonaparte shook his head, "I wish France’s population could match Russia’s! If the population continues this way, it will be somewhat dangerous!"
"Dangerous? What’s dangerous! Having too many people is the real danger!" Vilnius retorted to Jerome Bonaparte.
"The harm of too few people!"
Jerome Bonaparte thought of France’s 39.6 million population before World War I, and a sense of urgency inevitably struck his heart.
If it is not possible to equalize the population of France with that of Germany, then it is necessary to make the German population the same as the French population.
Only by completely flattening Germany can the safety of the entire France be truly guaranteed.
"You will know by then!" Jerome Bonaparte said casually, and then stopped at the entrance of the Mauser Firearms Manufacturing Company, "Let’s go in!"
After Jerome Bonaparte and Vilnius entered the Mauser Company (which was actually a large courtyard), Old Mauser and Chasebo appeared in front of Jerome Bonaparte.
"Your Majesty, when did you return to Paris?" Old Mauser asked the same question as Louis Pasteur.
"I just came back!" Jerome Bonaparte replied to Old Mauser and then asked, "What is the progress of the research on the new rifle?"
"Your Majesty, under the persistent efforts of our team, the new rifle has already reached the first round of testing!" Old Mauser responded to Jerome Bonaparte.
"So fast!" Jerome Bonaparte looked at Old Mauser seriously, somewhat disbelieving that Old Mauser had managed to produce the classic rifle so quickly: "Is the rifle made yet! Quickly, let me see!"
"Your Majesty, can we wait until the test results are out!" Old Mauser was a bit worried that the bolt-action rifle he had produced might not meet Jerome Bonaparte’s expectations.
"Why wait for the test results?" Jerome Bonaparte responded to Old Mauser, "Where is the rifle? I can test it myself!"
At Jerome Bonaparte’s insistence, Old Mauser had no choice but to instruct his son to hand over the already manufactured but untested rifle to Jerome Bonaparte.
From the style of the entire rifle, the rifle that Old Mauser was involved with still bore a trace of the Dreiser Needle Gun (after all, the only rear-loading gun that had barely succeeded in the market at that time was the Dreiser Needle Gun, and both the historical Chasebo Rifle and the Mauser 1871-style rifle were more or less influenced by Dreiser).
However, the Mauser elements in the rifle were evidently more prominent.
"Your Majesty, according to your instructions, we have improved the needle to enable it to hang when pulled back..." Old Mauser explained to Jerome Bonaparte word by word, pointing to the Mauser rifle.
After Old Mauser finished his explanation, Jerome Bonaparte replied to Old Mauser: "Mr. Mauser, let’s go to the field and conduct an actual trial; after all, whether it’s a mule or a horse, you have to take it out for a walk!"
"As you command!" Old Mauser nodded in response to Jerome Bonaparte.
Afterwards, Old Mauser, Chasebo, and a group of engineers from the Mauser Firearms Factory followed Jerome Bonaparte and others to the shooting range.
"By the way, what is the range of this rifle?" Jerome Bonaparte asked Old Mauser.
"This still needs testing!" Old Mauser replied awkwardly, then added, "However, it will definitely have a longer range than the Dreiser Rifle!"
"Then..." After thinking for a while, Jerome Bonaparte said to Old Mauser, "Let’s start with 200 meters and give it a try!"
Jerome Bonaparte first stood in front of the target, then kept retreating. When he was about 200 meters away from the target, he stopped and assumed a shooting stance.
In terms of weight, the "Mauser Rear-loading Rifle" was slightly lighter than the Dreiser Rifle.
(In fact, it was Jerome Bonaparte’s illusion; the weight difference between the entire gun body and the Dreiser Rifle was only 0.02 kilograms)
"Bullet!" Jerome Bonaparte extended his hand and said to Old Mauser standing beside him.
Old Mauser quickly handed Jerome Bonaparte a round of packaged ammunition wrapped in oiled paper.
Seeing the massive bullet in his hand, Jerome Bonaparte was taken aback and then asked Old Mauser why he didn’t use brass bullets.
Old Mauser told Jerome Bonaparte that he had already sent someone to fetch the brass bullets and asked Jerome Bonaparte to use the paper cartridge for the trial.
Jerome Bonaparte nodded, then rotated the bolt back to open the Mauser Rear-loading Rifle (when rotating and pulling back, Jerome Bonaparte clearly heard a sound of something engaging the needle), and then stuffed the paper cartridge into it.
When Jerome Bonaparte inserted the paper-wrapped cartridge, he noticed a rubber ring on the needle, which was presumably added to prevent air leakage.
After all, the smoke produced by paper cartridges was much greater than that of brass bullets.
Only when smokeless powder and brass bullets were both designed would the difference between rear-loading and front-loading guns become as vast as heaven and earth.
After stuffing the paper-wrapped cartridge, Jerome Bonaparte pulled the bolt back again, then aimed at the distant target and pulled the trigger.
With a "bang," the Mauser Rear-loading Rifle emitted a slight vibration, and a large amount of smoke billowed out.
At the same time, a new bullet hole appeared on the distant target.
