I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France
Chapter 168 - 68 This is a Cannon

Chapter 168: Chapter 68 This is a Cannon

The meeting room of the Ritz Hotel in central Paris.

Outside, it was still drizzling with a chill wind, but inside it was warm and cozy thanks to the burning stove.

Steed arrived at the meeting room half an hour early to wait.

Today was Halloween. He walked to the window, smoking a cigar while watching with great interest the lit jack-o’-lanterns on the street below.

An amusing scene popped into Steed’s mind: Shire leading other kids to knock on doors, shouting at the homeowners, "Trick or treat!"

If that were the case, he wondered how the homeowner would react.

Probably stand there in a daze and forget to give out candy!

Just then, Steed saw a black Ford Model T heading towards the hotel entrance. He realized it might be Dejoka and Shire’s car and quickly put out his cigar and opened the curtain to ventilate the room.

This was Steed’s first meeting with Shire, and he didn’t want to leave a bad impression.

Suddenly, Steed felt nervous; he didn’t know whether to sit and wait, stand by the door, or go out to greet them.

Finally, he decided to sit back in his chair and pretend he knew nothing, but he still felt uneasy, unsure where to put his hands and feet.

Soon, Shire and Dejoka arrived.

The butler pushed open the door from outside, and Dejoka, very politely addressing the peculiar-looking Steed, called out, "Mr. Steed, sorry to keep you waiting!"

Steed, feeling as if granted a great reprieve, quickly stood up to shake hands with Dejoka. When shaking hands with Shire, he felt inexplicably excited: "I’ve heard so much about you, Shire. Very happy to meet you!"

"Very happy to meet you, sir!" Shire replied calmly, glancing at Steed with a hint of curiosity on his face.

Shire didn’t understand why Steed seemed a bit tense. As the owner of Saint Etienne, he should have seen big scenes and grand occasions; what was so special about this situation?!

Steed sized up Shire for a moment before reacting, uttering an "uh" and walked to the meeting room, warmly inviting the two to sit while saying, "I’m sorry for meeting my partner formally only today, you know, it’s out of caution!"

"I understand, Mr. Steed!" Shire replied.

Shire had a military background, so meeting Steed, a capitalist, must be done discreetly. Like how Gallieni secretly met Shire previously, otherwise, it would easily be seen as military-business collusion.

This is why Gallieni could discuss grenade prices and place orders with Shire but officially transact with Saint Etienne.

Everyone understood what was going on, but formally it had to be done to avoid criticism.

The butler served coffee to everyone, surprisingly with an Algerian flavor.

Shire smiled lightly at the scent, knowing that Steed probably made a mistake while finding out his preferences, confusing it with Francis’s taste.

Steed added two pieces of sugar to the coffee, stirring it gently with a small spoon, his eyes filled with anticipation as he looked at Shire: "I have an unruly request, Shire. I hope our collaboration project won’t be just grenades!"

Shire feigned ignorance: "But I have no other projects, sir..."

"I mean the future!" Steed said: "If you think of any in the future!"

Steed then added: "Similar to grenades, or anything else. I hope you only contact me, Shire! I will also give you contracts similar to those for grenades!"

Shire replied calmly: "Such a collaboration can’t be formalized in a contract. If it’s just a verbal promise, do you think it holds any significance?"

"Of course!" Steed nodded seriously.

If it were someone else’s verbal promise, Steed would know it was meaningless, but Shire was different, even if it was just a verbal commitment.

Steed needed an attitude from Shire; otherwise, he would always be anxious, fearing that Shire might hand another invention to someone else, which would be a fatal blow to Saint Etienne.

Dejoka understood Steed’s words; he looked at Shire with a trace of urgency, as if to say, this is Saint Etienne, what’s there to hesitate?

But Shire didn’t rush to answer. He took a sip of coffee, speaking unhurriedly: "Mr. Steed, the military plans to procure the 105MM cannon from Schneider recently. You’ve heard of it, right?"

"Yes." Steed nodded: "The M1913 cannon."

Schneider always had the capacity to produce large-caliber cannons. But because the 75 cannon was so successful, the military only wanted to equip with the 75 cannon, disregarding all other cannons.

Hence, Schneider had no choice but to produce the M1910 cannon for export to Russia.

Later, Schneider tried to win orders from the French military by improving it to the M1913 model, but the military remained disinterested, only purchasing a few for testing symbolically.

Steed looked at Shire with confusion: "But we can’t stop Schneider, the military needs this cannon, and we..."

Steed’s face showed a bit of embarrassment as he spoke; Saint Etienne had always been producing light weapons, unable to compete with Schneider in heavy equipment, especially artillery.

"I know we can’t change anything." Shire responded: "No matter what, the military will buy this 12-kilometer range cannon to gradually replace the 75 cannon."

This was a shortfall in the army’s equipment; they needed the M1913 to suppress the German Army’s artillery. The 75 cannon’s insufficient range was intolerable on the battlefield.

"But..." Shire changed his tone: "I think the warriors on the front lines have other needs, just that the military hasn’t noticed yet."

"What do you mean?" Steed didn’t understand.

Shire’s eyes turned to Dejoka. Dejoka understood immediately and took out a document from his briefcase and handed it over.

Steed opened the document under the orange light of the desk lamp, then suddenly widened his eyes, looking up at Shire with a start, then hurriedly returned his gaze to the document for a closer read.

"Trenches, sir!" Shire said calmly: "Everyone overlooked one point, the frontline soldiers need to toss explosives into the enemy trenches, just like grenades."

"But this..." Steed raised his head in confusion: "This is artillery, Shire!"

"Yes, it is indeed artillery!" Shire nodded: "But it’s artillery for soldiers at the front lines to use. Imagine, if both the enemy and our side are throwing grenades into each other’s trenches, what will it eventually lead to?"

Steed suddenly understood.

If both sides are throwing grenades, they would naturally want to throw farther so that they could hit the enemy without being hit themselves.

But human arm strength is ultimately limited; they will eventually need a type of artillery, a short-range but curved-shot artillery that can help them throw "grenades" into the enemy trenches from a great distance.

Realizing this, Steed’s eyes instantly shone. He held the document in his hand like a treasure, laughing like a child: "Wonderful, Shire, wonderful! This is exactly what we need, we can compete with Schneider in artillery!"