Chapter 182: Buying
The agreement was finally reached smoothly.
Francis got what he wanted, and left the manor with satisfaction and fear.
Watching Francis' car disappear outside the gate, Armand handed Grevi a cigarette and asked curiously: "I can see that you don't really want to upgrade CA-1."
"That won't help us, Armand!" Grevi replied: "It's a means for Schneider to control us."
Armand was stunned and even stopped lighting a cigarette: "Control us, means?"
Grevi said "hmm", lit a match to help Armand light the cigarette, and then lit it for himself, explaining in the smoke: "We have nothing in industry, if we have to rely on Schneider to upgrade now... "
Armand suddenly realized and nodded: "We will always need Schneider in the future, even Schneider's people will be needed to maintain the tanks."
Grevi said "hmm" and exhaled a long puff of smoke: "James is a very smart guy. He looks like he is helping us, but he actually intends to spend our money to do something that is beneficial to him!"
Then Armand was confused again: "But you know all this, why did you finally agree to this cooperation condition? It doesn't seem to be of any benefit to us."
If there is any benefit, it is that CA-1 can continue to be produced, which can increase some income for the right wing.
But the right wing does not care about income.
"Schneider may not have considered this." Grevi answered thoughtfully: "If he puts technology similar to that of Saint-Chamond into CA-1, such as upgrading CA-1 with the Holt 120 engine, it may become a weapon to counterbalance Schneider."
Armand was stunned for a while, and then he figured it out after careful consideration:
Although CA-1 does not have much technology, one day, when Schneider and Charles are evenly matched, it will be able to play a role of making a difference.
When that happens, Grevi only needs to hand over CA-1 to Charles, and Charles will win a comprehensive victory, so Grevi will have a weapon to counterbalance Schneider and Charles at the same time.
Thinking of this, Armand couldn't help but secretly praise Grevi in his heart. He would not be considered a normal person if he would consider this step?
But neither Armand nor Grevi thought that Charles might not even look down on these. For him, these are extremely backward technologies that will undoubtedly be eliminated in the end, no matter how they are upgraded!
…
In the afternoon, Charles was still sorting out information at the headquarters as usual.
Perhaps because both the enemy and us were tired of fighting, the offensive and defensive information from the front line gradually decreased, replaced by reports of lack of supplies, lack of tools, lack of grenades, etc.
The training of two officers from each division back to Paris is in progress.
The reporting time is set for a week later, so that the front-line troops have time to select candidates and send them to Paris. In addition, it will take a few days for the Saint-Etienne Arsenal to produce mortars, and then they will have to test them.
At this time, a guard came up to report to Charles: "Major, your father asked me to tell you that he hopes you can call the factory."
As an ordinary citizen, Deyoka has a phone but cannot call the city defense headquarters, so he can only contact Charles in this way of sending a message.
Charles immediately called the tractor factory to inquire about the situation.
"Eric sent a telegram back saying that he has successfully contacted Martin Company." Deyoka said on the phone: "Originally, the negotiations went smoothly. The other party planned to sell a full set of machines for 800,000 francs. There were not many core technical personnel, only about 30 people. After talking with them, Eric was convinced that most of them could accept a monthly salary of 200 francs to work in France."
"What's the problem?" Charles asked. If it was just like this, it should be perfect.
Deyoka continued: "But someone also wanted to buy them later, and it seemed that the price was raised to 1 million francs. Eric hasn't found out who the other party is yet."
Charles frowned. This is troublesome. Someone is rushing to buy.
This will result in the situation where both parties raise the price, and in the end, even if they get it, they will have to pay a much higher cost than before.
Who could it be?
The first thing Charles thought of was the British Sopwith Aircraft Company, which was the one that bought this car company in history.
But Charles thought it was too coincidental. It didn't appear earlier or later, but appeared when Eric was negotiating with Martin Automobile Company.
This is clearly targeted, and it is aimed at me...
The next second, Charles thought of who it was: Schneider.
This is a common method used by powerful companies to suppress up-and-coming companies, competing with newcomers to reduce their development space.
Schneider can be short-sighted, and he doesn't need to predict the future like Charles. He only needs to do one thing: he will increase the price to buy whatever Charles buys. Although Schneider lost money, Charles couldn't buy anything and could only spend the limited resources in his hands.
Charles didn't think much and immediately said to Djoka: "Let Eric continue to increase the price, 100,000 or 200,000 slowly increase it to about 2 million!"
"Charles..." Djoka seemed to want to persuade Charles to give up, which was obviously not worth it.
Charles added: "Don't mention the technicians, and don't contact them!"
Djoka said "Oh", as if he understood something.
After hanging up the phone, Charles immediately contacted Steed.
After the call was connected, Steed's excited voice came from the microphone: "We have produced ten prototype guns, Charles, it is unexpectedly useful!"
Charles didn't plan to talk to Steed about this. He asked anxiously, "Mr. Steed, do you have an expatriate in the UK?"
"Of course." Steed replied, "I just sent a team to discuss the purchase of grenades with the British military!"
Steed believed that this could quickly expand the sales of grenades. After all, the British army was fighting in France. If they could buy grenades, this would be an "export" that did not need to be shipped abroad and was still consumed in the country.
"Please do me a favor, Mr. Steed!" Charles spoke quickly: "I hope you can let this team use all their connections, even the British military, to sign the core technical personnel of Martin Motor Company!"
Then Charles added: "I hope this can be done in secret!"
Charles didn't need to say anything else. Steed was an intermediate and advanced player and immediately understood what was going on.
"Leave this to me!" Steed responded very simply: "Don't worry, Charles, they can't run away!"
After hanging up the phone, Charles was still in a state of anxiety.
He realized that he was careless and should have let Eric find an excuse to travel without telling anyone, so that there would be no complications at a critical moment.
If he couldn't sign this team, what other companies could replace it?
For the time being, Charles couldn't think of a car company with the same strength that was planning to sell.
Besides, no matter what he bought, Schneider might intervene, which was the most troublesome thing!
