Imperial Elite

Chapter 127 Old Joe's Happy Car

Although the United States has enshrined the principle that all men are created equal in its constitution, the facts have shown that humans are not born equal.

At least that was the case in the Harrison family. To Ron, his two older brothers, who were born before him, seemed to have used up all the intellectual resources accumulated by the Harrison family over the generations.

Therefore, Ron was never considered as intelligent as his two older brothers.

However, as a child born into a mule-horse-kneeling tribe and an urban slave family, Ron maxed out the physical attributes that the Harrison family had cultivated over generations, in the spirit of having nothing better to do.

Ron was the kind of kid who was obviously not smart, but he was very strong.

James's main asset in establishing himself on the streets was his strong younger brother.

Back in his hometown, Ron had his older brother and parents looking after him, and even his younger sister sometimes bossed him around.

So Ron, being a good kid, felt somewhat constrained in Britannia.

Upon arriving in Citizens, facing such a wild new continent, Ron felt incredibly comfortable and relaxed in this place.

Although Ron found women terrifying because his brother was stared at by women every day like a three-year-old, he was also worried about them.

But in other areas, Ron was having a blast. He'd play rugby in the morning, boxing in the ring at noon, and polo on the grass in the afternoon—competing to be number one in every sport!
In short, Ron tried almost every sport and club available at the university.

Even the kidnappers who wanted to abduct Ron didn't frighten him; instead, they made him think, "Wow, this is truly the New World! Things I'd only ever read about in books actually exist. How interesting! So very interesting!"

The reason Ron not only wasn't scared but also found it amusing was naturally because Joe had thrown his younger brother and adopted sons into Wagner's training camp in order to instill some discipline in them and prevent them from looking like a bunch of street thugs.

To the veterans of Wagner, Ron and his gang, even if they had received training, were still a bunch of rookies with eggshells stuck to their butts.

But even Wagner's novice was a Wagner-level novice.

So when those gangsters found Ron, they quickly learned what it meant to kick a brick wall, especially since the brick wall would chase after them and keep kicking them.

In the end, it was their desperate screams that attracted the police, which finally relieved these gangsters.

As men of integrity and righteousness in the underworld, these guys never imagined that one day they would be moved to tears by the sight of the police, even though at least a large part of it was from the pain.

After that, Ron became a minor celebrity in Citibank, and many people were curious about how Ron, a man who could kill a gangster kidnapper with his fists, managed to do it.

Then, Ron experienced the same pain that Joe felt every night before going to sleep.

Sometimes, being too popular is a sin.

Then, naturally, because he was having so much fun in the sports club, even with the help of Dorn, who was hardworking and could get full marks in almost every exam and whose GPA hovered around 4.0.

Ron, who never spends a single minute of his day studying, naturally has terrible grades.

Although the school is generally quite lenient towards the brothers of celebrities like Ron, as long as their grades are acceptable, they are usually allowed to graduate, and it is not a big problem for them to even speak as outstanding student representatives.

But even if the school releases water, the student still needs to have water.

Especially since Ron's size and length are quite famous, even if Ron wanted Dorn to take the exam for him, he couldn't.

Moreover, as a person of principle, Dorn would rather stay up all night with his notes to tutor Ron, making this almost desperate attempt, than help Ron with his exams.

So after Ron failed almost every subject in his first semester, almost all the professors were convinced that the principal who had agreed to admit Ron must have been out of his mind.

If Ron can graduate like this, what about the school's reputation?

After all, people in academia still have a sense of shame. Committing such academic misconduct is basically cutting yourself off from academia.

So, in his first semester at Citibank, Ron faced a serious problem: the school wanted to expel him, but he didn't want to slink back to Brittany. What should he do?

At this darkest moment in Ron's life, a selfless good man stepped forward and saved Ron.

This selfless and kind man was named Carl Spaatz.

As a land-based air aviator, Karl was once shot down by the Teutonic ace pilot Red Knight during the Gallic Wars, losing four of his entire squadron within five minutes.

Carl, who was shot down, was rescued from the burning plane by Joe's men who happened to be nearby, and they even gave him one of their own pistols for self-defense.

As one of the few pilots Joe knew, Carl had a good relationship with Joe, especially after Joe began to enter the aviation field, their correspondence increased significantly.

Especially now that Wagner has begun a full-scale transformation, Carl, in his communications with Joe, has begun to develop the idea of ​​establishing a strategic air force.

The air force should not just do the work of setting up air defense networks and dropping bombs on the enemy; it should play a greater role.

So when Joe sent Ron to study at Citibank, Carl's name naturally appeared on the list of people Ron could seek help from if he encountered trouble.

After learning about Ron's situation, Carl said, "Since that's the case, have you considered going to West Point and getting Army Aviation training? It just so happens that Old Joe is working on the air force right now. After you finish your studies here, you can work in Citizen's or go back to the Old World. It's better than just going back to the Old World like this."

As for West Point's admissions this year, that's no big deal. You're Harrison, you can just say hello and get in.

Just as Carl had predicted, although Carl was only a captain at the time, after he put in a word with his superiors, Ron, as Joe's brother, easily got into West Point.

Then, just like when Ron entered MIT, his admission was immediately met with intense scrutiny from both professors and students.

This time, Ron discovers that he might be a born soldier, just like his older brother Joe.

Because compared to schools like MIT, military academies are a better fit for me.

In particular, like a new continent, West Point, this military academy, is equally wild.

Just like George, who learned from Joe how to build and command mechanized troops, he was able to graduate based on his physical education and fencing grades despite his poor performance in written exams and academic studies.

Ron quickly made a name for himself at West Point, leaving the American military in awe of the Harrison family's terrifying power.

Just as Ron was writing his own legend at West Point, Joe was looking at a tank prototype from Citibank.

Joe wasn't particularly interested in the vehicle itself, because in terms of armor distribution and firepower configuration, it was nothing more than an upgraded version of the Hound Tank.

Now that Joe has retired many of his Hound tanks, he doesn't want to build another one.

What interests Joe is that the tank's suspension system is very interesting.

Although this type of suspension takes up a considerable amount of interior space due to its long-travel springs, and requires disassembly from inside the tank for maintenance, it significantly increases the difficulty of maintenance.

At the same time, this type of suspension is obviously unsuitable for manufacturing heavy tanks.

However, these drawbacks were not very important to Joe; on the contrary, he was very interested in the two advantages of this suspension.

Firstly, the tank's designer envisioned it as a dual-purpose vehicle, capable of running on wheels on roads and switching to tracks for off-road driving.

So even if the tracks of this tank are broken, it can still keep running on the ground. Although it may run a little slower, it is still much better than being unable to move when the tracks are broken.

Secondly, tanks equipped with this suspension system can run very fast.

These two points are perfect for Joe, who likes to beat slow opponents and is constantly looking for a new universal vehicle platform.

While current wheeled vehicles are good, they have limitations in off-road capability, and the possibility of tire blowouts made Joe, who sought speed, want to prepare a better vehicle for the front-line troops.

Then this vehicle from the Citibank inventor caught Joe's attention.

Looking at this suspension, Joe wondered if he could create a light armored vehicle weighing less than ten tons. With this high-speed suspension, it could carry a squad of soldiers, or other strange and wonderful things, all over the streets.

After all, if wheeled vehicles are used, the only way to develop close-range firepower is to use recoilless rifles.

However, if tracked vehicles are used, then some traditional artillery will have the opportunity to be mounted on them.

Although Joe didn't buy the tank the engineer was selling, he did buy the tank's suspension design.

Joe never expected that his investment in the air race would yield no results so far, but instead, people would come to him from his home to sell his tank designs.

After acquiring the suspension design, Joe reunited with the garage crew after a long hiatus to begin tinkering with a lightly armored general-purpose vehicle.

In Joe's plan, the armor of this armored vehicle only needed to be able to withstand attacks from small arms, while also being able to carry a squad or half a squad at a time.

However, it must be fast enough and have enough room to expand, so that you can fit all sorts of strange things on the vehicle as needed, such as anti-tank guns or small-caliber rapid-fire anti-aircraft guns.

Basically, it's an armored cockroach that can appear from all sorts of strange places, and after stopping, it releases a group of people or a cannon.

This type of vehicle is used to fill the gap between wheeled vehicles and infantry entering the battlefield in the last kilometer, or even the last hundred meters.

Of course, if possible, Joe would prefer that this general-purpose armored vehicle be as light as possible. After all, if there are breakthroughs in the aviation industry, the difference between light infantry and light armored vehicles descending from the sky would actually be quite significant.

While Joe was drawing on Paradise Island, the year 1923 arrived.

As the year 1923 arrived, three small events occurred in the world.

Just as Joe finished the concept design and handed over the detailed design work to the members of the garage group, he received two messages.

First, it was designed and reviewed by the former Land Warships Committee, now the Imperial Armored Committee.

His initial proposals to the contractors were completely rejected, and then the Imperial Armored Committee came up with a shocking new proposal.

The Imperial Armored Committee stated that tanks, as a breakthrough weapon, were primarily tasked with crushing trenches and attacking infantry within them.

Under these conditions, the firepower of a single turret is clearly insufficient. Therefore, in order to increase firepower and enhance combat effectiveness, we should install more turrets on the tank hull!
Of course, the ability to tackle tough problems is also very important, and as professionals, we certainly won't forget this.

Therefore, our new tank will have a main turret equipped with a six-pounder cannon, and four secondary turrets equipped with machine guns or rapid-fire cannons.

This terrifying firepower will crush any enemy that stands in the way of the Empire. This is the Empire's brand-new 30-ton cruiser tank, the invincible tank.

Joe was stunned when he heard from his friend that the Tank Committee had actually developed such a tank.

Joe couldn't understand why Cecil, an experienced tank officer, would agree to create such acrobatic contraption, even though he had left.

Faced with the three-view drawing of the tank sent by his friend, Joe was speechless, unsure whether to say what he wanted to say.

To be honest, Joe felt like he was the loser in this breakup with Brittany.

But if I don't talk about it...

Joe felt a tingling sensation all over his body.

This thing is so weird. Seeing it is like an Italian seeing someone put pineapple on a pizza. It's really hard to keep your composure.

And then, in Teutonic Knights, another small incident occurred involving a stunt car that Bunitania had created.

Riding the wave of the Rhineland crisis and the dire economy, the party of the man with the strange mustache expanded considerably due to his radical propositions, and is now a party with some influence throughout the Teutonic Kingdom.

But rather than continuing to develop the party in this way, this man with the strange mustache wanted to use a more direct method to gain power.

Last year, a bald man in southern Italy, sharing the same ideology, successfully seized power by marching on Rome.

Meanwhile, Wagner, who was supposed to be able to intervene in the situation, has been reducing his staff since last year and no longer seems capable of intervening in the Teutonic movement.

The poor economy has led to widespread public dissatisfaction with the government. Now that all the conditions are in place, it's only natural that we should do something about it.

So this man with a small mustache launched a coup in the beer hall.

Strictly speaking, this action could hardly be called a coup; it could only be called a riot.

After all, after mobilizing 3,000 people to try to enter the city center and seize power, the riot was quelled by only one round of shooting at more than 1,000 military and police personnel, with the total number of casualties on both sides being less than 20.

It was really hard to keep one in check, especially before this riot. This method of gaining power and control by entering the city was mainly used by Wagner.

Furthermore, regardless of their performance, both sides demonstrated a strong fighting spirit, preventing them from collapsing under such circumstances where the casualty rate was less than one percent.

However, this incident led to two consequences: first, the man with the strange mustache was arrested, and second, the party he organized was dissolved.

Secondly, with the second "March on XX" taking place, London, while watching the Teutonic Kingdom make a fool of itself, also lamented that it had caused some negative reactions.

However, they did the right thing by limiting Wagner.

After all, if it were Wagner, they wouldn't have collapsed under these circumstances.

With his falling out with Old Joe, Wagner's fighting prowess has been steadily increasing in the minds of Londoners, now essentially on par with the Royal Guard. In a few years, he'll probably be considered a group of aliens.

Joe had no opinion on the riot.

Three thousand men were suppressed after only one round of shooting in the city. It's hard to say whether the Teutonics could even take on their orders.

Even if the Teutons were to give me a list, those people wouldn't last long enough for me to get there.

Sigh...a bunch of weaklings.

But just as Joe was lamenting that those people were a bunch of weaklings, Hans, who was always either lost or lost on the road, learned about the failed riot while training in the Caucasus Mountains.

But he was thinking about something else, even though the riots seemed ridiculous.

However, the local military and political officials in Munich did not actually put up a strong resistance, and even the former Chief of the General Staff of the Reich participated in this foolish uprising.

This made Hans wonder if he could do better if a bunch of idiots could fail.
After all, the people of the empire are not as resentful of the emperor as they were before. In fact, after the new agreement was signed, many people began to miss the emperor.

So is there anything I can do?
Of course, as a professional soldier, I definitely need to do better.

Finally, with the inauguration of the new president of Citibank, Citibank's economy began to grow rapidly.

While most countries in the world are still struggling with their economies, Citibank residents have already begun to enjoy the benefits of economic development.

This economic boom also allowed Hollywood studios to give Joe more funding so he could produce some big projects.

For example, due to the previous box office success, Hollywood studios are preparing to further strengthen their advantages and completely eliminate those competitors who can only make silent films.

So they handed over several sets of experimental recording equipment to Old Joe, saying that although they didn't know how to make a sound movie, that was how things were, and that he could handle it, and they had complete faith in him.

By this time, Joe's anger had actually subsided considerably.

Anyway, that's the situation. I started the factory in the first place to change my life and that of my family.

Everyone is now able to live a good life.

Although he has many children, as long as they don't squander the money, it's enough for them to live on for several lifetimes.

Meanwhile, NATO's defense work is also progressing steadily, as long as the direction of development and the reorganization of the forces can be completed.

Joe believes that unless the other side wants to throw hundreds of thousands or even millions of people into this small NATO territory that doesn't have many vital resources, then NATO countries should have no problem establishing armed neutrality.

So, perhaps it's time for me to let go of my responsibilities and start enjoying myself?

To be honest, Joe didn't like the kids at first, but as they grew up, he found that raising them was quite an interesting thing.

Perhaps I should spend more time on these kids, just like the secret base I built underground on Paradise Island.

However, since the contract has already been signed, the movie will still be made.

The only question is, how should this movie be made?
At the same time, although Joe had many ways to make money, he had even more ways to spend it, so he thought it might be time for him to make more money.

Just then, Joe's old friend was attacked by dark elf pirates. The attack caused great losses to Joe's old friend, and if it weren't for a group of space marines who happened to be nearby and responded to their distress call, they would have suffered heavy losses.

Joe's old friends are all preparing to launch all the Death Straight Missiles they got from the greasebox.

Amidst his old friend's complaints, Joe had an idea.

A powerful space knight, a lightly dressed space elf, who can also sell glue and rulebooks on the side.

This is a business that can sell plastic at the price of gold; how come I never thought of this before?

So, on a sunless night, old Joe, after drinking a glass of gin, leaned back in his armchair and uttered the first line: "In the distant and dark future, there is only war in the galaxy..."

------

As Steve Jobs' most popular film and also the one with the most sequels in history, "Space Knight" is no less influential than "Hellgate: Paris." However, due to its science fiction elements, the film was not very popular with many people at the time.

Film critics at the time felt that Joe had abandoned realistic themes and turned to making more commercial films.

However, when we rewatch this movie today, we find that it seems to have predicted many things that will happen in the future.

——————A History of 20th Century Art

(End of this chapter)