Chapter 899 The Next Target
There is only one update today, I will make up for it tomorrow, sorry!
…
It was eleven o'clock in the evening.
Charles finally reached a happy agreement with Lyaute, at least on the surface. As for Lyaute's true thoughts, Charles didn't care.
I am the knife and the other people are the fish. Of course, the knife and the chopping board do not need to consider the feelings of the fish.
Charles thought it over and decided to start reorganizing the colony when the time was right.
When the time comes, the colonial troops will be converted into "garrisons" and they should be transferred among each other or even exchanged with local troops.
This is to prevent the "garrison" from forming cliques and forces in the local area, which would then lead to new troubles.
Then, power in the colonies could be decentralized.
The only fly in the ointment was that Charles believed that in order to better "love" the African colonies and give them "freedom", as well as the British colonies, he had to master the Mediterranean.
However, the maritime power in the Mediterranean was controlled by the Toulon fleet.
Charles then knew his next target: the Minister of the Navy and the Toulon fleet he controlled.
While Charles was thinking about what to do, the staff officer came forward and reported: "General, Pershing is outside the door. He wants to talk to you."
When Pershing was under the command of the French army, he didn't need to wait outside the door for a call. But now it is different.
"Let him in." Charles said, closing the "Super Defense Line" design drawing and putting it in the drawer.
Pershing walked up to Charles and shook hands with him with great emotion: "You are right, Lieutenant General, you have always been right. They should have considered your ideas long ago. Because they ignored your warnings, they suffered this failure."
"Your injury..." Charles noticed a piece of bandage sticking out from under the brim of Pershing's hat, although it was not obvious under the light.
Pershing smiled sadly: "Don't worry about it, it's just a superficial wound."
Then he nodded to Charles gratefully and said, "I have to thank you for this. If it weren't for your planes stopping the Germans from chasing me, I might not have been able to come back."
At that time, Pershing's armored vehicle was stuck in a shell crater and could not move. Two German "LK2" tanks behind were slowly approaching them, getting closer and closer, and firing at them with machine guns.
Seeing that rescue was impossible, four Snipe fighters swooped down and strafed the two tanks in turns, paralyzing them on the spot.
Pershing felt very lucky. If it were the German "Upper Silesian" tanks that came, even the French fighter planes would be unable to deal with them.
"No need to be polite, General." Charles said generously: "We are allies, this is what we should do."
A trace of shame flashed in Pershing's eyes.
Charles may not know that the Anglo-American alliance is against him, this guy who has military talent that makes people jealous to the point of madness, but is so pure and kind.
Pershing wanted to remind Charles, but the country's position did not allow him to do so.
Charles took Pershing to the sofa and sat down: "I heard the loss was huge, right?"
"Yes." Pershing looked back with dismay: "More than half of the personnel were lost. I mean the armored forces. Almost all the tanks were lost on the battlefield."
"Don't worry too much about the equipment, it's just a production issue." Charles comforted.
Charles wanted it the most, it was all money.
Although the United States has the production rights for the "Charr A1", it has insufficient production capacity and its engine power has not kept up, which makes it impossible to upgrade the additional armor. Therefore, it still has to rely on the Bernard Group.
"This is one of the reasons why I came here." Pershing said sincerely, "I hope you can increase production, Lieutenant General. We need to re-equip the armored and mechanized divisions."
Without these troops, Pershing would not have known how to fight.
Charles hesitated for a moment, thinking that this might be an opportunity, not just about making money.
"Of course, General," Charles replied, "but there seems to be some difficulty in production."
Pershing asked, "Is it because of insufficient equipment? Or because of high demand?"
"The demand is indeed huge." Ciel replied, "Countries are scrambling to buy the Ciel A1, but that's not the point. I will of course meet the battlefield needs first."
"That's because..." Pershing looked at Charles in confusion.
"It's because of insufficient resources." Charles shook his head: "Although we have recovered a large area of mineral resources in the northeast, as you know, we are currently building a 'super defense line', which requires a large amount of steel."
Pershing said "Oh" and frowned.
Originally this wasn’t a big problem; if there were not enough resources, they could just be shipped from the United States.
However, as the war expanded rapidly, the United States' transportation capacity was extremely tight, and the situation was not suitable for adding to its burden.
At this time, Ciel changed the subject: "But it can actually be solved, it's just..."
Charles's hesitation aroused Pershing's curiosity.
"Perhaps there are some things I shouldn't discuss." Charles said helplessly:
"You know, I must obey the decision of Parliament, and there are still contradictions within France."
"Recently, the colony has been refusing to provide me with resources because of my advocacy of 'fraternity' and 'liberty' issues."
"And the Toulon Navy has the same idea as them."
This was a joint accusation against Charles by the Colonial Consortium and the Minister of the Navy, and they hoped that Charles would compromise as a result.
But this problem has been solved, and Leotai plans to restore the supply of resources as soon as he returns.
Pershing was stunned, then stood up and cursed: "These bastards actually used this method to coerce the troops fighting bravely on the front line, completely ignoring the needs of the battlefield. Because of their selfishness, the soldiers are paying the price with their lives!"
The next second he assured Charles: "Don't worry, General, leave this matter to me, I will make them fulfill their responsibilities."
Charles believed Pershing could solve it.
The Secretary of the Navy's supplies mainly come from the United States, which has considerable influence over him.
At the same time, Pershing would never allow his troops and soldiers to be in danger of being seriously underequipped.
The two things were originally unrelated, but were cleverly connected by Charles.
…
Lyautey's lounge was just opposite Charles' headquarters, and he planned to rest here for a night before returning to Paris after dawn.
Lyautey sat at his desk and stared at the document in his hand for a while. It was the plan given to him by Charles, including the process of converting the colonial army into a "garrison".
There was no doubt that Charles won this negotiation. He always held the lifeline of the colony, and Lyautey had no choice but to obey.
After thinking for a long time, Lyautey sighed and murmured to himself: "This may be a good result. After all, that is Charles, who may become the most powerful person in France."
Or rather, he already is.
Suddenly there was a knock on the door behind him: "Lieutenant General Leotai."
Leothe recognized that it was Charles and hurried forward to open the door.
After entering the room, Charles lowered his voice and said, "I hope you can announce the negotiation results a few days later. There are some things that require your cooperation!"
(End of this chapter)
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