Imperial Elite

Chapter 107 We Unite! How about learning about the Secret Treaty of Constantinople?
In summary, as someone who started as a worker and struggled to get to where I am today despite being a proletarian, I am truly remarkable.

During the tumultuous first half of Joe's life, he had several near-death experiences. In his memory, the closest he came to death was during the First Battle of Paris, when he was preparing to attack the Teutonic logistics center.

As a result, he accidentally kicked the Teutonic man's gas canister.

After that, Joe felt that if he could survive even a suicide mission, what else could possibly stump him?

But when Joe opened his eyes again, his weak and aching body made him feel alive. He then discovered that swords and knives were causing injuries, and that wine and meat were even worse.

As it turns out, courting death can not only lead to death, but also to a very ugly death.

Facing the ceiling that seemed both familiar and unfamiliar, Joe began to recall how things had turned out this way.

Although Joe's brain is currently like a 99% new, slightly flawed computer used by a girl ten years ago, with AI being trained locally, it is indeed a little laggy.

However, this did not affect the fact that fragmented images began to surface in Joe's mind, gradually allowing him to recall everything.

Joe managed to hold on in the bathroom, after all, as the governor of Buntania, he had now learned the skills of stirring up trouble and taking advantage of chaos.

Although all the women are now very dissatisfied with Joe, this dissatisfaction varies in intensity. At the same time, Joe is also very clear that even within Lucia's Guard, there are cliques, and these cliques have some conflicts among themselves.

As for the conflicts... they're nothing more than resenting those who have and laughing at those who don't.

In this era without androids, some things are truly gone if they're not there, and some things are truly insufficient if they're not enough.

Relying on this ancestral craft, Joe persevered from the Roman baths to his own private chapel.

Then even if Governor Joe was skilled, it was no use. He was furious when he saw the women in their "wedding dresses" made of only white stockings and veils. Or perhaps it wasn't so much anger as fury.

However, Joe, who was already in a weakened state when he entered the chapel, no longer had the strength to perceive these subtle emotional differences.

In short, if the women hadn't been so devout, Joe was afraid they would have taken the figure off the cross and hung himself on it instead. Joe couldn't remember anything after that. Anyway, the outcome was good; at least he was still alive.

Sigh... How did I end up like this?
Qiao turned her head slightly and saw several bottles hanging on the shelf next to her.

If Joe wasn't mistaken, he was receiving an IV drip.
The faint smell of disinfectant in the air also proves this point.

The last time Joe went blind from poison gas at the end of the Battle of Paris, everything in front of him became blurry, and he felt that nothing in the world was more painful than this.

But this time, apart from his eyes, he couldn't move anything else, and even his thinking was somewhat sluggish, making Joe feel that it would have been better to be blind.

This feeling made Joe absolutely never want to experience it again.

Fortunately, after a while, the doctor who came in to check on her found that Qiao had woken up.

The doctor said that Joe, who can only move his eyes, is not in serious condition and just needs to rest and recuperate for a while.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Joe might even make it to his wedding.

If we can make it to the wedding, then we can make it to the big event afterwards.

The equation flashed through Joe's mind in an instant, and then Joe felt relieved.

But clearly, Joe put it away too early.

Although he had been in bed for two days, Qiao was finally able to get out of bed and walk.

However, walking is one thing, but some areas that have been slightly chafed and inflamed due to overuse are not so easy to heal.

Worse still, the women clearly know this too.

When Joe struggles to even go to the toilet, the women always manage to find an opportunity to give him a treat, allowing him to truly understand what it means to be willing but unable.

Just when Joe was feeling incredibly frustrated, a selfless and kind person appeared at the Emerald Isle Governor's Mansion, allowing Joe to vent his anger.

This good man's name is Elephelios Venizelos.

Eleftherios Venizelos was the most courageous Greek to emerge in the centuries following the fall of the Roman Empire. In terms of courage, even the Teutonic Chancellor, who founded the Teutonic Empire, was not as tough as this Greek.

Venizelo was born in 1864 into a merchant family on the island of Crete.

Logically speaking, if you are born into a merchant family, you should spend your life doing the arduous work of exploiting the surplus value of others.

However, Venizelos's family was different, because his father had a small side business in addition to his main business.

That was to support the revolutionary army on Crete that was opposing the rule of the Sultanate.

Growing up in such a family, Venizelos was naturally not an obedient child. In addition to his studies, he also inherited his father's business.

Occasionally, he would recite some spirited anti-Chinese poems, such as "When autumn comes on the ninth day of the ninth month, my flowers bloom and all others wither. The fragrance of my flowers fills Chang'an, and the whole city is adorned with golden armor."

After graduating from the law department of the University of Athens, the spirited Venizelos became a lawyer and journalist. Perhaps because law was so difficult to learn, Venizelos decided that he should write his own laws so that others could learn them.

It was because Venizelos felt that studying law couldn't save Greece.

In short, after graduating from school and returning to Crete, Venizelos quickly became the leader of the resistance and the movement to unify Greece.

If you're just a rebel leader, that's nothing. After all, there are plenty of groups in Sudan that want to start a revolution. A mere lawyer is nothing. Are you some kind of monster who ate a dinosaur whip?
Whether Venizelos ever ate dinosaur penis or not, nobody knows, but he was certainly a tough guy.

Because after Venizelos became the leader of the rebel army, the Cretan rebels became incredibly powerful and quickly launched several armed uprisings.

Then Venizelos accomplished something that no one had been able to do for the past few centuries: through an armed uprising, he successfully granted Crete autonomy from the Sultanate.

While it's called autonomy, in reality it's just the Sultanate's tacit recognition of Crete's independence while saving face.

Not thousands of miles away, but right on Sudan's doorstep, right under the noses of Sudan's navy and army, Venizelos was such a formidable figure.

With Crete's independence, Venizelos, as the leader of the movement to return to Greece, naturally wanted to bring Crete back to the embrace of his homeland.

Greece naturally welcomes such a self-reliant and independent foreign power returning to Greece, and if nothing unexpected happens, this will be a good thing for both the monarch and the subject.

Then, unsurprisingly, a small mishap occurred.

After returning to Greece, Venizelos had a minor disagreement with the prince sent by the Greek royal family to serve as governor. Soon after, Venizelos had a small conflict with this prince.

It wasn't a big deal; it was simply that Venizelos, a seasoned rebel, launched another uprising and drove the prince out.

By this point, Venizelos had become a well-known political leader, at least in the Mediterranean region.

This event also completely changed the fate of Venizelos and Greece.

In 1909, a military coup broke out in Greece, but the military was unable to control the country, so they decided to ask Venizelos to come to Greece to clean up the mess.

Faced with the deteriorating situation, Venizelos thought, "Damn it! How did the country become like this!"

So he went to Greece without hesitation to start cleaning up the situation.

Then, as someone invited by the coup army to clean up the mess, Venizelos became prime minister by an overwhelming majority a year later in 1910, thus ushering in an era belonging to Venizelos.

In the following decade, Venizelos, who had spent his life fighting against the Sultanate, witnessed its decline and subsequently formed the 'Balkan Union' in the Balkans through active diplomacy and military means.

Furthermore, Greece achieved great victories in the two Balkan wars, severely damaging the Sultanate and doubling its territory and population.

Although Venizelos was only the prime minister, with an emperor above him, his enormous achievements still made him the national leader of Greece.

At this time, Venizelos, who was on the rise, was finally able to publicly announce his "great ideals".

As a Greek who grew up under the rule of the Sultanate, Venizelos was inspired by both the glorious Greek city-states of history and the Roman Empire, which was virtually unparalleled after Rome.

To reclaim all the lands that historically belonged to Greek civilization and were still inhabited by Greeks, and to establish a "Greater Greece" spanning Eurasia and surrounding the Aegean Sea.

Just then, a gunshot rang out in the Golden Valley, ushering in a great war for the world.

For many, this great war was nothing short of a catastrophe, but for Venizelos, who wanted to build a Greater Greece, it was the best opportunity of his life.

Then Venizelos encountered a small problem: Constantine I, the de facto supreme leader of Greece, had a slightly different opinion on the matter.

Venizelos believed that firstly, the alliance between Bonitania, Gaul, and Lucia was stronger, and secondly, in order to establish a Greater Greece, they would inevitably go to war with the Sultanate, which was allied with the Teutons and Habsburgs.

Therefore, they should join the alliance between Bonitania and Gaul as the pillar of the alliance in the Mediterranean, to kick the Sultanate in the backside and reclaim Constantinople, the old Roman capital and the city that the Greeks longed for in the world.

Constantine I, however, believed that firstly, the Teutonic King was his brother-in-law, and secondly, he had spent his entire youth in Teutonic territory and was very clear about the Teutonic army's strength. Therefore, Greece should remain neutral in this great war, while slightly favoring the Teutonics.

This disagreement made the conflict between the two sides almost irreconcilable, and Constantine I even dismissed Venizelos from his post as prime minister twice.

As the war progressed, it became clear that if Greece didn't intervene now, it would be impossible to join the fray after the war, seize control of the Eastern Mediterranean, and establish the Greater Greece of its dreams.

If it's any later, the Lucias will be almost in Constantinople!
Faced with a king who wouldn't listen to reason, Venizelos could only resort to his traditional skills: "Damn this king's incompetence! He's brought shame and disgrace upon the country! Brothers, let's charge one more time! Let's revolt!"
As a national leader, Venizelos's appeal is beyond doubt, and at the same time, Buntania, which has just carried out a failed landing operation in the Mediterranean, naturally wants to give the Sultanate a good kick in the ass.

Therefore, they gave full support to Venizelos's uprising and helped Venizelos establish a provisional revolutionary government in northern Greece.

As a formidable figure who could drive the Sultanate into a panic on Crete, he naturally became even more powerful with the support of Buntania.

In just one year, Venizelos successfully forced the king into exile, and he returned to Athens to once again become the ruler of Greece. He began to prepare for war, ready to use the Greek sword to reclaim the Greek land in this devastating war.

However, Venizelos encountered a small problem at this time: when he returned to Athens, it was already the second half of 1917, and the Lucia Third Army, which had been fighting bitterly for four years, had begun to tighten the encirclement and prepare to besiege Constantinople.

Previous political struggles and civil wars had caused Greece to miss the best historical window of opportunity, by which time Venizelos had reorganized the army and was ready to join the great war.

The Lucia have captured Constantinople and are now making a fierce advance into the Balkans, a region that Venizelos once so desperately desired.

Faced with this situation, Venizelos could only turn his attention to the east and try to seize those eastern lands.

In the past, when Venizelos was just a rebel leader, the Sultanate was no match for him. Now that the Sultanate has been shattered into pieces, the fragment called Turkey is even less of a match for Venizelos.

Barring unforeseen circumstances, Venizelos will be able to crush Turkish resistance and allow Greece to acquire vast territories in the eastern Mediterranean.

However, in order to achieve this great ideal, the Greeks had been at war since 1912, and even took the time to fight a civil war and exile a king.

The Greeks are now exhausted, and even the monarchists have gained widespread support for their promise of peace.

At this point, the fifty-six-year-old Venizelos keenly sensed this trend, knowing that he might not have much time left.

As the war ended, aid from Bonitania and Gaul continued to decrease, and the war also left the country's economy in a perpetually unhealthy state.

At this point, even a military victory would no longer be able to garner popular support.

If he didn't want all his efforts to be in vain, then he had to end the war as soon as possible.

So, who in this world could help him end the war as quickly as possible, defeat Turkey's resistance in a decisive battle, force them to the negotiating table, and allow him to gain land on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean?
Venizelos turned his attention to Bunitania and Gaul, thinking that perhaps it would be a good idea to get those mercenaries to help.

Faced with Venizelos's contract, Joe, who had previously had to fabricate the excuse of a long-distance deployment for training in order to mobilize troops, was now so excited that he just wanted to shake the hand of the diplomat who had brought him greetings from Greece.

Although the Bohemian Legion's operation was important, as it was a covert operation, Joe could not mobilize Wagner's forces on a large scale.

Bring the first armored battalion, and then gather two more mechanized infantry battalions to form a regimental-sized force. This rapid advance and retreat is the maximum force Joe can mobilize without alerting others or surprising allies.

If the scale were larger, even a blind person in Citibank would be able to see that there was something wrong with it.

Mobilizing a regimental-level combat group can be described as conducting extreme exercises and training, but mobilizing an entire division and brigade for Wagner to conduct long-range training? Who would believe that?
However, if he accepted Venizelos's contract, he would not only be able to deploy more troops more effectively, but Venizelos's advance payment would also alleviate the financial strain caused by self-funded military operations. Previously, Joe could only send a regiment to the Far East, but now, with the cover of this operation, he could send a brigade there.

After all, it's perfectly reasonable and logical to depart under the guise of going to Greece, only to find out upon arrival that it's actually in the Far East.

In addition, people are more prone to anger when they are weak.

An enraged Joe now only wants to cause trouble for others and vent his anger.

Although both sides are acting in good faith, there is a small problem.

The problem is that Greece doesn't have enough money to hire Wagner right now, and unlike other NATO members, Greece isn't a newly formed militaristic nation with little experience and therefore doesn't dare to sign any agreements.

Therefore, the Greek government doesn't even consider comprehensive agreements like those from NATO.

Fortunately, both sides were quite sincere in reaching an agreement, and both Old Wei and Old Qiao were very flexible in their methods of payment and receipt.

So after several days of bargaining, Joe reached an agreement with the Greek government on the day before his wedding.

The Greek government was required to pay 20% of Wagner's total mobilization offer in hard currency such as pound sterling or gold as an initial payment and to be responsible for providing Wagner with ammunition and fuel supplies.

Wagner would mobilize at least one armored division to the battlefield and serve the Greek government for three years, or assist the Greek government in seizing the eastern Mediterranean region.

Furthermore, Wagner is prohibited from accepting any contracts related to Greece by the Turkish government for ten years after the contract expires.

Of course, Joe wasn't one to suffer a loss.

Therefore, the remaining portion of the operation that the Greek government cannot pay for will be covered by the islands.

Located in the northern Aegean Sea, at the Dardanelles Sea outlet, the island of Gökçe will be sold to the Wagner Group for one pound as compensation.

In this modern society, using an entire island as payment sounds horrifying, and in fact, it is quite frightening.

Even if Joe and Wayne agree, Türkiye and the National League will definitely have some objections.

Because when Joe signed the contract, the island, which had only a few thousand inhabitants, belonged to Türkiye, Türkiye was bound to have objections.

Furthermore, if a mercenary group were to completely control an island, it would be just one step away from establishing its own nation. Therefore, the League of Nations would certainly not agree to such a thing that seriously challenges the post-war order.

Therefore, to avoid alarming friendly nations, sovereignty over the island remains with Greece, but all rights except sovereignty and fishing rights around the island belong to the Wagner Group.

Even so, this agreement is alarming enough, given Gokche Island's strategic location at the entrance to the Dardanelles Sea.

The Turkish government immediately lodged a strong protest, and even the Russian military government lodged a strong protest.

Although both are protesting, the reasons for their protests are quite different.

The Turkish government is protesting because they are already being beaten down by the Greeks, and if Wagner comes along, no one knows what the situation will be like.

The Lucia military government protested because the island's location was too crucial; if Wagner occupied it, it would be tantamount to putting his hand on their throat.

Although they weren't pinched, the mere presence of that hand was already hard for them to accept.

At Joe's wedding, the questions he was asked most were not about his relationship with Kate or where they planned to go for their honeymoon.

Rather, the question is how this agreement was reached and what Wagner planned to do on that island afterward.

This event was so sensational that His Majesty George, who had originally only sent Crown Prince Albert to Joe's wedding, arrived at the wedding venue at the last minute.

Almost immediately after the wedding, Joe was pulled into a secret room by these bigwigs, who asked him what he planned to do with the island.

Due to the island's importance, arming it could easily cut off its access to the Black Sea and the Sea of ​​Marmara.

And this time it's different from the past. Wagner created NATO and established bases there, but this time Joe actually got Wagner a piece of land where he could do whatever he wanted.

The last time someone did this was in 1817.

When asked by the bigwigs, Joe said that he actually preferred hard currency like gold to troublesome things like land.

But there was no other way; Greece was poor and could only offer land as payment.

Even so, this land is not so easy to take, since it is currently under Turkish control and the Greeks have to reclaim it.

Of course, after acquiring the island, Joe also considered its sensitive location.

Therefore, Joe does not intend to fortify the island; instead, he plans to turn it into a tourist island.

In short, it means tax exemption, building hotels, and most importantly, opening up some service industries that are illegal in most countries, such as tense and exciting transfers of other people's property through certain rituals, and love that is charged by the hour.

Wagner can also be part of a tourism brand.

Joe plans to establish a Wagner primary training camp here, where new recruits who have just joined Wagner will receive mountain and diving training, while retired Wagner veterans will be responsible for security and will also serve as firearms, driving, and diving instructors.

Want to experience the thrill of shooting and driving tanks? Then come to Gokche Island!

After hearing Joe's plan for Gekche Island, these bigwigs had only one word to describe it: safe and sound!
At the same time, their evaluation of Joe also changed slightly.

After all, as the leader of the Wagner Group, Joe could militarize the island if he had any ideas.

But Joe didn't do that; instead, he turned the place into a tourist island.

Developing this island into a tourist destination means one thing: Wagner will have no secrets on this island.

Because immediately, countless spies would flood into the island and observe it for an extended period.

At the same time, Joe's plan to include Wagner as part of the tourist experience also illustrates one point.

That's because Joe is a good person; the good thing is that Joe only wants to make money.

Then they started asking Joe if he needed to invest in developing this tourist island.

Of course, investment is necessary.

Once we get our hands on such an island, it will cost a lot of money just to build luxurious resort facilities and an airport.

In addition, to facilitate tourism to the island, Joe also plans to build several more luxury cruise ships, making it convenient for people from the Old World to travel to the island for a one-stop trip.

From the moment we boarded the ship, we entered a crazy, joyful mode.

Joe even came up with a tourism slogan for the island: "Let everything that happens on Gokche Island remain on Gokche Island."

To accomplish this great undertaking, a large amount of funding is naturally required.

After all, no one would have imagined that Joe was secretly building an underground base in the mountains of the island while constructing entertainment facilities.

Given its strategic importance, even if we don't know when it will come in handy, it's always a good idea to prepare an underground base here.

As for his own mansion with a huge bedroom and bathtub next to the best private beach, Joe naturally planned to make arrangements for that as well.

After a pleasant meeting with these important figures, Joe returned to his bedroom.

Kate, who hadn't seen Joe since the wedding, was glaring angrily at him in the bedroom.

Joe was prepared to resolve the issue with traditional methods when Kate was angry.

At first, everything went very smoothly. Joe, who had already trained, quickly calmed Kate down and even made her look at him with seductive eyes.

But just as Joe was about to solve the problem, he discovered something was wrong.

Because it was used too harshly that time, Joe hasn't recovered yet.

Seeing Joe's embarrassment, Kate, who had just calmed down, immediately understood what had happened.

So that night, Joe slept alone in the study.

Fortunately, Joe, who used to often sleep in his office, understood the importance of having a bed in his study.

The next day, after breakfast, Joe left the governor's mansion.

Now that the most troublesome issue has been resolved, it's time to get down to business.

Because Joe had been mobilizing Wagner's troops on a large scale beforehand, Wagner, who was already in a state of flux, quickly sprang into action.

Large numbers of people began boarding ships to prepare for their journey to the East.

What Joe didn't expect was that the contract he signed with the Greek government would lead to some unforeseen circumstances.

Firstly, although the Teutons signed the Treaty of Versailles, they began to think about how to break this treaty from the very first day it was signed, a treaty that all Teutons loathed.

The prerequisite for breaking this agreement is how they can maintain their officer corps and develop weaponry under the noses of the Bunitania and the Teutons.

After Joe shattered their defensive line last time, the Teutons became very interested in tanks.

However, tanks require huge spaces for both research and development and training.

Unless the Bunitas and Gauls are blind, they have no way to do these things on their own soil.

Then, because Buntania and Gaul strictly monitored military aid to the Lucian military government, the military government was very dissatisfied with Buntania and Gaul.

It's my business if I can't win on the battlefield, but how can you withhold money from me just because I embezzled military aid?
Especially after Joe waded into the Aegean Sea, the Lucia military government became even more dissatisfied with Bonitania.

The Teutons noticed this discontent and understood that the Lucia military government was under immense military pressure.

So the Teutons told the Lucian military government, "You are now dissatisfied with Buntania and Gaul, and coincidentally, we are also dissatisfied with them."

You don't like the left, and we don't like the left either. You have enormous national defense pressure and want to reclaim your land, and we also have enormous national defense pressure and want to reclaim our land.

Even in history, our two countries have had close and friendly relations; what a nostalgic era of monarchy we remember.

We're a match made in heaven!

How about... we join forces?

Looking at the military auditors who were getting in his way, Wagner who was about to appear at his doorstep but would not help him deal with the leftist threat, and Teutonic, the sucker who had come to him willingly.

The Lucia military government immediately declared, "We will unite!"
Subsequently, in the year following the end of the war, the Lucia military government, which had been fighting desperately on the Eastern Front two years earlier, secretly signed the Treaty of Constantinople with the Teutons in Constantinople.

In this secret agreement, the Teutons would establish military academies and military research facilities in the territory of the Lucia military government, and the two countries would jointly train officers and research new equipment.

Of course, as a reciprocal plan, the Teutons not only had to establish military academies and military research facilities, but also had to help the Lucia military government develop resources in the Balkans and Caucasus and help the military government establish industrial facilities there.

At the same time, the Lucia military government also promised to provide the developed resources to the Teutons on the most favorable terms.

However, neither the Teutonic government nor the Lucia military government anticipated that this secret agreement, which absolutely could not be made public, would be leaked on the very first day after it was signed.

(End of this chapter)