Chapter 278: Charles' Toys

While Gallieni was in the House of Representatives trying to deal with the pressure from members, Charles was meeting with Wells in a conference room at the Ritz Hotel.

This was the first meeting between Charles and Wells.

Wells seemed to be preoccupied. He looked at Ciel who was sitting opposite him expressionlessly. The young man in front of him looked just like an ordinary person, and even had a childish look on his face.

If it weren't for knowing that this boy was Charles, who made the whole of France crazy, Wells would definitely treat him as an ordinary person.

"It's an honor to meet you, Colonel!" Wells politely leaned over and shook hands with Charles, then glanced at Tijani sitting next to him: "Please allow me to express my gratitude to you. , you saved Tijani..."

"No, sir." Charles interrupted Wells: "As a soldier, this is what I should do."

Charles did think so. Soldiers originally fought for the country, and rescuing each other had nothing to do with personal grudges.

If anything, France should be blamed.

Wells nodded slightly and praised: "Your ideas on torpedoes are very constructive. We are currently looking for explosives more powerful than TNT, so that we can reduce the size of the warhead as you said..."

Wells seemed to have said a lot of nonsense. These were originally conveyed by Charles to Wells through Tijani, and now he said them again.

But Charles understood that Wells was testing this.

Wells obviously didn't quite believe in Ciel's ability, and he just wanted to bring up the old story to test Ciel's "real ability" on the spot.

"Hexanitrodiphenylamine." Charles came up with a word without starting to finish.

"What?" Wells was stunned for a moment.

Tijani was also confused. What is hexanitrodiphenylamine?

Charles explained calmly: "A more powerful explosive, 60% TNT plus 40% hexanitrodiphenylamine, will be 7% more powerful than pure TNT!"

Wells' eyes widened instantly. He looked at Ciel dubiously, his voice trembling: "Is this true? Can it be improved by 7%?"

Although 7% is not much, it can be regarded as a breakthrough, and it is foreseeable that this will be the first step to improve the range of torpedoes.

Tijani asked: "Colonel, how do you know this? And it's so detailed. Do you also have research in this area?"

"You guessed it right, General." Charles answered simply: "I formed a research and development team for this purpose, and we have made great progress."

This is not true, he has no research group at all.

The reason why Charles said this is that it can explain why he knows the formula, and it tells Wells: I control the development of torpedoes. Choose me or Schneider, it's up to you!

This can make Wells, who is still swinging in the middle, make up his mind.

Wells has been in the shopping mall for many years, so how could he not know Charles's intentions.

He thought about it for a while, and a kind smile gradually appeared on his face: "That's great. I have a research and development team established by the colonel. I feel relieved!"

Charles smiled, knowing that Wells was showing his attitude to him.

Tijani looked confused. He felt that he understood, but he seemed not to understand.

Then Charles didn't waste any time and took out two sketches from his briefcase and handed them to Wells: "Sir, I hope you will build these two kinds of ships for me."

Wells took the document and glanced at it, frowning with confusion on his face.

Both ships were ships he had never seen before, and they looked very strange:

There is a large space in the middle of one boat, and the bow is raised high, like a clown's boots.

The other one is a boat, but it looks like a car.

What's the point of making a gadget like this? How many boats did Charles want to cruise the Seine on a whim? The Seine happens to be in flood, and driving this kind of boat on the Seine is sure to win a lot of attention.

Tijani came up to look at it for a while, and then suddenly became excited: "Colonel, you don't want to... want to use this kind of ship for landing operations in the Dardanelles Strait, do you?"

When Wells was reminded by Tijani, he suddenly realized that this was a military ship used for landing operations!

Ciel nodded slightly.

Since Wells was asked to build the ship, he had to explain the purpose and requirements so that he would know in which direction to build it.

"Yes." Charles explained: "As far as I know, our troops still use wooden boats when landing. They are not only slow but also dangerous, and can easily be destroyed by the enemy in the sea..."

Tijani took the two sketches and looked at them again with surprise and joy, and then said excitedly: "With these two kinds of ships, landing will be much faster. How did you think of it? Oh my god, they are too Beautiful.”

As he spoke, Tijani picked up the first sketch: "This can bring a large number of soldiers ashore quickly. The iron plate in front can provide cover for the soldiers. Once they rush to the shoal and put it down, it can also become a stepping stone for the soldiers to disembark. !”

(The picture above shows the US military LCVP landing craft)

He picked up a second sketch: "This kind of ship, if I guess correctly, can travel on the sea and ashore at the same time, and supplies can be transported directly from the ship to the landed troops!"

(The picture above shows the "Duck" amphibious landing ship)

Ciel nodded. He couldn't tell that Tijani had a good eye for equipment. He could tell their functions at a glance.

Wells looked at Tijani, then at Ciel, and finally his eyes rested on the two sketches that he originally thought were "Ciel's toys".

After looking at the picture and thinking about it carefully in combination with what Tijani said, it suddenly dawned on me.

Wells felt a little emotional. He had a new understanding of Ciel and was convinced of Ciel's ability.

On the other hand, Wells was quite relieved that Tijani did not seem to be as useless as he thought. He seemed to have learned something by joining the Army.

Seeing Wells looking at the sketch in a daze, Charles asked: "Is there any difficulty in producing these two types of ships?"

"No, no!" Wells looked at it seriously and replied firmly: "There are no difficulties. In fact, they are very simple!"

Simple indeed.

The first landing craft was almost an engine covered by a hull.

The second amphibious landing ship may be more complicated, but it only needs to solve the switching between engine, propeller and wheel drive, and the rest are all existing technologies.

"How many do you need?" Wells asked.

"Twenty ships each!" Charles replied: "Delivery in two weeks."

"No problem!" Wells responded simply. This was just a piece of cake for his shipyard.

Charles added: "Due to the suddenness of the battlefield, it is top secret, sir!"

"Understood!" Wells replied confidently: "Before they appear on the battlefield, the relevant workers will be under house arrest in the shipyard."