I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France-Chapter 846: Now Is the Prime Opportunity to Reclaim Our Homeland
There’s only one Chapter tonight due to some matters, I’ll make it up tomorrow, apologies!
...
The Battle of Reims has basically ended at this point.
With the infiltration of the 9th Belgian Reconnaissance Brigade, the German 18th Army fell apart, and within just over an hour, the French-American Allied Army completely took control of Reims City.
Subsequently, the French Army split into two, capturing the highlands on the east and west sides, and successfully rendezvoused with Major General Monuri’s reinforcements.
The German 18th Army almost abandoned all equipment in their breakout attempt, leaving behind tanks, artillery, vehicles, ammunition, and countless other materials.
Even so, under the pursuit of the French-American Allied Army, they suffered heavy losses, with casualties too numerous to count, and just the number of prisoners exceeded 50,000.
By 2 p.m., the exhausted German 17th Army finally arrived at Mount Montbeh, facing the Reims Valley.
The same difficulties that Shire and Pershing had to face before now fell upon the German 17th Army.
However, this time, the German 17th Army had no "pre-buried explosives" to utilize, so they could only gaze at the mountain with frustration.
All they could do was launch a feigned attack to cover the breakout of the besieged 18th Army, then retreat in the shortest possible time.
Shire did not easily let the German Army off the hook.
He ordered Tijani and Pershing to lead the troops in relentless pursuit, while Shire himself boarded a plane to Paris.
The major scenario on the battlefield was set; the next step was to leverage this victory to fiercely reap political and economic benefits.
...
The Paris media boiled over once more, with newspapers of all sizes making every effort to report on the Battle of Reims, and the streets were filled with the cries of newsboys selling papers.
In the eyes of the newsboys, Shire’s victory was a selling point to earn a few more francs, because only with Shire’s battles would people feel the urge to buy a copy for collection and study.
They chanted joyfully, waving to every passerby, and anyone without a newspaper in hand was invariably drawn into the conversation.
The Little Daily exclaimed on the newspaper:
"One day, and another day."
"No matter how difficult the battles appear in our eyes when Shire is involved, he almost always concludes them in about a day."
"And each time ends in a grand victory, with extraordinarily low casualties for enormous gains."
"This time, not only was the siege on the Meuse River defensive line lifted, but the German elite forces were also destroyed. It’s said that at least three thousand members of the Germans’ Storm Assault Team were captured in this battle."
Le Figaro, a media controlled by the aristocracy, usually opposed Shire, but this time it had to report objectively:
"Shire is truly a military genius, as many have said, everything was under his calculation."
"He knew the US Army would lose, and that the Germans would capture Reims, so he preemptively buried explosives at Mount Montbeh to catch the German Army off guard."
"Even more impressive is that he defeated the inventor of ’penetration warfare’, General Hutier, using ’penetration warfare’ and even captured him."
"Does this mean that Shire’s tactical thinking surpasses Hutier’s by several levels?"
Yet it finally added a sour note in a subtle jab: "If that’s the case, do we have reason to suspect that France is also within his calculations?"
At this moment, Shire, just off the plane and sitting in a car, happened to see this sentence in the newspaper.
Shire smiled slightly, even if what you said is true, what difference does it make if France is indeed in my calculations?
Can you escape?
Shire turned his gaze, looking through the car window at the people on the street celebrating the victory.
If they knew Shire was in the car, they would surely block the entire street in a frenzy.
And if any capitalist or noble dared to challenge Shire, as soon as Shire released some information through the "Lady in White", the angry populace would immediately nail them to the pillar of shame and completely boycott them.
This is the power of the people.
The power balance of a republic might bind the Bourgeoisie, but not Shire.
Now, the republic system and parliament were no longer shackles for Shire but tools and support.
The reason is, at this moment, Shire’s reputation had exceeded the limits of what a republic system could control, becoming publicly acknowledged as a "military genius", "conscientious capitalist", "battle hero", "France’s hope"...
Most citizens already unreservedly trust Shire, and it wouldn’t be appropriate to say "trust" but rather "worship".
Therefore, whatever form of election or vote, Shire would always be the sole winner.
Is this dictatorship or freedom?
Shire didn’t know, nor did he care. He only knew he should continue consolidating his position, without a single moment of negligence.
Politics is comparable to a battlefield, often a single wrong move results in total defeat.
...
In the Bourbon Palace House of Representatives, the members were whispering and discussing.
Everyone had received the news of Shire’s victory, some were happy while others were worried.
Steed looked cheerful, every wrinkle on his forehead was filled with a smile.
Even before the Battle of Reims had concluded, arms orders from around the world had already piled on his desk like snowflakes.
This included neutral countries like Holland, Spain, Sweden, etc.
Their purchase of France’s equipment wasn’t just about money but also held political significance of extending goodwill towards France.
No doubt about it, Shire, Steed lamented, he changed the entire world order by himself.
Clemenceau stepped onto the podium, wearing a confident smile with a hint of relief in his eyes.
He had thought he might be implicated by Shire and fall into distress again, but unexpectedly, the light dawned to a new spring, and he suddenly received the victory news. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢
My choice was correct, Clemenceau thought, as long as he tightly clung to Shire, the position of Prime Minister would be unshakable by anyone.
"Gentlemen!" Clemenceau scanned the audience below, as if demonstrating to the opposition: "You might have all heard, Shire achieved victory at Reims with his extraordinary military talent."
Loud applause erupted from the audience below.
But before the applause fell, an unharmonious voice arose: "Well then, what is this session about? Surely it’s not to sing Shire’s praises of his great achievements?"
The opposition members burst into laughter.
This was a subtle hint at Shire accumulating too much power and potentially becoming a "dictator".
"No, gentlemen." Clemenceau was calm: "I called this meeting hoping you’d find Shire’s deficiencies."
Clemenceau’s radical Republican Party members and Shire’s supporters laughed aloud:
"Have them find Shire’s deficiencies? Forget it!"
"Give them a gun, and they are most likely to shoot themselves."
"If they could find Shire’s shortcomings, then they’d be the ones praised by the citizens now, but the opposite is the truth."
The opposition party turned red and white upon their faces, unable to retort.
At this time, Shire walked in, striding up to the podium and declared firmly: "Gentlemen, now is the great time to reclaim all lost territories; it’s up to you whether you’re willing!"
