I Became a Tycoon During World War I - Chapter 257

Chapter 257: Professional at Killing Familiarity

The British sent General Winter to negotiate with Charles. Perhaps they believed that General Winter, being an old acquaintance of Charles, would make bargaining easier.

Charles guessed that at this moment, the British probably had no idea what the term "killing familiarity" meant.

General Winter was very confident about this and directly went to Charles's office.

He believed that inviting Charles to a hotel for a formal discussion was a waste of time and would not reflect the familiarity between the two.

Gallieni greeted General Winter with great enthusiasm. He specially cleared out the command center's meeting room for the two to negotiate, even arranging for fruits and coffee, and had the guards stand outside to ensure they wouldn't be disturbed.

This meeting room was rarely used. Gallieni didn't care much about formalities, and most meetings were just brief chats in the operations department.

The room was about thirty square meters. In the center, there was a long European-style rectangular table, surrounded by neatly arranged chairs like sentinels. In the middle of the table, a small French tricolor flag was slanted in place.

"I must tell you something," General Winter said as he sat opposite Charles, a slight awkwardness on his face. "Although I tried very hard, the Minister of the Navy insists that only the fleet can force the Ottoman Empire to surrender."

Then, General Winter added, "Unfortunately, I couldn't convince him."

This was expected by Charles. The Minister of the Navy was famous for his stubbornness and would go to any lengths to achieve his goals. It would be strange if General Winter had managed to convince him.

"Perhaps you shouldn't try to convince him," Charles replied.

"Why?" General Winter looked at Charles with confusion.

According to what Charles had said before, shouldn't they have started preparing for a full-scale landing operation against the Ottoman Empire from the very beginning? Why now, did he say, "You shouldn't try to convince him"?

If the Minister of the Navy's plan to rely solely on the fleet failed, wouldn't that just alert the Germans and the Ottomans, giving them time to prepare?

Charles casually ate an apple with a knife and fork, explaining slowly and unhurriedly: "We can treat this as part of the plan. You can let it leak that Britain never believed the fleet alone could make the Ottoman Empire surrender. That would be utterly ridiculous."

General Winter froze for a moment, his mind struggling to catch up. If it was "utterly ridiculous," then why do it?

Soon, he had an epiphany: "The Germans and the Ottomans will think this is part of a deception. They will allow the Minister of the Navy to continue his 'ridiculous actions' without any concern, keeping their focus on the 'real' landing to the north!"

Charles gave a soft "Hmm" and nodded slightly.

The trick is to make the false seem real and the real seem false. Even if everything is openly shown to the enemy, it's still hard for them to guess the true intention.

To Charles, it was just a small trick, but to General Winter, it was quite a big deal.

Over the past period, General Winter had tried every method, from arguments to finding lobbyists, and he was on the verge of slamming the table with the Minister of the Navy in frustration, all to get the Minister to take the opportunity that Charles had created for them seriously.

But the Minister of the Navy was impervious to reason. He would talk about "respecting the enemy" but still believed that a landing operation was "unnecessary" and a "waste of men and resources."

In his view, sending dozens of warships to deal with the Ottoman Empire was already showing respect, even giving them face, and there was no possibility of failure.

But now, Charles’s simple words had turned the Minister of the Navy's stubbornness into "part of the plan."

Soon, General Winter would only need to stir up some activity in the north—such as gathering ships and troops or planned mine-sweeping—and the Germans and Ottomans would consider the Minister of the Navy's southern attack to be a "feint."

"You are excellent, Colonel!" General Winter said, his eyes full of admiration, even tinged with a hint of jealousy. "You are a born strategist. Everything seems to be in your calculation!"

Charles responded nonchalantly, "You're flattering me, General."

Although he said that, he thought to himself, This 'calculation' should also include you, General!

And then it was time for General Winter to be outwitted.

It seemed that General Winter had caught a cold on the train ride. He was holding a hot coffee to warm his hands and moved his chair closer to the heater, shifting the conversation back on track.

"You know why I'm here, Colonel."

"I represent the military to discuss the authorization for the production of bombers. We've already discussed it with your country and received their consent."

"I believe we should offer you a better price than the Russians, after all, we don't have transportation issues."

Charles smiled lightly and countered, "Why do you think I would give the authorization for bombers to Britain?"

General Winter froze. "Why not?"

Charles gave a direct answer: "The reason is simple. Selling the bombers to Russia is safe. They can’t drop bombs on us. But Britain is not the same."

A flicker of surprise passed through General Winter's eyes, then he chuckled. "You're really humorous, Colonel. It seems you forgot that we're allies, fighting against a common enemy!"

Charles didn’t respond, continuing to eat his apple.

He hadn’t touched the coffee. He’d noticed that lately, drinking too much coffee left him in a half-waking, restless sleep.

General Winter finally chose to give up. He knew that no matter how beautiful the words or convincing the acting, they couldn’t deceive Charles.

"Alright!" General Winter said with a tone of resignation. "Tell me your conditions, Colonel. How can I get you to sell us the bombers?"

Charles still didn’t budge. "If today it was Britain that had the bombers, would you sell them to France? You might turn around and drop bombs on Paris, General!"

General Winter fell silent.

Britain had indeed considered this aspect. They didn't want France to be able to drop bombs on London without restraint, while Britain had no countermeasures.

Although France was an ally, it would still put immense psychological pressure on Britain and cause it to lose some of its international influence.

(Note: During World War I, Britain was still the world's leading power, and it couldn't tolerate any other country challenging its hegemony. This could even potentially dethrone Britain from its number-one position.)

"So, I'm sorry," Charles said, spreading his hands. "For the sake of France's interests, I can't do that. I’ll even have to reconsider selling this bomber to Britain. Those idiots in the government just can't see this. But don't worry, I'll convince them."

What Charles was subtly hinting to General Winter was two things:

• Charles was doing this for the sake of France’s interests, not for the benefit of his own capitalist ventures.

• Charles had not yet convinced those idiots in the government, and by the time he did, it might be too late.

So, what are we waiting for?

Set a high price, old acquaintance!

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