Father of France

Chapter 253 The King Cannot Be Humiliated
"Write a report immediately, and get it done before General Juan arrives," Admiral Dragon instructed after finishing his meal. "Your chances of returning to the overseas provinces and getting the position you want lie in this report."

General Dragon told Coman that his temporary posting was coming to an end, and that after this meeting with General Juan and Schumann, his new posting would begin.

“I know, give me a document format first.” Koman spoke solemnly. Every country has its own unique style of writing, and even data analysis cannot be written haphazardly.

Koeman's report combined the strengths of the War Preparedness Department and the Railway Corps to achieve full military control over Algeria; from this point on, military control was merely a formality.

When it came to designing and developing overseas provinces, Koeman could not continue to use the old methods of colonizers. He simply followed his own life experiences. The environment in North Africa was different from that in his hometown, for example, the important national forestry department in his hometown.

Algeria's vegetation cover is lower than that of the great Eastern country shown in old photos from before its liberation in 1948, so it certainly has no reason to exist.

The environment in North Africa is quite similar to that in Northwest China, so it is logical to use Northwest China as a model for planning. They are similar, which is also stated in the Five-Year Plan for the development of overseas provinces. The plan is simply to add a railway.

The importance of railways is self-evident, and they can also create a large number of jobs. The Haqqas, the Muslim community that supports French sovereignty over North Africa, will be incorporated into the railway corps this time.

It goes without saying that relying on the pro-Fahakis group, who are familiar with the local situation and language, would be more effective in combating the National Liberation Front's guerrillas.

Back on Hugo Street, Koman was writing furiously, and Ava Gardner had also made some progress. She returned with the architectural drawings she had recently gathered from the designers. Koman looked up and was stunned. She said in disbelief, "You went out wearing this outfit."

“Isn’t the point of clothes to be worn?” Ava Gardner commented with satisfaction after turning around. “They’re quite warm; several architects have asked what style this is.”

“You can see this style in Paris museums.” Koman’s gaze swept around like a laser outliner as he praised, “The clothes are good clothes, but it mainly depends on who wears them.”

Eva Gardner leaned down and whispered in Koman's ear, "I'm not wearing anything underneath, it doesn't feel right."

Koman gave Ava Gardner a knowing smile. It seemed he had no choice but to act like a tyrant today; she was already wearing the Empress's robes. This was a rare opportunity. "Why don't you wear something else?"

"The headdress is too heavy. It's almost as heavy as the shrine maiden outfit you mentioned." The shrine maiden outfit that Ava Gardner mentioned was actually a set of Miao silver ornaments that Koman had made for Wang Nengchu and his son. Since it was made on the side and Miao clothing is not formal attire, Koman just used the shrine maiden outfit to appease the femme fatale.

Koeman accepted the reason that the crown was too heavy. For women's dresses, the crown was the main feature in the Ming Dynasty, and the shawl was the main feature in the Qing Dynasty. Without these two items, the whole look would be wrong.

Ultimately, what clothes from the upper class are ugly? The clothes of the truly working class are naturally overlooked.

This is similar to the principle of antiques. Antiques are valuable largely because they were valuable in ancient times. You can easily buy Han Dynasty Wuzhu coins on online shopping platforms, and trilobite fossils are only ten yuan each. You don't have to worry about fakes; it's better to sell the real thing directly than to make a fake.

If people have this hobby, every household in the world could have such a collection.

After exchanging a few witty remarks, Ava Gardner sat down to the side and pulled out several university campus design drawings, explaining, "As you said, it combines the styles of the Roman Empire and France."

Several of the designs combined the concepts of Roman eternity and French enlightenment. It has to be said that France has a rich cultural heritage. Even if there is nothing particularly noteworthy, the way the French designers described it makes it seem as if it has cultural depth. Otherwise, how could French luxury goods be so successful?

Take, for example, the architectural design of the campus of the Algiers Institute of Technology and Engineering. The campus plan draws inspiration from the symmetrical central axis of classical French gardens. The entrance is a massive "Arc de Triomphe of Knowledge," modeled after the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, but the reliefs on the arch no longer depict war victories, but rather the epic of scientific exploration from Imhotep to Marie Curie.

Located at the end of the central axis, the library's design is a modern interpretation of the Roman Pantheon—a massive concrete dome.

But the dome's "eye" is no longer open; instead, it is covered by a huge, rose-window-like glass solar panel that filters sunlight into seven colors, projecting it onto the wall-mounted bookshelves, paying homage to the splendor of Sainte-Chapelle in Paris.

The buildings are connected by Romanesque arcades, but the proportions of these arcades are closer to the colonnades on the east facade of the Louvre in Paris, elegant and light. The courtyards combine French geometric gardens with North African fountains.

Koman simply thought the small notes next to these design drawings were impressive. After reading them, he immediately felt that the money spent on the designer had not been wasted. Having finally shaken off the idea in his mind that replacing steel bars with wire was not unusable, Koman glanced at the other two design drawings. "Use high-strength concrete. This is not the current urban integration construction in the overseas province. We cannot use those unreliable materials."

The materials used in integrated urban construction are for future demolition; as long as construction is fast, that's all that matters. There will be a second construction boom in the 1980s.

Therefore, the materials used are not much better than those used in Gaza City, where an entire building collapsed after being shelled by Israel.

Many towns in the Middle East actually use barbed wire, which would be considered dangerous even in major Eastern countries. On the other hand, look at the Soviet-era buildings in Ukraine; their strength left the attacking Russian army speechless.

It's important to know that the Russian army's predecessor, the Soviet army, had the largest stockpile of weapons for urban warfare. If the Russian army couldn't handle urban warfare, almost no other country could be stronger than it.

Many buildings remained standing despite the heavy artillery fire of the Russian army, making the strength of buildings in Gaza seem incomparable.

The difference between different types of concrete is greater than the difference between people. The concrete hardness of the Berlin air raid tower is 80, which is already considered a permanent building. Its strength is over 100. It can be said that if there is a mountain next to this building, the lifespan of this building will be as long as that of the mountain.

“If concrete is used, the cost will be out of control,” Ava Gardner whispered in surprise. “It could be three times the construction cost.”

“Learn from the Rockefeller family how the United Nations headquarters came about, and then think about whether it was worth it,” Corman replied dismissively. “Money ultimately needs to be converted into cash; otherwise, doing math problems would be more meaningful than looking at bank interest rates.”

Once Koeman has made up his mind, no one can dissuade him, not even Eva Gardner. He spent some more time finishing the report on the establishment of the Ministry of War Preparedness and the Railway Corps. It's time for him to become a tyrant.

The femme fatale, heartbroken over the dress, refused to cooperate. Her objections were ineffective; Koeman had to teach this American citizen who bullied France a lesson: a king cannot be insulted…

A day later, Wang stood like a lackey beside General Dracon to greet his former superior, General Juan, the French commander-in-chief of the Algerian army.

General Dragon and General Juan began discussing the overseas provinces and quickly reached a consensus: anti-French forces had indeed always existed in the overseas provinces, but the security situation was far from out of control. However, since they were facing the Chairman of the Council of Ministers, Schuman, they might as well report the situation a little more seriously in order to gain the government's attention and policy support for the overseas provinces.

The two generals also discussed the issue of Palestinian independence, its potential impact on overseas provinces, and its effects on the French military, as the British mandate expires next month.

General Dragon's meteoric rise began in Syria, which is why he is particularly concerned about the Palestinian issue. He also stated that these are turbulent times, and the Schuman government should soon agree to the British and American conditions to merge the occupied territories and carry out currency reforms, at which point a crisis may break out in Berlin.

"Holding American dollars, we seem to be held hostage," General Zhu An commented indifferently after hearing this. "This feeling is absolutely terrible."

"Corman, bring that report over and show it to your commander." General Dragon seemed to have suddenly remembered his genius and told Corman to hurry up and get the results of his last-minute cramming.

Over the course of an afternoon, the two patriotic and country-loyal generals reached a consensus on how to report to the Chairman of the Council of Ministers, Schuman.

On the issues of establishing the Railway Corps and upgrading the three overseas provinces to war-ready provinces, the Chief of the Army General Staff and the Commander-in-Chief of the French Army in Algeria held in-depth discussions with Schuman, the President of the Council of Ministers, at the Prime Minister's Office the following day. The contributions of the colonies to the recovery of France were evident to all.

Of course, this remarkable achievement was made by Koeman. Without him, the more than two billion dollars of the Marshall Plan would have had to be returned to the United States in a year in terms of food and energy.

Unfortunately, this contribution was no longer useful to Coman, who was in a bottleneck period. It benefited others, including this report, except that the "others" were the French army.

With the approval of the Schuman government, the decision to reorganize the Railway Corps and convert overseas provinces into war-prepared provinces, both of which would greatly strengthen the military's authority, was agreed to by the government.

(End of this chapter)