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

Chapter 616: Revised - 616 Does the Navy have a chance of winning?

Shire walked up to General Winter, with a sarcastic tone, "Hello, General, is this how you cooperate with me?"

This is likely the demeanor of a "Minister of Military Supplies", he never cares about the thoughts of his allies, as long as there are benefits he will do anything.

General Winter replied with an unchanged expression, "Wasn’t I talking about cooperation? This benefits both of us, Vice Admiral."

Professor Fusenden didn’t understand the stakes involved, he looked at Shire puzzled, "General, General Winter wasn’t talking about purchasing production rights, he was talking about authorized production."

"It’s not about authorized production, Professor." Shire replied, "Once Britain obtains the production rights for the ’Echo Detector’, the Royal Navy will abandon the French Navy just like before."

Professor Fusenden froze, then suddenly awoke.

The Royal Navy possesses the world’s largest fleet, and Britain has strong industrial production capabilities. As long as they are willing, they can mass-produce the ’Echo Detector’ in a short time and equip it to the Royal Navy.

At that time, the Royal Navy would no longer need to cooperate with the French Navy, and the French Navy would be sidelined once again, even if they possess the ’Echo Detector’.

And being sidelined means losing sea control and real battle opportunities.

(Note: This is similar to the reasoning behind the participation of noble youths in the war during World War I. The tradition of European nobility was to monopolize war rights, turning wartime into noble knights’ battles, thus enabling nobles to dominate commoners who, without training or equipment, couldn’t defeat even a single knight. This enabled the nobility to hold power. However, the advent and development of firearms broke this monopoly, and World War I further ended it completely, contrary to the so-called knightly spirit and the nobility defending the nation.)

The result of losing sea control is losing control over resources.

At that time, control of the French Army would shift from the British Army to the Royal Navy!

Professor Fusenden was dumbstruck, he didn’t expect this to be a trap, nor did he anticipate such severe consequences.

After quite a while, Professor Fusenden spoke to Shire, fearfully, "Sorry, General, I didn’t realize..."

"I understand, Professor." Shire nodded, "Can this matter be entrusted to me?"

"Of course." Professor Fusenden readily agreed, "You will have full authority over production rights and authorized production. I will not have any objections."

Everything was given by Shire, and Fusenden believed that as long as Shire was willing, he could take it back.

Then, Professor Fusenden glanced cautiously at General Winter, got up, and walked out of the meeting room.

General Winter seemed very relaxed, not at all embarrassed, naturally and openly spread his hands, "Sorry, Vice Admiral, from my standpoint, I had no other choice."

That made sense, just as he had said earlier, both had their own national standpoints.

This is why Huaxia has a saying: "Different tribes, different hearts."

Shire nodded to show understanding, "Therefore, I also have to refuse."

"Of course." General Winter replied, then with a regretful look, "We should have taken action sooner."

"Then, what was the reason for your delayed action?" Shire was curious about this.

The first victory over ten days ago had already proven the value of the ’Echo Detector’. At that time, General Winter should have appeared before Professor Fusenden.

"Because of the war." General Winter replied.

Shire didn’t understand, "The Hasselt Interventional Battle?"

This was one of the reasons Shire couldn’t return, but it seemed unrelated to the Royal Navy.

"No." General Winter shook his head, "The German ships have new movements, which made us nervous, so we put the submarine victory aside temporarily."

Shire suddenly understood, after the German Army’s defeat with submarines, they would surely turn to breakthroughs with surface fleets.

...

Berlin, Germany, once picturesque Sanssouci Palace was now covered in white from heavy snow, even the fountains on the statues had turned into icy pillars, resembling tears hanging down, highlighting the terror and sadness on the faces.

Inside the palace, wearing military uniforms, William II and two generals sat on sofas by the fireplace. Though there were wine and pastries on the coffee table before them, they remained untouched, the atmosphere in the firelight and silence was extraordinarily oppressive.

After a long time, William II asked gloomily, "Over 200,000 troops captured, do you still trust Nicholas and Erwin?"

"Yes, Your Majesty." Fajin Han, one of the two generals, answered, his face severe and sorrowful, but his tone very firm.

"Why?" William II asked.

"Because." Fajin Han replied, "His opponent is Shire."

William II was speechless.

Shire, the man who led the French Army to easily advance 5 kilometers at the River Somme, who successfully intervened in Antwerp, who repeatedly created miracles with the German Army as the negative example.

Being defeated by him was not shameful.

Then Fajin Han added, "At least in Erwin’s plans, there was once hope of defeating Shire."

William II nodded in agreement.

Others, upon hearing their opponent was Shire, were terrified and didn’t dare face Shire.

But Erwin and Nicholas dared to challenge Shire, even learned Shire’s tactics and boldly applied them on the battlefield.

Just this point alone is worthy of commendation and trust.

However...

William II sighed lightly, "The battlefield is very realistic, General, it has no reason, there’s no space for failure in the direction of Belgium."

Belgium had only one key point left: the Liege Fortress.

The Liege Fortress is the gateway to Belgium. Once Shire takes the Liege Fortress, all Belgian forces can be piled to defend it.

And Shire and his troops can head south to encircle the German Army stationed on the Western Front, causing the entire Western Front to collapse completely.

"This will not happen, Your Majesty." Fajin Han responded, "We have heavily fortified the Liege Fortress and repaired the fortifications."

But in his heart, he thought, Shire always finds defense vulnerabilities and breaks through, the Liege Fortress might not be an exception.

"Best if so." William II replied blandly, also lacking confidence.

After a moment of silence, William II asked again, in a deep voice, "Looking at the current situation, it’s impossible for us to achieve victory on land, isn’t it?"

Fajin Han hesitated for a while, then reluctantly nodded, "As long as Shire and his troops are around, we can only hold our positions."

He was unwilling to admit it, but had to.

Verdun, Belgium, including the direction of the River Somme, the German Army was retreating.

The difference lay only in the German Army’s defensive attack on the River Somme, inflicting heavy enemy casualties, which could barely be counted as a victory.

Therefore, it was impossible to achieve victory on land.

"Then," William II’s gaze shifted to the other general, "we should consider whether the navy has a chance of victory."