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

Charles strolled through the tractor factory.

The Francis Tractor Factory is considered a large-scale enterprise in France. There are only 257 companies with more than 1,000 registered employees in France, and most of them are small-scale enterprises with 50 or 60 employees.

The Francis Tractor Factory has more than 2,000 employees. This is due to the fact that Francis invested heavily two years ago to introduce the "Holt 60" tractor from the UK, which is the world's first tractor using an internal combustion engine. The crawler tractor was successfully developed in 1911.

After introducing this tractor, Francis defeated all his peers in one fell swoop and occupied 70% of the market share, becoming the leader in agricultural tractors in France. This is how his factory has such a scale.

As a result, everyone in the small town of Darouz has a job, and many people come to make money from other places, and even some come from Paris to work. This has also pushed up the prices and rents in the small town of Darouz.

The assembly workshop is very large. There are more than a dozen tractors that have not yet been installed in the middle. The workers are busy up and down. The sound of metal and iron hammering and the sound of chains moving parts can be heard all the time. It looks like a lively atmosphere.

However, Charles could see that the workers were more or less absent-minded and their speed was much slower than usual.

This is not because unsaleable tractors have been piling up in the warehouse recently, but because the Germans will soon arrive here, and the workers are not sure whether everything they do has any meaning.

Just as Ciel was thinking about what to do next, a familiar voice called his name.

Turning around, Matthew saw half of his body exposed from behind the tractor. He was wearing oil-stained work clothes, holding a wrench and waving it at Charles, with a bright smile on his face.

Ciel responded with a smile and stepped forward quickly.

Matthew is Joseph's son, two years older than Charles, and was in the same class with Charles until junior high school.

Perhaps because of Joseph's relationship with the Bernard family, Matthew has taken great care of Charles since he was a child.

For more than ten years, Charles has been bullied by others.

The vast majority of Charles's classmates are farmers and workers exploited by capitalists. Some of them cannot get the expected compensation due to labor disputes or work-related injuries, and some cannot repay the bank's loan interest of up to 5% to 10%...the latter It was basically a crime of two hundred family bank capital, and had nothing to do with the Bernard family.

They have nowhere to redress their grievances, and their children will vent their anger on Charles, the "capitalist"!

As a result, Ciel got many nicknames, such as "illegitimate son", "vampire", "hypocrite" and so on.

At this time, Matthew would always stand up in front of Charles, wave his fists and shout at those people:

"You want to try my fists? Come on, you bastards!"

Matthew won't reason with those people, he always solves problems with his fists.

This seems to have had a good effect. Ciel has successfully survived until now. Even in the high school without Matthew, not many people dare to bully Ciel.

Matthew put down the wrench and gave Charles a warm hug, completely ignoring the oil stains on his work clothes.

"I heard that you are going to be in charge of the tractor factory?" Matthew said with sincerity in his eyes, "I'm so happy for you. It seems that Francis finally recognizes you!"

Charles smiled mockingly: "This is only temporary, I don't care about this!"

"I'm thinking about a question!" Matthew looked around half-jokingly: "If you are in charge of this place, will I become your employee? What should I call you then?"

Charles made a serious "hmm" sound, raised his head and clasped his hands behind his back, showing a arrogant look:

"Master Charles? Or sir? Or master..."

"Fuck you!" Matthew laughed loudly and put his arm on Charles' shoulders and pushed him aside.

After a while, Matthew said calmly: "But you may not have a chance!"

"Why?" Charles asked doubtfully.

Matthew shrugged: "Have you forgotten that I am nineteen years old?"

"Have you received a conscription order?" Charles had a hint of panic in his eyes.

Matthew nodded: "They need more manpower. If nothing else happens, I will go to Paris for training the day after tomorrow!"

The legal recruitment age in France is 20 years old, but no one cares about this law during the war, just like factories are full of underage child labor.

Charles was silent. He couldn't help thinking: Is Matthew three-quarters or one-quarter? If it's three quarters, is it a broken hand or a broken foot, or both?

Matthew seemed to see Charles' worry. He raised his head relaxedly and said with a smile:

"Don't worry, Ciel! When I pass the training period, this war will be over. I will be fine!"

As mentioned before, everyone thought that this war would end soon, either lose or win, in a month or two at most.

But Ciel knew that wasn't the case!

"Master Charles!" Joseph appeared in front of the two of them. He glared at Matthew angrily, as if to warn him not to be so casual in front of Master Charles.

Matthew responded to his father's overreaction by rolling his eyes. He waved to Charles, turned to face the half-assembled tractor, and shouted exaggeratedly:

"Come on, ladies, who else needs to get dressed?"

Joseph ignored Matthew. He took Charles out of the workshop and said:

"Sorry, Master Charles! Matthew is always like this!"

"Master Charles, you should probably visit the engine production line, which is the core of the factory..."

"No, Joseph!" Charles interrupted him: "I need twelve tractors in good condition!"

"Tractors?" Joseph looked at Charles in confusion.

"We also need some steel plates!" Charles asked Joseph: "We have steel plates, right?"

"Of course!" Joseph replied: "This is a tractor factory, and many parts are pressed with steel plates!"

"What's the thickness?" Charles asked.

Joseph answered like a treasure: "There are 2 mm, 3 mm, 5 mm and 9 mm!"

The 9 mm steel plate is used to make tracks.

"Just 9 mm!" Charles said: "Prepare another workshop, welding tools, and skilled workers, and give me some paper and pens, can you do it?"

"Of course!" Joseph replied: "I'm happy to serve you!"

Joseph was confused. Is Master Charles going to improve the tractor? Or is he treating the tractor as a toy?

Joseph wanted to remind Master Charles that this period of time is very important. Master Francis will decide whether to hand over the factory to you based on your performance! So of course you can't mess around like this!

However, these words were not spoken, and Joseph saw determination in Master Charles' eyes.

He might know what to do, Joseph thought.

While Joseph was preparing, Charles sat in Joseph's office and drew pictures.

With a ready-made tractor chassis, it is not difficult to modify a tank.

It can't even be considered a tank, but more like an armored vehicle. It is nothing more than adding steel plates around the tractor and leaving a few machine gun holes... Artillery is not necessary for the time being, it is heavy and will become complicated, and machine guns are enough.

The only problem is that the 9mm steel plate is too thin. The German Mauser rifle can penetrate this thickness of steel plate at about 100 meters.

Charles thought about overlapping two layers of steel plates and welding them to the chassis, but it is estimated that the power of the "Holt 60" cannot withstand such a heavy weight.

A simpler method is to design the front armor to be inclined, which can not only increase the probability of "jumping bullets" but also increase the "equivalent thickness".

The machine gun uses the Hotchkiss machine gun, and its disadvantage is that the use of a bullet retaining plate to feed ammunition limits the rotation angle of the machine gun.

Two machine gunners plus a driver, a total of three crew members, this weight should be bearable, right?

As long as it can be driven, speed, mobility and the like are not required.

After all, it is the first tank in human history and it was formed in one day. Don't be too greedy. There is plenty of time and space for improvement in the future!