Chapter 393: Equipment Development

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

The Versailles Palace in Paris was bustling with people. The media from all over the world was focused outside, and the negotiating delegations from all over the world were arriving. Wesley knew very well that the preparation time for the past few days was when countries reached a deal in private, and the United States was basically excluded.

The old powers led by the United Kingdom would not stand by and watch the rise of the United States, and what the United States could get was basically that it had been obtained before the end of the war, especially in terms of funds. In the beginning, the expansion of the military was to develop the economy and prepare for the upcoming possible European war. But now, through the war, a large number of arms and materials were sold. Not only did the United States pay off its debts, but it also became a creditor country all of a sudden.

The two largest islands in the Pacific Ocean provide the United States with a forward operating base. The military will expand to Asia, and Wesley has made a name for himself as America’s most famous general and businessman.

In the meeting, the Americans, who had foreseen the development of the meeting, adopted Wesley’s plan to work hard to help China and Germany fight for it. At the same time, they spared no effort to suppress Japan and Ben, and let the media of both countries report on it. Wilson even expressed indignantly after the meeting that this contract was unfair to Germany and equally unfair to China.

After the contract was signed, the United States directly returned Green Island to China, receiving a lot of praise from the Chinese. The United States achieved its goal, and American products will be very popular in China in the future.

Wesley left France satisfied and returned to the United States with the last of his troops. In New York Harbor, he was warmly welcomed. More than 100,000 New Yorkers greeted him, and many people came from other places just to see him. Americans have an infinite yearning for heroes. Logically speaking, in a free and democratic country, they should not worship heroes.

Wesley was in Washington again. This time he came back for a debriefing, and at the same time to present the problems encountered in the war. There was a lot of postwar work, and there were also equipment problems.

“Gentlemen, this war has changed the concept of world war.” In another speech, Wesley faced the president’s team and the generals of the Marine Corps. These generals are not the major generals and brigadier generals that Wesley took to fight in Europe. “The development of technology will bring different forms of war. In the future, the development of equipment will be transversal, such as tanks and aircraft. The appearance of these two weapons, the traditional fighting model of the artillery army, although numbers are still important, they are not the most important. In the future, there will be large-scale tank battles and large-scale air battles.”

“We have to master these two sharp weapons and establish a new unit. We have to start training this unit now and study the latest tactics.” At this point, someone below spoke.

“Lieutenant General Gibson, I heard that you threw away the tanks sent by the country and did not use them. So why do you admire them so much?” Wesley glanced at him. He knew this person, the lieutenant general of the cavalry.

“That’s a good question, because tanks have just developed such a concept and are not used on the battlefield yet. At most, they will become the shield of the soldiers. My tactics rely on speed, so I can’t use tanks.”

“Then aren’t tanks useless and can only be used for defense?” The cavalry lieutenant general said.

Wesley laughed. “Are you worried about tanks replacing cavalry, General? Well, I can tell you right now that it will! The appearance of tanks isn’t really an accident. They were designed to break through trenches, but their future is not just about trenches.”

“This time, the tank designed and produced by Ford Company is not good because they did not discuss it with me. I am more enthusiastic about this. After all, I am also a shareholder!” Wesley’s words made many people laugh.

“To put it bluntly, such tanks are trash and have no use. There are still many problems. The best is the engine produced by my power company, but they chose the gasoline engine. The best thing is actually the wrong choice, so I can only throw the tanks sent to the front line aside because they are useless.”

President Wilson said, “So, what kind of tanks should we use?”

“That depends on me. I already have a plan to design tanks and aircraft. I think we should cancel the formation of the cavalry and change the cavalry to armor. At the same time, the Air Force will form a separate army and set up an air force unit. The Army will be assigned to the Army and the Navy will be assigned to the Navy.”

The cavalry lieutenant general spoke again. “Cancel the cavalry? Do you know the role of cavalry in war? Can tanks be replaced?” There was anger in his tone.

“Of course it’s clear. When the time comes, we can use tanks and cavalry for the exercise. The facts will explain everything. Facing a tank made of steel, will the cavalry use a saber to cut it? It’s obvious. Tanks with artillery and machine guns, hundreds of dozens of tons of colossus and cavalry against each other, using oil, and machinery that can theoretically move forward all the way. No matter what, the tank wins. I don’t think anyone will object to this, right?”

The people below stopped talking. Instead, it was Pershing who spoke. “Wesley, what about the Air Force? Since there are Army Air Force and Navy Air Force, why does the Air Force have to form an army alone?”

“Confidential. The rest is confidential. Before the army is formed, we need to keep it a secret. This is the future direction of the army development and needs to be grasped by a few people.”

Wilson nodded. “Okay, that’s it for today. Pershing and Benson, come with me and listen to what Wesley says next. Also, today’s meeting is confidential.” Then he glanced at the cavalry lieutenant general.

“Mr. President, please rest assured. Even if the cavalry is really useless in the future, I will retire. I will never say anything that needs to be kept secret.” The general was tough.

In the president’s office, after the four of them sat down, someone served coffee. Then Wesley said, “The tank is the king of the land. In the future, this is inevitable. No human can fight against these steel monsters. As technology develops, the performance of the tank will become better and better.”

“We don’t deny that, but development takes a lot of time, right? Do you need to do it immediately?” Wilson asked.

“Mr. President, there will be a great depression in the economy after the war. This is inevitable. Even if I make preparations before the war, a large number of factories will lose orders. Although they did not expand production, the European war has made people poor. We must find a new way to sell them.”

“Is that relevant?”

“Of course it matters. New equipment brings a lot of orders, especially tanks and aircraft, which are not cheap to build. At the same time, the production of warships needs to start again. Then there is the market development of Germany and China. These can be linked to economic conflicts. However, the economic crisis was avoided, but it happened not now, but in a few years.”

“So, developing new equipment can also be an effective link to economic problems?”

“Workers can only spend money when they have money, and they can only make money by consuming factories. This requires a cycle. Only with the development of this cycle can the economy be stable. But we are a capitalistic country, and we are powerless in this aspect. We can only work hard.”