Chapter 397 This is Charles's method

General Winter excitedly recounted how Charles had tricked the German "Big Bertha" into range in Antwerp, installed "Congreve" rockets on the plane to shoot down the German airship, and then invented depth charges to destroy submarines. He also led his troops to the battlefield to change the situation in Gallipoli.

Even Charles's strategy of "making a feint to the east and attacking in the west" regarding Gallipoli was unreserved.

Finally, General Winter sighed: "Charles was right. If we had followed his plan to attack the Dardanelles from the beginning, there would not be the current stalemate. Our fleet should have entered the Sea of ​​Marmara long ago and we might have won the victory. We regret it now."

After listening to General Winter's narration, Cadorna nodded secretly.

There was not a single flaw in Winter's words. If it was a lie, it would be impossible for him to tell it so flawlessly without any preparation.

At this time, the hesitant Cadorna made up his mind.

Charles was much more important than the victory in the Battle of Cambrai. With a military genius like Charles, it was only a matter of time before the Allies won. It could not be wrong for Italy to stand on the side of the Allies.

However, Cadorna still put forward a series of demands on behalf of Italy:

"In addition to the Austro-Hungarian mainland, Italy could also acquire the territories of Croatia, Slovenia, and Albania after the war."

At this time, Cadorna did not take Austria-Hungary seriously at all. He believed that the exhausted Austro-Hungarian army was vulnerable, so it was natural for him to expand the territory he demanded beyond Austria-Hungary.

"No problem." General Winter responded straightforwardly. He found the locations that Cadorna mentioned on the map, and they did not conflict with the British and French troops.

"There are also interests in Africa." Cadorna continued: "We hope that after Britain and France obtain German African colonies, they can transfer part of the colonies in Northeast Africa to Italy."

General Winter was stunned. Was he trying to pull teeth out of the tiger's mouths of Britain and France?

But after only a moment's hesitation, General Winter nodded and said, "I personally have no objection, but I need to consult London and Paris for details."

This answer actually reassured Cadorna, as this was indeed not something General Winter could decide alone.

"In addition." Cadorna put forward the last condition: "Britain and France should ensure that the Adriatic Sea becomes an inland lake of Italy after the war, and agree to modify the borders of Tunisia-Libya and Egypt-Libya."

General Winter found the location on the map and said sincerely, "This also requires instructions, General!"

"Of course," Cadorna replied.

Soon, General Winter sent the conditions put forward by Italy to the British and French sides one by one.

The British and French governments put on a show. They convened politicians for discussion overnight and only reluctantly agreed a few hours later.

Cadorna was very satisfied with the results of the negotiations, and after the meeting he began to gather troops and declare war on Austria-Hungary.

What he didn't know was that Britain and France had no intention of fulfilling the contract from the beginning. They had made up their minds: wherever Italy conquered, that was the limit. If it was conquered by Britain and France, they certainly would not hand it over easily, let alone cede the African colonies that originally belonged to Britain and France to Italy.

(Note: Italy got nothing after the war. Britain and France gave the reason that Italy made almost no contribution, so they refused to fulfill the contract. Italy could not do anything about Britain and France. Millions of troops were killed and wounded for nothing, and the country's economy was also severely damaged by the war.)

…

Paris, Schneider Arsenal.

James, sitting in front of his desk, weakly held his aching forehead.

James did not feel the slightest bit of joy at the good news that Italy joined the Allies. It was none of his business.

He was overwhelmed by a series of problems that suddenly arose.

First of all, in the Battle of Cambrai, the "Saint-Chamond" tank completely lost the military's orders, both heavy and light.

Even though the light "M21" won the battle, the soldiers all believed that it was the result of a night raid. It still could not conceal the fact that the "M21" was an extremely dangerous equipment and dangerous to their own side.

Secondly, Charles introduced five artillery production lines from the UK.

It is said that each of these production lines can produce 6 large-caliber artillery pieces, and 5 production lines can produce 30 pieces, while Schneider's 105MM artillery has a monthly production capacity of only 5 pieces.

This huge gap will put the 105MM artillery at an absolute disadvantage in the market, even though the 105MM artillery may be better.

The most difficult issue was the machine gun incident that had just occurred in Gallipoli.

The machine gun itself is not the problem.

James knew that he had fallen into a trap carefully set by Charles. In order to expand production in a short period of time, James invested more than 70 million francs, and had more than 20,000 machine guns in stock, all of which were wasted due to the appearance of the "Saint-Etienne 2" machine gun.

The total loss was estimated to be hundreds of millions, James guessed.

But Schneider has a deep pocket and can afford to lose.

The worst thing is that everyone thought that this was another of Schneider's "behind-the-scenes manipulation" to suppress Charles, a "dirty political deal" and "collusion between the military and businessmen."

As a result, people spontaneously took to the streets and gathered in front of the Schneider factory, shouting:

"Schneider is preventing France from winning. Please stop this shameless behavior."

"We need Ciel, not Schneider!"

"Schneider is killing frontline soldiers with its crappy weapons and despicable tactics. We are better off without Schneider!"

…

Along with the shouts, stones, rotten leaves, and rotten eggs flew towards the factory.

James felt strange and asked Paulina: "Did I forget? We don't seem to have suppressed Charles in terms of machine guns."

"It is not that you have forgotten, sir," replied Pauline; "we have not, but it is Charles's device."

"Charles's method?" James looked confused. "Are you saying that the demonstrators were recruited by Charles?"

Paulina shook her head. “Charles may have done nothing, but people will naturally point the finger at us.”

James understood instantly.

Similar things have happened so many times that people have habitually thought that it was still Schneider's doing this time.

If it were in the past, James would ignore all this and let them do whatever they wanted. He couldn't do anything to Snyder.

But this time it was different.

Schneider's workers also protested by going on strike, and people began to boycott Schneider's products because they believed that Schneider was a black-hearted capitalist who only cared about its own interests and ignored the lives of soldiers and national security.

If this continues, it won't be long before Schneider is kicked out of the competition, even if it has money and technology.

At this time, the phone rang. Paulina walked over quickly and looked at James in surprise after answering the call: "Djokovic wants to talk to you, sir."

"Djokovic?" James looked puzzled. "Charles' father, what is he doing here?"

Then a trace of anger flashed in his eyes: "He must want to see me being defeated by Ciel!"

(End of this chapter)