Chapter 138 The Talented Colonel
It has been five days and the autumn rain is still falling. Now no one doubts whether France has entered the rainy season.
The road was full of puddles and mud. Laurent slowed down and steered carefully to avoid them. He complained to Charles who was sitting in the back, "This is just the beginning, Lieutenant. It's training me how to drive on the battlefield!"
Charles responded with a smile, thinking that Laurent had never been to a battlefield, where there were more than just puddles like this.
The car drove into Darwaz. The small town in the rain looked much quieter than usual. There were no pedestrians on the streets and the roadside vendors were gone, but the guards were still loyal to their duties, with two people standing on the left and right every few steps.
Charles was a little curious about how Aunt Elisa, who always sold croissants on the street, would do business at this time? And Uncle Eto, who sold potatoes, might be hiding in a tent and bargaining with others?
Aunt Deneuve, who sells pizza, was very smart. She converted her home into a shop, so she was not affected much.
When Charles saw Aunt Deneuve leaning out and waving to him, he quickly reached out his hand in response!
The car stopped suddenly and Charles, who was almost hit on the head, looked forward in confusion. A soldier with an umbrella blocked his way. Judging from the rank on his cuffs and his attire, he was an artillery colonel. There was a car parked not far away, which must have been driven by him.
Since his rank was two levels higher than Laurent, Laurent showed due respect and asked in a low voice: "Hello, Colonel! What can I do for you?"
The artillery colonel ignored Laurent. He walked straight to Charles and said hesitantly, "Are you Charles? Can I talk to you?"
Charles took a look at the rash artillery colonel. Like most Frenchmen, he had a mustache and a pair of high cheekbones.
"You are..." Charles looked at the rain outside, implying that the weather didn't seem suitable for conversation.
The artillery colonel held out his hand to Charles. "My name is Estiny. You probably haven't heard of me, but you must have heard of my tanks. The CA-1 tank that won the bid not long ago was designed by me. I..."
“Boom!”
Laurent rushed over and pressed the artillery colonel into the mud. While trying to hold down the struggling colonel on the ground, he shouted to both sides: "You bastards, come up and help!"
Upon hearing the shouting, several guards immediately ran over from both ends of the street. Someone blew a whistle to call the patrol, causing the neighbors to stick their heads out to watch.
Major Laurent and the guards worked together to take away the man's gun and sword, and yelled at the guards: "How did you let this guy in? He's armed!"
The guard responded aggrievedly: "He is a soldier, a major, and a colonel..."
"What's wrong, Colonel?" Laurent interrupted the guard, "Can you not ask about your identity?"
After a while, Djokovic and Camille also heard the sound and ran over. When they saw the situation, they seemed to understand something and hurried forward to take Charles away.
The artillery colonel, with blood on his lips, struggled and shouted to Charles: "Wait, Charles! I want to talk to you, I mean no harm!"
Charles turned around, looked at the artillery colonel, and nodded.
He comforted the terrified Camille and the still vigilant Djokovic: "It's okay, if he wanted to harm me, he wouldn't reveal his identity first!"
Laurent recalled what had just happened and felt that Charles was right. The artillery colonel could have just drawn his gun.
However, Laurent was still worried, so he personally searched the artillery colonel and even took out the cigarettes in the colonel's pocket.
…
In Deyoka's cabin, the artillery colonel had changed into Deyoka's casual clothes. Because the artillery colonel was a little thin, he looked a little weird in Deyoka's clothes.
Laurent stood at the door with several guards. He didn't even dare to change his wet military uniform, as he was worried that the time he spent changing his uniform would be used by the "suspect".
The artillery colonel shuddered, touched the corners of his swollen mouth, and nodded to Deyoka and Camille: "I'm very sorry for coming to visit without telling you in advance. I caused you to misunderstand!"
"Do you want to come and see the opponent you defeated, Colonel?" Charles asked.
"No, Lieutenant!" The artillery colonel was a little embarrassed: "I hope... I want to know what you think about tanks, Lieutenant!"
Djokovic laughed: "You seem to have forgotten that we are competitors. This is the first time I've heard of someone using this method to get information!"
The artillery colonel shook his head dejectedly:
"I think I was wrong, Mr. Dejoka!"
"I am an ordinary artillery colonel who likes to make some changes and inventions."
"One day, after I heard that Charles had invented the tank, I wondered if I could move artillery up there!"
"I wanted to come to Ciel many times, but..."
Ciel nodded to show that he understood. There was an awkward situation between their "originality" and "improvement", the latter of which was suspected of "plagiarism" in some ways.
For example, the CA-1 is made by erecting steel plates on a tractor chassis, and the tractor chassis used is even the same as the original tank, both of which are "Holt 60".
If there is any difference, one is that it is equipped with a 75MM short-barreled cannon, and the other is that the front of the CA-1 is equipped with a pointed nose and a baffle for cutting barbed wire.
For these reasons, the Colonel of Artillery certainly would not wish to meet Charles.
"Then Mr. Grevi found me!" the artillery colonel continued, "He said he was willing to help me, and even willing to buy my industrial property rights and produce it, and he also owned the tank industrial property rights, so..."
A look of realization appeared on Deyoka's face. Grevi owned the industrial property rights of the tank. With his consent, there would be no problem with the artillery colonel's "improvement".
The artillery colonel looked embarrassed. He tightened his coat, then relaxed: "I should have come to you as soon as possible!"
Camille handed the artillery colonel a cup of steaming coffee. After she was sure that the artillery colonel had no ill intentions, she felt that this was a natural way of hospitality.
The artillery colonel looked at her with gratitude and thanked her sincerely.
Charles suddenly remembered something and asked: "Colonel, you just said your name is..."
"Estiny, Lieutenant!" replied the artillery colonel.
"Estiny?" Charles nodded slightly.
He seemed to have some impression that the artillery colonel, who was usually interested in design and invention, should be Estiny, who was known as the "Father of French Armor".
Actually, the German blitzkrieg should have been first initiated by him, and his "swarm warfare" was probably the prototype of blitzkrieg.
It’s a pity that he was born at the wrong time. The tanks during World War I could not support this advanced combat theory at all.
Shouldn't we recruit this talented colonel for our own use? !
(End of this chapter)
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