CHAPTER 210: AFTER THE MODIFICATION: CHAPTER 210 THIS DAY IS FINALLY COMING

After the victory of the battle, most of what Shire received were blessings and good news.

The only thing that displeased him was that he once again became the focus for the citizens of Paris.

That night, around seven o’clock, just half an hour after the successful breakout, groups of Parisian citizens gathered outside the City Defense Headquarters to cheer upon hearing the news of victory.

By this time, the sky had already darkened, and it was snowing outside. Despite the freezing weather, the enthusiasm of the Parisians was undeterred. They shouted up to the building:

"Thank you, Shire, you saved my son!"

"I received news that Andre is safe, he asked me to express his gratitude to you!"

"You’re a hero of France!"

...

The loudest shouts came from the families of the soldiers.

Many soldiers in the first and second divisions of Specialized Artillery came from Paris.

This was not intentional; it happened because when these two divisions were formed, many noble or capitalist offspring used their connections to get in.

These second-generation rich or official officers brought along the soldiers they knew, resulting in many Parisian soldiers or those living around Paris.

When the families of these soldiers heard that the troops were surrounded, they were extremely anxious. They hoped Shire could do something but had no means of expressing their wishes. Knowing that Shire successfully led the troops in a breakout, they gathered here voluntarily to express their gratitude.

Shire secretly glanced out from the window at the vast crowd outside. There were at least hundreds of thousands of people, surrounding the fourth district where the City Defense Headquarters was located, causing the police to be mobilized urgently to maintain order and manage traffic.

Under the street lights, many people had snow on their shoulders but still refused to leave.

"What do they want to do?" Shire was somewhat puzzled. Was this the way people of this era idolized someone?

Kobudo came over to explain, "Some soldiers haven’t returned. These soldiers’ families hope you could think of a way."

Shire fell silent.

Out of over forty thousand troops, only more than thirty-two thousand managed to break out, and over ten thousand were killed or missing.

But there was nothing Shire could do; he had done all he could.

Soon, Shire learned that this wasn’t the only bad news...

"General!" Major Fernan looked at Gallieni nervously after taking a phone call, "A call from Captain Carter, five airplanes have gone missing, one of them is a machine gun aircraft!"

Gallieni was taken aback and immediately turned his gaze to Shire.

Shire shook his head slightly. This was beyond his control. Now they could only hope the machine gun aircraft had crashed or landed in the French-controlled area; otherwise, an aerial battle would start soon.

...

Berlin Wilhelm Street.

The phone at the General Staff Headquarters rang continuously, all inquiring about the battle situation or questioning if there were any follow-up plans to turn the tide.

Fajin Han had completely given up. He refused to respond to the questions, leaving everything to Colonel Moritz. He stayed alone in the lounge, sitting on the edge of the bed, half-bent, with his head drooping and hands on his knees, like a defeated rooster.

Fajin Han didn’t know how to report to William II. He conjured up several different versions in his mind:

"Your Majesty, this was my commanding mistake, we were deceived by Shire!"

"Your Majesty, it was due to the lack of intelligence; we didn’t know Shire had deployed new tanks."

"We didn’t have air superiority. Although the enemy was surrounded by our troops, the intelligence was unequal. The enemy knew everything about us and could command their ground troops by airplanes, while we knew nothing about the enemy’s actions!"

...

However, none of these versions could cover up the fact of their defeat.

All along, William II had been supporting Fajin Han’s Western Front strategy under great pressure. Now, it seemed he could only shift the strategic focus to the Eastern Front.

At this moment, Colonel Moritz pushed the door open forcefully and shouted, "General, you should listen to this call..."

"I told you!" Fajin Han suddenly raised his head and rudely interrupted Colonel Moritz, "I won’t take any calls, any!"

Colonel Moritz insisted, "No, General. This call is different. It’s about Shire’s aircraft secret; we captured an aircraft with machine guns on it!"

Fajin Han was shocked beyond words. After a moment, he jumped up as if pricked by a needle and, while running to the command post, shouted incoherently, "Have them protect it...where, which phone..."

The staff held up the receiver high, and Fajin Han rushed to grab it eagerly, asking impatiently without waiting for the other side to speak, "Are you sure it’s Shire’s machine gun aircraft?"

"We’re not entirely sure, General!" the voice on the other end replied, "but there are indeed two machine guns on its nose, it looks like it!"

"How did you capture it?" Fajin Han asked again.

"It was forced to land due to a fuel leak. The pilot seemed to try to destroy something, but we stopped him in time..."

Fajin Han felt ecstatically happy, feeling it was almost certain. Otherwise, the pilot wouldn’t have tried to destroy it to cover the secret.

Fajin Han almost shouted his order, "Protect it immediately, mobilize all your forces, including the pilot. No one is allowed near it! No one!"

Then he added, "No one must know about this, understand?"

"Understood!"

After hanging up the phone, Fajin Han looked up and ordered everyone, "Put all other matters aside, immediately organize troops and vehicles to transport it back!"

The staff immediately got busy, with some mobilizing troops, some contacting vehicles and personnel.

Fajin Han couldn’t sit still. He paced two steps and said to Colonel Moritz beside him, "Prepare, we will go there immediately. I want to see it at the first moment!"

...

Shire followed Gallieni with a few staff members to the headquarters of the First Flying Battalion. Gallieni hoped to use his resources to find the missing machine gun aircraft as soon as possible.

Upon meeting Carter, he shook his head and reported, "Still no news. It was an aircraft of the Second Flying Squadron. It was covering the troops during the breakout. It got separated from the squadron during the battle, and no one knows its whereabouts."

During this period, aircraft were not equipped with radios, and once the battle started, it was basically independent fighting.

Moreover, the aircraft’s speed was fast. After a few dives towards the target, it would find no sign of its teammates and the positions solely based on guesswork.

The headquarters couldn’t get any news about them either. What they could do was wait at the airport.

Only after some time of finding the aircraft didn’t return, they would know something might have happened, but it was just a ’might’ and still uncertain.

Gallieni didn’t want to miss any chance, he commanded the staff to call the nearby areas where the aircraft disappeared one by one.

But Shire realized that the day had finally come.