Chapter 233 Merry Christmas

In Ypres, Belgium, the sky, which had been devoid of sunlight, gradually darkened.

The weather is getting colder and colder, and the originally damp and muddy land here has frozen into ice, and a shovel can only break out a small white dot.

Captain Claude hoped to dig out a climbable "ladder" on the side wall of the trench, which would make it easier for him to stick his head out to see the situation.

But he finally gave up, threw away his engineering shovel, got into the tunnel, rubbed his hands and complained: "We may just hope that the German artillery shells can help us complete those damn fortifications."

The soldiers crowded in the tunnel laughed, passing the few remaining cigarettes in the dim flickering candlelight.

One benefit of winter was that the fortifications were much stronger, the German artillery often froze, and the heat of the war dropped.

In other words, after more than three months of fighting, they thought the war would end soon. They were tired of it.

Lieutenant Denis handed a newspaper to Captain Claude: "Take a look at this, it may keep you warm!"

Captain Claude trembled and took the newspaper, opened it in the direction of the candle, squinted at it, and saw that it read "The Charles will distribute 10,000 marching quilts to frontline soldiers on Christmas Eve."

"It is indeed good news!" Captain Claude said, but his reaction was very dull: "There are too many people on the front line. This batch of marching troops is divided into our hands, and there may only be a few hairs left."

The soldiers laughed again:

"Charles is a very good officer. He always brings victory to France."

"He also sends us supplies, and he never stops."

"But he is only one person, and other capitalists regard him as their enemy and rival, just because he is different from others..."

"No, no." Captain Claude shook his head: "You fools!"

Looking at his confused subordinates, Captain Claude explained: "Do you think other capitalists regard Charles as their enemy just because he is different from others?"

"What's that for?"

"What else do you know, Captain?"

The soldiers gathered around him curiously. In the boring, difficult and dangerous tunnels, fresh and interesting topics are always the most popular.

Captain Claude didn't answer and asked instead: "Think about it, capitalists would rather throw away the milk than leave it to the hungry. Do you know why?"

The soldiers were questioned. Although they knew that the capitalists did this, they didn't know why.

This is indeed unbelievable. On one side are the capitalists pouring unsellable milk into the river, and on the other side are the people who are about to starve to death.

Why not give this milk to people who are starving to death? This will also gain them a good reputation.

Captain Claude replied in a low voice: "The reason is very simple. Among those hungry people, there may be 1% who can afford milk, or 100 people can buy a glass of milk together, but if the capitalists give milk to If you give it to them, they don’t need to buy it. Once the demand pressure decreases, the already irreducible milk price will fall further, which is against themselves!”

The soldiers suddenly realized:

"It's going to keep them from making money."

"It's really disgusting that these capitalists are actually watching people starve to death just for this little money."

"They only think about making money. It's other people's business to lose their lives!"

Soon they thought of the Shire again, and someone asked: "But what does this have to do with the Shire?"

Captain Claude just said "Huh huh" and smiled without answering.

Soon someone thought:

"Shire has used its own financial resources to deliver large quantities of supplies to those on the front lines for free, which will reduce demand on the front lines."

"Yes, it prevents capitalists from raising prices and makes them unable to make money."

"God, the capitalists are against Charles because of his good deeds!"

Immediately in the tunnel, the soldiers cursed the capitalists and expressed their grievances for Ciel.

Suddenly, Captain Claude gave an urgent order: "Silence, silence!"

The soldiers fell silent for an instant, and then under the captain's order, they grabbed their weapons and rushed out of the tunnel. They spread out and leaned in front of the trench to prepare for battle. They thought the enemy would take this opportunity to make a sneak attack.

If you listen carefully, you can hear a little singing coming from the darkness on the other side.

Lieutenant Denis carefully put his head out and listened for a while. When he retracted his head, there was a strange look on his face: "The Germans are celebrating Christmas. These bastards really have a memorable Christmas. I wish them happiness every year. now!"

The soldiers laughed softly, but there was a bitterness in the laughter, because they were also enjoying this "Christmas that they will remember deeply."

Someone jokingly rolled up his hands and shouted to the other side: "Hey Germans, Merry Christmas!"

This humorous behavior made the surrounding soldiers laugh, and some people joked: "Andre, your words are more effective than cannons!"

However……

From the darkness on the opposite side came the response "Merry Christmas", in French.

Then, there were more and more shouts of "Merry Christmas". Some of them had obviously just learned it, and their pronunciation had changed.

Captain Claude realized that the Germans took his men's humor seriously.

But why can't it be true?

"Merry Christmas!" Captain Claude shouted, with sincerity in his tone.

The soldiers were stunned for a moment, and then shouted to the other side: "Merry Christmas"!

Soon there was a little fire on the German side. It was bright at first but then dimmed again.

However, the French soldiers still saw it clearly. It was a Christmas tree. They used candles as decorations. Just sticking out from the trench extinguished a large area. The only little fire...

God, it was a German officer who used his hands to block the wind.

The French soldiers should shoot. It was the enemy, and an officer. He was exposed to the fire, and his upper body was completely out of the trench. The distance was only more than 100 meters!

As long as he shot, he would be dead!

But no one shot, as if some kind of tacit understanding had been formed.

The German officer shouted to the opposite side: "Is everything okay, French? We are almost frozen to death!"

Captain Claude smiled lightly. He understood the humor of the German officer: You don't need to deal with us, just wait for us to freeze to death.

"Everything is fine, Germans!" Captain Claude responded: "We just need to see who can hold on to the end, don't you think?"

People on both sides laughed.

Then everyone understood that in this environment, it seemed unnecessary to kill each other!

Humans have this innate tendency. In times of danger and hardship, they want to unite and overcome difficulties together. Christmas is just the fuse.

At first, they shouted and chatted across the trenches, and soon someone boldly went straight to the "no man's land" in the middle to exchange gifts.

This move was like opening a Pandora's box. More and more people exchanged gifts, including cigarettes, candies, chocolates, and everything else.

In the end, they even invited each other to have a drink in their trenches, and the atmosphere was very harmonious.