Re: Blood and Iron

Getting accustomed to a life without modern luxuries was indeed something that Bruno had to re-learn. He had been born in this life a year after the first private electric system was installed in Edison's own home. And as a result, it would be several more years before the wealthy nobles of the German Reich got their hands on such technology.

As a result, Bruno had lived his first few years of his new life without electricity, which was a chore to be sure, but one he gradually became accustomed to. Only for the moment he truly began to thrive in such a primitive environment his family's estate was retrofitted to include it.

His children however had never known a world without the modern luxury, and as a result, there was quite a bit of complaining and squabbling over the many, many chores that their mother forced them to aid the house staff with whom they had brought with them to Transylvania.

Nevertheless, Bruno and his family enjoyed a nice meal together in the evening before the man returned to the Castle's study, where he was quick to go over the list of papers the Transylvanian government sent him at his personal request.

Whether it was the codification of law, or the local economic status. Things were more or less how Bruno had expected that would be. And he was quick to overhaul many, many matters. Bruno having extensive experience in running international corporations was quick to cut the bloat so to speak.

Arresting corrupt politicians, firing incompetent government bureaucrats, and shutting down departments that had no practical reason for existing. If there was a way for him to cut the government expenditure that did not affect the people of Transylvania, or the daily function of the Government than by god he did it.
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In addition to this, he changed the codification of laws, adding heftier penalties to crimes which were more deserving, while removing laws that had existed for centuries which made no sense whatsoever in a modern context.

Bruno also began to levy taxes to a far more ideal margin, one that not only gave the people of Transylvania a break but also stimulated economic growth. In addition to this, he began to invest his personal money into the mechanization of the local agriculture.

Transylvania was a nation that had extensive potential for agriculture. It could theoretically become the breadbasket of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. But lack of investment in the region meant that the industry was still relying on technology and techniques one would have found in the pre-industrial era.

As a result, Bruno ordered thousands of tractors with his personal funds, and began to invest in the domestic production of agricultural equipment so that the people of Transylvania could routinely replace aging parts on their tractors without having to pay extensive import fees from places like the German Reich where Bruno's factories and engineers had already revolutionized the field of mechanized agriculture.

Whether it was diesel powered tractors, combine harvesters, seeders, or any other form of equipment necessary to make modern agriculture easier on the farmers. Bruno had invested heavily in its development. It was actually something that most people were not aware of.

Only those at the top of the company knew that Bruno was the primary shareholder. And it wasn't just mechanization that Bruno had invested heavily into when it came to agriculture, he also paid substantial sums in acquiring talents necessary to advance the fields of chemicals related to agriculture.

These technologies would be exported to Transylvania through a series of contractual agreements that allowed the region to produce and sell them locally under their own local companies. And after an extensive first day, Bruno soon realized that he was burning the midnight oil, and would thus need to get some proper rest.

Thus, for the night, he went to sleep, and would awake again to begin his work once more at the crack of dawn.

---

Thunder crackled over the skies of Southeast Asia. The shores had been surrounded by the combined might of the Royal Thai Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy, while marines stormed the shores, of what would one day be known as Myanmar. Currently occupied by the British Empire as a part of the Raj.

Japanese and Thai soldiers alike rushed through the slow chug of heavy machine guns. The French soldiers trying desperately to clear the jams of their outdated weaponry, while the British Vickers functioned flawlessly as it always had.

Men dropped by the wayside as artillery hit the shores, striking the concrete bunkers and collapsing them upon the men within. No matter how fortified your structure may be, it could never withstand the wrath of a coastal bombardment performed by dreadnought style battleships.

Such was a lesson the British and French defenders were learning now, as their positions were either struck by naval guns, or overrun by the overzealous invaders.

The addition of Thailand to the central powers had significantly aided their military supremacy in the east, which was already extensive considering the Imperial Japanese Army was proving a greater threat than the Allies had initially anticipated.

The British commander in the rear of the trenches was calling on the radio for support from the British Navy, whose eastern fleets by now had either been sunk to the bottom of the Pacific, or forced back to colonial ports for repairs and rearmament.

The beating they had taken had given the Central powers complete and total command over the eastern world, and with the Suez Canal now closed as it was currently under occupation of the Central Powers and their Arab allies, sending reinforcements to the region required an extensive journey around the Cape of Good Hope.

South Africa had joined their lot in with the Allies, sending their army into German South-West Africa, and in doing so, expelling German colonial forces from the region. This was actually the single greatest Allied victory thus far in the war. But because it was a colonial affair far away from the European mainland few civilians knew of it, nor cared for it either.

Because South Africa was a member of the allies, the British Navy had a friendly port to refuel for their journey east, even so it was a long and perilous journey. And reinforcements had yet to arrive in the Pacific despite Japan invading most of the allies' colonial assets in the region.

But hopefully, men could be pulled from other outposts nearby within the British Raj to aid in this sudden and hostile invasion of the territory's easternmost borders. However, the British commander received a simple order, and no estimated time of arrival.

"Hold your positions until reinforcements arrive, no matter what the cost…"

After hearing this, the commanding officer damn near destroyed the radio in a fit of rage, prompting the soldiers nearby to question what he had been told.

"So, what did they say?"

As if the answer wasn't already blatantly obvious, the British commander scowled before responding in the most sarcastic way possible.

"An army of 100,000 men is immediately inbound to our position with air support and tanks to match! What do you fucking think you useless twat?"

Even the thick headed soldier could understand that this was not a serious response, and thus after the Commander took a deep breath to calm his nerves he was quick to relay their actual orders.

"ETA for reinforcement is unknown, but our orders are to hold this position until they arrive no matter what the cost…"

A grim look appeared on the faces of those present to hear these orders from British Colonial High Command, as they knew all too well what the current situation was. The Commander naturally knew the situation better than anyone and was thus quick to strap on his helmet.

The moment he realized there was no hope, he decided to give the order that would save his men, even if it was one that would ultimately have him court martialed and potentially executed for insubordination.

"There is no point throwing our lives away for this beachhead. Give the order at once to withdraw further inland. We will establish a stronghold up north, and re-unite with reinforcements when they arrive to drive these yellow bastards out of the British Raj once and for all!"

No doubt, the expressions on the soldiers' faces were relieved when they heard they were not going to throw their lives away in a futile attempt to hold on to the beachhead, as there was no chance of victory, or holding out for more than three hours at this point.

And they knew that if an ETA had not been given on the arrival of reinforcements, then it would be far too late for any of them by the time they actually appeared to help with the fight.

Thus, the British and French forces were quick to retreat further inland in an attempt to fortify their position as a strategic location and hoping to catch the Imperial Japanese Army and Thai Royal Army off guard when they did so.