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

On the north bank of the Somme, the British Army Command Headquarters.

Haig sat in a chair blankly, his ears filled with cheers from the south bank: "Long live France! We have won!"

"Ding, ding, ding," the phone on the desk rang.

Haig felt nothing. It seemed that everything had nothing to do with him. He only thought about one question in his mind, why did this happen? What is the magic power of Ciel?

The staff officer hurried forward to answer the phone. After a while, he carefully handed the phone to Haig: "General, this is the marshal!"

Haig hurriedly composed himself and cleared his throat with a cough, but after taking the phone, he still felt powerless: "It's me, Haig."

Kitchener's disbelieving voice came from the microphone: "Are they true? Did Shire win in the counterattack?"

"Yes, Your Majesty Marshal." Haig replied with difficulty. Although he couldn't believe it, it was the truth.

"How did he do it?" Kitchener asked again.

Haig irritably unbuttoned his collar and said with embarrassment, "I'm not sure yet, Your Majesty Marshal."

Everything happened so fast.

If it hadn't happened under his own eyes, if he hadn't seen the German army's retreat with his own eyes, if he hadn't heard the cheers from the French army, Haig would have almost thought that this was a show staged by collusion between the Germans and Charles.

"God, Douglas!" Kitchener said with dissatisfaction in his tone: "The battle is happening around you, and you don't know how he defeated the Germans?"

That's not what really upset Kitchener.

The British army suffered hundreds of thousands of casualties and took more than 20 days to advance only 1 kilometer, while the Shire advanced 5 kilometers in a few hours. The number of casualties may be less than a fraction of the British army.

But the same cannot be said for Kitchener.

Because all of Haig's battle plans were approved by Kitchener. In other words, Shire defeated not only Haig, but also Kitchener.

"Yes." Haig said with frustration: "I'm sorry, Marshal, I will investigate it immediately and report to you then!"

Kitchener said nothing and hung up the phone with a "hmm".

The staff officer was very knowledgeable, and without waiting for Haig to ask, he consciously stepped forward to report the situation:

"Information I got from the French, General."

"The Shire penetrated along the Somme to the rear of the Germans..."

Haig couldn't believe what he heard: "Somme?"

The staff officer nodded:

"Yes, General."

"He secretly brought in a lot of landing craft and amphibious landing craft. You know, the Charles invented these equipment when he attacked the Dardanelles."

"They have obviously been upgraded. The landing craft can carry tanks and rocket launchers, and then the amphibious landing craft can carry soldiers and ammunition."

Then the staff officer searched for a while on the map, pointed to a point and said: "They will land here, near the village of Bugava, and directly attack the German artillery positions..."

Haig impatiently interrupted the staff: "But how did they deceive the Germans? The Germans actually turned a blind eye to the movements on the river?"

"Dark night, General." The staff officer explained: "There is also the sound of artillery and the fire when the shell explodes. These are good cover for them."

Haig was stunned for a while, and finally sighed. Stupid Germans, they perfectly cooperated with Charles's battle plan!

Haigh took a few minutes to sort out the whole thing and called Kitchener to report the whole thing.

Kitchener also fell silent after listening.

Soon, Kitchener said slowly and thoughtfully: "You may have overlooked something, Douglas."

"What?" Haig felt that he had not missed anything.

"The sound of artillery," Kitchener reminded: "Shire knew that the Germans would attack, and he was ready and waiting for this moment."

Haig suddenly realized that, yes, as soon as the Germans opened fire, Charles's troops immediately took advantage of this moment to cross along the Somme.

This was no coincidence; Charles had guessed that the Germans would attack.

But why did he guess that the Germans would attack?

The French army was under constant martial law and they tried hard to keep the mutiny from the Germans.

"He knows what you're going to do," Kitchener reminded on the phone.

Haig was beyond shocked: "You mean... no, this is impossible."

There was no response from the other end of the phone. Apparently, Kitchener was certain of this answer.

Haig still didn't want to admit it, but this seemed to be the only explanation.

In other words, what he thought was unknown to others was actually part of Ciel's calculations.

Finally, Kitchener asked in a warning tone: "Now, do you still think that the Shire's victory was due to luck?"

Haig was speechless. He couldn't even deny it.

…

In the afternoon of that day, "Le Merit" devoted a full page to a detailed report on the Battle of the Somme in the Shire.

This was the result of a busy day for Cobdo. As soon as he heard the news, he immediately took a plane and rushed to the Somme front line. He spent a few hours interviewing the necessary materials and taking photos, and then rushed back to Paris to edit and print.

This time, "Le Merit" no longer maintained the so-called "neutrality" as before. It gave Charles all the praises it could use without hesitation:

"Many people say that Charles does not have the ability to command a large corps and lacks experience in frontal combat and positional warfare with the enemy."

"That turned out to be a lie."

"Ciel is the one who holds the lifeblood of the war. He is a true genius. He is proficient in all tactics."

"It's like what Charles has always emphasized about 'adapting to circumstances'."

"Hasn't anyone realized that another meaning of 'adapting to circumstances' is to be able to do anything?"

...

Although the newspapers reported more about how Charles used the Somme River to penetrate the rear of the German army and the battle process, people actually cared more about these contents and were more willing to read them.

Paris was once again in an uproar because of this battle, and people naturally compared it with the previous ones:

"Is this true? Charles only suffered more than a thousand casualties in this battle?"

"It's incredible. It took more than a thousand people to advance five kilometers. The British and French forces sacrificed at least hundreds of thousands of people on this land!"

"This is a fact. Some of the wounded have been sent to Paris. They said that this was hardly an attack. The Germans were retreating at the beginning. They were chasing the Germans."

...

This is indeed true.

The situation on the battlefield was that a team suddenly appeared in the rear and defeated three German artillery regiments in succession. It scared the German army that was preparing to attack on the front line.

They thought they were surrounded by the enemy and turned around and fled in a hurry.

The French soldiers followed the Germans all the way and shot, and they couldn't catch up if they ran slowly.

This made the citizens of Paris very proud, not only because they defeated the Germans, but also because they defeated the British on the same battlefield!