Chapter 490 Means

Britain was also short of supplies, even "more short", after all, the Germans were using submarines to blockade the British mainland.

But the British relied on their reputation as the "world's first power" and the friendship of the United States to obtain loans to buy a large number of arms and supplies.

Now, they use these supplies to operate, forcing France, which can't even match military boots, to surrender, trying to gain control of the war on French soil.

...

Charles is sharing dinner with Steed and Dominic at the Ritz Hotel.

Charles has never felt that steak and tuna are tempting to him, but after eating too much bread, he suddenly found that they are all delicacies. He actually gobbled them up at the table, stuffed his mouth with food and couldn't wait to drink a sip of red wine.

When he finally stopped after eating and drinking, he touched his stomach and found that he was full.

Steed looked at Charles like this and felt a little incredible: "You should bring some food, General."

As a partner, he knew that Charles was very rich, and he couldn't starve even if there was a shortage of supplies. Now it seems that this is not the case.

Charles swallowed the last bite of food and greedily drank a sip of red wine, and answered helplessly: "As a commander, if you take the food to enjoy alone, what do you think the soldiers will think?"

Steed was stunned. As a businessman, he had never thought about this question. He always thought that it was natural that the general's food was better than the soldiers.

Dominic agreed with this: "If you do this, the soldiers will certainly not believe that you can advance and retreat with them. They will think that the commander is just using them, and then they will not believe anything the commander says, that is, they have lost trust."

"Yes." Charles took the napkin and wiped his mouth. This is the main reason why Charles strictly requires himself to have the same food standard as the soldiers.

It is difficult to build a dam, but it only takes a few small ant holes to destroy it.

Steed nodded with emotion. Commanding operations on the front line is not as easy as it seems on the surface. It is much more difficult than imagined.

But he laughed again afterwards. This should vary from person to person. Joffre, the commander-in-chief, is very relaxed. He can always eat and sleep on time and even take pride in it.

"They decided to expel Joffre from the army." Steed said, "Joffre can only spend the rest of his life in the city of Vausarte."

Vausarte is Joffre's hometown, where he has an old house.

If he retires normally, he can get a villa allocated by the government and three service officers, as well as generous allowances.

Now there is nothing.

Dominic shook his head: "He still tells everyone that everything is Charles' conspiracy. Is he really crazy?"

"No one will care about this." Steed said.

Charles did not respond. In his heart, Joffre has been eliminated. There is no need to discuss the future of a person without a future.

Steed seemed to notice this and changed the subject wisely: "Considering that you need to command in Belgium, the parliament intends to appoint Pétain as the commander of the Verdun theater. What do you think?"

Steed's implicit meaning is that if Charles is not satisfied with this arrangement, he can still fight for it in the parliament.

But Charles just said "um" and had no reaction.

It is natural to use Pétain to defend Verdun. In history, he was asked to defend it, and he successfully defended it.

Although he was somewhat cruel in the process of defending, he formed a supervision team and drew a "supervision line", and anyone who dared to retreat to this line would be killed without mercy.

But he defended it anyway.

Steed found it difficult to understand Charles' reaction: "Do you have any objection to this, Brigadier General?"

Charles looked confused: "Do I need to have an opinion on this?"

This question stumped Steed, and he looked at Charles blankly, not knowing how to continue.

Dominic explained on his behalf:

"The Battle of Verdun has improved under your command, Brigadier General."

"Everyone knows that Fort Douaumont is important, and its recovery is of great significance to the defense of Verdun."

"This is your credit, and you should continue to command and move towards victory."

"But now it is taken over by others, which is to sit back and enjoy the fruits of others' labor."

Steed nodded:

"Yes, I heard that Pétain has rushed to Verdun to learn your 'reverse slope defense tactics'."

"In addition, there are directional mines. He has placed an order with us through the military."

After a pause, Steed added: "But we can refuse..."

Dominic hurriedly objected: "If we refuse, people will immediately think of Charles. They will think that Charles disregards the battle and the lives of soldiers for his own interests."

Steed smiled lightly: "There are many ways to refuse, such as insufficient production capacity, poor quality, and raising prices."

The things are produced by me, and it is not up to me to decide whether they are round or square?

"Father." Dominic was a little anxious: "We can't do this."

Dominic has always been kind-hearted. He believes that the overall interests of the country must be taken into consideration no matter what.

Steed glared at Dominic with a stern face: "Otherwise? Let others take away the credit of the brigadier general?"

Dominic was speechless. This was indeed unfair to Charles.

Steed turned his eyes to Charles: "I think it's time to put pressure on the parliament, brigadier general, to let them know that they can't have the final say on everything."

Charles didn't rush to answer. He asked the waiter to replace the red wine with coffee, added sugar and stirred it gently with a coffee spoon, and asked: "Do you think things are that simple, Mr. Steed?"

"Then, what else can there be?" Steed's eyes were filled with surprise and confusion.

What did he not see?

"The parliament is creating an enemy for me, sir." Charles said calmly: "If this continues, my reputation in the army will be unmatched, and they hope that someone can compete with me."

Steed said "Oh" and suddenly realized: "That's right, so they deliberately gave the credit to Pétain."

"Putting pressure on the parliament with directional mines will only suit the parliament's wishes." Charles analyzed: "They are very willing to see my image in people's minds collapse, while Pétain is fighting hard against the enemy in Verdun, and his reputation is growing day by day."

"But what can we do?" Steed looked helpless: "Let Pétain win this battle? His reputation will also rise."

Charles' answer was simple: "Help him, and I will also write down the key points of the 'reverse slope defense tactics' in my notes and give them to him."

Steed was stunned, helping his opponent?

Charles added: "The Petit Journal should also play a role."

Steed suddenly woke up.

Yes! Put all these things in the newspaper.

If everyone knew that Pétain won with the help of Charles and used Charles's tactics, then Pétain's victory would be under Charles's halo.

Pétain would even thank Charles for this and would not become his enemy!

Steed stared at Charles in a daze. He felt that Charles had matured a lot and his methods were more sophisticated.

Dominic secretly breathed a sigh of relief, looking at Charles with respect and admiration, he seemed to be able to easily turn all difficulties and crises into nothing.