Chapter 75 Antwerp Fortress

In the lounge next to the airport, Grevi and Armand sat opposite each other at the table.

They drank coffee leisurely while looking at the airport, where an "Avro" two-seater plane was taxiing on the runway and took off in a short while.

"Great idea!" Armand raised his coffee and raised his head slightly to Grevi opposite him: "We finally sent him to a dangerous place!"

Grevi still had some reluctance in his eyes. He looked at the plane that was getting farther and farther away and finally disappeared from his sight, and sighed slightly. How great it would be if he agreed to join the right wing. With him, the right wing would completely suppress the left wing and achieve a complete victory!

He has many enviable and crazy ideas, which even the left-wing capitalists can't compare with.

But if he can't get it, he must be destroyed.

Because the ideas in his mind may end the entire right wing!

"One question!" Armand asked, "Why don't we just create an accident or traffic accident, such as letting the plane have problems, but go to such great lengths to really send him to the Antwerp Fortress?"

"That will make people suspect us, Armand!" Grevy replied coldly, "Everyone knows that we have a conflict of interest with him. The left wing is watching us, and the military is also watching us. They hope that we will make mistakes, and then use this to drive us out of the House of Representatives!"

Armand showed a trace of confusion on his face, and he raised his head in the direction where the plane disappeared: "Now, is there any difference?"

"Of course there is a difference!" Grevy picked up the spoon and stirred it gently in the coffee cup, and there seemed to be a trace of pain in his eyes: "Now, Gallieni sent him to save the Antwerp Fortress from danger. He died bravely in Antwerp. Do you think they will report it this way, or is Charles' death likely related to the right wing?"

Armand understood that this was related to the war.

Just like everyone knew that Joffre was incompetent, but no one wanted to drive him out of the position of commander-in-chief.

The only thing that can be praised about Joffre during the entire war is that he ate and slept on time, and this was exaggerated by the media as "the calm Joffre is the tranquilizer of France"!

He has been shaped into a hero, a symbol, a myth, and a considerable number of French soldiers and civilians have become accustomed to using him as a spiritual pillar to fight against the Germans.

If Joffre's myth is exposed, the spiritual pillar of these people will collapse, which may cause a disaster, and there may even be a series of chain reactions leading to civil unrest.

Similarly, Charles has become the hope and spiritual pillar of many people.

If Charles died in Antwerp, they would be more willing to promote this as a heroic and fearless spirit, at least it can inspire the French soldiers and civilians to go to the battlefield and vent their anger on the Germans, rather than exposing the truth and causing civil unrest.

Armand nodded slightly, and he, who was always cynical, unconsciously put away his smile at this time. He found that there was still a gap between him and Grevy, and he also realized the terribleness of Grevy.

He took the opportunity to drink coffee and glanced at Grevi, who was staring at the table thoughtfully, not knowing what he was thinking.

If one day they need to resolve internal conflicts, Armand believes that he is not Grevi's opponent, and he may die in Grevi's hands.

But fortunately, the right wing has never seen the hope of victory, so he doesn't need to worry about this!

Thinking of this, Armand's face regained a smile again.

…

On the biplane, Charles, wearing a flight cap and goggles, was filled with the "rumbling" sound of the engine and the "whirring" sound of the wind.

This type of aircraft has an open cockpit, and the upper part of the shoulders is outside the fuselage. There is no shelter to withstand the strong wind blowing in the face. If it is not only more than 100 kilometers per hour, Charles believes that his nose will be blown off.

Soon, Charles saw a pointed cylindrical balloon emerging from the clouds from a distance. It was as big as an alien spaceship, floating lazily in the air, turning around lazily and with difficulty like a fat man who just woke up.

At first, Charles thought it was a French balloon, but when he saw the German logo on the side of the balloon, he couldn't help but exclaimed: "German balloon, that's the enemy's balloon!"

"What?" The pilot didn't hear clearly.

"Enemy, that's the enemy!" Charles pointed in the direction of the balloon in panic. He thought the pilot was drunk and couldn't tell the enemy from the enemy, and actually approached the enemy's balloon.

But the pilot replied calmly: "Yes, so what? Do you want to go and see?"

Suddenly, Charles thought of one thing: in the early days of World War I, the enemy's air force had almost no attack capability, and planes and balloons were mostly used for reconnaissance, so when each other's aircraft met, they would even wave and say hello.

Just after the thought, a German plane flew over his head. Although the two planes didn't say hello as the legend said, nothing really happened, just like two cars meeting on the road.

"Don't worry, Lieutenant!" The pilot turned around and shouted, "If there is a safe place, it's here. No one can do anything to you, including the enemies below!"

Charles looked down along the pilot's line of sight, and was surprised to find that the plane was flying over the enemy-us battle zone.

One after another, artillery shells were rising up like mushrooms of smoke below, and the sound of artillery shells was only faintly audible under the sound of engines and wind. The charging soldiers were like groups of ants, charging back and forth in the sand in ridiculous formations. The entire position was shrouded in gray, and it was unclear whether it was air or land.

Charles noticed something was wrong and asked the pilot: "Where are we going? Is it to the Antwerp Fortress?"

"Of course!" the pilot asked, "What else?"

"Antwerp is in enemy territory?" Charles asked again.

"It's not in enemy-occupied territory!" the pilot replied: "It's in the north of Belgium, near the seaside!"

If it weren't for the strong wind, Charles would have taken out a map to search for it right now, but at this time he could only draw a picture in his mind:

In the north of Belgium, the German army penetrated Belgium, which means that it was cut open by the German army. That fortress should be surrounded by the German army!

He actually wants to break into the enemy's encirclement to investigate?

Fortunately, Charles remembered that the pilot had just said that Antwerp was "close to the sea", which meant that the fortress was not surrounded by the Germans.

Because the Shire knew the sea belonged to Britain, the German navy was being blockaded.

Maybe it's because of the airplane, Charles thought. People in this era may generally think that airplanes are safe, and General Gallieni is no exception, so he was sent to perform this mission.

Until now, Charles had not realized that this was not the task Gallieni had given him at all.