Imperial Elite

Chapter 102 1920 was a good year
1920 was definitely a good year for Joe.

Since the end of the Emerald Isle turmoil last year, Joe has been enjoying a rare period of peace and leisure.

Everything was going in a good direction, and even some of Joe's silly fantasies came true on Christmas Day in 1919, making Joe feel incredibly happy.

In fact, in the latter half of 1919, as his younger brother James's clique became increasingly arrogant in York, Joe couldn't have imagined what this kid would do in York if he hadn't been too young to run for office, and if even smoking and drinking were illegal at his age.

Since being sent to work in the factory by Joe, this guy has become increasingly high-profile, starting by giving things to the poor and gradually developing into leading his own small group to maintain order and even taking the initiative to clean up the community on weekends.

Being enthusiastic about public welfare is a good thing, especially since this young man wants to be a member of parliament in the future. It would be good if he could leave an impression on the people of York through such decisive actions. However, if the money they use to give things to the poor is obtained by semi-coercively "persuading" their neighbors to donate in the community.

The mission to maintain order in the slums involved arriving in the slums and then forcing nearby police officers to enter the slums to protect him by making false police reports.

Even when they actively clean up the community, they have to lure the neighbors' children out and then stuff trash pickers and garbage bags into their hands, which makes the whole thing a bit distorted.

Especially James, he not only stirs up trouble on his own, but he's also very organized.

Every time he did these things, he not only involved the orphans that Joe had adopted, but even the kids from school joined in, which Joe could not tolerate.

Joe adopted these orphans because he felt he owed their father something; without their father during the war, he wouldn't be where he is today.

Therefore, after Joe adopted these orphans, his expectations for them could not be that they should aspire to great things, shoulder great responsibilities, or become outstanding talents, but at least that they should grow up safely and peacefully.

If they continue to follow James's path and mess things up like this, then the path of these orphans is clearly that of the rising godfather of York, for heroes have always emerged from among the young.

So Joe felt that if he didn't intervene now, it would be too late.

So, during the Christmas holidays of 1919, Joe simply brought his family to the Emerald Isle for a vacation.

Even though the Governor's Mansion is still being expanded and renovated, there are still rooms available to accommodate young men and women as well as their families.

Then, when Joe's family arrived at Emerald Isle, they were immediately stunned by the grandeur of Joe's governorship.

Although everyone in the family knew that Joe had done great things outside, such as establishing a country and becoming the governor of Emerald Isle to quell the unrest there.

However, what they saw in the newspapers still didn't give them a clear understanding of the matter.

The most memorable thing about what Joe did outside was probably the part where James took Ron and the others to the movie theater to watch a newsreel and saw Joe dodging bullets behind the podium.

This made James and Ron realize that being governor was a dangerous job.

This impression lasted until James and Ron saw Joe waiting for them at the dock, along with Joe's unique bodyguard, which was the only one of its kind in the world at that time.

Faced with the warm reception from the Governor's Palace and the luxurious facilities, James, after his initial excitement, could only manage to utter, "He can be replaced." Ron, on the other hand, was filled with excitement, but his eyes couldn't help but dart towards Joe's Northern Guard members.

For a kid growing up in York, Joe's guards were definitely too exciting.

In contrast, Joe's sister Jane remained remarkably calm. She even pinched Ron when his eyes were practically bulging out of their sockets, reminding him to wipe his mouth as he was drooling.

However, the orphans that Joe adopted were very reserved in this situation.

Even Dorn, who was quite familiar with Joe, seemed somewhat timid in the face of this situation.

It was only after Qiao told a few jokes that the tense atmosphere eased.

However, Joe didn't call these kids over just for a vacation.

Because the kids were getting more and more outrageous under James's guidance, Joe, who finally had some free time, decided to discipline them himself.

So, after letting these little guys spend three relaxing and enjoyable days on Emerald Isle, with almost everyone having a blast at the Governor's Palace.

Joe smiled and asked the little ones how they were doing here and whether they were adapting to life.

Upon hearing Joe's question, the orphans and Ron immediately nodded vigorously, expressing that life here was incredibly enjoyable, a true paradise, and they had no desire to leave York.

Only James and Jane realized that Joe was definitely implying something and was up to no good. In the past, they could have covered Ron's mouth, just like when the three of them wanted to go out on the streets and Joe asked them what they wanted to do, holding his cane.

But there were too many people this time, even if they had four hands, they couldn't cover them all.

Sure enough, after hearing Ron and the others say that this place was great, Joe's already bright smile became even brighter.

Joe told them that if they liked it, they should stay. Although the higher education on Emerald Isle wasn't great, the secondary education was passable. He would send them back to Bonitania when they were ready for university. In the meantime, they could stay here and have some fun.

Upon hearing Joe's words, James and Jane immediately covered their faces, lamenting that they should have eaten less when their mother gave birth to Ron, so that they could have had a smarter little brother.

With Ron nodding, they were sure to suffer the consequences. After all, the last time Joe gave them that fox-like smile was when he threw them into that boarding school for the elite.

This time, Joe showed that smile again, clearly indicating he wasn't holding back anything good.

Just as James had thought, Joe, who had long felt that these little rascals should be taught some discipline, had even studied the feasibility of sending them to military academies.

However, they gave up after discovering that if they were to send these lads to military academy, their future would essentially be limited to a choice between the three branches of the Bonitania armed forces.

However, as Wagner's leader, it doesn't actually take that much effort to instill some discipline in these kids.

Although Wagner is still recruiting experienced veterans, after the war, experienced veterans are like mineral deposits in the mountains, and once they are mined out, they are gone. In a few years, it may be impossible to find veterans who meet Wagner's requirements.

Those veterans who are currently serving Wagner will eventually grow old and have to retire, so in order to prevent Wagner from running out of soldiers.

So Joe began establishing Wagner's training camps in Brittany, NATO, and Emerald Isle, preparing to recruit ambitious young people who wanted to make the world even stranger to join Wagner in the future.

Although these training camps are now primarily used to provide more specialized training for veterans.

For example, after the situation on Emerald Island calmed down, the War Department felt that it was pointless to keep the small commando unit, which consisted of a large number of officers and non-commissioned officers, so it prepared to disband the commando unit and let the members go back to their homes to continue their previous work.

Using his connections and minor influence within the Army, Joe successfully postponed the disbandment of the commando unit by eight months and began drawing elite members from Wagner to train the commando unit.

After all, although the training these people received was initially obtained by Joe from his good friend, after their massacre on Emerald Island, these commandos also developed some new insights into the training that were more in line with the characteristics of the times.

It would be such a pity to lose experience gained with bullets and lives.

Even after the riots on Emerald Island were quelled, Joe still harbored the ambition to form a rapid-fire airborne, air assault, or airlift force.

So Joe took the opportunity to expand this training camp, which was originally used for training urban combat, in preparation for training good boys who could fall from the sky here in the future.

Now, although the basic preparations for this unexpected event are not yet complete, with the spirit of "if you're going to herd a camel, you're going to let a flock of ducks roam free," those boys and girls have been thrown into this training camp in an attempt to instill some discipline in them.

At the very least, they should look presentable when they walk down the street, instead of being a bunch of thugs loitering around.

Just as Joe kicked James and the others into Wagner's advanced training camp, a rumor began to circulate on Emerald Isle.

In fact, when Joe was picking people up at the dock, some people noticed that Joe's brother Ron had red hair, and Joe's father also had red hair.

Hmm... red hair...

Although the people of Emerald Isles are basically the same as the people of Bunitania in appearance, a distinctive feature occasionally appears among them: unlike the people of Bunitania, whose hair is mainly blonde or black, many of them have fiery red hair.

After discovering that Joe's father and brother both had red hair, the people of Emerald Isle began to ponder.

Given that red hair is a key characteristic of people from Emerald Isle, and both Joe's father and brother have red hair, is it possible—just a possibility—that Joe could be considered an Emerald Isle person by some means, and that Joe is one of us?

Joe only heard the rumor from the intelligence department some time later. As the situation calmed down, the intelligence department's work became much less difficult, and theoretically, they no longer needed to maintain the same level of intensity as before.

However, Joe disagreed, because the Emerald Isles' displeasure with the Bunitanias was not a sudden, short-term event, but a problem with deep historical roots.

Even if he distributed land to the farmers, it would still take at least one or two generations to diminish their independent thinking.

Therefore, the intelligence agencies not only cannot relax now, but must continue to work hard to find more informants and collaborators, and to root out those hidden independent elements. Only by getting to the root of the problem can we truly solve it.

Joe didn't want to delve into the matter of people from Emerald Isle believing they could be considered Emerald Isle people by rounding up. As long as they didn't cause trouble, Joe would nod and say, "You have excellent eyesight," even if they thought they were from the Moon.

Since it was no secret that Joe had brought his family to the Emerald Isle for a vacation, Diane and her daughter also arrived at the Emerald Isle two weeks before Christmas.

The prototype gun that Diane brought last time was so well-made that Joe felt it was a bit excessive to use such exquisite craftsmanship to make such a simple thing.

After all, this thing was originally designed as a water pipe that could fire bullets. Its features include being able to fire bullets, being highly producible, and having a very small gun body that can be easily inserted into almost any place.

Joe had no doubt that, let alone the two exceptionally talented female assassins who tried to kill him on Emerald Island, even some open-minded individuals in his secretariat and guards could easily conceal such a submachine gun on his person.

So after the prototype guns passed the tests, Joe placed an order with Diane in Wagner's name to distribute these submachine guns to Wagner's tank units.

Although the tank force already has tanks, the most powerful ground equipment.

However, on the battlefield, they are often forced to abandon their vehicles for various reasons.

At this point, the only thing they could use to protect themselves was often the small pistol they carried.

Obviously, this firepower was insufficient, so Joe planned to equip the tank crews with these simple and lightweight submachine guns as their firepower reserve in times of crisis.

Then Joe pulled out a new design requirement for a semi-automatic rifle, a general-purpose machine gun, and a more sophisticated submachine gun.

Simply put, because Joe was pushing hard for the mechanization of Wagner and NATO forces, the original bolt-action rifles were clearly not well-suited to this combat environment.

Although two light machine guns were crammed into a squad, and Joe would add more submachine gunners, the rifles carried by the basic riflemen were simply too long.

Although the rifle is long enough, it has an advantage in accuracy when engaging in bayonet fighting and long-range shooting.

However, Joe felt that since mechanized infantry were already riding in armored vehicles, they naturally didn't need to shoot from a distance. In addition, based on Joe's experience, one of the reasons why bayonets were not as effective as entrenching tools in most melee scenarios in trench warfare and urban combat was that they were too long and difficult to maneuver.

So it's time to shorten rifle length and start researching semi-automatic rifles so soldiers can just spray bullets at the enemy.

Britannia has no need for equipment upgrades, but Wagner and NATO will gradually carry out such equipment replacements in the future.

Faced with Joe's demand for three weapon designs and the potential future orders, Diane immediately demonstrated remarkable initiative, frequently traveling between Birmingham and Emerald Isle.

Normally, in this kind of R&D work, after the client puts out the requirements, the contractor starts working on the project in isolation until they have made some progress. Only then will they take samples to the client to see if it is what the client wants.

Then, they negotiated on certain requirements and key metrics.

However, Joe was clearly not a normal client. As a former engineer, Joe not only had an extraordinary understanding of mechanical structures, but he also had a good friend who was involved in the "Enfeoffment Edict," collective farms, and the Patriotic Health Campaign.

Even if he couldn't remember the disassembly diagrams of those guns he had seen online back then, it didn't stop Qiao from asking his good friend to show him some automatic gun design drawings in his dreams for reference.

With a client who can pull out blueprints from his crotch and slap them on his face when setting targets, Diane naturally wouldn't blindly torment her engineers anymore. Whenever she encountered a problem, she would take her daughter directly to Joe to ask how to solve it, and then have lunch or dinner with Joe.

Then you can go horseback riding in the garden, play tennis, or go boating on the lake.

With both sides showing some interest, Joe and Diane and her daughter quickly became acquainted, even to the point that Joe had seen Diane and her daughter in their pajamas at the Governor's Mansion before going to bed one night. Of course, that was all; realizing that their relationship might be slipping away, Catherine and Elena temporarily reconciled and prepared to take drastic measures to prevent outsiders from interfering.

So every time Diane and her daughter came to Emerald Isle, Catherine and Elena would always give Joe a little thrill.

Now that the entire Joe family is on Emerald Isle, Diane and her daughter will naturally not miss this opportunity. With the whole Joe family here, Catherine and Elena can no longer keep a close watch on them like before, can they?

As it turned out, with the arrival of Joe's family, Catherine and Alina's defenses were indeed not as tight as before.

Just as Diane came to try and gain favor with Joe's parents, Catherine and Elena also wanted to use Joe's parents to achieve a surprising victory.

The two sides were once again deadlocked until Christmas, when even Wagner's training camp was closed for the holidays.

The young men and women who had been thoroughly trained were sent back to the governor's mansion.

Wagner's training camp was not a good place, although its main purpose was to train Wagner's veterans in special combat skills.

However, these veterans only exerted a fraction of their strength, yet the young men and women complained endlessly. After a day of training, they were so exhausted that they didn't even have the strength to speak while lying in bed.

The saying goes, "Either you become abnormal in silence, or you become evil in silence."

For Joe, who threw himself into the training camp, these young men and women chose to become both bad and perverted.

After returning to the Governor's Mansion, although he was all smiles, he secretly began to study the layout of the mansion, preparing to give Joe a surprise.

You've made things so tough for us, so it's not a problem for us to get a little revenge, maybe play some pranks or something, right?

As for Joe's possible retaliation after the prank, we'll talk about that later. Anyway, Joe doesn't seem like the kind of person who would just behave and not cause them any trouble, as they appear.

So on Christmas Day, these young men and women, using everything they had learned in the training camp, set up a series of traps, just waiting for Joe to slip up and regret it forever.

Of course, adhering to the principle that even pranks shouldn't ruin Christmas, the boys set the trap's activation time after Christmas dinner.

Even if Joe looks terrible at this point, it won't affect Christmas dinner, and based on their understanding of Joe, he won't be too angry about such a prank.

If nothing unexpected happens, Joe will even find it quite amusing after his initial anger subsides.

However, as expected, there was a slight unexpected turn of events, because an extra variable occurred during this dinner: they hadn't included Diane and her daughter in their plans.

So, after Christmas dinner, Diane and her daughter unfortunately fell into the trap before Joe.

Although this trap made of cream, chocolate, frosting and other food items is not fatal at all, it can be quite startling and make someone look incredibly disheveled when it suddenly smears them on their body.

Amidst the screams of Diane and her daughter, Joe, having discovered what the boys had done, picked up his cane to correct these rascals whose thinking had gone astray.

If Diane hadn't held Joe back, both James and Ron would have gotten a good beating.

Because of what happened, Joe changed his original plan. After Diane had showered and changed her clothes, he went to apologize to her again, and the apology turned into a chat.

Since chatting can't be all just talk, the kitchen brought out eggnog, mulled wine, gingerbread, and other snacks.

Although eggnog and mulled wine are considered beverages to some extent, they do contain alcohol, and Joe is known to have a very low alcohol tolerance.

So, as the next day arrived, Joe woke up in a somewhat unfamiliar bed, looking at an equally unfamiliar ceiling, and realized that he might be in trouble.

Fortunately, Diane is a reasonable person. Although she was also quite surprised by the current situation after waking up, after the initial shock, Diane felt that the past was the past and that it was better for the three of them to live their lives well.

The situation, where two rivals had turned into a three-way standoff, became lively and bustling in the governor's mansion in the days following Christmas, a lively atmosphere that finally subsided on New Year's Day.

Although monogamy was the norm in Old World countries for religious reasons, it was not unusual for noble families to have one wife at home and a whole host of lovers outside.

Even matters such as the inheritance rights of illegitimate children have been incorporated into law through long-term judicial practice.

So, to the astonishment of James and Ron, Joe announced that he would be engaged to Diane's daughter Kate on Valentine's Day in 1920, and as for the formal wedding... well, let's do it in midsummer of 1920.

The reason for rushing to do it in midsummer is very simple. Joe, Kate, and Elena have been together for a while now. Nobody knows which day or which time it will happen, but Joe now has an alternate account.

If you get married in midsummer, many of the legal procedures will be much easier afterwards.

Joe welcomed the year 1920 amidst the "thump-thump" of his mother tapping his head.

And just after the New Year, Joe received the first good news of 1920.

Although countries around the world have different regulations regarding alcohol consumption, in this year, the United States announced that it had officially entered a nationwide era of prohibition. Starting from January 17th, it would be illegal to manufacture, sell, or even transport any beverage with an alcohol content of more than 0.5%.

Of course, considering that some diseases require alcohol treatment and that having a small drink is not a particularly serious crime, the prohibition order also stipulates that drinking at home is not illegal, but drinking with friends or holding a banquet is illegal and can result in a maximum fine of 1000 francs and imprisonment for six months.

When Joe saw this in the newspaper, he felt like the United States was practically throwing money at him.

As we all know, where there is demand, there is a market. Now that the United States has closed all legal wineries, the demand for alcohol among Americans has not actually disappeared. So what will happen in this situation?

Joe certainly wasn't thinking of smuggling alcohol from Citibank; he couldn't bear the shame of that if word got out.

To smuggle and transport alcohol, you need a car, and a good car that can run away from the police.

So what kind of car can best meet this need?

Of course, it's the Unyielding Off-Road Vehicle that can run incredibly fast even in the wild!
Of course, the current Indomitable SUV is still too military-oriented. If you remove the military-grade components, give the Indomitable SUV a skinning job, add a cargo bed, and a large fuel tank, so that this vehicle can drive from Toronto to Cleveland at supersonic speeds, what if you could?

Wouldn't this kind of car be very popular?
If bootlegging dealers are buying these cars, shouldn't the Citizens Police also upgrade their equipment? This is an opportunity!

Of course, Citibank is different from Orient; Citibank has its own automotive industry, and it's quite large.

Therefore, entering the Citibank market is not an easy task.

However, Joe had his own thoughts on this.

To solve the problem of how to sell something to others, the first step is to make others want to buy your product. So how do you make others want to buy this product?

Of course, it's advertising!

Of course, advertising can't be like the common practice of placing ads in newspapers today, where performance parameters are directly written on paper.

We need to take into full account the educational level of the people who might buy these cars to engage in illicit drinking at this time. They might not understand if we write something about differentials, horsepower, etc.

Therefore, I need to use a more direct approach to make them understand that these indomitable off-road vehicles are capable!

The method was also simpler; the broadcasting system in Brittany was ready before Christmas, and Joe had already registered the Brittany Broadcasting Company, or BBC for short.

Since it was broadcast in Nabnitana, Citibank naturally couldn't let it go unnoticed.

Joe had a good relationship with some officers in the American Expeditionary Force, so maybe they could be of help?

The radio format is much more direct. If you add some radio dramas and some soft advertising placements, wouldn't that take off?

Of course, broadcasting wasn't direct enough. Joe thought he could make a short film and then give some money to Citibank's cinemas so they could play an ad before the movie started.

As someone who had been tormented by advertising before his time travel, Joe felt that advertising alone was not enough. He could also make movies to promote this improved version of the Unyielding Off-Road Vehicle, which was more suitable for Citizens' babies.

Fortunately, although the main expansion project of the Governor's Palace is not yet completed, the previously expanded film studio and other facilities have been completed.

After Joe had Catherine start preparing to purchase photography equipment and told Rolls-Royce about his ideas, he began to think about the script.

First, the movie needs to be exciting enough to generate enough discussion and attract enough viewers to the cinema. Second, as the absolute protagonist of the movie, the car must be the core of the film and the car that enables the protagonist to win big. The car must be cool enough to generate enough desire to buy it among the audience.

So what kind of film genres can meet all of the above conditions at the same time?
After several days of agonizing thought, Joe finally came up with an idea: why don't I make a spy movie?

A perfectly gentlemanly Buntanian agent, a Caucasian pilot who crash-landed behind enemy lines, a Gallic female telegraph operator, a female guerrilla leader from the Low Countries, a cruel and ruthless Teutonic colonel and his gentle and kind beautiful daughter—isn't that it?!
If we add some car chases, explosions, and have the actresses show off their figures, it'll definitely be a huge hit!

As for the fictional nature of this story, Joe felt it was completely unnecessary to worry about it. After all, the main characters were the Bunitas and the American pilots who continued to fight after the forced landing, which would be enjoyable for both Bunitas and Americans.

Especially since the Americans didn't achieve much in the war, now they're arranging for a pilot to be featured in a movie to boast about the bravery of the American Expeditionary Force. If Americans don't watch this movie, wouldn't they be a little unpatriotic?

As for the female guerrilla leaders in the Low Countries, although such things don't exist at all, they certainly wouldn't object to praising their spirit of resistance now.

As for Gaul... as long as the actress is pretty enough, and says a few lines like "Gaul will never surrender," they certainly won't have any objections. If all else fails, just have the actress wear stockings and do a few close-ups of themselves, and these Gauls should be satisfied.

The only ones who might have objections are the Teutons.

But no one cares about their opinions now, so the script is written as it is!
After finalizing the script outline, Joe began writing the script.

Since Catherine came to be Joe's secretary, Joe had never typed again, so this time was no exception.

Joe dictated, and then Catherine typed away on the typewriter.

Amid the clatter of the typewriter, Catherine Joe, engrossed in typing, suddenly had an idea.

"Catherine, would you like to act in a movie?"

"I?"

Catherine looked up at Joe with some confusion.

"I have never studied acting."

Joe thought about it and agreed, so he nodded.

"Alright then, I'll go audition a few actresses to play female roles."

Upon hearing this, Catherine's eyes widened immediately.

"I don't think it's necessary."

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Once pursued, those vehicles will leave the highway and speed across the wasteland. Our vehicles cannot catch up with them on off-road sections. If we want to catch up with them, we will need to purchase Indomitable off-road vehicles.

——————The Erie County Police Report, 1921

The Indomitable SUV profoundly influenced the development of Citibank Motors. Like the Chicago Typewriter, it became a symbol of an era during Prohibition. If you didn't want to get into trouble, you should stay away from people driving black Indomitables.

—From *Citibank: Our History*

(End of this chapter)