Imperial Elite

Chapter 86 Small Businesses After the War
Theoretically, the war was over after the armistice was signed, and the young men could return home with honor to start a new life.

However, the reality was quite different. At that time, there were still more than a million angry Teutons waiting to be disarmed, and no one could go home safely until these Teutons were completely disarmed.

So, although Joe's advance of more than 100 kilometers toward Germania in the final stages of the war startled the gentlemen of London and Field Marshal Haig.

However, since Joe is already there, given the current situation, he will also have to take on some new tasks.

After Joe disarmed the two regiments in Kassel, he returned to his unit's base and now had a new role: as a special envoy to Buntania, he would oversee the disarmament of the Teutonic Air Force.

Compared to the army, which failed to achieve its goal, and the navy, which had thrown away at least a third of its tonnage the day before the armistice, the Teutons still dominated the skies of the Old World until the very last moment before the war ended.

The Teutonic Air Force's top aces had widened the gap in kills to almost an order of magnitude compared to the Bunitania and Gallic pilots.

This disparity led to a truce agreement signed by both sides in the Compiègne Forest stipulating that the Teutons must immediately surrender or dismantle all of their aircraft under surveillance after the ceasefire.

As the only person to enter Teutonic territory, the task naturally fell to Joe.

Over the next few days, Joe and his men dispersed to various airfields in Teutonic City to monitor the Teutons as they dismantled their aircraft.

The reason for the demolition was that these proud Teutonic pilots believed they had not failed, so they preferred to destroy their loyal aircraft rather than hand them over to the Bunitania or the Gauls.

Of course, although they were dissatisfied, they wouldn't throw a tantrum when facing Joe.

After shattering the Teutonic northern defenses and penetrating into Teutonic territory, Joe gained some small fame among the Teutons.

Joe even got along well with some of the Teutonic pilots. As a special envoy, Joe was only concerned with the dismantling of the planes and did not mind them taking some souvenirs from the military camp. In fact, after watching the planes of the ace pilots and big ace pilots with their red-painted fuselages being dismantled, Joe allowed them to take the red-painted skins from their planes as souvenirs. So the two sides got along quite well.

Of course, Joe only allowed them to take a portion of the skin back home to frame as a souvenir, while the rest was ordered to be sealed in place immediately for further processing.

However, Joe's generosity came at a price. The pilots could take the skin off the plane, but they also had to sign the engine to prove that the plane that once belonged to them had been dismantled.

This was done partly to facilitate future reconciliation, since after dealing with many bureaucratic institutions, Joe had learned to always keep a backup plan in case the bureaucratic system malfunctioned intermittently.

While forging personal friendships with these Teutonic pilots and overseeing the dismantling of these aircraft, Joe also discovered a new business opportunity.

Since the armistice agreement only stipulated that these aircraft should be dismantled, but did not specify how to handle them after dismantling, both the expensive engines and the good wood used as fuselage materials were usually just thrown aside after being dismantled.

Joe thought it was a terrible waste to just throw away a perfectly good aircraft engine!

These things should be used to realize greater value, such as in the manufacture of ultra-luxury cars.

Rolls-Royce, which originally had a good relationship with Joe, started by manufacturing ultra-luxury cars. During the war, the Indomitable light off-road vehicle also performed admirably. Apart from the fact that the four-wheel drive system was a bit delicate, the overall price of the vehicle was a bit high, and it required the use of an aircraft engine, it was basically full of advantages.

However, for the military, these shortcomings were enough to make the Army Department hesitant about whether to make a large-scale procurement of this project.

But what's a drawback for the military is not a drawback for ultra-luxury cars.

Wealthy people don't care about these things at all. A four-wheel drive system might be a little delicate, so they'll just need to maintain it more. Is it more delicate than a racehorse? As for the price? Expensive means good! Good means expensive! How else can you highlight your distinguished status?

More importantly, these things are Teutonic goods, genuinely salvaged from Teutonic Air Force fighter planes.

What is this? It's a symbol of victory, a display of status!

The engine can be directly used from the aircraft engines of Teutonic fighters or bombers. Rolls-Royce has accumulated a lot of experience in this area, and the Indomitable was designed from the beginning to use an off-road vehicle body to mount aircraft engines. The body can easily fit these big guys inside.

Since the engine used Teutonic aircraft engines, the steering wheel, gear shift, and interior decorations naturally had to be made from parts salvaged from Teutonic aircraft.

The dashboard will be made of aviation instruments, the gear shifting will be like an airplane control stick, and Joe even plans to install the windshield and rearview mirrors from airplanes onto the car exactly as they were on airplanes.

Even the later Teutonic aircraft used aluminum fuselages, which made it even easier for Joe to decorate his car with these things.

Joe had already figured out that if he wanted to sell the car, the first thing he would do was change its name. Although it would still be called the Unyielding Off-Road Vehicle, it would now be called the Victory Special Edition.

Install a small tag on the hood of the car, like an identification tag, and write down the car's serial number, which Teutonic pilot the engine came from, and the pilot's achievements.

Moreover, cars with Teutonic spare engines have one price, cars with ordinary pilot engines have another price, and cars with ace pilot engines have yet another price.

As for those big ace players, even the super ace known as "Red Devil" and "Red Knight," if his engine were installed in a car, it would certainly be presented to His Majesty the Emperor as a gift and a symbol of victory.

The engines for other big-name projects also need to be shared by all the gentlemen in the cabinet.

Joe clearly understood that with the end of the war, although he had accumulated a lot of prestige, he was now back in a state where he was no longer needed in Bonitania. Although he was no longer in a situation where he couldn't even find a temple to burn incense for when he was carrying a pig's head.

But why not take this opportunity to build good relationships with everyone?

Joe is really eager to improve right now.

This good fight is finally over, and it's time to get back to the right path of making money.

Although Joe's title of Major General is still preceded by the word "provisional," he is the youngest Major General in the history of the Bunitan National Army, and even surpassed Nelson's record by ten years.

Joe still held a slight degree of prestige within the Bonitania Expeditionary Force.

Although he wasn't very familiar with the other generals, Joe was quite familiar with the powerful noblemen who could secure him a comfortable position, and Marshal Haig, the commander-in-chief of the expeditionary force, had a good impression of Joe.

So after Joe pulled some strings and promised to deliver the aircraft equipped with the Teutonic Air Force's second ace engine to Marshal Haig, Joe obtained authorization from the Expeditionary Forces to transfer the Teutonic aircraft parts back to the United States for proper disposal.

Then, as the person in charge of this matter, Joe held a bidding process for how to dispose of these aircraft engines. Compared to the junk collectors who were preparing to dismantle the engines for scrap metal, Rolls-Royce, which had already been instructed by Joe and knew that they would make a fortune, did not hesitate to buy the aircraft parts that had already been dismantled into pieces at a price that the junk collectors who were preparing to dismantle the engines for scrap metal thought Rolls-Royce had gone crazy.

After so much war, the cabinet, finally seeing a return on investment for the first time, was also very satisfied that Joe had sold these things for a considerable amount of money and turned them over to Congress.

Joe & Rolls-Royce was very satisfied with the large quantity of Teutonic aircraft parts they acquired at almost scrap metal prices, which they planned to use to build ultra-luxury cars.

Marshal Hague was also very satisfied with the new car he was about to receive, which had commemorative value.

The Teutonic pilots were equally satisfied to be able to bring home their aircraft as a final memento.

Even the Teutonic government, which is currently busy preparing for postwar negotiations, has tacitly approved of Joe's behavior because it does not have to figure out how to deal with these wastes.

In this situation where everyone seems to be satisfied, there are some people who are not.

The Gauls immediately protested when they discovered that Joe had begun transporting the dismantled Teutonic airplanes back to Gaul by train.

The reason the Gauls protested was very simple.

With the war raging to this point, Gaul, which used to thrive on finance, is now on the verge of bankruptcy. They look at the north, which has been reduced to scorched earth, and Paris, which is almost in ruins.

Just thinking about the reconstruction funds needed made the officials of the Gaulish government wish they could throw the Teutons into a millstone and grind those cold Teutons into warm gold coins.

Although they didn't know what the Bunitans were going to do with the aircraft parts, the Gauls protested to the Bunitan expeditionary force, adhering to the principle of sharing the spoils.

He also stated that since everyone fought the war together, these things should be shared equally among everyone.

However, the gentlemen who had already made a profit felt that these things were all obtained by Joe from behind the Teutonic defenses. They thought, "If you're so capable, why don't you break through the Teutonic defenses and go to the airport behind the Teutonic lines to smuggle them out? Protests are ineffective. If you have a way, go ahead and try."

Joe was unaware that his actions had led to the first diplomatic clash between Bonitania and Gaul since the war.

After overseeing the disarmament and on-site disbandment of the Teutonic Air Force, and loading almost all of its aircraft and parts onto trucks and transporting them away, Joe was given a new mission.

Go to Kiel immediately and assist the navy in taking away the remaining ships from the Teutonic high seas fleet.

Normally, taking away a fleet is something the navy could handle on its own; it wouldn't be necessary for a country bumpkin like Joe from the army to help.

However, the Teutonic environment was not good at this time. Although the Teutonic leadership successfully secured a ceasefire, this did not improve the social environment of the Teutonic people.

With the fall of the emperor, various left-wing and right-wing organizations sprang up like mushrooms after rain throughout Teutonic China.

The situation was even more extreme than in Lucia, where two governments were clearly beginning to oppose each other from north to south. In addition to Germania declaring itself a republic that inherited the imperial legal system, left-wing governments emerged in Kiel in the north of Teutonic, Munich in the south, and Poznan in the east.

After their formation, these left-wing governments immediately began to echo the left-wing governments of Russia, creating an atmosphere of East-West convergence and red flags being planted all over the Old World.

The Germanic government was powerless to suppress the situation at that time.

Unlike Joe's generosity, the Bunitania Expeditionary Force, which supervised the disarmament of the Teutonic Army at the front, implemented the strictest disarmament standards, just like the Gallo Army and the Caucasian Expeditionary Force.

Not to mention rifles and pistols, even butter knives were not allowed to be taken away from the front lines by the Teutonic troops.

Compared to the Teutonic police whose reliability was uncertain, the higher-ups in Bonitania felt that Old Joe was more reliable, so they decided to let him make the trip again.

Joe didn't resist the order; it was just another trip, and the expeditionary force was paying for it, so he treated it as a publicly funded trip.

However, since this trip would obviously make Joe miss the time he had arranged to meet those rascals from the engineering squad at the Ritz Hotel in London.

So Joe asked Catherine to go to the Ritz Hotel in London and wait for those guys.

Before Catherine left, Joe pulled out a photo from his pocket of himself taken with those kids back in training camp. Looking at the familiar faces in the photo, Joe didn't know what to say for a moment.

After all, after such a devastating battle, Joe didn't know how many people in the photo were left besides himself.

Just as Joe was heading to Kiel to assist the navy in taking away the ships of the Teutonic High Seas Fleet.

The war on the Old World showed no signs of abating.

While the Teutonic forces on the western front were successfully disarmed, the situation was quite different on the eastern front.

Due to the sensitivity to left-wing ideology, neither Bonitania nor Gaul recognized the legitimacy of the Lucia left-wing government.

Although in my heart I hope that both the Luzan left-wing government and the Luzan military government will smash their brains out, preferably into more than a dozen pieces.

However, in order to put pressure on the Teutons, both Bunitania and Gaul provided the Lucian military government with various supplies in the final stages of the war, hoping that they could break through the southern front as soon as possible and then kick the Teutons in the backside.

Now that the Teutons have surrendered, both the Buntanians and the Gauls are somewhat afraid of the Lucia military government, which, after capturing Constantinople, has almost annexed the entire Balkans with lightning speed.

After all, in the past, the Habsburgs and the Sultanate in the East were able to limit the expansion of the Russians, but now that the Sultanate and the Habsburgs have disappeared, who can stop these Russians?

Of course, it's the Lucia themselves!
With their masterful offshore balancing tactics, the Bunitas stipulated in the ceasefire terms that the Teutons on the eastern front must surrender to the Lucian military government and disarm.

This immediately ignited the conflict between the left-wing government and the military government in Russia.

The left-wing government and the military government in Russia were never on the same page. They saw each other as rebels in the capital and feudal remnants, and ideologically they wanted to kill each other first.

However, the main force of the Third Army had been fighting along the Black Sea coast, which was some distance from St. Petersburg.

Therefore, both sides mainly relied on the weapon of criticism, and rarely engaged in criticism of the weapon itself.

After all, no matter how much they disliked the other side, the danger posed by the Teutons and the rebellious Cossacks were right in their faces.

Compared to their opponents, the Teutons were more despicable.

And although neither side recognized the other's legitimacy, both sides tacitly agreed not to provoke the first shot of a civil war. However, after the Teutons on the eastern front declared that they only recognized the Lucian military government and only surrendered positions and land to it.

The conflict between the Russian military government and the Russian left-wing government could no longer be contained. After capturing Tallinn, the Russian left-wing government began to advance rapidly toward Minsk and Kiev.

However, the Teutons surrendered to the Russian military government at lightning speed, thus breaking the balance of power that had previously been based on the Volga River.

Although the main force of the Russian military government was still in the Balkans at this time, they only sent a small number of troops and successfully took over Kiev and Minsk from the Teutons.

Even the Teutonic troops, who should have been disarmed, are now helping the Lucia military government maintain order and defense due to insufficient manpower.

This completely ignited the conflict between the two sides.

The southern regions occupied by the military government, such as Tsaritsyn and Odessa, were relatively prosperous and had not suffered the same devastation as the north.

Now, with the help of the Teutons, they have occupied the equally wealthy Minsk and Kiev regions, which will inevitably lead to an imbalance of power between the two sides.

This puts the left-wing government at a disadvantage in all aspects, so while protesting this behavior, the left-wing government accelerated its march, preparing to reach Kyiv and Minsk before the military government's troops arrived.

Meanwhile, negotiators from both sides also held a round of talks in Kursk regarding the future of Russia.

The negotiations failed unsurprisingly in less than a day, with the left-wing government stating that the country's current state was entirely the fault of the right wing.

The military government declared that it had captured Constantinople.

The left wing argued that past experience had proven that their approach was wrong, a point proven by both the Tsar and the Provisional Government.

The military government declared that it had captured Constantinople.

The left wing argues that we are currently lagging behind in all aspects, and only by liberating productive forces and following the left-wing path can the country become great again.

The military government declared that it had captured Constantinople.

The left wing is asking, "Can't you talk about anything other than Constantinople?"
The military government stated that they currently have a million-strong army, and if the troops disarm now, they can still reserve a place for them in the State Duma.

Faced with this blatant threat from the military government, the left-wing government stated, "We never thought of this. We never imagined a civil war on our homeland. We fought together against the Teutons, but you betrayed our country. If you can't seize this one and only chance to make Russia prosperous, then let us take your place! Let the world burn!"

With the failure of the Kursk negotiations, the left-wing government and the military government tore apart the last vestige of consensus between them, which was maintained by the resistance against the Teutons, and the civil war broke out in full force from that moment.

Joe received news of the full-scale outbreak of the Lucian civil war while on the train to Gaul.

Joe's work in Kiel went very smoothly. Although the left-wing government and sailors there did not recognize the authority of the Germanic government, they did acknowledge the armistice agreement.

So despite the strong resistance of many soldiers, the Bunitania Navy successfully took away the last few still-sailable battleships from the Teutonic High Seas Fleet.

Joe, who had already prepared for battle, only received a warm welcome from the navy and toured the Teutonic battleships they were about to take back to the homeland, as well as the battlecruisers that they had come to receive the battleship fleet.

It must be said that compared to the Navy's thick pipes, the Army's pipes are much thinner.

After touring the naval vessels, Joe thought the Britannian Navy's battlecruiser HMS Renown was the most beautiful of the ships; he thought it must be a formidable vessel.

Then the officers of the Brittany Navy smiled and said that the ship had not only achieved a victory in the recent naval battle, but had also successfully captured the bow of the ship for the fleet. It was a true warship and the pride of the Royal Navy.

After touring the warships, as the navy led the ships away from Kiel, Joe embarked on his journey back to Gaul.

According to the plan, Joe will then return to the mainland of Bonitania from Calais with the other Bonitania expeditionary force.

Of course, due to the ceasefire agreement, the Teutons lost their right to station troops on the west bank of the Rhine. At the same time, in order to prevent the Teutons from attacking again, the Bunitas and Gauls would send troops to station on the west bank of the Rhine.

Joe, who had distinguished himself in military service, was originally on the garrison list, but when Field Marshal Haig asked Joe if he wanted to join the garrison, Joe refused the offer without hesitation.

The war is finally over, and now is the perfect time to do business. How can we waste time staying in Teutonic?

In fact, if it weren't for the fact that the profits from military products were so considerable, Qiao had once considered retiring from active service to focus on doing business.

During my time in the Teutonic Kingdom, I dealt with bulky radios and telegraph machines every day, and could only listen to music on a phonograph.

This gave Joe another opportunity to make a fortune.

Because semiconductors were not yet developed at that time, there were no radio stations or even decent radios. Almost all news and entertainment relied on newspapers or word of mouth.

So if I could take this opportunity to develop a reliable civilian radio and start a radio station, and enter the media industry, wouldn't I be able to make a fortune?

While others might encounter some problems entering the media industry, Joe felt that his military status should help him avoid a lot of trouble.

They might even be able to secure some investment from the military or government, since boredom is a major problem faced by all armies, whether in the trenches or elsewhere.

Although some trenches are extremely dangerous, with a survival rate of only one percent, there are other trenches where soldiers are so bored that they chew gum to pass the time. As a result, they end up losing teeth because they chew too much gum. This is commonly known as "trench mouth" on the front lines and is considered one of the many unique diseases of the trenches.

Moreover, public broadcasting serves more than just a way to pass the time for soldiers, so Joe believed he could persuade the government and military to invest.

And in accordance with Bonitania's long-standing practice, after this new business emerges, they will establish a committee to issue radio licenses and manage the radio stations.

In this way, I can leverage my status as a pioneer to infiltrate the committee.

Even if it's not about locking the car door after getting in, at least you can close the door a little smaller so you can earn more money.

With such a bright future at hand, Joe naturally didn't want to stay in Teutonic.

In fact, on the train back to Gaul, Joe had already started meeting with the garage gang members one by one, saying that now that the war was over and everyone could return to school, but since their cooperation had been very pleasant, had anyone thought about earning some extra money while studying?

You all know me; I've always believed in sharing profits.

Almost all members of the Garage Gang were willing to work part-time for Joe while continuing their studies, while the few who did not agree to part-time work did so because they had already graduated and wanted to get a full-time job with Joe.

In this harmonious atmosphere, Joe received news that the Lucia Civil War had broken out.

Upon seeing this news, Joe couldn't help but think of Constantine, who had received training under his command for a period of time.

After the Lucia military government captured Constantinople, Joe received a letter from Constantine in which he thanked Joe for his training and said that Joe's training had come in handy, as he had now been promoted to battalion commander.

If he can get more tanks, he might even be promoted to regimental commander.

Constantine also sent a very beautiful mosaic glass lamp with the letter.

I wonder how Constantine fared after the outbreak of the civil war.

Just as Joe was pondering whether he should write to Constantine to ask about his current situation.

Joe's train arrived at the station.

With a large number of soldiers on the front lines returning to their hometowns, the Teutonic railway system was almost overwhelmed. So even though Joe was a special envoy, he had to get off at the border and then hitch a ride across the border to rejoin the main force.

When Joe and his party got off the train, the disarmed Teutonic soldiers waiting on the platform looked at Joe in surprise as he stepped off the train.

It seems unclear why a unit of Buntanian troops would disembark from a train within their territory.

Joe also looked at the Teutons with surprise.

From the Teutons still standing in neat rows at the station, Joe saw in their eyes the resentment of defeat, confusion, and doubt, but judging from their heads held high, they did not seem to think they had failed.

As Joe left the station and crossed the border by car, he saw even more Teutons, who, although disarmed, were still marching in orderly ranks and in a grand procession.

Looking at these Teutons, Joe sighed. "This is not a ceasefire, it's just a twenty-year truce."

After Joe muttered this, Cecil, who was sitting next to Joe, nodded.

"They don't look like they've been defeated."

As Joe brushed past the seemingly endless Teutonic troops, he soon crossed the border.

Just as Joe was preparing to report to Calais, new orders came from above.

As the only allied general to breach the Teutonic defenses and bring the war into Teutonic territory, Joe is now heading to Versailles.

To bolster the ensemble of the Bonitania delegation at the ongoing Versailles Conference, Joe didn't even need to say a word; he simply had to poke at them to amplify their voices even further.

The Buntanian Expeditionary Force had prepared a special train for Joe in Albert.

Having already been to Kiel, Joe figured one more trip wouldn't hurt.

Joe arrived in Albert very soon.

This is Joe's third time visiting Albert, including the previous ones.

However, this time, not only was Joe's mood completely different from the previous two times, but even the small town of Albert was completely different from before.

During the Teutonic final assault, Albert, a crucial logistical hub for the expeditionary force, also suffered a fierce attack.

Although the expeditionary force later changed its attack direction and turned to attack the Teutons from the north, the flames of war were not allowed to burn here again.

However, more than half of the buildings in Albert were reduced to ruins. The bar where Joe had treated people to drinks and was taken away by the military police did not survive. At the same time, the statue of the Virgin Mary, which was said to end the war after it fell, was now lying askew on the ground outside the church, broken into three pieces.

According to locals, the statue of the Virgin Mary suddenly fell from the top of the church the day before the armistice, and even the Teutonic artillery fire had not brought it down before.

Looking at Albert in the ruins, Joe remained silent for a long time without uttering a word, and simply boarded the special train prepared for him by the expeditionary force.

When Joe headed to Versailles, Holtz was holding a pistol and signaling to the soldiers around him to prepare to attack the barricades ahead.

From the moment the emperor announced his abdication, Holz began a fantastical journey.

They first followed a colonel, preparing to go to Germania to rescue His Majesty, but before the train even entered Germania, they received news that the Emperor had gone into exile and that the new government had signed a ceasefire agreement.

This news prompted the colonel to lock himself back in his train compartment, and then, with a gunshot, the loyalist force he had assembled was completely without command.

Nobody knows what they should do.

So they began searching for their troops to try and rejoin their unit, but given the chaotic state of the Teutonic Army at the time, and Joe's charge before the armistice, no one knew where their unit had gone.

Too many troops were either disbanded on the spot or transferred elsewhere after the armistice.

After wandering aimlessly for a while, just when everyone thought they should take off their uniforms and go home,

A major found them and said he didn't know there were still organized units like this. He told them not to ask any questions and to come with him to punish the traitors!

(End of this chapter)