I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France-Chapter 31: Revised - Corner-Cutting

Supplies were transported from Paris to the field hospital in batches.

The first group of volunteers hurried over from the small town. Dejoka led them on foot to the field hospital. There were men and women, young and old, including Camille.

Perhaps because of the neighbors’ trust, Camille naturally became the leader of the young women. Their task was to learn bandaging, dressing wounds, and other operations from the nurses to supplement the insufficient medical staff.

They had to replace all the old bandages on the wounded with new ones, change them daily, and wash, disinfect, and dry the used bandages, which was a staggering amount of work.

The older ones, due to their limited learning capacity, were assigned to take care of the wounded’s daily lives, while the young men naturally took on physical labor.

"They are all volunteers!" Dejoka told Shire. "I told them you would pay them one franc a day, but they all refused. They said this was what they should do, for France and their children, not just for Young Master Shire."

Dejoka looked at the busy neighbors with a sigh, "They are a very kind group of people!"

Shire replied with a "Hmm" and then turned to ask Dejoka, "Do you oppose what I’m doing, Father?"

Dejoka laughed, "No, Shire! Your mother and I have never been so proud of you as we are now. Look at her..."

As he spoke, Dejoka’s gaze turned to Camille among the crowd.

Camille had just finished bandaging a wound for one patient. Feeling Dejoka and Shire’s gaze, she hurriedly waved in their direction, then turned to change the bandages for another patient, always smiling and gently asking about their condition.

"I was worried about you before, Shire!" Dejoka looked at Shire, his tone relaxed. "I was worried you’d become like Francis. Now I feel at ease!"

Of course, he wouldn’t, Dejoka thought. The money he earned from capitalists was spent generously on those in need. How could he be the same as those heartless capitalists?

Shire knew Dejoka misunderstood. If Dejoka and Camille knew his true intentions, would they be disappointed?

However, it didn’t seem to matter much, as Shire was indeed doing good deeds now!

With this thought, Shire felt at ease.

...

Shire’s actions were very successful.

The most direct sign was that almost all the wounded lying on the operating table would ask:

"Doctor, can you save my hand? If not, please save one. I hope to work for Young Master Shire in the future!"

The doctors would always reassure them, "Don’t worry. We now have enough staff and supplies. We will do our best!"

Once, Shire was thoroughly frightened. While walking down the road, he was suddenly embraced by an old woman in rags, crying "boo hoo," her whole body trembling with grief.

Shire dared not move, thinking he had encountered a madwoman who might be holding a kitchen knife.

After a while, the old woman stopped crying, bent down, and with a kind and loving face full of wrinkles, she handed Shire an egg, tightly holding it, her voice trembling:

"Child, if... Akse had met a capitalist like you earlier, he wouldn’t have died in loneliness!"

Shire understood the situation only after hearing an explanation from others. Akse was her grandson, only two years older than Shire, injured in the Mulhouse battle over half a month ago and brought back.

When his family arrived at the hospital, they found he had already stopped breathing, a blood-soaked wound in his abdomen plugged with a dishrag... a rag used to wash dishes!

No one could imagine how desperate, helpless, and even furious he was before he died, furious at his country.

This was just the tip of the iceberg. There were many more stories about Shire, most of which he had never done or even heard of.

Shire’s reputation soon reached Paris. Those who went to buy medicines and supplies would bring Shire’s stories to Paris, and drivers who transported supplies back and forth would relay the field hospital’s situation.

When Francis learned about these, he was quite surprised and snorted coldly:

"This fool, thinking he’s different from Dejoka, turns out they’re the same."

Then he added, "After all, he’s a child born of a maid. I’m waiting for him to go bankrupt because of this!"

At this time, Francis didn’t know that it wasn’t Shire who would go bankrupt, but rather himself. This was exactly the first step of Shire’s plan.

With the support of the people, Shire began to undermine Francis’s foundation fearlessly.

"Holt 75" was more advanced than "Holt 60," but they were produced by the same company, with the former being an upgrade of the latter. Inevitably, they shared many common features in technology and parts.

Shire wanted to produce "Holt 75" tractors. The difficulty didn’t lie in funding; he had enough capital to import.

The difficulty also didn’t lie in technology; the British, willing to occupy the French market and open sales channels, would be very willing to authorize production and provide technology.

The challenge was skilled workers and technical staff, experienced talents who had passed down their knowledge and skills through generations in the factory. Many things they mastered couldn’t be bought with money. frёewebnoѵēl.com

Shire set his sights on Joseph.

For years, Joseph had been in charge of production at the Francis Tractor Factory. No one knew better than him which workers had genuine skills and expertise.

These days, Joseph had been rushing to the field hospital right after work because Matthew was injured, and as a result, he had become noticeably thinner.

That day, after finishing his tasks at the factory, Joseph once again hurried to the field hospital before dark, where Shire intercepted him at the door.

"We’ll take care of Matthew, Joseph!" Shire said. "He’s recovering well. You need to worry about your own health!"

"I know!" The exhausted Joseph sat down on the grass, replying weakly. "Thank you, Young Master Shire! But I just can’t help it. Only by watching over him (referring to Matthew) can I sleep peacefully, even if it’s just sitting in a chair!"

Shire sat down next to Joseph, bending his legs. He said thoughtfully, "I’ve been considering something, Joseph! You know the relationship between me and Mr. Francis."

"Yes, of course!" Joseph nodded.

"Francis and I have a bad relationship, we are almost like fire and water and will become competitors in the future!" Shire said reflectively. "And you work for Francis, while Matthew will work for me in the future. Then you and Matthew..."

"That won’t matter, Young Master Shire!" Joseph said. "If you can give Matthew a job, it doesn’t matter if I choose to retire!"

It’s not about the salary; Joseph’s monthly salary was 53 francs, almost double that of ordinary workers. Retiring to keep Matthew’s job was clearly not worthwhile.

But Joseph knew it wasn’t about the salary but rather a psychological issue.

If Matthew didn’t get a job, he would feel useless, feel abandoned by society, and would eventually be completely crushed by his idleness!

Thus, Joseph would rather give up his own job than let Matthew go without work!

I can still find other work, Joseph thought, but it’s a pity Young Master Shire didn’t buy a motorcycle factory, otherwise it would’ve been perfect.

"Hmm!" Shire nodded and said, "I’m planning to import ’Holt 75’ from Britain and start a tractor factory. What do you think?"

Joseph was stunned, excitedly saying, "This... this is wonderful, Young Master Shire. Although it might be hard to say, can I... recommend myself?"

"Of course!" Shire smiled, extending his hand to Joseph. "Congratulations on joining, Joseph. You are now the head of the Shire Tractor Factory, with a monthly salary of 60 francs! I plan to send you to Britain to import this tractor. Any problem with that?"

Importing tractors required taking a group of technicians and workers to inspect and study in Britain and thoroughly oversee the process before importing the production line with confidence.

Joseph would need to poach a group of the most crucial talents from Francis to complete this task.

Joseph blinked and hesitantly asked, "Then, Young Master Shire, can I... bring a group of people over?"