Chapter 297 We Are All Fans of Charles

So, Charles almost holds the fate of the British Royal Navy, and even the fate of the entire Allied Powers.

This is far from being comparable to the Dardanelles.

No matter how stubborn the Minister of the Navy is, he still dares not risk the safety of the entire Royal Navy.

…

Vice Admiral Robeck didn't know this. After he hurriedly ended the meeting, he suppressed his inner unhappiness and called the Minister of the Navy, asking: "What does it mean to cooperate with Charles? Shouldn't Charles cooperate with me? I thought he was the commander-in-chief of the fleet!"

The Minister of the Navy was speechless after receiving the telegram.

The fewer people know about the German Navy's code, the better.

Once the intelligence is leaked, the Germans will change the code and all their efforts will be in vain.

Therefore, the Minister of the Navy decided that even Vice Admiral Robeck should not know about it.

The Minister of the Navy also thought of another possibility: inform Vice Admiral Robeck and let him salvage the code book.

But this seems unrealistic. It was the French Navy that sank the submarine. They knew the exact location while the British Navy did not.

This may not be difficult, after all, it is in that sea area.

But what would Charles think after knowing it? Go around him to salvage?

If Charles is pissed off, and then depth charges are used to bombard the submarine's position, the submarine will be completely blown into pieces and washed away by the ocean current. It will be impossible for the British to find the code book!

The Minister of the Navy firmly believes that Charles will do such a thing.

Because the code book is dispensable to France, but it is related to the survival of the Royal Navy, Charles has a good reason to do so.

Therefore, the Royal Navy has a handle in Charles's hand and can only give in.

To Vice Admiral Robeck, the Minister of the Navy could only answer lightly: "From the current situation, Charles's command is beneficial to the Dardanelles. We all agree that the fleet should fully refer to Charles's suggestions."

The Minister of the Navy originally wanted Vice Admiral Robeck to understand his helplessness and the seriousness of the situation. That's enough.

But Vice Admiral Robeck was deeply hurt when he saw "Charles' command".

What does this mean? Does the commander-in-chief still have to accept Charles' command?

No, this can't be done!

Lieutenant General Robeck, who was overwhelmed by anger, immediately sent a telegram back: "In this case, I think I am no longer suitable to be the commander-in-chief of the fleet. Please send someone else!"

Since there is no command power anyway, it doesn't matter if this commander-in-chief is not the right, Lieutenant General Robeck thought so.

Lieutenant General Robeck's words were somewhat angry. He thought that after saying this, the tone of the Minister of the Navy would be softened, and he could also find a way out.

However, Lieutenant General Robeck was wrong. He did not understand the subtext in the telegram of the Minister of the Navy.

When the Minister of the Navy heard Lieutenant General Robeck say this, he really considered changing people:

Lieutenant General Robeck and Charles did not get along well, and it could even be said that they were incompatible, which might threaten the safety of the salvage of the code book.

In addition, the fewer people who knew about this matter, the better, and General Winter was one of the insiders, and he had always maintained a good relationship with Charles.

Then why not send General Winter to be the commander-in-chief?

As for General Winter being a major general, this is easy, just promote him to lieutenant general. After all, Robeck was promoted from Major General to Lieutenant General before he became the Commander-in-Chief!

Perfect!

…

On the other end, Lieutenant General Robeck waited for a while but saw that there was no reply. He was very pleased with himself. He thought that his "forcing the emperor to abdicate" was successful.

Lieutenant General Robeck thought that they certainly did not expect him to resign. Changing the generals at the last minute had already happened once. If it happened again, it would definitely affect the morale of the army.

Moreover, during this period, he had been attacking according to the Minister of the Navy's wishes. They said that even if there were any losses, they would be responsible...

Who would have thought that at this moment, the staff officer handed Lieutenant General Robeck a telegram with a look of astonishment.

Lieutenant General Robeck took the telegram and saw that it said: "Your application has been approved, General. The new commander-in-chief will arrive as soon as possible! Before that, please do a good job of handing over!"

Lieutenant General Robeck was stunned for a long time and did not react. He looked at the telegram again and again, and looked at the staff officer with a suspicious look.

The staff officer looked helpless: "This is true, General, it was sent by the Minister of the Navy, we have confirmed it!"

Lieutenant General Robeck lost his color instantly. He couldn't believe what a stupid thing he had done. He never thought that they would actually remove him as the commander-in-chief for Charles!

...

General Winter was very grateful when he received the appointment. He knew it was because of Charles, otherwise a "young and strong faction" like him who strongly opposed the Minister of the Navy would have almost no chance of promotion.

But compared with the code book, these are insignificant.

General Winter made a little preparation and set off in a hurry. He flew to Egypt, then flew from Egypt to Malta, and finally took a seaplane from Malta to the anchorage.

The next afternoon, when General Winter arrived, Lieutenant General Robeck was relieved of his post as commander-in-chief and transferred back to China.

Lieutenant General Robeck was very lonely when he left. Only a few officers came to see him off. The sailors looked at him with contempt, and some even spit at his back.

They knew that Vice Admiral Robeck tried to punish Charles for "disobeying orders."

"This is not worthy of sympathy, we don't need such a general!"

"I have never agreed with the orders of the Admiralty as much as I do now."

"Incompetent generals, they only think about their own power and face, and don't care about the lives of soldiers at all!"

…

The last sentence is the core.

There is nothing wrong in principle with Lieutenant General Roback's approach. The army should indeed execute orders rather than act on its own.

But the key point is whether this kind of "acting on one's own" will be beneficial or detrimental to the war.

If it is beneficial, then it is "to be decisive" and "to seize the opportunity", otherwise it is "disobeying orders" that should be punished.

As the commander-in-chief, you should be able to distinguish these.

The soldiers will not think so much. They only know who can win and who can save their lives, they will support them.

…

After General Winter took over the command of the General Headquarters, the first thing he did was to meet Charles on the transport ship "Only".

He smiled and hugged Ciel, then shook hands with Tijani politely: "It's an honor to meet you, General Tijani. I've heard a lot about you. You two fought brilliantly!"

Tijani said "Wow": "You seem to be much easier to get along with than that General Robek."

"Of course." General Winter laughed: "Because we have one thing in common."

General Winter turned his attention to Ciel: "We are all Ciel fans!"

(The picture above shows the British seaplane carrier "Ark Royal" converted from a cruise ship. In December 1914, it was refitted and rushed to the Dardanelles Strait as soon as possible. The seaplanes on it were mainly used for reconnaissance)