Chapter 219 A Gift of Pure Gold
Charles had two purposes in proposing the specious "naval mobile warfare" to Tijani:
One is to use this theory to trap Wells and thus gain cooperation with the Brest Shipyard.
Second, Charles planned to develop torpedoes with the help of Wells.
Today's torpedoes are too primitive. Even if they can be hung on airplanes to bomb enemy warships, it is extremely difficult to hit them. Improving their performance is urgent.
Charles thought he had a good chance of success.
This is not only because Tijani looked admiring and satisfied before leaving, but also because Charles' theory of "naval mobile warfare" is 70% true and 30% false:
It is true that destroyers will become the main force in the future;
It is true that the torpedo will in the future have a greater range than the gun;
This is also true to a certain extent for mobile warfare at sea.
The problem is…
Once the aircraft carrier appears, the naval battle becomes an air battle. No matter how fast the destroyer is, it cannot be faster than the airplane, and mobile warfare based mainly on destroyers will no longer be effective!
But at least for now, the theory is still feasible as the Navy does not know that aircraft carriers do not realize the importance of aircraft.
After Tijani left, Camille curiously opened the gift Tijani had given her. She exclaimed with joy: "A sailboat, so beautiful! We just need such a decoration!"
As he spoke, Camille moved the sailboat to the living room table and placed it there, complaining, "It seems a bit heavy, at least four or five pounds!"
Charles took a look and saw that it was a sailing warship with three decks of cannons. Some of the cannons were being loaded and some were aiming. There were also many sailors and musketeers busying about on the deck, looking nervously preparing for battle.
The point is that it is shiny gold.
Charles thought of something, and he reminded Camille: "Mom, you'd better not put it there."
"Why?" Camille didn't turn around. She kept her eyes on the sailboat. She stepped back a few steps, stood up straight and looked at it. "I think it fits perfectly here. It matches our living room very well!"
Ciel rolled his eyes and glanced at the cheap furniture filling the room.
Djoka noticed Charles's expression. He touched it in confusion, then picked up the sailboat and weighed it, exclaiming, "God, it's...it's pure gold!"
Camille was stunned for a moment, then laughed: "Are you kidding? Who would give a gift of pure gold, weighing four or five kilograms..."
But seeing Djoka's serious expression, Camille asked doubtfully: "Really, is it really pure gold?"
Djokovic nodded. He came from a capitalist family, so he did have this ability.
"It's worth about 60,000 to 70,000 francs!" Deyoka looked at the sailboat and gave an approximate figure: "If we only consider the gold price and not the artistic value, it is very finely crafted, so it may be worth much more than this!"
Camille exclaimed softly and turned to look at Charles: "We should return it to the general, Charles. We can't accept such a valuable gift."
"Don't be nervous, mother!" Charles replied calmly: "It's just a trifle to him, he won't care."
"A small thing, a small thing worth sixty or seventy thousand francs?" Camille looked at Charles in disbelief.
Deyoka understood what Charles meant. He stood up and asked, "This general, he is not an ordinary officer, right?"
"Of course!" Charles answered. "He is Wells's son, his only son!"
Djokovic and Camille looked at each other in surprise. The person just now was actually Wells' son?
…
In the 15th arrondissement of Paris, on the banks of the Seine, the church bells in the distance rang, it was exactly half past ten in the morning.
In a five-story building built along the river, Wells, as usual, sat in a rocking chair in front of the window in his bathrobe, enjoying the cool breeze, admiring the boats passing on the river, and watching the snowflakes falling from the sky, falling into the river one by one and finally disappearing.
He likes watching ships. He thinks they are amazing things, with people being born on board and dying off the boats, and accidents can happen at any time.
If you want to stay alive, you must be prepared and consider every possibility in advance.
But today, Wells couldn't calm down. Although his eyes were fixed on the river, his mind was thinking about the meeting between Tijani and Charles.
What will be the result?
Surprise or disappointment?
There probably is no way out. After all, it is a navy that relies on tonnage and cannons. The entire French navy is helpless, so what can Charles think of!
He would also choose a battleship. No one would refuse the battleship's cannons and defense, especially for an infantry major who loves war.
Wells felt a little ridiculous for pinning his hopes on a 17-year-old child.
There were the sounds of footsteps on the stairs outside the door, and Wells knew that Tijani had returned.
Perhaps it was because Wells believed that Charles had no hope, so he had no hope at all and his eyes were still quietly looking at the end of the Seine.
"Father!" Tijani pushed the door open cautiously, closed it casually and walked to Wells.
He looked sharp in his military uniform, but it might have been better in a navy uniform.
Wells said "hmm", motioned Tijani to sit down next to him, and asked casually, "How did the talk go?"
“I’m not sure,” Tijani replied. “That’s for you to judge.”
Wells had the final say in this regard, but Tijani, knowing that he had given up the Navy, was not qualified.
Wells stood up and walked to the wine cabinet to pour himself a drink.
There was only one cup, and he didn't plan to give it to Tijani, as he thought his relationship with his son had not yet recovered to that level.
"What did he choose?" Wells asked, his back turned to Tijani.
"He didn't choose anything!" Tijani replied.
Wells turned around in confusion: "No choice? He gave up?"
"No, father!" Tijani replied, "He chose the torpedo boat destroyer. He said that was the third faction!"
Wells was stunned, then hummed with interest: "Torpedo boat destroyer? Interesting, why?"
As he said this, he turned his back again and took a sip of the wine, as if he was guessing Charles' intentions.
"Mobile warfare at sea!" Tijani said briefly, "He believes that torpedo boats can protect the safety of the coastline, while torpedo boat destroyers can go out to sea to deal with the enemy fleet. As long as we are fast enough, we are invincible!"
Wells was about to bring his glass to his lips when he heard this and stopped, asking coldly, "Anything else?"
"So, we need to develop torpedo boat destroyers!" Tijani replied: "We need to increase the firepower and defense of torpedo boat destroyers, while ensuring their speed, so that we can quickly destroy enemy destroyers instead of being entangled by them."
Then Tijani added: "The key point is the torpedo. As long as the torpedo has a long enough range and high enough accuracy, the destroyer may be able to sink the battleship out of range!"
Wells said nothing.
He thought for a while, silently took a wine glass, poured a glass of wine and turned to hand it to Tijani.
(End of this chapter)
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