CHAPTER 331: AFTER MODIFICATION: CHAPTER 331 GAS MASK

Shire didn’t take the "uniform incident" too seriously.

He knew it would be resolved sooner or later, because it did not excessively infringe upon the interests of capitalists, but would arouse strong social resistance. So why wouldn’t they ride the wave of goodwill?

Besides, it was foreseeable that not only would the uniform replacement go through, it would be fast-tracked. After all, the legislators also needed people’s support to secure their positions.

Therefore, Shire always focused his energy on dealing with "gas warfare."

...

Tijani’s command post was on the second floor of the office building.

This four-story office building didn’t originally exist. Previously, the office area was connected with the teaching buildings because policing training didn’t need an independent, large, and well-segregated command post.

When Tijani brought the 105th Infantry Regiment, he immediately started building it with his own funds.

"How can a training base not have a command post?" Tijani said. "Especially my command post!"

When the 105th Infantry Regiment was still fighting in Gelibolu, this building was completed.

Everything here was new and well-equipped: rest rooms, communication rooms, operations department, logistics department... Each department was equipped with telephones and radios.

A regimental command post more luxurious than Gallieni’s City Defense Headquarters.

Inside the headquarters, the windows were clear, and the burning wood in the fireplace crackled, adding a bit of warmth to the room.

Tijani handed Shire a cup of instant coffee and placed it before him. He himself held a cup and took a sip, frowning and complaining, "I’m worried I can’t get used to the taste on the battlefield."

Tijani was referring to instant coffee, which he saw as a sacrifice, not realizing that during this period many people couldn’t afford such processed instant coffee.

"We should make some preparations," Shire said.

"For what?" Tijani looked at Shire. "You mean the uniform replacement? Does that need preparation?"

"No, Tijani," Shire replied. "I mean the war; I think there’s going to be a new development."

Tijani let out an "oh": "You mean Gelibolu?"

If the Gelibolu battlefield achieved victory, the situation would indeed be different. Tijani unconsciously looked at the map on the wall.

But Shire shook his head: "No, I mean gas warfare."

"Gas warfare?" Tijani turned to Shire, bewildered.

Shire explained everything to Tijani, emphasizing in the end, "Although this is only a conjecture, if it turns out to be true, our defensive line will suffer a huge gap, which could lead to its collapse."

Shire’s real concern wasn’t this.

In history, the Germans indeed inflicted heavy casualties on the Allies by launching gas attacks, creating a huge gap in the defensive line 10 kilometers long and 7 kilometers deep.

But because the German Army had to face both the eastern and western fronts simultaneously, they had only limited troops to penetrate this gap, which were eventually blocked by the French Army reinforcements.

Shire’s real worry was that the battle left over 70,000 Allied soldiers dead. If any one of those was the 105th Infantry Regiment with Shire among them, what would happen then?

"I can’t convince them." Shire took a sip of coffee and put it back on the tray, speaking with some helplessness. "No one thinks this is real; they even worry that my words will unsettle the troops."

Tijani’s tone was very certain: "They are wrong. If you think it will happen, it definitely will!"

Shire was a bit surprised. He thought Tijani would at least ask a few questions, like whether there was more in-depth investigation or other intelligence to confirm it, but he asked nothing.

Tijani’s only question was, "How do we prepare? I mean, if the enemy releases gas, there’s probably nothing we can do!"

They shouldn’t doubt Shire, Tijani thought, because Shire had never been wrong. Everything Shire said or did was always proven right afterward.

Those fools always thought they were smarter than Shire!

Shire was stunned for a moment. He had prepared some reasons, like "we can prevent it beforehand" or "it’s better to be prepared than unprepared," hoping to use these to convince Tijani, but now he didn’t need any of them.

Shire shrugged, skipped all this, turned sideways, took out a gas mask from his briefcase, and handed it to Tijani.

This was a sample Shire had Steed produce. It wasn’t complicated; it was essentially a device to cover the face and breathe through a toxin filter, devoid of any technological content.

Shire had avoided one trouble:

The earliest toxin filters invented during World War I contained cotton soaked in sodium carbonate solution, which would react with chlorine gas to filter toxins.

But if he used this type of filter, Shire would need to answer one question: it only works against chlorine gas. How could you know the Germans would use chlorine gas and produce a gas mask in advance to counter it?

Therefore, Shire used more advanced activated carbon particles, which were effective against all toxic gases and allowed smoother breathing.

"What’s this?" Tijani asked, puzzled, playing with it in his hand.

"A gas mask." Shire put it on, looking at Tijani through the two eye windows of the mask.

Tijani found it amusing for a moment, then tried it on his head. He suddenly realized something and took it off, staring at Shire in shock:

"You mean, wearing this means we don’t need to worry about the enemy’s gas?"

"Is this your new invention?"

Shire nodded in affirmation: "The preparation I mentioned is this. If we can’t convince them, can’t get them to prepare, then the only ones prepared will be the 105th Infantry Regiment..."

However, Tijani wasn’t interested in this; he was interested in the "art of war."

"Colonel!" Tijani interrupted Shire: "How did you come up with this invention? Does it really work?"

Shire couldn’t answer.

The gas mask was invented because, after the Germans used gas, people found that most wild animals, including birds in the forest and even frogs and insects in the soil, were not spared, except wild boars, which remained unscathed.

Scientists discovered through experiments that wild boars have a highly sensitive sense of smell. Upon detecting toxic fumes, they habitually stuck their noses into the soil and stayed motionless, filtering out toxins through the soil particles.

Since the Germans hadn’t used gas yet, this experiment couldn’t have occurred.

Shire could only deflect: "I just thought of it, can’t say why."

Tijani laughed: "True, who can say why?"

Then his eyes lit up:

"If it really works, and the Germans think we’ve been gassed to death in the trenches..."

"Then, the unfortunate ones will be them!"