"Really?"

After listening to Vice President Fat's statement that the emergency production of munitions and equipment was almost unprofitable, Major Brooks set his sights on Weiss.

The Major turned his head, and the eyes of President Grumman and Vice President Fat also focused on Weiss's face.

Weston was stunned: What kind of play is this singing?

The Grumman Group's long-term poaching and suppression of the Clumber-Haysom family is, after all, a business practice of the jungle. Now, although the Clumber-Haytham family has received the covert help of the fat vice president to win back a game in the military-standard sniper rifle bidding and reverse the declining trend, compared with the Grumman Group, a giant in the military industry, the Clumber-Haytham family, which has returned to the upward trajectory, is still a weak chicken. With the current strength and potential of the Clumber-Haysen family, Weiss cannot be staring at the Grumman Group leadership, but there is no need to be submissive and low-minded.

Weiss cleared his throat: "I think it is necessary to introduce that our modern industry is based on large-scale and standardized assembly line production. The larger the production scale, the higher the standard, the better the product quality, and the higher the operating efficiency. ”

This is the truth, and it is the correct explanation. President Grumman and Vice President Fat agreed.

"The scale of the Grumman Group is now one of the few in the Free Federation, but it has to be said that the degree of standardization is still lacking, to produce high-quality military products, to a certain extent depends on the proficiency of skilled workers, and the number of skilled skilled workers is limited, and the energy is also limited, once it is necessary to rush to produce a large number of military products in a relatively short period of time, it is inevitable to pay additional overtime salaries and night shift subsidies, and the rise in unit labor costs is reasonable. As for the price fluctuations in the raw material market, large-scale purchases will indeed have a certain impact, but the production of 200,000 rifles and 60 million rounds of ammunition should consume no more than 100,000 tons of metal ore, right? ”

Weiss's last question caused Major Brooks to turn his attention back to the two presidents.

"We've calculated that a Grumman M3.2k rifle costs 23 pounds of metal and 20 pounds of wood, including scrap that can't be reused," replied quickly and professionally. 100 rounds of a standard rifle of 3.2PIR caliber require 32 pounds of metal and 13 pounds of gunpowder. In this way, 200,000 rifles and 60 million rounds of ammunition need a total of 12,000 tons of finished metal, 2,000 tons of finished wood, and 3,600 tons of gunpowder, which are converted into ores and logs, and the purchase volume is estimated at 15-200,000 tons. ”

Weiss estimated in his heart that the consumables data of the fat vice president was basically consistent with the actual situation, but there was one thing he deliberately did not say, Grumman Group has factories and warehouses in many states in the federal government, and the raw materials needed to complete this "big order" may be enough to consume inventory materials, and there is no need to rush to purchase in the market.

Seeing that Weiss had no objections, Major Brooks said: "Actually, I only learned about the situation in passing through this question just now, and it was not used as the content of the investigation. The most critical thing at the moment is to find out the exact flow of the bullets involved in the case. ”

President Grumman half-turned his head to look at the fat vice president: "How long will it take us?" ”

Vice President Fat thought for a moment: "Normally, two days is enough, but considering that this is a confidential matter related to national security, it is best to send competent people to the CZ plant in the Alsar federal state and the D plant in the Lorraine federal state, back and forth, I am afraid it will take a week." What does Your Excellency the Major think? ”

"As you said, Your Excellency, the investigation must be conducted in a highly confidential manner, and even if it takes some extra time, it will be worth the extra time. I wonder if you will go to this survey in person? If it is convenient, we would like to go together to the gun-making area of the Alsa federal state. ”

Brooks said this, with President Grumman's old spiciness, how could he show off his flaws?

He personally accompanied Major Brooks and Weiss to the Alsa federal state in the central part of the federation, and at the same time sent a capable subordinate to the Major's adjutant to Plant D in the federal state of Lorraine in the southwestern part of the federation.

At the gracious invitation of President Grumman, Major Brooks stayed for lunch and then took a walk through the one-of-a-kind Grumman Building rooftop garden. He and President Grumman were in front, and Weiss was deliberately putting some distance from him, and walking behind Fat Vice President.

"I was pulled by him from the military academy early in the morning to help investigate the attack on Nikolai during the convention." Weiss whispered.

"I think it's probably just an excuse on the table, and that's not what they're really trying to do." The fat vice president whispered.

"I think so, but I don't know what they're trying to do."

"Have you heard? There is a saying in the upper echelons that it is not foreign hostile forces that want to disadvantage the Leibold family, but large arms dealers who are dissatisfied with President Leibold's attitude of tolerance and restraint, such as ...... We are the Grumman family. ”

"Huh?" Weiss turned his head to look at the fat vice president in surprise.

The fat vice president frowned and said, "This is not groundless. ”

"Do you mean ......?"

"The federal government has maintained an annual fiscal surplus for 14 consecutive years, and the state treasury is not as abundant as it has been in nearly three decades. It can be said that the federal government has enough funds to start a large-scale arms race with any hostile country, so as to create a military comparative advantage and use military deterrence to force the hostile country to make concessions. There is no doubt that once such an arms race begins, the major arms dealers will reap huge profits and make a lot of money. However, President Leibold insisted on pursuing a national strategy of peaceful development and adopted a tolerant stance towards the Norman Empire, which effectively prevented the Union and the Norman Empire from entering a vicious arms race. In fact, the Norman Empire's defense armaments in recent years have been far less 'aggressive' than some people claim, and the reason why they created this false psychological impression was only to get the federal government to increase its investment in armaments. ”

"By 'certain people', do you mean that you include certain people in the Grumman Group?" Weiss asked tentatively.

The fat vice president acquiesced to this.

Weiss was silent. As a famous quote in Capital: "If capital has a profit of 50 percent, it will take risks; If there is a 100% profit, it dares to trample on all the laws of the world; If there is a profit of three hundred percent, it dares to commit any crime, and even hanged! ”

If war can bring 300 percent profits, then certain interest groups will certainly try their best to provoke a war, and will not hesitate to sacrifice tens of thousands of innocent civilians for this purpose, and even ruin the fate of the country and the nation......

Human nature is such greed and terrible.

After walking for about ten minutes without saying a word, the fat vice president suddenly asked Weiss: "Do you know our CZ plant in the federal state of Alsa?" ”

Weiss shook his head.

The fat vice president glanced at the two people walking in front of him and leaned into Weiss's ear: "It is one of the three largest firearms factories under the Grumman Group, where there are three assembly lines, each of which is built according to the standard of 50,000 rifles per year. In other words, the CZ plant alone can produce 150,000 rifles at full capacity, and if wartime emergency measures are adopted, it can even reach an annual output of 180,000 rifles if the supply of raw materials is sufficient...... You must know that the Ulster Free Federation has ordered a total of 600,000 rifles in 20 years since the end of the last war. Of course, in the six years that the war lasted, the warring parties made more than 30 million rifles in total, and the Norman Royal Arsenal, the highest, produced nearly a million rifles a year, and the largest in its largest area, the William Factory, produced more than 400,000 rifles a year. Compared to it, our production is not high. ”

Weiss gasped at the thought of the former Clumberg-Haysen family gun workshop, which was capable of making at best 3,000 rifles a year. In front of the giant ship of modern industry, traditional industry is like a wooden sailing ship, and there is no comparison between the two.

"However, isn't the production capacity of military industrial enterprises registered with the armaments department?"

"Yes, we did register it - in the records of the armaments department, the Grumman Group is designed to produce 400,000 rifles and 200 million rounds of ammunition per year, 8,000 artillery pieces and 6 million shells." Fat Vice President said.

"So?"

"So, we're withholding some of our capacity in order to 'over-produce' when necessary. You...... See what I mean? ”

"I understand somewhat, but I don't understand it entirely." Weissdau.

"This is one of the tactics commonly used by the military-industrial complex." Vice President Fat explained, "For example, this year's production ration given to us by the armaments department is 390,000 rifles, and our actual production capacity is 450,000 rifles, so in addition to completing the tasks of the armaments department, we still have 60,000 rifles available for export - in addition to the 10,000 rifles approved by the armaments department for export, the remaining 50,000 will be sold in the name of inventory or parts assembly and maintenance of old guns, so as to earn additional profits." As a rule, the profit margin on the sale of rifles for export is 50%, or even 100%, higher than for the procurement of the armaments department! ”

After listening to this explanation, Weiss finally figured out some of the inside story. He whispered, "So...... The number of the firearm that the major gave you earlier, it is possible that it is this kind of rifle that has not been registered with the armaments department? ”

"I guess...... Yes, that should be the case. They were probably resold to the Norman Empire through arms brokers, and were never noticed by the outside world because of their small numbers. ”

Weiss thought about it and scared you to death: "If this is the case, what will be the consequences?" A hefty fine for the Grumman Group, or a court trial for the top leaders? ”

"It's all possible, but maybe it's neither." "It depends on what their intentions are." If they get our hands on us, they can easily force us to do what they want, for example...... Join their camp, support their political views, provide them with money in a covert way, or ...... They will make demands that we didn't expect! ”