Imperial Elite

Chapter 87 The Chariot of Victory
Since the ceasefire, the Teutonic Kingdom has been in a state of vibrant activity and flourishing development.

Various factions seized territory and declared themselves kings, shattering the entire Teutonic Kingdom in an instant, like a mirror thrown from the seventh floor.

In this situation, the military and police departments, which should have been the mainstay, were unable to do anything.

On the one hand, a large number of troops are still under surveillance and preparing to return home; on the other hand, a complete treaty has not yet been finalized, and the fate of the military is still undecided. Therefore, the army cannot be mobilized at present, so as not to affect the outcome of the negotiations.

However, some people couldn't stand it anymore. They saw that if things continued like this, the left-wing elements and separatists would really split the country.

Relying on some diplomatic connections, this person first contacted Bruneiania and Gaul, saying, "Look how rampant the left wing has become. If no one keeps an eye on it, look at Lucia. You don't want to risk turning the entire Old World red, do you?"
If you don't want the entire Old World to turn red, then you should allow us to form a militia to eliminate those plague-like left-wing organizations.

Although Buntania and Gaul were extremely wary of any military action by the Teutons, they dared not gamble when faced with the Teutons, who were also experiencing a surge of communism.

While they would definitely pop champagne if the Teutons were to fall into civil war like Lucia, what if... the left wing wins?
A red Lucia, and then a red Teuton...

The lords of Bruneian and Gaul felt that if this was the future, it would be better to invite the Tsar and Emperor back, since if the Tsar and Emperor won the war, they could simply say goodbye to their wealth.

But if the left wins, they might have to say goodbye to their lives.

So let the Teutons solve the problem themselves.

Then, after gaining the ability to organize a militia force without heavy weapons, that man immediately did two things.

One thing is to find those big corporations to sponsor them. After all, even an emperor would have to pay to get a man to take up a rifle and go to war.

Another thing was to try to get veterans with war experience to join him in eliminating left-wing organizations that had set up governments and were preparing to split the country.

The first thing was easy: faced with a vast number of left-wing organizations and already organized armed workers, the big business owners, who seemed to feel the noose around their necks, generously opened their wallets.

But the second thing is not so easy.

Although there are plenty of experienced frontline veterans everywhere now, and if you look hard enough, you can even find a few commandos.

However, mobilizing these veterans is not easy.

On the one hand, having just left the hellish front lines, these veterans weren't so keen to pick up a gun again. On the other hand, the result of their last struggle was that they lost the emperor. Now that the emperor was gone, what was the point of their struggle?
Moreover, even if we take a step back and assume the worst, the emperor's sudden abdication must have been due to something someone did.

People aren't stupid. His Majesty's seven children are all fighting on the front lines. His youngest son died in Paris, his third son went down with his ship in the Second Battle of Jutland, and his daughter has been working in a field hospital since the first day of the war. Even when she was on leave, she never returned to Germania.

In this situation, the emperor announced his surrender without any warning, and then all members of the royal family suddenly left the army and disappeared. If you said there was no conspiracy involved, no one would believe it.

And even if we take a step back and assume the worst, they've already reached Paris! Paris!
Victory was just one step away! Then, suddenly retreating, regrouping their defenses, and declaring a ceasefire—there's no doubt there's a conspiracy; someone stole the victory that should have been theirs!

Although they didn't know who the schemer was, the veterans absolutely refused to associate with them. Whatever, let them be. They had work to do back home, so they didn't want to bother them!

The influential figure who wanted to organize a militia naturally had his own explanation for these dejected veterans.

They quickly devised a legend called "bayonet in the back" to explain it all.

First of all, there must have been a conspiracy. To say there wasn't one would be disrespectful to everyone. But the conspiracy certainly can't be linked to the General Staff and the glorious officer corps.

So, based on the principle of "whoever benefits should take the blame," they pinned the blame on the right-wing party leader. After all, he was the one who took over after His Majesty left. Now that he has power, it's only reasonable for him to bear a little bit of criticism.

Then the left-wing groups that had stirred up trouble in various parts of Teutonic before the armistice, as well as the navy that had previously launched a rebellion, also became scapegoats.

According to the official version, this was a conspiracy led by the ruling party, in collusion with the left wing and those traitorous sailors, to create a plot to overthrow the country.

The entire organization is exactly like Lucia's; this is a conspiracy by the left and right to betray the army and the emperor!

Gentlemen, we absolutely cannot let these scoundrels' plot succeed! Pick up your weapons and join us in punishing these traitors! Rebuild the Teutonic Kingdom!
With this theory in mind, the veterans thought, "Good heavens, we fought bloody battles on the front lines and were just a hair's breadth away from taking Paris. You bastards are not satisfied with eating and drinking well at home, and now you want to drive out the emperor and stab us in the back, making all our sacrifices over the past five years go to waste, right?"
Row!
You guys are awesome!

Filled with resentment at defeat and anger at betrayal, many veterans took up arms again and joined the organization called the Freedom Legion, beginning to purge left-wing groups.

While some of these left-wing groups have learned from Lucia's experience, others do not quite understand the current situation. Some even feel that since the country has become a republic, they have a lot of support locally and should prepare to run for election and enter parliament to change the country.

So these leftists who were preparing to take the parliamentary route were dragged out of their homes by the Freedom Legion and hung on streetlights.

Those left-wing groups that had made some material preparations for confrontation were also at a disadvantage when facing the Freedom Legion.

Although these left-wing groups had acquired a considerable amount of machine guns and artillery before the ceasefire, giving them an advantage in equipment, and their organized workers were also a decent source of manpower.

However, when facing those Teutonic veterans who had fought in St. Petersburg and Paris and watched their comrades fall beside them, there was still a huge gap in combat effectiveness.

However, since the Lucian left was also struggling in its fight against the military government, it began to call on left-wing groups around the world to protect the flame of revolution.

As a result of the Free Legion's suppression, some Teutonic Left Wings chose to move eastward, preparing to join forces with the Lucia Left Wing.

Originally, this eastward retreat was a desperate measure due to their inability to defeat the Free Legion. However, once they actually fled, these Teutonic left-wingers realized how comfortable and exhilarating it was to run eastward.

The Teutons had already deployed their main forces to the western front, and their control over the newly conquered territories was not very strong, especially after the emperor abdicated and the local governor returned to his homeland.

The Free Legion, which had been chasing them, obviously couldn't pursue them beyond the traditional border. Basically, as long as they could escape, even if the Free Legion was furious, they wouldn't dare cross the border.

Therefore, the lands that have just been conquered in the East are now basically in a state of being unmanaged.

The German left wing felt that if no one else was going to take care of this, then they would.

Just like the way Lucia has always been developed, the West not only has many large cities, but also many workers. Since there are workers, there is fertile ground for left-wing propaganda. And because the historical affiliation of this area has never been clear.

Often, things would suddenly become completely calm, so although there was some nationalistic sentiment, it wasn't very strong. Although the local powerful families had some influence, compared to the organized left-wing groups, it was like testing the strength of a rope with one's neck—the result was quite obvious.

While the flames of war in the East not only did not extinguish, but instead burned even more fiercely.

Joe, who became a member of the Bunitania negotiating delegation at Versailles, is now incredibly bored.

Although Joe had engaged in some business negotiations in the past, this diplomatic negotiation was clearly not on the same level as those negotiations he had experienced before.

These negotiators, each fluent in several foreign languages ​​and seemingly gentlemen, were far more formidable than the elderly women in the slums trying to haggle with vendors when they got into arguments.

Most importantly, just as they told Joe at the beginning, all they had to do was have Joe report to the negotiation site in Verdun and sit behind the negotiating table.

After all, in an environment where pushing the front line forward by a few kilometers a day is considered an epic victory, and where most of the time the two sides are squatting in trenches throwing shit at each other, Joe is an absolute anomaly.

Both sides did attempt to break the stalemate by launching large-scale offensives, but the results of these offensives were usually not very good.

The Teutons lost hundreds of thousands of men at Verdun and gained nothing, while the Gauls nearly lost Paris after launching the Neville Offensive.

Joe not only shattered two of the Teutonic defenses and brought the war into Teutonic territory, but also advanced over a hundred kilometers in a single day.

If the Teutonic armistice hadn't been signed in time, Joe might have stormed into Germania a few days later.

Not to mention that in the first Battle of Paris, Joe single-handedly withstood the Teutonic attack and may have even killed the Teutonic prince.

This record can basically be called a miracle.

So when Joe sat down in the representative's seat for the Bunitania, everyone except the Bunitanias spoke in a much lower voice.

If anyone is unhappy with Bnitania's proposal, Joe doesn't need to say anything; just looking at them will significantly reduce that person's dissatisfaction.

Even so, the negotiations did not go very smoothly.

The reason for the setback was quite simple: both sides suffered heavy losses in the war, so the victors were eager to take a piece of the losers' flesh to make up for their own losses.

But from the Teutons' perspective as losers, they weren't trying to tear a piece of their own flesh off, but rather to swallow them whole.

The Teutons were prepared for being asked to reduce their military as the losers.

After all, it is perfectly normal to reduce the army after the war ends. In fact, the Teutons would reduce the army without them even having to say it, since they really can't afford to support a million-strong army now.

However, Gaul demanded that the Teutons disband their army from then on, and be allowed only a military and police force of 30,000 men, and be prohibited from possessing any weapons other than rifles and pistols.

The prohibition on research into airplanes, tanks, artillery, surface or underwater combat ships, chemical weapons, and almost everything except rifles broke through the Teutons' defenses.

Among the many demands of the Gauls, the demand for disarmament was the most amicable.

The remaining conditions included the partition of the Teutonic colonies, astronomical reparations, and the dispatch of military observers to Teutonia to monitor the movements of the Teutonic military and police forces.

The Teutons slammed their fists on the table, declaring, "If we sign this agreement, we will become a colony!"

After the Teutons slammed their fists on the table, the Gauls slammed their fists on the table in return, shouting, "Shut up, defeated nations!"

If this negotiation weren't to determine the future world order, its linguistic value wouldn't even compare to a primary school students arguing.

Joe was so sleepy in almost every meeting that a nosy Citibank reporter took a picture of him sleeping with his arms crossed, and titled it "The Sleeping Tiger of Versailles" to show that the war was really over and even old Joe could now sleep peacefully.

Although the meeting was quite boring, Joe still made some friends during it.

As a legendary figure in this great war, Joe had some reputation even in the New World. So after the conference, apart from the defeated countries that were in a state of sustainable isolation, many other representatives came to deal with Joe with a sense of curiosity, as if they were seeing something rare.

Then these representatives discovered that Old Joe was a remarkable person. The young man was not only handsome, but also had a pleasant voice. More importantly, besides being a soldier, he was also an engineer and a factory owner.

As they chatted, they realized they could do some small business together. Of course, compared to cultivating relationships with these diplomats, Joe and Rolls-Royce accomplished something significant during their time in Versailles, all through telegrams.

Those are the first five Rolls-Royce Indomitable SUV Victory Special Edition vehicles, which Rolls-Royce has already produced and delivered.

The Rolls-Royce No. 1 vehicle, codenamed "Crown" (serial number 0001), was equipped with the engine of the last aircraft of "Red Knight," the undisputed number one ace in the air battle during this war, and the entire vehicle was painted in the same red as that aircraft.

And apart from the chassis system, almost all the materials came from that aircraft.

As a professional manufacturer of ultra-luxury vehicles, this convertible SUV has almost reached the pinnacle of luxury in this era. Except for the interior where leather can be used, everything is wrapped in leather, and even the floor is a soft leather carpet.

The vehicle also features extensive gold-plated decorations, and the brake lights and side marker lights at the rear are designed to resemble the flag of Bonania when illuminated using cut ruby ​​fragments.

Meanwhile, the elongated body and adjusted body lines make the vehicle look more elegant without diminishing its military feel.

Furthermore, on the side of the front of the vehicle, above the plaque recording the Red Knight's air combat achievements, there is another plaque with the background of the Bonanian flag that reads "1914-1918 To the Proud Victors".

Originally, the level of Rollo Company was not high enough to send gifts to the royal family. Even Joe, who was only a temporary major general, was not high enough in terms of military rank to send gifts to His Majesty. However, Joe's reputation and His Majesty's good impression of Joe successfully made up for this.

So His Majesty generously accepted the gift. In fact, according to Rolls-Royce, His Majesty only had a polite smile on his face when he saw the red SUV.

But when the Rolls-Royce engineers told His Majesty about the origins of the car and what it contained, the smile on His Majesty's face could no longer be maintained.

Using the same joystick that the Teutonic ground crew had used to start the Red Knight's engine, which had been polished and covered in leather, His Majesty the Emperor first drove around the palace several times himself, and then took his son for a spin around the palace several times.

Finally, he got out of the car with a smile, patted the Rolls-Royce manager and the engineer who came to hand over the vehicle on the shoulder, and expressed his great satisfaction with the car.

And they are willing to issue a Royal Commission to Rolls-Royce.

A so-called Royal Commission is a promotional document that proves the product was supplied to the royal family.

Given that the British royal family still wielded considerable influence in the world at that time, countless people eagerly offered gifts to His Majesty, hoping to obtain one, but to no avail.

The Rolls-Royce manager was naturally moved to tears by His Majesty's generosity.

Then he immediately published the details of this matter, along with the specifications, performance, and materials of the 0001 'Crown' presented to His Majesty, as well as the Royal Commission, in the newspapers.

Meanwhile, the Rolls-Royce manager also stated in the newspaper, "Why was Joe able to break through the Teutonic defenses and advance more than 100 kilometers in one go during the final stages of the war?"

Because Joe's troops were equipped with these reliable vehicles with good off-road capabilities, it was the Indomitable Off-Road Vehicles that brought Joe victory.

Even though a meeting was still being held at Versailles, the power of money still played a role.

This incident still made the front page of almost all newspapers in Bonitania, and in the following days it appeared on the first three pages of newspapers in countries including Gaul, Citizen, Teutonic, Lucia, and Italy.

The result of this publicity campaign was that orders poured in for Rolls-Royce like snowflakes.

Rolls-Royce even gifted the first five cars to Field Marshal Haig and other members of the wartime cabinet as a token of gratitude to those who led them to victory.

At the same time, everyone felt that the name "Unyielding Victory Special Edition" was too long and difficult to pronounce, and besides, was this what everyone came for? Why not just call it "Victory Chariot"?
As a result, in an instant, everyone who received the cars, except His Majesty, including the Prime Minister and Marshal Haig, had a large number of people flocking to their homes, wanting to see and test these victorious vehicles.

Then everyone who test drove it raved about this lightweight off-road vehicle.

There were even some wealthy and powerful individuals who, after seeing the car, immediately said, "Considering our years-long relationship, name your price and give me the car. Consider this a favor I owe you."

If even the prime minister, who had just received the car, was so impressed, Rolls-Royce, which hadn't expected the car to be so popular, was even more struggling to cope with the soaring market enthusiasm.

Not only were the Bunitas interested in these cars, but the Gauls, Caucasians, and even the Teutons were also very interested in them.

So much so that, for a time, ordering these victories from Rolls-Royce was no longer simply a matter of wealth, but rather a matter of background and status.

Along with the safety razor blades that Joe had included in the car, which were handmade by the Lucia ladies and partly out of personal motives, they instantly became a hit.

Even though Joe is now expanding production capacity, orders are still booked all the way into 1925.

Faced with such high market enthusiasm, Joe decided without hesitation that since this was no longer just about buying and selling vehicles, but had entered the realm of collecting, he had to add fuel to the fire.

He relied on his relationship with Marshal Haig, as well as his previous rescue of American pilots and training of American armored soldiers.

After sacrificing several Victory tanks with less distinctive serial numbers and engines, Joe announced in the newspaper that, in order to commemorate the victory and thank the Air Force lads for their contributions.

The aircraft of the top five aces from Brittany and Citibank will also be converted into victory vehicles by Rolls-Royce free of charge, and these vehicles will be provided with lifetime free maintenance.

This statement caused the price of the Victory Car to skyrocket, eventually reaching a point where the price of an ordinary Victory Car with a very low serial number, manufactured by an engine driven by a non-ace pilot, was enough to buy a yacht and still have money to spare.

The success of the Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce not only made Joe a fortune, but also made Rolls-Royce the undisputed king of the ultra-luxury car market.

After all, all car manufacturers want to sell luxury and ultra-luxury cars, but getting customers to believe that your car has luxury and ultra-luxury attributes is a very troublesome thing.

After all, everyone can simply pile on materials and parameters; the biggest problem is getting people to pay for things that clearly exceed the cost of materials.

Now, no one questions whether Rolls-Royce, a niche brand that sold vehicles only in the Brittany market before the war, truly possesses ultra-luxury attributes in its cars.

Of course, the success of the Victory Cars also prompted the Gauls to protest against Bonitania again, demanding that at least half of those Victory Cars be given to them. At the same time, the Lishi Automobile Factory also tried to convert the vehicles used by the Gallic ace pilots into luxury cars for sale.

It's just that they weren't like Joe, who went straight for high performance and went so far as to cram aircraft engines into the car, creating a four-wheel drive off-road vehicle where you could just step on the gas and leave the rest to the four-wheel drive.

As the revelry was drawing to a close, the Gauls pulled out a car equipped with an aircraft engine, which attracted some attention in Gaul but not much elsewhere.

Following the resounding success of Project Victory, Joe's relationship with Rolls-Royce soared to new heights that, even before the Versailles Peace Conference concluded, Rolls-Royce extended an invitation to Joe to join their board of directors.

While accepting the invitation from Rolls-Royce, Joe also began preparing for a new project.

Meanwhile, as the Bunitania Expeditionary Force had begun its withdrawal to its homeland, large-scale troop reductions were imminent.

Therefore, before the troops were demobilized, the government departments first carried out a round of downsizing of the female employees hired during the war. On the one hand, with the end of the war, various departments no longer needed so many people. On the other hand, since ancient times, soldiers who returned from the battlefield without work have been a great destabilizing factor.

So rather than keeping these women in their comfort zones, the men of London prefer to bring these women out and let the veterans go in.

Under such downsizing, Baron Edmund, who had managed to get a luxury car through Joe's connections, quickly assembled three highly capable secretaries for Joe, all graduates of Cambridge or Oxford with extensive government work experience.

Joe naturally welcomed the arrival of these secretaries with utmost sincerity.

Because he had been spoiled by Catherine, Joe kept putting off writing the report after Catherine returned to the United States.

The arrival of these secretaries will be just in time to help Joe deal with the backlog of reports from the war.

Meanwhile, since Joe is preparing to enter the radio field, it means that he has a lot of complicated procedures to go through. Now these secretaries can handle these troublesome things, allowing Joe to focus his energy on research and development.

During his time in Versailles, Joe, who was bored to death, simply called over a few of the garage gang members who had already graduated, and also brought in a few communications soldiers who had been in charge of operating radios during the war.

A temporary laboratory was set up, and research on public broadcasting and civilian radio began in Versailles.

However, Joe's research had not been going on for long when, following the preliminary results achieved at the conference in Versailles, Joe was summoned back to London by His Majesty.

On the one hand, the general framework of the Treaty of Versailles has been determined. Although the Teutonic Empire will not disintegrate, they will have to give up all the land they acquired during the war, and the size of their army will be strictly limited to 80,000 men, and they will not be allowed to equip themselves with any heavy weapons.

At the same time, the Teutonic Empire will lose all its colonies, pay huge reparations to Bunitania and Gaul, and return Alsace-Lorraine, which it had seized in the last war, to the Gauls.

At the same time, some of the eastern territories that were historically occupied will be forced to cede, and a new republic will be established by Polish nationalists in the east.

This is one of the reasons why King George was summoned back to London by His Majesty.

Although the losses were heavy, they still won this time. In fact, Jonah's final left hook was decisive and clean. Therefore, His Majesty plans to hold a military parade in London to celebrate the end of the war.

On the other hand, it is because the Teutonic Left Wing and the Lusian Left Wing are causing too much trouble in the East, and the situation on Emerald Isle is also unstable. His Majesty urgently needs a well-trained general to solve the problems.

So who was His Majesty George's most trusted general at this time?

His Majesty George has already planned that after the Trooping the Colour ceremony in London, there will be an award ceremony for those who have contributed to the war. After the award ceremony, George can choose whether to go to the East to cause trouble for those left-wing groups.

Let's go to Emerald Island and interact with those unruly people, so they'll understand the power of the empire.

----------

With the Teutons completely disarmed, the threat of war was completely eliminated, but compared to the devastated Gaul, Buntania was the ultimate winner of this great war.

Considering historical factors, Gaul's main focus for future defense should be on Bunitania.

Meanwhile, a rapid reaction force is being prepared in the Rhine direction to nip the threat in the bud should the Teutons show any signs of rearming.

————————《Gallic Defense Report 1919》

Although the army was forcibly disbanded, the officer corps system was not dismantled. Now it is necessary to retain enough officers in the army, even if it means demoting them.

The Versailles Conference confirmed that tensions still existed between the Bunitania and the Gauls, which might be a source of hope for the future revival of the empire.

————————《Teutonic General Staff Archives·1919》

(End of this chapter)