Chapter 107 Playing the long game

The next morning, Charles reported to the city defense headquarters under Laurent's escort as usual.

Unlike usual, crowds gathered on both sides of the streets in Paris early on this day. At first glance, it looked like they were marching. The police were also dispatched, and they nervously blocked the crowds on both sides to leave the middle for vehicles to pass.

As the car that Charles was riding in approached, someone immediately screamed:

"Look, here he comes, it's his car!"

"It's him, he's already a lieutenant!"

…

The next second the crowd cheered, people shouted Charles' name and waved at him, and some people sprinkled flowers from the rooftops. The whole street was like it was raining, and the air was full of fragrant petals.

The vehicles on the road slowed down unconsciously. Some of them pulled over to make way for Charles, while others just wanted to take a look at Charles. Both drivers and passengers leaned out to greet Charles.

Charles was frightened by the grand scene. Looking ahead, he saw an endless crowd of people. Waving hands were densely popping out from the streets, windows and all kinds of unimaginable gaps, like wheat seedlings swaying in the wind in the fields.

"What are they doing?" Charles asked in confusion.

"They are saluting you, Lieutenant!" Laurent replied, "for your almost perfect performance in Antwerp!"

Charles didn't understand. When he invented the tank to save Paris, people were not so enthusiastic. But now they were so excited about Antwerp, a place that had almost nothing to do with them!

After some thought, Charles seemed to understand that this might be the pride of the French. They cared more about their international reputation.

Charles had indeed saved Paris and their lives before, but it was a defeat, and the capital of France almost fell again.

Although the Charles survived the disaster, it was nothing to be proud of, as it was still a shame to the outside world.

But Antwerp was the first time the French showed up in Belgium, especially with 10,000 British reinforcements in Belgium.

So the nature of the two is completely different. Charles' success in Antwerp allowed all French people to get out of the frustration of failure, allowed them to hold their heads high and straighten their chests again, and allowed them to regain their confidence. This is certainly worth celebrating!

The cheers lingered for a long time. Even after Charles had gotten off the car and walked into the city defense headquarters, people still gathered at the door and shouted, unwilling to leave.

Gallieni stood at the window with his hands behind his back, looking down at the frenzied crowd below. When he saw Charles coming up, he turned his head and smiled bitterly, saying sarcastically, "If they use this kind of enthusiasm on the battlefield, how can the Germans dare to touch Paris!"

After that, he led Ciel to the lounge: "Come on, I have something to tell you, Lieutenant!"

After entering the lounge, Gallieni sat down on a chair and searched for a while among the telegrams on the table. He picked out two and handed them to Charles: "This is the telegram from Albert I asking us to send you to Antwerp again!"

Charles took the telegram and asked in surprise: "The Germans are attacking again?"

Gallieni nodded:

"Although General Gis is dead, people are not prepared to let it go. They demand severe punishment for all those who colluded with General Gis, including members of parliament."

"But Albert I thought this required evidence and refused to do so! This led to civil unrest, and eventually the army was involved."

"The Germans took advantage of this opportunity to launch surprise attacks and captured several key towns."

"There is also accurate intelligence that another 'Big Bertha' is on its way to Antwerp!"

Charles' heart sank. This almost extinguished Antwerp's last hope.

Gallieni took a sip of the coffee brought by the orderly and continued:

"Albert I believes that only you can appease the masses and stop the German attack at the same time!"

"So I hope you can reinforce Antwerp once again."

"I refused for you!"

The last sentence made Ciel stunned. If he had already rejected her, what was the point of telling her? Was it just to inform her?

Gallieni seemed reluctant to discuss the matter further, as it seemed to him a foregone conclusion, or perhaps he thought it was Antwerp's own fault.

Although there are reasons, it is still a problem of Antwerp's employment.

He stared at the map and continued:

"The second thing is that your special tactics are very effective. We have successfully attacked three German regimental headquarters, five divisional headquarters and one army headquarters in the past few days."

"There are also three ammunition depots, five material warehouses, bridges, railways, etc. You can go to Lieutenant Colonel Fernando for the specific data!"

"What I want to say is that we plan to purchase an additional 3,000 sidecars, right away!"

Charles was stunned and said in embarrassment: "General, our orders are already scheduled until next year..."

"We'll pay in full!" interrupted Charles.

"But we only have so much production capacity..."

"Then free up the other orders!" Gallieni didn't give Charles any chance to explain.

"We have already signed the contract!" Charles almost pleaded, "We have also received a deposit..."

"The penalty for breach of contract can be charged to us!" Gallieni answered simply.

“But there is also the question of credibility…”

From a businessman's perspective, Charles should not accept such "queue-jumping" orders. It does not make extra money but suffers many hidden losses, such as disruption to production rhythm.

Besides, if there is a first time, there will be a second time. If they come a few more times, won’t other customers no longer trust Charles?

But Gallieni stared at Charles, his tone unquestionable: "You have to understand one thing, Lieutenant, I am now giving orders to my staff. How to solve the difficulties is your business. The staff is responsible for solving these problems. Do you understand?"

Charles exclaimed, "Ah!" Is this possible?

Was this one of the reasons why Gallieni had made him his advisor?

Seeing that Charles didn't respond, Gallieni snorted coldly and glanced at Charles with a squint, as if he was going to teach him a lesson.

Charles quickly stepped forward: "Yes, General!"

Gallieni then nodded with satisfaction, and even looked as if it was a matter of course.

Before Charles left, Gallieni added, "Eric and the people from the Carter Flying Club are being held in the police station next door. You should go take a look!"

"Uncle Eric was arrested?" Charles was surprised.

"Don't worry!" Gallieni replied while reviewing the documents: "After interrogation, we believe they are all innocent. Go and notify the police station to release them!"

Looking at Charles running to the police station in a hurry, Gallieni raised a smile.

This is about networking for you, little one!

I will be the bad guy and you will be the good guy, and after you buy the aircraft manufacturing plant, things will go much more smoothly for you!

But... Gallieni smiled complacently. This is a win-win cooperation. If I don't give you some small benefits, how can I catch big fish in the future? !

I received a notification that this book will be on the shelves next Tuesday, and there will be new updates then. Everyone is welcome to subscribe!

In addition, as a certain reader predicted, this book will be published in Sanjiang next week. I am very surprised that it can receive this honor!

Thank you for your support, I am working hard on saving the manuscript now!

(ヮ)

(End of this chapter)