Imperial Elite

Chapter 116 Wagner's Gold
As the cruise ship departed, Joe discovered the Britannian fleet and the Rising Sun fleet locked in a standoff.

Although it was a global colonial empire, the Britannian Empire's fleet still possessed considerable strength in the world.

However, in the Far East, a relatively remote region, the highest level of the Bunitania fleet was only cruisers.

Compared to the battleships of the Rising Sun Navy, they are slightly inferior in both tonnage and caliber.

The difference in tonnage alone does not affect the fighting spirit of the Bonitania Navy.

These smaller and fewer warships, upon seeing Joe's ship depart, not only began to block the Sunrise Fleet's route and maneuver their way through the destroyer fleet.

At the same time, the Rising Sun Fleet hoisted the signal flags demanding that the ships stop for inspection, and sent light signals to Joe's fleet, allowing Joe to sail normally.

It was completely like he was saying, "If you have something to do, you go ahead. I'll take over here."

Looking at the impressive navy, even Joe, an army soldier, couldn't help but exclaim, "Look at this, this is the Royal Navy. They're really something else!"

With the Royal Navy backing them up, Joe's fleet sailed south as if nothing had happened.

What Qiao didn't know was that at this moment, because of the small friction that Qiao had with the Shengyang people...

What a colossal wave it created.

Due to past anti-Russian policies, in order to contain the expansion of the Luscan Empire in the Far East, Bunitania signed the "Bunitania-Sun Alliance Treaty" with Sunrise. From then on, Sunrise was like a poor child adopted into a landlord's family.

With the support of Bunitania, they developed rapidly, and even defeated Lucia in the War of Arise with Bunitania's off-field assistance.

He's now qualified to sit at the table, though he's still at the kids' table.

However, considering that not long ago they were still sitting in the pot, this is already a huge improvement.

In addition, the maritime cooperation with Britannia during the war, as well as the Sun's consistent policy of Westernization, meant that while it cannot be said that everyone in the Sun had a favorable impression of Britannia.

The navy, which at least sourced every single red brick used in the construction of the naval academy from Buntania, had a very favorable impression of Buntania.

And Buntania also had a good impression of this young brother who could stay in the Far East town.

It wasn't until Joe took over the Bohemian Legion and began the return journey that things changed. By then, the navy was slacking off, and the army was no longer as single-minded as it used to be. So, after discovering that they couldn't break through Wagner's defenses...

While the army set up defenses to block Joe's way, it also finally bowed to the civilian government, indicating that they were now facing a problem.

These Wagners are utterly unsportsmanlike; they come to deceive and launch surprise attacks. The Rising Sun Army should now resort to diplomacy to resolve this issue.

Let's think of a way to use diplomacy to get these Wagners to lay down their arms and then make Bunitania pay compensation. We can't let this be a free lunch, can we?

The civilian government is naturally very familiar with the army's conduct.

As a stronghold of a group of beasts with beastly hearts, low average intelligence, and muscle-headed individuals with only one mind, the civil service government naturally doesn't quite believe what they say.

But disbelief aside, even if the army is a bunch of bastards, they are still our bastards, and we must get an explanation from the Bunitania.

So, after summoning the Bunitania ambassador to the Rising Sun, although the Bunitania ambassador didn't know what Joe was up to, he did so out of consideration for the historically friendly relations.

Therefore, the Ambassador of Bonitania still indicated that we could resolve the issue through dialogue.

At this point, things should have returned to a path that normal humans could understand.

However, the Rising Sun Army has never been an army composed of normal humans.

In the negotiations organized by the civilian government, the conditions the civilian government originally wanted were nothing more than an apology and compensation.

After all, no matter how things happened, we lost a major general. If the division commander hadn't been out inspecting the troops that day, he would have become the first division commander to die in battle in the fifty years since the Meiji Restoration.

Even if it's a misunderstanding, we should at least get an apology and some compensation for the widow. That's not too much to ask, is it?
However, the army was very dissatisfied with these conditions.

Because of the fear of losing face, until this point, apart from the army knowing that they had lost a regimental flag and that a regiment had committed suicide, the civilian government and the navy believed that the army had only clashed with Wagner.

And they didn't win the conflict; in fact, they lost quite badly.

They had no idea that the army would lose so badly.

Therefore, the request from the army to join the negotiations was not rejected.

So, on a clear and sunny afternoon, Ambassador Buntania arrived at the conference room on time.

In the meeting room, the two sides first chatted about the weather and marveled at the beauty of the world, and then began formal talks to discuss how to resolve the issue.

Since the two sides had previously discussed how to resolve this matter privately while dining at a ryotei (traditional Japanese restaurant), they had already discussed the details of the matter.

So now it's just a matter of discussing things like how to apologize, how to compensate, and whether to support installment payments, etc.

If all goes well, after the negotiations conclude, they will be able to go to a ryotei (traditional Japanese restaurant) and invite a few geisha to celebrate the successful peace talks.

Then, due to the presence of army personnel on site, the meeting predictably went awry.

The civilian government had just warmed up the atmosphere by proposing an apology and compensation, and was waiting for the Ambassador of Bonitania to nod in agreement before they could begin discussing the details.

The army slammed his hand on the table with a loud "Bang!" and shouted, "Traitor!" startling the civil officials and the ambassador.

The army presented their true demands, Wagner disarmed and surrendered, and Joe Harrison came to the Rising Sun to stand trial.

If someone makes such a request, then there's nothing to talk about.

In Brittany, Joe is essentially a national hero. Although there isn't a street named after him yet, the army has funded the construction of a statue for Joe not far from the Nelson statue.

In this situation, let alone an ambassador, even the bigwigs in London probably wouldn't dare to nod in agreement.

Even more so because the ambassador himself was like many of his generation of Buntanians, his friends and family had spent time in the trenches on the Western Front.

And as a native London Union Jack, his son served in the Guards Division and followed old Joe all the way into the Teutonic homeland in the final stages of the war.

After returning home with his medal, he spent all his time marveling, "In just three days, even if it was only three days, we stormed into Germania! The Teutonic Emperor abdicated too soon!"

So when the ambassador heard the Sun Army's request, he was taken aback for a moment, and then asked his deputy if the Sun Army representative wanted Wagner to disarm and then try Joe.

After seeing his deputy nod, the ambassador ignored the Sun Civil Servants' attempts to persuade him to stay, packed his things without a word, and left the meeting without looking back. He then immediately reported the Sun Civil Servants' conditions to London.

Before the ambassador's report, both the gentlemen of London and His Majesty George were actually very dissatisfied with Joe's actions.

Although the fragile alliance between Bonitania and the Sun has effectively collapsed due to the Sun's refusal to send its army to the Old World battlefield and the disintegration of the Lucia Empire.

Furthermore, the rise of the Rising Sun Empire has even begun to threaten Bunitania's interests in the Far East.

But this does not mean they can tolerate Joe offending a regional power in the Far East.

Almost everyone thinks that although Joe is very resourceful, he is too arrogant now. We need to keep him in check a bit, otherwise, if he dares to fight a war with the Far East and the Rising Sun today, we don't even want to think about what he might do tomorrow!

Even His Majesty George felt that Joe had gone too far this time and that he should reprimand the guy.

Then, just when everyone was dissatisfied with Joe, the higher-ups in Britannia, who had received the demands from the Rising Sun, were in an uproar.

What the hell do these Shengyang people think they are?!
How dare they make such a demand!

Tell the ambassador to the Sun to stay strong! Don't embarrass yourself! London will absolutely not allow Wagner to disarm! Joe will also return to London safely!
Then, just as the gentlemen were enraged by this somewhat insulting condition, the Minister of the Navy suddenly made a proposal.

Although we had already sent the Far East Fleet to pick up Qiao, as everyone knows, the Far East Fleet is basically an existing fleet.

Compared to the Rising Sun Empire's navy, which boasts ten battleships, we are still at a slight disadvantage, so perhaps we should...

"Send the fleet! Send the fleet over there!"

Before the Navy Minister could finish speaking, the Prime Minister slammed his fist on the table.

"Let the people of the Rising Sun understand that their navy is nothing but a bunch of laughable sampans!"

Then, just as the Bonitania Navy was making a high-profile announcement that they would send a large fleet to the Far East for exercises.

This time, it was the people of Shengyang who went crazy.

Although in the last war with the Lusians they did indeed destroy the Baltic Fleet, which on paper was superior to their navy in both quality and quantity.

But this time it's the massive fleet of the Royal Navy of Bonitania, the world's number one navy!

The enemy's first battleship squadron alone is almost larger than our entire battleship fleet!
Not to mention, they have naval bases all over the world, so they certainly won't be like the Russian fleet, exhausted from circling halfway around the world to fight.

How can we fight this? There's no way we can fight this!

The Navy, already dissatisfied with the Army's antics, was now even more furious.

Damn it, those Mammoths in the army not only wasted the war reparations we worked so hard to earn, but now they've ruined the negotiations and brought in the Bunitania navy, leaving us to clean up their mess!

So, although the civilian government said that everyone is one family, and now the army has been beaten, the navy is the good kid.

I don't want to fight with Britannia either, but even if the large fleet arrives, it will still take some time, so in the meantime, you should keep Joe trapped in the port.

Give the army another chance; what if we can get Bunitania back to the negotiating table?
The navy had no intention of responding to such demands from the civilian government.

Oh, blockading the port? How? By shelling or laying mines?
You only mentioned it once, and it has caused such a big reaction from Brittany.

If the shelling and mines go wrong and Joe's ship sinks, how will that be resolved?

Should the army perform seppuku, or should we perform it?
Just then, the Bunitania Far East Fleet arrived, so they faced a Bunitania Far East Fleet that was inferior to their own in both tonnage and quality.

The Rising Sun Navy demonstrated remarkable restraint.

You sing your song, I'll be my pigeon; as long as I hoist the signal flag, I've done my job of paying the government.

So, under the cover of the Far East Fleet, Joe and the Bohemians left the port happily and began their journey south to return home.

This time, in order to resupply, the fleet of cruise ships actually docked at the largest trading port in the Far East.

The treaty port held a grand welcome for such a legendary figure as Joe.

However, in response to this welcome, Joe coldly stated that he had important matters to attend to and was unable to participate.

Of course, the real reason wasn't that Joe himself was particularly aloof, but rather that the eighty tons of gold stored in the warehouse made him have no desire to attend the banquet.

Because Joe had caused such a huge mess, the moment his ship arrived in port, the Ambassador of Britannia came directly on behalf of London to question Joe about what he was up to!
To pick you up, the Empire even dispatched a large fleet, nearly a hundred ships!

We've already reached the Mediterranean!
What on earth are you doing?!

Joe was also taken aback by the ambassador's anger.

I mean, the reason why the Far East Fleet went to meet me is because London made the decision.

Your Majesty and the Prime Minister are truly capable; these two are excellent at getting along.

Then, Joe discovered a problem: the Empire had mobilized a large fleet this time, which would cost a fortune.

The fact that the Empire was able to mobilize its large fleet meant that my situation must have been extremely dangerous at the time.

If I don't put in some effort, then no one will help me in the future.

However, if Joe were to pay for the trip himself, the cost would be far too high, and he didn't want to pay.

Secondly, if they were to cover this expense themselves, London would certainly have questions.

That is, what exactly did I do to deserve such a large sum of money?

Things will only get more complicated then.

However, the contract he signed stipulated that after receiving the eighty tons of gold, he would be able to safely deliver the remaining gold to Bohemia.

At that moment, Joe just wanted to slap himself.

At the time, you said you'd safely send them to Bohemia, couldn't you have just put them on a ship?!
Now he's put himself in this predicament!

After thinking it over, Joe realized that he couldn't handle this alone and that he needed to talk to the Bohemians first.

Instead of explaining to the ambassador, Joe asked him, "What is the security level of your radio station? Can we use the highest level of security code? I have something important to report to London."

This matter is very important, so you should send a telegram immediately to tell London to prepare. We must make a decision on this matter in a short time.

Seeing Joe's sudden serious expression, as if he were about to blow up a bunker, the ambassador realized that something serious must have happened; otherwise, Old Joe wouldn't have suddenly come to the Far East like this. The ambassador then said he would contact London immediately.

As soon as the ambassador left, Joe immediately boarded the Bohemian ship.

Upon Joe's arrival, the Bohemian commander warmly welcomed him and invited him for a drink.

The Bohemian commander gave Joe's actions extremely high praise.

But Joe didn't have time to chat with the Bohemians.

Instead, he indicated that he had something to discuss and needed to speak privately with the Bohemian.

Seeing Joe's serious expression, the Bohemian commander immediately led him into his room.

Then he heard Joe describe the predicament they were facing.

Although Joe Wagner completed the ground operations, they were able to reach the sea safely thanks to the Britannian navy.

Meanwhile, the Bonitania navy is on its way. He can't hide the fact that he has gold, but his promise is to help the Bohemians send the gold into Bohemia.

A contract is a contract, so Joe had to help the Bohemians get the gold in before the contract was finalized.

The Bohemian commander was stunned for a moment by Joe's frankness, then extended his hand to Joe, indicating that from now on, Joe would be his friend for life, and also a friend of all Bohemians.

In response to these words, Joe simply smiled and said that business is business, and we should discuss what to do now.

At this point, concealing the existence of the gold is clearly impossible.

The remaining question is how much gold they actually have, and how much gold they are willing to give away.

At the same time, the source of this batch of gold is somewhat questionable.

After all, although the Bohemians retrieved this batch of gold from the battlefield, its original owner, His Majesty the Tsar, is still alive.

If the Tsar were to learn of this and pursue the matter, even though he only had two daughters at the time, he would indeed be at a slight disadvantage against the Bohemian Army, which had tens of thousands of veteran soldiers.

But many things are just missing a reason, an excuse, or a claim.

If the Tsar steps forward, it will be very difficult for the Bohemians to keep their gold.

If they could have brought it back to China quietly, that would have been fine, but now things have blown up so much.

It's impossible to hide it now, so rather than letting things get out and make things look bad, it's better to take the initiative and create a positive connection.

After some discussion, Joe and the Bohemians agreed that they would first conceal the amount of gold.

That way, even if something goes wrong, they can still protect a portion of it.

The portion that was concealed will be sent to NATO countries, and then they will try to transport it to Bohemia by land or air.

Then, since Joe failed to keep his promise this time, if the issue is to be resolved financially, Joe will also contribute a portion, not exceeding five tons of gold, as compensation for his mistake.

After finalizing the details with the Bohemians, contact was established with London to let them know that Joe, the ambassador, was not going mad this time and quickly returned to the ship.

Then, the ambassador heard news that shocked him.

Joe's trip to the Far East was not only to help the Bohemian Legion out of its predicament, but also to help them transport the gold out.

And the amount of gold is... three hundred tons!

Upon hearing that there were three hundred tons of gold, even though he was a well-informed ambassador of nobles, he still felt dizzy for a few seconds.

This is a full three hundred tons of gold!

And eighty tons of gold were Old Joe's reward!
No wonder Old Joe was like a mad dog in the Far East, biting anyone he saw. Anyone would have gone crazy in that situation.
After the Grand Marshal used a top-secret telegram to inform London, who were working through the night, the Londoners went mad.

Gold! Three hundred tons of gold!

Bonitania's economy is saved!

No wonder Joe acted so crazy this time!

No! Old Joe isn't crazy!
I must say! He truly lives up to his reputation!
After the initial chaos, the gentry of London immediately issued orders to the fleet that was sailing eastward.

Those cruise ships must be brought back to Bonitania intact, without a single scratch on the paint!
Then, the gentlemen of London immediately summoned the Bohemian ambassador.

“Friend, I heard you have a batch of gold to transport back to your country? A whole three hundred tons? The Old World is not stable right now. Why don’t you leave the gold with me first? Don’t worry! Who do you think I am? Just say the word when you need it. I’m just keeping it safe for you. The main fleet has already gone to pick you up. Don’t worry, it will definitely be delivered to you safely.”

Faced with the London gentlemen's offer to store the goods for them, the Bohemians dared not refuse.

After all, these are primarily domestic gold reserves, and it's quite normal for them to be stored in other countries in the Old World.

Secondly, the other side has even sent out a large fleet. If we refuse at this point, it's hard to say whether we might encounter some kind of shipwreck.

Finally, there's the person who negotiated with Joe back then.

The ambassador was well aware that the total amount of gold was 500 tons, but now it had been reduced to 300 tons, so they would definitely have to find a way to at least preserve a portion of it.

So although the Bohemians did not refuse the gold to be kept in Bunitania, they began tense negotiations with London on the specifics of how the gold should be kept, for how long, and how the Bohemians should spend it.

This meticulous attention to detail in the negotiations led the London side to believe that there shouldn't be any problems.

At this point, aside from figuring out how to hide the two hundred tons of gold, things no longer have much to do with Joe.

As for the three parties involved in the incident, Buntania was very satisfied, the Bohemians were also very satisfied, and even Joe was about to be satisfied.

Things seem to be moving in a positive direction, but the people of Shengyang, who were inexplicably beaten up and gained nothing, are now extremely dissatisfied.

According to London, Joe's inexplicable trip to the Far East and his beating by the Rising Sun, while demonstrating Wagner's strength, seriously impacted Buntania's diplomacy.

It's only right that Joe apologizes and pays compensation.

However, Joe now says that although according to the old privateering laws he only needs to hand over eight tons of gold, he is considering the country's difficult situation and that Wagner is a defense contractor.

If the latter method were followed, 45 tons of gold should be paid, so a compromise was reached and 16 tons of gold were paid.

Especially the Minister of Finance, who was going bald from worrying about the empire's finances, wished he could pick Joe up and kiss him on the lips.

So, between an alliance that was already dead in name only and Old Joe, the gentlemen of London did not hesitate to choose Old Joe.

After the Grand Fleet met the cruise ship convoy in the Sea of ​​Bharat and began to escort it.

Even the most oblivious person should have realized by now that Old Joe had gone on a crazy trip to the Far East, even managing to mobilize a large fleet for escort.

Even His Majesty the Emperor wouldn't have this kind of VIP treatment when he goes to sea, right?
There must be something going on here!
Soon after the fleet arrived in London, the whole world knew what had happened.

This wasn't a leak from Bohemians or London gentlemen.

Instead, since the footage had already been shot, while squatting in the cabin watching the gold, Joe, with nothing better to do, edited the film.

There was no way around it; if Joe didn't edit the footage, those women would come and ask him to do some weird and strange things.

When Joe was young, he thought the more the better.

Hayek's powerful hand will strike everyone equally.

But now, Joe has discovered that there are limits to the stupid carbon-based monkeys, and if he doesn't want to die, he'd better exercise some restraint.

Especially with the female knights controlled by gold, the world's best aphrodisiac, charging together, Joe simply couldn't withstand them.

So let's stick to editing movies.

So after landing in London, Joe went to the palace to see the Emperor and reported what he had done during that time.

After His Majesty George patted Joe on the shoulder and told him not to carry out such secret operations again, and that if he wanted to do anything, he should at least say so first, and the whole of Britannia would cooperate with him.

Joe handed the edited film to His Majesty, explaining that it was a newly edited film that no one else had seen except himself, and he hoped His Majesty would be the first to watch it.

Of course, as His Majesty's pirate, a ton of gold has already been unloaded at the London docks and will be delivered to the palace shortly.

Since these two battles were extremely costly, I hope Your Majesty will not mind that I only contributed a small amount.

His Majesty had nothing more to say to Qiao, who was paying in gold by the ton. He simply patted Qiao on the shoulder, indicating that Qiao was tired and should rest in the palace for the day.

Although many people have the opportunity to meet His Majesty, very few are allowed to stay overnight in the palace. Being able to stay overnight in the palace basically means that His Majesty considers you to be one of his own.

However, the next morning, when Joe was having breakfast in his casual shoes, he saw His Majesty with red eyes.

Upon asking, Qiao learned that the movie was a bit too shocking for His Majesty; the brutal battlefield kept His Majesty awake all night.

Upon hearing that His Majesty George hadn't slept well all night, Joe simply shrugged and said, "That's the real war, Your Majesty."

His Majesty nodded. "The movie was good. Thank you for your hard work."

Since His Majesty has given his approval, there will naturally be no reason for him to vet Cachou's film.

Thus, the film, titled "Wagner's Gold," was quickly released in theaters.

Then, just like the previous movie, it once again began sweeping theaters around the world.

Faced with Wagner's films, no film critic dared to jump out and say anything out of line this time.

This wasn't because His Majesty George actually wrote a film review and published it in the newspaper the day before the movie's release.

In this film, apart from some special effects and some plot points that Joe cut in, the rest of the war scenes were filmed entirely on location.

This alone has made those directors who want to learn Joe's filming techniques say, "I really can't learn this. Who can?"

At this rate of filmmaking, how many people would die making a movie... I can't learn that, I can't learn that.

Aside from the director, whom I didn't understand but was deeply moved by, the audience members who went to the cinema were also deeply moved, saying that this was exactly what they wanted to see.

After all, in the past, although everyone knew that Wagner was a formidable fighter, they did not know exactly how Wagner fought.

Then, after they saw how Wagner actually fought, even some veterans, especially American veterans, exclaimed, "No wonder he can fight like that! We've never even seen those tactics before, let alone learned them!"

Wagner is probably the strongest armed force in the world now, right?

This film was so successful that it not only achieved both box office and critical acclaim, but was also used as a reference film by some countries when forming special commando teams.

Even Joe's line at the end of the movie, "Wagner's true gold isn't these cold metals, but the trust of our clients and our ability to get things done. Wagner Defense: Mission Accomplished," became a popular saying of the year.

The phrase "mission accomplished" began to be used in all sorts of strange and unusual places.

Even some photos of women distributed on the street have the message, "If you have a need, I have the technology. Call XXX-XXXX, and I'll get there."

Of course, the success of this movie also had two minor consequences.

Firstly, the Teutons had previously planned to use filming to enter the territory of the Lucian military government, but after Joe pulled this stunt...

Those film crews were immediately disbanded. Making movies? What kind of movies are you making!
Do you know how dangerous it is to make movies? No movies allowed!

So the Teutons could only grumble and find new excuses while carefully studying Wagner's "Das Gold".

Secondly, in the Far East, after the release of this film, the Empire of the Rising Sun not only breached the Great Defenses but also initiated a new round of land and sea conflicts.

Both sides were blaming each other for not stopping Joe and the Bohemian Legion.

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It is appropriate to organize troops to watch "Wagner's Golden Age" during their rest periods, and to organize them to analyze and learn the tactical maneuvers contained therein. This would be beneficial for the formation of motorized and mechanized units.

At the same time, we must also pay attention to criticizing the capitalist ideology within it, and make it clear that the army fights for the people and for building a better world.

—《Notification from the Political Department of the St. Petersburg Military District》

After watching that movie, I realized that Old Joe had held back a bit when he taught us. He only taught us tank warfare, but not how the assault team should coordinate with the tank force. Next time I go to London, I'm going to give him a good kick in the ass.

—From *The War I Know* by George Smith

(End of this chapter)