A few days later, on the road to the capital, Fort Midknight, General Dali Einfurt sat in a galloping carriage and looked out the window at the rapid passing of the landscape.

On the day she received the appointment, his wife Jian Ning was terrified, she thought that there was another war, and she was afraid that the child in her womb would lose her father as soon as she was born.

Dali hurriedly explained to his wife that this trip was not to fight, but to engage in civilian work as the head of the General Armament Department, and it was only a temporary emergency, which made Jian Ning settle down, and after kissing his wife goodbye, he left his hometown of Tagarvi City.

Knowing the importance of this position, Dalí did not leave himself any time to rest, and when he arrived in the capital, he stored his luggage in the officers' apartments and went to the building of the General Armament Department of the Duchy of Valstad, where he began to understand what he was doing.

He was greeted by Dr. John and Mr. Parker, the two heads of the design and production departments, with a hint of exhaustion on their faces, apparently because of some difficulty.

"Hello, Lord Baron Dalí, our former superior, General Lynnwalt, has left his post due to illness, and I heard that His Majesty the Duke has personally appointed you to take his place.

It is rumored in the General Staff that you are a genius of the world, a mobile library, and it is a great honor to work with a brave and resourceful war hero like you! ”

Dali shook hands with the two in turn: "You have a good reputation, please give me more advice in your future work." ”

"Lord Baron, please come here."

Dr. John, the chief ordnance designer, was a balding middle-aged man who came across as sophisticated, and Dali looked at the back of his shiny head and followed him to the second floor.

"This is the minister's office of the General Armament Department, please come in." Dr. John opened the door for him.

Dali nodded slightly: "Thank you." ”

The desktop in front of him was very messy, full of all kinds of materials and stationery, and he was an obsessive-compulsive person who likes to tidy up the desktop, he frowned: "Is this my desk?" ”

"yes, it's a bit of a mess up there...... I'm sorry we don't dare to move around, but you've been replaced with new chairs and fur cushions, tea sets and office equipment. ”

"What's going on with those three little desks next to them?"

"Oh, the personnel department will give you three secretaries later, the head of the General Armament Department is an extremely complicated and tiring position, from the design to the manufacture of ordnance, you have to worry about everything, so you have accumulated so much information, you don't have to do everything yourself, if there is a difficulty, we will share it together."

Dalí picked up a heavy dossier and flipped through it quickly, his amazing memory allowed him to remember every detail at a glance, and the mountains of information in his head did not bother him, because the accumulation of knowledge can produce associations and give birth to good creative ideas.

"I've read the information, the army's equipment is in a bad situation! No wonder General Lynnwalt fell ill overwhelmed.

Our army is armed with seventeen different models of flintlock rifles, each of which has a different caliber, ranging from 17 mm to 22 mm, which requires the production of a large number of projectiles of different calibers for distribution to troops.

And that's just the condition of the rifle, the models of pistols and carbines are even more complicated, what a mess! ”

The two people in front of them glanced at each other, and they both thought at the same time: (Oh my God, this new minister finished reading this large collection of materials in three minutes?) What is this reading speed? ）

Mr. Parker said: "Lord Baron Dalí, you are really talking about the most troublesome problem of our General Armament Department.

Our soldiers come from all over the country, and there are a large number of them, and many recruits can't get standard guns, so they join the army with shotguns from their hometowns, and even the projectiles have to be made from molds. ”

Dali touched his beard, "Well, I've had this kind of problem in the army, and the probability of dumb fire from homemade smoothbore guns is very high. What is the current production efficiency of standard rifles? ”

"My lord, gunsmithing is a delicate job, and making a twelve-edged barrel requires multiple steps such as casting, polishing and inspection, which takes an average of 37 man-hours.

Although we have a large number of artisanal workshops and skilled craftsmen, and the production speed is already ahead of other countries, we still cannot fill the gap in demand. ”

"Well, I probably know the situation, you guys go get busy, I'll look at the information here and study the countermeasures."

A week later, Baron Dalí Einfurt, head of the General Armament Department, led a group of his men to an ordnance factory.

It is a handicraft workshop of no small scale, with 17 large forging furnaces and more than 60 assembly stations, and the workers are shirtless, covered in sweat, and are busy with the sound of tinkling and beating.

Apprentices helped, women worked in the storeroom to oil the finished product, wrap it in wrapping paper, and finally 12 guns were divided into a dozen and nailed into wooden boxes of military supplies waiting to be shipped.

Dali picked up a half-finished rifle in his hand, tried the matching ram lever and safety mechanism, and looked at the straightness of the barrel.

"The quality is not bad, what kind of model is this?"

The person in charge of the handicraft workshop was an old and cunning workshop owner, and it was the first time he had seen such a big official, and he smiled at Dali:

"My lord, this is the 1691 military flintlock smoothbore rifle, which is the eleventh modification of this model, and we are proud of the product, our yield rate is as high as 75 percent, which can be said to be the best efficiency in the country at present, and I would like to ask you to say a few kind words in front of His Majesty the Duke...... I would be grateful! ”

Dalí ignored his sycophancy and asked directly, "How many man-hours does it take for an average gun?" ”

The person in charge looked embarrassed, "Hehe, what's this...... It takes about 40 man-hours, so it's a slow job. ”

"At this rate, it's not up to the mark," Dali glanced at him, "but this rifle is the best modification I've ever seen, and I'll make some modifications to it to achieve better performance and a production-friendly design." ”

Hearing this, Dr. John, the chief designer who followed Dalí, looked particularly disappointed (this minister has to do everything himself, he has to intervene in everything, and now even my job has been robbed, but his knowledge and vision far exceed that of us subordinates, and he can only swallow his anger). Thinking of this, he shook his head helplessly.

After leaving the factory, Dali lived and ate almost every day in his office, and the walls were covered with blueprints of rifles from various countries, and he began to design a new rifle himself.

Except for the occasional letter to his wife, he never left his job.

This is a bitter pain for his three secretaries, falling into the hands of such a desperate minister, there is no way, the top boss takes the lead in working overtime, and they have to accompany them to the end.