"No! Father, your design concept was flawed from the very beginning! Your Majesty, what is needed is not an enhanced version of the Dreiser Rifle!"

"Paul, what you need now is to learn more by staying by your father's side, rather than contradicting him here!"

"No! Paul is right! Your Majesty requires innovation, not the continuation down the path of Dreiser! Oh! Damn, all I have in my head now is that damn Dreiser!"

"Well... Team Leader Anderson, I think Dreiser's design concepts are worth us borrowing, especially the bolt-action pull design..."

"Mr. Xiasibo, I believe the Dreiser Needle Gun's downfall was precisely in the bolt-action pull aspect! Perhaps we should consider another point of reference..."

This was a dispute occurring within the Rifle Research Institute, with the argument growing louder as Jerome Bonaparte approached.

As Jerome Bonaparte stepped across the threshold into the courtyard of the Rifle Research Institute, the people inside seemed too engrossed in their fierce debate to notice his arrival.

Until Jerome Bonaparte cleared his throat, coughing twice.

Only then did those present realize someone had arrived, and they all turned to look towards the entrance of the institute.

At the doorway stood Jerome Bonaparte, his image entering their sight.

An inexplicable awkwardness filled the entire institute, with all the firearm engineers feeling somewhat at a loss.

Thankfully, the awkward atmosphere did not last long as Jerome Bonaparte first broke the silence and greeted them, "Good afternoon, everyone! What are you discussing? It seems quite lively!"

"Your Majesty!" The people, upon recovering, quickly kneeled to Jerome Bonaparte to show respect.

Jerome Bonaparte gazed at each member of the institute, from the over-50-year-old senior engineer (Anderson Mauser) to the 15-year-old apprentice engineer (William Mauser), truly a gathering of talented individuals.

Among these people, Jerome Bonaparte's favorites were Paul Mauser and Alfonso Chasebo, one having invented the Mauser rifle series that dominated Germany for over half a century, and the other having pioneered the Chassepot Rifle in France.

Of course, the 15-year-old William Mauser was also among the primary targets for Jerome Bonaparte's focused cultivation.

It could be said that most engineers in the institute were talents Jerome Bonaparte had gone to great lengths to recruit, sacrificing his pride and sending his wife home, and then digging out from his father-in-law's hands.

Jerome Bonaparte slowly moved into their midst, glancing at the Dreiser Needle Gun on the table that had been disassembled into parts, and inquired of Anderson William, "Anderson, were you just discussing the pros and cons of the Dreiser Rifle?"

"Yes! Your Majesty!" Anderson Mauser, the head of the institute, responded woodenly, "My son (Anderson William suddenly realized there were no father-son relations in the institute and hastily corrected himself)... no, Paul Mauser believes our current design concept has been too constrained by the Dreiser Needle Gun, and we need to broaden our ideas further!"

"Oh?" Jerome Bonaparte turned his gaze to Paul William, encouragingly asking, "Mr. Paul Mauser, do you have any different ideas?"

Being watched and respectfully addressed by Jerome Bonaparte made Paul Mauser a bit nervous; after all, it's not everyone who has the fortune of conversing with the leader of an Empire.

Nevertheless, since Jerome Bonaparte asked, Paul Mauser mustered the courage to reply, stammeringly, "I think Team Leader Anderson's ideas are too focused on the rifle itself! Recently, he has been pondering how to enhance the Dreiser Rifle's airtightness!"

"Then which aspect do you believe we should approach from?" Jerome Bonaparte looked at Paul Mauser with keen interest, for some reason feeling that the future firearms master before him would provide the answer he sought.

"Your Majesty, I'm not sure if my ideas are correct, but I think the cause of Dreiser's leakage issue doesn't lie with the firearm itself! In other words, Dreiser has done all he can, and perhaps we should look for reasons in the bullet!" Paul Mauser explained to Jerome Bonaparte and subconsciously glanced at Jerome Bonaparte's facial expression.

"Great!" Jerome Bonaparte applauded Paul Mauser; he particularly appreciated engineers like Paul Mauser who had ideas because they always put their thoughts into action: "Since you've mentioned the bullet issue, Mr. Paul Mauser, do you have any solution to this problem?"

"Your Majesty, I think the new rifle needs its own dedicated bullet, similar to the Minie Rifle bullet, with good airtightness, preferably made of metal. When the hammer strikes the primer, the primer should ignite the propellant rapidly, causing the propellant to expand and launch the bullet's head!" Paul Mauser gestured in the air with his hands as he spoke to Jerome Bonaparte.

After listening to Paul Mauser's explanation, Jerome Bonaparte immediately realized that the special bullet Paul Mauser mentioned was none other than the future metal cartridge bullet. Since traveling to the present, he hadn't thought about the metal cartridge bullet once, which was truly unwarranted!

Thinking of this, Jerome Bonaparte looked at Paul Mauser with eyes full of praise, then patted Paul Mauser's shoulder and said, "You spoke very well, I hope in the future you can have the courage to speak like this!"

Jerome Bonaparte's endorsement made the originally not-so-confident Paul Mauser regain his confidence. He mustered the courage to say to Jerome Bonaparte, "Your Majesty, I have actually designed a bullet..."

As soon as he said this, everyone present turned their attention to him.

"Paul, what nonsense are you talking about!" Anderson Mauser hurriedly reproached Paul Mauser upon seeing the situation.

Anderson Mauser scolded Paul Mauser not out of jealousy that his son was more capable than him, nor because he didn't believe in his son's ability, but rather because he understood his child's capabilities so well and wanted to protect him.

His years of experience at the Royal Arsenal had shown him never to make boastful claims in front of the monarch, for if you fail to achieve the monarch's expectations, you would be regarded as a fraud and cold-shouldered, and your colleagues would unconsciously exclude you, thinking you tried to rise by stepping on their backs!

"It's true!" Paul Mauser clearly didn't understand his father's "well-intentioned" motives. He responded hoarsely to Anderson Mauser, then pleaded with Jerome Bonaparte, "Your Majesty, I request your permission to leave for a moment!"

"Of course you may!" Jerome Bonaparte nodded and smiled, responding to Paul Mauser.

"Thank you for your mercy!" Paul Mauser bowed to Jerome Bonaparte and then jogged out of the institute.

About 5 minutes later, Paul Mauser reappeared at the entrance of the institute. He leaned one hand on the doorframe, panting heavily and pausing at the door for a moment. After catching his breath, Paul Mauser straightened up again and walked towards Jerome Bonaparte.

"Your Majesty!" Paul Mauser handed a slightly wrinkled piece of draft paper to Jerome Bonaparte.

Jerome Bonaparte took the draft paper and unfolded it. On the paper was a bullet drawn in pencil.

The bullet's material, length, radius, diameter, as well as the primer, propellant, and bullet head inside the bullet, were all labeled on the paper.

Based on the length and radius, the metal cartridge bullet hand-drawn by Paul Mauser was longer than those bullets Jerome Bonaparte had seen on television in later generations, and the spiraled threads on the surface of the bullet head were clearly an imitation of the Minie Bullet.

"Your Majesty, this is the bullet I designed!" Paul Mauser introduced it to Jerome Bonaparte proudly, with his chest puffed out, "The bullet casing is made of brass, the hammer strikes the primer from the tail end, igniting the propellant. After the propellant gives energy to the bullet head, the bullet is fired!"

"It looks pretty good!" Jerome Bonaparte nodded at Paul Mauser and then changed his tone, asking, "But how will you remove the casing that remains in the rifle?"

"This..." Paul Mauser immediately fell into deep thought, as he seemed not to have realized the issue of casing extraction: "I haven't thought of a solution yet!"

"To have thought this far is already very impressive!" Jerome Bonaparte once again encouraged Paul Mauser, "Figuring out how to smoothly extract the casing from your designed bullet will be your next goal to strive for!"

"Your Majesty, may I continue down this line of thought further?" Paul Mauser asked with a trembling voice.

"Of course you may!" Jerome Bonaparte decisively replied to Paul Mauser.

Then, Jerome Bonaparte glanced at the research personnel around and said loudly, "All of you, listen to me well! I can tolerate countless failures from you because scientific research is inherently accompanied by countless failures before it can achieve ultimate success. However, each of you must deeply analyze each failure to find the reason for the failure! You cannot blindly conduct experiments, as blind experimentation will only waste time in vain! As for you..."

Jerome Bonaparte pointed at Paul Mauser and said, "Your design concept is very worth learning from, so I have decided to reward you with 5,000 francs as encouragement!"

"Ah?!" Upon hearing the reward, Paul Mauser looked surprised, as he never expected to receive such a generous reward.

It's worth noting that 5,000 francs is equivalent to two and a half years of his salary at the Aubendorn Royal Arsenal before.

(Paul Mauser's current annual salary is about 3,500 francs, with meals and lodging included.)

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