I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France-Chapter 39 Ammunition Compatibility Issues

Not long after, Uncle Guillaume returned with a group of workers.

These workers were well-known to Uncle Guillaume. They possessed excellent skills, entirely different from those who climbed to middle and upper positions through flattery or connections. freewёbn૦νeɭ.com

Moreover, these people were quite loyal.

Uncle Guillaume brought them before Shire and said, "Young Master Shire, after hearing about your situation, they all expressed their willingness to modify these motorcycles for us for free!"

The workers started talking all at once:

"Helping the army is helping ourselves, Young Master Shire, we also want to contribute to France!"

"Yes, many of us have children serving in the army, we support your approach!"

"If you lack funds, we can chip in a bit!"

...

"Thank you, thank you all!" Shire greeted the workers, "I appreciate your kindness. I need workers to work for me long-term, so you certainly need wages; otherwise, you won’t be able to support your families!"

Shire wouldn’t pocket this small amount of money; it was better to earn more good will by being generous.

Sure enough, when the workers heard about their families, they silently nodded and accepted. They weren’t wealthy enough to work for free.

"Don’t worry!" Shire comforted, "If you work diligently and manage the motorcycle factory well, I can make money, and then I can pay you and continue to help those in need. What do you think?"

"Absolutely, Young Master Shire!"

"That’s our goal!"

"We are very willing to do this!"

...

Shire would nurture these people into the backbone of the motorcycle factory.

In future work and life, they would pass Shire’s stories and spirit to every worker, so everyone would know that their hard work wasn’t exploitation but indirectly helping those in need.

This might seem unimportant, as a worker labors and you pay wages.

However, the workers’ enthusiasm for labor was vastly different. At least, the average of over five hundred strikes per year in France during this period wouldn’t happen in Shire’s factory, and managing talent and skilled workers would be hard to poach with high salaries because they wanted more than just wages.

The workers started modifying the sidecars without hesitation, and soon someone noticed flaws in the "prototype":

"Hey, Guillaume! Isn’t connecting it with just one steel pipe too fragile? It can easily break during travel; we should add a few more steel pipes!"

"You’re right, and about this gun mount, we need to support a Maxim machine gun. I suggest changing it to a tripod for more stability!"

"Also, shouldn’t we add a shock absorber? Otherwise, a small bump could split the machine gunner’s butt in two!"

...

The workers laughed out loud, and Guillaume responded one by one, making improvements on the sidecar based on the blueprint.

The results of brainstorming were quite amazing. In less than an hour, the sidecar had been upgraded several levels, almost reaching the modern sidecar design.

"Uncle Guillaume!" Shire called out to Guillaume, who was about to test drive the new vehicle, "You should pay attention to a few things when driving: start or accelerate as smoothly as possible, or else it will pull to the right; the same goes for braking and deceleration, a sudden brake will cause the front to pull to the left..."

Guillaume looked at Shire in surprise, "Young Master Shire, how did you know about this? I thought it was a prototype issue."

Guillaume had noticed these issues while driving previously, but he didn’t know why and didn’t dare to mention it.

Now, with Shire’s reminder, he realized this might be a common issue with all sidecars.

"No, Uncle Guillaume!" Shire explained, "It’s because the power and braking of the sidecar are not centered. It is asymmetrical! The sidecar, under inertia, always moves opposite to the motorcycle. The heavier the sidecar, the more noticeable this effect. Knowing this is crucial!"

Guillaume nodded half-understandingly.

He didn’t know what inertia was, but since Young Master Shire could pinpoint the issue without test-driving, he must be right.

There was indeed something different about the educated, Guillaume marveled in his heart!

At this time, Major Brownie arrived with his men.

Over two hundred soldiers marched in formation into the factory, saluting and greeting Shire spontaneously.

In the soldiers’ eyes, Shire was their comrade because he had fought alongside them in previous battles.

Shire was their savior because the tanks he invented had saved them, more than once.

They even regarded Shire as the hope of France because only this capitalist would selflessly help the military and the country!

...

Major Brownie loudly ordered the soldiers to disband. He walked up to Shire and saluted before signaling the carriages to follow:

"I was worried you needed machine gun testing! So, I brought a batch first, and more will follow!"

"You thought ahead, Major!" Shire said, "However, I believe you should also bring a batch of German rifles!"

"Rifles? German ones?" Major Brownie looked at Shire in confusion, "Why?"

"Have you considered this issue!" Shire explained, "Your machine guns are German Maxims, but your rifles are French Lebels. What situation might this cause on the battlefield?"

Major Brownie "oh" slightly nodded. The bullets for the two were different.

When the battle became extremely intense, soldiers might grab a handful of bullets from the ammo boxes and charge, only to find they had picked Maxim machine gun bullets in front of the enemy.

Or conversely, Lebel rifle bullets mixed into the Maxim machine gun’s ammo belt.

Either situation could lead to lethal chaos.

Major Brownie looked at Shire, eyes filled with trust. Although he still had questions, he instinctively believed Shire was right:

"So, if we are to use Maxim machine guns, we should equip and familiarize ourselves with German rifles?"

"Absolutely!" Shire nodded.

"But what about supply?" Major Brownie asked again, "If we run out of ammo, and the comrades and logistics send the 8MM bullets of France..."

"Major!" Shire interrupted Major Brownie, "If you are fighting with this sidecar, you will be surrounded mainly by Germans. In other words, compared to 8MM bullets, you are more likely to get the Germans’ 7.92MM bullets!"

"What?" Major Brownie looked at Shire in horror. Does this mean we will be fighting deep in enemy territory? But we only have over two hundred men...

"We need to discuss tactics!" Shire seemed to understand Major Brownie’s thoughts. He calmly asked, "Do you have a map, Major?"

"Yes, of course!" Major Brownie hurriedly took out a military map and spread it out before Shire. His eyes showed fear. This little guy, does he think we’re superhumans?

Of course, Shire didn’t think Major Brownie was a superhuman. He just wanted to teach Major Brownie to fight a mobile warfare.

If driving sidecars equipped with Maxim machine guns, sticking to positional warfare instead of mobile warfare would be no different than seeking death!

Shire didn’t want to see this result because it would mean not selling a single sidecar!