Chapter 249 Legion of Honor

Charles has been really busy during this period. He has not had a holiday since Christmas.

The reason is that the air battle situation on the front line is unclear, and the timing of air battles is often very sudden and short. If Charles is on holiday at home, once there is a war and Charles is notified and rushes to the headquarters, the air battle may have ended.

Charles occasionally mentioned this to Gallieni: "General, I want to know if the holidays I lost are recorded day by day?"

Gallieni just replied cryptically: "New Year's Day is over, Colonel!"

New Year's Day is the fifth day after Christmas. That day, Charles was busy in the headquarters.

What Gallieni meant by this was that Charles would be an adult after the New Year. As an adult and a colonel, it is normal to have no holidays during this war.

...

The sky gradually darkened and the lights came on.

Charles was busy for another day because of the reorganization of the air force.

In this era, even airplanes are new to people, so Charles needs to teach everything about the organization, deployment, and air-ground coordination of the air force.

He stretched and rubbed his sore neck, complaining in his heart: the allowance has not increased by a penny, but the workload is much greater than before. It seems that adulthood is not a good thing!

"Colonel!" Gallieni raised his head to Charles while chewing bread.

Charles understood and stepped forward reluctantly. He thought that the old guy was dissatisfied with something and wanted to make up for it himself.

Gallieni did nothing during this period of time, just picking faults in Charles' reorganization plan, and sometimes asked Charles to explain why the arrangement was made, how to deal with the enemy's countermeasures, etc.

But this time Charles was wrong...

When Charles walked to the desk, Gallieni took out two boxes from the drawer and handed them over with a document, saying calmly: "This is what you deserve, as your contribution to France!"

Charles took a box and opened it in confusion, and there was a medal in it.

Charles looked at Gallieni in confusion, and Gallieni just spread his hands and continued to chew the documents on the bread stick table.

Lieutenant Colonel Fernand happened to pass by Charles, and he was stunned when he glanced at the medal: "God, the Legion of Honor, you got the Legion of Honor!"

Then Lieutenant Colonel Fernand took the medal and cheered to the others: "Look, the colonel got the Legion of Honor, the Knight's Order!"

Everyone in the command cheered, and one after another came forward to shake hands with Charles to congratulate him, looking at the medal with envy in their eyes.

Suddenly someone asked:

"Where is Kobdo? Shouldn't he take some photos now?"

"He has already returned to the newspaper."

"Call him back immediately, he will be so happy, this must be the headline on the front page!"

...

Charles opened another box, which contained another medal, which Charles also did not recognize.

Lieutenant Colonel Fernan excitedly introduced: "This is the Cross of Merit. If you win the Legion of Honor for your military merits, you will automatically receive this medal representing the highest military honor in France!"

Charles said "Oh" and thought to himself that there are so many names.

Charles' reaction was very flat. As a capitalist, he did not value these. He thought that these medals were like the knights' honors in the past. The emperor only needed a few verbal promises or a title to make the knights "loyal" for life and sacrifice their lives for it. Isn't that stupid?

The medals are almost the same. Compared with these things, Charles would rather get some practical things, such as a bonus of several thousand francs.

Galieni noticed Charles' expression and nodded secretly in his heart.

As a person who has experienced it, Gallieni understands that this is just a means for capitalists to win over people's hearts. Giving Charles these medals and honors is just a response to citizens' protests, so as to meet citizens' expectations and achieve the purpose of appeasing people's hearts.

People may not know much now, but Gallieni still remembers it clearly: 27 years ago, Wilson, the son-in-law of the President of the Third Republic and also a congressman, colluded with the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army to sell the Legion of Honor in large quantities.

This thing, which is the highest honor in the hearts of the French military and civilians and is fought for at the cost of their lives, was only sold for a few thousand francs at the time.

After the scandal was exposed, Wilson, the person involved, was only convicted of a minor crime, and was acquitted soon after. Later, he was re-elected as a congressman, and a large number of congressmen and ministers involved were not punished.

With these things, how can the Legion of Honor have any honor at all!

"Hey, Charles!" Someone shouted at this time: "Don't you think we should celebrate?"

Charles was awakened, and he responded sensibly: "That's right, it's worth celebrating. How about the officers' club? All expenses tonight are on my side!"

The headquarters burst into cheers instantly, and the staff were more excited than winning a battle.

"Are you coming too, General?" Charles turned around and asked Gallieni.

"No!" Gallieni shook his head: "Just bring me a cup of coffee!"

Charles responded happily.

Galieni actually didn't lack coffee, the orderly could bring it to him at any time, he just didn't want Charles to feel that he owed him anything.

...

Today is Monday, and there are only a few people in the club.

Most officers will not choose to visit the club on this day, because many documents and affairs that are delayed due to negotiations with the government must be resolved on this day.

But Charles and his group filled the club in an instant. As soon as they entered the door, they couldn't wait to shout to the bartender:

"A cocktail, Lucia!"

"Maybe we should have a glass of champagne."

"Good idea, this is a day worth celebrating!"

...

The female bartender Lucia skillfully poured wine into the cocktail shaker and asked curiously: "What's good today? Did Charles win the battle again?"

"No, no!" Lieutenant Colonel Fernand raised his head to Charles who followed him: "The most worth celebrating today is..."

At this point, Lieutenant Colonel Fernand paused intentionally, and then unexpectedly said: "Charles will pay for all the expenses, let's party, gentlemen!"

The staff cheered, and someone shook the champagne vigorously, and suddenly opened it to spray everyone. The originally dull and deserted club was instantly lively as if it was ignited.

Lucia glanced at Charles, who was surrounded by the crowd, and nodded to another bartender: "Garrel, take my place!"

Garrel took the cocktail shaker from Lucia, looked at Lucia meaningfully, and had a faint smile on his face: "Is he too young for you, Lucia?"

"I heard that he is an adult!" Lucia answered generously: "No one will reject a hero, and a very rich hero!"

(The above picture is the Legion of Honor Medal)

(The above picture is the War Cross Medal)