Codegease: Air and Land Warfare 1946

“If you put it that way, then I can’t have a proper talk with you, Marshal.” Louises shrugged and tilted his head. “You’re not even willing to do something that makes money together. Everyone says that when the cannons roar, gold pours in. Whether you stand with His Highness Schneizel or not is another matter, but why don’t you stand with money?”

"Never mind, I'll talk to you later. I'll give you some time to think about it."

……

Manslitt, accompanied by several generals, stormed out in a huff.

"Damn it, if we come back in a month, Louises will probably be lying in his bed of cash, being dragged out of bed by the ear by us!" The accompanying general was exasperated with this money-grubber. "What do we do, Marshal?"

"If he's ruthless, don't blame me for being ruthless. Anyway, we have plenty of tricks up our sleeves from the 45th District." The marshal cursed the marquis viciously. "It's alright, it's alright. Which of your troops have been busy training or reorganizing on the second line recently? Go and station them in Leipzig."

"And then, sir? Are we supposed to stand guard for the film crew when they arrive?"

"Pah! Aren't they happy to point their cameras at the elderly, weak, sick, and disabled? Want to plant some bombs among them? Let's see if they still dare to film, if they still dare to be such beasts who don't clear the landmines for me!" Manslitt waved his hand. "Even if you don't have the means, you'll find a way to frame them, understand?"

"Whom are you trying to frame, sir?"

Hearing the voice, the group looked up and were startled to see the dark blue cloak. They hadn't expected Suzaku Kururugi to arrive today, followed by Earl Lloyd, who was protecting Lancelot, and the Earl's second-in-command, Lady Cecil. Who said the Seventh Knight of the Round Table would arrive tomorrow?

"The people from District 45 framed us, we'll frame them back, ha!" Manslitt's face froze, he almost made a huge blunder. "Ahem... Lord Suzaku, is there anything I can do for you?"

"Have you accompanied His Excellency Luciano on his visits to various parts of District 45 during this time?" Suzaku asked the question calmly.

"Ah, the Tenth Knight, um... he doesn't want us to accompany him, he insists on wandering around by himself. How about I accompany you, Lord Suzaku?"

“I don’t really want to be around people who lie.” Zhuque closed her eyes slightly. “I’m going to see Marquis Louise. You go and do something serious.”

Looking at Suzaku's retreating figure, the group's faces were filled with resentment.

"What's so great about him? The Knights of the Round Table, personally appointed by His Majesty the Emperor, are only good at hanging out with those money-grubbers, huh?"

……

Zhuque's car was parked downstairs at the Marquis's building, and the film crew that had been in contact with the Marquis had already sent several people to gather information and wait there.

As fate would have it, they were waiting to see Louise after Suzaku when they saw Madam Zeppelin passing by – someone familiar with the 45th district of Germany would certainly recognize the group that had given directions to the princess.

"Knights of the Round Table?" Mrs. Zeppelin, bombarded with questions by the crew, also raised some doubts herself. "Suzaku Kururugi, doesn't he seem to be Japanese?"

“People from Area 11, Area 11, listen up! We don’t have any Japanese people here,” the crew coaxed.

"That's not the point... I know you have a bunch of low-ranking numbers, so how can you still have the title of Knights of the Round Table? I don't know anyone who told me that your title of Knight of the Round Table was bestowed by the Emperor himself."

"Ah, to be specific, Lord Suzaku is an honorary Britannian. As for this title, he got it because he was instrumental in capturing ZERO last year... Don't you know what an honorary citizen is?"

“I’ve heard about it. I think someone mentioned it when I was working in District 11, but I didn’t pay much attention to it.” Mrs. Zeppelin nodded as if she understood—how could a German who longed to return home be interested in the nationality of another country?

"Here, take a look." The crew member rummaged through her clothes for a while and handed her a thick stack of documents—the cover of which read "Regulations for the Application of Honorary Citizenship of the Holy Britannian Empire."

……

Requirements for Honorary Citizenship Application:

"First, applicants must be at least 18 years old."

"Second, applicants must provide proof of residence in their current administrative region of Britannia, and the continuous period of residence must be more than two years. Any record of travel to other administrative regions during this period will be reset to zero and the calculation will start over."

"Third, applicants must have a fixed job in the administrative region where the application is located, have worked for more than two years, and have no major violations."

"Fourth, if you have relatives in the current administrative region, you need to submit the relevant identity information of the relatives, as well as proof that you have lived in the administrative region for more than one year in total. If the relatives are honorary citizens, you only need to provide proof of honorary citizenship."

"Fifth, the applicant has no criminal record of violating the Criminal Code of the Holy Britannian Empire during the period of being a numbered person/stateless resident, and the total time spent in police detention due to public order incidents does not exceed one month."

"Sixth, applicants must not have a record of infection with a major infectious disease within the past year. If they have a family history of hereditary diseases, they must submit relevant information."

"If the applicant is an active-duty member of the Britannian military, see the relevant section under 'Military Service Application' for details; if the applicant is married to an honorary citizen of Britannia, the relevant section under 'Spousal Application' must also be met."

"..."

"After meeting the above requirements, applicants will take two language tests within the next two months. Those who pass the second language test will be able to collect their honorary citizenship certificate from the relevant department in the administrative region within two months after the test."

"If an honorary citizen has no criminal record of violating the Criminal Law of the Holy Britannian Empire and has not filed with the relevant authorities, he/she will be 'officially promoted' by default according to the legal process: after an honorary citizen dies of natural causes or unnatural causes permitted by relevant regulations, his/her descendants will automatically become permanent official citizens of the Holy Britannian Empire."

Reference: The Holy Britannian Empire's White List of Unnatural Deaths (Official Version, 2018).

……

“Many of the restrictions on you will be lifted after you become an honorary citizen. Wouldn’t that be a good thing for your life in this country?” The crew members talked incessantly to Mrs. Zeppelin. “Look, would you be interested in discussing anything related to the film with us? We can help you with some expedited procedures in your honorary citizenship application, it’s just money… you know what I mean?”

Honestly, if they hadn't seen Suzaku Kururugi and her group go downstairs and leave by car, these guys who rushed up to find Marquis Louise would probably have chatted with her for a whole day—in the end, one side left their film company business card, and the other left their address in Berlin before it was over.

Just as the lady was about to throw the stack of documents into a newly built trash can by the roadside with a sneer, an ordinary-looking man approached.

"Are you kidding me? I thought I'd run into a big star signing autographs on the street. The hat you're wearing looks a bit like the one Dietrich wore."

“Dietrich? Which Dietrich?” Mrs. Zeppelin shrugged, not paying any attention.

"Marlene Dietrich, do you know how beautifully she sang 'Lili Marlene' in English?"

"Huh?!" The lady realized something and searched her mind for the words she had been told. "Oh, cough cough... It's such a pity that with that bastard Goebbels, I can never hear this song on the radio again."

Mrs. Zeppelin pretended to have encountered some thugs, then turned and ran towards a crowd of civilians. The two, who understood each other perfectly, made their way through the crowd and finally began their official rendezvous.

"It's so good to see you, Captain Blanco." The lady shook his hand with a sigh of relief. "Have you been here all this time?"

"I've now obtained a complete map of the Berlin underground city, though it's rather pieced together..."

"Alright, alright, tomorrow at six o'clock, in the newly constructed underground city area beneath Charlottenburg Palace. There's a temporary drink stall outside the construction site there; let's meet there... I have to go to the Parliament Building tonight to see that bastard Elizabeth..."

……

What could Elizabeth possibly want from her? Like other "qualified 45th district people" sent back from the 11th district, they were summoned periodically to talk to the princess about their feelings about Berlin before and after the reconstruction.

Since we've come back to her, we should continue our "past entanglement"—I wonder if anyone still remembers the three slaps Elizabeth gave to Suzaku Kururugi, whose brain was a complete mess, at the ceremony for the establishment of the Japanese Special Zone in Shizuoka.

He arrived today, knowing that District 11 was still in complete chaos, and that Elizabeth and Kelly, as usual, didn't give him a friendly look. He casually arranged for a car and a school officer to go and drive the three of them around Berlin.

And so, the next morning, Suzaku received orders from Elizabeth: Marshal Manslitt wanted to open up the ground battlefield in Poland, and at dawn the next day he would join the entire Royal Knights in a crucial airborne ambush.

With a heavy heart, Zhuque did not prepare in peace. After his lunch break, he changed into casual clothes, put on sunglasses, and went out for a walk by himself.

He had many photos in his pocket of the ruins of the city streets taken by the expeditionary force during the battle of Berlin. He searched for the places where the photos were taken one by one, framing the mess in the photos onto the now clean and tidy intersections.

Before the Britannians arrived, this place, the capital of a defeated nation, was even more wretched than the dilapidated brick mountains outside the Tokyo concession. Thinking of this, Suzaku couldn't help but shudder—he recalled the two soldiers he had angered long ago, Taylor and Harrington, and how they had described another defeated nation in Area 45, Japan, with such smug satisfaction. And how they had described burning Tokyo to the ground?

As dusk fell, Zhuque arrived at a cemetery—now surrounded by red flowers and green water, with houses and high-rises backing it up. But in the photos from six months ago, this place was surrounded by dilapidated houses, with broken tombstones and withered yellow leaves, resembling a mass grave.

It's a bit like what happened after the Shinjuku slum incident last year, but there are fewer things left by people from Japan who visit graves, such as photos, wreaths, candles, and toys.

Suzaku felt a sudden tremor in his heart—it seemed that another person had accompanied him when he visited the cemetery where the victims of the slums were buried.

"Yuffie!"

Hearing someone call his name from not far from the cemetery, he immediately ran there like lightning.

Suzaku saw two people dressed in Britannian military uniforms, a man and a woman. The latter had long, reddish-purple hair that reached her waist and wore a baseball cap.

"You just called her... Euphemia?"

"Yes, she's my girlfriend... Eh? Lord Suzaku Kururugi?... You want to see us for something?"

Zhuque then realized that his sunglasses had fallen off during his run. As for the female soldier, she was so frightened when she saw him rushing over that she quickly took off her hat.

It turned out that this was a hat that was part of a wig, and the female soldier under the hat had her hair burned off long ago, leaving her with a bald head.

"Greetings, Your Excellency. I am Euphemia Evans, formerly of the 45th Army. I was discharged from the hospital today, and he gave me a gift. May I ask when you came to the 45th District?"

"Oh..." At this point, Suzaku's face, like a withered red apple, lost all its excited color. "How long have you been fighting in District 45? How are you feeling?"

"We started when we were escaping from Berlin with Duke Sasler." The couple chuckled awkwardly, their faces etched with scars like vines. "Now that we're here, we're definitely going to live to see the day we personally crush every single guy who refuses to call himself a member of District 45. Otherwise, we wouldn't have lived in vain as Britannian soldiers, huh?!"

"Please kill all those who refuse to call themselves people of District 45... Please kill all those who refuse to call themselves people of District 11 and instead call themselves Japanese..." The rambling Suzaku suddenly looked terrified and ran away without looking back, disappearing from the couple's sight.

"Phew... Damn, that scared me to death." Upon seeing this, the male soldier stuck out his tongue and exhaled, "I thought those Japanese from Area 11 were going to do something to us."

"Sigh~ After all, she's the knight of the 'Slaughter Princess,' so it's not surprising that she's a bit off-track on her own."

Chapter 392 Homeland and Foreign Lands (Part 2) (Section 498)

"Announcement to all members of the Jade Knights: Details of the battle plan for July 26th."

"Because the army group under Marshal Manslitt encountered strong resistance in Poland, it was necessary to carry out a forced breakthrough tactic in order to open up the battlefield situation."

"To cover the flank of the main force, all combat personnel of the Jade Knights will be airdropped to the forest south of Zagan city at 10 p.m. on the 26th to defend against all ground offensives by Soviet and Polish troops in that direction."

"This mission is of great significance. All members of the Knights Order must be fully armed before the attack. Also, due to the fact that the combat position is located behind enemy lines and resupply is inconvenient, all personnel will remove all aircraft wings and be airdropped to the target location by transport plane. Resupply will be airdropped every 3 hours during the mission."

"At dawn on the 27th, considering this is a high-probability time for the Soviet offensive, you will receive support from the Seventh Knight of the Round Table, Suzaku Kururugi, and his mobile suit, Lancelot. Good luck to everyone!"

……

Not every soldier is capable of joining the Knights, nor is every pilot able to master the performance of a seventh-generation fighter. Naturally, to Vincent and Vincent Ward, whose entire regiment is clad in emerald green, the Jade Knights have already made their strength written all over their faces.

They encountered almost no resistance during their nighttime airdrop, and then between 2 and 3 a.m., they became acquainted with a Soviet patrol convoy that was passing through the forest.

Even if there were T-34s in the convoy, for the group who were already skilled in operating and maneuvering heavy weapons, it was just a minor incident.

But this also completely exposed their presence—"The enemy troops that parachuted down from the south of Zagan city, it is likely an entire elite force." When such a report reached the Soviet army group headquarters, even a soldier could guess what would happen after sunrise.

At dawn on the 27th, just as Suzaku's Lancelot, in his more energy-efficient land-based mode, was preparing to fly to the center of the Knights' position for the next battle, the roar of Soviet Pe-8 bombers filled the air. These four-engine giants, rarely seen on the Eastern Front, flew overhead. As one massive bomb after another struck the ground in their departing silhouettes, the Jade Knights were forced to leave the forest that served as cover and were driven into the open.

"Where is Lord Suzaku?!" Gazing at the flames in the forest, the Knights Commander suddenly realized that a silver-white figure was missing from their side, and began to berate the twin sisters who were responsible for contacting the Knights of the Round Table.

The older sister was named Niola, and the younger sister was named Nivia. The Soviet bombers arrived suddenly, and the two of them realized that they had forgotten to label Suzaku's plane with a symbol for the whole regiment—afterwards, Lancelot changed from an ordinary dot on everyone's cockpit screen to being surrounded by a ship's wheel-shaped graphic, lying in ambush in a fire-filled clearing marked by fallen trees.

Under the threat of bombs, trees were either uprooted and fell to the ground, or became burning rotten wood.

One by one, the rotten logs cracked crisply in the scorching heat of the fire, and they were easily crushed by the external force. More than thirty T-34 tanks roared through the fire, carving out tracked paths, and rushed to the front of the Knights' ranks.

……

"Retreat across the board! Let the Soviet troops in to fight, according to the pre-arranged plan!"

The group, including the regimental commander, clearly only noticed the tank's appearance and the formation of its charge, ignoring the white eagle painted on the red shield on the side of the turret—but if they were to learn that the Polish People's Army was just as fearless and troublesome as the Soviet Army, it would be an even worse disaster, in terms of morale.

Vincent and his men began to retreat in an S-shaped pattern to avoid the direct fire of the 85mm tank guns, while simultaneously aiming their recoilless rifles at the tanks' frontal armor and tracks. More and more tanks began to cross the already scorched earth, turning the fertile forest soil into a tapestry of densely striped tracks.

Just as the Polish People's Army soldiers rushed forward in pursuit, several tank commanders who peeked out from the rear of the column noticed something amiss: the roar of KMF drive wheels rubbing against the ground could be heard from the cover of dead trees, but it was much more powerful than that of the Vincent's tanks.

"Kurwa!" Before he could even get a better look through his binoculars, a humanoid lightning bolt suddenly shot out from the forest. The gun in his hand, after slightly deforming, sent flashes of green light flying as it pierced through the armor of two T-34s on the rear of the column. The cylinders of the diesel engines exploded into scrap metal, and the tanks, along with the firearms, were rendered immobile.

Before the soldiers could recover, a white KMF appeared in the engine exhaust behind them, holding two strange-looking guns pointed at the rear armor of each tank.

Even a soldier with a keen eye could spot the difference between Suzaku's Lancelot and Vincent's, recognizing it as an unfamiliar opponent, not just because of the paint job and the weapon it carried. The head design was also quite different, and most importantly, those damned energy shield generators were located on both forearms and lower legs.

"Please surrender, the battle is over. I will not fire on those who lay down their weapons." Lancelot broadcast this message to the tank group in both Russian and Polish over the loudspeaker—Suzaku wasn't prepared to learn two languages, so he had another soldier record the message beforehand.

Unlike previous battles, Suzaku decided to leave both MVS swords at the rear after careful consideration, in addition to removing the flight wings to save energy. He also replaced the VARIS gun, which he originally only carried with him, with two of them, and neither of them could fire hadron cannons. The VARIS, a mysterious and expensive weapon, is no less destructive than the recoilless cannons of the KMFs, and it is not a bottomless pit of energy like the hadron cannon.

"However, Ms. Cecil is right, it's still a bit strange to fight like this... in every aspect."

After waiting for a long time, the two T-34s at the rear of the formation turned around and aimed at him, while the rest continued towards the main force of the Jade Knights. Like the EU soldiers they had seen before, none of them chose to surrender.

“I’m sorry…” With that, Lancelot, under Suzaku’s control, once again darted out like lightning. As his two VARIS guns flashed between two tanks, he pulled the triggers, giving the gunners no chance to aim before they were cremated along with the turrets. He then chased after the large group of T-34s.

Lancelot's trajectory snaked behind the tank convoy like a python, while VARIS's guns fired at full power pierced through the curtains of exhaust fumes and dust like the cry of an eagle amidst the whistles of a train.

Just as everyone is filled with fear when they first see a hadron cannon, it was precisely for this reason that when each crew was preparing to instinctively turn their guns to return fire, and when the gunners were still at a loss in their positions due to the speed of this monster, the "White Death of Britannia" had already dug up their vehicles into similar campfires one after another.

Lancelot's silver-white figure stood out against the black smoke rising from burning ammunition and fuel—Zhuque didn't even notice that the Polish infantry, who had been left far behind by the tanks, had been forced to lie down in all directions, unable to move, by what he had just witnessed.

……

"Lord Suzaku!" Just as the Knights of the Round Table were hesitating whether to waste ammunition on the infantry, a frantic message came from Niola: "Please help us! The people from Sector 45 are attacking from the other side!"

Yes, there was more than one enemy. While the Jade Knights were busy pocketing and beating up the Polish People's Army tanks, Soviet T-34s, which had climbed up from the other side of the hill, positioned themselves on their flank. From that moment on, the battlefield descended into complete chaos.

The tanks showed no sign of stopping, and once again, like bison, they charged at the KMFs who were preparing to retaliate, living up to their Britannian nickname. Faced with a field of crazed steel beasts, the panicked knights were momentarily speechless, and no one in the order could make the necessary judgment or issue any orders to respond.

Niora and Nivia's duo were scattered. Everywhere you looked, there were headless flies, and KMFs and tanks crashing around amidst the roar of artillery fire. The entire Knights and the T-34 battalion, both painted green, were like two tunnel boring machines coming from the opposite direction, ruthlessly grinding each other down, each trying to wear down the other's every inch of their strength.

My sister made her way through the sparks flying from the KMF and the tanks engulfed in flames, and ran to an open area outside the melee, but then she heard the sound of 85mm tank guns firing at her from behind.

Just as Niora sensed her days were numbered, a white spinning top appeared in front of her. Fortunately, at this critical moment, Suzaku's Lancelot arrived at her side. In the instant he concentrated his shield on his calf, he leaped into the air and delivered a spinning kick aimed at the cannonball, deflecting it far away and saving her.

"Are you all alright, Captain?" Suzaku raised his VARIS rifle and finished him off before the tank could fire its second shot.

"Don't worry about me, sir. My sister is with the commander. She just told me they're almost cornered. You go first, I'll cover your rear!"

Lancelot continued his rapid march towards the commander, but Suzaku, who was scouting and aiming, was struggling to keep up. Scattered KMF parts, sparking everywhere, and corpses burning in flames and smoke alongside the tanks—he had never seen Britannians fight to the death with their enemies on the battlefield.

By the time he reached there, it was too late. In the bushes pointed to by the two T-34s he had destroyed with his gun, Nivia's plane was crouching down in the shade of the trees, and she herself had already jumped out of the cockpit and was running towards the regimental commander who had fallen not far away with the mangled Vincent.