Chapter 440 A very clever intention

Lieutenant Colonel Fernand walked into the club. He sat down in front of the bar and nodded to Lucia: "Same, absinthe."

"Okay, Lieutenant Colonel."

Lucia skillfully poured 30 ml of absinthe into the cup, placed a special flat spoon with holes across the mouth of the cup, and carefully placed a cube of sugar, which was used to dilute the bitterness in the wine.

Then, Lucia took the ice water and slowly poured it in, stopping in time when it reached 90 ml.

"Your wine, Lieutenant Colonel." Lucia pushed the wine glass in front of Lieutenant Colonel Fernand.

Lieutenant Colonel Fernand kept his eyes on the wine glass. After getting it, he couldn't wait to take a sip, and then he breathed a sigh of relief, as if a heavy burden had been lifted.

"Have you been busy recently?" Lucia kept a polite smile: "You seem to be exhausted."

Chatting with guests is a good habit. Not only can it win more business for the club, it is also the main way for Lucia to obtain information.

"Busy?" Lieutenant Colonel Fernand replied: "No, not at all, Charles has done everything for him. But do you know what is more painful? General Gallieni is trying to find another one among us. Ciel!”

Garrel next to him couldn't help laughing: "Then he must be disappointed. There is only one Ciel in the world."

As he said this, Garrel glanced at Lucia enviously.

"Of course." Lieutenant Colonel Fernand replied distressedly: "We are almost driven crazy. I would rather Charles never worked in the city defense headquarters."

Taking another sip of wine, Lieutenant Colonel Fernand complained with some drunkenness: "We are suffering here, but Charles is enjoying himself outside..."

Lucia was stunned: "Romantic and happy?"

"Sorry." Lieutenant Colonel Fernand replied: "I mean fighting, which seems to be 'fun and happy' for him. After all, he is very good at it."

Everyone around laughed.

"Not long ago." Lieutenant Colonel Fernand continued: "Charles also threatened the Germans. He dropped leaflets to the Germans: If you dare to do harm to the Belgians, I will send you to the guillotine one by one! God! , this is what I have always dreamed of doing!”

Lucia, who was making cocktails, was stunned when she heard this, and the movement of her hands unconsciously slowed down: "What did you say? Charles threatened the Germans?"

"Yes." Lieutenant Colonel Fernand nodded: "And it seems to have worked. The Germans calmed down. After all, they don't want to lose their lives."

"Is this true?" Lucia was dubious. Is this definitely not a drunken conversation?

"Of course." Lieutenant Colonel Fernand replied, and then looked at Lucia with doubts on his face: "This is not a big deal, I don't need to lie!"

Lucia suddenly burst into tears of joy, put down the mixing bottle and hugged Garrel and cried excitedly.

She was wrong, Charles could not only save Belgium, but also her family!

Lieutenant Colonel Fernand looked confused. Did he say something wrong?

…

Antwerp, the Shire's headquarters.

At this time, Ciel finally had time to visit the fortress where he was.

Antwerp's fortress has two specifications, one is pentagonal and the other is triangular. The former has more space and more artillery.

The fortress where Charles is located is in the shape of a pentagon. It has a total of 2 150MM artillery, 4 120MM artillery, 2 200MM mortars, and 4 77MM rapid-fire cannons.

(Note: The triangular fortress is missing two 120MM artillery pieces, and depending on space conditions, there may be one missing mortar gun.)

What surprised Charles was that, except for the 77MM rapid-fire gun, all the other artillery were equipped with special lifts, which could lower the entire turret to the ground to protect it from attack when necessary.

This is a good idea, making it impossible for the enemy to attack it, and then raising it up to bombard it indiscriminately when the enemy infantry attacks.

But the German "Big Bertha" did not target these turrets, but knocked out the entire fortress.

Charles became interested and asked his men to try to activate the elevator to sink a 150mm artillery into the ground.

This was not a good experience. The engine roared, and its sound was sealed inside the fortress and could not be transmitted out. This made the fortress like a bell, making a "buzzing" noise when it was struck, and Charles and others were inside the bell.

Soon the air was filled with the smell of gasoline and exhaust, and the air became extremely turbid. Small particles could be seen floating around under the light with the naked eye, which was clearly man-made haze.

Ciel quickly stopped, complaining in his heart about this inhuman design.

But when I think about it, it feels normal. This is a war, and safety is the most important thing. If you consider comfort, it means money and time. This is not what a small country like Belgium can afford.

At this time, Albert I walked in holding his nose.

"We should go outside, Your Majesty," Ciel suggested. "You may not be able to stand the smell."

"No, it's okay." Albert I replied: "I can just experience the hardships of the soldiers fighting."

As he said that, he put down his hands and tried to breathe like normal, but he soon choked and coughed.

In the end, several people chose to "take shelter" outside the fortress. The open iron door behind them kept spitting smoke out, as if there was a fire inside.

"I'm alive again." Tijani kept taking deep breaths and sighed: "Give me a tent, I will sleep outside tonight."

"Where are the guards?" Charles asked, "Along with you? I don't care if you are safe, but I believe they are not willing to die with you."

Tijani rolled his eyes, this guy was more concerned about the lives of the guards.

"It wasn't originally like this." Albert I was a little embarrassed: "Each engine has a dedicated ventilation hole, but the ventilation system seems to have problems due to years of disrepair."

Charles nodded with a "hmm". The Germans did not have much interest in maintaining it after they captured it, which means that it has not been moved for nearly a year. It is a miracle that it can still operate now.

After a pause, Albert I asked: "Brigadier General, I am thinking about something. I wonder if you are interested?"

"What?"

"It's like this." Albert I said: "There is a piece of land to the north of Antwerp for sale. It is very cheap, only three million francs, and the unit price is less than half of the market price. I was thinking, why don't you buy it and build a factory here? I mean, Antwerp has a port and is separated from the UK by only a strait. It is very suitable for you to do business here."

Tijani said "Wow": "Your Majesty, you have already started to consider post-war reconstruction."

"Of course." Albert I smiled and nodded: "Everyone knows that Charles is not only good at leading troops to fight, but also a very good capitalist!"

Charles smiled.

He believed that Albert I was eager to use such a favorable price to attract his investment, in addition to expressing gratitude, there was another intention.

A very clever intention!