OR1-EP3: The Bloody Coat of Arms (13)
"What a relief!" Early in the morning, Priest Alexandros Palaskas came to McNeil's room to greet him with a smile on his face, his chubby face with two moustaches twitching with his words, that lively look like a priest's inner self, "McNeil, it's already well known that you scolded the Shaings'men at the dinner table. You can't even keep a low profile if you want to this time."
The party involved in the storm was sitting by the window reading the newspaper with interest, and he regretted it a little when he came back. He should have chosen a more effective way to criticize these nobles, or simply take note of these people's identities and let those who were capable of retaliating against them do it. To show off for a short while seemed to occupy the moral high ground, but in the end, it was only exposing himself to the public eye, and the consequences would be fatal. But McNeil just couldn't stand the hypocrites who propagated quackery in a dignified manner, and if that was the price he had to pay for speaking up for justice, he was willing to bear any consequences.
"I feel like I'm losing." McNeil put down the newspaper and truthfully voiced his opinion to Father Palaskas, "Actually, I don't really know how to refute people who grew up living with a completely different set of values. They have their own set of logic ... they live in a completely different world than we do, and I can only learn their logic to attack their weaknesses. We all think we can destroy their mental defenses with our own self-referential logic, not realizing that they also have a pattern that can speak for itself."
"I suppose you should have guessed that a long time ago." The priest didn't laugh at McNeil, "To break their values, you have to use cold hard facts ... to smash their heads with a heavy punch. Reasoning won't convince these guys."
"Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius." McNeil muttered, "Cleric, if - I mean if - the next all-out war between the Britannian Empire and the EU does happen, does your church intend to embark on a new era of crusades, or do you fall back on the Emperor, who claims to be the Supreme Governor of the Church?"
"Those weaklings have already made their choice, and here they are, listening to the Emperor's commands while groveling as slaves afterwards." The priest sighed, "Trust me, we're not that weak ... Since we're standing on this ship, the Church won't let it sink easily."
The debate sparked by McNeil did not last long, as another heavy news attracted everyone's attention. The Britannian Empire planned to hold a military exercise and invited foreign guests who were within the empire to come and watch. It was a demonstration, a declaration of a spirit of defiance to those foreigners who thought they could put Britannia in their hands and rub them as they pleased - if they intended to press forward, Britannia wouldn't mind a fish out of water. McNeil had always heard that the EU had an advantage over the Britannian Empire in terms of military technology, but he had yet to actually see a regular Britannian army. Since the Empire was taking this opportunity to show its force, there was no reason for him to miss the information.
Along with those who were invited to visit, there were also ambassadors and military attachés from other countries. The EU's ambassador naturally had to go as well, while Palaskas, who was bringing a delegation to visit the empire, had originally received an invitation as well, but the priest himself had said that he wasn't interested in the military, and with the fact that he was planning on attending a donation ceremony on the same day, he had thrown his spot to McNeil. Reluctantly donning that suit, McNeil blended in with the EU audience and was escorted out of the embassy district by soldiers from the Britannian Empire to an airport on the outskirts of the city, their destination being a military installation on the west coast.
Ever since the aristocrats of old Europe had fled to the Americas and established their new empire, Britannia's greatest imaginary enemy had always been the EU, and it had always feared that the EU would come across the ocean to crush these remnants of the old world. However, over the next hundred years or so, the EU's continued expansion to the East finally brought it head-to-head with the ancient powers of the Chinese Federation after destroying the Russian Empire, and the Britannian Empire miraculously emerged from its crisis. Since then, Britannia's reach has extended to the Pacific, where it became dominant in World War II over half of the Pacific, with the islands from Hawaii to the Western Pacific under Imperial control, and a portion of the South Pacific in the hands of the Nanting Protectorate. Given that the EU was completely ostracized from Southeast Asia over a hundred years ago, there is an intricate relationship of mutual exploitation between the three rivaling parties here. The Britanbian Empire and the Nanting Protectorate are ostensibly allies, but are in fact rivals in the race for the South Pacific; the Protectorate is nominally part of the Chinese Federation, but is in fact an independent kingdom. In any case, the Britannian Empire still had a long way to go if it wanted to turn from a regional hegemon into a superpower that affected the fate of the world.
"If you want to become a hegemon, and if you want to sit in the position of a hegemon for a long time, you can't do it alone." While flying to the west coast, McNeil was still considering the various movements of the empire, "However, the current strategy of the Britannian Empire is clearly that it does not intend to seek any allies, and once it starts its aggressive outward expansion, there will be no room for détente between it and any foreign country. If it's not that Emperor Charles has a certainty of victory, it's that his enemy is simply too incompetent ... so much so that the incompetence is so great that anyone can see it."
The airplane docked at the military airport, and just as McNeil stepped off the plane, he saw Wang Shuang, who had stepped out of another airplane not far away. Wang Shuang was wearing the same tuxedo that he usually used as his sportswear today, and while onlookers thought that Wang Shuang was solemn about this military exercise, McNeil guessed that he was probably just too lazy to change his clothes.
"I can't believe they're here too." Wang Shuang looked at some officials wearing high hats with shrill voices not far away, "I really don't know how they will disgrace us in front of the foreigners."
"These people are - eunuchs?" McNeil's knowledge, even if he had it, would not be enough for all occasions, and besides, there were always secrets in the world that he had no way of knowing.
"Eunuchs." Wang Shuang stroked his long beard and looked with a grave expression at those eunuchs who were laughing and joking with the civil officials of the Britannian Empire, "The current Tianzi, Emperor Datong, said that eunuchs won't go around messing around after they become officials, and that the likelihood of extracurricular trouble is very low. Alas, it's just as well to have them serve as officials within the palace, to have eunuchs serving as ambassadors even for missions is simply lawless."
The army, navy, and air forces of the Britannian Empire all had notable strength, and it was widely believed that the real reason for their prolonged inability to function and serious corruption was the prolonged control of personnel appointments, dismissals, and command structures by the aristocratic clique. For an empire that had no rivals on the American continent, the only enemies it needed to defend itself against were overseas. As a result, the Britannian Empire had begun construction of new aircraft carriers a decade earlier to replace the obsolete models. The location of the naval maneuvers was far away and it took a long time to go back and forth, so McNeil dismissed the idea of going to visit and decided to watch the army's military maneuvers.
"Aren't you going to see their new battleships?"
"I don't know anything about the navy, so there's no point in watching." McNeil was telling the truth; in his later years, the concept of the ocean had completely disappeared from the face of the earth, and it had become a distant term in geography textbooks.
"I must find out ... what is going on. Our Nanting also relies on the navy to protect the territory and the people, the navy is our lifeblood ah." Wang Shuang sighed and said goodbye to McNeil, who boarded a bomber to visit the naval maneuvers, and McNeil stayed put to wait for further arrangements. Several main battle tanks drove past not far away, raising a cloud of smoke and dust. The eunuchs panicked and covered their mouths and noses with their sleeves, as if the dirt and dust would cause them to lose face as ambassadors of a vast empire.
McNeil saw a helicopter parked next to them, and Bismarck Waldstein, dressed in white robes, was jumping out of the helicopter toward them. He took it upon himself to greet this Knight of the Rounds.
"So it's the Cleric's deputy, Mr. McNeil." Bismarck saluted McNeil, "Why isn't the cleric here?"
"He's a clergyman, he doesn't like to see a fight." McNeil said perfunctorily, "By the way, what are the maneuvers about?"
"Today's maneuvers are a whole lot more." Bismarck explained, "The naval portion simulates an engagement with the enemy fleet on the open sea, while the army portion simulates the battle plan after landing. We anticipate that our powerful air force will be able to seize control of the air in a short period of time, causing the enemy forces on the ground to suffer a devastating blow."
This was not an exercise with a defensive tone, but rather a clear message to the world that the Empire had already figured out where its next target of aggression would be - with two alternate options. Nanting Protectorate or Japan, both of which were allies of the Empire and had similar friction with it.
In the plains, the two armies were locked in bitter fighting. It appears that the staff officers in charge of preparing the maneuvers simulated the real situation as much as possible, rather than fiddling with the results in order to curry favor or hoodwink some people. Despite Bismarck's claim that they were able to quickly destroy this imaginary enemy's air power, the maneuvers had been going on for more than two hours, and instead of gaining the upper hand, there was a possibility that the Britannian Empire's side would be driven overboard by the imaginary enemy. Bismarck, who came to the mid-air in a helicopter to inspect the battle situation, was full of gloom, this was completely different from what he had envisioned, and he was afraid that he would not be able to explain to the Emperor when he went back.
Wang Shuang wasn't there and McNeil didn't know anyone else, he wisely chose to remain silent and just watch the battle. The Britannian Empire hadn't been involved in a new war for decades, but the thinking wasn't too backward. In terms of overall strategy against a hypothetical enemy, the Imperial Army no longer aimed to eliminate the enemy's living forces, but rather to outright destroy the enemy's ability to continue fighting - trashing the entire infrastructure that maintained the basic order of modern society and knocking the enemy right back into the Middle Ages. In order to achieve this goal, a strong air force was essential, and the conclusions stated by Bismarck, while exaggerated, McNeil believed that the Reichswehr was qualified to be compared to the GDI air force of the late 20th century. Without the carpet bombing and scalpel-precision strikes of the air force, the GDI would not have been able to overwhelm the NOD Brotherhood in Europe and gradually reduce it to the Balkans in the short term.
"It's amazing that they aren't afraid of exposing their military secrets to the enemy." McNeil thought like this, "I wonder which one of the Nanting Protectorate and Japan will taste the taste of suffering betrayal first."
Major General William Ashford was discussing something with Bismarck on the side. Both of them were major generals in the same army, but William Ashford was much older than Bismarck, and his career might end here, while Bismarck had more room for promotion.
"The emergency escape cockpit should improve survival rates, and Bartley wants to change the results."
"He, as a staff officer, has no right to discuss the results of the maneuver." Bismarck said disgruntled, "There are others who should be held accountable for this."
McNeil heard a term that intrigued him: Emergency Escape Cockpit. The GDI army had once widely used similar devices in tanks, airplanes, and even cosmic battleships to increase the survival rate of drivers or crew members, and if the Britannian Empire was working on something similar, McNeil might be able to learn of its principles and uses in advance - -However, the specific technical details were bound to produce changes, and the engine might still be centered on sakuradites' energy.
The end result was that the Britannian Empire barely achieved its intended goal at great cost, during which time an obese, dark-skinned officer came to Bismarck to report his ideas, was rebuked by Bismarck, and left in disgrace. McNeil offered to take a tour of one of those cockpits, however he did not get permission from the Imperials this time. Obviously, the Imperial Army regarded this kind of technology as a secret, which was closely related to the life and death of the soldiers at the front line, and any leakage could lead to heavy losses on the front battlefield.
That night, Wang Shuang just flew back from the sea, this army officer who had never participated in a naval battle before (observing is also considered participation) due to seasickness and delirious in the crowd of people to help back to the temporary residence. He excitedly told McNeil about his latest discovery: the Britannian Empire was definitely preparing for a foreign war.
"I knew that already." McNeil agreed with this conclusion.
"If they really only want to defend their homeland, they should only build frigates, just like us ... and their land, sea, and air forces are all developed with the purpose of completely destroying a certain country rather than defending against an enemy attack." Wang Shuang said with a grave expression and McNeil, "Besides, many people seem to be deluded, that Breisgau just said that he believed that the Emperor only wanted to defend the Empire's security ... hell, who would believe that? He's an amateur, and amateurs don't see eye to eye."
However, if the Britannian Empire really did have the Nanting Protectorate or Japan as its next target ... then what was the point of going down to tackle an ally before confronting a real enemy? McNeil was so puzzled that he couldn't come to a reasonable conclusion and could only chalk it up to the whims of the Emperor.
TBC
It's worth noting that the aviation technology in the Code Geass universe isn't all that developed ... at least compared to the real world. Fortress Damocles is already considered unstoppable when it rises above the clouds.
But really, it's highly likely that the Britannian Imperial Army is no match for the GDI at all. This has nothing to do with the Ion Cannon, the conventional weaponry that the GDI might have (aircraft carriers that use drone swarms to fight, a new generation of main battle tanks with specs comparable to the Apocalypse Tanks, a MiG replica that will have its nukes fielded) is just as staggering.
-Yes, in this story, all of the C&C series takes place in a timeline with no time jumps. That is, GDI could have all the Red Alert technology because of FTC (C&C 3 had told us FTC still exists). Anyway, the NOD is strengthened too.