By 12:30, everyone had arrived.
Since it was a small banquet, only 25 people came. Except for Uncle-Grandfather Leif, everyone else brought their younger generation or their sons and daughters-in-law; they were basically all in pairs.
Fortunately, there were few people, otherwise the dining table really wouldn't have been able to accommodate them.
Once everyone arrived, Altair signaled Hahn to begin the banquet.
As Hahn lightly rang the bell to signal the start of the luncheon, Altair rose to accompany some important guests to their seats, while other guests sat with companions as they pleased.
The seating arrangement for the luncheon was not as strict as that for a dinner banquet.
Once everyone was seated, the servants began serving the meal, starting with cold plates and ham, then hot dishes like roast meat, roast chicken, and roast vegetables, followed by desserts like fruit tarts and pudding.
Since there was a performance in the afternoon, the luncheon only provided some low-alcohol white wine or cider.
During the luncheon, Altair and the guests enjoyed a meal filled with laughter for an hour and a half.
Over the course of the meal, Altair made her rounds to greet everyone.
The older group had generally begun to relinquish power and enter retirement.
The middle-aged group, like Karel Duarte, had basically completed their power transitions and begun to establish a firm foothold.
A few of the younger generation were about the same age as her and were mostly still in the learning phase as students, planning to make their moves after coming of age... After the luncheon ended and people had chatted for a while, Hahn came in and whispered in Altair's ear, "Simon has everything arranged on his end; the performance can begin."
After hearing this private message, Altair looked at the people present and found that, except for some of the younger ones, almost everyone was looking at her.
Altair smiled helplessly and shook her head, thinking, 'These people must have been waiting for Hahn to come in and announce it.'
She then stood up and said, "Everyone, thank you for coming to the Sheffield Family banquet. To show our gratitude, we have prepared a fireworks display for you. After the performance, you can even participate personally. Please follow me to the backyard."
Altair and Hahn directly made a gesture of "please."
Hahn led the way, while Altair accompanied Uncle-Grandfather Leif and the others out of the living room.
Those in the know wanted to see it and followed. As for the rest, seeing the majority of people leaving, they followed along as well.
Following the path to the backyard, they sat in the bleachers that had already been set up.
Looking out from the bleachers, one couldn't help but admire Simon's professional ability; from here, one could see everything happening on the firing range.
Seeing that everyone was seated, Altair began her introduction: "Since the year 1145, Emperor Roselle's inventions of the steam engine and improvements to rifled cannons completely ended the era of knights."
"This also allowed the Intis Republic to rise rapidly during that era, dominating all other nations for nearly 50 years. It wasn't until Roselle was assassinated in the White Maple Palace and Intis fell into internal strife that other countries took the opportunity to start their own industrial revolutions."
"Since then, the mode of warfare between nations has completely shifted to thermal weapons. An unavoidable issue for thermal weapons—firearms—is 'gunpowder.' It is the foundation of this series of weapons; whoever possesses better technology can gain the upper hand."
"Of course, that's not entirely true, as the army possesses large quantities of powerful weapons like 'steam rifles.' But you all should be aware of the flaws of such weapons: high cost, complex maintenance, the need for phlogiston to operate, and the requirement for specially trained personnel to use them, among other issues."
"The solution to this series of problems is to update gunpowder technology. Whoever possesses a cheaper, more powerful 'new gunpowder' can master the change in the weapons landscape."
"Today, the performance we have prepared for you is a test-firing of weapons using 'new gunpowder' technology."
Just as Altair finished speaking, Simon appeared at a corner of the range leading his entire squad. Upon receiving the signal to start, the twelve-man squad began the demonstration.
Because the distance exceeded a hundred meters, the sound of the squad's Kar98k rifles reached the bleachers not as sharp cracks, but as muffled "thuds."
Seeing the satisfied expressions on several people's faces, Altair gave a brief introduction: "The 'Kar98k' is a bolt-action rifle, caliber 7mm Mauser, fed by a 5-round internal magazine, with an effective range of 800 meters, a length of 1,100 mm, and an unloaded weight of approximately 3.9 kilograms."
"The bolt operation is smooth and reliable, with excellent precision. With an optical sight added, it can be used as a sniper rifle. Its disadvantage is the slow rate of fire, making it unable to handle sudden close-quarters combat."
"But its superior performance is undeniable. Compared to the weapons currently in service with the army, it has a lower cost and greater power. The ammunition uses entirely new smokeless powder."
The current timeline was in the late Victorian era of the 'original world,' where ordinary weapons had not yet fully transitioned to smokeless powder technology.
Uncle-Grandfather Leif watched the performance at the range and asked casually, "What is the cost and production time for this kind of rifle?"
Altair felt a secret joy; Uncle-Grandfather Leif was truly helpful. She had been waiting for someone to ask, otherwise how could she introduce the advantages? "Because the Kar98k is a new type of firearm, its current production time is between 12 to 14 man-hours. Once mass production begins, that time can be compressed to about 9 hours."
This statement caused the big shots to nod repeatedly.
The demonstration for the Kar98k was essentially a full weapons test, covering range, accuracy, and muzzle velocity, as well as environmental simulations like water immersion, sand immersion, and low temperatures, followed by continuous firing... Once the Kar98k testing was complete, Simon and his team switched to MG42 firearms to begin testing.
The MG42 fired at an ultra-high rate of 1,200 rounds per minute, producing a continuous sound like tearing cloth—"Zi-la—Zi-la—". There were no distinct intervals between single shots; it sounded more like the sharp screech of a metal grinding wheel cutting through steel, which was extremely oppressive.
Seeing the shocked expressions on people's faces, Altair could understand; after all, current heavy machine guns did not have this kind of effect. She introduced it directly, saying:
"MG42 general-purpose machine gun, meeting the combat requirements of both light and heavy machine guns."
"Caliber 7mm Mauser, belt-fed, with a theoretical rate of fire as high as 1,200 rounds per minute. Effective range is 800 meters (in light machine gun mode) and 1,000 meters (in heavy machine gun mode). Length is 1,219 mm, and unloaded weight is approximately 11.5 kilograms."
"The rate of fire is extremely fast, with a sound similar to the roar of a chainsaw, and its suppression capability is incredibly strong."
"It is manufactured using a stamping process, resulting in low cost, high yield, and excellent reliability, capable of adapting to harsh battlefield environments such as severe cold and mud."
"The disadvantage is that the high rate of fire leads to rapid ammunition consumption, which places higher demands on the shooter's recoil control and logistical supply."
"But I believe this level of ammunition consumption is not a disadvantage for an army, or even for an industrial power like ours."
"If the two types of firearms are paired, they can form the core firepower combination of an infantry squad. Kar98k is responsible for precision shots and medium-to-long-range sniping, while MG42 handles firepower suppression and area denial tasks."
If the Kar98k brought surprise to these people, the MG42 brought pure shock, because the design of this machine gun completely outclassed all current firearms.
After the demonstration, everyone participated in the trial session; everyone wanted to try out a weapon that could influence the outcome of a war.
When Altair announced the cost and production time, the way these high-ranking and powerful individuals looked at her was like they were sizing up a piece of gold.