Chapter 272: The Oil-Adding Tactics
Steed was relieved that Bonnet had not made any public declaration about leaving the Republican Party.
Steed suspected that Schneider wanted Bonnet to remain hidden within the Republican Party, lying in wait for the right moment. At that time, Le Petit Journal would suddenly shift its stance and expose damaging statements about Charles, throwing him into disarray.
Since Bonnet had made no move, Steed pretended not to know anything, and was content to watch him continue "pretending."
As for Rayom, under the arrangement of Captain Klein, Steed secretly visited the Saint-Étienne armaments factory.
When Steed suddenly appeared in Rayom's office and took control of everyone present, Rayom realized that his secret had been exposed.
"Father!" Rayom's face immediately drained of color, and he nervously stood up from his desk.
Klein brought over a chair and placed it in front of Rayom. Steed slowly sat down, squeezing out a few words between his clenched teeth: "What conditions did Schneider offer you?"
"Father, I didn't..." Rayom seemed to want to explain, but Klein's pistol was already pressed to his head.
Klein, rather than being just a security captain, was more like the commander of Steed's private militia. For years, he had been ensuring Steed's safety, which of course included eliminating any threats.
"Be careful," Steed said coldly, a flash of murderous intent crossing his eyes. "I don’t want to hear any lies. You know what I would do for the family’s interests and Saint-Étienne’s future."
Rayom decided to stop pretending. He asked sharply, "The family’s interests and Saint-Étienne’s future you speak of, does that mean handing everything over to Charles? What do we gain from that?"
Seeing that Steed remained silent, Rayom, gathering his courage, continued, "Father, without Charles, Saint-Étienne would at least still belong to our family…"
"Really?" Steed coldly retorted, "Over the years, under your management, what new equipment has Saint-Étienne invented? What I see is it being slowly eaten away."
Rayom shot back, "Even so, that doesn't mean we should surrender to Charles..."
Steed suddenly stood up and slapped Rayom violently, knocking him to the ground. He scolded bitterly, "Fool! Without Charles, we might even be defeated by the Piteau factory!"
"You think without our support, Charles could rise?" Steed's voice became more menacing.
"You think Charles needs us? You think we are irreplaceable?"
"Does Charles not produce grenades, mortars, or aerial bombs and 37mm cannons?!"
Rayom was stunned.
As the manager of the Saint-Étienne factory, he knew these pieces of equipment were relatively simple to produce, especially grenades, which could be made with just a few workers and minimal training.
So, it was clear that Saint-Étienne needed Charles, not the other way around.
Without Saint-Étienne, Charles could easily find another arms factory or even start his own. Then, these weapons would soon be flooding the market.
At that point, Charles's factory would become France's largest, and without new weapons, Saint-Étienne would quickly be eliminated under the pressure of several forces, with no one to save it.
Steed looked at Rayom, who was sitting on the floor in a daze, and shook his head gently. "You still don’t understand. The future of an arms factory lies in creativity. Whoever controls creativity controls the narrative. All you see are factories, workers, and machines. Why don’t you think about this: can any of that compare to a grenade that Charles sketches with his hand?"
Rayom realized he had made a foolish mistake. The path his father had chosen was likely the correct one.
Factories, workers, and even machines could easily be replaced, but creativity couldn’t.
Charles had that kind of creativity, and each idea he had could shake Saint-Étienne to its core, and perhaps there would be even more in the future.
Therefore, Charles was undoubtedly the king of the arms industry.
His father had realized this and chosen to support him wholeheartedly. Only this way could they achieve the greatest benefits and lead Saint-Étienne to glory.
Yet he had considered it an unconditional surrender, even hoping to ally with Schneider to drive out Charles, the threat!
...
At the city defense headquarters, Charles received a call from Steed, knowing that he had successfully convinced Rayom.
Charles wasn’t too concerned about this matter. Once Grevy had been followed, Rayom’s secrets were bound to be exposed. Once exposed, Rayom had no choice but to be "convinced."
After all, Rayom was at the Saint-Étienne armaments factory, and after this incident, Steed would surely take "special care" of him.
Charles’s attention was focused on the Dardanelles Strait. Intelligence reports continued to flow through Charles to General Gallieni.
Gallieni summarized the situation:
"The battleship count has increased to 18, along with dozens of cruisers and destroyers, but it seems to have had little effect. They even dare not enter the strait for battle."
"Can't these battleships force their way through?" Gallieni asked.
Gallieni was an amateur when it came to naval warfare. He believed the battleships could push through the Dardanelles Strait using their speed and armor, and once they entered the wider Sea of Marmara, they would have the upper hand.
"Mainly the mines, General," Charles replied. "One mine can sink a battleship, and the Ottomans have laid mines all throughout the narrow strait."
Gallieni raised the documents in his hand. "They’ve brought many minesweepers and destroyers, and the minesweepers and destroyers can lead the way while the battleships follow."
"The Ottomans have found a clever countermeasure," Charles explained. "Their artillery cannot harm the battleships, but it’s more than enough to sink the minesweepers and destroyers. Therefore, they focus their firepower on the minesweepers."
Gallieni said "Oh" and fell silent.
The war should have been fought as Gallieni described: battleships, cruisers, destroyers, and minesweepers working together, with the minesweepers and destroyers clearing the mines in front, while the main battleships followed behind.
Though there would be casualties and costs, as long as the fleet pressed on, it would soon pass through the Dardanelles and enter the Sea of Marmara.
However, Admiral Cardon remained cautious. He worried that if the fleet took heavy losses fighting a small country like the Ottoman Empire, his command would become the subject of ridicule.
Thus, Admiral Cardon continued to use what he thought was a safer method: during the day, the ships would bombard coastal defenses from a distance, while at night, the minesweepers would secretly enter the strait to clear the mines.
This strategy seemed cautious, but in reality, it gave the enemy more time to react, eventually turning into what was known as the "oil-adding tactic": once the enemy grasped the pattern, they quickly adapted. They hid their guns during the day, came out at night to destroy the minesweepers, and replenished their torpedoes.
Admiral Cardon naturally regarded the enemy as a bunch of stubborn fools, incapable of adapting!