I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France
Chapter 126: After Modification - 126 I Just Commanded that Battle

Chapter 126: After Modification: Chapter 126 I Just Commanded that Battle

The rain in Ypres continued to fall, the battles had come to a pause.

The losses of the German Army were significant, over ten thousand casualties in two days of attacks, while the Belgian Army’s losses were negligible.

Even more important was the emerging consensus among the German Army, including General Kross: they couldn’t defeat their enemies across the battlefield, even though the German Army still had the advantage in numbers.

Thus, General Kross, under pressure from Chief of Staff Fajin Han, repeatedly refused to organize attacks.

In a telegram to Fajin Han, he said: "If the enemy maintains air superiority, our so-called attacks would merely be sending soldiers to the front to become targets. I refuse to do this!"

It wasn’t long before the reinforcements from France arrived, solidifying General Kross’s resolve to abandon any offensive.

General Fuxu took over the command at Ypres.

Everyone thought General Fuxu would immediately launch an attack, as military and civilians alike were accustomed to his combat style.

However, to everyone’s surprise, he did none of that.

He gradually replaced the Belgian Army with the French Army, establishing a rotating system to guard the front lines.

And then that was all he did, leaving troop deployments untouched, with artillery still positioned five kilometers behind the lines without any adjustments.

Many people, including Albert I, speculated: Charles’ deployments were so perfect that any changes by Fuxu would be wrong.

General Charles’ analysis might explain Fuxu’s state of mind at the time:

"General Fuxu is very smart. Having achieved great victories on the foundation of Charles’ defensive approaches, launching an offensive that results in heavy losses without any progress would make him a laughingstock. His military theories could even be discarded."

"So, he’d rather let others speculate, even if that speculation is also disadvantageous to him!"

...

Charles wasn’t concerned with these matters; he had just begun a two-day vacation.

Sometimes Charles thought about what he would do if his vacation started in the middle of a battle. Would he abandon the battlefield and his squadron to go home for vacation?

One wonders if Gallieni would allow it!

Luckily, such a situation hadn’t occurred yet, including the time he was tricked into going to Antwerp but managed to "rush" back the following night.

Charles had breakfast at home and preferred Camille’s apple pastries over the officer’s mess hall meals. The main advantage was not having to eat again under Camille’s insistence after a meal at the mess hall.

While Charles was enjoying the steaming, crispy apple pastry with his milk, the "Little Daily" was "thoughtfully" delivered to his door by the neighbors.

"It’s Ypres this time, Madam Bernard!" the neighbor exclaimed. "Charles has fought another brilliant battle!"

Camille’s face turned pale as she glanced at Charles, quickly grabbing the paper. After a quick glance, she waved it at Charles, her eyes filled with disbelief and anger: "Have they sent you to the frontline again?"

"No, Mom!" Charles explained, "I’ve been in Paris the whole time. I just commanded that battle through phone and telegrams!"

Camille relaxed, she only cared about whether Charles was on the front line; she didn’t need to understand or care about anything else.

"Command?" Dejoka said in shock, taking the paper from Camille. As he skimmed through it, he stopped eating.

Looking up at Charles, Dejoka couldn’t believe it: "You mean you commanded the Battle of Ypres?"

"Part of it!" Charles corrected.

"Which part?" Dejoka asked.

"The aircraft part!" Charles was unsure if he should reveal the specifics: "Also, some artillery was involved, but not much!"

Artillery positioning decisions were made by Charles.

For example, where and when the artillery should fire. Other aspects like logistics were managed by General Gallieni.

Dejoka swallowed hard.

Recently, he had heard some talk about the French Army mounting machine guns to planes and scoring a major victory at Ypres. The German Army, though gathered in several times the numbers, dared not advance recklessly.

At that time, Dejoka suspected it might have something to do with Charles, and now it seemed he was right.

"I hope you didn’t do this just to sell tractors!" Dejoka laughed.

Charles nodded: "It does have something to do with selling tractors!"

The two exchanged smiles.

Everyone’s attention was on the planes and the positions, or the artillery that killed or wounded more than ten thousand enemies.

Almost no one noticed that four artillery regiments, with a total of 152 cannons, were dragged into the mud of Ypres by tractors.

Additionally, more than 300 tractors were busy shuttling between the battlefield and the railway station, transporting ammunition and supplies, and bringing back the wounded from the frontline.

Gallieni had initially purchased 500 "Holt 60" tractors from Charles. Soon after, he ordered another 500, at a price of 2,500 francs per unit.

With just those two orders, Charles recovered 2.5 million francs.

It should be noted that Charles had purchased these "Holt 60" tractors from Francis at a low price of 900 francs each, reselling them for a profit of 1,600 francs each, which was pure profit.

And this wasn’t the end of it; Charles still had 800 "Holt 60" tractors in hand. As the rainy season arrived, it was almost certain that the military would increase its purchase, allowing him to make another substantial profit.

In just this transaction alone, Charles had doubled his wealth.

Camille wasn’t aware of the tractor business and curiously asked: "What tractors?"

"Nothing!" Dejoka replied. "We’re talking about the business at the tractor factory!"

Dejoka signaled to Charles with a glance, indicating he intentionally let Camille misunderstand, feeling that matters involving Francis need not be known to her.

...

Francis, sitting alone on the sofa in his villa, puffed "pada pada" on his pipe, his face darker than the burning tobacco.

He realized he might have been duped. He heard the military had purchased a large batch of "Holt 60" tractors for the battlefield, yet he received no orders from the military.

The only logical explanation: the batch of "Holt 60" the military obtained was the same one he recently sold to Valtan, essentially his stock!

An Algerian noble?

Transported to Algeria for farming?

All lies, he clearly resold them to the military for a huge profit!

And why didn’t Grevy and Arman, those in the assembly, hear or warn him?

Could it be... they were the ones behind this?

Francis suddenly felt isolated, as if everyone was betraying him, and he alone was left in the dark!

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