Chapter 329 The Feeling of the Battlefield

After returning to his seat, Charles immediately began to draw a sketch of the Franciadrien helmet.

There is another story about the French steel helmets: during a fierce German artillery attack, a cook turned an iron pot upside down on his head and was only slightly injured, while many people around him were seriously injured or even died under the dense shrapnel and stones.

When General Adrian of the French Army heard about this, he was deeply inspired and asked the military industry to develop a metal helmet for the troops. That’s why people called the French standard helmet the "Adrian helmet."

(The picture above shows the Franciadrien helmet, which is considered the ancestor of the modern military helmet)

…

Of course this order should be given to Steed. After all, Charles doesn't have to do anything or worry about anything, but he can still receive half of the profits. It's almost like Steed is working for Charles, and all Charles has to do is provide ideas.

The meeting was at dinner time, still at the Ritz Hotel, but not in the conference room but in the restaurant, and Dominic was also there.

Steed sat in the main seat, Charles and Dominic sat facing each other in the second seat. The spotless white tablecloth and the elaborate but not complicated crystal chandelier hanging overhead illuminated the huge restaurant as if it were daytime.

"This is for your triumph, Colonel!" Steed looked at Charles with admiration.

He admired Charles' courage from the bottom of his heart. As a capitalist, he knew the biggest difference between rich people and poor people:

It is normal for poor people who live in poverty and feel that they have no life left or who want to stand out to go to the battlefield.

Rich people have a great life waiting to be enjoyed, but if they lose their life, everything they have earned through hard work loses its meaning.

As a wealthy man, Charles took the initiative to ask to go to the battlefield and be on the front line, which many people did not expect.

Seeing that Charles was a little suspicious about the waiters standing on both sides, Steed explained: "Don't worry, Colonel. Everyone who can enter the restaurant is my people."

Charles was satisfied with Steed's arrangement, but when he saw the steak, red wine, caviar, and some fruits on the table, he was shocked.

Charles was a little disappointed. The rich people in France ate the same things, but they were of higher quality. For example, the steak had to be Australian rib-eye steak, the red wine had to be of a specific year, the caviar had to be from Caviar sturgeon, and so on.

Charles doesn't care too much about these things. He is a bit careless when it comes to food. There is indeed a difference in the taste of the two, but it is not so big that he needs to be so particular about it.

Dominic turned the table and poured Charles a glass of red wine. He asked doubtfully, "Is what they said true? You were fighting the enemy with a rifle on the battlefield?"

"Yes." Charles nodded. "I had to do this. We were seriously short of troops at the time, and the defense line would probably collapse without my rifle."

Steed, who was sitting at the main seat, raised his glass towards Charles and praised him: "Brave act, Colonel!"

Charles didn't think so in his heart. This had become the norm during World War I and he had become accustomed to it, even though it was less than a year since the war began.

Dominic looked at Charles with a complicated expression and asked cautiously, "How do you feel, Colonel?"

Charles was stunned. He didn't understand what Dominic was asking.

But it soon became clear.

Dominic likes guns and shooting, but he may never see a battlefield, and certainly it is impossible for him to point a gun at a living person and pull the trigger.

The purpose of inventing the gun is for war, to kill the enemy, but Dominic can only shoot at the target in the shooting range.

"You won't like it." Charles replied expressionlessly: "If you are close, you can even see from their eyes the pain of the soul leaving the body. You will empathize with them and will unconsciously think about what your state would be like if you were shot, and even..."

"I'd feel cruel," Dominic replied.

"Yes," Charles replied.

After returning from the battlefield, he felt that his mentality had changed.

That has nothing to do with suffering, but has to do with killing enemies. Even though it was enemies that were killed, having it and not having it are still two different things.

Charles truly felt the fragility of life. After that, what he thought were cruel things before now seemed like trivial matters.

Steed glanced at Dominic, who seemed to be thinking deeply, and said with a smile: "People didn't expect the colonel to do this. Now they can shut up. Even the congressman can't find any fault with the colonel's heroic behavior!"

What Steed saw was business opportunity, huge business opportunity.

The Charles had been to the battlefield, but the parliamentarians had not, and neither had the capitalists.

If there are any disputes about equipment in the future, such as whether to use Charles' equipment or Schneider's equipment, Charles' behavior can be used as a publicity gimmick: Charles has been on the battlefield, he understands war better than you, and he knows what the battlefield needs!

Perhaps this was the purpose of Charles's adventure onto the battlefield, Steed thought.

After having a good meal and a few drinks, Charles took out the sketch of the steel helmet from his bag and handed it to Steed: "We can try to produce a batch, about 10,000 helmets!"

There is a reason why Charles capped the number at "ten thousand".

The troops during this period were larger in size, consisting of one division, two brigades and four regiments. The strength of a division was generally more than 10,000 or even 20,000 troops.

If 20,000 hats are produced for each person, there will be no comparison and no way to tell the difference between "having" and "not having".

But if there are only 10,000, only part of them can be equipped.

The same unit was fighting in the same environment and was bombarded by Germans with similar intensity. If the casualty rate was lower when wearing helmets, it would immediately make the point clear.

When Steed saw the sketch, he didn't think much of it. It was just a helmet, nothing special.

But then he thought again, his eyes widened instantly, and he looked up and asked Charles: "You mean, if it works, it will become the standard helmet for the troops in the future?"

Ciel said "hmm" calmly.

Steed's face immediately showed joy. This was a big deal. France had millions of troops. If every soldier needed one, that would be more than one million.

What's more, helmets are consumables. They may be lost or damaged on the battlefield, and they may even rust. Plus, batch after batch of new soldiers need one, so the number would be far more than one million.

"We must be careful." Ciel warned: "If the first batch is unpopular or does not work, you know what the result will be!"

"Of course, Colonel!" Steed nodded hurriedly: "Don't worry, I will do it well."

After thinking for a few seconds, Steed gave a direction: "We should reduce the weight as much as possible while ensuring strength, so we should use high-strength steel!"

(End of this chapter)