The Rise Of A Billionaire 1943-Chapter 58 - 64 – Want Artillery? Big-Caliber Ones

[Military orders 5,000 tons of Agent Orange from KTJ Chemical Industries. Contract value: 10 million USD. Experience gained: 100,000 points!]

Even though Pierre was in London when the massive gift package for Xiao Riben was signed, the system delivered his reward the moment the contract was finalized.

The 100,000 experience points were impressive, but Pierre remained calm. After all, he still needed nearly 10 million more points for his next upgrade.

He knew he had to keep pushing forward.

Actually, at the moment the system issued its reward, he was already deep in negotiations with the National Defense Supply Company over a new weapons contract.

"This machine gun here is our latest model—the RM2. Compared to the Czech ZB26 and ZB30, or even the British Bren gun, it’s not only reliable in performance but also has a much simpler design, making it easier and cheaper to manufacture. And it’s remarkably light—just 6.4 kilograms. Perfect for soldiers on the offensive..."

Standing in front of General Jiang and other officials from the National Defense Supply Company, Pierre introduced the machine gun laid out on the table. The RM2 was developed under a licensing deal from the Mendoza Company in Mexico, acquired by Carl Metals for a mere $15,000—including blueprints and full technical documentation. The deal was outrageously cheap, and while the gun was barely known outside Mexico and overshadowed by the flood of surplus arms after the war, its performance was exceptional.

"It looks a lot like the Czech model," General Jiang said with a chuckle, lifting the weapon in his hands.

"As you said—very light. But isn’t it too light? Wouldn’t that make it hard to control during sustained fire?"

Timely delivery of the Type-77 submachine gun had earned Pierre praise back in China. That, in fact, was why he was standing here now—his country urgently needed weapons of all kinds, including machine guns.

"That won’t be an issue, General," Pierre replied. "It has a muzzle brake that reduces recoil for better control. The barrel is quick-changeable like the Czech design. There’s an integrated bipod mounted directly on the gas tube... Also, the firing pin is double-ended—if one side breaks, it can be reversed and reused. The stock and trigger assembly are a single hinged unit. And it comes with a dedicated tripod mount, so it can serve in both ground and anti-air roles, giving troops limited field anti-air capability."

As he continued listing the advantages, Pierre made sure to add:

"If your order exceeds 20,000 units, each gun will come with a spare barrel, eight 30-round magazines, and for every six guns, one multi-purpose tripod and six 100-round drum magazines. Price per unit... just $120."

$120!

General Jiang was stunned. That was nearly a third less than the price of a Bren gun—and this offer included a spare barrel, tripod, and 100-round drum. The actual cost per gun might drop below $100!

"General, mount it with the tripod and drum mag, and it’s practically a heavy machine gun," Wang Fuji added at just the right moment.

Pierre nodded. "Exactly. That’s why I’m recommending it. Even with the tripod attached, it weighs only 16 kilograms. It can be easily repositioned on the battlefield, avoiding the vulnerability of fixed heavy machine gun emplacements."

The Mendoza machine gun wasn’t just chosen for its simplicity and performance—it was also a quasi-general-purpose weapon, thanks to its tripod and drum-fed configuration.

"Well, that all sounds good," General Jiang replied, eyeing the weapon mounted on the tripod in front of him. "But let’s not talk theory. Let’s see it in action."

Over the next three days, two of the modest-looking RM2s fired a combined 120,000 rounds without a single component failure—just as Pierre had promised: simple, reliable, and durable.

The weapon’s performance won them over—even though no army had yet formally adopted it. What sealed the deal, however, was the delivery promise: 40,000 to 50,000 units within a year.

"Are you certain you can deliver 40,000?" General Jiang asked skeptically, glancing at the plant. The factory was clearly larger than any arsenal in China, but 40,000 guns in a year? That seemed ambitious. After all, their domestic output barely reached 10,000 annually.

"General, you’ve seen the design—it’s incredibly simple. Each unit takes just 75 man-hours to assemble, less than half of what a Bren gun requires. 40,000 is a conservative estimate. 50,000 won’t be a problem."

And if needed, components could be subcontracted out. The U.S. had no shortage of small arms manufacturers. These smaller firms had long served as parts suppliers to the bigger companies. That’s the hallmark of a mature industrial economy: the major weapons firms often only handled final assembly.

"Also, if your purchase exceeds 20,000 units, we’ll transfer the complete blueprints and technical documents to you at no cost. And if necessary, we’ll even send technicians to help your factories produce the RM2 locally."

Now that was the real trump card.

Although China had already reverse-engineered the Czech design, its base model was still the older ZB26. In comparison, the RM2 offered superior performance and lower cost.

Cheap and high-performing—that’s exactly the kind of machine gun China needed. It even had potential to replace the Type-24 heavy machine gun. Potential only, of course—but who could ignore a gun that cost just one-tenth as much?

Just as Pierre had anticipated, the National Defense Supply Company had no reason to refuse. Carl Metals was the only supplier able to deliver immediately. With U.S. dollars on hand but no domestic production capacity, they had little choice.

After signing the contract for 50,000 RM2 light/heavy dual-use machine guns, General Jiang hesitated, then asked:

"Can your company produce artillery? You know, we need more than just machine guns back home. If you can provide artillery... well, this contract only used 60% of the U.S.-approved small arms quota. The remaining 40% is at the company’s discretion. I could allocate it to you..."

Seeing the eagerness on General Jiang’s face, Pierre replied without hesitation:

"How about mortars? I mean, big-caliber ones."

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