I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France

Chapter 574: Modified - 574 Christmas Offensive

Shire truly felt the disparity.

From being the center of attention and power to suddenly become isolated and insignificant.

The officers still treated Shire with respect, including Ganmelin himself.

After all, Shire was the one who had repeatedly defeated the German Army, saving countless lives, and he also possessed assets that could rival any capitalist in France, along with numerous inventions and industrial property rights.

Any ordinary person with just one of these would have reached the peak of their life, yet Shire had all of them. His genius was enough to drive anyone to madness with envy.

However, within the command, they treated Shire with only superficial respect.

"Give me a copy of the inspection list!"

"Sorry, General." The staff officer answered, "We’ve been busy with training, and we’ve only just arrived a few days ago, so we haven’t had time to compile an inspection list."

"What about the confinement list?"

"Those are all temporary detentions," the staff officer replied. "Most are released after a few days, so we don’t keep a list."

"Then let’s go to the confinement room and take a look."

"General." The staff officer looked troubled, "We suspect there are spies among them, so during interrogations, no one is allowed to contact them, otherwise..."

Otherwise, there would be suspicions of colluding with the spies.

The staff officer’s answer was flawless and without hesitation, clearly a prepared excuse.

But Shire was not worried; he was confident in breaking this deadlock.

The parliament was too naive. Those who stayed in their offices all day didn’t know how cruel war was and naively thought they could fully control the military with just political maneuvers, especially an army at war.

...

The next afternoon, Shire was sitting alone in the conference room drinking coffee.

Since everyone intended to isolate him, he might as well enjoy some quiet. Since coming to this world, Shire had never seemed as idle as he was now.

But this wasn’t true.

Shire was giving Wei Gang a chance, giving him the opportunity to approach him alone.

As expected, before long, Wei Gang came in with a document, handing over the officer roster, which Shire, as the group army commander, should know.

Wei Gang pretended to flip through the roster while introducing, but whispered, "Prime Minister Briand personally issued the order. The commander-in-chief has parliament’s spies too!"

Briand?

He usually hid behind the parliament, but now he had personally issued an order.

Shire was no stranger to this name; Briand was Xia Fei’s backer, which was one of the reasons Xia Fei could remain in the commander-in-chief position for so long despite having no achievements in the military.

In the end, Xia Fei stepped down because the costs of suppressing the opposition were too high, and he wasn’t worth such a sacrifice for just one person, hence he was abandoned.

"What should we do?" Wei Gang asked, which was also the question Fuxu wanted to ask.

Shire replied calmly:

"Christmas is approaching. To avoid the recurrence of the ’armistice incident,’ I think we should launch an attack."

"But since the mutiny has just ended, we should lower the intensity of the offensive."

"Thus, the objective should be ’drill training’ rather than capturing enemy positions or inflicting enemy casualties."

Wei Gang frowned for a long time, unable to understand what Shire meant and how it related to the current situation.

Shire continued, "Relay what I said to the commander-in-chief, he’ll understand what I mean."

Shire was unfit to send a direct telegram to Fuxu. Although he had his own communications team and radio station, they were likely eavesdropped on.

Wei Gang was the perfect messenger.

"Yes, General," Wei Gang responded.

At that moment, he glanced out of the corner of his eye and saw someone entering, then immediately changed his tone: "More than one hundred and thirty officers above the rank of major. If you have any supplements, we will fully consider your opinions."

Shire replied disdainfully, "My opinion? Is my opinion important?"

He pushed the roster in front of Wei Gang with disgust, "I don’t need this, get out of my sight!"

"Yes, General," Wei Gang smoothly took the roster and walked out of the conference room.

...

Drizzling rain fell on the front lines of the River Somme, with dense gunfire and artillery still echoing from the north bank.

Since Shire led the 6th Group Army to push the defensive line 5 kilometers forward, the southern front of the River Somme had gradually stabilized.

This wasn’t just due to Shire’s victory, but also because the French Army had occupied several defensive lines meticulously built by the German Army.

These defensive lines, though not as strong as those in the rear, were vastly superior compared to the trenches of the British and French armies.

Fuxu had set up his headquarters here because the Battle of the Somme was not yet over. The British Army on the north bank was still attacking the German Army, with casualties continuing to rise.

The British attack was even fiercer than before.

Because Shire had pushed the defensive line 5 kilometers forward with only a thousand casualties, while daily British casualties numbered in the thousands or even tens of thousands without making any progress, making Haig and even Kitchener lose face.

This made Haig impatient to see results.

However, all he could do was continue increasing troop deployment, constantly urging his men to attack.

Fuxu’s concern was not with these.

He sat at his desk, signing documents absentmindedly, his mind on the 6th Group Army and Shire far away in Belgium.

Previously, parliament’s "special treatment" of Shire was covert, but now they didn’t even bother to cover it up.

How would Shire break the deadlock?

If the parliament marginalized Shire, he certainly wouldn’t and couldn’t continue anti-submarine warfare to lift the material blockade.

This meant that Fuxu, as commander-in-chief, would only be a puppet of Britain.

As Fuxu furrowed his brows and pondered strategies, a staff officer handed him a telegram, whispering, "Commander, a telegram from Wei Gang."

Fuxu paused, cautiously glancing around to make sure no one noticed before casually taking the telegram and nodding lightly.

He didn’t immediately read the telegram, continuing to sign documents despite his eager curiosity.

After the staff officer left, he casually tossed away the documents and, pretending to rest, picked up a few telegrams to browse.

He saw a message from Wei Gang: "Christmas attack, mutiny recently settled, limited offensive for drill training."

Fuxu pondered briefly, then smiled and nodded slightly. So it seemed the parliament had met its match!

Glancing at the calendar on his desk, seeing it was three days until Christmas, he called to a staff officer a few meters away, "Colonel Enes, draft a telegram to Paris. I intend to launch an attack on Christmas Eve, preliminary duration of five days."

"But General." The staff officer turned pale, and others also paused in their work: "We have just recovered morale, launching a large-scale attack now might provoke backlash..."

"I will explain to Paris," Fuxu interrupted.