Imperial Elite

Chapter 23 Long live Gaul!

Although they were allies, when Joe put down the pile of rifles he was dragging and went to meet the Gallic officer holding the Gallic flag, he felt even more uneasy than when he had led his men straight to the Teutonic command post.

After all, if they encountered any problems while charging straight at the Teutonic command post, they could still open fire and blast them to smithereens.

But if we encounter any problems now, we can't just shell our own allies, can we? That would become a diplomatic incident.

There was a general and a dozen colonels and lieutenants locked in his car. If these Gauls wanted to do something, then all his efforts would have been in vain.
At this moment, Joe felt like he was playing a certain search and escape game back in the day, with his backpack full of good stuff, huddled at the escape point ready to run away, when he heard footsteps around him.

Worse still than back then, if this were a game, Joe could at least say to his friends via voice chat, "Holy crap! Guys, I'm panicking!" And if he successfully escaped, he could proudly tell his friends, "Am I awesome?!"

But now Joe not only can't speak, but he also has to keep his expression in check, make himself look calm and serious, and not show any panic. He has to stand up straight so as not to lose face.

Then, after Joe walked up to the Gallic officer, the officer suddenly exclaimed and quickly walked up to Joe, babbling a string of words in Gallic that Joe couldn't understand at all, except for his own name, 'Joe Harrison'.

Although he didn't understand what the Gallic officer was saying, the man had indeed called him by name, so out of basic politeness, Joe pointed to himself and said "Joe Harrison" while nodding.

Then the Gallic officer immediately became excited and mumbled something to the Gallic officers behind him, and their eyes lit up as they looked at Joe.

The look in his eyes was as if he had just downloaded a pornographic film and went outside to find some strange variety show being filmed, with the teacher from the pornographic film prominently featured, and he had to take photos and shake hands with passersby to complete his task.

Faced with such enthusiastic stares that even Joe suspected there might be something wrong with the Gallic people's psyche, he quickly glanced at Edward standing behind him as the Gallic officer spoke.

As a trader who had once planned to buy a house in Paris, Edward naturally understood Gaul. Seeing Joe's expression, Edward immediately whispered to Joe, "He asked if you were the war hero Joe Harrison. He's introducing you to his men now. This should be the war hero from the newspaper. He's starting to have his men prepare to take pictures."

Taking photos? What kind of photos?

Before Joe could react, the Gallic officer warmly reached out and shook Joe's hand.

Then Joe felt like he had become the mascot of a theme park.

A group of Gallic officers stepped forward, first shaking hands and taking photos with Joe individually, and then taking photos with Joe as a group, with the Lucky Bella stuck in the mud in the background.

This excessive enthusiasm left Joe completely bewildered.

Joe called out to Edward only after the leading Gallic officer pulled a bottle of wine from his satchel.

"Quickly ask these people what they're doing, we're still fighting a war!"

After Edward asked the question, the group of Gauls looked at Joe with blank expressions, and then the leading officer mumbled something to Edward.

Then an awkward but polite smile appeared on Edward's face.

Seeing the smile on Edward's face, Joe immediately realized that something seemed wrong and quickly asked Edward.

What exactly did they say?

Edward swallowed hard and then said to Joe.

"They think we've broken through the Teutonic lines from behind, so we must have made a major breakthrough and defeated the Teutons, so we should celebrate now."

Upon hearing this, Joe was stunned. Although he had long known that the Gauls on this side of the strait were famous for their romance and optimism, this seemed a bit too optimistic.

Joe quickly said to Edward, "Then why don't you hurry up and explain to them?"

"How am I supposed to explain this?"

"Let's be honest, we got lost during the attack and ended up here. Now we need to get the vehicle out of the mud pit, find our troops, and ask them where we are."

After Joe finished speaking, Edward's expression became extremely distorted. His embarrassed expression was like that of someone who had just learned to play the piano and whose parents told them, "Go and do something for all your relatives. Play 'Flight of the Bumblebee'."

Despite his distorted expression, Edward still managed to translate Joe's words into Gaulish, and then the distorted expression on Edward's face was transferred to the faces of those Gaulish officers.

The group immediately stopped shaking hands and taking pictures. Some of them scrambled back to the trenches behind them, while the officer in charge spoke urgently to Joe.

This time, without Joe prompting him, Edward translated the Gallic officer's words.

Why didn't you tell me sooner about something so important?

Although he didn't understand Gaulish, Joe felt that Edward must have omitted some modal particles during the translation.

"You didn't even give me a chance to speak!"

After hearing Edward's translation, the Gallic officer muttered something that Joe thought was definitely not a very wholesome word, and then mumbled a string of words to Joe.

After translating, Joe knew the officer was asking him what kind of help he needed.

It's certainly a good thing if someone is willing to help.

Joe immediately went to the front of the tank and gestured to the Gallic officer to explain what he wanted to do with all those rifles and what kind of help he needed.

Upon hearing Joe's words, the officer didn't hesitate and immediately blew his whistle. Soon, several Gallic officers ran over, and the Gallic officer said a few words.

Before long, a group of Gallic soldiers arrived in front of the tank carrying entrenching tools and planks that had probably just been removed from the trenches.

Although they didn't speak the language well, the body language didn't require a translator, and the Gallic soldiers quickly stuffed the planks under Joe's command.

As the Lucky Bella's engine roared again, the Lucky Bella, stuck in the mud, finally broke free.

When the Lucky Bella struggled out of the mud pit, the Bunitas and Gauls cheered.

Joe was so excited that he shook hands with each of the Gallic soldiers who came to help rescue the car, thanking them for their help.

Although these Gallic soldiers didn't understand much of the Bunitarian language, they could still understand the smiles. So they shook Joe's hand and said something Joe couldn't understand, which, if nothing unexpected happened, was something like, "You're welcome, it's all my fault."

After the vehicle was freed, Joe immediately called the trench reconnaissance team to climb onto the roof and prepare to leave. At the same time, he took out a map, pulled Edward, who was about to get into the vehicle, and asked the Gallic officer who had breathed a sigh of relief and lit a pipe after seeing the tank freed, where they were now.

Joe was completely stunned when the Gallic officer pointed out their current location on the map.

Although Joe knew he had gotten a bit lost and wandered quite far when he saw the Gallic troops, his current location was still far from his starting point. Judging by the fuel remaining in his tank, he estimated he would burn the last drop of gasoline by the time he reached the camp entrance, assuming he didn't get stuck again on the road.

It seemed that he understood the 'Holy crap, how did I get so far?' look on Joe's face.

The Gallic officer gestured on the map to show Joe how to get to the Bunitania defense zone, and then handed Joe the Gallic flag he had been holding earlier.

He said, "Your thing is really strange. Being behind the front line can easily cause misunderstandings. If you plant this flag, it will reduce a lot of trouble. At least the artillerymen won't be scared and fire at you randomly."

Joe was genuinely moved by the Gallic officer who saved his vehicle, gave him directions, and even handed him the flag to protect him from friendly fire.

Joe shook his hand, asked his name, and learned that his name was Jean-Pierre Deschamps.

Joe patted Jean-Pierre on the shoulder, took his hand, and led him to the tank hatch. He knocked on the hatch to get the crew to open it.

As the hatch opened, Joe pointed to the Teutonic prisoners inside the tank compartment and spoke to Jean-Pierre.

"Brother, before I came here, I took over a Teutonic command post. Now I don't have much to give you, just these prisoners. You can choose any of them except that general."

Jean-Pierre stared wide-eyed at the Teutonic officer before him and listened to Edward's translation.

Although Jean-Pierre had previously felt that Joe was somewhat overrated when he learned that Joe had come to him because he was lost.

What kind of good person could get lost on the battlefield, and even wander off course for more than ten kilometers, ending up back in their own defensive zone? They were so confused that they thought the Bunitans were launching a massive offensive, crushing the Teutonic defenses, and that everyone was heading into Germania.

If it weren't for this guy appearing and charging fiercely, even leading two people to block the Teutonic trenches before the battle was over...

Jean-Pierre even wondered if this guy didn't want to fight and was taking advantage of the fog to desert.

It wasn't until they saw the tank packed full of documents and high-ranking Teutonic officers that they understood.

Jean-Pierre immediately realized that he had been wrong. How could the hero of the Bonitania Expedition be someone who wanted to run away from battle?
Look at others, they got lost and were able to take down a Teutonic command post and capture a general. That must be a division-level command post, right?
That's incredible! That's amazing! He truly deserves to be called a hero of our time...

Although Jean-Pierre was deeply moved, he still looked at Joe seriously and said, "My name is Jean-Pierre, not Jean."

After hearing Jean-Pierre's words, Edward was a little confused. He had just said Jean-Pierre. Had he made a mistake?

After hesitating for a moment, Edward thought that he could just translate these kinds of details casually, since it wasn't a big deal.

So Edward told Joe, "He said you were being too kind."

"Hahahaha!" Edward said.

Joe reached out and patted Jean-Pierre's arm, saying, "Jean, brother, we're allies, don't be so polite. You just helped us, so come on, let's make our selections."

"It's Jean-Pierre..."

When Joe called him by only the first half of his name again, Jean-Pierre wanted to correct him again, but after thinking about it, he nodded and poked his head into the tank to select a prisoner.

When Jean-Pierre stuck his head into the tank, he was still thinking about what he should choose; wanting too much was obviously not a good thing.

After all, they were the ones who captured the people. If I wanted too much, wouldn't I look like a greedy Teutonic?

So I should choose someone with a high rank, but not someone with too high a rank. It's the same problem: I'm not a Teutonic. Joe is willing to be polite to me, but I can't take advantage of him. I have to show the elegance of old Paris.

Then, the instant Jean-Pierre stuck his head into the tank, the high temperature of the engine caused a group of large men in a confined space to exhale a mixture of smells from the engine running but not all of which were expelled from the exhaust pipe, and the lingering smell of gunpowder from the cannon fire and machine gun fire.

The sticky, chili sauce-like taste smeared onto Jean-Pierre's face like mud, even though he had been in the trenches for over a year and had seen all sorts of things.

But after the intense smell hit his face, Jean-Pierre immediately pulled his head back out of the car, casually pointed to a Teutonic captain, and then...

Jean-Pierre's gaze toward Joe also changed.

To be able to endure a place like this, which is practically a cesspool, is truly admirable. I can't help but envy them...

Joe didn't know why his brother's gaze had changed again, but after waving to the crew to push the Teutonic captain out, Joe patted Jean-Pierre on the shoulder, saying, "Thanks for your help, see you in Germania," before returning to the tank and letting Herbert drive.

However, while making Herbert drive again, Joe added, "Damn it, drive carefully. If you get stuck in the mud again, you'll have to dig the car out by yourself!"

After saying that, Joe climbed back onto the vehicle and hung the Gallic flag that had been given to him on the tank.

As the tanks crossed the trenches, the Gallic soldiers inside, seeing the roaring Lucky Bella and the Gallic flag flying aboard, excitedly raised their rifles and shouted, "Slightly spicy Gaul!"

Although they didn't know what "slightly spicy Gaul" meant, judging from their expressions, it must be a compliment. So, Joe, who popped his head out of the hole, waved to them and shouted, "Slightly spicy Gaul!"

Edward, who understood what was happening, looked at the happy Gallic soldiers and then at Joe, who was equally excited. He decided that he shouldn't tell Joe that the phrase meant "Long live Gauls." Although it was a bit strange, everyone was happy, weren't they?

When the Lucky Bella set off again, the thick fog that had shrouded the battlefield for most of the day finally began to dissipate, allowing Joe to use his binoculars to refer to the map and better guide the Lucky Bella.

If nothing unexpected happens, Joe is confident he won't get lost again this time.

Joe, who had already driven some distance, heard a series of explosions behind him.

Joe, holding up his binoculars, turned around and looked in the direction of the trench his brother had occupied, which he had just left behind.

The Teutonic artillery was bombarding the area fiercely, and further away in the Teutonic reserve trenches, Joe saw countless signal flares rising into the air. Judging from the shadowy figures in the trenches, a large number of Teutons were about to launch a counterattack.

Judging from the sheer numbers, the older brothers definitely couldn't withstand this offensive.

Joe's limited experience also told him that once this round of shelling ended, the Teutons would immediately launch an attack, and after that, there would only be one outcome for his brother.

Meanwhile, amidst the explosions of artillery fire, Jean-Pierre was shouting hoarsely from his trenches, "We just dealt those Teutons a heavy blow, and now they're desperate. They want to take back this place, but we'll make them understand that those bastards won't get an inch further! No! We'll drive them out of our homeland! Long live Gaul!"

Amid the roar of artillery fire, a shout of "Long live Gaul!" echoed from the trenches.

(End of this chapter)