NOVEL WEB Chapter 393 This is Shire's method
General Winter recounted with enthusiasm how Shire in Antwerp had tricked the Germans' "Big Bertha" into range, shot down the German airship with "Congreve" rockets installed on planes, invented deep water bombs to destroy submarines, and led troops to the battlefield himself to change the course of the Gelibolu campaign.
He even fully revealed Shire's strategy of "attacking the east to strike the west" in Gelibolu.
Finally, General Winter sighed, "Shire was right. If we had attacked the Dardanelles Strait according to his plan from the beginning, we wouldn't be in this stalemate now. Our fleet should have entered the Marmara Sea long ago and achieved victory by now. Regretful as it is, we are too late."
After listening to General Winter's narration, Cadorna nodded silently.
Winter's words had no flaws. If it were a lie, it would be impossible for him to speak so seamlessly without preparation.
At this moment, the hesitant Cadorna finally made up his mind.
Shire was far more important than the victory in the Battle of Combray. With a military genius like Shire, the Allies' victory was only a matter of time, and Italy aligning with the Allies could not go wrong.
However, Cadorna still presented a series of demands on behalf of Italy:
"Apart from the territories in Austria-Hungary, Italy should also receive the territories of Croatia, Slovenia, and Albania after the war."
At this point, Cadorna completely disregarded Austria-Hungary. He believed that the exhausted Austro-Hungarian army was no match, so he naturally extended his territorial demands beyond Austria-Hungary.
"No problem," General Winter replied straightforwardly. He located the positions Cadorna mentioned on the map; they did not conflict with the British and French forces.
"And the interests in Africa," Cadorna continued, "We hope that after Britain and France acquire the German African colony, they can transfer part of the northeastern African colony to Italy."
General Winter was stunned for a moment. Was this an attempt to take a share from the mouths of Britain and France?
However, after hesitating for just a moment, General Winter nodded and said, "I personally have no objections, but this matter needs to be reported to London and Paris."
This answer actually reassured Cadorna, as it was indeed not something General Winter alone could decide.
"Additionally," Cadorna proposed one final condition, "Britain and France should guarantee that the Adriatic Sea becomes an inland lake of Italy after the war and agree to modify the borders between Tunisia and Libya, as well as Egypt and Libya."
General Winter located the positions on the map, and sincerely said, "This also needs to be reported, General!"
"Of course," Cadorna replied.
Soon, General Winter sent all of Italy's conditions to the British and French sides one by one.
The British and French governments made a show of it. They convened officials overnight to discuss, and only reluctantly agreed several hours later.
Cadorna was very satisfied with the negotiation results. After the meeting ended, he began to gather troops and declared war on Austria-Hungary.
What he didn't know was that Britain and France never intended to fulfill the agreement. They decided: Wherever Italy is fighting, so be it; whatever they conquer, unable to be helped. But if it's conquered by Britain and France, there's no way it would be handed over easily, and it is impossible to cede parts of their African colonies to Italy.
(Note: After the war, Italy got nothing. The reason given by Britain and France was that Italy contributed almost nothing, so they refused to honor the agreement. Italy could do nothing against Britain and France, suffering a huge number of casualties and economic devastation due to the war.)
...
Paris, Schneider Armory.
Sitting at his desk, James weakly rubbed his aching forehead.
James didn't feel any joy from the good news of Italy joining the Allies; it had nothing to do with him.
He was overwhelmed by a sudden series of problems.
First was the Battle of Combray. The "Saint-Chamond" tank completely lost its military orders, whether it was the heavy type or the light type.
Although the light "M21" won a victory, soldiers unanimously believed it was the result of a night raid, and it couldn't hide the fact that the "M21" was extremely dangerous to use and risky for their own side.
Next, Shire brought in five artillery production lines from Britain.
It was said that each production line could produce six large-caliber artillery pieces, making five lines produce thirty units, while Schneider's 105MM artillery had a monthly capacity of only five pieces.
This huge gap would place the 105MM artillery at an absolute disadvantage in the market, even if potentially superior.
The most troublesome thing was the machine gun issue recently arising from Gelibolu.
The machine gun itself wasn't the problem.
James knew he had fallen into Shire's carefully laid trap. To quickly expand production, he had invested more than 70 million francs, and had more than 20,000 machine guns in stock, all wasted due to the introduction of the "Saint-Étienne 2" machine gun.
Total estimated losses could be over a hundred million, according to James.
Fortunately, Schneider had deep pockets to weather the loss.
The deadly part was, everyone believed it was another underhanded move by Schneider to suppress Shire, a "dirty political deal," a "collusion between business and the military."
Consequently, people spontaneously took to the streets and gathered in front of Schneider factory shouting:
"Schneider is hindering France's victory! Stop this shameless behavior!"
"We need Shire, not Schneider!"
"Schneider is killing frontline soldiers with its terrible weapons and despicable means. Without Schneider, we would be better off!"
...
Accompanying these shouts were stones, rotten leaves, and rotten eggs being hurled at the factory.
James found it strange and asked Paulina, "Did I forget? We don't seem to be suppressing Shire on the machine guns."
"You didn't forget, sir," Paulina replied, "Indeed, we didn't. This is Shire's tactic."
"Shire's tactic?" James appeared puzzled, "You mean, these protesters were brought in by Shire?"
Paulina shook her head, "Shire might not have done anything, but people would naturally point fingers at us."
James instantly understood.
Similar incidents had happened many times before, to the point where people, through habitual thinking, believed Schneider was behind it again this time.
If it was in the past, James wouldn't have cared about these protests; they wouldn't be able to do anything to Schneider.
But this time was different.
Schneider's workers also went on strike to protest. People began boycotting Schneider's products because they believed Schneider was a heartless capitalist, caring only for its own profits without regard for soldiers' lives and national security.
If things continued like this, it wouldn't take long for Schneider to be pushed out of the race, no matter how much money or technology they had.
At this moment, the phone rang. Paulina quickly stepped up to answer and then looked at James in surprise, "Dejoka wants to speak with you, sir."
"Dejoka?" James looked confused, "Shire's father, what does he want?"
Then a flash of anger appeared in his eyes, "He must want to see me defeated by Shire!"