Chapter 586 You are the hope of France, General
In just an hour, Charles and Gamelin's states were completely swapped.
Documents were delivered to Charles' desk one after another. At first there were not many, only one or two, but soon there were more and more. After half an hour, there were so many that Charles was overwhelmed.
This is determined by the "unspoken rules", or it can be said to be the choice of grassroots officers and soldiers. More importantly, "those who obey me will prosper, and those who defy me will perish."
If an officer commanded the army with an order signed by Gan Molin, he would be regarded as a "target" and would be in danger of death as soon as a war broke out.
But if you hold the order signed by Charles, it is like holding a talisman, and you can command the soldiers as easily as with your own arms and no one dares to resist.
The officers were not fools. Once they realized this, they immediately flocked to Charles and acknowledged his command.
An hour later, even Gamelin's trusted staff officer had to report the situation to Charles.
This was not what the staff officer wanted, but reporting to Gan Molin had lost its meaning: the decision-making power was not in Gan Molin's hands, and it didn't matter whether Gan Molin knew about it or not.
Charles signed the document quickly and asked the staff officer the same three questions as before:
“Is there a review list?”
"Yes, General." The staff officer replied quickly, and ran to his seat like the wind. He flipped through the documents for a while and then hurried back to hand them to Charles: "It's all here, General. This one has been reviewed, and this one is the list to be reviewed."
"Where's the detention list?"
Another staff officer quickly handed it to Charles: "The dozen people who were just put in the detention room are not on the list. I will check it immediately."
Charles said "hmm" and then asked, "If I want to go to the detention room, is that okay?"
"Of course, General." The staff officer replied, "You can go anytime. Do you need me to arrange it for you?"
"No." Charles shook his head. "Order General Christian to send a troop to surround the confinement room. Do not allow anyone to transfer the prisoners."
"Yes, General."
One of the goals of the parliament was to punish the mutinous representatives, and Charles had promised to protect their safety. This was one of the focuses of the "battle" between Charles and the parliament.
Charles was worried that the parliament would take advantage of this "transfer of power" to secretly transfer the mutinous representatives.
If the parliament succeeds, even if Charles regains command as he wishes, his popularity among the soldiers will still be weakened.
Things turned out just as Charles had worried. When Christine led an infantry battalion to surround the confinement cell, more than a dozen cars tried to take advantage of the chaos to transfer the "prisoners".
When they were discovered, the other party shouted that they were following orders and ordered Christine to make way.
Christine took the order document, glanced at the signature on it, and answered bluntly:
"The commander of the 6th Army is Charles, all other orders are invalid!"
"Gamelin is only taking over the command while Ciel is on leave."
"The German spies obviously didn't understand the situation. When they forged the order, they thought the commander hadn't returned."
The subordinates understood:
"Yes, they are German spies."
"These idiots, they're exposed!"
"They want to take our people away from right under our noses!"
…
Not surprisingly, these "German spies" were severely beaten by angry soldiers, leaving them with bruises and black eyes.
If Charles hadn't appeared in time to stop them, several lives would have been lost.
Charles saw Jérémie and Darlan among the "prisoners" being escorted. They were tied up, but they looked at Charles with gratitude.
Darlan was even more grateful. As a nobleman, he knew what was going on. His father was a lawyer, and was later elected mayor of Nehac and member of parliament. More than ten years ago, he served as Minister of Justice in the Merlin Cabinet (18 years ago, then retired and died in 1912).
Darlan knew the parliament's methods and knew that the parliament would certainly sentence the mutinous representatives to death in order to shock the entire army.
Otherwise, there will be a next time, and the next time... mutiny.
Only if the representatives of mutiny are convicted and executed, or even severely denigrated and smeared in public opinion, will no one be willing to lead a mutiny in the future.
They used the same method to deal with workers' strikes: ordinary workers could be spared, but workers' representatives could not be spared.
Darlang understood what this meant. It was not just death, but also the complete collapse of honor and dignity, and it would even affect the family.
He had given up hope when he was thrown into solitary confinement.
He had thought about Ciel's promise.
But it was just a promise. How could Charles go against the parliament for a promise?
Only a fool would believe that there are such people in the world.
This is French politics. What they want is interests rather than justice. This applies to everyone without exception.
However, when Charles stood in front of him, he found that he was wrong. Charles was not that kind of person. Charles was the exception!
"Gentlemen." Charles stood among the soldiers and gave an impromptu speech:
"For these people who are being interrogated and detained, we should know why they are being interrogated and detained."
"If it was because of mutiny, they shouldn't be the only ones arrested."
"They are being held because they are representatives of the soldiers, they say what you want to say, they fight for the interests of all soldiers."
"More importantly, there is nothing wrong with their request for negotiation."
The soldiers nodded in agreement with Ciel's words.
Charles continued:
"Is it wrong to reject a meaningless attack? No, I don't think so!"
"I think it is precisely those officers who do not fully consider the lives of soldiers, who attack for the sake of attacking, and who constantly drive soldiers to the battlefield to die for the sake of their own ranks who are wrong."
"Their behavior is extremely irresponsible, a crime, a murder, and is destroying the foundation and beliefs of France!"
The soldiers cheered to show their support for Charles.
Although Charles seemed to be speaking for the soldiers, he was actually consolidating his own reputation and status.
Among all the generals, only Charles is the one who "considers the lives of soldiers" and ensures that every attack is "meaningful".
Therefore, supporting the idea of "rejecting meaningless attacks" is actually supporting yourself.
The soldiers responded again and again:
"You're right, those officers should be locked up."
"They should fight like the Shire!"
"What's hateful is that there are people who want to deprive Charles of his command and allow those officers who can't fight to tell Charles what to do!"
…
When the shouting subsided, Charles continued, "So, I think the interrogation and confinement should end immediately, and all those detained should be acquitted and reinstated. What do you think?"
The soldiers shouted loudly with their fists clenched, and some of them untied the ropes on the "prisoners".
After being untied, the "prisoners" rushed forward to salute and shake hands with Charles.
Darlan was one of them. He held Charles' hands tightly with both hands, his eyes full of admiration. It took him a long time to utter a few words, his voice choked with sobs: "You are the hope of France, General! We need you!"
(End of this chapter)
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