Imperial Elite

Chapter 2 Battlefield Heroes
Joe's face turned green when he heard that he was going to be a combat engineer.

Although theoretically, engineers, artillery, and supply troops are all relatively rear-area units, and they are basically engaged in road paving and bridge repair work.

For a small capitalist like Joe, who has experience in organization and production, this is indeed a perfect match for his expertise.

However, artillerymen don't need to go to the front lines, but engineers do. They have to go to the front lines to do things like digging trenches, destroying barbed wire, and temporarily reinforcing positions.

Moreover, after finishing their work on the front lines, they would return to the rear to continue building bridges and roads.

They can be described as nuclear-powered oxen and horses that charge earlier than the infantry and sleep later than the artillerymen.

This is hardly a pleasant job that would allow one to safely survive the war.

It's not easy for Joe to protest this arrangement. He had raised his voice a bit too high in order to counter the comments from those white-feathered people, and protesting now would easily backfire.

Fortunately, although the Army Department was inhumane, it wasn't entirely heartless. Considering that Joe had donated a medical team, and taking into account that it would be really bad to make Joe a private, they awarded him the rank of corporal.

Although he wasn't exactly an officer, he was still better than a regular soldier.

The Army felt its arrangement was reasonable, but as a corporal, Joe only wanted to give a speech at a bar.

However, even though the rank was correct, bread in Bnitania only cost five pence at that time, so Joe couldn't stand on the bar to give a speech yet.

As Joe and the other recruits were crammed into the training camp, Joe received some good news: his friend had not only graduated from the Yellowfair's barracks and successfully become a soldier in the Death Legion, but also had time to teach Joe how to become a qualified engineer and survive in battle.

However, rather than learning from the trap experience of more than thirty thousand years in the future, Joe felt he should try to salvage his situation before being sent to the trenches to fill in the lines.

If some problems cannot be solved with money, then what if they can be solved without money?
As a well-trained engineer, Qiao naturally wanted to create some small inventions to see if he could change his destiny with knowledge.

Although Buntania was known for its inhumanity, even an inventor of some renown like himself was able to be assigned to the engineering corps to fill in the gaps.

But if I come up with something even more useful, wouldn't that change my fate?
With this in mind, Joe quickly began handcrafting a bunch of inconspicuous little gadgets in the engineer training camp.

Such as a pot-shaped steel helmet that could potentially stop bullets and shrapnel from high-altitude explosions, replacing the useless canvas military cap; and a periscope rifle that was made by sawing a perfectly good gun in half and attaching a periscope to it.

As the Teutons devised a machine gun synchronizer and began creating the Falk crisis on the front lines, Joe handcrafted an improved version of the machine gun synchronizer and handed it over.

Then Joe discovered that things seemed to be a little different from what he had imagined.

Joe had originally envisioned that his ability to develop these inventions in the engineering training camp would be enough to prove his technical value, and the next step should be to transfer him away from the combat troops.

Then you sent yourself to some research institutions to keep yourself away from the front lines, right?

As an engineer who was a hundred years ahead in technology, Joe felt that as long as he showed a little bit of future technology, the men would realize his value, and then he could stay in the back and say goodbye to the fate of filling in the gaps, and maybe even get some orders for his factory.

I won twice in one go, it's definitely a win-win situation!

However, the reality is not like that.

When Joe handed over practical little inventions like helmets and periscope rifles, the higher-ups not only refused to allow Joe to apply for patents and then have his factories mass-produce these things, but they also refused to allow him to do so.

They didn't even give Qiao a hundred yuan bonus; they just gave him a verbal commendation and sent him on his way.

If Joe hadn't seen his name in a small article in the newspaper, he would have suspected that some important figure had stolen his credit.

Since his credit wasn't taken away, Joe reflected on his actions.

Although there were inventions, the timing of these inventions was not quite right; they were developed too early.

The trench warfare system was only just beginning to take shape there, and the front lines were still at a truce on the winter solstice. Before the war had become too brutal, these things were being developed, and the customers' demand for them wasn't strong enough, which resulted in their lack of awareness of them.

So this time, the officials at the top are entirely to blame.

Over the next period of time, although through reading newspapers and boasting to well-informed people in bars, Joe had already determined that, like in the early days of World War I, the world's airplanes were still researching how to arm them.

So Joe spent some time developing the machine gun synchronizer, a product that allows machine guns to fire through the aircraft's propeller, thereby greatly improving the aircraft's air combat performance.

On Earth, it was the invention of machine gun synchronizers that transformed aerial combat from an abstract battle into the familiar dogfighting of later years.

However, having learned from his previous experience, Joe held back from handing over the item until his training was almost over and the newspapers were already reporting on the air combat crisis. Only then did Joe pull out the machine gun synchronizer he had prepared beforehand from under his pillow and hand it over.

Joe felt that what he had submitted this time could really change the course of the war. For such a contribution, it was not unreasonable to transfer him away from the front lines and put him into the research department of the Royal Engineers.

One invention can't prove my worth, but these three inventions will surely prove my worth and get the higher-ups to transfer me from the combat unit to the research system.

However, not long after submitting the documents, Joe saw their company commander, a young man from an aristocratic family, excitedly telling them that they had caught a lucky break.

The Empire is now preparing to launch a large-scale offensive to support the Gauls who are currently fighting a bloody battle at Verdun. Although those Gauls are a bunch of spineless cowards, they have now kept the Teutons out of Paris. Now it's time for us to teach those Teutons a lesson!

When Joe heard the company commander's remarks, he felt something was wrong. When Joe arrived near the Somme River by train, he felt even more that the situation was extremely bad.

First Verdun, now the Somme, am I being sent to a meat grinder?
Where are the documents I submitted? Where is the Royal Engineers' research department? Please help!

However, things were even worse than Joe had imagined. As an engineer, Joe's duty was to destroy barbed wire, clear mines, and clear the way for the main force. This meant that before the infantry could launch their assault, they had to rush forward and destroy the Teutonic defenses. Joe could easily imagine how much the Teutons would object to their sabotage operations.

Before the attack began, Joe prayed countless times to all the powerful beings he knew, hoping that a telegram or something similar would pull him back from the dangerous front lines before the attack started.

However, no one responded to Joe's prayers as the troops moved toward the front lines. Soon after, Joe received orders to attack and was assigned the mission.

Basically, it was just trivial things like helping infantry break through the barbed wire in no man's land, clearing the trenches, adjusting the trench cover so that the infantry's machine guns could be turned to defend against the Teutonic attacks.

As Joe had expected, as soon as the whistle to attack sounded, he soon discovered that the Teutons not only had objections to his actions, but also had strong ones.

After the shelling stopped and the troops began their charge, heaven knows how a dark mass of Teutons suddenly appeared in the trenches that had been repeatedly bombarded by artillery for days and started firing at them.

Fortunately, at this moment, the experience taught to Joe by his friend came in handy: whenever he saw a flash of light, he should lie down, because light is definitely faster than bullets.

If you encounter a crater, take shelter inside and rest. You don't want to be unable to run at a crucial moment, do you?
Navigate through craters and anything else that can be used as cover, whatever it may be, it will definitely be more resilient than you.

Although at first Joe's superior, the noble major, had a lot of opinions about Joe's behavior.

How could the Royal Engineers crawl on the ground like cowards?! Bullets aren't that scary! Imperial soldiers should bravely face everything on the battlefield! Just like that thin red thread back then!
However, the Teutons did not agree with the noble major's opinion. Just as the major was about to kick Joe in the backside, a shell of unknown caliber struck, reminding the major to be more cautious in his next life—the battlefield is a very dangerous place.

Joe, on his first battlefield experience, found everything terrifying, unlike the games where bullets would dodge you or you could find a place to catch your breath after being shot and then be able to jump around again.

The person who was just asking, "What should we do now?!" suddenly collapsed to the ground and never woke up again.

Thunderous explosions rang out all around Joe, along with whistles urging him to attack and the dying screams of soldiers. Joe felt his mind go blank, his only thought being to survive, which drove him to keep running forward.

Although his brain went into a semi-offline state due to the immense shock of his first time on the battlefield, Joe, who was running around in panic, still did everything his friend who served in the Death Legion had taught him, except for moderate retaliation.

This allowed Joe to successfully approach the vicinity of the Teutonic trenches. Upon arriving there, Joe realized that he had unknowingly become alone, and there was no one around him at all.

An engineer carrying only a little explosives, pliers, and a rifle, facing a trench potentially crammed with Teutons, would likely have a low probability of getting them to lay down their arms and surrender, barring any unforeseen circumstances.

However, going back like this would obviously be difficult. Not to mention that if the Teutons discovered him, they might shoot him in the back to remind him to be more careful in his next life and not to wander around on the battlefield.

Generally speaking, when a soldier encounters this situation, he will have to start thinking about how to explain back to himself that he did not passively avoid battle, or simply how to surrender.

Joe suddenly realized, oh dear, that there was a Bunitania flag flying in the Teutonic trench ahead! If there was a Bunitania flag flying here, didn't that mean there was a Bunitania flag flying here?!
If I'm not mistaken, I should be right. This trench has been captured by the Bonitania forces!

Although Joe's feelings for Bnitania in the past were like those of an annoying distant relative whom he only saw once a year during the New Year, the kind of relationship where he was polite to her on the surface but wouldn't speak to her at all when she was away from her mother.

However, looking at the Britannian flag before him, Joe's eyes welled up with tears.

It wasn't easy! I've finally found my people! Where did this amazing leader come from? He's so brave that he managed to capture a position amidst a hail of bullets. I must join him in this great achievement!

After scrambling into the trench with his gun at top speed, Joe realized something was wrong.

Although the flag of Bunitania is flying here, there is not a single Bunitan here. There is only a Teuton in an officer's uniform holding a pistol and a pile of corpses.

Damn it, where are my brave brothers who were able to take the ground from the Teutons?
Joe was stunned by this unexpected scene.

The Teutonic officer was also taken aback when he saw Joe rushing into the trench. However, as an officer, this Teutonic man was obviously quicker to react than Joe, who had come seeking refuge. After a brief moment of stunned silence, the Teutonic officer immediately raised his pistol at Joe.

Faced with the dark muzzle of the Teutonic officer's gun, Joe's mind went blank, and he even forgot that he also had a gun in his hand.

It wasn't until the Teutonic officer's pistol made a crisp "click-click" sound after it had run out of bullets that Joe realized that this Teutonic was trying to kill him.

At this moment, the Teutonic officer, who had just run out of bullets, drew his dagger and charged at Joe.

Faced with the Teutonic officer charging towards him, Joe completely forgot that he had a revolver tucked into his waistband, with one bullet already loaded. He instinctively grabbed his rifle and swung it at the Teutonic officer.

When Joe came to his senses, a gray-haired captain was already standing in front of him, looking at him solemnly, as if he were some kind of hero.

Looking at the corpses around him, and the soldiers staring at him like he was some kind of hero, Joe just wanted to find a quiet place to be alone.

A few hours later, Major General Parker, commander of the 32nd Infantry Division of the Bunitan Expeditionary Force, looked at the report in his hand in the temporary command post in the village of Otie and felt that he also needed some peace and quiet.

The 32nd Infantry Division lost 5,000 men on the first day of the attack, and the entire division was almost rendered ineffective.

Worse than the heavy losses was the fact that the entire division made almost no progress today, advancing only two hundred meters and capturing some outer positions.

Major General Parker could already imagine the storm he would face after reporting this victory.

Sigh, wait a minute... Just as Major General Parker was racking his brains about how to report to his superiors in a way that would lessen the harshness of his reprimand, he saw a medal application submitted from below.

Normally, if someone plays so badly, no one would have the face to ask for a medal.

Upon opening the application, Major General Parker's eyes immediately lit up.

It is well known that holding funerals to celebrate is a Buntanian tradition, and as a traditional Buntanian nobleman, Major General Parker naturally understood the intricacies of it. Holding the medal application in his hand, Major General Parker knew what to do now.

(End of this chapter)