Chapter 785 Why is this not a good thing?

Charles didn't take this matter to heart, because it didn't affect the battle situation and he didn't need to pay attention to it.

Historically, Germany did not put the Paris Cannon into actual combat until 1918, but now it has been advanced by two years.

It seems that the Germans were getting anxious.

In other words, Hindenburg hoped to use the Paris cannon to undermine the confidence and morale of the French army.

Just as Charles was about to explain further, he suddenly thought of why this was not a good thing.

This is an opportunity presented to the Germans and a great gift from Hindenburg!

When the Paris cannons fired, the French soldiers and civilians, who were unaware of the situation, thought that the war had encountered new complications.

After all, they didn't know that the "Paris Cannon" was limited in number, and they thought it could fire thousands of shells in an instant and bomb for days and nights like the cannons on the battlefield.

If this were the case, the Germans could easily destroy Paris without launching an attack.

In addition, there are French artillery positions, train stations, airports, warehouses, railways and highways... everything will be hit by this "Paris Cannon". How should this war be fought?

So the threats came, the panic came, and people even believed that France might lose the war, even with Charles.

As a result, capitalists sold off their land, parliament continued to provide funding for research and development, and millions of Parisian citizens rushed to buy insurance from the Bernard Group.

Charles seemed to see money rushing towards him like running water.

Thinking of this, he pretended to be horrified: "I thought it would take the Germans at least another year to develop it, but I didn't expect it to be put into actual combat now!"

General Gallieni, who was always calm and composed, was also panicking at this time. He asked with difficulty: "Do we have any way to deal with it?"

Charles shook his head.

"That's a cannon, General. It's a cannonball. We can't stop it."

"And I'm sure the Germans will build good shelter and camouflage for this gun."

"It would be difficult to destroy it even if we sent bombers."

Gallieni nodded heavily.

Although he didn't know much about air combat, he knew that it was not difficult for a cannon to avoid a bomber. In addition to the bunker, it could also pull up a camouflage net or release smoke to prevent the bomber from finding the target.

"But don't worry too much." Charles said, "This is just my guess. It may not be a cannon."

Ciel's words seemed to be "comforting" on the surface, but in fact they were increasing everyone's worries.

They would think: Even Charles hopes it is not what it is, which means Charles can’t do anything about it. What should we do?

Just as the office fell into silence, a whistling sound was heard in the air again, coming closer and closer, becoming sharper and sharper.

There was a loud "boom".

The office felt a tremor and it seemed that a shell had landed nearby.

Gallieni and Charles ran to the window and looked out, only to see black smoke billowing from the other end of the street and several three-story houses razed to the ground.

People were shouting in panic, some were hiding with their children in their arms, some were busy rescuing the wounded, and some were lying on the ground covered in blood, calling for help.

Gallieni looked at it for a while and then retracted his head: "It's basically confirmed."

Charles said "hmm".

I didn't hear the roar of the plane engine, but I could hear the whistling of flying shells, of course, they were shells.

Gallieni was still hesitant, not sure whether he should tell the people the truth.

But then the guard called:

"General, we may know what it is."

"We believe it was not a bomber, but an artillery shell."

"Many soldiers heard the whistling of artillery shells."

Many of the guards were veterans of the battlefield and could distinguish the whistling sounds of aerial bombs and artillery shells.

Gallieni could only sigh and said to Charles: "It seems that we have to organize another parliament!"

…

The Great Hall of the Chamber of Deputies of the Palais Bourbon.

The councillors knew why they were urgently summoned to the meeting, but they did not take it seriously.

Almost everyone guessed that it was a bomb dropped by a German bomber:

"It's not a big deal. We all know that our fighter planes always have an advantage over the Germans. All they can do is harass them."

"Yes, they bombed no important targets."

"Char will teach them a lesson. I can't wait to see the wreckage of the German bomber."

…

However, when Clemenceau, Gallieni and Charles walked into the meeting room with heavy faces, the congressmen felt that things might not be as simple as they thought.

Clemenceau took the stage and said bluntly:

"Gentlemen, you know what happened, Paris was bombed."

"As for the reason..."

Clemenceau glanced at Charles and said, "I think this question should be left to the professionals."

He made way for her and nodded towards Ciel.

Charles changed his usual calmness and walked up to the podium with a serious look:

"Gentlemen, before coming here, I sent two squadrons to patrol the skies over Paris."

"But we spotted no enemy bombers."

"Do you know what this means?"

Charles paused for a moment, then glanced at the confused congressmen who were talking to each other: "This shows that it was not enemy bombers that bombed Paris, but artillery shells."

The meeting room was quiet for a moment, then there was a commotion, and they asked one after another:

"Cannonballs? Where did they come from?"

"Haven't we driven the Germans out?"

"Could it be artillery shells fired from the border?"

…

The parliamentarians burst into laughter. This was impossible. The straight-line distance from Paris to the border was more than a hundred kilometers.

But Charles nodded expressionlessly: "You guessed it right, sir, it was the artillery shells fired from the border!"

The members of parliament were all stunned, and then someone shouted:

"That's impossible. We all know that artillery shells can only reach a dozen kilometers."

"Even naval guns can only reach a range of about 20 kilometers."

"That's still a British battleship!"

…

The MPs were referring to the main gun of Britain's most advanced "Queen Elizabeth" battleship, which is 381MM thick and has a maximum range of 21,700 meters.

In fact, not to mention the other congressmen who didn't believe it, even Wells and Steed looked at Charles with confusion. Only Armand, who knew nothing about military and industry, didn't feel anything. He leaned lazily in his chair and watched everything with a smile on his face.

Charles reaffirmed his statement: "I believe it was a cannon. Many people who have been on the battlefield believe it was a cannon. Unless you have more battlefield experience than us, you should choose to believe it."

Gallieni stood up and faced the councillors, his face somewhat pale:

"Nothing is impossible, gentlemen, think of 'Big Bertha', the Germans are capable of doing this."

"Otherwise, how do we explain the absence of aircraft engine sounds?"

"And our fighters couldn't find the bombers, even if there were explosions in Paris below."

"So, yes, the Germans have this artillery, and it can hit Paris from the border!"

The MPs were stunned.

But the surprise on their faces just proved that they were accepting this statement.

(End of this chapter)