286 – Are you going to assassinate me? 100 Years too early (1)
Imperial palace, throne room.
“Captain Peter Jaeger of the Reich Imperial Army meets His Majesty the Emperor, the only sun of the Empire.”
As is customary, I got down on one knee and bowed my head, and as always, His Majesty walked down to where I was and helped me up.
Normally, at this time, he would look at me with a bright expression, curious about my current situation, and ask if something good or bad is happening.
When something good happened, he liked it and gave me a gift to celebrate. When something bad happened, he comforted me, and when there was anything he could do to help, he did so.
For example, the other day, I casually mentioned that Frederick was suffering from a fever, and he immediately sent the emperor’s personal physician to receive treatment for the cold.
But now, because of that damn militarist Lieutenant General Manstein, he seemed to be having a lot of trouble, so even when he looked at me, his expression was not bright.
“I would like to ask you how you are doing these days and hear your story, but the situation is the way it is right now, so I will just ignore it. “So, what kind of business did you come to see me for?”
“No other than that, I heard a rumor that recently retired soldiers formed an undesirable gathering, so I came to report this to Your Majesty.”
After hearing what I said, His Majesty nodded with an expression that meant he already knew everything.
“According to the head of intelligence, I heard that Baron Pietro, some retired soldiers, some active-duty soldiers, and some from noble families with titles have gathered to impeach Peter Jaeger. You rotten bastards, why do you gather together and say such nonsense because there is no other master who helped the empire as much as you? Since they are so incompetent, it seems like they have lost their minds out of jealousy towards you who are capable.”
People are less capable than themselves, but when they see someone who is successful because their abilities are superior to them, they tend to feel jealous.
When the feeling of jealousy enters the mind, the person who uses it positively will try his best to keep up with that person and focus on increasing his or her capabilities.
Humans who are negatively dominated by the emotion of jealousy try to somehow bring the object of jealousy down to the same level or below themselves, whether through words or actions.
So, in the eyes of His Majesty the Emperor, it may seem like those with an inferiority complex are trying to carry out political maneuvering…
As someone who studied modern warfare and its history before being possessed, just looking at this meeting shows the angle of preparation for assassination that militarists love so much.
So, I looked at His Majesty and spoke carefully in a very serious voice.
“I think the reason they gathered was not simply to impeach me.”
His Majesty looked at me with a questioning expression.
“Think about it, Your Majesty. If they impeach General Peter Yeager, how would the Imperial Council react? At best, I would say this. ‘Captain Peter Yeager was impeached by 00 titled nobles, retired officers, and active-duty officers, but this case is dismissed as it has been investigated and found to have done nothing wrong. However, in order to ask you to be careful about your future actions, you will be sentenced to 00 days of probation.’ “My position will not be undermined as they want.”
For a subject to speak openly in front of the emperor about how strong his position is, at worst it could be interpreted as bragging to the emperor that he has enough power to keep the imperial authority in check.
There is already a very strong relationship of trust between His Majesty and I, and we are discussing an even more absurd situation: a political gathering of retired soldiers and active-duty officers.
His Majesty said, pouring out his unpleasant feelings not at me, but at damned Baron Pietro.
“Normally, impeachment is done when you are confident that you can overthrow the opponent, but after listening to you carefully, I see that it is indeed so. Although the Imperial Council and most of the nobles are happy about the strengthening of the Imperial Army and the successive victories, they are well aware that the territories they own are having a hard time because they have already collected a lot of special war taxes. However, if they follow the will of those who argue that more war should be waged here, they will have to collect taxes again and are worried that not only their territory but the entire Reich Empire’s national power will be weakened. Because they were such people, they were happy to hear your argument that we should stop the war for a while, give the empire some rest, and increase our national power. “There is no way you will side with those who want to impeach you for this.”
“Then let me ask you again. In this situation, what will you do if they end up impeaching me before your Majesty?”
His Majesty clenched his fists, a little angry.
Then, after taking a deep breath and exhaling, he spoke.
“I will not accept their impeachment. You are considered to be a great general who saved the empire, and you have even more abilities than that. If you help me be more devoted to the empire, I don’t know. Of course we will dismiss it, and we will arrest all the people who said such nonsense. And active-duty officers and retired soldiers will be punished severely for banding together to engage in political activities.”
Strictly speaking, officers who have been discharged from the empire are civilians A who have nothing but a noble title.
As soon as you are discharged from the military, you are allowed to immediately undergo a qualification test for appointment as an administrator for military officers and become an administrator of a rank similar to the rank you had when you were in the military, or to enter the Imperial Council based on your title and serve.
In other words, retired soldiers can immediately engage in politics.
If an active-duty officer with the power to command soldiers intervenes in the political arena, political policy discussions can lead to a civil war by drawing in his soldiers.
You must be saying that because an active-duty officer who participates in politics for any reason, as well as making related comments, is subject to treason and becomes a serious criminal who must be executed immediately.
“From this perspective, I think gathering to impeach me is just an excuse. Since impeachment of high-ranking officials such as incumbent ministers and vice-ministers and generals is a frequent occurrence in the Imperial Diet, it is possible to escape from the scope of surveillance by thinking that the intentions of the meeting are impure. “Your Majesty can’t punish active-duty officers without permission until they write down their names in the impeachment document, right?”
The emperor nodded his head in agreement.
“If you gather people together and air their complaints under the pretext that they cannot be punished, there will definitely be someone who makes comments like this. ‘There is only one answer. Peter Yeager must be assassinated. “Even if we use a bill of impeachment, it will be of no use, so we have to kill him.'”
His Majesty tried to deny it by waving his hand, but I continued talking.
“Your Majesty is probably claiming that it was all a ploy by General Peter Jaeger to purge Lieutenant General Manstein and his faction, and to allow the Imperial Army, which was sure to win the next battle, to rest without fighting. So, when I die, His Majesty will increase the size of his army, and they probably think that they will be able to wear stars and achieve glory in my stead. “If they weren’t such rotten brains, the staff officers wouldn’t have said such nonsense without considering the internal situation of the empire.”
The reason I can think like this is because a friend of mine who majored in Japanese once told me this while telling me how stupid and foolish the Japanese military was.
Until the early 1930s, the country of Japan took steps to properly read the international situation.
So, when it came to eating Manchuria, the United States and the other great powers would make a fuss and say something, so a proposal was made in the Japanese cabinet to eat only the Manchurian economic zone and pretend to rule together with China.
This story was told by a man named Tsuyoshi Inugai, who was the prime minister at the time.
If things had gone on like this, the Japanese military’s biggest challenge, joining the Axis powers, might not have happened.
However, the crazy militarists in the Japanese Imperial Army thought that if they did not expand their territory into Manchuria, their officers would have nothing to eat, or maybe it was just out of crazy patriotism, but they just killed the Prime Minister.
As a result, Japan was truly ruined.
Of course, the biggest factor behind this was that there was no supreme authority to take over and control the Japanese state after the Japanese Prime Minister died.
Even if I die, His Majesty will personally wield the mace and prevent any unnecessary expansion of the army.
But the problem is that if those bastards succeed in assassinating me, problems will arise beyond the mere sadness of Louise, Laura, Charlotte, and Anya.
The problem is that enemies from other countries will frantically try to take over the empire’s land.
So, I will not give in to the assassination threats from these bastards and will definitely survive, and I will not only uproot these bastards, but burn them down to their very roots.
“I am sure. “Those guys gathered over there must have gathered to assassinate Peter Yeager.”
His Majesty’s face looked very serious when he heard the word ‘assassination’ come out of my mouth.
“Okay, then what do you plan on doing?