I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France

Chapter 1037 1037: The Grand Finale

The passage of time is swift, and by 1931, Shire had entered his thirties.

Next to the flowerbeds of Aus Park, he stood in the autumn wind overlooking Davaz below.

After more than a decade of development, the once quaint Davaz Town had transformed into the technological and financial center of France.

The small houses and chimney-filled factories had long disappeared.

Residential areas had turned into villas with gardens and garages, and factories had relocated near the tank base in the 12th district of Paris, with the original factory buildings replaced by towering skyscrapers.

This is the inevitable process of urbanization.

The period of great industrial development is inevitably accompanied by pollution.

When industry develops to a certain level and gathers top talent from across the nation and even the world, it undergoes a "quantitative to qualitative change," with industrial towns undergoing a magnificent transformation into scenic research bases.

This is actually a division of labor.

When there's enough talent, enough to shoulder the nation's "brain" duties, it no longer needs to do the "hand" and "foot" work, focusing instead on design, research, and continuously launching newer, better, and more sci-fi equipment and products.

The team led by Professor Fursden is especially at the forefront, with their computer research having entered the microcomputer era, preparing to make these "luxury items" currently accessible only to scientists and advanced laboratories affordable, commonplace, and accessible to everyone as a standard household appliance.

Many opposed this idea, including Professor Fursden.

"This idea is too crazy." Professor Fursden found it inconceivable:

"Not that many people will need to use computers, General. Mainly scholars will use them."

"Or high-educated, high-quality talents like data analysts."

"But such talents are scarce, which determines that even if we produce these 'microcomputers', there won't be many buyers; it doesn't align with market laws and is a disproportionate investment."

But Shire insisted on his viewpoint, investing heavily and ultimately almost forcibly requiring Professor Fursden's team to pursue this direction.

Shire understood this wasn't just about making money.

Indeed, it could earn a lot of money, but at Shire's level, money was not important.

More importantly, it led the third Industrial Revolution.

If France could seize this "opportunity," it could defeat the United States in finance, economy, and even industry.

Coupled with France's military strength and the strong military industry, along with a group of allies recruited by the "International Alliance," the "world's number one" position would be rock-solid.

Meanwhile, Shire was doing more than just these things.

He never forgot his identity, nor the humiliation and suffering of history, thus using the "International Alliance" to suppress and limit Neon, especially on energy.

Without energy, beasts would not have sharp claws and fierce fangs, Shire thought. Their tanks, warships, airplanes, and even cars would be unusable, and they would not have the ability to invade other countries.

There was joyful laughter nearby.

Lucia was playing chase with a seven or eight-year-old boy on the grass.

The boy ran excitedly, his slender white ankles brushing past rose bushes and startling a few pink butterflies.

Lucia skillfully dodged, always evading just in time when the boy was about to catch her.

Suddenly, the boy made a feint and turned back midway, successfully deceiving Lucia and crashing into her arms with a giggle, both falling into a cloud of dandelion fibers.

"Father!" the boy waved triumphantly at Shire: "I caught Mom!"

Shire smiled softly and stepped forward.

In his early thirties, he had achieved all his life's goals, sometimes finding it inevitably tedious as a result.

Looking back, he realized that the simplest joy was right there with his small family.

As Shire approached, the boy had already shifted his interest to a colorful beetle, picking up a small twig to play with it intently.

Lucia's face was full of happiness. As Shire sat down beside her, she straightened up, half-jokingly asked: "What are you thinking about? I want to know, is there anything left for you to worry about?"

"Of course." Shire answered: "I was thinking about whether to tell you a truth."

"What?" Lucia was a bit surprised.

Shire casually pulled a blade of grass and held it in his mouth:

"What if I told you it's all a scam?"

"I mean the French spirit, and the so-called 'freedom', 'equality', 'fraternity'."

"I'm not as great as you think, Lucia."

He couldn't stand the worship in Lucia's eyes; she looked at Shire as if she was looking at a deity.

"I know." Lucia smiled slightly: "Everything is because of interests, right?"

Now it was Shire's turn to be surprised, staring at Lucia in amazement: "You know?"

"Of course." Lucia nodded lightly: "Have you forgotten what I do?"

"When did you know?"

"I knew from the very beginning." Lucia shrugged: "But it doesn't matter, Shire."

"It doesn't matter?" Shire was a bit confused.

Lucia turned her gaze to the scenery below, looking at the tall buildings that connected all the way to Paris.

"Look at this." Lucia said with pride:

"This is the world you created, Shire. The 'French spirit' you spoke of may not be real, but people believed in it."

"And through their efforts, they brought France to prosperity."

"And this world peace, we've had no wars for over a decade, people respect each other and resolve disputes within the framework of the 'International Alliance'."

"Isn't this exactly the French spirit?"

"You may have done it for the interests, for the interests of France, but you've brought the most genuine 'French spirit' to this world!"

Shire realized.

In the end, the only one who didn't believe in the "French spirit" was perhaps himself, the one who proposed and organized its framework.

Just then, Lucia glanced at the sky, reminding: "We should head back now, you haven't forgotten Tijani invited us for dinner, right?"

Shire "oh"ed; he had indeed forgotten about it.

This was because Tijani had taken over Gallieni's position as Minister of the Army, with Darlan as the Minister of the Navy, both of whom were Shire's people.

And the 84-year-old Gallieni was finally able to retire at home. It was said he was fond of the scenery in Davaz and purchased a villa there, which "coincidentally" was next to Shire's residence.

"Alright." Shire stood up, patting the weeds off his clothes.

At this moment, Major General Lauren hurriedly approached Shire with a telegram: "General, our military base in Djibouti was sneak-attacked by Neon; the third fleet suffered heavy losses, with over 3,000 casualties and two battleships sunk!"

"What?"

Shire and Lucia gasped in unison.

The shadow of war once again loomed over France!