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

"Fire!"

"Fire!"

The orders were passed down layer by layer, and the artillery of Wavre Fortress rang out instantly.

The Wavre Fortress is a pentagonal fortress. It has a total of 2 150MM artillery, 4 120MM artillery, 2 200MM mortars and 4 77MM Krupp rapid-fire guns.

These guns constituted long-range, medium-range and short-range firepower respectively. The designer's idea was that they could cover the entire enemy attacking the fortress, but no one expected that it would work in the end.

At this time, the 150MM and 120MM artillery came into play. Six guns were divided into two groups and fired at two targets.

The first few rounds failed to hit, and the few sparse shells either hit close or hit far away.

However, the shells exploding nearby still caused a lot of panic to the Germans, because it proved that they had indeed been fooled. They stupidly dragged the "Big Bertha" heavy artillery into the range of the enemy's artillery and walked into the trap set by the enemy.

The horses were frightened by the sound of the cannon, and they stood up and neighed. The groom hurriedly comforted them and controlled them.

However, everyone knew that this situation could not last forever.

The pack horses of the transport team are different from the war horses. War horses have received very strict training and are not easily frightened on the battlefield. This is not the case with pack horses. If you can control it now, you may not be able to control it next time.

What's more, the target of the horses and heavy artillery was astonishingly large, and it was almost impossible for them to escape the enemy's bombardment.

Therefore, all eyes are on Besler.

The correct choice would have been to cut off the tow rope, abandon "Big Bertha" and escape, thus saving at least a few hundred pack horses.

But General Besler was unwilling to give in. He ordered loudly:

"Turn around and stay in formation!"

"Move up the Third Artillery Regiment and suppress the enemy's firepower!"

General Besler tried to use the 3rd Artillery Regiment to attract the firepower of Wavre Castle to achieve the purpose of protecting "Big Bertha".

However, he seems to have forgotten that Wavre Castle is a fortress. Its main body was designed to withstand direct hits from the 150MM howitzer, and it was later strengthened twice. Except for the "Big Bertha", almost no artillery can resist it. constitute a threat.

Therefore, Wavreburg can ignore the so-called "fire suppression of the Third Artillery Regiment" and concentrate on dealing with "Big Bertha".

"Boom!"

The second batch of shells hit closer, but still missed.

Albert I, who was watching the battle with a telescope on the balloon, complained in embarrassment: "Damn, they may not even be able to eat the fat meat that is brought to their mouths!"

"Don't worry, Your Majesty!" Charles said calmly: "They are within two kilometers of our range. At their speed, it will take at least half an hour to escape. We can take our time!"

Albert I said "Yeah". He knew that "Big Bertha" was doomed, but he still couldn't wait to see the moment it was blown up.

Finally, one of the third batch of shells exploded in the dense crowd of horses. The explosion instantly blew more than ten horses into bloody pieces. Many horses were injured by shrapnel or shock waves, and they fell to the ground and neighed miserably.

What was even more serious was the uncontrollable neighing and struggling of the other horses. They were kicking and scurrying around with all their strength. No matter how hard the groom tried to drive them away, it was to no avail. Soon the rope deviated from its original direction.

"Big Bertha" swayed left and right with the horses, and finally lost her balance with a "peng" sound and fell heavily to the ground. Due to its heavy weight, it actually made a deep hole in the mud when it fell.

Albert I excitedly waved his flag to the people below and shouted: "We successfully destroyed an artillery piece!"

The crowd burst into cheers instantly.

After one gun is eliminated, Wavreburg can focus on six guns to deal with the only remaining "Big Bertha".

General Besler finally realized that the loss was inevitable and shouted: "Cut the rope and retreat!"

But it was too late at this time. The shells flew in batch after batch. Under the guidance of the observer, they hit more and more accurately. Soon, one shell directly hit the "Big Bertha". After a cloud of smoke, the hard cannon The body was actually still intact as a whole, and even the barrel was not deformed, but the parts below were blown to pieces and scattered all over the place.

Albert I shouted again: "Victory, we killed two doors!"

People below cheered and celebrated each other, and some people kept throwing their hats into the air.

For them, this is not only victory, but also survival. The requirements of a civilian are actually very simple. They just want to live simply.

The sound of artillery was still ringing, and artillery shells roared past and threw the German artillery and horses into the air. The German army finally collapsed. They left the wreckage of the artillery and the corpses of the horses and fled in a hurry.

Albert had lost interest in watching the battle at this time. He wanted to share the joy of victory with his people.

The balloon descended slowly, and before it could stop, the crowd surged up with cheers.

As soon as Charles stepped out of the hanging basket, he found himself surrounded by a crowd. There were faces of joy and admiration everywhere, as well as pairs of eyes full of gratitude. They squeezed forward desperately just to say a word of thanks or talk to Charles. Shake your hand:

"You are our hero, Ciel!"

"You defeated the Germans again!"

"You saved us, thank you!"

…

Albert I seemed to have been prepared. He took out a box containing a medal from his arms and raised it to the crowd: "I declare that in view of the outstanding performance of the second lieutenant in the defense of Antwerp, I, King Albert of Belgium, Award him the Kingdom Crown Medal!”

(Note: The Order of the Crown of the Kingdom is one of the three national knight's honorary medals of Belgium, and one of the highest honorary medals stipulated by the Belgian Constitution. It is awarded to people who have made outstanding contributions to the country and society. It was established in 1897.)

People cheered again, and people kept congratulating Charles.

Albert I personally took out the medal and carefully hung it on Charles' chest. He excitedly shook Charles' hand and said: "You will always be our friend, Lieutenant, we will not forget everything you have done for Belgium!"

"Thank you!" Charles replied.

Looking back, he seemed to have only said a few words and made a few suggestions.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang in the distance, and people exclaimed. The originally noisy grassland became quiet again, and they all looked in the direction of the sound.

They heard that it was the sound of the "Big Bertha" cannon.

Albert I was confused: "This is impossible, we have destroyed the 'Big Bertha', all of them!"

At this time, a guard rushed over, saluted in front of Albert I, and reported in panic: "Your Majesty, the third 'Big Bertha' appeared, it is bombing the Wavre Castle, and it is out of the range of the Wavre Castle!"

Everyone was stunned.

The third "Big Bertha" means that victory has not come, not only has it not come, but it has also turned into failure in an instant!

Because the scam set by Charles cannot be replicated, the Germans cannot be fooled a second time!