Chapter 356: The Perfect Timing
Ever since his contact with Wells, owning his own steel factory had become a source of constant worry for Charles.
Although Charles had the American connection, allowing him to purchase special steel at favorable prices through the U.S. military, this arrangement only applied to Charles' tank production, and not for Wells' shipyard, which was still shackled by constraints.
The reason was that tanks required far less steel than warships did, so the steel imported from the U.S. could still be considered affordable even with transport costs and tariffs.
More importantly, tanks had greater technical barriers and were protected by patents.
Take the "Charles A1," for example. It was unique and unmatched; currently, no other tank could defeat it, and the French military was forced to purchase this model.
Charles had also enhanced the engine and would continue improving the tank's cannon in the future.
It was clear that as long as Charles was around, no one, including Schneider, could produce a more advanced tank.
In essence, it was monopolized by Charles, and the steel costs could be perfectly passed onto the military. Charles could even raise the price if he wanted to.
But warships were a different story.
Wells could build destroyers, and Schneider could too.
Wells could build battleships, and Schneider could do the same.
There were also submarines, torpedo boats, minesweepers, and so on.
Technologically, there was no significant gap between them. The main factor for cost control lay in the massive amount of steel required.
If Wells relied entirely on steel imported from the U.S., it would still be doomed to the same curse of "the same performance, but more expensive."
Therefore, to fully bring Wells to Charles' side, the only solution was to "help" him solve the steel problem.
Charles' eyes naturally turned to the 68% of the steel industry that had once belonged to France but was now occupied by the Germans.
If Charles could take control of this steel industry—even just a small portion, say around one-twentieth—he could ensure that the Brest shipyard would break free from the control of other capitalists.
Of course, Charles' goals didn't stop there; the development of any industry was inseparable from steel, and the more share he controlled, the better.
Tigani found this tricky. His eyes searched the map, landing on several steel factories: "The key is that these factories are still owned by capitalists. If we take them back one day, the government will just return them to the capitalists."
It was somewhat ironic. Charles was fighting on the frontlines, risking his life to recover lost territories, only to hand the gains over to the capitalists waiting in the rear.
But Charles had already considered this. He replied, "That's why we need to act quickly, General. Now is the perfect time!"
"Perfect time?" Tigani looked at Charles in surprise. "What do you mean?"
...
At the Schneider Armaments Factory, James was in a meeting room conducting a session.
The topic of the meeting was the mass production of the Chauchat machine gun.
James was somewhat smug, as up until now, neither Charles nor the "Saint-Étienne" Armaments Factory had reacted. This indicated that Schneider had finally won a battle.
"Our production capacity is a maximum of 2,000 units per month, and increasing this in the short term will be extremely difficult," reported Cassot, the head of the Pito armaments factory, cautiously. "This is already our limit."
"Not enough, far from enough," James said, his tone leaving no room for debate. "We need at least 10,000 units."
Cassot went pale at the thought. 10,000 units, five times the current production—it was a massive problem in terms of workers, machines, and factory space.
But that wasn’t the worst part. James thought for a moment and then set a time limit:
"One month. It must be done in one month."
"We must seize the market in the shortest time possible. Even if Charles comes up with a new, better machine gun, the military will have no choice but to choose ours due to production capacity."
This was dictated by the urgency of the battlefield.
Suppose Charles, in the near future, developed a superior machine gun, but his monthly production was less than 1,000 units.
The battlefield, however, required 100,000 units in a short time, which would render Charles' machine gun obsolete.
(Note: In modern military units, light machine guns are used as squad automatic weapons. A 10-man infantry squad would have 1 or 2 machine guns. A large army, possibly over a million soldiers, would require at least 100,000 units. Additionally, these guns could be exported to equip British, Russian, and other forces, creating huge demand.)
This was James’ lack of confidence in the Chauchat machine gun, but it also demonstrated his belief in Charles' capabilities. James was sure that Charles would soon invent a better machine gun, and he could only defeat him in terms of output.
"But, sir," Cassot swallowed nervously. "10,000 units? That’s unrealistic. Everything needs time, from building factory space to training workers…"
"We can use a different model," James interrupted Cassot. "Delegate production rights to other capable enterprises."
This was what France had done once the war broke out. Motorcycle factories, automobile factories, and other enterprises with a certain level of technical expertise and trained workers were brought into production to fill the massive wartime gap.
"But that will affect the quality of the machine guns," Cassot expressed his concern.
He had thought of this solution, but based on the current situation, firearms produced by non-official armaments factories often had significant quality issues.
This could be fatal for a new machine gun.
"The focus isn’t on that, Cassot," James said, tapping his fingers on the desk to make a "click-click" sound. "The focus is on output. It’s better for soldiers to have a machine gun, even if it’s flawed, than to have none at all—as long as it can shoot bullets!"
At this point, Paulina entered, leaning over to speak quietly to James. "Someone wishes to see you, sir."
James turned to look at Paulina in surprise. "Now? Have them wait!"
Usually, anyone wishing to see him had to make an appointment, especially during a meeting. There was no way he could leave everyone to meet a visitor.
But then James realized that Paulina wouldn't make such a rookie mistake, so this visitor must be important.
Sure enough, Paulina whispered, "It’s Deyocca, Charles' father."
Upon hearing "Deyocca," James frowned. He didn’t recognize the name.
But when he heard "Charles' father," his face instantly turned pale with shock. Charles' father had come to see him?
What was going on? Had Charles sent him to negotiate?
James could no longer sit still. He stood up and glanced around the room. "The meeting ends here for today. We’ll discuss the details later."
He gestured to Cassot. "Get ready, Cassot. I need production!"
"As you wish, Mr. James," Cassot replied helplessly.
As the head of Pito Armaments, he knew very well the situation with the Chauchat machine gun.
Even when produced by the armaments factory, it had an unacceptable failure rate. If other factories were tasked with producing it, things would likely get worse.