I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France
Chapter 181: The Means of Capitalists

Chapter 181: Chapter 181: The Means of Capitalists

The fourth extra Chapter will be uploaded soon, thanks to loloipp for the reward!

...

Winter was approaching, the rain was incessant, and the weather was growing colder.

Shire had to change into a thicker infantry coat before heading home.

The French Army was quite particular about their uniforms; they issued two pairs of socks every month, plus extra ones upon rank promotion, so Shire never ran out of socks.

However, Shire thought this was because the war had just begun.

In a year or two, when the war heavily consumed France’s resources, the French Army’s recruiting office might even require new recruits to bring their own boots.

The reason was that boots were in severe shortage at the front line, and frontline soldiers could only take boots from the deceased, so they wouldn’t have to wear civilian canvas shoes while stepping in the muddy trenches or crossing enemy barbed wire.

This time, when Camille saw Shire, she noticed the two extra gold stripes on his cuff.

Since Shire joined the army, she had learned a lot of military knowledge from Dejoka, including military ranks.

"What is this?" Camille quickly walked up and grabbed Shire’s hand, looking up at him, "Does this mean you’re already a major?"

"Yes, mother!" Shire turned back and waved goodbye to Major Laurent, patted the raindrops off his infantry coat, and walked towards the door, comforting her, "Don’t worry, it’s from the Lafox battle!"

Camille’s face instantly lit up with a smile, "Yes, I’ve heard about that battle. Xia Fei attacked more than ten times without any progress, yet you made the enemy surrender with just one attack in a little over an hour!"

Shire looked at Dejoka, puzzled. He recalled that Xia Fei had only attacked four times.

Dejoka shrugged helplessly, "Everyone in Davaz Town believes that, and your mother is convinced of it too."

Dejoka added, "They say the newspaper mentioned the four major attacks involving tanks, but many other attacks were not counted."

Alright, if you count it that way, it’s indeed not wrong. If you include probing attacks and reconnaissance, it might be more than ten times.

Shire silently consoled Xia Fei in his heart: Sorry, Commander, I can’t help you!

Breakfast was freshly baked pizza, and when Camille brought it to the table, she said, "Cold weather requires more calories, switching to pizza will keep us warm!"

Shire had no objection to this, except he didn’t agree with the word "switch."

Bread with sausage or apple strudel, switching to pizza... Shire had to think about what the difference really was.

"Francis’ tractors are starting to be sold." Dejoka glanced carefully at Shire, cautiously saying, "The price is the same as our ’Holt 75,’ both are 1200 francs. Also, the price he’s selling to the military is the same as the civilian price, which is half of ours!"

Shire responded with a "hmm," indicating he was aware of this.

This was Schneider’s tactic, especially the price for the military, which would push Shire’s tractors out of the arms market.

Shire also knew that Schneider and the right-wing were taking this opportunity to spread unfavorable rhetoric about him in the media.

Le Figaro, the Morning Paper, and the Small Paris Daily, along with several unknown papers, all had a headline: "Shire is making a fortune from war by selling the outdated ’Holt 75’ to the military at double the price of the ’Holt 120.’"

Those who understood the reasoning knew this wasn’t true.

Before Shire, capitalists had been selling supplies to the military at four or five times the price, or even higher. Compared to them, Shire was considered conscientious.

But the citizens didn’t know this; they would just make simple comparisons and draw conclusions: Shire’s ’Holt 75’ indeed sold for a higher price than the ’Holt 120,’ which seemed unreasonable, like profiteering, draining their tax money...

This is the tactic of capitalists, who could manipulate the media using their resources, distorting the facts with ease.

And the citizens were merely their fooled targets.

Dejoka didn’t want to bring this bad news to Camille, including Shire, so he was being cautious.

Shire calmly replied, "I know what’s going on, father!"

Dejoka turned his head to steal a glance at the kitchen behind, then lowered his voice, "It will eventually reach your mother, the townspeople all know, they just haven’t said anything..."

"Hmm," Shire nodded.

"What are you going to do?" Dejoka asked anxiously, "I think you should issue some statements to explain this, you have the Merit Newspaper, it’s time to fight back..."

"It won’t work, father!" Shire interrupted Dejoka, "The price is right there, we are indeed selling it more expensively!"

"So..." Dejoka looked at Shire, puzzled, "You plan to do nothing?"

Shire didn’t answer.

Of course, Shire wouldn’t do nothing. He knew his greatest advantage was the support of the military and civilians. If he allowed capitalists to destroy his image among the citizens, he would just become an ordinary capitalist.

"I’ll handle this!" Shire answered while eating pizza. This issue was not urgent and not suitable to resolve through the Merit Newspaper.

"Alright!" Dejoka was somewhat helpless, so he changed the topic, "Matthew’s tracks have produced a prototype, and Colonel Estiny has also drawn up the new tank’s blueprints. They want to hear your opinion."

"I won’t go to the factory today," Shire said calmly, "They should be more confident or improve through failures."

Then Shire added, "By the way, tell Matthew to prepare for further studies with Eric."

"Further studies?" Dejoka looked at Shire, puzzled, "But Eric runs an aircraft manufacturing plant..."

"And has recently signed some automotive engineers," Shire explained, "They are developing engines, and I think Matthew will be interested."

Dejoka nodded, seeming to understand Shire’s plan:

Automotive engineers developing engines could be used for aircraft, and after studying, Matthew would be responsible for upgrading the engines of tanks and tractors, then...

Dejoka nodded slightly; this was why Shire was eager to sign automotive engineers, the dilemma of the ’Holt 75’ might be solved in the near future.

"So, where are you going today?" Dejoka asked Shire.

Shire looked up at Dejoka, "Not just me, but us. I have an appointment with Steed at the hotel!"

Dejoka was stunned, Shire had an appointment with Steed?

In Dejoka’s impression, meeting a big capitalist like Steed was hard, yet Shire casually arranged a meeting and had him waiting at the hotel!

This made Dejoka a bit overwhelmed, Shire had already grown to the point where he could be on equal footing with Steed.

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