Chapter 290: Talking Skills

Geprat had a good temper. He did not embarrass Robeck but discussed the next stage of coordinated attack with Lieutenant General Robeck in a very graceful manner.

However, Geplatt declared to Robek: "General, although Charles is a colonel, I think it is not appropriate for us to impose orders and combat plans on such a talented commander. This is quite Fighting with his hands and feet tied. Do you agree with this?"

Geprat actually told Robek tactfully that the battle plans they discussed were endless, and in the end, Ciel had to agree.

"I couldn't agree more, General," Roback replied.

Although he was a little unhappy in his heart, he did not show it in the end.

After all, the Shire is quite famous in France. If Robeck forces the Shire to fight, it will not only fail to succeed, but also bring uncertainty to the Anglo-French alliance.

…

Charles's fleet only returned after dark.

This is because Tijani considered that the war was likely to develop into the night, so he added night training subjects.

As soon as the fleet returned to the anchorage and stopped, the signalman reported: "Colonel, General Roback sent a signal. He hopes to board the ship to visit you."

Ciel smiled, this guy finally couldn't help it anymore.

Tijani, who was summarizing training experience with the soldiers on the deck, also heard the news. He ran in excitedly and said "Wow": "I heard that Vice Admiral Robeck of the Royal Navy of the British Empire is going to board the ship in person. What do you mean? Why did he come in person? I guess he wanted the French army to go to war and die."

Although Tijani is seven years older than Ciel, she sometimes looks more childish than Ciel.

…

Charles deliberately staged a similar reception scene. He and Tijani led a group of officers from the 105th Regiment to stand on the deck in a neat formation to greet Robek.

Under the illumination of the light, Charles shook hands with Robeck with a sincere expression and said with a smile: "Welcome, General. We are waiting for your order and your review."

Robeck looked at Charles and the line of French officers in front of him in confusion. They stood under the only two machine guns used for self-defense, but they all held their chests out.

After hesitating for a while, Roback seemed to understand Charles's hint: the British were only worthy of this specification.

Feeling the humiliation, Roback frowned. Just as he was about to have a seizure, O'Connell stepped forward first and said, "Hello, Colonel, we have brought some gifts for you."

As he waved, the soldier behind him carried a box of wine and put it on the deck.

"Sorry, General." Charles glanced at the "gift" and replied, "I can't accept such a gift. I don't want to get drunk and command the battle."

The French officer behind him unconsciously let out some knowing laughter.

Robeck was a little embarrassed, and Ciel was mocking them for being unprofessional from another angle.

However, this is indeed the case. Although the United Kingdom is still number one in the world at this time, the corruption and bureaucracy within the military have become appallingly serious.

This can be seen in the recent Boer War.

(Note: When the Boer War broke out in 1896, the total number of men, women, old and children in the two small South African countries of Transvaal and Orange was only 440,000. However, the British army mobilized forces from the mainland, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand and invested a total of 450,000 It took the army two and a half years to win, and the war suffered huge losses. It was called "Britain's last fig leaf."

Ciel's conference room was piled with documents, maps, and models, and training subjects and some tactical plans were scrawled on the blackboard, which looked a bit messy.

But Charles was proud of it. After asking Roback and his team to sit down, he raised his head and said, "As you can see, General. We are actively preparing for war, and it may take a while."

Roback was silent. After boarding the ship, he did feel the atmosphere of intense training, which meant that Charles and his team were not slacking off as he thought.

In contrast, the "Queen Elizabeth" was full of singing, dancing, contempt and war.

The "Queen Elizabeth" is like a high-ranking officer. She has the thickest armor and the largest-caliber artillery, but every time she fights, she does the safest work in the safest position: she is just outside the range of the enemy's fort. Carry out bombing.

For some reason, Lieutenant General Robek's originally planned speech suddenly became a little hard to say.

When the silence was about to break, O'Connell interrupted with a smile: "We have always known it, Colonel. So, we came here this time just to discuss how to cooperate in combat. You know, our army has many elements, and they don't even speak the same language. We are worried that if the 105th Regiment goes into battle, it will cause accidental injuries.”

"Yes." Lieutenant General Roback said expressionlessly: "So, we need to know your plan, when to attack, where to attack, etc."

This is a very clever way of speaking. He is asking for the plan but actually asking Ciel to set the time to attack.

Of course, Charles would not be easily fooled. He answered lightly: "I think it's too early to say this, General. My soldiers have not adapted to the climate here, and their training is not sufficient. I heard..."

Charles turned his attention to Tijani: "The Allied landing force had been training in Egypt for nearly a month before attacking the Dardanelles?"

"Yes." Tijani replied: "It seems that he trained for 28 days. I'm not sure."

In fact, it took more than a month of training. Tijani deliberately said "28 days" to satirize the British who dared not launch a substantive attack until 28 days after the war started, but before that they were just scratching the surface.

Lieutenant General Robek could not understand the meaning of the words. His face suddenly turned as red as pig liver, and he glared at Charles and Tijani angrily.

Charles pretended not to see it, and remained friendly and spoke calmly: "General, if your army still encounters various situations and failures when landing after such a long period of training and preparation, I think we should at least prepare for this long. time."

But he said in his heart: Play with soft knives with me, don’t you know that Hua Xia is an expert?

"Yes." Tijani added seriously: "The French army cannot be stronger than the British army. It will probably take longer to train..."

"That's enough!" Lieutenant General Roback stood up angrily: "Train for a month, and the war may be over by then, Colonel!"

Charles smiled nonchalantly: "General, can we make a bet to see if the war will end in a month?"

This war in history dragged on until January next year, ending with the complete withdrawal of troops by the agreement countries.

But Lieutenant General Roback thought it would be over in another month!