I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France-Chapter 733: One Step Closer to Controlling Public Opinion
The Meuse River defense line was completely closed at around six o’clock the next morning.
It should have been faster, as it was only 60 kilometers from Bicangxi to Mezieres.
This route was different from before. Tijani’s mechanized division had been active in this area, and there were basically no enemies capable of resistance. They were aided by friendly forces along the way. To speed up the march, Fuxu ordered troops to advance using bicycles and even taxis.
The delay was caused by the continuous surrender of the German Army along the way.
Fuxu sent a telegram last night, his excitement evident:
"In all my decades of service, I have never seen so many prisoners, nor have I ever seen such docile Germans."
"They suddenly jumped out of the darkness to surrender, outnumbering our vanguard troops by several times."
"God, they had the opportunity to wipe out our entire vanguard before breaking through the encirclement, but they chose to surrender."
"I don’t understand why they did this. Is this still the Germany I know?"
...
This low-priority telegram was only seen by Shire upon waking up in the morning.
He chuckled softly.
Fuxu had been a principal at the military academy for too long; he didn’t know there was something called "the fear of the unknown."
Germans, trapped in their fear of breaking through, had no idea what lay ahead.
Their first thought upon seeing French soldiers was:
Has the French Army reached here already?
And they were infantry, which means the bridges ahead might already be under French control?
If that’s the case, what’s the point of fighting on?
Unless we can swim across the Meuse River, surrender is our only option.
They might even think: Don’t shoot, if we kill these French soldiers, the French Army might retaliate fiercely and refuse our surrender!
In simple terms, the surrounded German Army was a startled bird, unable to make rational judgments about what they saw.
The news was published just after seven o’clock, and the Merit Newspaper once again led all other papers.
No matter what, the events that happened around six could not have been reported by seven o’clock.
But Kobudo had his methods.
He had typeset two versions of the newspaper last night: one with the victory news and one without. Both were sent into the printing process, working overtime to get them ready.
When the victory news came in, he just needed to choose the version with the victory news to be sent to the market.
The other newspapers were dumbfounded. They would need at least ten hours to publish a special edition, and even then, the information would be incomplete. They could only watch as the Merit Newspaper was snatched up in the market, while their own papers were left untouched.
They couldn’t help but complain:
"This is practically cheating. The Merit Newspaper gets much more information, and faster, than we do."
"I even suspect Shire deliberately closed the encirclement at this time."
"Yes, our newspapers report after the victory, while for the Merit Newspaper, the military seems to schedule operations according to its schedule!"
...
Shire was wronged. Even though he often favored his own newspaper, he didn’t go so far as to plan military operations according to its schedule.
Still, he was happy to see the Merit Newspaper smoothly break through the 3.5 million copies sold mark, securing the highest sales in France.
With the 800,000 copies sold by the Little Daily, Shire was one step closer to controlling public opinion.
(Note: The sales of the Little Daily also declined due to the Merit Newspaper’s influence. However, Shire sometimes deliberately released some news not found in the Merit Newspaper, allowing it to survive.)
During breakfast, Shire put on a clean uniform, eating apple pastries with milk, and received a copy of the Merit Newspaper.
The paper was bought by Camille. She bought three copies today so the family wouldn’t have to fight over it.
Shire opened it to see the headline, in large letters: "The Most Astonishing Maneuver Victory in History Ends."
It was accompanied by a photo of the First Armored Division on the move and the entire operation route.
The article read:
"Just as we were marveling at the great maneuvers in Antwerp and Hasselt, a more astonishing maneuver appeared before the world."
"Our army crossed the Arden Mountains to capture Mezieres, appearing behind the Germans, and then advanced along the Meuse River to clear Verdun."
"Incredible, a German force of hundreds of thousands was moved by Shire’s 20,000 soldiers, and the numerically superior Germans were powerless to resist."
"The only person who can defeat Shire is Shire himself. No one could have anticipated he would do this. No one."
...
Camille was elated but more focused on the neighbors than the battle itself.
In the kitchen, she juggled making breakfast, reading the newspaper, and talking proudly to Dejoka and Shire seated at the table:
"See the guards at the door? Major Lauren increased the numbers early this morning."
"Otherwise, the neighbors would have surrounded us completely."
"Major Laurent was worried this would affect Shire, so he insisted on turning away neighbors who wanted to see Shire."
"The situation outside the town is the same. Many people are coming from all directions. Major Lauren complained to me that he would need at least one infantry division to manage."
...
Shire joked, "That’s just Major Lauren’s excuse to get a promotion."
Dejoka laughed, "Yes, I heard him say he was promoted to major because there weren’t enough soldiers to protect Shire."
Camille didn’t understand. She walked out of the kitchen to hand them warm milk and objected, "No, Major Laurent isn’t like that. He loves his job and does it well."
Dejoka and Shire just smiled.
Humor is best understood implicitly, explaining it takes the joy out of it.
"So, did you plan all of this?" Dejoka raised the newspaper: "I’m talking about crossing the Arden Forest and then advancing along the Meuse River."
"No, Father," Shire replied. "Some of it was planned, like crossing the Arden Forest to attack Mezieres, because back then the Germans weren’t ready, which allowed me to plan."
Dejoka understood: "After that, it couldn’t be planned, because you didn’t know how the Germans would respond or if any special situation would arise."
"Yes," Shire nodded. "The advantage of armored and mechanized troops is their speed, allowing them to quickly respond to different situations."
Dejoka nodded thoughtfully, "It’s similar to business. Often, there’s no plan, and we have to adapt to the situation."
Shire was a bit surprised. He thought Dejoka wouldn’t understand, but he grasped it deeply.
Shire believed that if Dejoka were a commander, he might outperform most of the generals in the French Army, which had many generals as stubborn as rocks.
What Shire didn’t know was that Dejoka was frightened by this seemingly trivial statement.
In business, a mistake might mean losing money. On the battlefield, even one mistake could cost lives.
Dejoka couldn’t understand how Shire had walked this path so far.
