I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France-Chapter 33 Clever Practice

Arman Manor, amidst the cheers, Grevy popped a bottle of champagne, and Francis also felt the glory of this victory.

"Marvelous speech, Arman!" Grevy sincerely praised Arman as he poured him a drink. freewebnσvel.cøm

Arman smiled and replied, "Compared to the speech, I enjoyed watching Steed’s face more. Did you see it? He couldn’t do anything, just sat there like a fool!"

"I saw it!" Nikola raised his glass, "I was sitting not far from him. He looked like a statue, completely stunned!"

The group burst into laughter.

Francis accompanied the laughter, looking somewhat awkward, being the only one who had not attended the meeting, completely unaware of what had transpired.

After hesitating for a moment, Francis mustered the courage to ask, "So, we won, didn’t we?"

"Of course, Francis!" Arman replied proudly, "We got a major order in the first batch: 1,500 tanks, at an order price of 5000...!"

Grevy interrupted Arman with a "hmm", giving him a meaningful look, that fool, there was no need for Francis to know this.

Arman laughed nonchalantly, thinking Grevy was overreacting. Even if Francis knew, what could he do? He was just a farmer who got his start with tractors!

Francis’s eyes widened in shock, realizing what had happened—they were selling tanks at 5,000 francs apiece.

Meanwhile, the tanks they acquired from him were priced at only 1,360 francs each, including a machine gun!

Multiplying the difference by 1,500 units, dear God, with just this batch, they could make over 5 million francs!

Charles only made 1.1 million francs from selling the patent, and he himself only made a tiny profit!

These filthy capitalists, despicable vampires, parasites of the state, they were scavenging our tax money like this!

"Is there a problem?" Arman asked, raising his eyebrows as he noticed Francis’s odd expression.

"No, no, no problem at all!" Francis quickly plastered a smile, raising his glass, "Gentlemen! To our victory..."

But the others did not respond. Arman said expressionlessly, "It’s too early to celebrate victory now, Mr. Francis. Let us speak of victory when we receive the money!"

"You’re right, Mr. Arman!" Francis awkwardly retracted his raised glass.

After a moment of silence, Nikola asked, "So, what should we write now?"

His full name was Nikola Koche, owner of Le Figaro.

Unlike the Little Daily, Le Figaro was targeted at the aristocracy and upper class. Each copy was priced at one franc, a price unaffordable for the average citizen.

Thus, Le Figaro had a distinct aristocratic flavor: it disdained contact with commoners, usually reporting national affairs and parliamentary debates. Another thing: its information and reports often significantly deviated from the truth, being so detached from the common people.

For example, before the Franco-German War, Le Figaro believed that France could easily triumph in the war, repeating its past glory of sweeping Germany 14 times. Therefore, it urged readers to continue enjoying brandy and cigars while waiting for victory.

But the result was...

"Victory, Nikola!" Grevy said, "You only need to report victory, victory for the tanks, make everyone go crazy for the tanks, let everyone know its inventor Charles! Then, we can wait for the wealth to roll in!"

Arman looked puzzled, "Not reporting that we own the tank patents?"

"No!" Grevy answered, "It’s not the right time yet! I hope...Steed will try to imitate it!"

Arman was startled, then understood the next second.

Grevy wanted to mislead Steed, making him think the patents were still in Charles’s hands.

Once Steed tried to imitate or bypass the tank patents, the right wing could slam the patents they held in Steed’s face, then use the media, legal means, and public opinion to deliver a severe blow, possibly even demanding compensation.

"Smart move!" Arman commended Grevy, their glasses clinking together with a few crisp sounds.

...

Francis was still uneasy when he returned to his villa. Why could those conceited jerks make millions with just a few words, whereas he, who did all the work, only made hundreds of thousands of francs.

But business was business, vent as he might, he couldn’t even make this much without it!

Francis consoled himself: Now is a difficult time, money isn’t that easy to make, so many factories have gone bankrupt due to the war. He should be content that he could not only survive but also make a profit!

"Simon!" Francis called for his butler, "Summon Joseph!"

"Master!" the butler answered, "Joseph has already resigned!"

"Resigned?" Francis frowned.

"Yes!" the butler replied, "I believe it was because of his son, who lost a leg on the battlefield and needs someone to take care of him!"

Francis grunted and didn’t give it much thought.

"Then call Thomas over!"

The butler hesitated, "Thomas also seemed to have resigned. During the days you were in Paris, over seventy people have resigned continuously. The list is in your study! Thomas should be one of them, though I’m not very sure!"

Francis felt something was unusual, so he pressed, "Where did they go? Why would so many people resign?"

Even during the time when rumors of the Germans coming spread, they didn’t resign, but now they chose to resign.

This question stumped Simon, who could only offer an unverified answer: "Apparently, they were scared seeing so many soldiers injured or killed, fearing they might soon receive the draft notice. So they planned to go to England to find work, thinking that way they could..."

Francis nodded; the explanation seemed plausible. Indeed, more people were receiving draft notices now, causing widespread panic.

Going to England for work might not help them evade it, but at least the French Government wouldn’t know their whereabouts, making it difficult to deliver draft notices to them.

Then Francis laughed, "Those fools, didn’t they realize we were switching to tank production? As a factory providing essential equipment for the military, they won’t receive draft notices!"

The butler sighed, "If they had been smarter or resigned later, they wouldn’t have to suffer this. It’s their loss, Master!"

Francis soon forgot about it, after all, the tractor factory had over two thousand employees. Being short of those seventy-odd people wasn’t an issue, especially since he needed to focus on producing tanks.

What Francis didn’t realize was, this was precisely what Charles had intended!

The butler only knew Charles had deliberately spread those "rumors" through Joseph.

Charles didn’t want Francis to detect his plan too early and prepare for it!