"Are you ready?"

Dressed in a federal camouflage uniform and a separate piece of equipment, Weiss carries a brand-new freestyle assault rifle trial-produced at the Clumber-Haysen factory. Visually, this is completely different from any of the existing standard weapons of the Federal Army - many mechanical parts are added to the traditional rifle, but not as bulky as the common light machine guns in wartime, and the magazine is located under the firearm, which gives it a good aiming view.

As he asked, Weiss turned his head to look at the four beside him. This is the Morton Garrison Range of the 17th Defense Division of the Federal Army, and the four people next to him are General Emilio DeLuca, Secretary General of the Technical Committee for Equipment of the Federal Army, Major Nordus Barson, Commander of the Reconnaissance Battalion of the 17th Defense Division, Rudolph Grumman, Chief Operating Officer of the Grumman Foundation, and Henry Grumman, Director of the Grumman Group.

In accordance with the tradition of the tunnel gun era, the smallest conventional unit in the tactical establishment of the Federal Army is still a company of about 200 people, which can be divided into several squads, detachments, and groups according to tactical needs, and the five-person tactical group is a relatively common temporary combination. It's just that most of these five people are uncles and uncles over forty years old, and only two belong to young adults, which looks really strange, but everyone looks very serious, and it doesn't look like they are participating in a shooting game.

At this range, dozens of people in military uniforms and a small number in civilian attire were watching.

"Ready!"

"Ready!"

The other four responded, armed with identical, completely new freestyle assault rifles.

At this time, it was only a little more than a week since Uncle Rudolph visited Weiss, which was very short, and the military's sample gun display order came very suddenly. Before the war, it usually takes more than two months for the sample guns to be submitted for review before the initial feedback may be available, and if the performance is similar or controversial, it may not be possible to complete the preliminary verification in three or four months. This time, the military spoke highly of the sample gun tentatively named "1.4PIR caliber freestyle assault rifle" sent by the Clumberg-Haisen factory, judging from internal sources. Many technicians were amazed by its performance, and it did exceed the performance requirements of military procurement tenders, combining the functions of light machine guns and rifles, as well as submachine guns that appeared in wartime, and being able to adapt to a variety of combat forms. If each soldier can have one, on the one hand, it can greatly increase the firepower output, and on the other hand, it can greatly simplify the logistics supply. Therefore, this time, the Supreme Technical Committee of Army Armament sent the Secretary General, General Emilio de Luca, to check the tactical demonstration of the new weapon. During the war, the general served as commander of the 11th Defense Division and then the 9th Corps, and Weiss served under him for several months, calling him the old commander. During that pessimistic period, General de Luca and the troops under his command were one of the few bright spots on the ground battlefield, which was not unrelated to his excellent technical and tactical skills, but also a manifestation of tenacity.

Although Weiss had a superior-subordinate relationship with General De Luca, with the performance of a freestyle assault rifle, it was not only unnecessary to deliberately pull the relationship and go through the back door, but it could also be counterproductive, so he maintained a normal heart throughout the whole process. In addition, the Grumman Group, the leader of the federal firearms industry, was also allowed to visit the exhibition - if the Clumber-Haysen factory protested on the grounds of protecting trade secrets, the Grumman Group representatives could only avoid it, but after Uncle Rudolph's mediation, Weiss and Egweed also met beforehand, and a group of Grumman Group representatives, including Henry Grumman, were allowed to enter.

Before becoming governor of Lorraine, Weiss had already resigned as executive officer at the Klember-Haysen plant, but no matter how his status changed, it was impossible to break away from the family business, especially since this tactical display was significant. He not only came to the scene, but also participated in the exhibition himself, and confidently invited people from all walks of life to show with him. Out of the urgent desire to get close to this new weapon, many people took the initiative to participate, and in order to highlight the display effect, Weiss did not select all the elites who are good at combat, but invited De Luca, Rudolph, Henry, three people who are far away from the front line or have never been to the front line to participate in the display, and the only people who really have rich melee experience in the war are Weiss and his old senior at Aston Military Academy, Nords Barson.

Once everyone was ready and took up their weapons, Weiss reminded them again that they needed to open the safety before shooting, and choose the burst or strafe gear accordingly. Between shots, it is better to turn off the safety for safety reasons to avoid misfire.

The first demonstration is one of the most common training methods in the army: marching shooting. This does not mean firing while running, but moving quickly, stopping suddenly, aiming and shooting in the appropriate position, then moving quickly, stopping, shooting, and so on, simulating a sudden encounter with the enemy or a constant pursuit of the enemy during a battle march. Weiss took the lead. After running a certain distance, he came to the predetermined firing point, and immediately shouted the battle order. The other four, except for Henry Grumman, were all from military backgrounds, although there were people like Uncle Grumman who had been out of the army for many years, and there were also people like General De Luca who had been strategizing in the command headquarters for a long time, but they all grasped the command very well, and successively took a one-knee crouching position in the firing position to fire at the human-shaped target paper erected in front of them.

Even at the end of the war, most Union soldiers still used the Grumman Burning Stick, a bulky bolt-action rifle. In training, Union soldiers use Grumman rifles to shoot 12 rounds per minute, while in inter-march shooting training, there are basically one or two magazines, which is only three to six rounds. The "small-caliber" assault rifle in Weiss's hands uses a 32-round magazine, which can be fired in a single shot and in bursts, and the firepower output efficiency has been doubled.

Weiss was the first to fire ten rounds in a single shot, 300 feet away, and fired at the target. Nordus-Basson, who graduated five years earlier than Weiss, is a model among the outstanding graduates of the Gaston Military Academy, and has won many battles and is known as an ace scout. He followed Weiss in the first round of marching shots, and with the same ten rounds of ammunition, he also scored the same shot, and perhaps he was slightly more accurate than Weiss in this kind of shooting.

The other three uncles and uncles, although their movements are slower and their fitness is not as good as that of young people, but thanks to the practicality and convenience of this weapon, after a short period of training, they are still more comfortable with it for the first time. Uncle Rudolph behaved quite well, although he suddenly burst out of the half-box bullet, and the hit rate was not much higher, but at least it was decent. As for General De Luca, he is naturally old and strong, but he is inferior to Weiss and Barson in speed and ornamentation, and other aspects are very suitable for this tactical password. Uncle Henry was the only one who mistakenly adjusted the firing mode, and a box of bullets poured directly out of his fingertips, and it seemed that only a few shots hit the target, and most of them flew.

"The fifth shooter changes the magazine, and the rest are on the spot."

After Weiss shouted a new battle order, Octavier's old father, Mr. Henry Grumman, the handsome director of the Grumman Group, scrambled to change the magazine. He didn't spend a day being a real soldier, but he had an excellent daughter, and he himself was a keen shooter and hunter, and was no stranger to firearms.

The special individual equipment used by the five men was designed by Weiss himself - copied to be precise, each can carry four magazines, plus one with the gun, for a total of five magazines and 160 rounds, which is enough to cope with a battle of ordinary strength. After Uncle Henry changed the magazine, Weiss immediately issued the next command: "Attack the hill ahead!" ”

The target was a small hill on which trenches were dug that could accommodate a dozen people. According to the usual tactical instructions, the group was supposed to alternate covering the advance, but in reality, Weiss and Basson were each grouped, with Uncle Rudolph, General De Luca and Henry Grumman sometimes following Weiss and sometimes following Basson. By strict tactical standards, their performance was not as good as they could have been, but it was a testament to the Liberty Assault Rifle's advantage in terms of fire duration – only one person was needed to provide cover, and the intensity of fire for a short period of time was equivalent to the power of seven or eight rifles in the past, or comparable to a normal light machine gun, and with the agility of a normal machine gun.

After capturing the hill, Weiss issued a third tactical command: defend in place and hold the position.

As the words fell, dozens of humanoid targets were raised in several trenches and foxholes in front of the small hill. Next, the five of them turned on the lively free-fire mode, firing and strafing, one magazine after another. Although the materials used by the Clumberg-Haysen factory to make the freestyle assault rifle are not as durable as the real AK47, it is still possible to use five magazines in one go.

After everyone had emptied their magazines, Weiss shouted, "Hold your ground and wait for backup." ”

A short time later, two soldiers arrived on the hill with a box of bullets. The five took matters into their own hands and refilled the empty magazines.

While sitting in the trench and loading his ammunition, General Druka asked Weiss, "If the enemy still uses the old weapons and we use the new assault rifles, how many enemy attacks can five people stop?" ”

Weiss thought for a moment: "General, it depends on the specific situation...... If it is a head-on battle, the enemy can send all five of them into the sky with one shell, if it is a night operation, the enemy cannot accurately lock on to the target, or if it is raining weather, the power of the shells will shrink, and the five of us should not have a problem dealing with the enemy fifty. In non-frontal battles, such as encounters between small forces, the side with the new weapons is undoubtedly more likely to win without the intervention of air power or artillery. ”

On the battlefield, weapons are only one factor. For a basic weapon such as firearms, the impact on the situation of the war is indirect and slow, but it can be decisive - if the Union Army is fully equipped with this new weapon, and the enemy is still at the same level, or is progressing slower than them, then once the battle is engaged, the enemy's casualties may be twenty or thirty percent higher than the Union Army in a few months or even a year or two. If the number of casualties is a huge base, then these 20 or 30 percent correspond to hundreds of thousands of combat strength, and this principle is extended to the overall level, and other weapons also have a significant impact. For example, if the airplanes had not turned the tide of the flight forces, perhaps the Federation would have lost the war.

And what about the next war?

"I'm not a weaponist, but the importance of weapons is something we can't ignore." After saying this, Weiss had already pressed a new magazine and handed it to General De Luca: "This is a weapon that can multiply the combat effectiveness of individual soldiers, its cost is only three to four times that of a traditional bolt-action rifle, and the combat effectiveness it has improved for us, the manpower it has saved for us, and the benefits it has brought to us are much greater than this cost increase!" ”

General de Luca mused: "Compressed to less than three times, we can consider a full change of clothing within five years." ”

This sentence means an order of at least one million pieces!

If there is such a scale of production, not to mention three times, even if it is double, even if it is close to the cost price, the Clumberg-Heisen plant can do it, the output will be pushed up, and the profit will be earned from spare parts and ammunition. However, if they are working with Grumman, they will naturally find a way to maintain the price of orders to the extent that there is enough profit margin, which is what they do best.

After another round of free fire, General Druka asked for a third round of firing from one of the five assault rifles to be randomly selected. This time, I don't need to be accurate, I just want to be able to shoot the bullets smoothly. In this way, the randomly selected rifle fired three rounds of 15 magazines in a short period of time, a full 480 rounds. In the war, some light machine guns will be seriously worn out or even exploded after two or three hundred rounds of bullets, which has a certain relationship with emergency production during the war, and also tests the rationality of the design of firearms. Although the Clumber-Haisen plant is not the best firearms factory, it has come up with the best materials for this new batch of guns, plus a design that has been proven by history, and has been able to produce an impeccable performance in this tactical display.

At the discussion meeting after the live demonstration, not only the military technical committee, but also the Grumman Group, which is a representative of the industry, praised the Freedom assault rifle. Known as the strongest scout of the Federation Army, Nords Barson analyzed the practicality of this new weapon from the perspective of front-line combat needs.

"It's hard to imagine that this is your patent, Mr. Governor." General DeLuca teased Weiss. "The only gun designer among governors, and the best!"

Weiss laughed: "Maybe designing guns is the right role for me, and being governor is just an attempt, a challenge." ”

General De Luca did not relax his requirements for his old subordinates, he said: "I heard before I came here that you wrote in your report that a skilled soldier can completely disassemble this gun in a minute, and it can be reassembled in the same minute, is this an exaggeration? Can you see it live? ”

Others may not dare to admit it, but Weiss, who designed this assault rifle himself, knows too much about its construction, and he knows how many parts this gun has and where to put it with his eyes closed. So, he brought a table, placed a used assault rifle on the table, and took a deep breath.

"Now, gentlemen, it is time to witness a miracle!"

Empty-handed, he disassembled the gun into several parts in just one minute, a effort that stunned everyone. He then assembled them at a dizzying speed and improvised the technique of changing magazines with one hand.

Wow the audience!

After this successful demonstration of the prototype, it is a sure thing that the Liberty Assault Rifle will win the military's individual light machine gun project, and the only suspense is whether the military will increase the number of orders for the first batch of production in advance because of its excellent performance. Before returning to Liberty City, General De Luca called Weiss and General Fries, the current commander of the 17th Defense Division, together and admonished: "You are all my old subordinates, and you are all in Lorraine, so you must cooperate well in the future." Long, you are now the chief executive of Lorraine, and you are making every effort to promote industrial development, while improving the level of economic development, you are also trying to consider national defense affairs as much as possible, and do your best to help our garrison troops to improve and improve the level of the garrison, I think this is not a difficult thing for you, but a good thing. ”

After assuming the governorship, Weiss had already paid a regular visit to General Fries. In such times of peace, the two sides belong to different systems, and usually the water from the well does not interfere with the water of the river, and there is little contact with each other, but General Zhengde Luca said that they should complement each other and rely on each other, so that the development and security of Lorraine can be balanced in their hands.

Even if General De Luca didn't say this, Weiss already had a plan for the joint development of the military and the people, but he didn't become a governor in the first place, and he couldn't fully promote this matter, so he could only consider it in passing during the construction of the enterprise. Today, industrial development and defense infrastructure can be twisted into a parallel line, for example, the 17th Defense Division has three main stations, and they have been hoping to improve the transportation from the station to Mason, whether it is a railroad or an expressway, which coincides with local economic development. Stretching our minds further, these newly built highways can be considered together with the advance reserve of airfields in wartime, and the development of automobiles and airplanes in the civilian field should be considered in advance the feasibility and plan of changing them to military use if necessary.