I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France Chapter 267: Business Intelligence

If it were the old Shire, other than military intelligence, he could be said to know nothing about the outside world.

Even if he knew sothing, it was outdated, useless, or could even be lies carefully woven by his opponents.

But now, Shire had the "Lady in White."

The "Lady in White" might not be very suitable for gathering comrcial intelligence; Shire worried that the "Lady in White" would resist this task.

After all, they demanded to be treated as warriors, and warriors must not turn their guns on civilians.

However, Lucia gave a very reasonable explanation: "Your factory produces equipnt needed on the front lines, Colonel, and this equipnt is defeating the enemy. If anyone is against your factory, they are stopping us from achieving victory!"

"Makes sense!" Shire nodded and calmly handed the task of tracking Grevy to the "Lady in White."

Thus, Shire knew that Grevy had gone to Saint-Etienne to et with Layom.

Although he couldn’t hear the details, anyone could guess Grevy’s intentions.

Additionally, Shire knew that Grevy had recently beco very close with Bonnet, the owner of the "Little Daily."

This suddenly awakened Shire: there would be many people within the alliance who had conflicts of interest with him, despite the alliance being ford for mutual benefit.

For example, Steed’s eldest son Layom, who could originally inherit Saint-Etienne and had always been fighting for it, even treating Saint-Etienne as his own armory for a long ti.

But now, Shire’s presence might cause him to lose his inheritance.

To be precise, it wasn’t losing the inheritance, but inheriting Saint-Etienne would turn him into Shire’s "puppet," at least in his eyes.

The "Little Daily" also had conflicts with the "rit Newspaper."

Although Steed was very willing to sacrifice the "Little Daily" to fully support Shire,

Bonnet was not. "Little Daily" was his property, and he didn’t want to be sacrificed or beco a companion piece to the "rit Newspaper," much less watch the "rit Newspaper" take all his readers without a chance to fight back.

Therefore, transferring to Schneider was the best choice for the "Little Daily," as which party he supported didn’t seem to matter much to him.

Steed listened to Shire, scowling, and then looked at Shire apologetically: "Please believe , this is not my wish, I didn’t know these things."

"He also ca to see ," Dominic said, "I an Grevy."

"He ca to see you?" Steed looked at Dominic in shock.

"Yes," Dominic answered, his expression slightly embarrassed. "At the ti I thought he just wanted to cause discord, but I didn’t expect it to be..."

Steed snorted and glared fiercely at Dominic.

"What are your plans?" Shire asked.

"Don’t worry, Colonel," a hint of coldness flashed in Steed’s eyes, "I will handle these matters."

Steed had already thought it through: Bonnet would die in a traffic accident.

At this ti, Bonnet had not yet publicly announced his transfer to Schneider. If he died unexpectedly, everyone would suspect Schneider, and Schneider would gain nothing.

As for Layom, he would forever lose his succession rights. Knowing too many secrets, he would at least be put under house arrest for a while. And managing Saint-Etienne might be safer in the hands of a third party with no inheritance ties.

Steed was just not creative, but that didn’t an he lacked ans. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have survived in this politically contentious society until now.

After considering for a mont, Steed bowed slightly to Shire: "I hope these unpleasant matters do not affect our cooperation."

"Of course," Shire replied calmly. "However, I might give you so advice."

Steed was sowhat puzzled. Did Shire want to use his own thods to vent anger?

Then, a flash of fear appeared in Steed’s eyes. Would Shire demand that he sacrifice his own kin?

If so, what should he choose?

Steed gritted his teeth and decided to sacrifice Layom. After all, compared to a family and Saint-Etienne, Layom was insignificant!

However, Steed quickly realized he was wrong.

"Don’t worry about Bonnet," Shire said. "What you need to do is persuade Layom."

"Persuade?" Steed looked surprised. The punishnt seed too light.

"Layom might beco a pawn in our hands," Shire explained. "Next ti, you won’t need to transfer the blueprints to Pito Armory by dismissing technicians."

Steed suddenly understood.

Schneider could exploit Layom, likely by using him to expand Pito Armory and suppress Saint-Etienne, specifically Shire.

For instance, if Shire had an invention, Pito Armory could get the blueprints in advance and produce similar equipnt.

If so, Layom might instead be utilized in return.

Steed had great confidence: "I can persuade him, Colonel. If he refuses, he will have nothing!"

But Steed still didn’t want to let Bonnet go: "But the ’Little Daily’ has a significant impact on us..."

"Its impact is negligible," Shire interrupted Steed.

Steed was sowhat troubled. It seed to have little impact on Shire, even Schneider’s "Morning Paper" had to publish Shire’s successes and victories. Even if the "Little Daily" ’defected,’ it would still be the sa. Even if it wanted to spin the narrative, it couldn’t turn victory into defeat.

But to the morale and cohesion of the Republican Party...

Shire seed to see through Steed’s thoughts and added, "Even if you want to deal with him, wait for a while."

At this point, Steed understood.

This was not Shire being rciful; he wanted to deal with another person: Grevy.

Steed guessed correctly. In Shire’s eyes, the most important opponent had always been Grevy.

Grevy’s presence was like an "anti-Shire alliance." He would connect all of Shire’s enemies, so of whom Shire hadn’t even realized.

Grevy was a smart man.

If Steed swiftly dealt with the two "rebels," Grevy would imdiately sense the danger: Shire had intelligence capabilities, so he would act more cautiously in the future, or even refrain from certain actions.

But if Shire seed oblivious, with Bonnet still defecting to Schneider and Layom continuously providing information to Schneider,

then Grevy would continue to collude with the Germans as he did before.

Before, Shire might not have been able to do anything, but now with the "Lady in White" watching Grevy, and more importantly, Grevy unaware of the "Lady in White’s" existence.

Then, the future awaiting Grevy and the right wing was the charge of "treason!"

What would be the result?

Suicide, or execution by shooting?

Pick one!