Father of France

Chapter 109 Chief of the Army General Staff
If he didn't mind, Corman offered to make copies of Picasso's most valuable paintings. As one of the most influential painters of the 20th century, there were already many fake Picasso paintings circulating in the market at that time.

Especially in Paris, there were some painters who could be described as impoverished, and they made a living by copying Picasso's works.

It's not surprising at all that a platinum-level author can support a group of fanfiction writers; Picasso's fame has made this possible.

After all, it was a rare masterpiece that could fetch a price of $100,000, a pinnacle of the industry. Picasso knew he couldn't avoid this situation; there would always be people using his name to make a living.

Therefore, Picasso agreed. He was reluctant to exhibit works like "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon," "Guernica," and "The Weeping Woman," which were already highly valued. Corman's suggestion to mix genuine and fake works was exactly what he wanted.

These paintings, which would easily fetch over $100 million in the 21st century, are now generally valued at around $100,000. While not as staggering as they would be decades later, even for an American with an annual income of just over $1,000, this represents a century's worth of accumulated wealth from a healthy workforce. Picasso himself was also concerned that damage to his works would affect their value.

However, Picasso was also afraid of damaging his reputation, so he only allowed some of his famous paintings to be copied, and most of the exhibits used his own original works.

"This avoided risks for both of us. Mr. Picasso did us a great favor." After listening, Koeman expressed his heartfelt gratitude. This exchange went much more smoothly than expected.

It seems Picasso still had feelings for France, which explains why he didn't even go home and went straight to Picasso's door in Paris.

Picasso's paintings, along with many other artworks and luxury goods whose actual value is not that high, are France's core competitive advantage.

This industry, which would be unable to support economic development in any other country, can be a vital industry in France, which is extremely beneficial for the country.

It's important to understand that for many countries, the products they produce don't fetch a good price, let alone low-end textiles, clothing, and footwear. But this isn't a problem for France.

With such a solid foundation, France has no need to worry about the imbalance between light and heavy industry development in many countries, especially those with systems like the Soviet Union.

It can be said that this common problem of specialization does not exist in France. France can easily concentrate its efforts on developing heavy industry and achieve common prosperity more easily than any other country.

Picasso personally escorted Corman out, not because he was particularly fond of Corman, but entirely out of respect for the exhibition that Corman had proposed and for France that was doing so.

After leaving Picasso's house, Corman remembered to go home. For him, the World War had just officially ended, and he had gotten what he deserved. Did he really want to go to Japan and take another bite out of the land?
It's hard to say whether Japan's technological accumulation can surpass that of Italy.

The only thing France could be interested in was the Japanese navy, but according to the latest news, the Japanese Combined Fleet has been disbanded and the battleship Yamato has been sunk, so France has nothing to gain.

At least the Italian navy, like the French navy, operates in the Mediterranean, and its warships are well-suited to the Mediterranean sea conditions, so there's no need for France to go to such lengths.

In the two months following the war, Koeman personally monitored tobacco sales through Martin, reaping a profit equivalent to thirty-five million US dollars. He also stole engine samples of German jet fighters from the Soviet-occupied zone.

The team that had acquired the Bader jet in Berlin had Koeman bring the team back with him on this trip home.

The French Black Expedition also collected information on senior teachers in the French-speaking region. Of course, the first step was to label these teachers as guilty of promoting German racism, and then send them to Algeria for "re-education."

France has spared no effort in recruiting various talents, with the total number exceeding eight thousand.

There are still no confirmed matters, such as the annexation of the Saar region in Germany and the French-speaking Valle d'Aosta region in Italy, and of course, the fate of Gudrun-Himmre.

This mission was incredibly fruitful, and for the time being, Koman couldn't think of any oversights. He went home with high spirits.

General Dracon was absent, as he was at a military conference expressing his support for Leclerc as Commander-in-Chief of the French Far East Army.

General Tassini was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the French forces in Germany, General König was appointed Commander of the French forces in Berlin, Alphonse Juan was appointed Commander of the French forces in Algeria, and General Dracon was appointed Chief of the General Staff of the French Army.

General Dragon, who had been appointed Chief of the Army General Staff, was quite surprised to see Koman when he returned home. After examining him for a moment, he asked, "Where is the Damascus steel sword on your belt?"

"I gave it away." When Koeman left Baden, he gave the Damascus steel sword to Gudrun Himmler as a token of their love, and of course he couldn't bring it back.

"It seems he's made some very good friends." General Dracon knew that Coman treasured the Damascus steel knife given to him by the Kurds and wouldn't normally give it away so easily. After arriving home, General Dracon washed his face, changed into his civilian clothes, and informed them of the provisional government's appointments to these military commanders, including his own position as Chief of the General Staff of the French Army.

"He is the de facto number one military figure, but he would be better off as the French commander of the Algerian army."

With an amazed tone, Coman said that it would be best to be the number one figure in the French army, but there was no higher up that position could be attained. On the contrary, the commander of the French army in Algeria could push forward the policies he wanted to promote without any scruples in the French colonies in Africa.

“Juan was born in Algeria and is very familiar with the local environment and ethnic issues,” General Dragón replied with a smile. “If I were the commander-in-chief of Algeria, coupled with the Christian immigrants from around Syria who are landing in North Africa, the Paris side would always be worried.”

De Gaulle saw the army as a bulwark against the communist infiltration of France, but that did not mean he intended to extend the army's power indefinitely. If General Dracon had been appointed commander of the French army in Algeria, coupled with the large number of families of First Army officers and soldiers emigrating, it might have shaken the authority of Paris.

"Paris is overthinking it," Coman said with a smile after hearing this. With the political structure of the Fourth Republic, where a government changes every six months, it certainly couldn't stop the expansion of the French army in Algeria.

In another world, the French army in Algeria facilitated de Gaulle's rise to power.

Moreover, in this world, after the uprising in Algeria on Victory Day, the First Army sent six divisions to Algeria to suppress it, and the Provisional Government of Paris directly ordered military rule in Algeria. This was almost ten years earlier than the military rule that was implemented in the other world in 1954.

The reason is not hard to guess: with the families of the First Army Group emigrating, more than two million Christians may flood into the area, which will definitely exacerbate local conflicts.

Therefore, the provisional government in Paris quickly passed a law to impose military control on the area. In such matters, France was always more decisive than Britain, which was also a colonial empire.

Now Koeman has another question to ask: was the suppression of the Algerian uprising successful? At that time, he was still on the Swiss border and couldn't receive much information.

"The suppression took two weeks, and the uprising in Constantinople is over," Admiral Dragon said with a somewhat strange expression. "According to local reports, it resulted in three hundred casualties."

"So what is the actual death toll?" Upon hearing this, Coman realized it was a battle report from headquarters, the kind of report that contained absolutely no evidence of toxicity.

"The death toll is 124,000." General Dragon had no intention of hiding anything from Coman. He could fool ordinary French people, but he couldn't bring himself to lie to his own children.

Even though he already knew in his heart that the published figures were from the headquarters' battle report, Koeman was still shocked by the numbers. "Whether it was done by the First Army or not, never mind if you don't know."

He discovered that these Middle Eastern Christians, when they got ruthless, were no less formidable than the remnants of the Axis powers in the Balkans, truly worthy of being the legacy of the Crusaders in the region.

Thinking about this problem, he put forward some ideas. On the contrary, Algeria lacked an ethnic group that could bring the proportion closer, although at this time there was a large Orthodox group among the remnants of the Austrian Axis.

However, there is a group of Greek Orthodox Christians among the Syrian Christians, so there is no need to worry about sectarian conflicts in Algeria. General Dragon said that this issue needs to be observed.

The conversation eventually turned to Koeman's main task at present, which is to examine the US military industry and see if he can buy anything.

The reason for this investigation was that France also realized that after Germany's surrender, Japan would not be able to hold out for long, and with the disbandment of the Combined Fleet, the Japanese mainland would be left defenseless against the US Navy.

Once the war ends, various companies that relied on military orders during the war will immediately face a survival crisis, which will present a good opportunity to buy at rock-bottom prices.

"The early postwar period was indeed a time of significant price reductions for military supplies." Koeman acknowledged the provisional government's assessment but remained reserved. "The United States might not necessarily sell us the technology we need. Conversely, France itself wouldn't purchase junk that it didn't need."

Take the only armed helicopter that Koeman could think of, for example. The design he drew from memory was more complete than that of helicopter research companies of this era.

Why did you go to the United States for research? Koeman can design the shell, but he can't solve problems with things like engines and parts materials.

"It seems I have to take the path of a super genius, otherwise when will I ever become a general?" Koeman originally didn't want to take shortcuts to promotion, but because he had a bet with the girl who had received the Damascus steel knife, he had no choice but to work hard in military technology. After all, promotions in the military field are fast, and it's the same in France.

(End of this chapter)