Imperial Elite

Chapter 130 On the Edge
Although Joe always finds excuses like making movies, inspecting military construction, or organizing exercises to temporarily leave the family, where various scenarios, from Crayon Shin-chan to Harrison's Total War, unfold at different times every day.

However, as a barely competent father, even though he didn't really want to deal with all the family matters.

Joe would also bring some of the children with her when she went on business trips.

There's no way around it; Joe, who specializes in sleeping with women, now has a strange symbiotic relationship with them, and soothing their emotions is very important to him.

So although the Qiao family's children were young at the time, they were quite knowledgeable.

In the years that followed, Joe brought Abraham along when he inspected the research work on the experimental helicopter, allowing the little guy to witness the pinnacle of modern aviation industry.

During his inspection of the border fortress and military exercises, Joe took Andrei with him, showing the little guy how Wagner actually fought.

The veterans of Wagner also liked the little guy very much. As an officer who was not pretentious, Joe would chat with the Wagner members for a long time every time he inspected the troops.

Ask these veterans or new recruits if they have any difficulties in their lives recently, if there are any problems with the new equipment, and how the food is, etc.

Meanwhile, the Wagner members would honestly answer Old Joe's questions and complain to him about things like "the new equipment is troublesome to use" and "the new tactics are different from past experience."

Among them, the old guys who had followed Joe the longest also liked to tease the silent Andre.

For example, handing his weapon to Andrei and telling him how to fire it, or saying things like, "Do you know there are four techniques for stealth in the snow?"

So after Andrei's fox hunt in the snow, Joe felt that his kids were being too unruly and needed to be taught some discipline.

In the past, Joe's approach to his equally unruly younger brother and adopted sons was to send them to Wagner's training camp to keep them in line.

So far, this approach has been very effective.

Therefore, Joe, who had already developed a path dependency, was preparing to replicate his past successes.

Of course, since Joe now had a little bit of power, he was able to cram people into the training camp more easily than before.

This time, Joe chose to establish a militarized school and cram all these little brats who had reached the required age into it.

Schools, of course, need to prevent these kids from being negatively influenced.

Therefore, this school naturally cannot be built in a place like Paradise Island, a place that can bring happiness but where even love is charged by the hour.

After studying the map and conducting an on-site inspection, Joe fully absorbed the experience of the Loyal Succession Academy in his old friend's jurisdiction.

After all, after the old friend got on the coattails of the Space Marine Chapter, he used some connections to establish a Loyalist Academy on his planet in order to provide the Space Marine Chapter with qualified new blood.

Although the planetary governor cannot directly manage the Loyal Succession Academy, the old friend has figured out how this Loyal Succession Academy, which is considered a cradle of powerful figures even in the Empire, operates.

This provided Qiao with some valuable lessons to learn from.

Of course, Joe simply canceled the part of the school rules that were enforced as strictly as in the original Loyal Ferry Academy, which included everything from sleep deprivation to branding faces with hot irons and even striking the head with a hammer to instill spirit, and using serious offenders as moving targets for the next shooting lesson.

Ultimately, Joe chose a castle called Jaime, located south of Prag, as the site for this nine-year integrated school.

Built in the 13th century, this castle, located beside a lake, is historically significant but remarkably well-preserved. It was even used as a prison for a period of time, but overall it is habitable.

After a year of renovations to the castle and recruitment of excellent teachers from across the Old World, including many with proven track records who were easily recruited thanks to the Great Depression, Wagner's experimental school opened.

Although this experimental school looks like Hogwarts, with a castle and a lake.

But don't actually think of this place as Hogwarts, because the school's first headmaster was the captain of Wagner's Seventh Truck Transport Company, and he was one of the officers who trained James and Ron at the Emerald Isle training camp.

Now, Old Joe patted him on the shoulder and said, "My kids are all very thoughtful and energetic, so as long as you don't kill or cripple them, you can train them to death and make them behave. I won't have any objections."

Then the principal nodded, indicating that he fully understood and had already come up with a plan: to start by running two kilometers of cross-country every morning to refresh himself, and those who ran slowly would not get breakfast.

Originally, Old Joe's decision to set up this school was essentially a way of shirking responsibility after he couldn't stand the hustle and bustle of family life.

But this was a school run by Joe, so soon after the school went into operation, Wagner insiders and NATO officials came to ask Joe if the school could enroll other students.

Adhering to the principle that whether you herd one duck or let a flock of ducks roam freely, Qiao accepted all comers.

Since the castle is big enough, it's a good thing to let these little ones undergo socialization training in advance.

Of course, it wouldn't be fair to only recruit the children of high-ranking officials.

And it could also easily lead their own children astray, so since they had already accepted the children, Joe simply released another batch of places to the Wagner system, designating that junior managers and front-line workers could send their children to this experimental school.

Of course, like everything else offered by the Wagner Group, this is also free.

At this moment, Joe had no idea that his decision, just like his laziness in not writing the setting book, would make him regret it so much in the near future that he would want to travel to the present and slap his past self for making such a decision.

After finally seeing off the eldest batch of kids in the family, Qiao was finally able to have some peace and quiet.

He was at peace, but not entirely at peace, because as he got older, although Joe no longer had the volcanic desires and iron will that he did during the war.

Nowadays, Joe often just wants to be alone in peace and quiet.

Even on the movie set, the Hollywood women playing fighting nuns left Old Joe speechless.

When these women came to Old Joe under various pretexts, he would usually ask them the three soul-searching questions: "Have you memorized your lines? Have you practiced your movements? Are you used to the props? Are you all ready? Come and practice in front of me!"

However, these women usually couldn't last more than a minute in front of Joe's serious gaze.

However, as they grew older, the women in the family showed a completely opposite attitude to Joe.

Especially those Lucia women who have received rigorous training, they are even capable of rappelling down and kicking open windows in the middle of the night to raid Old Joe's bed.

So after sending his kids to school, Joe began his "homeless Joe" plan, which involved him being almost never home.

After all, Wagner has many projects now, and inspecting one project a week would keep Joe on the road for a while without having to go home.

In addition, Joe had a movie to shoot, so he finally returned to his happy, never-home state.

Although their contracts with Hollywood Studios had long expired, the studio treated Joe, who held the rights to "Governor of the Planet of the Sea," like a father.

I wish I could kowtow to Qiao every time I talk to him on the phone.

Due to the terrifying dominance of "Governors of the Planet of the Apes," the film studio that collaborated with Joe Smith almost suffocated other studios after a few films.

Although Joe only makes one movie a year, that movie is a hit for a whole year. Who can resist that?

Only occasionally, when Old Joe has something to do that slows down filming, the time between two movies isn't as close as it used to be, allowing them to squeeze in a gap to release the movie quickly and make some money at the box office.

If it weren't for Joe himself being a well-trained general, and Wagner's formidable reputation, these squeezed and desperate studios would have all wanted to hire someone to kill Joe.

Of course, since taking down Joe was virtually impossible, and his large family left them no room to use honey traps, these studios decisively took up the weapon of law: the Antitrust Act! And so it was launched!

The lawsuit finally came to an end after Joe James made another film, "Governor of the Planet of the Apes".

While "Governor" did indeed create a monopoly, it is still a single cultural product, since even the courts cannot split a movie into several parts for release.

So this case, which went all the way to the Supreme Court, resulted in an unprecedented and likely unparalleled ruling from the Citibank Supreme Court.

The High Court ruled that, since the Governors series is a national treasure of Citibank, starting with the next film, the series must have investment from at least three studios, and each studio's investment and profit-sharing ratio cannot exceed 30%.

After the verdict was announced, Hollywood erupted in cheers. It hadn't been easy! The era of *Governor of the Planet* dominating the box office was finally over! Now we could finally have some fun too!

But while the studios cheered, the actors and screenwriters wept, because with multiple studios investing in "The Governor of the Planet," those studios would definitely focus their main efforts on "The Governor of the Planet," which would inevitably reduce the number of new film projects.

In order to compete with "Governor" and ride the wave of science fiction popularity it sparked, other studios spent a lot of money investing in the science fiction film market.

Because science fiction used to be a relatively niche field, there weren't many movies or even novels about it.

The most famous of them is the Gaul who is considered the father of science fiction.

Although the studio funded the adaptation of these novels, the Gaul's character is far too unscientific compared to "The Governor of the Planet," almost resembling a realistic work.

Since existing works aren't working, the only option is to invest heavily in creating original works.

In order to compete with other studios producing "Governor of the Planet", they spent a lot of money to buy all kinds of scripts.

During that period, any script involving space, interstellar travel, or extraterrestrial civilizations could fetch a high price in Hollywood, be touted as a "Governor" killer, and then flop miserably at the box office.

Now, with Governors of the Planet transitioning from an exclusive project to a collaborative one.

Those studios that used to throw money at the world trying to overthrow the rule of "Governor of the Planet" will definitely reduce the number of films they start funding.

If fewer film projects are approved, won't I lose money?
As a result, the actors and screenwriters began to protest, stating that they needed fair employment.

But this time, nobody paid them any attention.

If you're going to cook, then practice more. It's a major economic downturn right now; if you don't do it, plenty of others will. If you're not happy about it, then you write one yourself! Go away, don't delay our joint filming.

After collectively ignoring protests from the Screen Actors Guild and the Writers Guild, Hollywood studios started pooling money to give to Joe, saying, "Dad! This is just the initial investment. Just tell us what else you need. We're counting on you to make this year's movie!"

For these studios that were practically begging for money, although the cooperation model changed slightly, Joe didn't lose any money. In addition, with more studio investment, Joe's budget for making movies actually increased.

So Joe didn't waste any time. Aside from inspecting Wagner's properties and military exercises, he basically lived on the set.

Meanwhile, with a sufficient budget, Joe created several new ways of filmmaking in 1930's "Governor of the Planet: Victory or Death".

In the era before computer-generated imagery (CG) technology, to film large-scale scenes, it was basically necessary to use techniques such as forced perspective to create visual illusions.

For example, if you want to film a scene where, when facing heretics, a warp storm is about to engulf a planet, and dark clouds loom overhead.

In this situation, what needs to be done is to first have the props team create an exquisite nest and battlefield model, then get a square fish tank, add water to it, set up the camera position and start filming, and then pour other colored liquids into the fish tank to create the desired effect.

And long shots like the ones Joe loved to pull back from the ground were much easier to handle. Apart from the initial room which was a prop set, the rest of the shots basically had to be done through editing, models, or even creating a painting out of thin air. This kind of special effects genius made almost every Hollywood crew member who worked with Joe exclaim, "If Joe hadn't been born, movies would have been in perpetual darkness."

This time, having secured a sufficient budget, Joe is preparing to do something even bigger.

For example, after the prototype of the helicopter finally took to the skies, Joe felt that this two-seat helicopter with a small payload had limited military value.

At most, it can only be equipped with two light machine guns to provide firepower to the ground. Moreover, the helicopter itself is not very fast, and it has little armor due to its limited load capacity, making it basically a sitting duck.

However, using this kind of helicopter for filming would be incredibly convenient, as many shots that were previously impossible to film can now be captured.

However, as time progressed into 1930 and the Great Depression continued, Joe began to devote some of his energy to the international situation.

As the Great Depression continued, the international situation also began to deteriorate.

The prolonged Great Depression devastated economies worldwide, with unemployment in Teutonic City alone soaring from three million to a staggering thirteen million within a few years.

This crisis has made the Teutonic economy even worse than it was during the Rhineland crisis.

In this terrible environment, Joe noticed a new party that was rising in the Teutonic Kingdom, advocating nationalism, racism, and revenge. Everything this party promoted made Joe think of something not so good.

There were even a few times when Joe considered sending members of the special mission battalion to take care of this guy.

However, Joe knew that the root of all this was not the man with the mustache, but the economy. As long as the Great Depression continued, there was no sign of recovery in global trade and the economy.

Even if you kill this guy, another person will appear carrying the same flag, and the guy you killed will be elevated to a sacred altar and become an immortal symbol.

The same thing happened in the Far East, where the Rising Sun Navy was forced by the civilian government to agree to a naval agreement.

This time, however, due to reduced naval spending caused by the economic recession, coupled with the fact that the Prime Minister had just signed the London Naval Agreement in London to further control naval armaments, the Prime Minister was shot and killed at the train station.

Although the murderer didn't say anything, everyone knew that it must have been the Navy who did it.

Joe wasn't particularly concerned about the situation in the Far East, since he didn't have much business there.

However, Joe was truly shocked when the Prime Minister of Bonitania announced the day before the release of "Governors: Victory or Death" that the pound would be abandoned from the gold standard.

Since the repeal of the Corn Laws in the last century, Buntania has been a cornerstone of free trade.

The fact that the pound sterling is equivalent to gold is as unquestionable as classical mechanics.

But now, in an effort to salvage its dismal economy, Bonitania has launched a currency war.

This incident almost immediately triggered a chain reaction.

Countries around the world began to follow suit, announcing their withdrawal from the gold standard, and free trade, which maintains world order, was once again seriously threatened.

The current scenario is just one step away from returning to the period before the last major war.

Countries began raising tariffs, using high trade barriers to completely disrupt trade, eventually escalating into a brutal war.

As someone who had experienced the last major war, Joe naturally sensed this risk.

Joe then began to accelerate the re-equipment process between Wagner and NATO forces.

Two years ago, in 1928, Diane's gun factory finally finalized the design of the 7.2×38 mm ammunition.

This bullet is a quarter lighter than the previous full-power bullets, which means that soldiers can carry more ammunition than before, or reduce some of the physical exertion required for carrying heavy loads.

By the end of 1930, the assault rifle that Old Joe had copied had basically completed its design and began mass production.

In appearance, this assault rifle is very similar to the Kalashnikov series of rifles. However, in order to reduce weight, the stock is not made of wood, but is made of hollow metal.

The handguard also features a wooden grip for easy handling by infantrymen.

The original general-purpose machine gun project, after a long development hell, saw a glimmer of hope with the finalization of the assault rifle project.

After incorporating parts from some general-purpose assault rifles, this new general-purpose machine gun looks like a slightly elongated and thickened assault rifle.

This rather fat guy, however, could fit a large drum magazine filled with a hundred bullets, and also had a bipod on the handguard.

Then Wagner began to switch to this rifle and general-purpose machine gun.

Wagner's team members immediately discovered that their existing team structure was going to be adjusted again.

After all, Wagner's infantry squads are still based on the experience of the last war, consisting of submachine gunners, machine gunners, and riflemen working together.

However, after being equipped with new guns, the question arose of who would be responsible for accurate shooting at high-value targets at long range when it became impossible to distinguish between submachine gunners and riflemen.

However, this problem was quickly resolved.

Because in early 1931, the individual rocket launcher, which had also gone through development hell, was finally finalized.

However, slightly different from what was originally expected, due to weight issues, this rocket launcher could not be provided to everyone.

Instead, it requires a dedicated person in the infantry squad to use it, and also requires an assistant gunner to help carry the ammunition.

However, this rocket launcher is also equipped with two types of ammunition: a high-explosive anti-tank round that uses a metal jet to attack armored targets, and a high-explosive round that is used to attack fortifications and personnel.

Although the range isn't very long, after testing it at the firing range, Wagner and his team felt that this thing, with its large caliber and single-shot capability, could take down a target in one shot—that's right, it's a sniper rifle.

As small arms replacements began, the universal tracked vehicle, which used a new type of suspension, also entered the experimental stage.

The reason it took so long was mainly because in 1929, York's radio laboratory finally succeeded in developing and shipping a radio communication system that could be installed in vehicles and aircraft.

However, due to communication distance limitations, if these vehicles want to report their status to the rear and request artillery fire or other support, they will be unable to do so.

They would need a larger radio transmitter, but to achieve that power, such a transmitter would be a bit too big.

So after repeated attempts to coordinate between the radio and the vehicle failed, Joe finally came up with a brilliant idea to solve the problem.

That is to specially manufacture a communications vehicle that has no combat capability but can provide radio relay functions to accompany the troops on their advance.

Provide communications support to frontline troops without entering the battlefield.

This radio relay device can also be mounted on aircraft to provide communication relay for paratroopers.

Although new equipment is constantly being finalized and Wagner's financial situation is very healthy, it is still somewhat too difficult for Wagner and NATO to build a complete equipment system on their own.

Fortunately, Joe still had Bohemia as a loyal customer.

Due to its unfavorable geographical environment, coupled with internal ethnic issues, Bohemia has faced immense internal and external pressures since its founding.

In this situation, it was crucial for Bohemia to build a reliable and capable fighting force.

Although it did not become a NATO member state directly like Pragmat, Bohemia maintained a good relationship with Wagner, thanks to its strong economy and decent industrial base.

Joe collaborated with Bohemia on numerous projects.

For example, in the Y-1 transport aircraft project, a portion of the orders were ultimately fulfilled by the Bohemian factory.

Subsequently, the gold that the Bohemians had been depositing with Joe was also transported back to Bohemia in small quantities and multiple times via air transport.

So while the ground equipment was basically finalized and replacement began, Joe was also working with companies in Bohemia and Bonitania on the development of the next generation of fighter jets.

As Wagner began his systematic military re-equipment process, other countries around the world naturally did not stop their military buildup efforts.

For example, the People's Revolutionary Alliance, which had already begun to imitate the Hound Tank during the first Five-Year Plan, started to develop the third Five-Year Plan.

The design and testing of a 20-ton fast tank to replace the Hound tank have been completed, and the factory has begun preparations to deliver the first batch of equipment to the troops for replacement.

Meanwhile, several tank design bureaus have begun preparing to complete the design and manufacture of 30-ton and 50-ton tanks, which are intended to serve as the armored spearhead of the armed forces, as outlined in the MSC program, which they have somehow acquired.

Meanwhile, the Teutonic military academy in the Lucia military government had already begun operating the first post-war Teutonic-designed and Lucia-manufactured tank, specifically for armored forces training, and later the Panzer I, which could be converted into a reconnaissance tank.

Having learned from the experience of the last war, the Gauls continued to make efforts in the development of heavy tanks.

Despite the economic downturn, the military industry still delivered the first B-series heavy tank to the troops in 1930.

This 56-ton behemoth has thick armor and an appearance that will delight fans of The Governors of Planet.

On the other side of the ocean, Citizens' armored troops were also watching the inventions of the Ordnance Bureau.

Although these things looked like something out of the movie "Governor's Planet," the armored soldiers felt that they were somewhat unreliable.

The armored forces of Bunitania also had doubts about their equipment.

As the first unit to possess tanks in the last war and also the unit with the most glorious achievements, they have experienced their own fantastic journey in the years following the war.

After enduring the torment of the invincible multi-turret tank, and despite protests from the troops, this type of tank quickly became a large toy used only in parades to showcase industrial capabilities.

However, under the auspices of the Armored Committee, following the Invincible Multi-Turret Tank, the Bunitania Armored Forces have successively welcomed several heavyweights.

So much so that now, the best crews in the Bunitania armored forces would rather continue using the Hound tank than touch anything new.

Because those things are just too strange.

Even Cecil, as the chief armored officer, sometimes regretted that if he had known this position would be so difficult, he should have stayed at Wagner.

At least Old Joe would never come up with something so abstract.

(End of this chapter)