"Ah, look at my memory. What was it again? I called you here because I was planning to have you produce some firearms. Right, do you have any suitable molybdenum steel at the moment?" Luo Chong had been distracted by thoughts of the train, but Lin Fei's reminder brought him back to his senses at once. He still had important business to attend to.
As for Lin Fei, when he heard that Luo Chong merely wanted him to make guns, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief. He had thought Chieftain had some urgent matter to discuss.
"Reporting to Chieftain, we don't have much ready-made molybdenum steel. We did have some left over from making lathe tools last time, but there isn't much remaining. If Chieftain plans to use molybdenum steel to produce firearms, we can have the Steel Mill smelt a few more batches. By the way, what kind of gun does Chieftain plan to make, and how many?" Lin Fei answered at once.
"A double-barreled shotgun. Make... two thousand, I suppose. If molybdenum steel is easy to obtain, use it for the guns." Luo Chong considered the needs of the north before naming a number.
Lin Fei could not help staring blankly. "What? Two thousand double-barreled shotguns?! Did Chieftain misspeak? Surely you meant the pump-action shotgun with eight rounds, right?"
He could hardly be blamed for being so astonished. With the Eight-Shot Shotgun already available, producing another two thousand double-barreled shotguns seemed wrong no matter how he looked at it. What kind of army would need such a thing?!
He had heard of armies becoming better equipped, but never of one going backward. The Han Tribe was hardly too poor to support its army.
"No, you heard me correctly. I mean these double-barreled shotguns, not the Eight-Shot Shotgun."