Chapter 476 Who says I can’t?

Kanais's expression was a little embarrassed. He knew in his heart that he couldn't justify himself, especially in front of Charles.

But what can he do?

Just surrender?

His fate was tied to that of Joffre.

If Joffre was dismissed, his future as the deputy commander-in-chief who had always followed Joffre would be over.

No, you can't do that, at least give it a try!

"Gentlemen." Kanais tried to raise his head. "I don't think General Joffre can be blamed entirely. We all know that he made the decision based on the advice of his staff, including General Foch..."

Foch is a good shield as he is the founder of French military theory.

The subtext of this sentence is: If even Foch could make a mistake on this issue, isn't it normal for Joffre to make a misjudgment?

Moreover, Foch has paid the price for his mistake, and something like this will never happen again!

Charles just replied softly: "I don't really know, General, but I know who will benefit from it if it is a victory!"

The congressmen were stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter; they understood.

When Gallieni successfully defended Paris and repelled the Germans, Joffre said when rewarding him: "I don't really know, but I know who will be responsible if it is a defeat."

With these words, Joffre took away the credit for Gallieni's title of "Guardian of Paris".

Today, Charles turned this sentence back to Joffre who tried to evade his responsibility.

Gallieni, who was sitting on the side and listening, showed a relieved smile on his face. Charles vented his anger for him, which had been in his heart for a whole year.

Then a member of parliament shouted:

"That's right. Responsibility and honor should be unified. Joffre snatched the honor of victory from his subordinates, but pushed the responsibility of failure onto them."

"God, I never knew Joffre was such a shameless man, and he is our commander-in-chief, leading all the armies of France!"

"How can such a commander-in-chief lead the troops to victory? It's time to make a decision!"

…

Major Jules sat next to Gallieni and remained silent.

Gallieni had told him that military personnel could not participate in politics, so in principle they could not express their opinions freely in the House of Representatives unless a member of parliament initiated a "questioning" against them.

But he could not help himself, and stood up and said to those around him:

"Gentlemen, I am Colonel De Leon's staff officer."

"On September 3, Colonel De Leon ordered me to report to Joffre at headquarters on the progress of the campaign."

"When I arrived at the headquarters, the Germans had already launched the attack, and thousands of artillery pieces were bombarding Verdun."

"But I was blocked outside the headquarters and was told, 'The commander-in-chief has fallen asleep and I can't disturb him!'"

At this point, Major Jules raised his voice, and his voice changed from narration to angry accusation:

"Is the commander-in-chief's sleep more important than the fate of France?"

"Or more important than victory in a battle or the lives of soldiers on the front lines?"

"I don't understand, can you tell me the answer, General?"

The last sentence was directed to Kanais on the podium.

Major Jules looked straight at Kanais with fire in his eyes. Although he had no gun on his waist, his hand was pressed on the belt, as if he wanted to draw his gun and shoot Kanais into a sieve.

Kanais was frightened by his aura and avoided his gaze, not daring to answer.

The opposition of the parliamentarians was once again brought to a climax. Some people booed Kanais, and some shouted:

"Get off the stage, with your Joffre!"

"We don't need such an incompetent person standing there."

"So do the French people!"

…

Kanais' face turned pale. He struggled to his last gasp, "General Joffre is commanding the battle at the front. I don't know if it's the right time to replace the commander-in-chief."

Charles interrupted him: "But Joffre gave almost no command, General. All he did was order his troops to attack before going to bed, then turn off the lights and go to sleep. Even when the Germans' poison gas bombs slaughtered French soldiers on the front line, Joffre didn't know about it until he woke up the next day. He only told his soldiers to attack!"

"No, that's not true," Kanais answered, but without any confidence.

Everyone could see that he was lying. Joffre had always boasted that he was "in command", that he could remain calm at all times, and that he could maintain a normal schedule at all times, but now he was denying it.

At this time, the parliamentarians stopped arguing because they had already reached a conclusion in their minds.

Kanais seemed to have noticed this, so he simply gave up and raised his head again and said in a hoarse voice:

"Gentlemen, isn't it the right thing to do to order the soldiers to attack? This is war!"

"Besides, no one would have a better solution in this situation."

"Just think about it. We are facing an enemy with artillery and manpower several times greater than ours, as well as new types of poison gas bombs."

"Who can achieve better results in this situation?"

…

One MP shouted: "Charles can!"

Kanais glanced at Ciel in front of him and retorted:

"I don't think so."

"His troops were far away in Belgium, with tanks and planes. Germany attacked Verdun precisely because of this."

"Don't you understand? The Germans deliberately avoided Charles' troops. Only in this way could they gain the upper hand!"

"So, this is not fair to Joffre!"

There were fewer voices of opposition in the conference room. At least this one thing was true: the Germans did concentrate their forces to attack Verdun in order to avoid Charles.

The silence of the councillor gave Kanais confidence again, and he continued shouting:

"If Charles can't do it, how can we expect Joffre to do it?"

"Believe me, gentlemen, Joffre is not the best, but we can't find anyone else..."

Charles slowly stood up and asked, "Who said I can't?"

The parliamentarians cheered and expressed their support for Charles. Some of them even stood up and applauded in Charles' direction.

Kanais was stunned:

"No, you don't understand me, Commodore."

"I mean, without calling back your troops..."

Charles answered simply: "I don't need to call back my troops."

"Including aviation?" Kanais added.

"Including the air force." Charles nodded.

"Just use the existing troops in Verdun." The panicked Kanais added restrictions.

The members of parliament started to boo:

"Go down, Canais, those troops are even under Joffre's command."

"Joffre will deliberately put obstacles in Charles' way in order to prove that he is incompetent."

"Before that, we should relieve Xiafei of his command!"

…

Charles turned his head to look at Steed in the back row, and Steed smiled and nodded slightly in response.

Charles turned his gaze back to Kanais and answered word by word: "No problem, use the existing troops in Verdun."

The parliamentarians were in an uproar. How could they agree to such harsh conditions?

Gallieni sighed.

Only then did he realize that what Charles wanted was not only to remove Joffre from the position of commander-in-chief, but also to bring disgrace upon Joffre!

(End of this chapter)