Chapter 672 The Power of Life and Death
As Dejoka said, the smooth implementation of the "wartime rationing system" is more important than winning a battle.
For Charles, the undefeated god of war, a victory was just adding a mark to his record. The military and civilians had become accustomed to it and nothing had changed.
However, a series of operations under the "wartime rationing system" dealt a heavy blow to domestic capitalists, causing them to completely lose control of materials.
When necessary, Charles can even "use public power for personal gain".
The materials that landed were counted by the navy controlled by Charles. With just a word from Charles, a certain merchant ship or even several merchant ships would be selectively ignored by the navy.
After landing, these materials will not be included in the national treasury, and they can become "invisible materials" that Charles can dispose of at will.
Military supplies, disabled soldiers, military dependents... Charles can always come up with a large amount of supplies to win over people's hearts and minds, and bribing parliamentarians is not a problem.
More importantly, Charles used this incident to test the French people's tolerance for "dictatorship".
To put it bluntly, this wartime rationing system means that Charles has the power of life and death.
In wartime, supplies are everything. They can determine the life or death of everyone, including the front-line troops.
The fact that supplies are in the hands of the Charles rather than decided by Parliament is, to some extent, the realization of the Charles' "dictatorship".
The French people are very disgusted with "dictatorship" and even habitually oppose it.
The Parliament also took precautions against this, and repeatedly risked defeat in order to weaken the Charles.
But now…
Charles successfully created an atmosphere: if power was not given to Charles, there would be danger, the people would starve, the military and civilians would riot, and the country would perish.
In the end, in order to save the country, Charles had to take on the responsibility in this time of crisis and become the only person who controlled the supplies.
The whole process was smooth and natural, and many people didn't even feel "dictatorial".
The mentality of the French military and civilians also unconsciously changed from "opposing all forms of dictatorship" to "firmly supporting Charles' dictatorship."
They just didn't feel it.
Djoka knew Charles, and he had known for a long time that Charles' ultimate goal was to defeat domestic capitalists and reach the pinnacle of power.
Now, the Shire has begun to take shape.
It’s hard to imagine, Djoka sighed, that it only took less than two years.
Djokovic had always thought this was impossible, but when he suddenly realized he was only one step away from success, he couldn't even believe it was true.
Charles did not go into detail on this topic.
He knew that under the French system, the best option was to do it without pointing it out, because it would make people think it was their choice, not Charles'.
It's like "wartime rationing".
It was with the people's call and support that power was handed over to Charles, not what Charles wanted.
Charles flipped open another document and asked casually, "How is business in America going?"
"It went very smoothly!" Djokovic nodded, his eyes gradually changing from relief to confusion: "You seemed to have known what would happen a long time ago?"
Charles pretended to be confused: "What happened?"
Djokovic flipped back two pages of documents on the desk and said:
"You sell the Garand rifle to the public at half the price."
"They were sold out immediately and ended up on the black market, where the price doubled or even tripled!"
Ciel calmly agreed, "Really?"
"Yes." Djoka nodded and said, "You don't know how popular this rifle is, and you can't imagine who is the main buyer of it?"
Charles shrugged, indicating that he knew nothing.
"It's the gangs, the American gangs." Deyoka had an incredible smile on his face: "I thought Americans would use this rifle for hunting, but I didn't expect they would use it to equip gangs."
Dejoka then turned the document down two pages:
"Look at this. In one month, there were eight gang fights in New York. These are large-scale fights that have been recorded."
"Two of the gangs were wiped out in the gunfight. The U.S. police tried to stop them, but they were beaten to death and injured more than 70 people and fled in defeat."
"Then they sent in the army, but the army was also powerless to stop it."
There is no need to say more about what happened next.
Gangs equipped with "Garand" rifles will show the phenomenon of "big fish eat small fish" and expand rapidly in a short period of time.
The document also records one thing in detail:
The U.S. military sent out Colonel Johnson's tank unit for experiments, but they were still badly beaten.
The gangsters learned to suppress the U.S. firepower by firing three Garand rifles alternately, making it impossible for the U.S. infantry to show up.
However, when the tanks drove into the city and engaged in street fighting, it was difficult for them to exert their firepower and their tracks were blown off by explosives in a short time.
In this battle, the US military lost two valuable tanks and suffered more than 40 casualties.
The gangs fought against the army and actually caused heavy casualties to the army!
Colonel Johnson yelled angrily on the phone: "Compared with their rifles, the weapons in our hands are garbage! If we don't stop this, we will become the only country where gangs seize power!"
That night, Colonel Johnson found Joseph and said, "You must stop selling this rifle!"
"This is a bit difficult, Colonel!" Joseph frowned. "We said in the contract that we are allowed to freely sell light weapons on the market. These rifles are obviously light weapons."
Colonel Johnson swallowed helplessly:
"Yes, they are indeed small arms."
"But you can see that it has caused extraordinary chaos in New York, and the chaos is spreading to other cities."
"It's so fast that we can't stop it!"
Joseph was indifferent: "This has nothing to do with us, Colonel..."
"This won't do you any good, Mr. Joseph." Colonel Johnson said threateningly, "Aren't you worried that the gangsters will take over your arsenal?"
Joseph turned his eyes to the factory and spread his hands: "Unless the gangs are able to produce or even maintain the entire production line."
Colonel Johnson thought about it and felt that it was true.
The gangsters were able to buy the Garand from the arsenal at half price, which meant they were selling it at a loss.
What is the significance of gangsters occupying the Arsenal?
Get a gun at a higher price, but in the end you can’t maintain it?
One day, the arsenal stopped selling weapons and bullets to them and sold them to their enemies, and the gang's death was imminent.
Therefore, the gangs would never dare to offend the arsenal no matter who they offend.
"All right!" Colonel Johnson said helplessly, "We'll buy all your rifles, sir!"
However, Joseph responded, "Unfortunately, it has gone up in price, Colonel. It's now twice the price!"
Colonel Johnson was stunned and was about to get angry, but Joseph interrupted him: "It's already sold for three times the price on the black market, I think..."
Hearing this, Colonel Johnson instantly lost his temper.
(End of this chapter)
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