Chapter 1503: High-Level Meeting

America, French Colonial Zone.

Richard's office.

The small office was packed with high-ranking French officials stationed here; some, unable to find a seat, simply stood.

A copy of the same battle report lay on Richard's desk; he tapped his fingers against the tabletop, producing a dull sound.

Tap, tap, tap...

Biting into everyone in the silent air.

Their faces were filled with a gloom that was hard to ignore, yet Richard, the French Commander in America and the one in charge, hummed a melody, his fingers playing along in perfect rhythm.

"Lord Richard..."

"Shh." Richard softly stopped him.

The man froze, then helplessly gave up and stepped back.

Not until the sound stopped completely did Richard open his eyes, wearing an indescribably strange smile as he looked at the group of French high-ranking officials.

"A tune currently popular in Vienna; the melody is quite good. I heard it was composed by a Longyan person. You should all go listen to it when you have the time."

Richard said indifferently.

The group of high-ranking French officials frowned and said in deep voices, "Lord Richard, in this war, we have lost nearly ten thousand Cavalry and twenty thousand Infantry!"

"Sanhao Zhendi has fallen; the top priority is to send reinforcements. We cannot let the British seize the position!"

Richard glanced at him, raised a finger, and shook it: "No, no, no."

"French Legion Commander, you are mistaken. The British cannot pose any danger to us at all right now."

"Their losses are no less than ours."

The French Legion Commander stepped forward, slammed his hands on the desk, and said in a deep voice, "Our losses are not small either, but we currently hold the initiative."

"No. 2 Position is in our hands. We have Longyan Cannon and Indian Troops; we can definitely take down No. 1 Position before winter arrives!"

"Let the British completely lose the qualification to challenge us!"

Facing the French Legion Commander's suggestion, Richard ignored it entirely. He stood up, faced the French Legion Commander, smiled slightly, and said calmly, "The suggestion is very good, but I will not adopt it."

The French Legion Commander's expression froze, then he immediately shouted, "Richard, this is passive resistance! We could clearly achieve victory, and you are damaging the interests of our France by doing this."

Facing his anger, Richard was not the least bit upset; instead, he said:

"No, I am protecting our France."

He stepped past the dejected French Legion Commander, walked to the center of the office, scanned the room, and said loudly, "Everyone present, I have two pieces of news to tell you."

The crowd looked at him one after another, their eyes full of confusion.

Richard did not care about their gazes; instead, he held up the intelligence in his hand and laughed loudly, "The intelligence in my hand is regarding an agreement on Longyan Weaponry and Equipment."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone's expression shifted from astonishment to shock, until their eyes were filled with nothing but disbelief.

The relationship between Longyan City and them could be described as incompatible as fire and water.

Moreover, Longyan City had now completely blocked their connection to the European mainland.

This had also resulted in the mainland being unable to continuously provide support to America, and they were unable to transport supplies to their own mainland.

However, news from the European battlefield still reached their ears, but regarding this, these French people who had not been in America for very long and still held their homeland dear were actually somewhat concerned for their motherland.

Yet, they were helpless in the face of the current situation in America.

This also led to an irreconcilable conflict existing directly between their France and Longyan City.

But now, Richard, the Spokesperson for France, was saying they had signed a weapons agreement with Longyan City.

This news made them surprisingly furious.

"Lord Richard, why must we cooperate with the despicable Longyan?"

"They are all bastards!"

"What have you given up to reach this cooperation..."

Richard watched quietly as this group of people accused and cursed, without refuting them in the slightest.

Richard heard the voices gradually die down, and only then did he speak.

"I have an experimental report here; I believe everyone present has seen it."

"This is a report regarding the Longyan Cannon." Richard picked up a report from his desk and displayed the cover to them.

They looked at this report; most of the officials here had indeed seen it.

"I do not need to repeat the contents inside; it is simply that all the cannonballs we currently have cannot unleash the power of the Longyan Cannon."

Richard chuckled, put down the report, leaned against the desk, looked at everyone present, and finally let his gaze fall upon the French Legion Commander.

He asked, "Why do you think the Longyan Cannon had such an outstanding performance in this battle?"

"What do you think, French Legion Commander?"

The crowd pondered, but their gazes all turned toward the French Legion Commander.

The French Legion Commander's face was livid. Of course, he had seen these two reports, and because he was in charge of the legion, he knew more than any of them. Although he really did not want to admit it, many key reversals in this battle were achieved by relying on the Longyan Cannon.

And the most fundamental reason for achieving this goal was because of these cannonballs.

These cannonballs all came from Longyan; he did not know how Richard had managed it, but he had obtained ten Longyan Cannonball.

"Hmph!" The French Legion Commander snorted coldly and did not speak.

Richard sneered and said loudly, "That is because we obtained Longyan Cannonball."

Once these words were spoken, everyone present fell silent.

In this war, Longyan's weapons had indeed played a major role.

The French Legion Commander said stubbornly, "Lord Richard, the ones who finally defeated the British were the French Cavalry troops we trained."

"It was not some Longyan Cannon; I hope you can understand this point."

Richard glanced at him, did not deny it, and merely stated the facts.

"But the British who ambushed us, using forces far smaller than those on the Sanhao Zhendi front, managed to make all the defenders on Sanhao Zhendi terrified and cowardly, even while we held the advantages of timing, location, and unity."

"If our reinforcements had not arrived at the critical moment, would Sanhao Zhendi already belong to the British now?"

The Legion Commander was left speechless by the Bitter Remonstrance.

Seeing this, everyone knew that what Richard said was the truth; they had all read reports about this war, but they did not know the details as thoroughly as this.

Richard looked at them and said coldly, "I think everyone should know about this matter."

"Why did we suffer such a miserable defeat when the British army ambushed Sanhao Zhendi, even though we were prepared?"

"It is because the British army possesses a special Musket from Longyan, capable of firing continuously in a very short amount of time."

The crowd was shocked; a Musket that could fire six times in a row was simply unthinkable.

"And this type of weapon also comes from Longyan."

Upon hearing this, everyone was completely horrified.