Chapter 543 Public Opinion Guidance
Public opinion was far more intense than Tijani's calm account.
The citizens of Paris were in a frenzy. Although it was an era of material shortages, they still emptied their pockets to buy a glass of liquor on the street to celebrate with each other.
The British army lost hundreds of thousands of lives at the Somme without making any progress, while Charles's army easily captured the impregnable fortress at Namur.
France once again outshines Britain!
"I think the British should be led by Shire. They don't know how to fight."
"Yes, times have changed. Now should be the era of tanks, but the British are stubbornly using cavalry, which is simply stupid."
"It's not just stupid, they are wasting the lives of their soldiers. This is murder. With hundreds of thousands of casualties in half a month, they are going to wipe themselves out!"
"Don't talk. Isn't it good to just leave it like this?"
…
Then people burst into laughter and a sense of pride arose.
People don't talk much about Nivelle's failure, perhaps because he is a stain and a shame on France, and they are reluctant to talk about it or even deliberately downplay it.
But newspaper opinion tended to go in another direction.
The Little Daily was blunt and its comments were full of sarcasm:
"We should vindicate General Nivelle. He was very prescient. He might not have tried to kill Charles under British manipulation as most people thought."
"Because it turns out that Namur cannot kill Charles. It can only withstand Charles' attack for 35 hours!"
"We were all wrong. We misunderstood Nivelle. In fact, he was the one who believed in Charles the most and knew Charles' strength the best. This is knowing how to use people wisely!"
…
Newspapers are relatively serious publications, but humorous statements like these are more damaging because they can spread more quickly among the people and be treated as jokes.
As a military newspaper, the Meritorious Newspaper still maintains its own non-opinion and style, but instead analyzes the equipment used by Charles in Namur in a methodical manner:
"In this battle, Ciel deployed a total of four new types of equipment that had never been seen before."
"The first one was a rocket launcher, which successfully broke through the blockade of the German 105MM howitzers and achieved an overwhelming victory, which had never happened before in the history of artillery battles."
"The second model is an armored bridge-laying vehicle, which can build a steel bridge over the anti-tank trench within seven minutes at the fastest."
"The third one is a submachine gun. It is a gun developed by Ciel specifically for close combat. It can fire continuously and has a terrifying 71-round capacity. It is invincible in close combat."
"The fourth one is not a new piece of equipment. It is a shotgun used for hunting. Many people think it is not suitable for the battlefield, but Charles made a slight modification to make it a powerful weapon for conquering enemy trenches."
…
They seem impartial, but they are actually advertisements, and every word is business.
There is even a long analysis of the role and tactics of each piece of equipment.
Except for rocket launchers.
The rocket launcher is still kept strictly confidential. It is only mentioned briefly without even a photo, and it is not sold to the public.
It has weaknesses. Once the German army knows the detailed data and tactics of the rocket launcher, it is likely to be countered in war.
The advertisement was very successful. As soon as it was published in the newspaper, orders came to the Saint-Etienne Arsenal like snowflakes.
Buyers include the United Kingdom, the United States, Italy, Russia and so on.
Among them, Russia ordered 10,000 submachine guns at one time.
It is said that when the Tsar saw the pictures and data of the submachine gun, he exclaimed: "This is the gun we need. It is tailor-made for us. It is incredible. Even the aesthetics are in line with Russians!"
"Le Petit Paris": "This battle has shown us the incompetence of the commander-in-chief. We can't help but think about a question: Why did we elect another incompetent commander-in-chief after Joffre stepped down? Is it so difficult to appoint someone who knows how to fight and command as commander-in-chief?"
Le Matin: "Nivelle is undoubtedly responsible for the tragedy on the Somme. He even told the soldiers that it would only take a few days for our army to win and go home to celebrate, but this is not the case. More than ten days have passed, and apart from casualties on the Somme, we can't see any sign of victory!"
Most other newspapers also criticized Nivelle, and some even made calls in a radical tone: It would be dangerous to let Nivelle continue to serve as commander-in-chief. Not only would he harm the soldiers, he might also continue to persecute Charles!
…
In the town of Darwaz, the first thing Camille did every morning after getting up was to prepare breakfast.
Now things have changed. She is used to going out for a walk after getting up and buying a copy of each different newspaper. When she comes back, she immediately reads what happened today about Charles.
Sometimes, if there is no time to prepare breakfast, I will bring a glass of milk for Djokovic to eat with bread.
That morning, Djokovic went downstairs and found that there was not even any milk. Camille had been sitting at the dining table reading various newspapers, his face pale and his brows furrowed.
Seeing Djokovic coming down, Camille said worriedly while holding the newspaper:
"I don't understand, why are there so many people trying to harm Ciel?"
"French Commander-in-Chief, why did he do this?"
"Hasn't Charles always been helping France win?"
Djokovic shook his head helplessly: "There are some things you don't understand, Camille. It's not as simple as you think."
"Yes, I really don't understand." Camille became excited. "But I know that Charles saved their lives since he saved Paris. Not only are they not grateful, but they are trying every means to frame Charles. How can such a person become the commander-in-chief of France and command all French soldiers to fight?"
Djokovic didn't know how to answer because what Camille said was the truth.
He walked into the kitchen silently and made himself a bag of instant coffee and some bread.
Ever since Camille developed a hobby of "collecting" newspapers, breakfast often lacked milk, and he had to stock instant coffee at home.
"We should do something," Kamil said. "Someone suggested that we lead people to protest on the streets..."
Djokovic, who was drinking coffee, almost choked: "No, you can't do this!"
"Why?" Camille asked back, "I can't let this go on. It will hurt Charles!"
"The ones who really want to harm Charles are the British, Camille." Djoka pushed the newspapers on the table and said, "Do you know why all these newspapers are blaming Nivelle? Because the British are trying to shift the responsibility and focus to Nivelle to exonerate themselves!"
Camille was shocked beyond words.
She found that she knew too little and was only superficial.
In addition, those who want to harm Charles actually include those damn British, France’s allies?
Poor child, it’s not easy for him!
(End of this chapter)
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