Imperial Elite

Chapter 129 The Great Depression

For almost half of the 20s, Citibank enjoyed a period of sustained prosperity.

In this ongoing boom, almost everyone at Citibank believed that this seemingly endless boom would continue indefinitely.

Just like the Romans who controlled the entire Mediterranean hundreds of years ago, who believed that their empire would last forever, just like the marble bathtub beneath them.

This almost frenzied economic boom, like most periods of prosperity in history, has masked some minor problems.

For example, there are many contradictions within Citibank's military and political circles regarding how they should view Harrison.

Even within Citibank's political circles, there were conflicting views on Harrison and the situation in the Old World at that time.

Conservatives despised the two Harrisons who were stirring up trouble in Bonitania and the Old World at that time.

As proponents of isolationism, they did not want any dealings with the Confederation of People's Revolution (CPP). James's push for Bunitania to recognize the CPP not only displeased the Lucia military government but also made conservatives feel that this was part of left-wing infiltration.

The progressives, while appreciating Joe's achievements in handling the Emerald Isle incident and social policies, also harbored suspicions about his brother James's connections with the People's Revolutionary Alliance. However, they generally believed that communication was better than confrontation.

In general, while these politicians differ slightly on minor details, they all worry that Harrisons and their ilk will lean to the left, and that the highly uncontrollable Wagner will continue to destabilize the Old World.

But from the military's perspective, Old Joe! He's our half-brother from another country! No, he's the Army's best elder brother!
Among those who play tanks, armored vehicles, and armored assault vehicles now, which one hasn't been kicked in the butt by Teacher Qiao on the training ground? Which tank commander isn't holding the training manual that Teacher Qiao wrote back when he was still in the Guards Armored Training Regiment?

Even the tanks currently in service with the army are the Hounds that Old Joe created.

More importantly, the terrible memories of the war, coupled with economic prosperity, have led many young people to believe that joining the military is not a good option.

Although the size of the US Army had shrunk from four million during the war to 140,000, it was still unable to fill the vacancies by relying on volunteer recruitment, which often forced the army to extend the service time of some veterans.

But Joe's "Governor" movie series changed everything, making many young Americans think that joining the military is a cool thing after watching the movies.

Although we cannot fight for the Golden Throne or for the God Emperor right now, we can serve the United States right now!
In fact, although Qiao and Shengyang had some minor frictions and conflicts in the past, leading to some minor contradictions between them.

However, they still imported the "Governors of the Planet" film series and even listed it as a must-see.

Of course, this is not because they are particularly knowledgeable about art, but because they really like the concept of a God Emperor. Speaking of God Emperors, we also have one, and we have an unbroken lineage for ten thousand generations. Isn't that just like our own God Emperor?

Secondly, for the generals and officers of the Rising Sun Army who rose from humble beginnings as warriors and from peasant sons to high-ranking officers, seeing the protagonist of "Governor of the Planet" made them think, "My God, that's me!"

In addition, the protagonist's spirit of never resigning even if he almost died a hundred times for the empire is very appealing to them.

So, Rising Sun reluctantly imported all the "Governor of the Planet" films, renamed them "God Emperor's Warrior," and removed Joe's name from the director and screenwriter credits before releasing them.

Then, the military academy, which was already the first choice for poor children who couldn't afford to eat, became even more competitive after the movie was released.

However, just as the perspective of the Rising Sun people is always different from that of normal people, this also applies to other parts of the world, such as Citizens.

The hypothetical future technologies presented in "The Governor of the Planet" have also intrigued many researchers, who feel they must investigate the subject.

Even some congressmen who knew absolutely nothing about military affairs asked the military, "I think this thing in 'Governor of the Planet' is pretty good, do you have it?" when approving the budget.

In response to such inquiries, the military naturally replied, "We don't have this thing, but we also think it's a good thing, and we can have it," and then received a surprisingly large budget.

But for Rising Sun, all equipment is meaningless. Look at them, they're fighting in space, still charging with bayonets and melee weapons. So this must be because Joe felt the power of our mental strength after fighting us! We should continue to leverage our mental strength!

And without mentioning the daily madness of Yang Ren, because Joe's little brother Ron also studied at West Point and joined the Army Air Corps directly after graduation.

This further convinced the Citibank military that Joe was one of their own.

If Congress hadn't refused to approve it, the military would have even wanted to send personnel to Wagner to receive infantry training following Joe's military reforms, just as Joe had helped them build their armored forces.

Then assemble some mobile infantry for them, along with other good stuff that Joe is definitely hiding.

However, the general public outside the military and political circles have a slightly different view of Joe than both the military and political circles.

They don't like Old Joe, they love Old Joe.

To the average American, Joe Harrison, this legendary general, artist, millionaire, and futurist, had only one flaw: he wasn't born in Citizenship and wasn't an American citizen, which made it impossible for them to support him as president of Citizenship.

Although the current president has done a good job with the economy, look at what Emerald Island was like in the past and what it is like now.

Sigh, why isn't Old Joe a Citizen?
However, due to the economic boom, although there are some differences in opinions about Old Joe, these differences are not so great as to be irreconcilable.

After all, Citibank has money, plenty of money. Is there anything in this world that money can't solve?
Indeed, there were some, because as time went on to 1928, stockbrokers who had just finished their Christmas holidays returned to their seats, eagerly awaiting the opening of the market.

Just a month ago, the Dow Jones Industrial Average reached a record high of 381.17 points before fluctuating downwards and pulling back by 10%.

Everyone thought this was a good opportunity to buy at the bottom, and years of prosperity had led almost everyone to believe that the stock market would rise forever.

Wealth is like a well that never runs dry. Sometimes the water level may be low, but in general, there will never be a shortage of water or money.

So if you miss this train, it will be difficult to get on again.

At 9:30 a.m., the opening bell rang.

Stockbrokers quickly used all their funds, injecting massive amounts of capital into the stock market. However, this time the situation was not quite what they had expected.

The previously soaring index has remained completely unchanged.

The powerful selling pressure acted like a wall of sighs, blocking every attempt they made to push the market upward again.

As the time approached 10 a.m., the trading volume began to increase significantly, reaching an astonishing three million shares in just half an hour.

At this moment, the people in the room couldn't help but wonder who was dumping the shares and who was blocking their path to wealth.

In fact, they themselves are the ones blocking the way.

During the most frenzied period of this bull market, a large amount of bank loans flowed into the stock market, creating an enormous leverage.

In this crazy bull market, as long as you are bold enough, you can even buy stocks with zero down payment and then wait for the stocks to appreciate so that you can embark on the road to financial freedom. After all, the value of most stocks will double within six months.

If one is even bolder, they can pledge their stocks to gamble on even greater leverage.

As a result, the stock market was naturally full of bubbles, and today, when the stock market is full of bubbles and there is not a drop of water left.

Everything that was meant to come has come.

As the clock struck 10:25, the wall of despair, which had been held up by massive amounts of capital, finally gave way and began to crumble.

After years of prosperity and joy, a disaster began to reap the rewards like a merciless grim reaper.

As one margin call leads to another, the stock market bubble bursts like an ammunition depot set ablaze.

As more and more stocks were forced to sell, the entire market was triggered by a chain reaction.

More than half an hour later, it was eleven o'clock.

The exchange hall had descended into madness, with everyone wailing in despair as they tried to escape the disaster.

However, by this time, no one was buying those stocks that might have been incredibly valuable, possessed extraordinary potential, and could bring wealth and prosperity just three days ago.

Even though the conglomerates that reacted immediately announced that they would start to rescue the market, and even made a huge order of 30 million, this huge sum of money disappeared almost instantly in the avalanche of sell orders.

The horrific disaster only temporarily ended at 7 p.m., and the total trading volume for the day reached a staggering 1289 million shares, setting a new historical record.

But at this point, no one would cheer for such a record anymore.

And this is not the end, nor even the beginning of the end; it can only be considered the end of the beginning.

Over the next two days, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted from 381.17 points to 222 points, and there was no sign that the disaster was about to end.

Within three days, the wealth of 30 billion Citibank dollars vanished without a trace.

This figure is equivalent to twice the Citibank Treasury bond, or even the total expenditure during the war.

When Joe, who was far away on the other side of the ocean, heard the news, she immediately jumped out of bed, ran a few steps, shook Diane awake, and then dragged Diane to kick open Catherine's door.

Over the next half day, Joe's secretariat and Wagner's financial system began operating at full speed.

Ultimately, Joe received some good news: both Joe and Wagner's financial systems were in excellent health.

Because Paradise Island absorbs a large amount of cash flow every day, and almost all of NATO's businesses need to operate with Wagner or Wagner's affiliates.

Therefore, Wagner not only didn't have much debt, but also had plenty of cash flow. And since Joe had never understood the stock market, he could issue Wagner Group shares in London so that his friends could all benefit and make a profit.

Neither Joe's nor Wagner's assets have anything to do with the stock market.

In order to keep Wagner's giant enterprise running, when Wagner controlled NATO, he even set up his own bank to facilitate the payment of wages and the flow of funds.

Only a small amount of deposits are used to maintain business operations in some banks in the three NATO countries and London.

After confirming that he wouldn't go bankrupt and end up homeless overnight, Joe finally breathed a sigh of relief and began to think about what he could do in the face of the impending storm.

After all, chaos is often a stepping stone to progress.

And things unfolded just as Joe had predicted.

After the stock market crash, the banks that had lent money into the stock market were next to suffer. After 30 billion yuan evaporated, these banks that had lent money also went bankrupt, along with the deposits of businesses and individuals that would continue to be held by them.

Then, just like a stock market crash, businesses that lost financing or deposits began to go bankrupt, and workers began to lose their jobs.

All of this had a negative impact on the market, causing everyone to hold onto their money and become afraid to spend. The shrinking consumer market, in turn, led to a decline in business.

The lack of orders has led to more factories and businesses going bankrupt, more workers losing their jobs, and a catastrophic chain reaction has already begun.

It wasn't until the New York newspapers published the word "Great Depression" in bold black font on their front pages that the word came to light.

This recession affected not only Citibank across the ocean, but also, as Citibank, the engine of postwar economic development, slowly came to a halt as if it had been hit by a 152mm grenade.

This chilling feeling began to spread gradually to the Old World, following the footsteps of money.

The Teutons, burdened by heavy debts from the war, were the first to suffer. With Citibank withdrawing its loans, a banking crisis ensued, and the Teutonic economy, after a brief period of prosperity, began to decline sharply.

Two years after the Great Depression began, Teutonic Bank collapsed, industrial production fell by 40%, and unemployment soared to 30%.

Meanwhile, the man who had spent two years in prison has already made a triumphant return with his new book amidst this frenzied economic crisis.

This party, which had been forcibly dissolved and then reorganized, became even more powerful. In the same year that Teutonic's largest bank collapsed, the man's party approval rating skyrocketed from 2.5% to 18.4%.

This forced even the royalists, who initially disliked the corporal, to turn their attention to him.

Although Joe's "Governor" film series also caused quite a stir in Teutonic society, the performance of the Teutonic Republic government also made many Teutons nostalgic for the "once-great" imperial era.

However, due to the high level of vigilance in Gaul and Buntania against the restoration of the emperor, the royalists cannot yet conduct large-scale public activities. They need a secret agent to help them deal with the current troublesome Teutonic Republic government.

Only then could they proceed with the matter of bringing His Majesty back amidst the chaos.

Meanwhile, Bonitania and Gaul were also affected by the Great Depression.

The economic crisis in Bonitania has once again led to the government's downfall and the initiation of new elections.

The Best of Bonitania Party narrowly lost to the Conservatives by a margin of only 1.8%, allowing the Conservatives to form a minority government. Winston, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, began to try to maintain the gold standard to stabilize the economy.

Meanwhile, the Best Party began pushing for an eight-hour workday and a bill to prohibit companies from requiring workers to work overtime during peacetime. The bill calls on companies not to use overtime pay as an excuse to force workers to work overtime, and to hire as many workers as possible so that everyone can get through this crisis.

Furthermore, they strongly opposed in Parliament the bill proposed by Balfú, who wanted to transform the colonies into federal constituent states.

However, due to the dire economic situation, many people felt that perhaps relinquishing direct control over the colonies would be a good option.

This has made the political situation within Bonitania somewhat unstable.

In Gaul, with the onset of the Great Depression, many people left Paris, which had already been ravaged during the war, and returned to the countryside.

This brought the already slow reconstruction of Paris to a standstill.

Meanwhile, the soaring unemployment rate has once again plunged Gaul into the traditional battle between the left and the right.

The right wing wants to leverage tradition to consolidate power and overcome difficulties together, while the left wing also wants to emulate the spirit of the old revolutionary base areas and make Gaul great again by beheading a king.

As the Great Depression unfolded, the Gauls were astonished to discover that there was only one country in the world that had not been affected by it.

That is the People's Revolutionary Alliance.

After the initial and most painful first Five-Year Plan, the People's Revolutionary League, which was carrying out its second Five-Year Plan, happened to run into the Great Depression.

Thus, the advantages of different economic models became undeniably apparent during this Great Depression.

The People's Revolutionary Alliance was not affected by the Great Depression.

Furthermore, the large number of bankruptcies and unemployment among workers in the Western world has exacerbated the situation.

The People's Revolutionary Alliance began acquiring production equipment from bankrupt Western companies and hiring experienced unemployed workers.

In New York alone, tens of thousands of workers are queuing up for work visas from the People's Revolutionary Party.

As many Gauls began to suffer from malnutrition, the People's Revolutionary Union established a confectionery factory in Moscow and announced that every child would be able to eat at least one piece of chocolate every day.

This contrast led the left wing in Gaul to declare that taking the left-wing path was the correct path and the only direction.

However, the Gallic right wing also has some minor complaints about this, namely, that it is also in the East.

As a NATO country that served as a shield against the invasion of the left, it also did not fall into this Great Depression.

Although the global recession has also slowed economic growth in NATO countries.

However, the highly centralized Wagner took advantage of this time to start a large-scale construction project, undertaking infrastructure projects while also starting to build some heavy industrial projects.

For example, in the past, after the basic smelting of the Plug iron ore, it was sent to Bunitania or Gaul for further processing.

However, with the economic downturn, NATO began acquiring some related downstream equipment and started to enter the manufacturing industry.

Rolls-Royce, which previously had factories in NATO, has also begun to relocate some of its secondary production lines to NATO due to labor and transportation costs.

This led the right wing in Gaul to believe that it wasn't the left wing's approach that was correct, but rather that the current government was incompetent. They believed that if the government could centralize power like NATO and unite everyone, they too could weather this storm.

Instead of letting those idle immigrant workers roam the streets like this.

Joe, who was regarded as a role model by the Gallic right wing, did not suffer any financial loss during the Great Depression.

But Joe's life wasn't too easy either.

Due to the impact of the Great Depression, Paradise Island, which had once been a cash cow, was also severely damaged in the depression.

Not only have the number of tourists decreased, but land prices have also fallen significantly.

Fortunately, due to the previous drastic reduction of troops, the now lightly armed Wagner does not require a huge amount of funds to maintain like the large-scale heavy army of the past.

What's also remarkable is that while consumption in other sectors was affected during the Great Depression, the film industry remained largely unaffected.

Even the sales of chess pieces were not significantly affected; it's just that consumers have shifted from buying large packages to purchasing individual pieces bundled with smaller packages.

Surprisingly, the best-selling pieces were not the main characters, the Krieg Death Legion of the Astral Army, or the Space Marines who displayed terrifying dominance in the rulebook and movies, but rather the Battle Nun and the Dark Eldar pieces.

Although when making these models, Joe's requirement was to make them look good, to the point that you would want to marry her after seeing them.

However, Joe was still slightly surprised by these sales figures.

Unlike the smooth operation of the business, what really bothered Joe was the fact that his kids were growing up day by day.

Old Joe's family life also began to become lively and bustling.

After actually having children, Joe realized that the guy sitting on the golden toilet was truly brave.

How dare he take twenty children with him at once?

I don't even have twenty of them, and every day is already chaotic.

At this time, Joe's children, although only eight years old, had already clearly divided into three factions.

The most powerful of them was the small group of Joe's eldest son, Andrei.

Seemingly inheriting his mother's Lucia bloodline, this little rascal quickly displayed his special traits after quietly passing through his early infancy.

He is taciturn, but once he makes up his mind about something, even Joe can't change it.

When this little rascal was six years old, the Joe family was just about to go to Prag to see the Northern Lights.

Coincidentally, on the way to Prag, something happened between Andrei and his brother.

In short, Andrei felt he owed Kate's son, his brother Rhys, an Arctic fox.

So when the Joe family arrived at their resort in the Arctic Circle, ready to begin their vacation.

With a backpack on his back and a hunting rifle in hand, Andrei walked alone into the snowstorm.

By dinner time, several hours had passed before the group discovered that Andrei was missing.

Joe jumped up in a panic and immediately began organizing a search. He even mobilized nearby NATO air squadrons and Wagner troops who were training.

When the residents living nearby heard that Old Joe's son was missing, they immediately began to organize themselves to find him.

After all, the Arctic Circle in winter is not only cold, but also home to various wild animals. If an ordinary six-year-old child goes missing in such a place, the consequences are usually not good.

The search lasted for three days. In fact, by the second day, many people thought that the kid was probably already dead.

After all, it snowed heavily on the first night.

The heavy snow obscured many clues, making it impossible for even low-flying aircraft to find any.

Only Elena stubbornly insisted that Andrei would definitely be alright; he was a strong child and would surely be rescued.

It turned out that Elena was right, but not entirely, because Andrei did not receive any rescue.

Instead, on the third day at dinner time, it appeared at the long table in the restaurant carrying two Arctic foxes with their mouths and paws bound.

Amidst the incredulous and astonished gazes of the crowd, he stuffed the two Arctic foxes into his younger brother's arms, walked to his seat, and sat down. Looking at the empty plate in front of him, he turned to ask the servant why he wasn't being served food, and then looked at his mother to ask why everyone was staring at him.

The sound of Elena slapping someone echoed throughout the entire resort that day.

However, after that incident, almost everyone believed that this kid would definitely amount to something in the future, and who knows, he might grow up to be a powerful figure like Old Joe.

At six years old, he was already able to take a hunting rifle to the Arctic Circle and bring back two Arctic foxes. No one dared to imagine what he could do when he grew up.

Generally speaking, it's a good thing for a son to be successful, but the problem is that Joe has two sons as successful as Andrei.

Ries, who previously sent Andrei to the Arctic Circle to catch Arctic foxes for him, is also a child who is obviously destined for great things.

However, unlike Andrei, a man of few words but many actions, Rhys clearly took a different path.

Ever since this little boy learned to speak, his little mouth has never stopped chattering.

Unlike Andrei's overwhelming strength, this kid can get along with almost everyone and, after making people happy, get them to do things for him, such as giving him a piece of candy or an Arctic fox.

This habit of smiling at everyone he meets and constantly talking has always made Qiao wonder where he learned it from.

Another guy who was considered to be successful was Abraham, the son of the tall female guard in the Northern Guard.

Although this kid doesn't talk much most of the time, he doesn't seem to have the same tendency to be withdrawn as Andrei. He will still speak when he needs to.

At the same time, this kid has an extraordinary love for machinery, and he has been taking things apart with a screwdriver since he was three years old.

By the age of four, he was able to put a disassembled alarm clock back together exactly as it was.

The other children, while not as energetic as these three, also have their own hobbies and characteristics.

This made Old Joe's family life very colorful, even a little too colorful.

For a time, Joe would often use the excuse of inspecting NATO fortification construction and new fortification zone plans to avoid going home.

(End of this chapter)