Chapter 396 You Played a Big Role
The night in Paris in May, like a frivolous woman, quietly descends upon this city of light.
The lights on both sides of the river gradually lit up, from far to near, and the river water glowed red against the backdrop of the night, as if countless stars had fallen into the mortal world.
The leaves of the paulownia tree swayed gently in the breeze, making a rustling sound, as if they were whispering about today's battle.
(Note: During the Louis XIV era, Paris developed large-scale sewer and lighting systems, making it the first city in the world to have public lighting at night. They used thousands of candle-lit street lamps to illuminate 912 streets in Paris, so it was called the "City of Light")
At that time, Charles was sleeping soundly in the dormitory when he was suddenly awakened by a burst of cheers. He turned over and sat up from the bed, and before his mind was clear, he skillfully opened the door in the dark and ran towards the command center where the sound came from.
This was a habit Charles developed during battle. Sometimes he felt that his body and soul were separate. The former would consciously follow a set of wartime routines without having to think about it.
When he ran to the command center, Tijani had also arrived, along with several staff officers. All of them were in pajamas, looking at the communications soldier on duty with a confused look on their faces.
"General." The signalman ran to Charles and reported excitedly, "They have joined us, Italy. Just now, they declared war on Austria-Hungary and urgently mobilized the army!"
Everyone was stunned, and then they cheered like the signalmen, and some people hugged each other to celebrate.
Only Charles looked calm, thinking to himself, "What else could it be? It's just this!"
Charles said "hmm", handed the telegram back to the signalman, yawned, and turned to walk towards the dormitory.
Tijani quickly caught up with him from behind, with a puzzled tone: "Brigadier General, you don't seem to take this to heart?"
"Should I take it to heart?" Charles asked, slowing down his pace.
“Of course,” Tijani replied. “Having a nation join us, and having it win you over, isn’t that a great victory? This war could end, and you don’t care.”
Tijani looked Ciel up and down and he acted like nothing happened.
Charles looked at Tijani in disbelief. These guys actually thought that the war might end with Italy's joining!
But if you think about it, it seems to be reasonable. At that time, the Allies and the Central Powers were evenly matched. The joining of Italy could easily tip the balance in favor of the Allies.
But Charles knew that was not the case.
Historically, Italy assembled millions of troops to launch an attack but was blocked by tens of thousands of troops from the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the Isonzo River area and could not move forward. After Germany recovered and sent reinforcements, Italy was almost destroyed.
Did Ciel need to cheer for this ally? And fool himself into thinking that the war would end because of this?
Charles sighed softly and glanced at Tijani with pity: "I will continue to dream, you do yours!"
Without further explanation, he walked into the dormitory, closed the door, went to the bed and fell straight onto it like a zombie.
I was thinking in my mind that I should tell the signalman tomorrow not to make a fuss about Italy and disturb people's sleep!
…
In fact, it was not just Tijani who thought so. The citizens of Paris, the French people, and even the entire Allied military and civilian population thought so.
That's Italy, a big country that can easily recruit millions of troops.
The French army now has only a few million soldiers, and with these troops, it has fought back and forth with the Germans. With a million Italian troops fighting the weakest Austro-Hungarian Empire with a 5-fold advantage in strength, isn't that as easy as walking across a bridge?
So the next morning, when people saw the news in the newspapers, the whole of Paris was boiling, the streets were filled with cheers, and people were discussing excitedly:
"Charles dealt a heavy blow to the Allies. The victory at Cambrai enabled us to successfully win Italy, and Italy's joining will completely end this war!"
"Yes, it makes Gallipoli less important, and the Allied flanks are exposed to the Italian front."
"No, no, the victory in Gallipoli is equally important. It can tie down the Allied forces!"
…
By now in the war, many citizens who knew nothing about military affairs have become semi-military experts. They can talk about the war situation and some of their ideas are quite reasonable.
After getting up, Charles ate the bread brought by the orderly as usual. Soon he received a call from General Winter.
"You played a big role in this, Brigadier General," said General Winter.
"I know." Charles replied lazily, "Everyone says that about the victory of the Battle of Cambrai. I've heard it so many times that my ears are callused..."
"Do you think it's the Battle of Cambrai?" The voice on the phone had a hint of laughter.
"What else could it be?" Charles asked doubtfully.
General Winter replied: "I just said, 'You played a big role,' Brigadier General!"
Only then did Charles understand what General Winter meant, because of "Charles".
Charles was right in his guess. The person sent by Italy to negotiate with General Winter this time was not Foreign Minister Sonlino, but the weathered 65-year-old Italian Chief of General Staff, Luigi Cadorna.
As soon as General Winter saw Cadorna show up, he knew that this was almost certain. Cadorna was a heavyweight figure in the Italian military, and his appearance meant that Italy was ready to declare war on Germany and Austria.
General Winter felt relieved and handed over the prepared information, saying respectfully: "General, this is the details of the Battle of Cambrai. We advanced a total of 8 kilometers and annihilated tens of thousands of German troops. It is obvious that we are winning..."
General Winter had thought that this was what Cadorna was most concerned about: the Allies were winning, which meant that Italy was on the right side.
However, Cadorna did not open the document, he did not even glance at it.
"That's not what I want to know, Lieutenant General." Cadorna's voice was a little hoarse, but his tone was steady: "I want to know about Charles and his inventions. Are those legends true?"
General Winter was stunned: "Of course it's true, General."
Then General Winter became nervous again: "It's just that I don't have any information about him."
There was a hint of regret in Cadorna's eyes.
Seeing that the negotiations were about to reach a deadlock again, General Winter hastily added: "But I am a good friend of Charles, General. We met in Antwerp when he was still a second lieutenant. I know everything about him, including his inventions."
"Really?" Cadorna looked at General Winter with interest: "I'm ready, Lieutenant General, tell me what you know!"
(End of this chapter)
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