I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France Chapter 846: Now Is the Prime Opportunity to Reclaim Our Hom

There’s only one Chapter tonight due to so 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-Arican 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 reinforcents.

The German 18th Army almost abandoned all equipnt in their breakout attempt, leaving behind tanks, artillery, vehicles, ammunition, and countless other materials.

Even so, under the pursuit of the French-Arican Allied Army, they suffered heavy losses, with casualties too nurous 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 sa difficulties that Shire and Pershing had to face before now fell upon the German 17th Army.

However, this ti, 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 ti.

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 dia 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 exclaid 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 ti ends in a grand victory, with extraordinarily low casualties for enormous gains."

"This ti, not only was the siege on the use River defensive line lifted, but the German elite forces were also destroyed. It’s said that at least three thousand mbers of the Germans’ Storm Assault Team were captured in this battle."

Le Figaro, a dia controlled by the aristocracy, usually opposed Shire, but this ti 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 an 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 mont, 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 so information through the "Lady in White", the angry populace would imdiately nail them to the pillar of sha 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 parliant were no longer shackles for Shire but tools and support.

The reason is, at this mont, 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 mont 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 mbers were whispering and discussing.

Everyone had received the news of Shire’s victory, so 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 equipnt wasn’t just about money but also held political significance of extending goodwill towards France.

No doubt about it, Shire, Steed lanted, he changed the entire world order by himself.

Clenceau 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.

My choice was correct, Clenceau thought, as long as he tightly clung to Shire, the position of Pri Minister would be unshakable by anyone.

"Gentlen!" Clenceau 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 achievents?"

The opposition mbers burst into laughter.

This was a subtle hint at Shire accumulating too much power and potentially becoming a "dictator".

"No, gentlen." Clenceau was calm: "I called this eting hoping you’d find Shire’s deficiencies."

Clenceau’s radical Republican Party mbers 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 ti, Shire walked in, striding up to the podium and declared firmly: "Gentlen, now is the great ti to reclaim all lost territories; it’s up to you whether you’re willing!"