Imperial Elite

Chapter 88 A Day That Made the World Tremble

As Joe was heading to London, in the chilling north winds of Lucia, which seemed to come from purgatory and could freeze the soul, leftists from all over the world entered the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, or as these leftists preferred to call it, the Palace of Unity.

With the end of the war, the world situation gradually became clearer.

In Russia, in Teutonia, and in every corner of the East, these leftists discovered the same thing: imperialist and capitalist governments preferred to embrace the enemies they were fighting just a moment ago rather than live peacefully under the same sky as the left.

Therefore, all leftists are left with only one choice: unite all leftists and the proletariat! Plant the red flag all over the world!
Unlike before the war, when almost all leftists agreed to support their country's imperialist war, after five years of brutal warfare, the participants now recognize the reality they face.

What is happening in Lucia and Teutonia clearly demonstrates that there is only one language that imperialism and capitalism can understand: guns and cannons.

Therefore, the left-wing groups of the Teutonic and Lucia are preparing to unite in this vast land of the East to establish a nation—the Human Revolutionary Alliance—that is not based on old concepts of nationhood such as geography or ethnicity, but solely to realize that ideal and to plant the red flag throughout the world.

However grand their ideals may be, they must now complete a crucial task: to win the civil war and survive.

Therefore, after its establishment, the Human Innovation Alliance issued a call to the left wing around the world, hoping that they could come to Lucia and fight alongside them to win this war.

Joe didn't find out the news until several days later.

At that time, Joe had just finished meeting with John at the Ritz Hotel. Of the Royal Engineers squad, Joe was the only one who survived. Even John, who was later added to the squad, was seriously wounded in the Second Battle of the Somme, losing an eye and three fingers.

However, John refused Joe's offer to give him a job. He was fed up with all this machinery and planned to use his retirement pay and savings to buy a farm in a colony on the ocean and never deal with machinery again.

After giving John his business card and telling him to come to him if he got into trouble, Joe learned of the news as he was leaving by car.

I didn't even see this news in the newspaper.

Because labor relations in Bonitania have always been strained, news related to the left has been viewed as a scourge, like a plague similar to the previous flu outbreak. It was rarely reported in detail, except perhaps briefly mentioned in obscure corners.

The person who told Joe this news was Sir Cumming of the Overseas Intelligence Service. The reason for telling Joe this news was very simple: the organization knew that you had been busy preparing for the parade and certainly had no time to think about whether to go to Emerald Isle or Lucia.

Therefore, the organization has decided that the leftists in the East are a greater threat than the nationalists on Emerald Island. You can begin preparing to fight in the East. Our Overseas Intelligence Office will provide you with all the necessary assistance.

Upon hearing this news, George felt a chill run down his spine.

The big battle just ended, and you guys aren't planning to give me any rest at all, are you?
My factory still has so much surplus value, and I have so many new projects in my plans waiting for me to move forward. What can I possibly gain by going to Dongfang?

Moreover, Mr. Qiao felt that he had seen this script before. If he were to go to the East to interfere now, what would be the difference between that and going to IKEA to fight Jackie Chan?
Joe's old friend thought so too, but this time, unlike before, he didn't rush to the scene to mock Joe.

Because Joe's old friend is now facing an even bigger problem than Joe: the Department of Military Affairs has gone mad for some reason. After Joe's old friend purged the rebel forces on that planet, they didn't respond to his communications asking what the next mission was for a long time.

Then suddenly, a fleet from Terra arrived on the planet, and a representative from the Ministry of Military Affairs said, "You have fought hard for the Emperor all these years, and your service has come to an end. Now His Majesty has prepared the best retirement gift for you. From now on, this planet will be under your administration."

Before Joe's old friend could react, his men, those who could silently charge through a hail of bullets from traitors and who wouldn't utter a sound even if they died, had their morale collapse. Due to some historical reasons, Joe's old friend's men considered dying on the battlefield as their highest goal in life. If they could kill a few more traitorous bastards and chaotic scum, then their lives would be worthwhile!

But now the Ministry of Military Affairs wants to relieve them of their duties, which means they can no longer die on the battlefield. Instantly, a group of people broke down and started grabbing the collars of the delegation from the Ministry of Military Affairs, holding up their medals and questioning them why!
What troubled Joe's old friend even more than his subordinates' morale collapse was that another group of people from the Ministry of Military Affairs delegation came with a long list and asked him, "Now that you are the governor of this planet, shouldn't this planet pay the tithes it owes in the past?"

Faced with this situation, Joe's overwhelmed friend couldn't care less about mocking Joe for going to IKEA to fight Jackie Chan. After all, given the current situation, Joe's old friend was already fighting with Jackie Chan and T1000 at IKEA.

Joe knew that protesting to Sir Cumming about his upcoming trip to Lucia would be pointless. Although he was the head of the overseas intelligence service, he was nothing more than a mouthpiece in such matters.

There's no need for me to argue with him. If I really want to change the order, I'll have to wait until after the military parade to meet His Majesty.

If His Majesty is willing to have mercy on me, then I can get rid of this order.

So Joe's main task now is to complete the parade.

Since the Bonitania Army has a large number of generals, Joe, a mere provisional major general, is obviously not qualified to organize such a large-scale event. Therefore, what Joe needs to do is to select representatives from the Guards Armored Training Regiment to participate in the parade with him and form the tank and armored vehicle formations in the parade.

What's particularly frustrating for Joe is that the war is over, and the armored vehicles he developed for rapid mobility were only just coming off the production line in preparation for the war's rapid breakthrough of the Teutonic defenses.

And it wasn't the eight-wheeled model with stronger transport capacity—something Rolls-Royce engineers are still scratching their heads over—but rather the six-wheeled model that was a compromise later on.

Although they didn't participate in any actual combat, their imposing appearance led them to participate in the military parade as soon as they were equipped. Joe thought that if there were anime-style anthropomorphic military games in this world in the future, these armored vehicles named Conquerors would probably be the kind of guys with the best luck.

Because the troops participating in the parade were all elite veterans, and the navy was also preparing to hold a naval review, the army's parade was prepared very quickly.

Not long after, Joe and his troops passed by the road in front of Buckingham Palace. Standing in the vehicle, experiencing all of this, Joe, facing the banners hanging on the street and the petals falling from the sky, inexplicably had the thought that it was fortunate that there was no black cloak under the Britannian uniform.

Three days after the military parade, Joe participated as a guest in the naval review of the Bunitania Navy.

Compared to the army's military parade, the navy's naval review is obviously much more impressive, as if an endless array of warships is arranged in a huge square formation on the sea, and even the captured Teutonic battleships are included in this huge square formation.

While Joe, a country bumpkin in the army who had been rolling in the mud, felt that he had finally seen something new, he also sighed inwardly at the guys in the army who were planning the parade. They were really incompetent. Even if they didn't bring out some Teutonic equipment to parade through the streets, it was a real waste not to show off all those captured Teutonic flags.

After the naval review, the moment George had been eagerly anticipating finally arrived: His Majesty held a banquet at Buckingham Palace to reward the heroes who had distinguished themselves in the war.

As the most prominent army general in Bonitania during this war, Joe's family members were also invited to attend the ceremony.

Joe's parents, the elderly couple who had lived most of their lives in the slums of York, even though Joe had earned enough money to allow them to live in York's upscale neighborhoods, their biggest habit was still the same old old folks who would boast in bars. After entering Buckingham Palace and seeing the magnificent decorations and the nobles and civil servants dressed even more elegantly than themselves, they suddenly became a little intimidated and began to quietly ask Joe if he could find them an excuse to leave. This made them feel quite uncomfortable.

However, compared to Joe's parents, Joe's younger siblings and the orphans he adopted seemed much more at ease, even a little too at ease.

It seemed that they wanted to surprise Joe, so they didn't inform him until the very last minute. According to tradition, they invited all of Joe's family members to the ceremony, including the orphans Joe had adopted.

Upon hearing this news, Joe felt like his head was about to explode.

Others may not know, but does he not know the quality of those little guys?
Ever since they were put in that woman's sack, these little guys seem to have awakened something and turned into a group of wild and unruly action-takers.

James, who wants to become a senator someday, is alright, but those young guys like Ron, who haven't thought about what they want to do in the future, fully demonstrate what it means to be young.

Once inside Buckingham Palace, the little ones started peeking around, looking everywhere as if they wanted to explore.

In fact, they didn't just think about it; Joe had already apologized and pulled away from the important figures who were obviously being disturbed by these little guys who were trying to strike up conversations and look around several times.

Faced with these overly lively little guys, Joe, who was already feeling a headache, decided that he had to throw them into the army to experience the atmosphere of discipline. These guys were just too active right now.

However, Joe soon ran out of energy to manage the little ones, because according to the procedure, it was soon time for His Majesty to confer medals. As one of the first to receive medals, Joe could only hold onto his younger brother Jaime and Dorne, who had grown quite a bit in the year and was praised as honest and reliable in letters from teachers and parents. He asked them to keep an eye on the rest of the group and prevent them from causing any trouble.

Then Joe went to prepare to receive his medal.

Because of the many non-military contributions made during this war, His Majesty George added a new highest-ranking Order of the Empire to the Order of the Bunitania, to reward those who made outstanding contributions to the Empire.

Joe naturally became one of the first to receive this highest imperial award. Furthermore, His Majesty George bestowed upon Joe not only the Order of the Bonitania, but also a viscount title. Given that even the Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Force, Haig, was only granted the title of Earl, this viscount title was sufficient to demonstrate His Majesty George's favor towards Joe. Compared to this title, the £50,000 prize seemed somewhat unremarkable.

Joe never expected to receive the title of Viscount. He thought he would be content with a title like Baron, but he was surprised to find that he would actually receive a higher title, and his fief was located near York.

However, Joe was already content with not being given the Emerald Isle, and he didn't even know what to say when His Majesty George bestowed the title upon him.

But after standing up, he reflexively shouted "Loyalty!"

This peculiar reaction even made His Majesty George, who had been keeping a serious expression, burst into laughter.

However, the joyful time was always short-lived. After the investiture and knighthood were completed, Joe immediately went to His Majesty and said that he had been fighting for several years and had hardly rested for a single day. He asked if the trip to Lucia could be postponed a little.
When Joe expressed his desire to rest, His Majesty George's expression darkened. After a moment's hesitation, His Majesty George asked Joe if he had noticed that the Prime Minister was not present at the award ceremony and that the medals were accepted by his family members on his behalf.

Joe nodded, then he realized what was going on.

"His Excellency the Prime Minister is currently in Versailles attending the peace conference, which means..."

His Majesty nodded.

"Yes, whether it's a military parade or a naval review, it's all a performance, meant to show other participants that Bonitania still has the capacity to spare."

His Majesty George looked around and, finding no one nearby, spoke to Joe.

"Do you know how much money the Empire has borrowed from Citizens to win this war?"

Joe shook his head.

"A full ten billion. Although we can get all the spoils of war from the Teutons, including colonies, do you know how much war reparations the Teutons can squeeze out now?"

Joe continued to shake his head.

"With less than 10 billion, the Teutons went bankrupt in the first year of the war. They relied entirely on issuing bonds to sustain the war. You've been to Gaul, so you know how much Gaul suffered in this war. This amount of money is simply not enough for the Teutons to compensate either side for their losses."

"so……"

Upon hearing this, Joe vaguely had an idea, while His Majesty George smiled and patted Joe on the shoulder.

"So one of the focal points of the debate at the conference is how to deal with the Teutons. The Gauls want to acquire the Rhineland, where the industry, resources, and rivers will serve as Gaul's best northern barrier and allow the Gauls' economy to recover quickly. However, if the Teutons lose the Rhineland, and if they are forced to cede Silesia to Poland for the restoration of the country, the Teutons will completely lose all their industrial areas and become a second-rate country in the Old World. This is not in the interest of Buntania."

"Meanwhile, in the East, the plague of the left is spreading across the land. We no longer have the means to wage a war to eradicate this plague. We can only build a shackle in the East to temporarily put them in a cage."

At this point, His Majesty George looked at Joe seriously and said, "You are the best general in the Bonitania Army in a hundred years, so your next move will determine whether the westernmost end of this cage is in the newly established Polish Republic or in the Teutonic Kingdom. We hope it is in the Polish Republic because the Gallic people are relentlessly pursuing us, and the Teutonic Kingdom is at risk of becoming left-wing at any time."

His Majesty George sighed. “I know you’ve had a tough few years, but that’s the tragedy of being born in this day and age… But thanks to you, we’ve gained a significant advantage in the negotiations, allowing the Prime Minister to say no.”

Looking into Joe's eyes, His Majesty George said, "Go to the East, build that barrier for the Empire, and put those left-wing plagues in cages."

Since His Majesty George had already put it that way, Joe naturally had no reason to refuse. He simply sighed and then asked His Majesty George.

"How many people can I bring this time? What are the specific tasks?"

At this point, His Majesty George gave a slightly embarrassed smile.

"Joe, have you ever heard of a letter of marque?"

As Joe walked out of Buckingham Palace, although the dense array of medals on his chest looked like a bulletproof vest, and he had now completely crossed class lines and officially become a member of the Old London Union Jack nobility, from then on, people would address him as Lord instead of Sir.

But this doesn't stop Joe from feeling a chill run down his spine, as if he'd been taken advantage of.

In reality, Joe felt like he was being taken advantage of, and he couldn't even refuse.

Because of the current financial difficulties in Bonitania, and the upcoming military downsizing will cost a lot of money, the amount of money that can be squeezed out for the Empire's eastern bulwark is indeed not much.

After all, ever since the collapse of the Lucian provisional government, they had been providing continuous aid to the Lucian military government. Although some of that aid was obviously embezzled, the Lucian military government's rampage in the Balkans had at least made the investments in Bonitania and Gaul worthwhile.

However, with the full-scale war between the Russian military government and the Russian left-wing government, even a wealthy country like Buntania could no longer afford to support another expeditionary force or the Polish-German government.

So, after several centuries, the Bonitania royal family once again granted Joe a privateering license, allowing him to act as a pirate in the East, even though Joe knew nothing about the navy and had no intention of going to sea. That was the gist of it.

As long as the leftist plague can be kept east of Poland and Germany, and prevented from affecting the Old World, Bunitania will provide Joe with some support and endorsement, and allow Joe to act as he sees fit.

With this permission, it was essentially a license for Qiao to establish his own government in the East and become a regional ruler.

However, Joe knew that although this thing looked wonderful, it had two problems. First, no matter what he wanted to do in the East, he would need an army, and an army needed money. The emperor had already generously given him a privateer's license, so it was obviously inappropriate for him to ask the emperor for money again.

However, it wasn't convenient for him to ask the cabinet for money, since things like letters of marque were entirely a matter of closed-door politics, the kind of nods made in the dark.

If he encounters problems abroad, the Buntanian government will bail him out and provide him with a place to hide, but they will definitely distance themselves from him on the surface, stating that everything in the East is his personal behavior and has nothing to do with the Buntanian government.

Therefore, under such circumstances, the government would certainly not publicly allocate funds to him, and even if he wanted to ask the Prime Minister for an angel investment, not to mention whether the Prime Minister would agree, the Prime Minister is not in London right now.

With the Prime Minister absent, the rest of the cabinet certainly wouldn't agree to this kind of question.

Even the most audacious Winston could at most dispose of a batch of weapons for scrap metal prices, as a way to support his business.

So, after thinking it over, Joe decided that in order to complete this task, he would have to get something from someone else for free.

He'd put together a PowerPoint presentation to get the gentlemen of London to invest in him. After all, the title of ruler of the country comes with countless rewards. He missed the chance to enter the country with William and the Merry King, but now that he's about to enter, he'd ask them if they'd follow.

Of course, Joe had a lot of things to prepare before embarking on this expedition.

Moreover, given the current chaotic situation in the East, there's no point in rushing things.

After the awarding ceremony, Joe and his family returned to York. When he got off the train, he received a hero's welcome from the people of York. In addition to all the important figures from the city hall appearing at the train station to greet him, the York City government also erected a bronze statue of Joe in the square outside the train station to commemorate his contributions in the war.

The city government was even willing to provide special subsidies for Joe to build a manor on his fiefdom. Of course, while offering these benefits, the bigwigs in the city hall also hoped that Joe could make some contributions to the development of his hometown, such as whether Rolls-Royce could build another manufacturing plant here.

Even if Rolls-Royce's manufacturing plant can't be built again, can't the blade factory and hardware factory be expanded?
As long as Joe is willing to continue building factories and developing industry in York, the York government will definitely provide strong support.

In the past, faced with such a strong incentive to attract investment, Qiao would have immediately begun planning for business expansion.

But Joe, who had just received a privateering license from His Majesty, was now only thinking about two things: what he should do in the East, and how he should repay those who had sent him to fill in the gaps.
(End of this chapter)