Chapter 783 Creating Anxiety

The funding problem is actually easy to solve.

Ciel just needed to go to Parliament and create a little anxiety.

He stayed at the city defense headquarters for one night, and the next morning at the "invitation" of Clemenceau, he accepted questioning from the parliament.

"Gentlemen, let us welcome the greatest general of France, Lieutenant General Charles!"

Charles walked up to the podium amid warm applause.

Then, Clemenceau slowly unfolded Charles' "conspiracy" by asking questions.

"Mr. Lieutenant General," Clemenceau asked, "I heard that your intelligence officers have learned that the Germans are developing a secret weapon. Is this true?"

"Yes, of course," Charles replied.

“Can you tell me what this equipment is?” Clemenceau asked again.

"Tank." Charles answered simply.

The MPs were not nervous at all, and some even shouted:

"We have the most advanced tanks, Lieutenant General."

"Yes, your 'Char B1', which gave the Germans a beating at the Battle of Metz."

"We destroyed all the enemy tanks, but only a few of our own were out of order, and none were destroyed by the enemy."

…

Clemenceau nodded to Charles, asking him to explain.

Ciel puffed out his chest and answered:

"Gentlemen, do you think the Germans will just sit there and wait for death?"

"No, the Germans' industry and technology are not inferior to ours at all. They are even more advanced than us."

"So what makes you think they won't produce a more advanced tank?"

The MPs were stunned.

Charles was telling the truth.

Although the United Kingdom is the largest country, when considering industry and technology, the world's number one is the United States, followed by Germany.

Charles continued:

"Let's make a comparison. The 'Char B1' tank weighs about 25 tons."

"But do you know how much the tank the Germans are developing weighs?"

"It weighs 150 tons, gentlemen!"

The meeting room suddenly became chaotic and the congressmen turned pale with fear.

The 25-ton "Char B1" is already so powerful, but the Germans are actually developing a 150-ton tank.

That’s 6 times more powerful than “Char B1”!

One of the councillors called out, “Are you sure, General?”

"I'm sure." Charles nodded affirmatively: "My intelligence officer saw this terrifying war machine with his own eyes, but he couldn't take a picture of it. He could only draw a sketch based on his memory."

Charles waved his hand and the guards immediately distributed the drawings that had been prepared long ago.

Charles introduced:

"The Germans named it the K-Wagen tank."

"We don't know much, except that the tank costs 600,000 marks each and the German military has ordered 10 of them."

(The above picture shows the comparison between the German K-Wagen super heavy tank and the A7V tank)

The congressmen who received the sketch exclaimed:

"My God, it's covered in artillery and machine guns."

"This is a monster, a war machine."

"Its gun caliber is larger than the 'Char B1', it should be 77MM!"

…

Charles continued what they said: "Yes, it has a total of 4 77MM infantry guns and 7 Maxim machine guns."

This data once again caused panic in the conference room.

Someone asked doubtfully, "They can't produce this monster so quickly, can they?"

Charles spread his hands and said helplessly:

"I wish that was the case, but unfortunately that is not the case."

"They have been working on it for at least a year and are close to success."

"Now, I guess they will rush to produce it and put it into the battlefield as soon as possible."

Clemenceau duly added: “You know why.”

The members of parliament nodded:

"Yes, Charles is about to reconquer all of France."

"If we take one more step, we will enter Germany, and they will never allow that."

"They hope to launch a counterattack with this weapon!"

…

Some of them expressed different opinions: "Is this possible? The Germans are still using light tanks like the 'LK2' at this stage, which weigh only a dozen tons. Suddenly, they have developed to 150 tons!"

But these doubts were immediately drowned out by opposition and ridicule from the parliamentarians:

"Don't you know how heavy the German A7V is?"

"If you think this is impossible, just think of their 'Big Bertha' cannon and their airships!"

"Do you need to wait until this tank drives up to you before you admit it?"

…

This is exactly what Charles wants to see.

The congressmen have very little military knowledge and they don't think about whether this "super heavy tank" is suitable for the battlefield.

For example, whether the thickness of its armor can withstand enemy artillery, whether its speed is fast enough, and whether the road surface and bridges can bear its weight.

In fact, not only the congressmen, but even few generals in this era understand this.

They take it for granted that a ship with more weapons and a larger tonnage must be powerful, at least that is the case with warships.

Steed asked nervously, "General, can our tanks stop it?"

Ciel shook his head. "Unfortunately, I don't think so."

Clemenceau frowned and asked, "So, you must have a strategy to deal with it, right?"

Charles shook his head again. "This tank appearing on the battlefield will be a disaster for us, Your Excellency, Prime Minister. It will destroy everything that stands in its way. All our victories will be in vain."

Of course, what Charles said was not true.

But as long as it's useful, it's fine.

In particular, most of the parliamentarians have close ties with capitalists, and they will convey Charles' words to the capitalists.

Then the capitalists will know a piece of information:

It turns out that Charles is not invincible, and France is still at risk of being defeated and pushed back.

So, is it too early to acquire land?

If this information spreads to the public, retail investors will follow suit and sell their land, and land prices will be further pushed down.

At this time, someone finally asked the question that Charles wanted to hear the most: "So, General, how should we respond?"

Others echoed:

"Yes, General, you must have a way."

"We cannot allow France to be put in danger again."

"We support you, you will definitely save France again!"

…

Charles nodded awkwardly:

“I don’t think there’s a better way at this point.”

"We can only develop a 150-ton tank like the Germans did."

"You know, only a battleship can defeat a battleship, and the same is true for tanks."

"only……"

The MPs couldn’t wait to ask: “Are there any difficulties?”

Charles sighed:

"I have invested too much money in producing war materials."

"Tanks, shells, bullets, and recently ten destroyers were donated."

"Now, the Bernard Group has no extra funds to invest in research and development."

(End of this chapter)