Chapter 227

(The picture below is the Lutetia Hotel in Paris, which opened in 1903)

In the 6th arrondissement of Paris, the Lutetia Hotel, a fire was roaring in the warm conference room.

Colonel Johnson took out his pocket watch while smoking a cigar and looked at it nervously. The pointer was pointing to ten o'clock but there was no one. Did he miss the queue again this time?

Colonel Johnson is the head of the US Tank Research Laboratory.

Since the first tank appeared on the battlefield and won, the US military immediately became interested in this weapon that can reduce casualties. Colonel Johnson, who graduated from Princeton University, was ordered to set up a tank research laboratory.

The military hoped to develop its own tanks for the United States, but after more than a month of hard work, Colonel Johnson regretfully found that they could only build tanks like CLB75.

Tractor chassis plus steel plate, this is all Colonel Johnson's understanding of tanks.

After it was built, it was more like an ironclad battleship during the Civil War, but it was shrunk and drove on land.

In addition to this, what else can there be? Colonel Johnson thought that if it was just to block bullets, then this shape must be right.

Soon Johnson found out that he was wrong, and the French had left them far behind.

First, the "Mark I", which had a super trench crossing function, won an unexpected victory on the battlefield.

Then came the "Charles A1", which was even more surprising. It was so small that only two people could operate it, and it also used a rotating turret.

After thinking it over and over again, Colonel Johnson, who had no idea, could only report to General Smith:

"I think part of the reason is that they are in battle, and they know what the battlefield needs."

"We who don't participate in the war are destined to fall behind, so I suggest buying tanks from France or authorizing production."

"After learning their technology, consider innovation, so as not to fall behind too much!"

General Smith agreed, so Colonel Johnson rushed to France day and night.

After arriving here, he found that there were too many countries waiting to buy the "Charles A1" tank, Spain, Switzerland, Romania... Many countries hope to have this kind of tank to strengthen their army.

The French government representative told Johnson in embarrassment: "We have combat needs, Colonel, of course we have to give priority to producing tanks for ourselves, the military has placed a large order. You'd better wait for a while."

What Johnson couldn't stand was "waiting", because this meant backwardness for the United States.

Finally, the French representative was pestered and had no choice but to reply: "Unless you can convince Charles"

...

Time passed by minute by minute, Johnson looked at his watch, and it was ten minutes past the agreed time.

His mood gradually became low, and it seemed that all this was not realistic.

Assistant Nathan said: "Maybe they won't come. If it were me, I wouldn't be in a hurry to sell the most advanced equipment."

Johnson said "um". Now it is wartime. If tanks like "Charles A1" are sold everywhere, it is easy for the Germans to obtain key data and even technology.

However, as long as there is a one percent possibility, Johnson is willing to wait, anyway, it's just spending more time here.

At this time, the door of the conference room opened.

A young colonel in military uniform came in with an assistant in civilian clothes. The colonel stepped forward and shook hands with Johnson: "Sorry, Colonel Johnson, I'm late!"

Charles was not late on purpose. It took some time to receive General Winter. He talked to him about more important military matters. He couldn't make another appointment halfway through the conversation.

"It's okay, Colonel...Charles!" Colonel Johnson was a little flattered. He asked Charles to sit down helplessly.

"I received the information from the government." Charles said straight to the point: "I heard that you are interested in purchasing the 'Charles A1' tank?"

"Yes!" Johnson nodded hurriedly.

"But you know." Charles looked embarrassed: "We are in the middle of a war. We have just received an order for 500 tanks from the military. If we want to produce the tanks you need, we may have to wait..."

Charles turned his eyes to Deyoka.

Deyoka understood and continued, "With our current production capacity, it may take about half a year. This tank is not as simple as other tanks."

Char turned his eyes back to Johnson: "We will give priority to your production. How many do you need?"

Colonel Johnson's confidence, which had just been raised, fell to the bottom in an instant.

Half a year, with the current speed of tank upgrades and iterations, I'm afraid it will fall behind again.

"In fact." Colonel Johnson hesitated and said, "I'm considering another option. Can we cooperate in the form of authorized production?"

As considered before, authorized production will have the risk of leaks, so this is much more difficult than purchasing.

Johnson just tried his best and asked with the mentality of giving it a try.

He thought Charles would refuse outright, but unexpectedly, Charles frowned and thought: "Well, this won't add pressure to our production capacity."

When Johnson heard this, it seemed like there was a chance, and he immediately took out a cooperation plan from his briefcase and handed it to Charles: "Please rest assured that confidentiality can be supervised by your intelligence personnel sent to our country, and we will cover all expenses. In addition, we are willing to pay a licensing fee of 1 million US dollars, and the property rights fee is calculated separately!"

Djoka's eyes lit up instantly. 1 million US dollars was a huge sum of money at that time. Calculated at the exchange rate, it was 43 million francs, and his wealth instantly doubled.

But Charles pushed the cooperation plan back: "This is not what I need, Colonel Johnson."

Colonel Johnson, who had not had time to be disappointed, heard this and his eyes lit up instantly: "So, what do you need? As long as we can do it!"

"You know." Charles replied calmly: "The Germans occupied the industrial zone in the northeast of France, where 68% of our steel industry is located. Now our country is in short supply of steel, especially special steel for the production of tanks..."

"No problem!" Colonel Johnson agreed at once: "We will export special steel to you unconditionally!"

"No!" Charles said: "If I authorize your country to produce tanks, you can directly send the finished tank armor to us, which can speed up our production speed, you see..."

"Of course!" Johnson nodded hurriedly. This was just a trivial matter for the United States, and he certainly would not refuse.

What he didn't know was that this was a big deal for Charles.

At this time, the forging of special steel was in the hands of Schneider, which would become his weapon to restrain Charles.

But now, there is no longer this worry.

Even in the future, Charles can continue to expand cooperation with the United States in the field of special materials.

(The above picture shows the CLB75 tank developed by the United States. It has not participated in actual combat and is only used for exercises)