295 – Divide and Rule (5)
As soon as I persuaded the ambassadors of each country and signed a five-year peace treaty, I immediately requested an audience with the emperor.
His Majesty must have thought that I would want to talk to him in person, so I received word from the Grand Chief that I could meet him right away as he had spare time.
After signing the treaty, I was able to meet face to face with His Majesty the Emperor of a country in just 20 minutes and report on the future of the empire.
I don’t think it’s something I should say as I’m now moving toward an audience, but it’s a bit surprising that everything happened so smoothly, like stir-fry beans in the flash of lightning.
“Captain Jaeger, if you enter this room, His Majesty will be waiting for you.”
“Thank you, Your Excellency, Grand Chief.”
“Hurry up and go inside. Oh, leave the sword to me and go in. “For information security reasons, there is no one inside except Her Majesty herself.”
When meeting the emperor in the imperial palace, I have treated the emperor privately several times, but strictly speaking, the captain of the guard is present in the corner to prevent assassination, so there is virtually no one who treats the emperor privately except the empress, who is sleeping with him.
Therefore, when I want to meet with subjects like me as secretly as possible, the captain of the guard, who holds the semi-honorary rank of captain, is usually present, and when I want to meet more privately, armed female slaves stand as guards.
These female slaves do not leave the emperor’s side from birth to death, and since they live as the emperor’s slaves their entire lives, they are secretly hidden people and cannot divulge any information they hear, so from a security perspective, it is virtually like there is no one there.
“This is Captain Peter Yeager. “Let’s go in.”
When I went inside, there was a beauty and an emperor armed with a sword, just as I expected.
“See you, Your Majesty.”
“Ah, Captain Jaeger. It was a lot of hard work. I really didn’t think it would be possible to persuade the ambassadors of those six countries to sign a five-year peace treaty. No, actually, I believed you could do it because you always saved me from danger, but I never thought you could handle it so quickly.”
“All of this was possible because the previous emperors and their empire were strong. “My role is not that big.”
The emperor chuckled after hearing what I said.
“Why don’t you just act confident. According to that, all officers in the empire, starting with the Minister of Military Affairs, are not as good as you, so in a way, it seems like they lack ability. If you’re not too arrogant, I’ll admit it, so act confident. So, is there anything you want as a reward? If you want her near me I’ll give her anything except her. “This woman cannot even be shared with her crown prince.”
“No matter how much this matter is related to military policy, isn’t it originally the job of a diplomat? Therefore, there should not be any records, evidence, or even a single clue that I officially participated in this. “If a public record is left, even hundreds of years after my death, a villain may appear who wants to use this to ruin the empire.”
His Majesty raised his hand and unconsciously covered his open mouth.
“…… If you wanted, I would have given you one more marquis territory out of the territories I obtained by purging the Manstein faction so far. “Are you okay?”
“I have already received enough.”
“They say you look after gold in imperial politics, and that was true. I understand. “It’s a bit unfortunate that I can’t give you anything more, but I respect your wishes.”
Some people in the empire call me a person who has little material greed, but strictly speaking, I just live by distinguishing between what I can eat and what I cannot covet.
Because after starting my career as an officer, I broke many of the empire’s promotion records and rose to the rank of captain in just 12 years. What I felt was, ‘If you are greedy, your stomach will explode while eating.’
Even now, I have always refused people who want to join my family’s faction and ask me to pay thousands of gold every year as protection fees.
Here, the guys who crossed the line and tried to get him to take his daughter as a concubine threatened them with death if they tried that trick on the first occasion, and handed the idiot who did it the second time over to the inspection department to be ‘inspected’.
And my current situation was the perfect time to get in trouble for being greedy for no reason.
Your Majesty will not doubt me, but I swung my sword a little too hard in purging Count Manstein and his associates who were trying to create militarism.
I can be impeached for that, and I also get a portion of the territory held by Manstein’s group?
Even if you don’t lose your position as commander, Your Majesty will have to admit some mistakes in favor of the faction opposing me to some extent. You will have to be summoned to the Imperial Diet and subjected to crazy ‘hearings’ for months.
Just thinking about it gives me goosebumps, damn it.
“By the way, what do you think the imperial army should do in the future? They told the ambassadors that they had deliberately released a level 2 military secret that the empire would not let go of the army. “Is that sincere?”
Manstein also advocated expansion of the size of the military in his active expansion policy, and I also advocate expansion of the military.
But his opinion is bullsh*t and saying what I say is right may seem contradictory.
For the sake of the empire’s hegemony, or simply for the survival of the Reich Empire, we can never reduce the army.
Because the current Reich Empire is destined to go straight down the path of defeat if it shows even the slightest ‘room for challenge’ to other countries.
So, I personally agree with what Manstein said about the need to provide more support to the military.
“Your Majesty, from a military perspective, the Empire is now in a position to aim for hegemony on the Europa continent. To put this in reverse, it is the same as saying that other countries are in an indescribable crisis. Because happiness for the Empire and Your Majesty is misfortune for other countries.”
From noble mtl dot com
“My happiness is someone else’s misfortune. I don’t know who coined this phrase, but it really describes the diplomatic situation of the empire.”
“As the captain of the empire, I dare say that unless the empire stops war and increases its army. “The six countries that signed the peace negotiations this time will try to break the treaty and start a war under ridiculous justifications.”
The emperor asked with a questioning expression.
“I don’t think they can trust each other. According to the report from the head of the intelligence department, there was a fight in the small banquet room that almost led to a fight.”
“They can unite with the consensus that they feel sick to their stomachs whenever they see His Majesty and the Empire happy. “That is because it is an issue directly related to the country’s national interests, and it is also the same issue as protecting the ambassador’s vested rights.”
Wuwoldongju, an idiom that means that even the people of Wu and Yue, who are ready to kill each other when they see each other’s faces, join forces and row together to survive when their boat is swept away by the waves.
As the saying goes, the happier and more prosperous the empire becomes, the more they realize that they are in danger, so they are able to band together for the purpose of ‘survival’.
“However, if the empire continues to maintain and grow its army, they will most likely not be able to unite even if they try to do so. Because the empire has no choice but to choose the best strategy to escape the danger of the six-nation alliance. And by increasing the power and size of the military, it is possible to wage a war with minimal delay. After that…”
His Majesty interrupted me for a moment.
“Of the six countries, they would just pick the most powerful country, or just any country, and destroy it. Then, naturally, some of the Allied Powers will attack the devastated neighboring country, which is easier prey than a strong empire.”
“No matter how much he feels sick to his stomach after seeing the happy state of the empire, he will decide that it is better to just stay still rather than have his country desolate like a desert.”
“Your argument and that of the traitor Manstein seem to be subtly similar, but the results are completely different. One is a strong country that increases its military power so that enemies cannot attack without permission, and the other is a foolish country that tries to eliminate a country that would become an enemy in advance but is suppressed. Among these, the former is much better. By the way.”
The emperor looked like he was thinking for a moment and then asked with a serious expression.
“If we are not able to engage in actual combat for five years, I think the imperial army will be greatly weakened. “Have you put in place sufficient measures?”
I confirmed those words with a smile.
“Your Majesty, I have prepared some things that are as difficult as ‘guerrilla training’ and ‘style training’ suitable for increasing the capabilities of the imperial army, but are more efficient than that.”