Shire was trying to please Xia Fei.
He knew Xia Fei wouldn't want to abandon the already drawn-up battle plan: all countries counterattacking together, Romania declaring war, and then once and for all crushing the Allies to end the war.
This plan could leave a heavy mark in military history for him, the most glorious and dazzling one, even surpassing Shire.
And to implement this battle plan, having artillery in the fortresses at Verdun would be useless. They needed to be taken out and integrated into the troops for the attack.
So, the moment Xia Fei set his sights on Verdun, he was already considering how to get the artillery out of the fortresses.
All he needed was an excuse.
Kristen presented him with a perfect excuse: "The fortresses are outdated. Artillery in the fortresses would just become targets for 'Big Bertha'. They'd be destroyed one after another before they could even be used."
