Chapter 272: Adding fuel to the fire
Fortunately for Steed, Bonnet never publicly declared his departure from the Republican Party.
Steed guessed that Schneider hoped that Bonnet would continue to lurk in the Republican Party, and wait until the critical moment, when the "Little Daily" would suddenly change its tone and expose some remarks that were unfavorable to Charles, and then Charles would be thrown into chaos.
Since Bonnet didn't make any move, Steed pretended not to know and was happy to see him continue to "pretend" like this.
As for Layom, Steed went secretly to the Saint-Etienne Arsenal under the arrangement of security captain Klein.
When Steed suddenly appeared in Layom's office and took control of everyone in the office, Layom realized that the matter was exposed.
"Father!" The color instantly drained from Layom's face and he stood up from the table in panic.
Klein brought a chair and placed it in front of Layom. Steed slowly walked forward and sat down, squeezing out a few words from between his teeth: "What conditions did Schneider give you?"
“Father, I didn’t…” Layom seemed to want to explain himself, but Klein’s gun was already against Layom’s head.
Klein is more the commander of Steed's private armed forces than the captain of the security team. He has been protecting Steed's safety for many years, including eliminating dissidents for him.
"Be careful." A murderous look flashed in Steed's eyes. "I don't want to hear any lies. You know what I will do for the benefit of the family and the future of Saint-Etienne."
Layom simply stopped pretending and asked sharply, "What you mean by family interests and the future of Saint-Etienne is to hand it over to Charles? What can we get?"
Seeing that Steed didn't say anything, Layom bravely continued: "Father, if Charles wasn't there, Saint-Etienne would at least belong to us and our family..."
"Really?" Steed asked coldly, "What new equipment has Saint-Etienne invented under your management over the years? What I see is that it is being eroded bit by bit."
Layom retorted: "Even so, it doesn't mean we have to surrender to Charles..."
Steed suddenly stood up and slapped Layom to the ground, cursing angrily:
"Fools, if it weren't for Ciel, we might even be defeated by the Pito Arsenal!"
"You think without our support, the Shire can't rise?"
"You think Ciel needs us? You think we are irreplaceable?"
"Char is unable to produce grenades, mortars, aerial bombs, and 37MM artillery?!"
Layom was stunned.
As the manager of the Saint-Etienne Arsenal, he certainly knew that the production of these equipment was extremely simple, especially the grenades, which only required a few workers to be recruited and given a little training.
So, it is Saint-Étienne that needs Charles, not Charles that needs Saint-Étienne.
Without Saint-Etienne, Charles could just find an arsenal or even open one on its own, and then these equipment would just pop up like mushrooms after rain.
By then, the largest arsenal in France will be the Charles Arsenal, and Saint-Etienne, without new weapons, will be quickly eliminated by the attack of several forces, and no one will be able to save it.
Steed looked at Layom who was sitting on the ground in a daze and shook his head gently. "You still don't understand that the future of the arsenal lies in creativity. Whoever masters the creativity has the right to speak. And you only see the factory, workers and machines. Why don't you think: all of this can be compared to a grenade that Charles casually drew?"
Layom felt that he had done something stupid and that the path his father had chosen was probably the right one.
Factories, workers, and even machines can be easily replaced, but creative ideas cannot.
Charles has such ideas, each of which is enough to shake Saint-Etienne, and there may be more to come.
Therefore, Charles is undoubtedly the king of military industry.
His father realized this and chose to support him with all his strength. Only in this way can he gain the greatest benefits and lead Saint-Etienne to glory.
But he regarded it as surrender without a fight, and even hoped to cooperate with Schneider to drive away the threat of Charles!
…
At the city defense headquarters, Charles received a call from Steed and learned that he had successfully persuaded Layom.
Charles didn't care much about this matter. Since Grevy was followed, Layom's affair was bound to be exposed. Once the affair was exposed, Layom had only one way to "be persuaded".
After all, Rayom is in the Saint-Etienne Arsenal. After this incident, Steed will definitely "protect" Rayom closely.
Charles' attention was mainly focused on the Dardanelles, and intelligence letter after letter was delivered to General Gallieni through Charles' hands.
Gallieni summarized the war:
"The battleships have been increased to 18, and there are dozens of cruisers and destroyers, but it seems to have little effect. They don't even dare to enter the strait to fight."
"Can't these battleships force their way through?"
Gallieni was a layman in naval warfare. He believed that battleships could use their speed and armor to force their way through the Dardanelles and that they would be able to seize the initiative in the war as long as they entered the wider Sea of Marmara.
"It's mainly mines, General," Charles answered. "One mine is enough to sink a battleship, and the Ottomans have mined the narrow strait."
Gallieni raised the document in his hand: "They also brought many minesweepers and destroyers. The minesweepers and destroyers can lead the way in front, and the battleships will follow behind..."
“The Ottomans found a clever way to deal with this,” Charles explained. “Their guns were useless against battleships, but powerful enough to sink minesweepers and destroyers. So they chose to concentrate their firepower on the minesweepers.”
Gallieni said "Oh" and said nothing more.
The war should indeed be fought as Gallieni said, with battleships, cruisers, destroyers and minesweepers going together, with minesweepers and destroyers clearing mines in the front and main battleships following in the rear.
Although there will be casualties and costs, as long as they keep moving forward, the fleet will soon be able to pass through the Dardanelles and enter the Sea of Marmada.
But the fleet commander-in-chief, Vice Admiral Carden, always had concerns about this. He was worried that if he attacked a small country like the Ottoman Empire, once the fleet paid a heavy price, his command would become a world-class joke.
Therefore, Vice Admiral Carden has always adopted what he thinks is a safer way of fighting: during the day, warships bombard the coastal defense artillery from a distance, and at night, minesweepers sneak into the strait to sweep mines.
This tactic seems safe, but in fact it gives the enemy more time to react and eventually becomes a "refueling tactic": after the enemy grasps the pattern, they immediately make corresponding countermeasures. They hide their guns during the day and come out at night to blow up minesweepers and replenish torpedoes in time.
Vice Admiral Carden naturally regarded the enemy as fools who were inflexible!
(End of this chapter)
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