Chapter 403 People's Military Level

Charles and Matthew spent more than three hours discussing the details of the "Saint Salmon" and the truck cannon, and they didn't even have time to eat lunch.

Until Djoka came over, understood the situation and brought a working meal to the two of them.

It was potato pizza made in the cafeteria, and it actually tasted pretty good. Maybe Ciel was a little hungry at this time.

"It's not something I need to know," Matthew asked as he munched on his pizza, "but are trucks and artillery too dangerous?"

Matthew clicked his finger on the sketch drawn by Charles: "The artillerymen are all on the vehicle, and there is no protection."

Charles agreed with a "hmm" sound. When the artillery shell exploded, the shrapnel spread out radially from bottom to top. The artilleryman on the vehicle was located at a high place and had a high probability of being hit by the shrapnel.

However……

"What matters is what they are used for, Matthew," Charles replied.

"Where?" Matthew cast a puzzled look at Charles: "Isn't it on the battlefield? Everyone must be on the battlefield."

"Of course it's on the battlefield, but there's also front and back on the battlefield." Charles raised his head towards the "Saint-Salmon" parked in the warehouse: "The truck cannon is following the 'Saint-Salmon'."

Matthew said "Oh" and understood.

"Saint-Salmon" charged forward with the enemy's artillery fire and forced the enemy artillery back, and then the truck guns came up.

Ciel was sure the thing would work, even though it looked insecure.

It still exists in modern times, because artillery often requires batch bombing of targets, and self-propelled artillery is often not suitable for batch equipment due to cost issues.

Truck artillery can achieve almost the same firepower output at half the cost of self-propelled artillery. As long as it is used in the right situation, it can work wonders, so it is favored by various countries.

(The picture above shows the modern "Archer" truck gun. Although its performance is good, its unclear positioning loses the meaning of the truck gun. It is more expensive than the tracked self-propelled artillery, but it does not have the off-road capabilities and protection of the tracked self-propelled artillery. Unable to be mass produced)

Quickly stuffing the remaining pizza into his mouth, Charles looked at the time. It was almost time to report back to the military camp.

He said goodbye to Matthew while chewing food, and before leaving, he told Djoka: "Father, the training for steel factory workers should be three months before they can start working."

"No problem." Djoka nodded: "They have already started."

Matthew was a little surprised when he heard this.

Charles requested that the "Saint-Salmon" be refitted within a month, but the steel plant workers were scheduled to start work in three months. This seemed to be wrong.

After thinking for a while, Matthew smiled slightly, seeming to understand Ciel's intention.

…

On the car back to the military camp, Charles flipped through the documents given by Djorka. They were about the operations of "Bernard Company".

Since Charles spent most of his time in the military and was unable to handle company affairs, Djorka could only report to Charles in this situation.

But this is actually not necessary, because Ciel doesn't pay much attention to this large amount of data. He can understand the literal meaning, but he can't understand anything.

In short, as long as it can make a profit.

"General." Laurent, who was driving, tilted his head back: "Italy has launched an attack on the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but the progress does not seem to be going smoothly."

Charles said "Hmm" and continued flipping through the documents. It was strange that Italy's attack went smoothly.

The battlefield is not a pure comparison of forces. The Italian army's tactics are very backward. It is almost a replica of the French "offensive theory" and is still poorly equipped.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire had more defensive experience by this time. They were building multiple trenches in the direction of the Italians. When the Italians were bombarded, the Austrian army temporarily retreated and hid in the second trench, waiting for the bombardment to end. The first trench was added to organize the defense.

Many times the Italian army was doing useless things, but they always knew nothing about it.

"Some people think that Joffre should transfer you to Army Group Eastern." Laurent said.

"What?" Charles looked up at Laurent in surprise.

Who would think so? Don't they know that Xiafei and themselves are mortal enemies?

Laurent saw Charles's reaction in the rear mirror and hurriedly explained: "Because of the recent incident with Schneider, people thought you had reconciled with Joffre..."

Charles suddenly understood that it was the sequelae of purchasing "Saint Shamon".

Schneider claimed to have reached a consensus with "Bernard Company" to some extent, and also made concerted efforts to confront the enemy, leading people to mistakenly believe that Shire would join forces with Schneider.

And Xiafei is from the Schneider family, so naturally he should fight alongside Charles.

Charles sighed lightly. France is a big country and there are always people with unrealistic ideas.

The conflict between Joffre and himself is almost irreconcilable. He desperately needs victory to keep his position as commander-in-chief, but Charles is the one who truly wins and constantly threatens his position.

Laurent added cautiously: "In addition, they believe that you can only cooperate with Italy in fighting under the Eastern Army Group."

Charles nodded slightly. Since the war started, people's military level has indeed improved, and it has improved a lot.

It's just that their expectations for Italy were too high. The war had just begun. Austria-Hungary hadn't passed this level yet, but they were already thinking about cooperating with Italy to attack the German army.

(The blue part of the picture above is the direction of Italy's attack, corresponding to the red marked part of the first picture. If the Italian army goes north through the narrow strip of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and enters Germany, it can attack the Western Front with France)

…

At the French General Headquarters, Joffre also heard similar rumors.

At first, Xiafei thought this idea was ridiculous, so why did he transfer Charles here? Doesn't that mean he admits that Ciel is better than him? How will he, the commander-in-chief, deal with it then?

If Charles puts forward an opinion, will Joffre agree or disagree?

Agreed, winning the battle is all thanks to Ciel.

I don’t agree, it’s all Xiafei’s fault if we lose the battle!

Xiafei felt strange why there would be problems regardless of whether he agreed or disagreed.

After Xiafei thought about it for a while, he finally figured out that the point is that Ciel is always right. If you agree, you will win the battle, and if you disagree, you will lose the battle.

However, Xiafei stared at the map and thought about it, and he found that the battle plan people thought seemed feasible. Once the Italian army broke through the Austro-Hungarian defense line and entered Germany, the German army would be attacked from both sides, and at least it could attack the German supply line.

This is an opportunity to break the ice.

If this opportunity is lost again, the disgruntled parliament is likely to kick him out of the position of commander-in-chief.

Thinking of this, Xiafei did not hesitate. He called the Paris City Defense Headquarters and said confidently:

"General Galieni, I think it's time to prepare!"

"I believe our goals are the same, to drive the Germans out of France!"