Starting with the smashing of Dunkirk

Chapter 99 Making Friends with Skoda

All the conditions discussed between Lelouch and Vice Minister Stephen Briand are currently just a private draft and have no legal effect whatsoever.

At best, it was a secret negotiation memorandum that had not yet been signed. It would only become binding after further consultations and the approval of Dukes Baria and Rupprecht.

Of course, the matter wasn't so complicated as to require the Demacian Emperor's approval. The Emperor and Parliament had already decided on the general direction of sending troops to reinforce their ally, Austria. Sending a force primarily composed of Baarian troops to reinforce Austria was also a done deal.

The subsequent differences lie only in details such as "how many troops Balia should send, and how the troops should be used and deployed," which are all within the personal discretion of Duke Rupprecht.

After reaching an agreement, Lelouch took Brian's request and prepared to take the train back to Demania.

After receiving guidance from Lelouch, Ferdinand Porsche devoted himself to working on his design of a "diesel-powered half-track tractor".

Porsche had already spent several months working on the high-powered heavy artillery tractor, so the body structure and other design drafts were almost complete. This wasn't exactly starting from scratch, just a major revision of the blueprints, so it didn't take too much time.

Porsche estimated that the new design should be completed within two months, and prototypes could be produced. Within three months, a small batch of dozens of vehicles could be produced for trial production.

Finally, before officially leaving Austria, Skoda, with Porsche's help, sent several relevant personnel to Vienna to host a banquet and have a brief meeting with Lelouch, so that everyone could become acquainted.

At the banquet, Lelouch was very hospitable and gave generous gifts to many of Skoda's technical and business leaders to establish good relations.

In just one night, three guests left a deep impression on Lelouch.

First was Virgil Pope, head of Škoda's naval equipment development department. He was responsible for planning the Austrian Navy's artillery technical requirements, and it was he who initially proposed mounting triple main gun turrets on the "Joint Force" class battleships.

Triple-mounted main gun turrets are not so easy to build.

Even without considering subsequent issues such as far-field accuracy, shock waves between projectiles, and turbulence interference.

Before 1910, the world couldn't even solve the problems of muzzle storm in triple-mounted turrets or how to independently elevate and depress the three gun barrels. These two key problems were solved by Virgil Pope.

Virgil Pope designed a "cradle-style" gun mount structure specifically for this purpose, allowing the three tubes to pitch independently; he also adjusted the turret structure and planned a new muzzle flash deflection and pressure relief path—it is clear that he was not only a technocrat who could set targets and make demands, but also someone who could genuinely guide the overcoming of specific technical difficulties.

Besides Virgil Pope, another technical genius that Lelouch befriended was Otto von Grouler, a veteran artillery engineer at Škoda with even more seniority, but who didn't know much about naval affairs and started out in land artillery.

After Virgil Pope solved the structural problems of the triple naval gun turret, the design and production of the remaining new tubes were handed over to Otto Grouler, who was also a long-time colleague who had worked across departments for many years.

The last guest Lelouch met wasn't some technical genius at all; he was just a carefree slacker named Kurt Wittgenstein, an Austrian artillery captain.

This person was born in 1983, nine years older than Lelouch. He is 32 years old now and is only an artillery captain, which shows that he is not a proper professional soldier. He was only drafted into the army halfway through the war.

However, for someone who had only been in the army for half a year to be appointed as a captain and artillery company commander, his family must have some wealth—Kurt Wittgenstein's father, Karl Wittgenstein, was once the steel tycoon of Austria and the owner of the Bohemian Steel Works.

Fifteen years ago, when Karl Sr. retired, he realized that his sons were not cut out for business. So, taking advantage of the opportunity presented by the establishment of the Austro-Hungarian United Steel Company spearheaded by the Austrian Ministry of Defense, he sold the Bohemian Steel Plant and transferred the proceeds to neighboring Switzerland. However, he still held shares in many companies in Austria, which he established in a trust.

When the Wittgenstein family sold the steel mill, the Austrian government couldn't come up with that much money all at once, so the Austrian Trust Bank found the Rothschild Vienna branch to finance the purchase.

A few years later, Skoda grew even larger and received state-owned shares from the Austrian government. Skoda then acquired Austro-Hungarian United Steel Company.

When the Wittgenstein family sold their steel mill, they only relinquished control, but retained a small number of shares, becoming minority shareholders who only received dividends and did not participate in management decisions.

When Škoda was acquired, their shares were naturally exchanged for shares of the new parent company, Škoda. So, the Wittgenstein family, the steel magnates, are still considered insignificant minority shareholders of Škoda.

Because his family was a shareholder in Škoda, Austria's artillery tycoon, Kurt was eager to join the army after the outbreak of war. After a short period of military training and integration into the unit, he was quickly promoted to captain and then artillery company commander.

In reality, this person was just a rich kid who went to the army to escape from real life.

Considering that the Wittgenstein family started out as steel magnates and had a certain shareholding relationship with Skoda, Lelouch devoted some energy to getting to know Kurt well. During this time, he also mentioned that if he were to start a steel mill or get involved in cannon manufacturing in the future, he could cooperate more deeply with the Skoda group.

Kurt and Lelouch hit it off immediately and had a great time chatting over drinks. Kurt would pat his chest and take full responsibility for whatever Lelouch said, indicating that he would help make the first move.

The Wittgenstein family had many connections in Austria, but they were also very well-connected. Seeing how readily the Wittgenstein family agreed, Virgil Pope and Otto von Grouler naturally followed suit, indicating that if Lelouch were to become involved in steelmaking or cannon manufacturing in the future, they could exchange ideas and technologies.

Skoda's triple turret structure and muzzle storm management technology are things that can be exchanged with the Demacians for other advanced metallurgical technologies.

The banquet ended happily for all, and the cooperation was a resounding success. Nothing more was said that night, and the next day Lelouch boarded the train, finally ready to return home.

Count Briand, Austria's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, was still very polite and personally escorted him to the Vienna train station. Before he left, there was nothing important to discuss, since everything had been settled.

Brian, speaking only in a personal capacity, offered this advice: "Colonel Lelouch, I'm afraid you're not familiar with the circles of Vienna and don't know much about some of the young men. You should be careful when you're working with Mr. Wittgenstein."

Lelouch was initially confused, but Brian hinted at it to him later:

Kurt, that guy, seems to have some issues with his orientation. The reason he, as the son of a steel magnate, could have a life of luxury but insisted on joining the army wasn't just because of patriotism. With their family's power, avoiding military service would have been too easy.

Kurt is 33 years old and still unmarried, because he's afraid of being pressured to get married by his family if he stays at home doing nothing. Joining the army will eliminate this problem.

Lelouch felt a chill run down his spine after hearing this. No wonder the other person agreed to all his suggestions without hesitation; it was because he was too handsome. He'd better keep his distance from this kind of person.

From now on, we should only discuss cooperation and exchange benefits and military merits, but we must completely eliminate personal relationships.

"Thank you for the reminder, Undersecretary Brian. I will be careful. Goodbye then."

Lelouch waved goodbye one last time, the conductor closed the doors, and the train rumbled away from Vienna.

……

A day later, Lelouch arrived in Munich first.

Originally, he didn't need to stay in Munich any longer on his return trip. According to his agreement with Minister Baden, he should have gone directly to Berlin to report on his new duties.

However, the matter concerning Vice Minister Brian forced Lelouch to adjust his schedule at the last minute. He had to spend two extra days consulting with and persuading Duke Rupprecht to agree to deeper military cooperation with Austria.

After arriving in Munich, Lelouch first took his family to Schwangau, a town more than 50 kilometers southwest of Munich, and stayed at a lakeside villa in the town.

Schwangau is the town where Neuschwanstein Castle is located. The royal castle sits on a hilltop south of the town, while the town itself is at the foot of the hill.

There is also a snow lake, typical of the Alps, to the north of the town. The lake is frozen for four months each year, and you can even go ice skating or skiing on it.

The Baria royal family owns many properties in the town. Since Lelouch gained the Duke's favor, the Duke has gifted him a villa by the snowy lake as his residence during his stay in Munich.

Land in the countryside isn't expensive; a villa with a small garden and ranch would only be worth tens of thousands of marks, which is a small sum for Lelouch now.

After settling his family in, Lelouch, out of courtesy, still gave his sister and brother-in-law a few words of advice: "Tomorrow I'm going to Neuschwanstein Castle to meet His Highness the Duke. There may be female members of the royal family attending, so I won't be taking you with me."

You'll have two days off here. Afterwards, come back to Berlin with me, and then return to the Western Front to take over the steel mill. Tomorrow I'm only taking Nunnally to the royal gathering; His Highness the Duke's eldest daughter is about the same age as Nunnally, they might get along well.”

Cornelia, the older sister, was very sensible and quickly said that it was no problem: "We didn't really want to see the Duke or the Crown Prince anyway. It's nice to ski and ice skate here."

I can't believe I can still ski in March! The environment in the Alps is so much better than in big cities like Vienna.

Cornelia may have said it, but she still had to do it. That night, she personally helped her younger sister pack, trying to pile up all the luxury goods and haute couture items she had bought in Vienna for her.

So that my sister won't be too embarrassed by the Crown Prince's young princess when she visits tomorrow.

The following day, March 12th, in the afternoon, Lelouch took Nunnally to the Duke's house to report on important military and national affairs.

(End of this chapter)