I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France-Chapter 38: Revised - Marketing Strategy

At noon, music emanated from the town church as the bell rang twelve times.

Major Brownie, who had just arrived in town, ordered a sandwich at the street corner and quickly wolfed it down as he headed to the motorcycle factory.

He then wiped the oil from his lips in front of the factory and informed the security guard of his purpose.

Young Master Shire was somewhat surprised to see Major Brownie: "Major, I thought you had already gone to chase the Germans!"

"No, Young Master Shire!" Major Brownie said with helplessness on his face, "We are waiting for tanks!"

He then briefly explained what had happened and worriedly asked Shire:

"Were you treated unfairly?"

"Those bastards actually kicked the inventor out of the tractor factory!"

"No, no!" Shire replied, "There indeed was some inequity, but... it’s more of a business matter!"

"This is how it happened!" Dejoka answered on behalf of Shire: "We were forced to sell the industrial property of the tank!"

Shire looked at Dejoka in astonishment. Although there was an element of "forced" in selling the tank property, it couldn’t be completely termed as "forced".

Dejoka then gave Shire a meaningful look, indicating that he should say this, otherwise, it would give his supporters a sense of defeat.

Major Brownie didn’t doubt it at all, he could even guess what had happened; soldiers all know about the disputes between the Saint-Étienne machine gun and the Hotchkiss machine gun.

Major Brownie’s eyes were full of anger: "I knew it! Those guys only care about profit and not about the country’s fate, much less the lives of the soldiers!" freёweɓnovel.com

Major Brownie hesitated for a moment, then leaned in closer and whispered in a low voice that only the two of them could hear: "Do you need our help? Maybe... a robbery incident?"

It was certainly not a mutiny, just a few soldiers looking to get rich charging into the capitalists’ houses, robbing them clean and injuring a few people in the process, then disappearing.

Who would care about such an event at this time?

"No, Major!" Shire refused without hesitation, "We have already found a new route!"

"A new route?"

"Tell me about the current situation!" Shire asked back, "Do you really need tanks? I mean, if a tank was handed to you now, could you use it?"

Major Brownie thought for a while and then shook his head: "It’s likely unusable, it is too slow to ever catch up to the Germans’ retreat!"

"Exactly what I wanted to say!" Shire replied, "Tanks are suited for sieges, not for chasing enemies."

Shire stepped aside and unveiled the sidecar motorcycle in front of Major Brownie: "I think what you need more is this!"

Major Brownie looked in astonishment at the three-wheeled monster in front of him, assessing it for a while before recognizing it: "Is this a motorcycle? Did you add a wheel to a motorcycle?"

"Not just a wheel, Major!" Shire explained, "Do you see the pillar beside the side wheel?"

Major Brownie’s eyes lit up when he found the pillar: "Is that for mounting a machine gun?"

"Of course!" Shire answered, "But we can’t provide you with the machine guns..."

"No, no, that’s not important!" Major Brownie excitedly replied, "We just won a battle, we have machine guns, plenty of them!"

Those were machine guns captured from the Germans, far superior to France’s Saint-Étienne and Hotchkiss machine guns—the Maxim.

The French soldiers were not familiar with these machine guns, and considering the issue of ammunition replenishment... German bullets differed from French bullets; the most likely outcome of using Maxim machine guns in the army would be running out of ammunition without enough supply.

Therefore, most of them were left as trophies at the rear, including the bullets.

"Perfect!" Shire said, "If it’s the Maxim, we can mount an ammo rack at the rear and carry more ammunition!"

Major Brownie nodded excitedly, imagining himself driving the vehicle while firing at the enemy.

After admiring it for a while, Major Brownie asked, "How many of these vehicles do you have?"

"One!" Shire replied, "For now, just one!"

The once enthusiastic Major Brownie instantly wilted like a cabbage: "Young Master Shire, we need at least 50 of these vehicles!"

Shire turned his gaze to Uncle Guillaume. Guillaume understood and thought for a while before answering: "I’ll gather some workers and modify the existing motorcycles. We can produce a hundred in a day; after all, it’s just adding a few pillars and a wheel!"

"Great!" Major Brownie rekindled his enthusiasm once again: "A hundred vehicles, enough to outfit my entire battalion!"

Major Brownie’s battalion was down to just over 200 men by now. Calculating three men per vehicle, a hundred sidecar motorcycles could carry 300 men, with the remaining capacity used for ammunition and supplies.

"What should we do?" Major Brownie asked.

"Bring your men here, they need to learn how to drive!" Shire answered.

"Alright, Young Master Shire!" Major Brownie responded, "I’ll fetch them right away!"

But he only took a few steps before stopping, awkwardness on his face: "But Young Master Shire, we don’t have the money to pay for this..."

"Don’t worry, Major!" Shire generously replied, "All of this is free; you and your men risk your lives defending France, I would never ask you to pay!"

Major Brownie opened his mouth as if wanting to say something, but in the end, he remained silent, just properly saluted Young Master Shire before turning around and leaving.

After Major Brownie left, Dejoqa complained: "Shire, we don’t have much money left in our account, if this continues..."

"I know, Father!" Shire interrupted Dejoka, "But every penny we spend can save many lives, so it’s worth it!"

Dejoka nodded silently.

Uncle Guillaume, standing nearby, was moved to tears by these words. He stepped forward to face Shire: "Do not worry, Young Master Shire, we have others who will help you accomplish this! This is not just your responsibility!"

Saying this, Uncle Guillaume rode off on his old motorcycle, to rally his former co-workers back to the factory, calling upon those who were useful.

Watching Uncle Guillaume’s departing back, Dejoka murmured: "We tricked him, isn’t this somewhat inappropriate?"

Shire replied: "As long as our purpose is right, there’s nothing inappropriate, isn’t that right, Father?"

Dejoka nodded silently.

This was a marketing strategy that Shire and Dejoka had devised.

Give a batch of sidecar motorcycles to the troops, allowing the military to recognize the importance of motorcycles, thus rapidly opening up market sales and potentially even raising its price.

At the same time, this would enhance Shire’s reputation among both the military and civilians!