As the meeting concluded, it was just past three in the afternoon, Gallieni met with Shire.
The meeting took place in Gallieni's ministerial office, where he had Major Fernan summon Shire.
This was Shire's first time appearing in Gallieni's office; he seldom set foot in the town hall.
According to the customs of the French Republic, military personnel should avoid getting entangled with the government to prevent accusations of "collusion between military and government."
But now, Shire no longer needed to worry about these details.
If any member of parliament dared to claim in the assembly that Shire was "colluding with the government," they would immediately be ridiculed by other members:
"Does Shire even need to collude?"
"Who has such influence that they require Shire to 'collude' with them?"
"Oh, are you referring to the Minister of the Army? It seems the minister doesn't have more power than Shire, does he?"
...
