Chapter 278 Ciel's Toys
While Gallieni was struggling to deal with the "forced abdication" by members of the House of Representatives, Charles was meeting with Wells in a conference room at the Ritz Hotel.
This was the first meeting between Charles and Wells.
Wells seemed to be preoccupied. He looked at Charles, who was sitting opposite him, expressionlessly. The boy in front of him looked no different from an ordinary person, and even had a bit of childishness on his face.
If Wells hadn't known that this young man was Charles, the man who made the whole of France crazy, he would have definitely treated him as an ordinary person.
"It's an honor to meet you, Colonel!" Wells politely leaned over and shook hands with Charles, then glanced at Tijani who was sitting next to him: "Please allow me to express my gratitude to you, you saved Tijani..."
"No, sir." Charles interrupted Wells: "As a soldier, this is what I should do."
Charles did think so. Soldiers were supposed to fight for their country, and saving each other had nothing to do with personal grudges.
If anything, it should be blamed on France.
Wells nodded slightly and praised: "Your idea about torpedoes is very constructive. We are currently looking for explosives more powerful than TNT, so that we can reduce the size of the warhead as you said..."
Wells seemed to have said a lot of nonsense, which was originally told to Wells by Charles through Tijani, and now he repeated it again.
But Charles understood that Wells was testing him.
Wells obviously didn't quite believe in Charles's ability, and he brought up the old matter just to test Charles' "real ability" on the spot.
"Hexanitrodiphenylamine." Charles blurted out a word without any context.
"What?" Wells was stunned.
Tijani was also confused. What is hexanitrodiphenylamine?
Ciel calmly explained, "A more powerful explosive, 60% TNT plus 40% hexanitrodiphenylamine, will be 7% more powerful than pure TNT!"
Wells' eyes widened instantly. He looked at Charles with doubt, and his voice trembled: "Is this true? Can it increase by 7%?"
Although 7% is not much, it can be considered a breakthrough, and it can be foreseen that this will be the first step to increase the torpedo range.
Tijani asked: "Colonel, how do you know this? And it's so detailed that it even includes the ratio. Do you have research in this area?"
"You guessed it right, General." Charles answered simply: "I have set up a research and development team for this purpose, and we have made great progress."
This is not true, he does not have any research group at all.
The reason why Charles said this was, firstly, that it could explain why he knew the formula, and secondly, it was to tell Wells: I control the development of torpedoes. It’s up to you whether to choose me or Schneider!
This could allow Wells, who was still wavering in the middle, to make up his mind.
Wells has been in the business world for many years, so how could he not know Charles' intentions?
He thought about it for a while, and a kind smile gradually appeared on his face: "Great, I feel relieved to have a research and development team organized by the colonel!"
Charles smiled, he knew that Wells was showing him his attitude.
Tijani looked confused. He felt like he understood, but also seemed like he didn't.
Then Charles took out two sketches from his briefcase and handed them to Wells without further ado: "Sir, I want you to build these two types of ships for me."
Wells took the document and glanced at it, frowning with a puzzled look on his face.
Both were ships he had never seen before, and they looked very strange:
One had a large space in the middle and its bow stuck up high, like a clown's boot.
The other one is a boat, but it looks like a car.
What's the point of making such a gadget? Charles suddenly wanted to take a few boats for a cruise on the Seine? The Seine River happened to be flooded, and driving this kind of boat on the Seine would definitely attract a lot of attention.
Tijani came closer to look at it for a while, then suddenly became excited: "Colonel, you don't want to use this kind of ship for the landing operation in the Dardanelles, do you?"
After being reminded by Tijani, Wells suddenly realized that this was a military ship used for landing operations!
Ciel nodded slightly.
Since Wells was asked to build a ship, the purpose and requirements had to be stated so that he would know in which direction to build it.
"Yes," Charles explained, "As far as I know, our troops still use wooden boats when landing. They are not only slow but also dangerous. They can be easily destroyed by the enemy in the sea..."
Tijani was surprised and delighted. He took the two sketches and looked at them again and again. He said excitedly, "With these two types of ships, landing will be much faster. How did you come up with this idea? My God, they are so beautiful."
Tijani picked up the first sketch and said, "This can be used to carry a large number of soldiers to land quickly. The iron plate in front can provide cover for the soldiers. Once it reaches the shallows and is put down, it can become a stepping stone for the soldiers to land!"
(The picture above shows the US military LCVP landing craft)
He picked up the second sketch and said, "If I'm not mistaken, this kind of ship can travel on the sea and on the shore at the same time, and supplies can be transported directly from the ship to the landed troops!"
(The picture above shows the "Duck" amphibious landing ship)
Charles nodded. It turned out that Tijani had quite a good eye for equipment. He could tell their functions at a glance.
Wells looked at Tijanni, then at Charles, and finally his eyes stopped again on the two sketches that he originally thought were "Charles' toys."
Looking at the picture and thinking carefully about what Tijani said, it suddenly became clear.
Wells felt a little emotional. He had a new understanding of Charles and was convinced of his abilities.
On the other hand, Wells was relieved that Tijani did not seem as useless as he thought, and he seemed to have learned something by joining the army.
Seeing Wells staring at the sketch, Charles asked, "Is it difficult to produce these two types of ships?"
"No, no!" Wells looked at them carefully and answered confidently: "There is no difficulty. In fact, they are very simple!"
It's simple indeed.
The first landing craft was basically an engine wrapped around a hull.
The second amphibious landing ship may be more complicated, but it only needs to solve the problem of switching between engine propeller and wheel drive, and everything else is existing technology.
"How many do you need?" Wells asked.
"Twenty each!" Charles replied. "Delivery in two weeks."
"No problem!" Wells agreed readily. This was a piece of cake for his shipyard.
Charles added: "Due to the suddenness of the battlefield, it is top secret, sir!"
"Understood!" Wells answered confidently: "Before they appear on the battlefield, the relevant workers will be kept under house arrest in the shipyard."
(End of this chapter)
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