Imperial Elite

Chapter 73 The Imminent Victory

How to wipe out all the Lucia in a city is a question worth pondering.

The first thing the Teutons considered was the use of poison gas.

After all, this method of purging the population from a city is as efficient as using pesticides on a field full of pests.

However, this simple and efficient method was quickly rejected by the Teutons, not because the Teutons felt there was any moral problem with using poison gas to wipe out the population of a city.

Rather, it's because, firstly, St. Petersburg, as the capital of Russia, is a city of considerable size.

Manufacturing enough poison gas to cover an entire city is a little too expensive.

Of course, apart from economic reasons, the main reason is that it is winter. Although St. Petersburg experiences occasional southwest winds, northwest winds blow most of the time.

This wind direction meant that the Teutons did not have the meteorological conditions to use poison gas on a large scale.

After all, if the poison gas is released halfway and the wind direction changes to a northwesterly wind, the Teutonic people will have to fumigate themselves.

With the simple and convenient option of poison gas ruled out, the Teutons were left with only one choice: to continue their ground offensive and kill every Lucia they saw.

They've been doing this for the past few months, but there's a small problem.

That means they don't have much time left to continue doing this on the Eastern Front.

The Lucias' tenacious defense caused the Teutons to lose a significant number of men in the bloody street fighting, and with each passing day, more Caucasians arrived in the Old World.

This made the Teutons even more eager to end the war on the Eastern Front.

So, before Christmas, the Teutonic General Staff made a decision.

A massive offensive was launched against St. Petersburg at Christmas, a final attempt to capture the city.

If we can capture St. Petersburg, then we will occupy it and make it the core of the empire's administration of the East. If we cannot capture St. Petersburg, then we will leave a portion of our troops to continue the siege of St. Petersburg and maintain the eastern defense line.

All remaining mobile forces were mobilized to the western front to prepare for the upcoming offensive on the western front.

So on Christmas morning, the people of St. Petersburg no longer heard the usual carols, nor did they see the usual festive scenes.

Instead, it was the city that gradually collapsed amidst the thunderous roar of the Teutonic cannons, and the left-wing assault team, wearing gas masks, carrying shovels and sacks, with red ribbons tied around their arms and wearing blue hats, attempting to bury or throw the Teutonic poison gas bombs into the Neva River amidst the gunfire.

Erich, in the Teutonic-controlled zone, looked at the city illuminated by the flames of the explosions. As he stuffed a sausage from his lunchbox into his mouth, he couldn't help but think that under such a massive bombardment, there probably wouldn't be a single survivor left in St. Petersburg.

However, this idea had only just surfaced in Ehrlich's mind before he banished it.

Shelling of this scale has been carried out repeatedly over the past few months.

But once the shelling is over, these Lucias will crawl out of their hideouts like cockroaches in a sewer.

Just like in Paris, in the end, we had to solve the problem with bayonets.

After stuffing the last sausage into his mouth and rinsing it down with the small bottle of beer provided for the holiday, Ehrlich put down his lunchbox and climbed onto the pulpit of the half-collapsed chapel to give his soldiers a final morale boost before launching the attack.

"Guys! Today is..."

Before Ehrlich could finish speaking, he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder, and then his body went limp and he fell off the pulpit. As he fell, he heard his men shouting at the top of their lungs, "Sniper!"

When and where did that sniper hide...? These Lucia snipers are like cockroaches...

This was the last thought that crossed Ehrlich's mind before he lost consciousness.

At the same time, Joe, who had finally regained consciousness and woke up in bed, lifted his groggy and slightly aching head, moved the arm that someone had been draping over his chest away, and sat up in bed.

Looking at the bed, and below the bed, a vast expanse of white, overlapping peaks.

Amidst the double headache from the hangover, Joe gasped. At least now Joe knew why his head was hurting so badly, but how did things turn out this way?

With a hangover and a headache, Joe tried to recall what had happened the day before.

I took an early vacation to go home, and then I planned to inspect the factory, give some bonuses to these former aristocratic ladies, and reconnect with them.

After all, while the theoretical selling point of this blade is that it's a safety blade, its actual selling point is that a beautiful noble lady wearing stockings assembles it herself on her thigh.

If we don't keep these aristocratic ladies here storing razor blades, it could affect sales if tabloid reporters find out.

Then she gave them bonuses and thanked them for their work. Everyone seemed very happy. Then Elena took her to her office to check the accounts...

Thinking of this, Joe scratched his head and looked at everything in front of him.

This can explain how everything started, but it can't explain how everything before your eyes came to be this way.

The severe headache prevented Joe from recalling what had happened last night that led to the current situation.

Even in some short films and comics, the scene before us would be considered quite exaggerated.

He moved a thigh wearing a torn stocking off his stomach, then lifted a head and carefully pulled his slightly numb thigh out from under the woman's head.

Qiao tiptoed out of bed as if crossing a minefield. Seeing the piled-up crowd on the floor and the scattered bottles, Qiao's brain, which had seemed rusty, finally started to work again and threw a few images at him.

In Elena's office, it seemed that there were more than just the two of them. After leaving Elena's office, it was right after get off work hours, so several female soldiers stopped the two of them to express their gratitude for taking them in and giving them such an easy job.

So they planned to invite Joe to dinner. Inviting Joe for Christmas was obviously not appropriate, and Joe would be quite busy after the holidays, so if Joe was willing, perhaps today would be a good day.

Joe agreed. Of course, although they were a group of noble ladies, they were all penniless, even though York's cost of living wasn't as outrageous as London's.

However, they clearly didn't have enough money to have a meal at the hotel, so after borrowing Elena's place, these noble ladies bought a lot of food and even more wine, and prepared to start celebrating.

Although Joe realized something was wrong when he saw these noble ladies carrying cases of wine back home.

Although Joe had always heard the legends about Lucias drinking alcohol like water, he never imagined that Lucia women could drink so much, and that they could recite such elaborate toasts.

"Cheers to victory in this great war!"

Now that the war has been won, we should naturally have a drink.

"Cheers to the boss's booming business!"

Business is booming, so we definitely have to do it.

"Cheers to this moment of togetherness!"

It's nice to get together; we should drink.

"Cheers to the boss's health!"

Clearly, they couldn't refuse the wine, so they continued.

After drinking to this point, even the alcohol tolerance that Qiao had built up over a year with the young men in the engineering platoon couldn't withstand the onslaught of the female alcoholics. By now, Qiao felt that his alcohol tolerance was no longer sustainable.

So when Joe put down his glass to eat something, Alina raised her glass again.

"For our health."

If it were anyone else, Joe probably would have drunk it, but since it was Elena who raised her glass, Joe felt that he could still negotiate. So Joe whispered to Elena, "I'm feeling a bit weak. Can I eat something first?"

Upon hearing Joe's words, Elena, whose face was flushed and who was clearly almost drunk, raised her eyebrows and downed her glass in one gulp.

Just as Joe breathed a sigh of relief, Elena grabbed his face with both hands like iron clamps, and then, like a cavalry charge, kissed him amidst the cheers of the other female soldiers around them.

Looking at Elena's apartment, which had been heavily bombarded, Joe rubbed his head and began searching for a toilet while thinking about what to do next.

If it were just Elena, that would be fine, but adding another female soldier wouldn't be a problem either; it would allow Hayek's big hand to regulate the market.

But now that things have turned out this way, not to mention that we've already achieved a scale advantage, just figuring out how to get along with these women is a problem in itself.

One person, one apartment, plus a car?
This is the time for business expansion; money shouldn't be spent like this!

Pushing open the bathroom door, Joe looked at herself in the mirror.

'You rascal, look what trouble you've caused me! Now I have to clean up your mess!'

The two Joes in the mirror remained silent, seemingly realizing their mistake.

'Alas, wine and women have ruined me so much. From today onward, I will abstain from alcohol!'

Joe lifted the toilet seat, sat on the toilet, let out a long sigh of relief, and began to think about how he should treat them next.

A blonde, long-legged, and open-minded female soldier pushed open the door and walked in.

"I'm still in the bathroom."

Joe looked at the female soldier with some shock.

"I know……"

The female soldier walked up to Qiao with a coquettish smile, pushed Qiao back, sat on Qiao, and whispered in Qiao's ear as she pressed Qiao's face against her chest.

"You can't just let me watch; fairness is the most important thing, isn't it?"

After Joe left Elena's apartment, he felt unsteady on his feet and his bones ached a little.

For the first time, Joe felt that the battlefield wasn't scary, nor was the hell of documents; the bed, bathtub, toilet, and table were the scariest places.

Large-scale battles are too terrifying; small-scale battles are much safer.

When Joe returned home, his steps unsteady, his mother screamed in alarm upon seeing his pale face.

Without hesitation, he led Joe back to an armchair in the living room, wrapped him in a blanket, and brought him a bowl of hot soup. As Joe reached out his trembling hand to drink the soup, he called a family doctor.

Now that things have come to this, I can't bring myself to say what I did to deserve this.

Fortunately, Joe's family doctor was a seasoned veteran. After observing Joe's condition, the doctor looked at him with an expression that said, "Young people really don't know how to cherish their health."

Then he said that Joe was just too tired from "work" and needed to rest. Although young people are at the best time to "work", overworking is bad for their health and may even cause permanent damage, so they should "work" in moderation.

Joe understood what the family doctor meant.

Qiao, huddled in his chair, nodded repeatedly, indicating that he would definitely pay attention to his health and work in moderation in the future.

Joe's mother clearly didn't understand what Joe meant by "job".

He just stood by and complained, "Is there no one left in Britannia?"
First, they sent Joe to Paris alone to fight the Teutons, and now that he's back, they're giving him such a heavy workload. The people above are all bastards.

After the family doctor left, Joe's mother treated Joe like a fragile doll, afraid that Joe might feel uncomfortable or bump into something.

While everyone else is concerned about how high you fly, only your mother worries about how tired you are from flying.

However, this beautiful time did not last long. As the afternoon approached, those little rascals went home and shattered this atmosphere of maternal love and filial piety.

A group of young men and women rushed into the house like a whirlwind after the door was opened.

Then, as these unfamiliar faces swept through every corner of the house like a storm, Joe heard the voice of his younger brother, James.

"Ron, go and take all the bread. Don't forget the medicine, Dorn. Carl, take all the blankets."

Hearing James's order, which sounded like he was raiding the place, even though Joe was comfortably curled up in his chair and didn't want to get up, he couldn't help himself anymore.

"Jaime! Get over here!"

James, who had been so imposing just moments before, instantly became timid upon hearing Joe's voice, cautiously peeking out from the front of the living room to look at Joe.

"Brother, are you back?"

Upon seeing Joe's pale face, James, who had been timid and hesitant, immediately walked up to Joe and carefully examined him.

"Brother, are you sick? Are you alright?"

"I am fine."

Joe glared at James, his battlefield aura making James flinch. "What are you doing? No greetings as soon as you walk in, like Mother's raiding the house? Hmm?"

Upon hearing Joe's words, James wore an awkward smile.

"No, brother... let me explain..."

Then James explained to Joe what he was doing.

Joe originally sent James to work in the factory to burn off James's excess energy, to make the young man realize that money is hard to earn and life is tough, and to make him focus his main energy on school and the right path to earning money after school.

Don't be like me, going astray because of certain things.

Then, unsurprisingly, a small mishap occurred.

After going to work in the factory, James began to think about the working conditions of the factory workers and the working conditions in Joe's factory.

Mingming Qiao's factory workers are treated better, but why does his brother earn more? In the factory where he works, both workers and bosses earn less and work harder.

James pondered this question.

However, for a young man who is currently in junior high school and about to enter high school, this question is obviously too profound.

Although he hadn't figured out the problem yet, James had figured out something else.

That is, no matter what the reason is for this to happen, you need to have a little bit of power to change it.

The original intention behind forming the Best of Brittany party was to infiltrate Parliament and become a senator, and now James's desire to become a member of Congress is even stronger.

However, after being taught a lesson by Joe last time, James also realized that it would be difficult for a young man like himself to get votes from those old guys like James in the future.

After all, these guys only think that the salt they've eaten is saltier than the roads they've walked, so James decided to take a different approach.

No one stays young forever, and no one stays a child forever.

Since he can't get many votes from those old-timers, why not just invest in young people in advance?

It happened to be wartime, and many families were in trouble because their fathers were conscripted into the army. James himself, in addition to the little money he earned from working, also received a weekly allowance from Joe.

It would be difficult to support so many families with this money, but it would be just enough to help them out when they are in trouble.

In addition, the best party in Brittany wasn't just James and Ron; there was also Jane. They had also gained quite a few members at that private aristocratic school by being tough at home and sweet-talking.

If you were to take these members to storm the principal's office to protest against issues like corporal punishment by teachers, they would probably only offer moral support.

However, if it's about taking them to do some charity work, allowing them to demonstrate their compassion and sense of responsibility as members of the upper class, and incidentally getting some extra points from their teachers, these guys will do it without hesitation.

Fortunately, Qiao adopted many orphans of his comrades-in-arms this year, so they didn't even lack manpower.

So starting from Easter, they began to give food and blankets to needy families in the York slums on every holiday.

Because the Brittany's Best Party included not only Joe, the war hero's brother, but also some aristocratic youngsters, the York police station would also send some officers to protect them.

In short, although they looked like highway robbers when they went home to get their things, they were actually preparing to do good deeds.

After listening to James's explanation, Joe thought for a moment.

Are you really planning to become a member of parliament?

James nodded without hesitation.

"Yes, brother, the more I study, the more I realize that there are limits to navigating the underworld... unless you transcend the level of a thug..."

James looked up at Joe.

"I want to be a congressman, Joe!"

Looking at James, whose eyes shone with a light of hope.

Joe reached out and ruffled his hair.

"Alright, although I'm not particularly optimistic about it, becoming a politician is better than your previous idea of ​​getting involved in the underworld."

Joe moved his hand away and took out his wallet.

"I can sponsor you some funds. How much do you need?"

James chuckled as he looked at Joe.

"We don't need the money right now, but brother, could you come with us?"

Joe ultimately refused James's request.

Besides the fact that Joe's body was completely drained at this point, Joe also didn't want to face the eyes of his children whose fathers were still on the battlefield.

Joe knew he might be able to control a section of the battlefield and reduce casualties in some areas through his actions, but that was all he could do. He couldn't save everyone, and he didn't want to give the children false hope.

After handing James fifty pounds, Joe shrank back onto the sofa.

Although some unexpected events occurred along the way, this Christmas still became one of Joe's most memorable Christmases.

Besides the fact that there are now many more people in the family, the abundant food on the family table and the happiness of being able to enjoy the whole family together at this moment can be considered a luxury in this era.

Throughout the Christmas holiday, Joe enjoyed a rare period of peace, even though he still occasionally faced the question he least wanted to confront: the orphans wanted to know where their fathers were and how they had died.

Joe encountered this problem so many times that he finally couldn't stand it anymore and, after obtaining a map of the Old World and a map of Paris,...

He summoned all the orphans to his attic, then took out his war log and began to explain to the children what they had encountered on the battlefield and what their fathers had done.

While this satisfied the children's curiosity, it also made the children in the attic cry their eyes out.

William, the son of the lieutenant who stayed in Bourges to destroy the armored train, burst into tears upon hearing that his father had stayed there to destroy the train. He then pulled out the Legion of Honour, the highest military honor awarded to Gauls, and stomped on it on the ground.

If Joe hadn't intervened in time, that medal would likely have become the first Legion of Honor medal in history to be trampled on.

"I don't want this kind of thing, I just want my dad to come back!"

Amid William's cries, Joe picked up the medal from the ground, wiped it clean, and stuffed it into William's pocket. He explained to William that his father, and all the fathers here, did not fight for such a small piece of metal. They went to the battlefield and into war so that they could continue their pre-war lives in the future.

That's how war is; brave, good people are always the first to die.

Just as Joe was comforting the war orphans of western Zhejiang and his comrades, the Teutonic Christmas offensive had reached its limit.

On the day after Christmas, Erich was shot in the shoulder and woke up in a field hospital. He forced himself to leave the hospital and returned to the battlefield to command his rapid armored assault battalion in the fighting in St. Petersburg.

Although all the Teutonic soldiers, including Erich, had done everything they could, and even the Crown Prince risked being targeted by snipers again to visit the front lines and comfort the wounded.

However, the Teutons were never able to break through the defenses of the Lucian Left Wing government forces on the Pulkovo Heights.

On this high ground, the Teutons encountered the fiercest resistance of the entire war so far. Even the well-trained Stormtroopers, once deployed to the Pulkovo Heights, would not survive for more than two hours.

Although these stormtroopers were able to capture some positions from the left-wing government forces, the Russians would immediately launch an artillery barrage on the lost positions when they were about to be lost or after they were lost. At the same time, more Russians with red armbands tied around their arms would try to retake the positions like madmen.

Even Ehrlich's rapid armored assault battalion was once deployed to this high ground in an attempt to break through the Russian defenses.

But as soon as Ehrlich's half-track armored vehicle appeared, the Lucias did not hesitate to call in a barrage of artillery fire.

Although the mechanized infantrymen braved the artillery fire and advanced into the Russian trenches in half-track armored vehicles, some Russian soldiers in those trenches attempted to throw grenades into the armored vehicles under machine gun fire, or even charged at the armored vehicles with explosives, sacrificing themselves to take them down with them.

This crazy tactic led Ehrlich to decisively halt the offensive after losing six half-tracks, and instead try to break through from other places.

The only thing that Ehrlich was relieved about was that, unlike the Western Front, they had complete air superiority on the Eastern Front.

The Empire's aerial knights are free to wreak havoc in the air.

Often, what ground troops have to risk their lives to accomplish, the air force can do with just a single, relatively accurate bomb or a few strafing runs.

The only problem is that ground troops are not always able to call in air support.

Sometimes, pilots with poor eyesight would even cause friendly fire incidents, which made ground troops quite resentful of those air knights.

However, as a staff officer, Ehrlich also began to think that if there were a way to make air support more timely and precise, then the advance of armored forces would be smoother.

Unfortunately, Ehrlich, a soldier who received military education from a young age, was not very familiar with engineering. Although he had an idea, it could only remain an idea for the time being.

Privately, Teutonic officers, including Erich, were puzzled by the sudden surge of resistance from the Lucia.

After all, they didn't encounter such fierce resistance when they stormed into Kiev, Minsk, and even Kalin.

Upon entering St. Petersburg, they felt as if they were fighting another kind of Lucia, a more determined and fanatical group who didn't want to live but wanted to drag them down to hell.

Despite this resistance, officers, including Ehrlich, believed they could capture St. Petersburg and kill every Russian there, but only at a heavy cost.

It would take at least 200,000 to 400,000 Teutonic young men and millions of shells to erase the city from the map.

Ehrlich knew this, and so did the General Staff.

Thus, the problem that had plagued them since the start of the war resurfaced before all the senior officers in the General Staff and the Teutonic Emperor.

Is it the eastern front or the western front?

The question is whether to completely eliminate the Lucia threat on the Eastern Front, or to redeploy troops to the Western Front and end the war there with a large-scale offensive before the Americans are ready.

Although the troops had withdrawn from Paris, the Paris battle group was still entrenched less than 50 kilometers from the city. Two large-scale attacks by the Gauls failed to force the Paris battle group to abandon this salient that could threaten Paris at any time.

As long as they can launch an offensive from here, they can threaten Paris at any time.

Meanwhile, the secretly manufactured heavy tanks and armored hussars that had completed mechanized training had been deployed to the Somme River region, intended to sever the link between the Bunitania Expeditionary Force and the Gallo-British Army.

Meanwhile, the ammunition stockpiles at the front lines, which had been nearly depleted during the two large-scale battles, began to be replenished. As long as the troops were well-manned, they were able to launch another offensive and completely end the war.

They had been preparing for this final blow since the second half of 1917, but the number of troops that could be transferred from the Eastern Front was now less than planned due to the fierce resistance of the Lucia.

If they continue to hold out in St. Petersburg, they may lack enough troops to launch an offensive on the western front.

But what if they don't deal with those Lusians, and if these guys cause trouble behind their backs while they launch a large-scale offensive on the western front?
Just when they were caught in this dilemma, a report from the front lines caught the attention of the Teutonic leadership.

Due to the disintegration of the Lusian Empire, many Cossacks in the East who were once loyal to the country now have strong nationalist tendencies. They no longer want to exist as part of Lussia, but rather want to join the Teutonic Empire or simply become an independent country.

Since someone is willing to step forward as a buffer, the Teutonic leadership will naturally not refuse.

So, on the seventh day after the start of the Christmas offensive, the Teutonic army's St. Petersburg battle group on the eastern front ceased its attack, and the main force began to retreat toward Tallinn, preparing to take a ship back home from there.

At the same time, the Teutons also began to seek collaborators among the Cossacks, preparing to establish a Cossack puppet state under the administration of the Eastern Governorate, so that these Cossacks who were willing to cooperate could reduce the defensive pressure on the east of the empire.

Having learned lessons from Verdun and the winter of the turnips, the Teutons began to requisition grain from the wealthy East and transport it back home.

Although the railway network's gauge and the poor condition of the roads make this transportation very inefficient.

However, the Crown Prince led the elite troops of the Fifth Army in a victory parade in Germania, defeating the Lucia and conquering the East.

The exhausted Teutons seemed to see the victory that was visible to the naked eye on the horizon, and that it was coming toward them.

Although supplies are still scarce in the market, the wines from the Champagne region and the wheat from the East are a testament to their victory.

Even though prices are still rising, the number and scale of marches and protests are decreasing.

Even street demonstrations in support of the war and the emperor reappeared.

Now the Emperor and the General Staff finally have the energy to plan a large-scale offensive that can completely end this war.

Both the General Staff and the Emperor believed that they now possessed the best army and the most outstanding air force in the entire Old World, and even their navy was on par with the Bonitania home fleet, now that the threat from the East had disappeared.

That was the closest they came to victory in the entire war.

(End of this chapter)