Chapter 397 This Is Charles's Method

General Winter was beaming with joy as he recounted how Charles tricked the German "Big Bertha" into range in Antwerp, how he installed "Congreve" rockets on his plane to shoot down the German airship, how he later invented depth charges to blow up submarines, and how he led his troops to the battlefield to change the situation in Gallipoli.

He even spoke without reservation about Charles's strategy of "making a feint to the east and attacking the west" in Gallipoli.

Finally, General Winter sighed: "Charles is right. If we had followed his plan to attack the Dardanelles from the beginning, there would not have been the current stalemate. Our fleet should have entered the Sea of ​​Marmara long ago and even won. We regret it now."

After listening to General Winter's narration, Cadorna nodded secretly.

There was no flaw in Winter's words. If it was a lie, it would be impossible to tell it so flawlessly without any preparation.

At this time, the hesitant Cadorna made up his mind.

Charles was much more important than the victory of the Battle of Cambrai. With a military genius like Charles, it was only a matter of time for the Allies to win, and Italy could not be wrong to side with the Allies.

However, Cadorna still put forward a series of demands on behalf of Italy:

"In addition to the land of Austria-Hungary, Italy can also obtain the territories of Croatia, Slovenia and Albania after the war."

At this time, Cadorna did not take Austria-Hungary seriously at all. He believed that the exhausted Austro-Hungarian army was vulnerable, so it was natural to expand the required territory beyond Austria-Hungary.

"No problem." General Winter responded very straightforwardly. He found the location Cadorna mentioned on the map, which did not conflict with the British and French armies.

"And the interests of Africa." Cadorna continued: "We hope that after Britain and France obtain the German African colonies, they can transfer part of the colonies in Northeast Africa to Italy."

General Winter was stunned. Is this to pull teeth out of the tiger's mouth of Britain and France?

However, after just a moment of hesitation, General Winter nodded and said, "I personally have no objection, but I need to consult London and Paris for details."

This answer reassured Cadorna, as it was indeed not something General Winter could decide on his own.

"In addition," Cadorna put forward the last condition: "Britain and France should ensure that the Adriatic Sea becomes an Italian lake after the war, and agree to modify the borders of Tunisia-Libya and Egypt-Libya."

General Winter found the location on the map and said sincerely, "This also requires consultation, General!"

"Of course," Cadorna replied.

Soon, General Winter sent the conditions given by Italy to the British and French sides one by one.

The British and French governments did their best. They convened dignitaries for discussion overnight, and only reluctantly agreed a few hours later.

Cadorna was very satisfied with the results of the negotiations. After the meeting, he began to gather troops and declare war on Austria-Hungary.

What he didn't know was that Britain and France had no intention of fulfilling the contract from the beginning. They had made up their minds: Italy would take whatever she conquered, and they would not give it up easily if it was conquered by Britain and France, let alone cede the African colonies that originally belonged to Britain and France to Italy.

(Note: Italy got nothing after the war. The reason given by Britain and France was that Italy made almost no contribution, so they refused to fulfill the contract. Italy could not do anything to Britain and France, and the military suffered millions of casualties and the national economy was severely damaged by the war.)

…

Paris, Schneider Arsenal.

James, sitting at his desk, weakly supported his aching forehead.

James did not feel the slightest joy because of the good news that Italy joined the Allied Powers. This was none of his business.

He was overwhelmed by a series of problems that suddenly appeared.

First, in the Battle of Cambrai, the "Saint-Samond" tank completely lost the military's orders, whether heavy or light.

Even though the light "M21" won the battle, the soldiers all agreed that it was the effect of the night battle raid, which still could not cover up the fact that the "M21" was an extremely dangerous equipment and dangerous to their own side.

Secondly, Charles introduced 5 artillery production lines from the UK.

It is said that each of these production lines can produce 6 large-caliber artillery pieces, and 5 production lines can produce 30 pieces, while Schneider's 105MM artillery has a monthly production capacity of only 5 pieces.

This huge gap will put the 105MM artillery at an absolute disadvantage in the market, even if the 105MM artillery may be better.

The most difficult thing is the machine gun storm that just started in Gallipoli.

The machine gun itself is not a problem.

James knew that he had fallen into the trap carefully set by Charles. In order to expand production in a short period of time, James invested more than 70 million francs of funds, and there were more than 20,000 machine guns in stock, all of which were lost because of the appearance of the "Saint Etienne 2" machine gun.

The total loss is estimated to be hundreds of millions, James guessed.

But Schneider was rich and could afford to lose.

The worst thing was that everyone thought this was another "secret operation" by Schneider to suppress Charles, a "dirty political deal" and "collusion between the military and businessmen".

So people took to the streets and gathered in front of the Schneider factory, shouting:

"Schneider is preventing France from winning. Please stop this shameless behavior."

"We need Charles, not Schneider!"

"Schneider is killing frontline soldiers with its poor weapons and despicable means. We will be better off without Schneider!"

...

Along with these shouts, stones, rotten leaves, and rotten eggs flew to the factory.

James felt strange and asked Paulina: "Did I forget? We don't seem to have suppressed Charles in terms of machine guns."

"It's not that you forgot, sir." Paulina replied: "Indeed, we didn't. This is Charles's method."

"Ciel's method?" James looked confused: "You mean, the demonstrators were brought by Ciel?"

Paulina shook her head: "Char may have done nothing, but people will naturally point the finger at us."

James understood instantly.

Similar things have happened so many times that people thought it was Schneider's fault this time.

If it were before, James would have ignored this and they would have made trouble for them, and they couldn't do anything to Schneider.

But this time it's different.

Schneider's workers also went on strike to protest, and people began to boycott the products produced by Schneider because they believed that Schneider was a black-hearted capitalist who only cared about his own interests, regardless of the lives of soldiers and national security.

If this continues, it won't be long before Schneider will be kicked out of the competitive track. Even if he has money and technology, it will not help.

At this time, the phone rang, and Paulina stepped forward quickly. After answering the call, she looked at James in surprise: "Djoka wants to talk to you, sir."

"Djoka?" James looked confused: "Char's father, what is he doing here?"

Then a trace of anger flashed in his eyes: "He must want to see me defeated by Ciel!"