I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France-Chapter 77: His Majesty the King

Gallieni did not realize Shire was missing until nightfall.

He was busy all day, organizing reinforcements to be sent to Antwerp.

At this moment, the French Army was chasing the German Army along the entire front; the regular troops were all on the battlefield. The soldiers remaining at the rear were either just trained or still in training, sending these troops to reinforce Antwerp would be meaningless.

Therefore, Gallieni needed to comb through the entire front line to see where he could extract a few units without affecting the current battlefield advantage.

This could not be taken lightly; the Germans were not joking around. A slight oversight could see them launching a counterattack.

After finally squeezing out a division, he then had to plan their route, which was equally not easy. From walking to cars then to trains, and lastly bypassing the German defenses by sea route to Antwerp, thus he also needed to contact the navy for necessary protection.

Next came the logistics issue, the Belgian Army used German rifles, which meant that all the ammunition for the French reinforcements had to be resolved by themselves.

A busy day finally started running smoothly, Gallieni got up, stretched, and wandered over to the window, his gaze leaping over it to see Jilber’s statue in the garden, standing like a sentinel under the street lamp.

Gallieni twisted his aching neck and suddenly remembered the scene of Shire practicing military posture in front of the statue, then asked, "Where is Shire?"

Everyone around was stunned, they hadn’t seen Shire for a while too. freēnovelkiss.com

Someone checked the records and replied, "General, Shire has been sent to Antwerp to investigate the situation!"

Gallieni turned sharply as if pricked by a needle, "What? Who sent him there?"

"Colonel Durand!" The staff officer looked at the record and replied, "It seems you assigned him to this matter!"

Gallieni vaguely remembered that indeed, he had casually delegated authority to Durand in his busyness, but... doesn’t he know Antwerp is dangerous? Who would send Shire to such a place? What is Durand up to?!

"Send a telegram to Antwerp immediately!" said Gallieni, "Tell them to bring Shire back!"

"Yes, General!"

The staff officer was about to leave when Gallieni stopped him again, "Don’t mention Shire, say Lieutenant staff officer, absolutely must not let the Germans know Shire is in Antwerp!"

"Yes, General!"

Then Gallieni angrily roared, "Where is Durand? Where is he? Get him here immediately!"

No one responded, because no one knew where he was!

A chill ran down Gallieni’s spine, he realized this might not be a command "accident," but rather a conspiracy, a conspiracy targeted at Shire.

Durand might have had a "traffic accident" or some mishap; now, there is no evidence.

So, it was Gallieni who sent Shire out, and all procedures were in order. If anything happens to Shire, it is Gallieni’s responsibility, the capitalists could overthrow both him and Shire, achieving two goals at once.

These bastards, playing tricks right under his nose!

Gallieni felt gravely humiliated, but compared to that, he was more worried about Shire’s safety.

Hang in there, kid!

I will definitely get you out!

...

At the Antwerp Fortress, Shire was alone in the records room, perusing documents.

Investigative work wasn’t just about asking the casualty numbers of each unit; it also required understanding the defenses and troop deployments of the Antwerp Fortress so that when reinforcements arrived, they wouldn’t be running around like headless chickens, not knowing where to go or what to do.

The army must always have a basic understanding of the environment they’re in; otherwise, it could mean death.

Having nearly finished his work, Shire stood up, stretched his waist to relax, then took out the bread he had brought from his backpack.

He hadn’t eaten anything all day, not because of work, but because he really had no appetite for the dry and hard bread. Camille forced him to eat at home, but outside, he would only nibble on it when he was starving.

With bread in his mouth, Shire walked over to the window. It was completely dark, unsure if the planes of this era could fly at night.

Considering the urgency of reinforcing Antwerp, Shire planned to go to the airfield later to ask, hoping the pilots weren’t too drunk to function...

Just as he was thinking this, a sudden rush of footsteps was heard outside, seemingly many people were coming.

"Bang," the door was kicked open.

Shire, holding the bread, stared dazedly as General Winter and General Gis appeared at the door, with many armed guards outside.

"Shire?" General Gis asked, wide-eyed, "Are you Shire? Shire Bernard?"

Shire nodded, bewildered, "What happened?"

General Winter and General Gis were stunned for a while, standing there for a long time unable to speak.

After some time, General Winter finally laughed and said, "The whole world is looking for you, Shire! And you’re hiding right under our noses!"

...

Shire finally had the fortune to enter General Gis’s operations office.

This was originally a restricted area for Shire. What he had to spend a long time looking up in the records room could potentially be solved in just a glance at a telegraph here.

This made Shire somewhat frustrated, if he had been brought here earlier, he could’ve saved a lot of time. Now it was redundant.

Seeing Shire still nibbling on dry bread, General Gis hurriedly ordered milk and cake to be brought over, plus a small plate of fruit.

Although Antwerp was under siege by the German Army with limited resources, such food was still available.

While Shire was filling his stomach, General Gis pulled General Winter aside, lowered his voice and asked, "Have you considered a possibility..."

General Winter immediately understood what General Gis meant, and refused bluntly, "No, General, you cannot do that!"

"Why not?" General Gis said, "He alone can save all our lives, including the King’s!"

Only then did General Winter realize the severity of the problem. General Gis was facing a choice: the lives of Antwerp and the entire city, or Shire.

From General Gis’s perspective, he should indeed choose the former, because Shire seemed unrelated to him, to Antwerp, to Belgium.

German General Bessler mentioned in his letter: "Please cherish the civil power, do not subject the entire Belgian population to the flames of war!"

This should be a hint, implying that if they did not obtain Shire, he would subject the entire city’s populace to the flames of war!

"But, General!" Winter glanced at Shire’s direction and said, "He’s a genius. He can give us much more than we can imagine..."

Without finishing the sentence, General Winter understood that Shire’s genius was meaningless to Belgium. Belgium had no industrial base to apply Shire’s inventions, instead, it could make them a target for trouble.

General Gis’s indifferent expression seemed to corroborate this.

General Winter decided to stop this at all costs. If Shire fell into German hands, it would be devastating for the Allies.

However, General Winter suddenly realized the ten thousand reinforcements he brought seemed insignificant within the fortresses of Antwerp; he was powerless.

Just then, urgent footsteps were heard outside, a middle-aged man in ornate military attire, hand on his sword, strode in.

General Gis hurriedly greeted him and bowed respectfully, "Your Majesty!"

It was King Albert I of Belgium, who glanced at General Gis and General Winter, noticing the strange expressions on their faces.

Perhaps he had already guessed, as he came for this matter.

Albert I glanced at Shire who was eating and looking at maps at the table, then turned his gaze to General Gis, puffed his chest and leaned closer, giving invisible pressure.

His tone was low and firm, "I know what you’re thinking, General! I absolutely will not allow that. Belgium’s dignity cannot be tarnished!"