Chapter 5 Deserters Need to Be Praised

Charles didn't care about family grudges.

Francis was a legend to the Bernard family. He was a business genius in the family. He entered the upper class of France again and again from nothing.

He was the sky of the Bernard family and an unsurpassed existence. It was a great honor to be recognized by him.

But Charles didn't take these to heart. To be precise, he didn't take Francis to heart. In Charles' eyes, he was just a pedal on the road to progress.

The bicycle was moving steadily on the flat streets of the town. There were not many people on the street. Those who could escape had already escaped. The rest either had nowhere to go or were reluctant to give up their property like Francis, although their property was pitifully small.

Some French soldiers appeared in front of them. They were wearing blue military jackets, bright red flat-top military caps and military pants. Their rifles were still on their shoulders, but most of them didn't have backpacks.

Charles thought that they should have thrown away their backpacks to reduce weight when they were running away.

This means that things have developed as he hoped, and the Fifth Army has been retreating to Darvaz.

Suddenly, a group of soldiers in front stopped Charles.

It can't be said that they stopped, but they rudely grabbed Charles's bicycle and asked him to stop, which made Charles almost fall down.

"Little guy, ride slowly!" The leading soldier was a major with a mustache. He looked tired and his eyes were full of bloodshot. There were some dark red stains on his uniform, and it was hard to tell whether it was mud or blood.

"Can you tell me where the Sidachi machine gun factory is?" asked the mustache major.

"I'm going there!" Charles replied: "Actually, I'm going to the next door to the machine gun factory. I can take you there!"

Charles knew that these were soldiers who were in a hurry to replenish ammunition.

"Very good!" The mustache major glanced at Charles, and then comforted him: "Don't be nervous, little guy! The Germans may not arrive until tomorrow, or they may not!"

This information was a reward for Charles's volunteering to lead the way for them.

Charles pushed the cart and asked as he walked: "Is the situation very bad?"

The mustache major just uttered "hmm" with his nose, and seemed reluctant to describe the miserable situation on the front line in front of a teenager.

Charles looked at the mustache major and the soldiers behind him and said: "You are brave soldiers!"

The mustache major seemed to be hurt. He turned his head and stared at Charles with redder eyes, and said in a low voice: "Are you mocking us, little guy? Be careful when you speak..."

"No, Major!" Charles answered seriously: "Others are looking for food while you are looking for ammunition, and you always keep the formation, which means you are preparing for battle!"

The mustache major looked at the other soldiers around him, and it seemed to be true, and then he realized that he had wronged the teenager.

"Sorry, little guy!"

"But you shouldn't use the word 'brave' to describe deserters!"

The mustache major had some embarrassment on his face.

Charles insisted on his statement:

"In the most dangerous and disorderly times, you can still maintain morale and formation, which is commendable in itself!"

Charles' words were half true and half false, and he used the method of praise.

Smart teachers have some tricks, they know how to deal with poor students, criticism will only make them more naughty, but a few words of praise will make poor students work hard to become people who deserve such praise.

Charles often receives this type of praise from teachers of various subjects.

The mustache major looked at Charles unexpectedly, and this little guy seemed to know a lot.

"What are your plans?" Charles asked again.

The mustache major shrugged helplessly:

"After replenishing the ammunition, we will consider the next step. It would be best if we can have a good meal and a good sleep, and then wait for orders."

"By the way, I heard that we can be provided with food here?"

Charles answered with certainty:

"Yes!"

Then he asked:

"Or you can't wait for orders at all, am I right?"

The mustache major nodded. The troops were in a state of disorder at this time. Even if there were orders, they were vague directions without specific content, such as "continue to retreat", "rest in place", "wait for orders"!

They couldn't even find their superiors, and didn't know who was in command now.

Charles made a timely suggestion:

"Why don't you follow me? I just need a team of soldiers!"

The mustache major turned his head and looked at Charles blankly. He didn't react for a while, and the soldiers' laughter came from behind:

"Oh, we have to listen to his command!"

"This is a boy who wants to be a general, a good boy, right?"

"He is not as tall as our rifles, are you sure he won't wet his pants when he hears the gunfire?"

...

The mustache major looked at Charles with interest, with a mocking smile on his lips:

"So, 'General'! You play How do we do it?"

Charles pointed to the factory in the wilderness not far ahead and answered without hesitation:

"Defend the machine gun factory, the Germans will focus on it."

"I believe that the Germans will leave their artillery and supplies far behind in pursuit of you, and they also need the machine guns and ammunition from the machine gun factory."

"We just need to guard the tractor factory next to us, and when they think they are going to succeed, we will suddenly attack them!"

Charles didn't mind showing some military talent at the tactical level. They couldn't recruit him into the army when he was still a minor just because of a few words!

The mustache major's expression changed. This seemed to be a feasible plan and very organized.

The major looked at the soldiers behind him, and the soldiers' faces became cautious.

It was not until this time that they realized that the Germans had stretched the supply line too long during the pursuit. The Germans also lacked ammunition and needed a machine gun factory.

Therefore, the machine gun factory would certainly be the focus of the German attack.

Someone whispered: "He seems to be more reliable than Colonel Lyon!"

The soldiers were silent.

Colonel Lyon died in the first battle.

He graduated from the Saint-Cyr Military Academy with excellent grades. During the attack, he stood at the forefront of the entire team, five meters beyond the offensive line. He wore eye-catching white gloves, which perfectly formed the French tricolor flag with the blue military coat and red military trousers.

When the battle started, he wore a medal on his chest, held his head high, pointed his sword at the enemy, and shouted majestically: "Go, boys! Kill them all!"

The next second, he was shot to pieces in front of everyone, and the 9th Infantry Regiment lost its command immediately until now.

The mustache major seemed to have thought of something after being reminded by Charles, and he turned around and ordered:

"Simon, Teddy, go and call the others, let them gather at the tractor factory, we need more people!"

"Yes, major!" The two soldiers responded and ran in two different directions tacitly.

The mustache major took a few quick steps to catch up with Charles again and introduced himself:

"My name is Brownie, what's yours?"

"My name is Charles!"

Brownie shook hands with Charles and said:

"Here's a piece of advice for you, Charles, you'd better take your family away from here!"

Charles smiled gently:

"Here's a piece of advice for you, Major, you'd better start the counterattack from here."

"Because you have nowhere to retreat, if you retreat one more step, Paris will be surrounded."

"The tragedy of the Franco-German War will be repeated, and we will lose the war again and cede territory and pay compensation!"

Charles' words shocked the soldiers again, including Major Brownie.

They couldn't imagine that a young boy who hadn't grown out of his childishness actually had such courage and insight.

On the other hand, they habitually thought about retreating to save their lives.

The atmosphere became weird, and the air was filled with shame and embarrassment, and the soldiers' walking postures became a little unnatural.

After a while, someone coughed and said:

"He is right, we can't retreat anymore, Paris can't fall into the hands of the Germans!"

Someone immediately agreed:

"Yes, haven't we suffered enough from the humiliation of the Franco-German War? We have been wanting revenge for more than 40 years, is this our revenge?"

Someone else said:

"We must find a way to defeat the Germans, we can't go on like this! Otherwise we will live in humiliation for the rest of our lives! From birth to death..."

Charles was very satisfied with the soldiers' words, he successfully aroused the fighting spirit of these deserters!