I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France-Chapter 90 It’s Shire, it must be Shire

Albert I guessed right, the target of the dirigible was indeed the water supply system behind the Wavre Fortress.

This was mainly because General Bessler could no longer wait, or rather, he had lost his patience, driven by Shire!

"It must be Shire’s doing, it must be!"

After two "Big Berthas" were destroyed, General Bessler returned to the headquarters with a dusty face, limping.

He had fallen from his horse, a shell exploded near him, and although his well-trained battle horse was still under control, there were horses all around breaking free and running everywhere.

Unexpectedly, several ropes tripped up General Bessler and his horse together, his left leg was heavily pressed under the horse and he couldn’t move.

Surrounded by the panic-stricken running horses, dirt kicked up by their hooves even splattered across General Bessler’s face... Fortunately, the guards rushed up and saved him in time, preventing him from being trampled to death by the horses.

General Bessler angrily removed his military cap and slammed it on the table.

"General!" A staff officer stepped forward to comfort him, "We still have one ’Big Bertha,’ victory is still ours..."

"Do you think so?" Bessler turned his head and looked coldly at the staff officer.

The staff officer’s eyes were filled with confusion, wasn’t that the current situation?

Bessler smiled slightly, "A ruse, a trap, they lured our two ’Big Berthas’ into their firing range, do you realize what this means?"

The staff officer was dumbfounded, hesitantly shook his head, he couldn’t think of anything.

Bessler glanced at the officer’s rank, and said expressionlessly, "Major, you are now a lieutenant, go get a rifle and report to the first regiment!"

The staff officer’s face instantly turned pale, but after a moment of shock, he still stood at attention, saluted, and withdrew.

Bessler muttered, "This fool, hasn’t even realized it’s Shire’s doing yet!"

He then looked at the map thoughtfully, "We can’t wait any longer, otherwise, who knows what else Shire will come up with!"

Thus, a dirigible that was originally going to bomb the frontline in France was urgently redirected by General Bessler.

It approached Antwerp at a speed of 80 kilometers per hour, General Bessler repeatedly telegraphed Captain Dim, the dirigible’s commander, to verify the target location, guiding him all the way into the precise bombing area.

The dirigible gradually approached Antwerp, its massive and terrifying hull blocked out the entire sky, casting shadows over the ground including Bessler’s command post.

Nearby "Dove" aircraft providing guidance and protection were nothing but inconspicuous, harmless little bats next to the dirigible.

Its high-powered engines below emitted a unique "buzzing" sound, as if proclaiming its dominion and authority to everyone!

General Bessler looked up at this aerial behemoth, his eyes filled with pride, he murmured, "This is a miracle of mankind, no one can stop its advance, not even Shire!"

German Army soldiers lifted their heads from their cover, some even emerged from their tents, cheering at the dirigible, their faces lighting up with smiles, as if its arrival meant the end of this battle.

On the opposite side, the people of Antwerp also noticed this slowly approaching monster, after all, over a hundred meters long and more than twenty meters in diameter, it was still conspicuous even at an altitude of 1500 meters.

People stared at it in horror, unable to believe such a weapon existed, even the fortress soldiers who had been guarding the fort came out to look at the sky, each having a sense of impending doom.

They thought, even Shire was powerless, in front of this monster, Shire was too insignificant, small to the point of being negligible.

It wasn’t that they looked down on Shire, but they believed this weapon was beyond human resistance!

Even Albert I, who had always believed in Shire, no longer held out hope.

He stood with General Gis and General Winter, a few others, on the highest observation tower of the command post, quietly awaiting the arrival of "doomsday."

They had thought of all possible solutions, yet still found nothing that could stop its advance!

Undoubtedly, what awaited Antwerp was the bombing of the water supply system, soon the entire city would lose its fresh water supply, and then they would have no choice but to surrender.

However...

The people attracted by the dirigible did not notice, that just a few kilometers away, at Antwerp Airport, several airplanes had taken off.

At first, people thought they were German planes, until the planes skimmed over their heads and clearly displayed the Belgian insignia under their wings to everyone.

"Those are our planes!" Albert I exclaimed.

General Gis also noticed, but he still looked helpless, "So what?!"

General Gis was stating a fact, in this era, airplanes were often targets for the dirigibles.

Dirigibles were equipped with heavy machine guns in every direction, and their flight was very stable, providing the gunners with a stable platform for shooting, an aerial firing platform.

More importantly, the speed of dirigibles was not much slower than that of the airplanes, dirigibles had a speed of 80 kilometers per hour, while airplanes had only about 100 kilometers per hour.

Planes used for reconnaissance in this period didn’t even dare approach dirigibles, the outcome of doing so was simply to be torn apart mercilessly.

Albert I hesitated for a moment, then said, "At least it proves I was right, General!"

"Your Majesty means..." General Gis looked at Albert I questioningly.

Albert I reminded, "Have you forgotten who commands the flying squadron, General!"

General Gis exclaimed, "Oh, you mean Shire didn’t escape?"

"Yes!" Albert I looked proudly at the planes flying toward the dirigible, "Look at them, they are the first warriors charging at the enemy!"

General Gis laughed, "Too bad Shire is not among them, Your Majesty! They are merely being used by Shire, at this moment, Shire might be in another direction, flying to Paris..."

Before he finished speaking, he saw one of the planes shoot something out, it was obvious, with a long trail behind it and a characteristic whistle, everyone saw it.

"What is that?" General Winter looked at the sky in shock, then raised his binoculars.

Before the words finished, the trail aimed straight at the dirigible.

With a "boom," it exploded into a ball of fire, the dirigible, unfortunately, did not explode.

Afterward, the pilot speculated that the rocket might have hit the aluminum skeleton of the dirigible and been deflected, failing to rip it apart, the rocket exploded outside, isolated by the outer skin.

But that was enough to change everyone’s complexion, including the German soldiers who had been confidently looking up at the sky.

General Bessler was stunned and shocked, although he did not know what that weapon was, he understood what it meant!

"It’s Shire, it must be Shire..." General Bessler’s eyes were vacant, his face ashen, mumbling, "He still got ahead of us!"