Imperial Elite

Chapter 111 The Disappearance of Joe Harrison

Joe's success in this operation led to two outcomes.

First, this successful landing changed a perception in the military: that large-scale operations can be conducted through amphibious landings.

Because the Buntanians had suffered a major defeat not long before in 1915, a defeat that led the unnamed First Lord of the Navy, Winston, who had planned the operation, to resign and become a front-line officer in the Army.

This operation led everyone to realize that large-scale amphibious landing operations are tantamount to suicide.

Although Joe had carried out several similar amphibious landing operations since then, from launching surprise attacks in the Low Countries to Plug encircling the left-wing forces.

However, one of these two operations was a surprise attack by armored forces, and the other was against an unremarkable left-wing militia.

Therefore, these two operations did not attract much attention.

After all, who is Old Joe? He's the Britannian Jade Kirin, St. George of York, and a Teutonic warrior. It's normal for him to win against a mere bunch of Prag militia; it would be worth studying if he lost.

But this time the situation is completely different.

Firstly, although Sudan is now in decline, it was once a powerful and influential nation.

Secondly, just five years ago, it was the Sultanate that withstood the amphibious landing operation by the Bunitania, inflicting the most devastating defeat of the war on the Bunitania.

Now, Joe has managed to not only land but also capture the city with even fewer troops.

This is almost an impossible task.

When the news reached London and he saw Joe's success, Winston stared at the newspaper for a long time, even though Joe's landing site was not on the Garibaldi Peninsula and the terrain was quite different.

However, on his first day, Joe occupied a city and seized its port.

Anyone familiar with the battles of St. Petersburg and Paris knows that although the fall of Warsaw and Kiev was remarkably smooth, urban warfare is never that simple.

After putting down the newspaper and going to his study to look at the map, Winston couldn't help but sigh, "If we had Joe back in 1915, the Gallipoli campaign certainly wouldn't have been lost."

If anyone else knew about Winston's exclamation, and if that person knew anything about the context, that person would certainly laugh at Winston mercilessly.

Because in 1915, Joe was indeed a member of the Bunitania Armed Forces, but due to some technical reasons, he was at an engineering training camp learning how to dig trenches and lay barbed wire.

In short, Joe's actions have prompted many countries to consider whether they should further increase their investment in the navy.

Although it sounds absurd that an army veteran like Joe led an amphibious landing operation that caused countries around the world to start considering whether to increase naval investment.

But in reality, this is not absurd at all.

For most countries, building extensive coastal defense works along their coastlines is simply too financially burdensome.

Since it's impossible to build bunkers all along the coastline, the navy, which can roam freely at sea, becomes the best option.

This option is not only more economical, but even if the naval battle is lost, having a fleet will at least allow us to know where the enemy is going to land, right?

While naval spending increased, some more insightful individuals, such as the Teutons who now scrutinize Joe with a magnifying glass, discovered that Joe's approach to using the commandos seemed somewhat different from their own.

As the earliest Teutons to develop commando units and use these stormtroopers to relentlessly kick down doors, their understanding of elite infantry was simply to use them as sharp knives to kick down doors.

As long as we can break through the defenses, that's fine.

But after learning what Joe's sabotage squad had done, the Teutons realized that although raiding wasn't exactly honorable, it actually seemed quite useful.

While guerrilla warfare has been a common practice throughout history, it was generally a last resort. If possible, elite troops were deployed to the front lines rather than sabotage operations behind enemy lines.

Given that the army currently numbers only 70,000 and is essentially a skeleton force, the Teutons face enormous defense pressure from both the east and the west after the reduction of their troops.

We haven't been able to find a suitable way to counter it.

Although everyone knows that tanks and airplanes are good, the Teutons cannot openly research and equip themselves with these weapons at present.

So before we can openly possess these weapons, perhaps we can train some assault troops to operate behind enemy lines?
The Teutons thought so, and the Gauls and Lucias shared the same idea.

However, although both Gauls and Lucia wanted to form a commando unit, their approaches were completely different.

After the Teutons twice breached Paris, and with no natural defenses in the north, the Gauls wondered if it was possible—just a possibility—for the Teutons to attack again.

Could we send a large-scale commando team to attack Germania by sea or air?
If we just eliminate the Teutonic leadership who dared to start the war, wouldn't we be able to hold the north?
Of course, the assault team's offensive was one thing, but based on the experience of the great war, almost all eligible men had been through Verdun. At this time, Gaul had the idea of ​​building a permanent, large-scale defensive line in the north.

Judging from the performance of permanent fortifications such as Fort Dumont during the war, these fortifications could cause great trouble for the attacking side.

So since there were no natural defenses in the north, we decided to build our own artificial natural barrier! This idea began to spread among the Gauls, and the only reason they didn't start construction right away was that they didn't have the money.

Despite their lack of funds, the Gauls had already begun preliminary exploration and preparation work.

The People's Revolutionary Alliance, which was also paying close attention to this war, was very interested in this new commando combat model.

This commando-style combat method compensates for a major deficiency of the People's Revolutionary Alliance, which is an organization established to liberate all mankind and plant the red flag all over the world.

The People's Revolutionary Union (PRU), an organization that enables Teutons and Lucias to fight for the same ideal, has been committed to continuously exporting revolution since its inception, until it eliminates the last reactionary stronghold in the world.

However, this ideal has encountered a slight problem, although a serious leftward shift has emerged throughout the Old World after the war.

Strong left-wing movements have even emerged in many countries, leading some high-ranking members of the Revolutionary Union to believe that a world revolution has begun and that they should start in St. Petersburg and head west to plant the red flag in Germania!

However, due to the strong suppression by various countries and the impact of civil war, this world revolution failed to take place.

Apart from acquiring an exclave in Upper Silesia, left-wing movements in other areas were suppressed. Even in Buntania, a NATO-like entity was formed right on the doorstep of the People's Revolutionary Union, completely blocking shipping in the Baltic Sea.

Therefore, under such circumstances, it is indeed somewhat difficult to export revolution and achieve world revolution.

However, the commando tactics that Joe used in Sudan might come in handy.

After all, while we can't deploy a large-scale army, we can still assemble small, elite units to support our comrades in other countries.

At the same time, these small commando units can also train comrades from other countries, enabling them to learn how to fight, adapt to fighting, and become capable of fighting in combat.

Of all the major countries, only Citibank has not joined the trend of forming commando teams.

The reason why Citibank doesn't form a commando team is also quite outrageous.

Citibank has always been considered a large country, rather than a powerful one.

Although they won the war of independence, the main force in the war was actually the Gauls from across the ocean, who came here to cause trouble for Bonitania.

Therefore, most people in the world believe that the US military is weak, incapable of fighting, and a bunch of noobs.

The bad thing is that Citibank now thinks so too.

Because of the unfortunate timing of their entry into the war, which coincided with the Second Battle of Paris, although they did manage to recover a considerable amount of territory in the subsequent counter-offensive.

However, all of this was accomplished with the cooperation of the Gauls.

Meanwhile, facing Teutonic veterans who had been fighting for several years, especially those on the Eastern Front, the Americans did not achieve any significant results.

Especially in the meat grinder within Paris, facing the Teutons and Gauls who had gone so mad as to throw poison gas at each other, the Americans felt that although war was cruel, this was perhaps too cruel.

So when most countries started forming elite commando units, the US Army did have some ideas, but those ideas were almost immediately put aside.

Why form a commando unit? What are you going to use to build one? Do you have enough capable non-commissioned officers and officers? You're just going to form a commando unit?

Just focus on training your regular troops properly, okay? Stop thinking about all this nonsense. I'll allow you to start the bidding process for the domestically developed tank you want. Stop messing around with this useless stuff, alright?

However, it wasn't just the United States that didn't form a commando unit; in fact, Bonitania also failed to establish a new commando force.

Unlike the Citibank, which felt its own personnel were incompetent and that forming a commando team was completely unnecessary, the Buntanian cabinet's approach was to achieve great things with minimal expenditure.

Which is the best commando unit in the world right now?
Wagner.

Whose team was Wagner on?

Old Joe.

So, who is Old Joe on?
Since Wagner is already being supported by Old Joe, why would we need to create another unit that might not even be useful for a long time?
Wouldn't it be better to save the money for something else?

When you need it, just place an order with Old Joe. Will he still refuse?
While countries around the world were making their decisions, what was Steve Jobs doing?

Old Joe is in the hospital.

The little incident before the wedding had already taken a toll on Old Joe, and then he spent a day at sea on a fishing boat, and after landing, he led people to build a temporary dock.

Although he had rested for a night, leading the combat group to beat up the Sudanese on the plains was still not an easy task.

After the Greek troops finally landed and began to take over the front lines, Joe, who was relaxing, felt a little unwell.

Then he started to have a fever.

Normally, a fever is a minor problem; a bath at a famous local bathhouse and a nap wrapped in a blanket will do the trick.

But this time things didn't go as planned. After waking up, Joe not only didn't feel better, but actually felt even worse.

A hospital check-up revealed pneumonia.

Pneumonia is a deadly disease at any time, and at this time and in this place, there are even fewer good treatment options for it.

Besides conservative treatments—bed rest, keeping warm, drinking plenty of water, and eating high-energy, easily digestible foods to maintain strength and persevere—which have been used for thousands of years, there are indeed some newer treatment methods.

For example, oral administration of toxic drugs such as arsenic, strychnine, and quinine in an attempt to "fight bacteria with poison".

Alternatively, X-ray irradiation of the lungs can temporarily suppress inflammatory infiltration.

There is even a treatment method that, once identified as a certain type of pneumococcus, involves intravenous injection of the corresponding type of "anti-pneumococcal horse serum".

However, in general, these treatments seem rather radical, the kind that could easily leave someone crippled and unable to recover, leaving you wondering whether you're cured or not!

In short, after making headlines once again, Joe was physically out of commission.

Even while lying in bed, Joe didn't forget to take the time to mobilize the troops, ensuring that the Wagner troops continued to operate effectively until Cecil arrived. Only then did Joe take a ship back to Cyprus to recuperate.

Faced with Joe's professional ethics, the Greeks, including Venizelos, were moved to tears.

Many people said that Old Joe was a very respectable man. Even when he was seriously ill, he did not forget to command the troops. He only went back to recuperate after his replacement arrived. He was so considerate!
Of course, given that the Greek government is currently extremely poor, it's impossible for them to give Joga money.

However, Joe was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of the Saviour, the highest honor in Greece.

Although it featured the Grand Cross and the Savior, it was a little ominous for Joe, who was lying in a hospital bed.

But Joe doesn't care about good or bad luck anymore.

Using the excuse of recuperating, Joe refused all visitors after arriving in Cyprus. Then, on a dark and stormy night, Joe secretly boarded the cruise ship he had prepared in advance and fled to the Far East!

Although taking an ocean cruise to the Far East while sick sounds like a suicidal act.

But in reality, there is no danger.

Thanks to advancements in shipbuilding technology, large ocean-going passenger ships at this time were able to carry two thousand passengers and about a thousand crew members across the ocean at a time.

Meanwhile, the sea conditions along the route from the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal to the Red Sea are very calm, almost indistinguishable from living on land compared to the North Sea.

Moreover, the first-class cabins of such large ocean liners are almost comparable in luxury and comfort to Buckingham Palace.

Perhaps the dry air of the Red Sea was good for Joe's respiratory system, or perhaps Joe, being in his prime, was in excellent physical condition.

Joe's pneumonia was cured before the passenger ship left the Red Sea.

Apart from being a little weak, Joe has almost fully recovered and is able to walk around on the deck.

However, Joe still chooses to stay in his room most of the time.

It's not because Joe needs to keep it a secret right now.

Wagner has chartered the entire cruise ship, and everyone on board except the crew is a member of Wagner, so there is absolutely no need to worry about leaks.

The main reason Joe didn't go to the deck to wander around was that, as a luxury cruise ship, the first-class deck was separate from the decks of other cabins.

Joe's guards were all from the North. As a group of people who didn't see the sun for most of the year, when the cruise ship arrived in the warm, even somewhat scorching South, seeing the sun was like seeing Joe. They took every opportunity to show themselves off on the deck chairs.

The deck where the first-class cabins were located was almost turned into a nudist camp.

Because of this, only female flight attendants come to the first-class deck.

In this era, those who were willing to make a living on ships, and even managed to become waiters in first class, were certainly not ordinary people.

At other times, Joe wouldn't mind some romantic moments.

But now, faced with this situation, Joe, trying to control himself, could only stay in his cabin and avoid looking at everything outside that could easily make him lose his mind.

The last time Joe was alone in his room was during the Battle of the Somme when he was confined by the military police.

Joe, who rarely had a moment of peace, looked at his luxurious room and soon began to feel bored, so he started to reorganize his action plan.

Joe had already studied the plan repeatedly before the operation began, but he couldn't figure it out even after looking at it several more times.

Finally, when he was so bored he was about to grow mold, Joe, who was extremely bored, thought, "Why don't I research armed helicopters?"
Just as Joe, utterly bored, began to study, or rather recall, how to make an armed helicopter in the cabin.

Joe's pneumonia, which is of questionable origin, has also caused an unexpected impact.

The news that Joe, a celebrity of considerable stature, was ill could not be kept secret.

Moreover, in order to have a legitimate reason to recuperate in Cyprus, Joe did not intend to hide this matter.

So many people know that Joe was sick with pneumonia and had to go to Cyprus to recuperate.

Even the most lacking third-rate newspapers would only tuck this news into a corner of the news section.

Or, while mentioning Wagner's operation, casually mention that Joe fell ill during the operation and has now ceased commanding troops and returned to Cyprus to recuperate.

Mustafa and the Teutons were naturally very happy about this news.

Serves you right! Why didn't you just die of illness?!
Others, such as ordinary Buntanians, thought it was just an illness and nothing serious.

Old Joe, who survived even poison gas, is now going to Cyprus supposedly to recuperate, but he might actually be on vacation there.

After all, everyone knows about Old Joe's physical condition; an ordinary person really couldn't assemble two such close-quarters bodyguard teams!
As for women like Kate, Diane, and Catherine, who stayed in London or on the Emerald Isle to await childbirth, they weren't too worried.

Although I know that Old Joe's illness this time is more or less related to that little thing that happened before the wedding.

However, this is all the mess that bastard made himself. Now that he's sick, it's a lesson for him. Let's see if he dares to do this again!

However, as Joe spent more time at sea and disappeared from public view, it became clear that Joe was not just a simple Britannian Major General, but also a renowned businessman, inventor, and governor of Emerald Isle.

Joe is practically a public figure, frequently appearing in all sorts of strange and unusual places.

For example, after the war ended, Yorkers would occasionally see Joe buying coffee on the street, or casually giving a piece of candy to the children selling newspapers.

But this time it's been half a month and Qiao still hasn't shown up, which is obviously abnormal.

So it's unclear whether it was just drunkards talking nonsense or someone maliciously spreading rumors.

In short, two weeks after Joe disappeared, rumors inexplicably began to circulate that Joe had actually died of illness.

Normally, such rumors wouldn't be a big deal, since being inexplicably believed to be dead is something every celebrity goes through.

In response to such rumors, the veterans of the Teutonic Army who had fought on the battlefield would raise a toast to celebrate that God had finally called back this bastard.

In Brittany, anyone who said that would be met with a curt "Pah! Who is Old Joe? Even if you die, Old Joe won't die!" from the patrons nearby.

However, as the rumor spread to Cyprus, a Citibank sailor who had just landed also heard the news.

As a Citizen, the sailor didn't have any particular feelings for Joe, so while drinking at the bar, he talked about it with his companions as usual.

"Hey, you know what? That really tough guy, what was his name... Oh, Joe, that guy seems to be dead. Immortal Joe is dead..."

Exchanging gossip in a bar isn't a big deal, but unfortunately...

Sitting next to them were several Bonitania sailors, and to make matters worse...

These sailors were originally on the shallow-draft heavy gunboats that provided naval support during Joe's raid on the Low Countries.

The Navy's support saved Joe a lot of trouble, so although theoretically it was the Navy's responsibility.

However, Joe still wrote several thank-you letters to the shallow-draft heavy gunboats that came to the rescue, praising them highly for their assistance in helping the assault team seize the bridge.

Joe's praise and the victory in the battle led the Navy to give a bonus to all the sailors who participated in the battle.

The bonus was secondary for these sailors; what mattered was that Joe's thank-you letter had been published in the newspaper.

This made the sailors feel very proud.

Look, even Immortal Joe praised us back then. You have no idea, if it weren't for our valiant fighting, Joe would never have been able to break through the Low Countries' blockade.

A crushing land support operation was blown out of proportion by these sailors as if they had fought and won a battle against the high seas fleet.

So even though they had never met, these sailors had a great fondness for Joe.

When the sailors heard that someone dared to spread rumors that Old Joe was dead, they immediately became restless.

He immediately stood up and rebuked the American sailor, "What nonsense are you spouting? His Majesty lives a long life, Old Joe is forever healthy, even if you die, Old Joe won't die, don't fucking talk nonsense!"

Faced with these sailors who had clearly had a few too many drinks, the Citizen sailor immediately listened to his inner voice: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I only heard it from others, I meant no harm, I won't talk nonsense anymore, guys, I'm sorry..."

Although listening to my inner voice saved me from a fight, it ruined my good mood when I disembarked.

After leaving the bar, the Citizen sailor became increasingly angry.

Damn it, all I did was spread a rumor, why do these guys look like they want to kill me?
And it's not like this guy hasn't shown up for a long time; what if he really is dead?

Thinking of this, perhaps because he was born in the United States and his soul was already imbued with the spirit of freedom, a thought suddenly flashed through the depths of the sailor's soul.

Yeah, didn't they say that guy named Joe is currently recuperating on the island of Cyprus?
Then I'll go to his house and see if this guy is still alive, that'll do.

So, on a dark and stormy night, a night fit for murder and arson, the American sailor, emboldened by a bottle of whiskey, broke into the villa where Joe was supposedly recuperating.

Then the Citibank sailors discovered that there was no one in the villa at all!
(End of this chapter)