I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France Chapter 686: The Final Punitive Expedition

Happy Lantern Festival to everyone!

Since I have relatives coming over today, I could only manage to write one Chapter. I will make up for it tomorrow. Sorry!

..................

While the battle raged fiercely on the front lines, an intense war was also playing out in the House of Representatives at the Palais Bourbon in France.

The parliantarians were issuing their final condemnations to the faction led by Gallieni and Shire:

"We don’t have ti to delay any longer. The Germans have reached Dunkirk. We must imdiately order Shire to provide reinforcents!"

"This is their goal. They want to delay until Dunkirk is occupied. They are traitors to France."

"Shire is abusing his power to protect his own interests. He treats the army as his personal property. We cannot tolerate such reckless behavior. This is shaless dictatorship!"

...

Gallieni looked coldly at the parliantarians below, his eyes filled with disdain and anger.

These parliantarians, who couldn’t stop talking about "national interests," were actually contemplating how to seek personal gains. Gallieni couldn’t imagine how they had the audacity to say such things.

However, Gallieni said nothing. He knew arguing with these people was pointless. He quietly awaited the outco.

At this mont, Major Fernan walked in from outside and whispered a few words into Gallieni’s ear. A faint smile appeared on Gallieni’s lips as he nodded in satisfaction.

Briand stepped up from the audience area and stood in front of Gallieni.

He remained calm, not shouting like the others. He believed that doing so would only make others think he was targeting Shire, a war hero and symbol, thus escalating the conflict between the parliant and the military.

Glancing at the crowd below, he said to Gallieni with a look of helpless resignation, "I am sorry, Minister, but I think we should respect the parliantarians’ decision since they represent the citizens of France."

"Yes." Gallieni nodded calmly.

"Their decision is to reinforce Dunkirk." Briand reminded, "I think a vote is unnecessary; it would be a waste of ti, don’t you agree?"

"I agree, Pri Minister." Gallieni replied.

"So," Briand’s face showed a barely perceptible smile, a victor’s smile, as he handed over a docunt, "this is the order to reinforce Dunkirk. You just need to sign it..."

"I don’t think that’s necessary, Pri Minister." Gallieni interrupted Briand, his tone harsh.

"What?" Briand was stunned, his expression gradually turning severe, his voice carrying a hint of threat, "You cannot defy the parliant’s decision, Minister, otherwise I will have no choice but to remove you..."

Gallieni stared directly into Briand’s eyes, unafraid, and said clearly and steadily, "You might not know, but Shire has already won!"

Briand’s face changed.

Shire has won?

What victory?

Did he capture the Liege Fortress?

Impossible...

Suddenly, soone burst in, out of breath, shouting, his voice trembling with excitent, "He... he won! Shire, Shire won! He captured zieres."

The room was in an uproar.

zieres is a well-known industrial city in France. The parliantarians had heard of it, and so even owned shares in its factories. They all knew this city was behind the German Army’s lines, and Shire had actually captured it.

Briand was stunned as well. He knew zieres. He had gone there several tis to give speeches to workers and understand their difficulties when organizing the Socialist Party.

(Note: The Socialist Party organized by Briand mainly consisted of the working class.)

Thus, Briand knew that zieres was a major transportation hub. Even without a military background, he understood its importance.

"No, it’s impossible." After a while, Briand shook his head, "Shire couldn’t have captured zieres. He’s still in Namur, in Belgium."

Though he said this, Briand couldn’t shake a feeling of unease within himself.

That’s Shire. For Shire, nothing was impossible.

Prompted by Briand, the parliantarians echoed:

"Yes, Shire is in Belgium. How could he have captured zieres, separated by the Arden Mountains?"

"Did he fly over there?"

"I get it. You’re trying to use this false information to delay, to avoid sending reinforcents to Dunkirk!"

...

Ignoring Briand’s hesitations, Gallieni stepped to the front again, his head held high, his face bearing a confident smile:

"Gentlen, you’re correct; Belgium and zieres are separated by the Arden Mountains."

"But you forget, Shire has already captured Charleroi."

"While we were debating whether to send reinforcents to Dunkirk, Shire’s First Armored Army has already crossed the Arden Mountains and reached zieres."

Once again, the room was abuzz.

An armored unit crossed the Arden Mountains—was that even possible?

Even Wells and Steed looked shocked.

They had only been cooperating with Gallieni to block the parliant’s resolution, unaware of the detailed plan.

They had truly thought Shire was protecting his interests in Belgium. But clearly, that wasn’t the case.

Arman just smiled indifferently.

He didn’t care much who won—the Germans, the French, or the British. It didn’t really matter to him.

He just confird one thing: Shire was an unstoppable force, and no one would be able to shake his position in the future.

In this light, following Shire was undoubtedly the right choice!

Gallieni was in no rush. He waited for the parliantarians to discuss a while before adding, "If you want to know whether this is true, just observe the Germans’ reaction."

Many parliantarians, lacking military knowledge, blurted out without thinking:

"What will the Germans’ reaction be?"

"Are we supposed to ask the Germans if this is true?"

...

"Gentlen!" Major Fernan couldn’t help but interject, "If Shire has really occupied zieres, the German attack on Dunkirk becos aningless. Because Shire has encircled the Germans from the rear, including Dunkirk!"

The parliantarians finally realized:

"So, the Germans will retreat?"

"What happens if they don’t retreat?"

"If they don’t retreat, they will die because they won’t be getting any more ammunition or reinforcents!"

...

Just at that mont, soone burst in, shouting, "The Germans are retreating! Dunkirk is safe! We’ve won!"

There was no cheering, no applause. The room was so silent that even the drop of a pin could be heard.

Then, soone, no one knew who, started clapping slowly.

Soon, more people joined in, and the applause quickly filled the room, even from those parliantarians who didn’t want Shire to win.

Shire’s victory wasn’t good news for them, but they couldn’t help but admire his accomplishnt in this battle.

Gallieni turned to look at Briand and glanced at the docunt in his hand, "Pri Minister, do I still need to sign?"

Briand quickly snapped out of it, "Oh, no, of course not. That’s clearly unnecessary."