I was a tycoon in World War I: Starting to save France

Chapter 46 The Hateful Middleman
Ordinary people's houses did not have dedicated living rooms or study rooms for conversation. Camille hurriedly cleared the dining table, which had not yet been set up, and used it as a meeting place.

Charles took a look at Gallieni. He was a man who didn't care much about his image. He had glasses on one side of his nose, one side high and one side low, a fluffy white mustache, and a suit that didn't fit him well. He looked like a sloppy and skinny old man. It was hard to imagine that he was the most militarily talented general in France.

Before Charles and Deyoka could speak, Gallieni spoke first: "You must be wondering why I want to talk to you in secret?"

Djoka nodded, but Charles looked calm.

Gallieni was somewhat surprised by Charles's reaction. He asked, "Have you guessed it?"

"You don't want the capitalists who control the Senate to know!" Charles replied.

"Smart boy!" Gallieni smiled. "You are worthy of being the inventor of the tank and the sidecar. If I am not mistaken, the tactics used by Major Brownie were also taught by you, right?"

Charles did not deny that this might have fooled others but not Gallieni.

Dejoka looked at Charles hesitantly, unsure whether to tell Gallieni about the attraction of the Germans to Oise.

"That's not hidden from the general either, father," said Charles. "He knows it was us!"

Gallieni was a little confused at first, but soon he realized: "Did you lead the Germans here and let them expose their flank to us? I have only been suspicious all along, but I didn't expect it was really you..."

"It was Charles, General!" said Deyoka. "This was all Charles' idea!"

Gallieni looked at Charles, his eyes showing admiration without reservation:

"What a great idea, Charles! I never thought it would work, especially spreading rumors that made the Germans think Paris was a ghost town! It fooled everyone!"

“If Kluck knew he was defeated by a child, I wonder how he would react!”

"I am seventeen, General!" protested Charles.

Gallieni laughed. He was still a child after all. He even hoped he could be older. When he reached my age, he would know how great it was to be young.

Gallieni's gaze towards Charles gradually became kinder, and his tone changed from the original formal to casual:

"Let's get back to business, little one."

"You should have heard about the tank incident. After you sold the industrial property rights of the tank to Grevi, they used this war to kidnap the military. The military is still in tense negotiations with them!"

Djoka was a little anxious: "We have to do this, General..."

"I know!" Gallieni interrupted Dejoka. "Don't get me wrong, Mr. Dejoka! I don't mean to accuse you. The industrial property rights are yours. It's your freedom to sell them to anyone. I have no right to ask. I just want to see...if we can solve this problem!"

"What's the problem?" Djokovic sounded a little confused.

Gallieni did not answer directly. He took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket calmly, took out two cigarettes and placed them on the table, one on the left and one on the right, and said: "This is you, this is the army, the army needs tanks, you produce tanks, the relationship between you and me is a simple transaction. However..."

Gallieni put the cigarette box in the middle and tapped it with his fingers. "The Senate is in the middle, gentlemen! Military purchases require the Senate's permission. You can't contact the military directly, so there are problems. Efficiency, price, quality, time, etc., all have problems, but we have to buy! You also have to sell because of pressure from all sides, and are even forced to sell industrial property rights!" Deyoka said, "Oh," "The capitalists who control the Senate, they force the system to become middlemen and make a profit from the price difference!"

He suddenly understood why Gallieni, as a general, also wanted to meet with Charles secretly. This was not a simple meeting, but also a way to bypass the "middleman" and contact the seller. This touched the "middleman's" cake and affected their fundamental interests!
If the capitalists knew this, they might plan a real "kidnapping" against Charles.

"That's right!" General Gallieni nodded. "This forces us to buy inferior equipment at several times the price, and sometimes we miss opportunities to fight because we can't reach an agreement on the price. For example, the army can't get tanks now unless we agree to buy them at 6000 francs per unit!"

The price shocked Djokovic and Charles.

The first generation of tanks were nothing more than a tractor with steel plates welded on it and a machine gun added to it, costing only over a thousand francs, but the price that the capitalists sold it to the military rose to 6000 francs!

This is clearly an attempt to use the urgency of war to threaten the military and make a fortune from it.

General Gallieni said coldly: "They have kidnapped the future and dignity of France, as well as the lives of soldiers and civilians, in order to achieve their goal of embezzling taxes!"

"How hateful!" Although Deyoka knew that the capitalists were greedy and unkind, he did not expect them to use such despicable means to make money from the national crisis. He was indignant: "Why don't they let the army purchase independently?"

"Because they think the military can't have too much power!" Gallieni explained. "Once the military has power, it will be easy to control the country!"

Djokovic remained silent, which was a good excuse for the capitalists.

Charles asked: "General, what can we do? We can't change the status quo!"

"You're right, little guy!" Gallieni nodded approvingly. "If you are a greedy capitalist like them, then we can't do anything. Because once the army contacts you privately and agrees on a price, the capitalists can always use their power to stop the deal and offer you double or even triple the price. Therefore, the military always fails in the bidding war with the capitalists, without exception!"

Ciel nodded in understanding.

The money used by capitalists is not their own, but the French treasury and taxpayers' taxes. The military's military expenditure is certainly not enough to fight against them.

"But if he is a conscientious capitalist, the situation will be different!" Gallieni stared at Charles with a deep gaze. "He must resist the temptation of the high price offered by the capitalists, and would rather make less money and firmly choose to trade with the military, and cooperate with the military for a long time or even form some kind of alliance. In other words, he must stand on the same front with the military to fight against the control of the capitalists. Can you do it?"

Djokovic's expression was a little strange. The purpose of a businessman is to make money. It is natural that the highest bidder wins. This is also the law of the market.

But now Gallieni asked them to break the market rules and choose the military that offered a lower price. This is what Francis calls a fool!

Gallieni never took his eyes off Charles.

He had done a lot of research on Charles before and knew that Charles used his own funds to help the field hospital to help the wounded. He believed that Charles was a conscientious capitalist, otherwise he would not have made this trip.

Charles was silent for a while, then asked, "General, can you solve the military's problem? I mean, how can you bypass the Senate's control and purchase independently?"

Gallieni answered simply: "According to the wartime emergency regulations, the military has the right to choose equipment in a state of war. We have the right to choose better equipment!"

Then Gallieni added: "Of course, the prerequisite is 'better'!"

(End of this chapter)