Chapter 457: Chapter 457: So, Is This Real?
At that moment, Lucia was criticizing Stein with Mr. Jilard.
"He even has a revolver." The words were directed at Lucia, but Mr. Jilard’s eyes were fixed on Stein. "We don’t know where he has hidden it, we once saw him fiddling with it in the backyard."
"My God, Stein." Lucia stared at her brother with wide eyes. "Where did you get a gun?"
"I bought it with my own savings," Stein replied, "I didn’t spend a single penny from the family."
"He earned that money from selling newspapers," Mr. Jilard explained angrily. "We thought he was planning to help with the household expenses, but he used it to buy a gun instead."
"You should hand it over, it’s too dangerous." Lucia’s eyes were filled with worry as she looked at Stein. He wasn’t old enough to use a gun, and more importantly, no one had taught him how to use it properly.
"No," Stein responded resolutely, "I need the weapon to protect myself, and to protect this family."
Lucia rolled her eyes angrily, unsure of what to say.
It was fortunate that the Germans didn’t discover Stein’s weapon when they occupied the place, otherwise, the whole family would have been implicated. The Germans would definitely think they were all spies for the Allies, which would also expose Lucia’s identity as a spy.
Lucia gritted her teeth, walked towards Stein with a stern face, and stared at him fiercely with a threatening look in her eyes. "You must hand it over."
"No," Stein refused without hesitation.
"The Germans have already surrendered," Lucia found a good excuse, "It’s very safe here now, you don’t need that gun anymore."
"But Belgium hasn’t been fully liberated yet," Stein stood proudly, "We’ve only taken back one-third of it!"
"But that’s not your concern..."
"It concerns everyone."
"At least wait until you turn eighteen..."
"But by then, Shire might have already retaken the whole of Belgium, and the war might even be over."
...
As the two continued to argue, Mrs. Jilard appeared at the door, out of breath. "Lucia!"
"Wait a minute, Mom, today we have to make Stein hand over the gun." Lucia glared angrily at her brother.
"Is it true, what they said?" Mrs. Jilard was panting, unsure if it was from running too fast or from excitement. "Are you Shire’s girlfriend, are you two dating?"
The previously noisy room fell silent instantly.
Mr. Jilard, who was busy grinding coffee beans, looked at Mrs. Jilard in shock, then turned his puzzled gaze towards Lucia.
Realizing that her cover was blown, Lucia hesitated before answering, "I...I planned to tell you over dinner!"
With a clatter, Mr. Jilard lost his balance and fell, breaking the grinder and spilling coffee grounds everywhere, filling the room with the aroma of coffee.
Lucia hurried forward to help Mr. Jilard up.
"No, no, I’m fine." Mr. Jilard stood up shakily.
Stein looked dumbfoundedly at Mrs. Jilard, then at Lucia, and started laughing, "I see, this is a play you’re putting on to make me hand over the gun? Great idea!"
Mrs. Jilard’s voice trembled with excitement, "So, is it true?"
Lucia nodded slightly, feeling conflicted internally. Was this true or false?
Mrs. Jilard moved forward excitedly and hugged Lucia:
"Oh, God, I’m so happy for you, sweetheart."
"This...this is wonderful! I can’t believe it’s real, it’s like a dream."
"Do you know? I saw Shire that day, he was in the square, accepting the surrender."
Mr. Jilard dusted off his pants and stood up straight, his eyes filled with pride:
"I saw him too, he took the sword of surrender from the Germans and even lectured them."
"Those Germans were silent in front of him."
"They smiled with relief at his promise of fair treatment."
"He’s an outstanding man, a genius commander!"
For some reason, hearing this made Lucia want to cry, tears welling up in her eyes.
Stein now somewhat believed it, his expression extremely complex, sometimes showing joy, sometimes doubt, excitement, and then worry.
After considering for a while, Stein suddenly called out, "Then what are we waiting for? We should go to Antwerp, Shire is there!"
"No, Stein," Lucia quickly opposed, "He’s very busy, he’s commanding the troops in battle, I shouldn’t disturb him."
"Yes," Mr. Jilard agreed, "He’s doing the things that men need to do."
"But Lucia is already here," Stein argued, "Antwerp is only 59 kilometers away, if Lucia is Shire’s girlfriend, shouldn’t she go see him?"
Mr. and Mrs. Jilard exchanged glances.
Stein seemed to have a point; Shire could reject if he’s too busy, but if Lucia was already in Ghent yet didn’t go to see Shire, wouldn’t it mean she didn’t care about him?
Lucia didn’t really want to go because it was all fake, Shire didn’t consider her his girlfriend, and what she felt was only bitterness and pain.
But if she didn’t go, would it arouse suspicion as Shire’s "girlfriend" and thus expose her identity as a spy?
...
In Antwerp, Shire was organizing new training for armored and mechanized divisions.
Tijani looked puzzled at the training subjects, "Leap forward tactics, urban combat, trench warfare, trench filling..."
Unable to stand it any longer, Tijani placed the file on the table and looked up at Shire with confusion, "Aren’t these tasks for infantry? They look like trench warfare issues, I thought the armored and mechanized units shouldn’t have such tasks."
Tijani believed it was too valuable to follow infantry. They knew how to work with tanks, and on the battlefield, they should follow tanks to break through enemy lines.
These high-casualty trench wars should be left to ordinary infantry.
Shire responded calmly, "If it was before, that might indeed be the understanding."
"What do you mean?" Tijani didn’t understand.
"There are anti-tank ditches in front of the enemy’s defensive line, General." Shire lifted his head and stretched his sore neck, "Tanks cannot cross these anti-tank ditches, and the only solution is for soldiers to go ahead and fill the ditches."
"But we can still use ordinary infantry for that," Tijani opposed, "They’re ’experts’ in trench warfare."
In reality, Tijani didn’t want to "waste" his own troops attacking enemy trenches.
Shire’s next statement rendered Tijani speechless, "Ordinary infantry won’t coordinate with tanks, General."
Tijani seemed to understand Shire’s point that the cover between infantry and tanks was "mutual."
If the infantry was hindered, the tanks needed to lead the charge to clear the path for the infantry, while the infantry provided cover from behind.
Sometimes tanks faced obstacles, and the infantry needed to lead the charge to clear the way for the tanks, while the tanks provided fire suppression from behind.
If ordinary infantry were sent in, it would inevitably result in a deadlock trench warfare situation.
Tijani was overjoyed, quickly taking out a notebook and sitting at the desk to jot down this new "insight."
Just then, a guard hurriedly came in and reported to Shire, "Brigadier General, Lucia is here, she’s at the door!"
"Lucia?" Shire was puzzled, what was she doing here? Did she have important intelligence?