Imperial Elite

Chapter 37 No... Dude...

The week after returning from York was the most comfortable week Joe had had since joining the army.

Since he was not on the front lines and neither the tanks nor the reinforcements had arrived, Joe had no training missions, combat missions, or combat readiness missions this week.

Qiao, who could do nothing and didn't need to do anything, felt like she was reliving the time right after the college entrance exam, before the results were released.

If it weren't for the newspapers still publishing news about the front lines, Joe would have thought the war was already over.

Just as Joe was beginning to adjust to this new life, the regimental commander, whom they hadn't seen for a week, suddenly appeared before everyone as if springing from a crack in a rock, announcing, "Tomorrow His Majesty, along with other important figures including the Prime Minister, will be coming to inspect the area and announce the reorganization of the troops. You're all veterans from the front lines, so be on your best! Don't embarrass yourselves!"

His Majesty and the Prime Minister's visit was naturally a major event, and the once peaceful camp instantly descended into chaos.

The soldiers began cleaning up the entire camp, while the officers took their dress uniforms out of their trunks and, dressed like a flock of peacocks, began to adorn themselves in front of the mirror.

Joe wasn't as excited as his colleagues about His Majesty's visit.

Having experienced too many visits from district leaders to the city leaders since childhood, Joe had developed a bit of PTSD from the mere thought of these high-ranking officials coming to inspect the city.

Being willing to wipe his boots a little, then take a shower and wash his hair, was already the greatest respect Joe could show His Majesty.

As for boots that aren't shiny enough, clothes that haven't been ironed, or even medals that are worn crooked, those are all trivial matters.

Joe, who was quite experienced in such occasions, had already planned it out. He would stand at the very back and let those who wanted to show off go to the front to stand at attention, while he would huddle at the back of the line, scratching his back. Who knows, if the atmosphere was enthusiastic enough, he might even be able to chat and joke around with the people next to him.

Of course, I definitely can't stand next to Herbert then; that rigid guy certainly won't want to chat with me.

Besides preparing to brag and joke, Joe also stuffed a few chocolates into his pocket.

After all, the most foolish and time-wasting part of such inspection activities is the leader's speech.

While I don't know if those leaders enjoy reading their prepared speeches on stage like elementary school students reading from a textbook, I, Qiao, who was starving and had legs that ached as if I had just run 800 meters, found it extremely unpleasant to listen to them read their speeches.

Just as Qiao was pondering, if he was standing at the back of the line, should he find something, like a convenient chair, so that he could sit down at the back?

God knows how many of those high-ranking officials will actually speak during this inspection.

Standing for hours at a time, who can stand that?

Just as Joe was staring at the chair in his room, wondering if there was any way he could modify it.

Company Commander Dennis's voice rang out from outside the dormitory, "Joe! Come out and receive the new vehicle! It's new stuff!"

The fact that they are receiving the new cars at this time is obviously a preparation for tomorrow's inspection.

The thought of facing an inspection tomorrow dampened Joe's spirits.

However, upon hearing that the company commander said it was something new, Qiao perked up and prepared to see what exactly the higher-ups had come up with this time.

I've submitted my report so long ago. Even if these guys aren't going to build new tanks, they should at least make some improvements to the old ones.

Then, when Joe saw those enormous things in front of the garage, he was just as shocked as when he first saw the ugly thing.

"No... buddy..."

Looking at the enormous machine in front of him, Joe was greatly shocked.

"How about it? This is our new car, it just rolled off the production line yesterday."

Cecil walked over to Joe and patted him on the shoulder. Then Cecil noticed that Joe's military uniform, while not exactly wrinkled, was full of creases and looked like a pleated skirt. His boots were just clean, not muddy at all. They were far from being the boots of an officer.

Based on Cecil's understanding of military discipline, Joe being inspected dressed like that would be considered misconduct, a offense that would likely result in him being arrested on the spot by the military police.

"Why are you dressed like this?"

In response to Cecil's question, Joe simply waved casually at the tank in front of him.

"Never mind, that's not the point. With this thing right in front of me, who cares what I'm wearing..."

If the last time Joe saw that tank, he was so disgusted by its ugliness that he didn't even want to get inside, after seeing this tank, Joe wondered if the design team behind it had been replaced.

This thing looks so... Joe couldn't even find a suitable word to describe the tank for a moment. Perhaps the closest word was... cool?
The tank had undergone a slight change since the last time Joe saw it.

The ugly observation tower was replaced with a huge turret, seemingly based on Joe's previous suggestion. So this huge turret has a commander's observation tower similar to that of the Panzer IV tank, and it is also equipped with a main gun whose caliber Joe didn't know, but which looked very powerful.

This small modification made the tank look somewhat like the Lemanustank I had seen at my old friend's place.

Of course, it only looks somewhat similar. In reality, the difference between it and the Lemanustank is like the difference between the genuine product sold in a store and the counterfeit product sold at a stall outside an elementary school. It is basically in the category of being obviously fake.

Although it's obviously a fake to be used to impersonate the Lemanustank, Joe thinks this thing is much more presentable than those illegal buildings that make boats on dry land.

Since it looks so cool, this thing must be great to drive.

With this thought in mind, Joe ignored Cecil's cries of "Hey! Don't go in wearing your uniform! What if you get your clothes dirty!" and simply opened the hatch and crawled inside.

A moment later, Joe emerged from the car with a dark expression.

Damn it, the Land Battleship Committee is a bunch of bastards! How the hell can you possibly build tanks with these people around?!
Actually, when Joe climbed into the tank, his initial impression of it was quite good.

After all, when Joe climbed into the tank in the past, the first thing he saw was the engine, which was directly exposed inside the compartment and was ostensibly for "easy maintenance and repair".

Although the engine's location hasn't changed, there's now a metal firewall outside it, along with several pipes running along it.

After a brief inspection, Joe discovered that it was the engine's exhaust system and the newly added water-cooling system.

By this point, Joe felt that although the people on the Land Battleship Committee were very arrogant, they were actually doing their jobs and were genuinely working to fix these problems.

It's not easy; these guys actually acted like human beings for once.

Regardless of whether these modifications are effective or not, at least they made the changes, right? With water cooling and exhaust, it should be better than before.

Sigh... wait a minute, I feel like something's missing from this car. After Joe climbed into the huge turret on the roof, he finally understood what was missing.

Joe had complained a lot, both in reports and in private, about how stupid the copper tube communication device in the car was.

In environments like the battlefield where there is even a little bit of noise, this kind of copper tube communication device is not very effective.

Many times, Joe had to shout to give orders, and he didn't even know if the crew heard him through the brass pipes or if his own voice drowned out the roar of the engine and the howl of the machine gun.

Joe's complaint about the copper pipe communication system was that it was no good and that they should replace it with something better.

However, the Land Battleship Committee may not understand it that way.

Oh... Copper tube communication isn't working properly, is it? Okay, then I'll just cancel it, right?

Then, after canceling the copper tube communication system, they did not replace it with anything else.

This made Joe think that the Land Battleship Committee must be seriously ill.

I told you your teeth aren't good and you need to brush them more, so you just skipped brushing and had your teeth pulled, right?
Then Joe discovered that in addition to lacking an in-vehicle communication system, the tank had another problem.

That is, although the people of the Land Battleship Committee added a turret to this tank, they may not have considered the usage scenario at all when designing the turret, or they may have simply not noticed Joe's design drawings.

In short, although this turret has a commander's observation cupola, there is no hatch for entering or exiting from the roof.

At the same time, it seems that they simply couldn't find any space to fit a chair in the turret, which meant that the tank commander would have to stand throughout the entire battle.

If it were just a matter of standing and fighting, that would be fine, but what's worse is that this turret is equipped with a 4-inch cannon.

This caliber might be considered small in the navy, but for the army, which is mired in muddy conditions, it is definitely a big shot. And this big shot is obviously not something that a single gunner can handle; it requires at least one gunner and one loader.

After cramming a gunner and a loader into the turret, Joe estimated the remaining space and could already imagine how pleasant the smell and temperature inside the turret would be.

Of course, this problem is not the biggest problem compared to the turret itself.

At this time and place, the turret mounted on this tank couldn't possibly be an electric turret; it would definitely be a hand-cranked machine.

However, perhaps due to the rush to complete the project, Joe felt that if the turret were to be effective in combat, there would likely be an extra person in the crew dedicated to cranking it.

Otherwise, it would be fatal if the loader slowed down the loading speed due to numb arms from shaking the turret, or if the gunner missed the target due to shaky hands.

The thought of having to add another person to the crew made Joe think that this piece of junk was not as good as the unmodified version. He thought that even if they removed that wretched observation tower and replaced it with a hatch, it would be more useful than this thing!

At worst, I'll just use this thing as an assault gun!

When Joe climbed out of the vehicle, the new tanks were already surrounded by people who saw him emerge from them.

Company Commander Dennis, who was wearing a military uniform but not inside the tank, immediately asked Joe.

"Joe, how's our new tank?!"

Seeing Company Commander Dennis, Joe shook his head and sighed deeply. "Sigh... this thing, they might as well not have changed it at all. What is this garbage...?"

Naturally, some people were unhappy to hear Joe say that.

An engineer who was talking to the logistics staff nearby heard Joe's words and immediately walked over to Joe with a stack of documents.

"You say it's better not to change this thing than to change it? Who do you think you are to say such things?"

"Who am I? I'll just say it like this, I'm asking you..."

However, before Joe could even begin praising the tank's flaws, an engineer rushed over, grabbed him, and said to Joe, "This guy's new, don't mind him, don't mind him..."

As he spoke, he dragged the engineer away, leaving only fragments of words in the wind such as "You're crazy... that's Joe..."

After looking at the tank in front of him again, Qiao sighed and was about to go back to the dormitory to take a nap when the regimental commander grabbed him.

"Look at you! What kind of appearance is this?! Dennis! Come here! Deal with this guy! We absolutely cannot let him show up before His Majesty like this tomorrow!"

"Yes!"

The next few hours made Joe realize how fortunate he was as a wartime officer, because people like Dennis, who became officers before the war, had at least a third of their officer training consisting of etiquette.

After being disciplined by Dennis, Joe looked in the mirror and had a strange feeling.

Dude... how come you're so handsome...?

With this praise, the next day Joe stood in front of the tank and, along with other officers, received an inspection from His Majesty and the wartime cabinet.

Just as Joe thought, both His Majesty and the ministers of the wartime cabinet loved to talk.

Qiao, who was pulled to the front row by the company commander, didn't dare to slack off or speak. In this situation, he didn't even dare to touch his nose. He could only endure the long speech time with the most standard military posture.

When His Majesty handed the flag symbolizing the Royal Tank Regiment to the commander, Joe secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Now that the flag has been presented and the words have been spoken, shouldn't this be the end of it?

Then, Joe heard the emcee call her name and tell her to go up on the stage.

Then the emcee said something about heroic fighting and important contributions, and then a medal for outstanding conduct with an additional rank was hung on Joe's chest.

If Joe was somewhat prepared for this medal, it was when His Majesty George came before him with a flag, announcing that from this day forward Joe would be the first company commander of the Royal Armored Training Company.

Joe felt like he was in a dream.

No... dude... what were you guys thinking?

What have I done to deserve this...?

(End of this chapter)