Chapter 850 Now is a good time to recover the country

I have something to do tonight so there is only one chapter left. I will make up for it tomorrow. Sorry!

…

The Battle of Reims was basically over at this point.

With the infiltration of the Belgian 9th Reconnaissance Brigade, the German 18th Army was completely defeated, and the Franco-American Allied Forces completely controlled the city of Reims in just over an hour.

Then, the French army divided into two groups and captured the heights on the east and west sides, and successfully joined forces with the reinforcements of Major General Maunoury.

The German 18th Army broke through, leaving behind almost all its equipment, including countless tanks, artillery, vehicles, ammunition, etc.

Even so, they still suffered heavy losses under the pursuit of the Franco-American coalition forces. Their casualties could not be counted in time, and there were more than 50,000 prisoners alone.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, the exhausted German 17th Army arrived at Montberg and faced the Reims Valley.

All the difficulties that Charles and Pershing had faced before were what the German 17th Army had to consider.

However, this time, the German 17th Army had no "pre-buried explosives" to use, so it could only sigh in despair.

All they could do was launch a feint attack to cover the trapped 18th Army's breakout and then evacuate in the shortest possible time.

Charles did not let the Germans off easily.

He ordered Tijani and Pershing to lead their troops in pursuit, while Charles himself boarded a plane to Paris.

The outcome on the battlefield has been decided, and now it is time to reap the political and economic benefits of this victory.

…

The Paris media was once again in an uproar. Newspapers of all sizes made every effort to report the Battle of Reims, and the streets were filled with the cries of newsboys.

In the eyes of newsboys, Charles' victory was a selling point that could make a few more francs, because only when there was a story about Charles' war would people want to buy a copy for collection and study.

They shouted happily and waved to everyone who passed by, and everyone who didn't have a newspaper in their hands was attracted by this topic without exception.

The Little Journal exclaimed in its newspaper:

"One day after another."

"As long as Ciel is involved in a battle, no matter how difficult it may seem to us, he will almost always finish the battle in about a day."

"And every time it was a big victory, without exception, huge benefits were gained with minimal casualties."

"This time, not only did they break the siege of the Meuse River defense line, but they also destroyed the German army's elite troops. It is said that at least 3,000 German stormtroopers were captured in this battle."

Le Figaro is a media controlled by the aristocracy. The newspaper has always been against Charles, but this time it had to report objectively:

"Charles is a military genius. As many people say, he calculated everything."

"He knew that the U.S. military would be defeated and that the Germans would capture Reims, so he buried explosives on Montberg in advance to catch the Germans off guard."

"What's even more rare is that he actually used 'infiltration warfare' to defeat Admiral Hutier, the inventor of 'infiltration warfare', and captured him."

"Does this mean that Charles' tactical thinking is several levels higher than Hutier's?"

But it still added a sour and dark sentence at the end: "If this is the case, do we have reason to doubt whether France is also in his calculations?"

At that time, Charles had just got off the plane and was sitting in the car, and happened to see this sentence in the newspaper.

Charles smiled slightly and said, "Even if what you said is true and France is indeed in my plan, what can it do?"

Can you escape?

Charles turned his gaze to the side and looked through the car window at the people on the street who were celebrating their victory.

If they knew that Charles was in the car at that moment, they would definitely block the entire street.

And if any capitalist or noble dared to challenge Charles, as long as Charles released some information through the "Lady in White", the angry people would immediately nail them to the pillar of shame and boycott them completely.

This is the power of the people.

The checks and balances of power in the republic might have bound Boulanger, but not Charles.

Now, the republic and parliament are no longer shackles for the Charles, but tools and aids.

The reason is that Charles's reputation has exceeded the scope of the republic's control. He has become a universally recognized "military genius", "capitalist with conscience", "combat hero", "hope of France"...

The vast majority of citizens have unconditional trust in Charles. It cannot even be said that they trust him, but rather that they adore him.

So, no matter what kind of election it is, as long as it is an election or a vote, Charles will always be the only winner.

Is this dictatorship or freedom?

Charles didn't know and didn't care. He only knew that he should continue to consolidate his position and not be negligent in the slightest.

The political arena is like a battlefield, where one wrong move can lead to a complete loss.

…

In the Chamber of Deputies of the Bourbon Palace, the members of the House of Representatives were whispering and discussing.

Everyone received the news of Charles' victory, some were happy and some were worried.

Steed had a cheerful look on his face, and every wrinkle on his forehead was filled with a smile.

The battle of Reims had not yet been concluded, but arms orders from all over the world were already pouring into his desk like snowflakes.

These include neutral countries such as the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden.

Their purchase of French equipment is not just a matter of money, but also has political significance as a gesture of goodwill to France.

As expected of Charles, Steed exclaimed, he changed the entire world pattern by his own efforts.

Clemenceau walked up to the podium with a confident smile on his face and a hint of relief in his eyes.

He originally thought that he might be implicated by Charles and fall into trouble again, but unexpectedly, there was light at the end of the tunnel and he suddenly received the news of victory.

My choice is correct, Clemenceau thought, as long as I hold on to Charles' thigh, no one can challenge the position of Prime Minister.

“Gentlemen!” Clemenceau swept his eyes across the stage, as if to demonstrate to the opposition: “You may have heard that Charles won the victory in Reims with his extraordinary military talent.”

There was warm applause from the audience.

But before the applause died down, someone raised a discordant voice: "So, what is the topic this time? It's not to praise Charles' great achievements, right?"

There was laughter from opposition lawmakers.

This implies that Charles is monopolizing power and is on the road to becoming a "dictator".

“No, gentlemen,” said Clemenceau calmly. “I called this meeting because I wanted you to find out what Charles is lacking.”

The Radical Republicans of Clemenceau and Charles's supporters burst into laughter:

"Let them find Ciel's shortcomings? Forget it!"

"Give them a pistol and they'll most likely shoot themselves."

"If they could find faults in the Shire, they should be the ones being praised by the citizens now, but the opposite is true."

The opposition party's faces turned red and white, but they were unable to refute.

At this time, Charles came in, strode onto the podium, and said in a loud voice: "Gentlemen, now is a good time to recover all the land. It all depends on whether you are willing!"

(End of this chapter)