Chapter 113 Heading to the Sea

The progress of aircraft manufacturing and flying club is going smoothly.

Eric is in charge of the work of the aircraft manufacturing plant. His factory can produce 50 "Avro" and 30 "Gaudron G.3" aircraft per month.

The latter is an aircraft designed by the Gaudron company run by the French Gaudron brothers. They opened up industrial property rights to allow any aircraft manufacturer to produce it without authorization, which makes it very suitable for reconnaissance aircraft and primary training aircraft.

(Note: Its cost is about 4,000 francs, less than half of "Avro".)

Carter is responsible for organizing the integration of the club pilots. He will divide the pilots into several groups during training: ground staff, trainers, reconnaissance, etc. The best pilots will directly participate in air combat.

They have done these things before, so Charles only needs to give them a general direction, and they can move forward well according to Charles's intentions.

The only problem is: Eric needs wine, and Carter needs an accountant.

On this day, Charles, as a staff officer, assisted Lieutenant Colonel Fernan in organizing intelligence as usual. One of the tasks of a staff officer is to integrate the fragmented intelligence from the front so that the commander can understand the war situation clearly and accurately in the shortest time.

However, Charles saw something unusual in the intelligence.

He approached Gallieni with doubts and said, "General, I think there may be something wrong with these fronts!"

"What's the problem?" Gallieni asked casually. He was reading the "Little Daily" with a cup of coffee. The war situation was going well recently and he had some free time.

Charles reported: "General Joffre's intelligence has always been 'the war is going smoothly', 'the enemy is retreating in full', 'our victory can be said to be more and more grand and glorious'... However, our army has made almost no progress on the Aisne River line in the past few days!"

Galieni was stunned, and immediately put down his coffee and newspaper aside, showing the map in front of him and asked: "Where was the offensive line a few days ago?"

Charles held the telegram from a few days ago in one hand and drew a few circles on the map with a pencil in the other hand: "Here, here, and here..."

Galieni took the telegram and compared it carefully, and it was indeed so.

After a while, Gallieni gritted his teeth and cursed: "Asshole, he falsely reported military intelligence!"

It goes without saying who he was referring to. The French commander-in-chief actually falsely reported military intelligence, which no one expected.

The purpose of his doing this is obvious. The parliament is debating whether to hold him responsible for the failure of "Plan 17" and there is even the possibility of removing him as commander-in-chief, so he can't let the victory stop.

On the one hand, he continued to convey the news of victory to the rear by falsely reporting military intelligence, and on the other hand, he ordered the troops to charge towards the enemy's defense line in a meaningless manner, even though the enemy had stabilized its position and built a solid defense line.

Gallieni paced a few steps in front of the table, and then decisively ordered Major General Maunoury: "Immediately dispatch an army to the front line for reinforcement. We must bypass the enemy's defense line from the right wing!"

"Yes!" Major General Maunoury responded and gave the troops an order.

As soon as Charles heard the order, he knew that this "circumvention" would not succeed.

The French army wasted too much time because of false military intelligence. When the French reinforcements arrived at the front line and "circumvented" the enemy's flank, the German reinforcements would also catch up and "circumvent" at the same position.

Then the enemy and us had another "circumvention", and soon there was another... The final result was that no one could "circumvent" and pull the defense line to the seaside.

This is the so-called "running to the sea".

Charles's eyes followed the defense line northward, and finally locked onto Ypres in western Belgium. He knew that the Germans would launch a counterattack here and inflict heavy casualties on the British and French forces.

The attacking Germans even included the art student who failed the exam. That was his first battle.

The Germans chose to attack here because Ypres was flat and low in altitude. Once a shovel was dug, water would flow down and trenches could hardly be built.

Coupled with the arrival of the rainy season in France...Ypres would become a purgatory for the warring parties, and each side would lose more than 100,000 troops.

Charles thought of tractors, and the more than 1,000 tractors that Francis had parked in the warehouse and could not sell.

In such terrain, tractors that could pull cannons and transport supplies would be the key to victory.

Charles realized that he had to act early, otherwise Francis might get a big bargain.

…

That afternoon, a hazy drizzle fell from the sky, and they covered the entire Darwaz like silk threads. A damp wind blew gently, making Francis, who was standing in front of the window with a pipe in his mouth and looking out the window, feel quite depressed.

He was thinking about the prospects of the tractor factory.

The war did not end as everyone hoped, and not only did it not end, but there was no hope of victory in sight.

Francis had originally hoped that the sales of tractors would return to normal after the war, but now it seems that this is just an unrealistic fantasy.

More importantly, Charles' tractor factory has begun mass production of "Holt 75", which has much better performance than the "Holt 60" in Francis' hands, but the price is comparable!

So, even if the war is over, why would people buy "Holt 60" instead of "Holt 75"?

At this moment, a carriage pulled by four horses slowly drove in from the rain, from blurry to clear, and just as Francis was admiring the luxury of the carriage, it stopped in front of Francis' villa.

Francis' eyes lit up. His years of experience told him that this might be a customer who would buy a tractor, and a big customer at that.

The target customer group of agricultural tractors is farmers, and the major customers are farmers who own large tracts of land. Today, as farmers gradually become workers, they have to buy tractors to improve farming efficiency.

His carriage seems to indicate his identity... At this time, farmers are not used to using cars, and they prefer to use carriages to indicate their identities.

"Simon, Simon!" Francis turned his head and shouted outside the room.

Simon pushed the door in, and Francis hurriedly changed his pajamas while saying: "Hurry up, receive the guests, prepare coffee and cigars!"

"Yes, sir!" Simon understood as soon as he heard this, and hurried downstairs to prepare.

When Francis changed his clothes and went downstairs, he saw a well-maintained old man with aristocratic temperament sitting elegantly on the sofa.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Francis!" The old man calmly raised his eyelids and looked at Francis on the stairs: "I just came from the Charles Tractor Factory, I hope you won't let me down!"

Francis was stunned. Charles' tractors could not meet his requirements?

Then the only thing he was not satisfied with was... the quantity? !

Francis' eyes brightened even more, and a flattering smile instantly covered his face!