Chapter 498: Cooperation
Antwerp Airport.
Charles glanced at the sketch of the BAR left by Browning again, then tossed it over to Tigani.
"It’s yours now," Charles said.
"What?" Tigani stared blankly at Charles, not understanding what he meant.
"Didn't you complain about your unit not having submachine guns?" Charles got up and poured himself a cup of coffee. "This rifle can be prioritized for your unit."
Tigani’s eyes immediately lit up. "Is, is this real?"
It was a surprise. He had originally thought that the new gun would be issued to the armored units first, followed by the mechanized units, as the armored units needed to be at the front lines fighting tough battles.
"Of course it’s real." Charles stirred his coffee and sat back down at the table, his tone laced with a hint of disdain. "Do you think it's something special?"
"Of course, Brigadier General." Tigani, like a treasure hunter, nodded eagerly while holding the sketch. "It’s definitely something special!"
Charles casually asked, "Tell me your thoughts on it. How do you plan to equip your unit?"
Tigani stared at the sketch for a moment, then spoke slowly.
"I think we should choose soldiers with excellent physical fitness to use it."
"One rifle per squad, or maybe two."
"I'm not sure yet. I’ll have to try it out when the rifles arrive."
Charles nodded. Tigani’s understanding was correct. He didn't blindly say, "I want every man to have this rifle, replacing all the bolt-action rifles!"
That idea was tempting.
Just imagine: automatic rifles spraying bullets at the enemy, their positions being drenched in a hail of bullets.
But the reality was: most soldiers wouldn't be able to control such rifles.
The heavy rifle body, the recoil during continuous firing, and at least 200 rounds of ammunition would cause great difficulty for the soldier using it.
(Note: A standard bolt-action rifle usually carries about 100 rounds, but the BAR is an automatic rifle. Firing 200 rounds might not even be enough for a single battle. Modern automatic rifles typically require about 300 rounds of ammunition.)
At this point, the guard came in to report, "Brigadier General, Mr. Browning and Mr. Boyata are back. They would like to meet with you."
Charles nodded and, without a hint of surprise, continued sipping his coffee.
"It seems you knew they would return?" Tigani asked, looking at Charles in confusion.
Charles shook his head lightly. He didn’t know they were coming back, but he did know why Browning was returning.
At the moment Charles saw the sketch, he should have thought it over for a while or pretended to ask a few questions. It was this that caused Browning to grow suspicious.
Sure enough, Browning hurried over to Charles, panting and asking, "General, you... you know about this kind of rifle, don’t you?"
Charles wasn’t sure how to respond.
"What I mean is," Browning continued, "you’ve thought about designing something similar, haven’t you?"
Charles was taken aback but nodded along smoothly. "You could say that, Mr. Browning. I did consider it, but your actions were faster. You even made a prototype."
Browning burst into laughter. "I knew it! I knew it!"
He said, moving a stool to sit in front of Charles, his movements smooth and natural, as if talking with an old friend.
Boyata looked on in shock. How could Browning be so casual in front of a brigadier general?
He was about to step forward to remind him but was stopped by Charles' gaze.
Browning completely ignored Boyata’s subtle movements. After sitting down, he eagerly said, "General, I was actually inspired by you, to be precise, by the 'Saint-Étienne 2.'"
"Since I could think of this, of course, you could too."
"After all, you were the one who turned the heavy machine gun into a light machine gun, giving it much better mobility."
Browning's words were somewhat abstract, disconnected, and illogical, but Charles understood. He smoothly continued the conversation.
"Oh, yes."
"Since a heavy machine gun can be turned into a light machine gun, a light machine gun can be turned into a rifle."
"And that’s how we got the BAR!"
Browning laughed excitedly again, but his laughter was loud and unpleasant, almost like a pig’s grunt.
"I thought the same thing! Incredible, what a coincidence!"
"Though, it’s not strange at all, right? Because it’s a development trend."
"We just saw the trend!"
Browning naturally used the word "we," treating Charles as someone in the same camp.
No one knew how lonely someone like Browning could be, and no one knew how difficult it was for him to find someone with common interests, someone to talk to.
But Charles didn’t join in the conversation. He silently observed Browning.
"Is something wrong?" Browning’s smile gradually faded into confusion.
Then Browning suddenly realized:
"You know something, don’t you? Something different from what I thought!"
"Yes, I knew it."
"Although I’m ahead of the game, you want to be ahead too. You know how to avoid the BAR’s flaws."
Charles made a small sound of acknowledgment, so as not to be seen as disrespectful to Browning, or insult his intelligence.
"But I can’t tell you, Mr. Browning," Charles said directly. "Because there are many reasons."
Browning nodded to show understanding. "I understand, General. This is your idea, it belongs to France, and I..."
He glanced back at Boyata standing behind him, a hint of helplessness in his eyes. "I belong to FN, to Belgium."
Browning sighed lightly:
"You’re right. You shouldn’t tell me the answer."
"I’m sorry, I just... I just wanted to know."
Charles nodded in understanding. It was a thirst for knowledge, not an intent to plagiarize.
What neither of them knew was that, upon hearing this, Boyata felt a cold chill shoot through him, as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.
This was not good, Boyata thought.
Anyone could see that Charles was Browning’s best partner. Putting their minds together would undoubtedly result in the world’s most excellent gun.
What was more serious was that they... they understood each other. Yes, they felt like old friends!
Although they had only known each other for a short time and had a significant age gap, they seemed to have an uncanny ability to think alike.
"I can’t be an obstacle between them," Boyata thought. "Otherwise, FN will lose Browning, and that’s unquestionable."
Thinking this, Boyata quickly stepped forward and said, "No, no, I don’t think this is a problem, General."
Then he turned to Browning: "I have a suggestion!"
"What?" Charles asked, though he could already guess a little.
"Why don’t we cooperate?" Boyata said excitedly. "FN and 'Saint-Étienne,' we have a common enemy. We both want to produce the best equipment. We both..."
Boyata gestured toward the two men, meaning they both had excellent gun designers.
Browning’s eyes immediately lit up. This was indeed a great idea.
However, his excitement quickly faded, and he gave a self-deprecating smile before saying to Boyata, "No, Jonathan, the General doesn’t need us. He can do it all on his own. He doesn’t need to cooperate with us."
Browning gave a bitter smile and shrugged. He had never felt so humble.
Boyata thought for a moment and realized the truth. Charles had the creativity, and he had the "Saint-Étienne" factory to make it a reality. Why would he need to cooperate with FN?
What they didn’t know was that Charles actually saw great potential in the idea.
Because this would give him more control over Belgian arms production, gain Browning as a talent, and also secure FN’s production capacity.
All it would cost was the distribution of profits. Why not do it?