Imperial Elite

Chapter 121 The Gates of Hell: Paris

For Joe, project delays are normal; after all, some things just can't be done.

The project has already been forced to start; if it is forced into production, the outcome is hard to predict.

However, the development time for the eight-wheeled general-purpose transport vehicle was indeed a bit too long.

Even if it were developed now, the planned diesel engine would not be installed on the vehicle; instead, aircraft engines would continue to be used as a makeshift solution.

Although the research and development time is so long that it's almost enough to fight another major war.

However, after a long period of research and development, Joe was very satisfied with the performance of this eight-wheeled general-purpose vehicle, except for its fuel consumption.

First of all, this thing has a full eight wheels, which makes it better than the current six-wheel platform in terms of off-road performance and load-bearing capacity.

A six-wheeled vehicle can only transport one squad at a time, but this thing can transport almost half a platoon at a time, and can even tow an artillery piece on the back of the vehicle.

If they transport fewer vehicles, they can still load a heavy mortar or something similar onto the vehicle to support the front lines, based on the carrying capacity of a single squad.

As a heavy-duty platform, this thing was designed with bulletproof features in mind from the very beginning.

With simple modifications, this heavy truck can be transformed into a bulletproof armored vehicle, capable of traversing the battlefield despite light firepower.

In Joe's opinion, apart from arriving too late, this thing was top-notch in every other aspect.

No unit should refuse such a vehicle, especially armored units.

After all, this kind of vehicle can carry the maintenance team's belongings around the streets faster and in greater quantities.

This eight-wheeled vehicle can even pull a hound tank around the streets, greatly saving the hound tank's motorcycle hours.

While it certainly won't be able to pull medium tanks in the future, it's already quite good that it can tow light tanks weighing around ten tons.

If they can even tow tanks around, then dragging other units' belongings along is even less of a problem.

Once the armored forces kick down the door, these eight-wheeled trucks can solve the biggest problem in field breakthroughs.

That is, the speed of infiltration into the enemy's rear was not fast enough, and the amount of supplies transported was not enough.

If you kick a gap in the enemy's defenses and send a division directly behind them, the enemy's reinforcements can only send a regiment.

Once this breakthrough continues, taking over other people's territory will be a piece of cake.

Joe thought that since the equipment was so useful, it should be codenamed "Conqueror".

Then Joe naturally took the eight-wheeled truck to the Army Department, hoping that the Army Department could push forward the mechanization process of the troops, and we would put the tank issue aside for now.

Shouldn't we now have the military start procuring and equipping itself with eight-wheeled heavy off-road trucks?
However, just as the War Department had previously rejected Joe's modern warfare plan, it agreed to Joe's suggestion but did not fully agree to it.

Unfortunately, although Joe went out and brought back a lot of gold, the domestic economy was still in a state of semi-deadness.

In this situation, it would naturally be more difficult for the military to get new toys.

In particular, the army already has four-wheeled and six-wheeled vehicles, so the officials in the Ministry of War felt that they didn't really need this extra-large eight-wheeled vehicle.

So although out of respect for Joe, they were prepared to purchase a batch and distribute them to a few seed units to test the waters, the Army's attitude towards these eight-wheeled contraptions was basically like that towards stars in the sky—it didn't matter whether they were there or not.

But on the other side of the ocean, the American people, who had spent a lot of money on these eight-wheeled vehicles, were very excited as they looked at their new toy.

After all, how could something Teacher Qiao made be wrong?
Even if there are problems, it's because you haven't found the correct way to use it.

However, for the Citizen Army, this truck, known as the Conqueror, was extremely useful.

First of all, as a country with a very vast territory, the US Army has to travel long distances every time it conducts exercises or something.

Although there are trains now, in most cases, you still have to walk to get to the train station.

It's not that the Citibank Army is stingy and doesn't equip its troops with trucks.

At that time, most civilian trucks could only carry one or two tons, at most four tons, which was not enough to carry much cargo.

Secondly, these trucks basically lack off-road capabilities, which is a luxury. Once they leave paved roads, they're so bad that drivers would rather give them a good beating if they didn't break down.

This explains why the pickup truck version of the Unyielding SUV is selling so well.

The Conqueror not only has a large carrying capacity, but also high scalability.

Not only can it carry the belongings of a whole company around the streets, but when necessary, it can also bring a platoon to the battlefield at once, while providing heavy machine guns and mortars to support the battlefield, making it a powerful fire support unit.

This vehicle is not only capable of speeding on highways, but also can reach a top speed of 45 kilometers per hour in off-road conditions, making it the most agile dog in the wilderness.

Although the high center of gravity makes the vehicle prone to overturning if the driver is inexperienced and makes careless turns, the vehicle's high center of gravity means that the vehicle could easily roll over.

However, because of their excellent foundation, during the testing before receiving the vehicles, the artillery units even did things like putting a 155mm gun on the vehicle, towing another 155mm gun behind the vehicle, and running around the streets with half a load of ammunition.

After completing this trip, the artillerymen, who had long been tired of tractor-trailers and transport vehicles, immediately declared, "We don't care if you want this vehicle or not, we want it!"
When the artillery units reacted strongly, the infantry units also started to stir things up.

From the beginning, Joe had considered turning this thing into an armored vehicle.

Since it's an armored vehicle, there must be a weapon bay on the roof. But for an armored vehicle, mounting a machine gun on the roof is enough to suppress enemy troops in the trenches.

But the infantry clearly didn't think that way.

After being beaten by the Teutons in the Old World, the American infantry had a slight need for firepower.

Simply put, after being bombarded by the Teutonic machine gun positions and artillery fire, the infantry commanders felt that they also needed something like a tank that could make the Teutons fly with their bunkers.

So when they saw the mortar firing positions reserved on the Conqueror, these clever guys wondered if the fact that this vehicle could fire mortars meant they could increase the caliber a little.

Go! Bring me the 75mm field gun!

Then, after some clever modifications by the infantry commanders, which I thought would work, they actually got the 75mm guns firing on the Conqueror.

Although the Conqueror almost overturned after that shot.

But this vehicle can actually tow artillery, drag it right up to the enemy's head and fire, so what else is there to say! Buy it!

With everyone satisfied with the Conqueror, Rolls-Royce soon received large orders from across the ocean.

As agreed during previous joint development efforts, Rolls-Royce will transfer its production line and production license to Citibank after delivering the first batch of 500 vehicles, enabling Citibank to produce the Conqueror.

Due to the Conqueror's versatility, even before the first batch of 500 trucks arrived, there was already a dispute within the Citizen Army about who should receive them first.

After all, this car is so versatile that everyone wants to get their hands on it first.

The conqueror's versatility also prompted the brilliant minds in the Ordnance Department to start thinking.

Is it possible, just a possibility, that we are currently less than one percent complete in developing the Conqueror eight-wheeled vehicle chassis?

So, before the army's combat units even received the officially delivered Conqueror vehicles, the clever heads of the Ordnance Department had already obtained the Conqueror's design drawings from Rolls-Royce and began to think about how to make minor modifications to the original transport platform to make the vehicle more suitable for the needs of the Citizens Army.

Just as the Ordnance Department was pondering this, Joe was also pondering it.

After 1922, Joe became even more depressed than he had been in 1921, a year that had made him less than happy.

Although the finalization and production of the long-delayed Conqueror eight-wheel off-road truck seemed like a good start to 1922.

But Joe soon discovered that this might be the only good news of 1922.

Just after the New Year, with the Conqueror in production, Joe had also finished a new script and was preparing to collaborate with Hollywood on a film.

Although last year's "Greek Conspiracy" made Joe a lot of money, Hollywood also pulled off a major hit.

That meant they directly contacted Ms. Rose to film in Hollywood, and filmed the incident where Joe stormed the train station.

How would you describe that movie?
From a purely cinematic perspective, this film clearly imitates Joe's filming style in both camera movement and special effects. Although it is still somewhat immature, it represents a qualitative leap compared to his previous freeze-frame shots.

So the box office response was pretty good. However, many of the people who went to see the movie weren't there because the director borrowed tanks and trucks from the Citizens Army to replicate a train station near Paris in Hollywood for filming.

As is well known, Ms. Rose had a rather passionate and open career, although she had retired from it after becoming a hero in Paris.

However, this enthusiasm and openness continued onto the screen, even due to the Hollywood screenwriters' characteristic habit of not knowing how to write a script without a kiss or a roll around.

In addition, Joe's reputation in this area has never been very good.

So in the movie, Joe and Ms. Rose had some things that had to be said, things that everyone had to talk about.

Then, after watching the movie, many people began to express strong dissatisfaction with why Joe would turn his back on someone after pulling up his pants.

Some people were dissatisfied, and the media, seeing that there was big news, naturally followed suit immediately.

Although the BBC refrained from joining the celebration out of respect for its boss.

However, in no time, rumors about Joe's affair with Ms. Rose spread all over the world, making Joe extremely disgusted.

However, Joe also knew that at this moment, whatever he said would only add fuel to the fire.

At this point, the only thing to do is to quickly come up with something new to divert people's attention and make them forget about it.

So, besides getting the BBC to start producing radio dramas as soon as possible, Joe also did other things to help those idle people pass the time.

I also feel that I should reshape people's memory of the Battle of Paris, so that they remember how difficult the Battle of Paris was, rather than how good Lady Rose's figure was.

Having seen Wagner's battlefield footage, it was clear that trying to provoke the audience from that angle was no longer an option. Fortunately, Joe still had a loyal old friend, Jean-Pierre, whom he emailed while he was currently in the Dark Continent, eating sand and driving a tank, interacting amicably with the local inhabitants.

After complaining about his current situation, Jean-Pierre comforted Joe and also told him about the rumor that had circulated among the Gallic and Teutonic soldiers during the Second Battle of Paris.

There are gates to hell beneath Paris, and those Gallo/Teutonic bastards now want to open them and unleash the demons!

Joe thought this rumor was a good idea; people would definitely be more interested in hell than his own crotch.

At the same time, as a seasoned veteran who used to roam the internet searching for resources, Qiao also knew very well that the best way to forget a teacher was to find an even more impressive one.

This is similar to the Olympics; people only remember the most exciting one, not who was the second most exciting.

So Joe was writing the script at lightning speed, and while using his connections to apply for filming in Paris, he also sent a telegram to Hollywood to find me the most outstanding actress to play the lead role!
Joe's original idea was to include some scenes involving sheer fabric and wet bodies to really provoke these guys who scream and yell after watching a movie, and make them update their list of favorite actors.

Stop thinking about my business here.

However, what Joe didn't expect was that Hollywood, which had already shown its utmost sincerity, would start to ponder when he asked for "the most outstanding actress to play the lead role."

Joe used to have no interest in actresses, but now he suddenly wants the most outstanding actress. This is definitely because he is dissatisfied with the current rumors and wants to divert attention. Everyone knows this, so he can definitely handle it properly.

But what exactly is the most exciting?
That Ms. Rose was intellectual with a touch of debauchery; she was the kind of person you wouldn't immediately associate with that kind of profession.

It is precisely this image of a respectable professional woman that has made Ms. Rose incredibly popular. Even with her somewhat controversial past, she is now reportedly pursued by wealthy men.

So we should choose the Rose Lady style?
Or should we choose a version that looks more intellectual, or a version with a more vulgar figure?

I don't know what kind of actress Joe wants, but asking Joe about such a small matter would make me seem unprofessional.

In addition, Hollywood has no secrets at all, and after hearing that Old Joe was going to make a movie and was looking for a female lead.

Hollywood actresses immediately sent their resumes to the studio with the ferocity of longbowmen firing a volley.

Faced with this vast array of actresses, each with their own unique style.

Hollywood studios gritted their teeth, stomped their feet, and decided to pick one film of each genre and send them all to the Old World! It's just a little boat fare! We can afford it!
Then, after Joe had prepared a script similar to Tomb Raider, he saw the list of actresses that Hollywood had sent him.

Qiao was dumbfounded. "I only wanted one actress, why are you sending me a whole platoon?"

However, the Hollywood selection at this time was indeed excellent. Even Joe, who had seen it all, felt it would be a waste to just send them back after seeing this group of actresses.

So... let's just stay and film, that way we can create some exciting big scenes.

Then, from this group of actresses, they selected one who was three parts intellectual, three parts wild, and had a perfect figure to play the lead role.

The Paris authorities also warmly welcomed Joe, the defender of Paris, to come and film the movie.

And so Joe's movie began filming.

The script for the story is quite simple. The female protagonist is from an old Parisian aristocratic family that originally lived a peaceful life in Paris. Her family usually went to a convent full of nuns for worship.

As a result, the Teutons attacked, and when they did, the heroine was in the convent praying, so the nuns hid her.

The Teutons who then invaded did many bad things to the nuns in the monastery.

Then, when the female protagonist, who was hiding, saw this horrifying scene, she also hid in a crack in the wall and heard a Teutonic colonel explaining to his subordinates who did not want to do it.

What they did to the nuns was only the first step in opening the gates of hell. They had to thoroughly desecrate several monasteries located on the seal, otherwise they could not open the gates of hell and would completely destroy Bonitania and Gaul.

The colonel's subordinate objected and was shot dead by the colonel. The colonel then joined in the torture of the nuns and even tortured the abbess himself.

During the process, she was burned by the cross worn by the abbot. At that moment, the heroine rushed out from her hiding place, swung the silver cross on the pulpit, hit the colonel, and then rescued the abbot, who seemed too old to be the abbot and whose figure was somewhat vulgar.

Then the female protagonist teams up with the Dean to retrieve iconic items from some Parisian landmarks in war-torn Paris before the Teutons arrive, in order to prevent the Teutons from opening the gates of hell.

Meanwhile, the Paris garrison provided them with the greatest support. To prevent the Teutons from opening the gates of hell, many squads of the Paris garrison fought bravely until the last man fell.

This approach initially succeeded in preventing the Teutons from opening the gates of hell, but the Teutons' ruthless use of poison gas and blood sacrifices during the battle proved disastrous.

At the same time, it directly opened the sealed entrance to the Paris catacombs located beneath the Eiffel Tower.

Next, all they need to do is perform a blood sacrifice there using the nuns they've already tormented to the point of near death, and they'll be able to open the gates of hell.

The abbot, who had discovered that the Teutons were about to open the gates of hell, offered to prevent them from doing so, but this required them to take what they had collected to the exposed catacombs of Paris beneath the Eiffel Tower.

To prevent the Teutons from opening the gates of hell, after the heroine told the Paris garrison about the Teutons' plot, the Paris garrison sent a force to create a breach in the Teutonic defenses.

At the cost of total annihilation, they escorted them to the Teutonic ceremony site.

At this moment, the Teutonic colonel, who had become all alone, had already killed the last nun at the ceremony site, completing all the steps to break the seal. He only needed to wait for the gate to open completely.

So, before the gates of hell opened, the heroine and the abbess engaged in a thrilling battle with Colonel Teutonic at the gates. After using the environment, friendship, bonds, and faith, they defeated Colonel Teutonic.

As the Teutonic Colonel lay in a pool of blood, muttering "Long live the Teutons!" with his eyes wide open, the abbot also told the heroine how to close the gates of hell.

That is, although the Gates of Hell can be sealed from the outside, once opened, they can only be closed from the inside. Therefore, one of them must now enter the interior of Hell to close the Gates of Hell, and at the same time, stay with the monsters in Hell forever.

The female lead immediately said that she was in the best condition right now, so it was natural for her to complete the task.

The dean didn't speak, but silently handed over some of the things they had collected to the female protagonist. Then, just as the female protagonist was about to enter the gates of hell that had been opened a crack.

Suddenly, the dean swung the cross in his hand at the female protagonist, knocking her over, and then said, "You are still young, you still have things to do, and this is my mission."

After handing over his rosary with the cross that he always carried with him to the female protagonist, he walked into the gates of hell while singing a hymn.

Then, a burst of holy light shone from the gates of hell that had been slightly ajar, and then the gates slowly closed.

Then the camera cuts to the Teutons signing the surrender agreement. As the camera pulls back, the female protagonist, dressed in a very gothic and stylish leather jacket, puts down the binoculars she was using to watch the signing and buries something in the ground.

Then, clutching the rosary of roses that the dean had given her, she picked up her backpack and walked away into the distance as if heading somewhere.

The movie ends here.

Regarding this script, the crew felt that if there really was a genius who had gone mad, then that person must be Old Joe. How did he come up with a script like this?

Especially the two actresses who played the lead and second lead roles, after understanding the script, looked at Qiao with such eyes that even Qiao himself felt uneasy.

The look in their eyes, as if they wanted to explode at Joe at any moment, forced Joe to send his bodyguards to the set to protect him, thus preventing these vixens from succeeding.

In an effort to divert attention, Joe displayed astonishing efficiency this time, and the editors sent from Hollywood made Joe's job much easier.

Soon after, the film, titled "Gates of Hell: Paris," was released.

Because Joe's past films were all very good, basically all of them were top-notch.

So after Hollywood studios announced the release date for "Hellgate: Paris," all other films released around the same time announced delays.

Are you kidding me? What level am I in? What level is Old Joe in? Do you even deserve to compete with Old Joe?

Especially with Steve Jobs' latest movie, the poster alone is enough to make people want to keep watching. Rather than being overshadowed by Jobs, it would be better to postpone the release of the film ourselves.

Apart from a few already released films, such as "Paris Rose," there were almost no other films showing in theaters when "Hell's Gate: Paris" was released.

Then, unsurprisingly, "Hell's Gate: Paris," a film based entirely on fictional events and even more so than "The Greek Conspiracy," once again ignited the entire media frenzy.

Although thrillers existed long before movies were first released.

However, those cheap props and almost plotless horror movies are basically no scarier than Halloween costumes on the street. They're not scary at all; sometimes you just want to laugh.

However, "Hell's Gate: Paris" is different. For the audience who were still very naive at the time, this kind of completely fabricated story based on facts was different, even though not a single so-called demon or devil appeared in the entire movie.

The only thing that might be related to hell is a custom-made medieval-style door by Joe.

This movie still managed to terrify people quite a bit. In fact, during the movie, after the Teutonic Colonel, who was also the Teutonic actor chosen by Old Joe, fanatically declared that "the gates of hell have been opened," someone in the theater screamed and fainted.

Since Wagner's films were mostly made on location in the past, many people believe that this movie might be real.

This prompted the Teutonic Republican government, which had previously never retaliated against criticism, to lodge a serious protest against José for his defamation of the Teutonics for the first time.

While the Teutonic protests were taking place, the Papacy was unsure of what to do.

After all, religion is a serious subject, and Joe's decision to film it without prior notice made the church unhappy. However, the positive image of the church in the film made the Vatican feel that it wasn't entirely unacceptable.

Especially due to concerns about the invasion of hell, many people who didn't usually go to church have started going after the movie's release, which has left the church speechless.

The church didn't know what to say, but Hollywood Studios knew all too well what to do.

The two leading actresses had just disembarked and hadn't even had a chance to get into the car when the studio kicked them back to the Old World.

At the same time, the studio also sent a telegram to Joe.

In the telegram, Hollywood Studios' attitude can basically be summarized as: "Dad! You're my dad! Make one! We'll make another! If we don't make another one while this is hot, what's the difference between this and not picking up a gold nugget that fell on the ground?! Please!"

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Like Kingsman, Hellgate: Paris pioneered a completely new genre of thriller-adventure films, and its impact is so great that it could be listed as one of the ten most influential films of the 20th century.

—From *A History of 20th Century Cinema*

(End of this chapter)