I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France-Chapter 735: Saint Cyr Military Academy

Saint-Cyr Military Academy was extremely busy this afternoon. Two rows of ceremonial guards, wearing white plume caps and with swords at their sides, lined up on both sides of the entrance, ready to welcome the guests. They followed the concrete road, passing the school’s museum and officers’ club, all the way to the playground behind the office building.

(The picture above shows a corner of Saint-Cyr Military Academy. During World War I, Saint-Cyr Military Academy was located in the outskirts of Paris. Later, during the Allied counter-offensive in World War II, the academy was razed to the ground, and its new location was moved to Rennes, 300 kilometers from Paris.)

On the playground, cadets from each unit were nervously assembling into formations, while some stragglers were still adjusting their uniforms as they hurriedly joined the ranks.

With the sound of a few horns, several cars approached from a distance. The instructors, who had been scolding the cadets loudly, immediately issued orders. The cadets instantly stood at attention, making final adjustments.

There were a total of five cars, with guards arranged by Major Laurent in the front and back. Each guard was armed with a revolver, and Major Laurent himself was driving one of the cars.

Major Laurent inadvertently revealed a secret.

He said, "I know, General. Many of the cadets are against you, and there are quite a few of them. They believe your victories are due to luck and think that wars shouldn’t be conducted that way, so I had to be cautious."

Major Laurent’s original intention was to explain the reason for bringing along 20 armed guards, but he inadvertently exposed Gallieni’s lie.

Kobudo sat in the car, right next to Shire.

He was responsible for the propaganda at Saint-Cyr Military Academy, promoting Shire’s military theories, and therefore had to inform Shire of the difficulties encountered in the process.

Kobudo seemed to be in a good mood, speaking with a cheerful smile, as if he was eager to rid himself of this nightmarish task.

He poured out his grievances to Shire without pause:

"The biggest problem is the inability to verify, General." 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

"To be precise, if we are to verify, we need to send them to the battlefield to fight a war."

"But they are still cadets, who haven’t completed their training and studies. In principle, they can’t go to war."

"Thus, it forms a kind of closed loop. As long as they don’t believe, they always have reasons to oppose, no matter how nonsensical those reasons are. And we can never convince them!"

Shire understood this.

People who have never been to the battlefield or experienced war always imagine how easily they can defeat the enemy on the battlefield.

Not just cadets, the generals of France were no exception at the onset of war, nor were the generals of Britain.

"What specifics do they focus on?" Shire asked.

"What?" Kobudo did not quite understand Shire’s question.

"For example," Shire considered for a while, then asked the question he was most concerned about: "The reasons for their opposition."

"Oh, it’s like this," Kobudo replied. "There are many reasons, but I summarized them. The root belief is that your battlefield victories are solely due to ’speed.’"

"Oh?" Shire smiled.

Wasn’t that considered an advantage? In their eyes, it had become a disadvantage?

Kobudo understood Shire’s meaning and further explained, "They say, once the enemy slows your troops down or catches up with your forces, your soldiers will be utterly defeated."

Shire responded with an "hmm," understanding that theoretically, this statement was correct.

But it was just theory.

Anyone could talk about it, but the key was to achieve it in actual combat!

Then, Kobudo handed Shire a document. "This is a summary of the issues I’ve compiled, along with the speech draft I prepared for you. Take a look..."

Shire flipped through it, focusing on the speech draft for two minutes but did not have the patience to read it all.

Kobudo apparently countered the cadets’ theories with theories.

Shire knew this wouldn’t work, arguing in theory was like debating endlessly; no one could convincingly win over the other.

So, Shire returned the speech draft to Kobudo.

"I know what to say," Shire said.

Kobudo looked troubled, reminding, "This is the military academy, General. They have comprehensive military theories and systematic learning processes. We need to understand their thinking to defeat them."

Shire shook his head firmly. "What if their ’comprehensive military theories’ and ’systematic learning processes’ are all wrong?"

Kobudo was stunned, not knowing how to respond.

"I don’t have the time to pinpoint each of their errors, Kobudo," Shire gave his answer. "I will just give them the correct answers, and they can take it or leave it!"

Kobudo still had doubts, thinking that Shire did not understand. Shire’s mission was to convince these cadets.

If that were the case, Shire should know their theories to overturn them. Only by doing so could he win the cadets’ wholehearted acceptance, rather than relying on his personal preferences.

But Shire closed his eyes and leaned back to rest, so Kobudo did not dare to say anything more.

Kobudo hoped that on the podium, Shire would be as outstanding as he was on the battlefield.

But Kobudo did not hold much hope, knowing these were two different realms: doing it oneself and teaching others were entirely different matters.

The convoy slowed down as they neared the military academy and finally came to a steady stop in front of the gates.

This was a gesture of respect for the academy; Shire needed to walk in.

That damned ceremony, Shire muttered as he got out of the car, thinking, on the battlefield, would they also walk down from the armored vehicles and tanks to show respect?

Shire stepped forward, and the ceremonial guards "clang", drew their swords from their belts, lifting them upwards to cross them, forming a shining Sword Gate in front of Shire.

Keeping a steady pace, Shire casually saluted them. One by one, the Sword Gates opened in front of him.

The military band then played the "Saint-Cyr Military Academy March."

Its rhythm matched his steps precisely, miraculously drawing Shire into the "one-two-one" march mode.

Stepping to the rhythm and walking through the series of Sword Gates to the playground, he was greeted with a sight of cadets in black and red matching uniforms, each standing tall and exuding natural authority.

Shire looked puzzledly at Kobudo, who was following him closely: "They haven’t changed into new uniforms?"

"Uh," Kobudo caught up quickly and whispered, "They are still cadets, General. The headmaster deemed it unnecessary for the time being."

He also gave Shire a meaningful glance.

It meant: Be serious, General. This is a military academy, with many eyes watching you!

He didn’t elaborate. Gallieni had attempted to push new uniforms in the academy, but faced collective opposition from the entire faculty and students, all believing the new uniforms were too ugly and failed to reflect the spirit and ethos of French soldiers.

For a moment, Shire was speechless.

As the reserve officer strength of the troops, was it really necessary to be entangled in these meaningless formalities and superficial decorations?

Shouldn’t they be focusing on actual combat?

One day, when they stepped onto the battlefield, they would still need to change into new uniforms. By then, would they have lost the spirit and ethos of soldiers as well?