SWDnovel Chapter 9 Test
Chapter 9 Test
The headquarters of the British Eighth Army in the seaside town of Borg Arab.
Montgomery had just finished lunch when the orderly who came to clear the table was quite surprised.
Montgomery usually has a large appetite, eating 800 grams of meat and 400 grams of staple food in one meal, but today he had at least half left.
However, the orderly didn't dare to say anything, and after cleaning up, he hurriedly left with the remaining food.
Montgomery picked up a brass magnifying glass and moved it across the map, pointing it at the direction of the ocean currents drawn by the oil salesman.
Two hours earlier, Montgomery contacted the garrison on Malta Island, asking them to send warships and aircraft to conduct reconnaissance. The results were the same as what the oil salesman had said: it was indeed a "counter-clockwise rotating circulation."
"Interesting." Montgomery glanced at the staff officers bustling about in front of him and muttered to himself, "There are so many people in the army, so many staff officers who graduated from military academies, and none of them thought of this."
He turned his gaze away and began to consider the next challenge:
What would this oil salesman use to make "toxic gasoline"?
Perhaps he doesn't have any reliable solutions at all!
He's doing this solely for his company; he's exploiting the military!
If that's the case, then he's miscalculated.
Just then, Staff Officer Gray strode into the command post and stopped in front of Montgomery, saluting:
"General, everything is going well."
"If nothing unexpected happens, we should be able to get the first batch of 'poison oil' in two days."
"Thorne believes we should test 'toxic oil' simultaneously."
"Test?" Montgomery looked at Gray with suspicion. "You mean, we have 'poison oil' now, and we can test it?"
"Yes," Gray said, taking his briefcase from his waist, taking out something wrapped in a raincoat, and carefully unfolding it on the desk to reveal a clump of flour-like powder inside.
"What is this?" Montgomery looked completely bewildered.
"Quartz dust," Gray replied. "It's made by grinding sand."
"Sand?" Montgomery stared at Gray in disbelief.
"Yes, General." Gray nodded.
"Then all we need is some benzene, Thorne said our tank cleaner contains a lot of benzene, so we can use that instead."
"By mixing it with quartz powder and then stirring it into gasoline, we can create the 'toxic gasoline' we want."
Montgomery was stunned for a moment, wondering how this could be possible.
Can you really make "poisonous oil" that disables tanks using sand and cleaning agents?!
After a while, Montgomery asked again, "So, what do we need to test?"
"Time, General," Gray explained.
"We need to know how much to release to disable the tank engine at the time we want."
"So we need several tanks, with different amounts of quartz powder added to their fuel."
Montgomery understood that this test came at the cost of several tanks being scrapped.
But then I thought, the "Seven Brothers Coffins" will do. They're disposable anyway, so there's no need to feel bad about them being scrapped.
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more than three hours later.
On the open ground in front of the 8th Army headquarters, several tanks were completely paralyzed and unable to move under Montgomery's watchful gaze.
Gray, who was recording the data, excitedly reported to Montgomery:
"The slowest train took three hours and five minutes, General. This proves that the method is effective."
"If we can control the dust to around 200 grams, we can control the tank to be scrapped after about an hour of use."
"However, the German tanks may be somewhat different from the 'M3,' but I think the difference is not significant."
Montgomery simply responded with a soft "hmm" from his throat.
He didn't know what to think.
He felt that the entire 8th Army had become a joke, and everyone, including himself, had become a fool in front of that oil salesman.
Of course, a successful test is a good thing, as it means the defense can hold.
But then, at that very moment, Gray inappropriately uttered a word of praise:
"That guy is simply a genius."
"God, if only he had made that suggestion sooner."
"With this method, the Germans simply can't reach this point..."
Turning his head and seeing Montgomery's gloomy face, Gray's smile froze instantly. He straightened his neck and swallowed the rest of his words.
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In the town of Hafate, Wells' villa was filled with joy and laughter.
The incandescent light illuminated Wells's beard, making him look radiant as if he had been reborn.
Dinner was still "potato sandwiches," which Wells was already tired of, but today he savored them as if they were delicacies.
"It's a shame you didn't get to see that, darling," Wells said, chewing his food as he described the morning's events.
"Those scoundrels from Barsam were causing trouble at the factory as usual; he was convinced we couldn't do anything about it."
Suddenly, a group of soldiers rushed in...
"Soldiers?" Emma exclaimed in a low voice.
"Yes, heavily armed soldiers," Wells said smugly.
"They held guns to the heads of those scoundrels."
"Those thugs were terrified and could only kneel down and beg for mercy."
"I think they'll never dare to cause us any more trouble."
Wells then turned his gaze to Thorne: "So, it was Major Gray who helped, is that right?"
"What?" Thorne didn't understand what he meant.
"I'm talking about the oil quotas," Wells said. "You couldn't even get a meeting with Montgomery at first, and Major Gray helped you, didn't he?"
Thorne said "Oh": "Yes, it was Major Gray who introduced me. He is a staff officer by the general's side and is highly regarded by the general."
"I knew it." Wells nodded slightly.
Otherwise, how could his good-for-nothing son possibly have accomplished that?
Now everything makes sense.
"He's a very good person," Wells said. "We should thank him."
"Of course," Thorne agreed.
Emma looked at Thorne with suspicion, thinking that things couldn't be that simple.
Even though Gray was highly regarded by Montgomery, it was impossible for him to bring an infantry company to the factory to "assist in the work".
Moreover, they not only helped the company catch the troublemakers, but also raided the police station, arresting and interrogating all the officers in isolation.
This is something that cannot be achieved simply by being "classmates".
What exactly did Thorne do to warrant such a commotion from the military?
However, she didn't ask any further questions, but simply said softly to Thorne, "Whatever you do, I will support you, Thorne. Just, I hope you won't forget your identity as a businessman."
"I know, Mom," Thorne replied with certainty.
However, he still believes that it is unrealistic to avoid getting involved with the military in this day and age, especially for those in the oil business.
But he didn't think there was any danger, after all, he was just selling fuel.
Therefore, Emma's worries are largely unnecessary.