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

Chapter 54 Laurent is very dedicated

The guard company was stationed in the open space outside the factory. This was originally the French army's defensive position against the German army, and there were many fortifications left. The soldiers set up dozens of tents and reinforced and renovated the fortifications to create a garrison.

In the medical tent, the medical soldier carefully treated Laurent's wounds.

A few days ago, he was beaten up in the town as a "kidnapper" and only suffered minor injuries. Today, he was hit hard by an angry worker and suffered serious injuries:
His left hand was dislocated and had to be bandaged and hung around his neck after being repositioned. It would take at least a week to recover. His nose was twisted and bent back together with a scream. His nose kept bleeding and had to be plugged with sterile cotton wool.

After the medics left, Captain Jules, the captain of the guard company, asked with lingering fear: "Is everything okay, Major?"

"Small problem!" Laurent covered his nose with his healthy right hand, his voice sounding a little strange because of the stuffy nose: "Everything... is under control!"

"You mean..." Captain Jules looked doubtful: "What happened just now was also in the plan?"

"Of course!" Laurent coughed guiltily and puffed out his chest: "Only in this way can we convince those capitalists that we have something against Charles!"

"I know, but..." Jules didn't continue. He noticed that Laurent's eyes were wandering, which was a sign of lying. He thought it was best not to expose Laurent at this time.

Laurent went on to emphasize: “Only intense conflict and even bloodshed can convince the capitalists that this is important, Jules!”

"Yes, Major! You are right!" Jules agreed, but thought to himself, I'll leave this matter to you!

Jules hesitated for a moment and reported: "The problem is that we are the only ones in the guard company who know the truth. The soldiers think they are really monitoring Charles. Many people are unwilling to do so. They have a resistance to this. I am worried that the team will be divided because of this!"

This was Gallielli's order. In order to keep it secret, only his trusted confidants Laurent and Jules knew that they were monitoring Charles and the factory in name only but were actually protecting him.

In addition, Gallieni had a selfish motive. He wanted to be the first to know what strategic and tactical ideas and suggestions Charles had.

Laurent looked at Jules sideways and asked, "Resistance?"

"Yes!" Jules explained. "Everyone knows that Charles saved France, Major, but we are watching him as a spy, at least on the surface. The soldiers think this is unwelcome and even an insult to their intelligence, so they are unwilling to carry out this mission!"

Laurent snorted indistinctly from his nose: "Does their opinion matter? They only need to consider one thing, and that is to obey orders!"

"But Major..."

"Gather them!" Laurent interrupted Jules. "Let me deal with them!"

"Yes, Major!" Jules responded helplessly.

After Jules left, Laurent stood up and looked at himself in the mirror. Although his nose was swollen and his lips were turned upside down, he still straightened his military cap. Soldiers must always pay attention to their appearance!
When Laurent walked out of the tent, more than 200 soldiers from the guard company had already lined up outside the tent.

Laurent paced in front of them with one hand hanging and his head held high. He had a stern face and tried to open his eyes wide to make himself look "murderous", but he didn't know that this was just funny in the eyes of the soldiers.

"I heard that some people have doubts about this mission. Some people think that the person we are monitoring is a capitalist with a conscience, so it is an unnecessary waste of time..."

Before he finished speaking, a soldier responded: "Isn't it, Major?"

"Of course not!" Laurent turned his head quickly to face the direction of the voice and shouted angrily: "Have you forgotten Lesseps? Wasn't he a good man before he declared bankruptcy? Wasn't he a savior like Charles?"

This happened twenty years ago.

French entrepreneur Lesseps obtained the rights to build the Panama Canal and issued stocks in the country. With the media's vigorous publicity and numerous assurances from many congressmen, the whole country felt that this was a sure-win business.

The people went crazy. They regarded Lesseps as the savior who would lead them to wealth. They snapped up all the billions of francs of stocks issued by Lesseps, and soon snapped up all the new shares.

However, the company suddenly declared bankruptcy with a debt of 12.8 billion, and the canal was only one-third completed. People then realized that they had been deceived, and that almost everyone had accepted bribes from Lesseps: state officials, senior officials, more than 200 members of parliament, and a large number of journalists, who had jointly concocted this scam to trap the people, among whom Clemenceau, the leader of the Radical Party, received a bribe of 100 million francs.

This resulted in 90 small shareholders going bankrupt and small and medium-sized enterprises closing down.

What is even more unacceptable is that even with overwhelming evidence, the court acquitted all of them and only fined Lesseps a ridiculous 3000 francs!

The people held demonstrations and went on strike again and again, but to no avail.

They are too naive. They want the capitalists to judge themselves guilty and make them pay the price. That can only come true in dreams!

The soldiers were silent. Laurent's words made sense. Before declaring bankruptcy, Lesseps was more than a good man. He was even the hope of the French people.

This is also one of the reasons why the French military and civilians hate capitalists so much, and Charles is a true capitalist.

"The capitalists have their own agenda!" Laurent continued to shout in a hoarse voice. He habitually wanted to raise his left hand to enhance the context of his words, but when he felt the pain, he quickly changed to his right hand: "They are all good people before they reveal their true colors, but they are all the same. Their essence is profit-seeking. They all want to cheat the hard-earned money from poor people like us, and it has always been like this without exception!"

Some soldiers agreed with this:
"You're right, they all have bad intentions!"

"They just want to sell the technology for a good price!"

……

Others objected:

"Ciel is different, he saved our lives!"

"What is more valuable than our lives, than France?"

"He didn't have to do this. My brother was injured in the war and it was Ciel who saved him. Ciel paid for it out of his own pocket and didn't ask for anything! We can't do this to Ciel!"

……

It is not known which side started the fight first. Maybe it started by spitting, and someone accidentally spit on the other person, who was hit by a punch. Others thought it was a provocation, and soon one person helped the other and they started fighting each other.

Many people even threw aside their rifles and rejoined the battle, screaming and fighting so loudly that they couldn't even tell which side the other side was on.

Laurent looked at the scene helplessly. He shouted to try to stop the soldiers' excessive behavior: "Wait, stop, you..."

"Bang!" In the chaos, a flying punch hit Laurent's chin and knocked him to the ground.

……

In the office on the third floor of the motorcycle factory, Deyoka and Charles looked at the soldiers in chaos outside the wall in confusion.

"What are they doing?" Djokovic asked.

"I don't know!" Charles shook his head. "Maybe... it's training. They may be practicing how to deal with angry workers!"

Djoka nodded, feeling a little touched. Laurent was a dedicated soldier, and the training seemed serious. Such a person would definitely protect Charles well!

(End of this chapter)