Chapter 149 Did You Do This on Purpose?

The rain fell quietly, sometimes heavy and sometimes light, occasionally stopping for a while, but soon it started again, seemingly endless.

As the two-week deadline approached, the railway had been repaired in advance and officially opened to traffic.

In order to prevent the Germans from knowing when the tanks were shipped out of the Charles Tractor Factory, the trains regularly entered the Charles Tractor Factory at five o'clock every night and drove out of the factory at five o'clock the next morning to return to Paris.

They were not all empty. Gallieni announced that the military had signed a long-term tractor and motorcycle purchase agreement with the Charles Tractor Factory, and the railway was built to facilitate their timely delivery to the battlefield.

At least part of these words were true. The demand for military tractors had been completely monopolized by the Charles Tractor Factory.

Although Francis had a factory and production line that could produce 500 tractors per month, he did not dare to enter this market to compete with Charles.

However, the real purpose of train transportation was to prepare for the battle of La Fox.

One day in the future, Charles will transport tanks and troops instead of tractors and motorcycles, and others will not be able to detect it, so the Germans will not be able to determine the time of Charles' attack.

During this week or so, Charles was relatively free. He was responsible for training the troops to prepare for the attack on Lafox, so he did not need to report to the headquarters.

That day, when Charles and Estiny were further discussing the coordination of sidecars and tanks, Laurent stepped forward and reported: "Lieutenant, the general asked you to go to the headquarters!"

Charles was a little surprised. Gallieni had completely handed over the training to Charles and did not ask. Why did he suddenly rush to the headquarters now?

Charles told Estiny and got on the car with Laurent in confusion.

On the way to the headquarters, Charles suddenly guessed the reason why Gallieni was looking for him. He couldn't help but smile, thinking that he would be scolded again this time.

...

Sure enough, when Charles walked into the headquarters, Gallieni took him directly into the lounge.

Gallieni took a newspaper from the table, turned around and handed it to Charles, saying in a low voice: "Don't you want to explain?"

Charles took the newspaper and saw a big headline on the front page:

"Charles believes that speed and mobility are one of the important indicators of tanks. Only in this way can it avoid enemy fire."

Galieni stared at Charles, his eyes burning with anger, and asked: "Did you say that?"

"Sorry, General..." Charles replied: "I let it slip!"

This happened yesterday evening. Charles left work early before the troops finished training. The training work was taken care of by Estiny and Brownie, so he had nothing to worry about.

As soon as he went out, reporters swarmed around him, shouting one after another:

"Lieutenant, General Joffre launched the third attack yesterday, but was still frustrated. What do you think about this?"

"As the inventor of the tank, do you think this attack is necessary?"

"Do you think there is anything that needs to be improved in their tactics?"

...

Charles usually doesn't answer any questions. It's confidential. Even a single word he speaks may be guessed by the enemy.

Colonel Laurent cooperated very well and brought the guards to block the reporters so that Deyoka's car could pass.

A reporter approached the car before it started and asked loudly: "Lieutenant, many people think your tank is vulnerable. Is this true? You did not participate in the bidding and delayed sending the tank to the battlefield. Did you acquiesce to this?"

Charles could not help but turned around and answered: "Which tank is vulnerable? Hasn't it been proven on the battlefield?"

"But they think your tank is no different!" The reporter found that the provocation method was effective, so he continued to lure Charles to speak in this way: "Many people think your tank is even worse than theirs, because it is obvious that your tank only has machine guns but no artillery, and there are far fewer machine guns!"

Charles replied with disdain: "Artillery and machine guns are not important. This is precisely the biggest mistake they made. Tanks must have speed and trench crossing capabilities. First, they must be able to get close to the trenches and drive to the enemy. Only in this way can the weapons play a role, otherwise they are destined to be 'vulnerable'!"

The reporters were in an uproar. Many of them have been writing military articles for many years and have some understanding of the military. They know that if they follow Charles's theory, the CA-1 tank and the "Saint-Chamond" tank will undoubtedly go in the wrong direction.

Then they thought about it and felt that this made sense: if the tanks couldn't even drive to the enemy, then what was the use of artillery and machine guns? They were just decorations!

Instantly, the reporters raised their cameras and took a lot of photos of Charles as if they had caught the topic, and then they squeezed in to ask:

"So, do you think General Joffre's attack should not continue?"

"Does your tank have the performance to defeat the enemy?"

"Are you confident in your tank? If you were to command this battle..."

Charles seemed to realize that he had let the cat out of the bag, and regretted urging Deyoka to drive and fled away.

Gallieni couldn't hold back his anger. He pointed his finger at the report in the newspaper and said sarcastically:

"Now, your correct development ideas have been exposed to everyone, Lieutenant!"

"Congratulations, many people believe that you are right. You have become a hero of France again, the only one who is right!"

"The military and civilians now think that you should fight this battle. They say that others are fools who don't understand tanks!"

"But..."

Galieni's face darkened: "Have you ever considered that the Germans will also know what you said?"

"Yes, of course!" Charles smiled and answered calmly.

"But you..." Gallieni was stunned. He found something wrong. After thinking for a while, he suddenly laughed: "Did you do this on purpose?"

Charles nodded slightly: "Yes, General. There are too many spies in my factory. I can't get rid of them in a short time. I can only use this method!"

Galieni's expression was a little strange. He nodded after a moment of silence and sighed: "You lied to me, little guy! But... I forgive you!"

Charles was stunned. Isn't it me who should consider whether to forgive you now?

Then, without Charles's psychological preparation, Gallieni suddenly roared loudly:

"You actually told everyone such important intelligence clearly, including our enemies!"

"This is simply espionage!"

"Do you know what this means?"

"We will pay a heavy price for this, not only tanks, but also the lives of French soldiers!"

...