313 – Playing with Fire in Switzerland (1)
When I entered the imperial palace and entered the throne room, His Majesty looked at me and sighed.
“I often heard from the Chief of Staff that the Faroesia area army was pathetic, but it was truly more than I could have imagined. “The soldiers standing guard at the headquarters didn’t even check properly, so if you were an assassin, the commander would have been assassinated, right?”
I told the previous commander of the local forces and other division commanders that I would not report to His Majesty, but hiding their true situation from His Majesty was also a crime.
I was already under tremendous pressure from the Imperial Diet for being too successful these days, and I felt like my head would be blown off if I covered up the actual state of the army, so I only submitted an accurate report to His Majesty.
However, in order to rewrite this army from scratch, it would be efficient not to punish the negligence that has continued since before, so there would be no official punishment.
But from now on, if you make even a minor mistake, your position will be different and you will be recommended for discharge, but that can’t be helped.
“That’s an old story. As you can see from the reports sent from other units and the Chief of Staff, the forces in Farosia were just a little lazy. “It was not rotten from the root.”
His Majesty placed his hand on his forehead and spoke in a pitiful tone.
“What if you had not applied proper training to the Faroesian army, and what if the city-states of the Faroesian Union had flocked to attack the Reich Empire? In that condition, we would have definitely been defeated. “When I think about that, it’s really dizzying.”
I agree with your Majesty’s words.
There was a feeling of hesitation, starting with the work attitude of the soldiers on guard duty and managing equipment, but even when they entered combat, they made the same mistakes over and over again.
Just as a tank that is leaking on the inside will also leak on the outside, if a real war were to break out, they would have starved on the battlefield due to poor management of their supply units, or would have been defeated in the end for all sorts of unimaginable reasons.
Moreover, the current empire has expanded its power and military power over the past 10 years since I joined the military, growing to the point where it can aim for hegemony on the Europa continent, and as a result, it is under checks from all countries on the European continent.
It is a tradition on this continent to gather together as a group and beat up those whom everyone else is criticizing, jealous of, and envious of.
The defeat of the Faroesian army may have led the empire down the path to ruin, like the butterfly effect.
“But now you won’t have to let go and suffer like that. After I personally trained all soldiers of the 18th Division, staff from other regions evaluated that they already possessed the combat capabilities and morale of an elite unit. So please keep this report for reference only, and do not take it to heart if they show good behavior in the future.”
His Majesty sighed deeply and said.
“No one else but Captain Peter Yeager, I am doing you a favor, so I will assume you have not read the report I posted this time.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.”
“No. By the way, do you know why I called you?”
“I think he called me because he needed to prevent the use of mercenaries in order to expand the damage from the civil war in Perosia, so he had to start a civil war in Switzerland.”
His Majesty ordered his attendant to bring something with a gesture.
He handed the documents he had brought to His Majesty Michael and quietly retreated.
“That’s right. For the national interest of the empire, this is what we must do to avenge the soldiers of the 7th Guards Division who died on Richen Hill. Have you heard anything about the current situation in the Principality of Switzerland?”
“I heard that the inside of Switzerland was in disarray after the Duke of Switzerland suffered a major defeat. I heard that at the same time as the number of mercenaries decreased, the export of mercenaries, which was the only source of income, was not working well, so more people were starving to death and civil unrest also increased. As I suggested before, this is a situation perfectly suited to triggering a civil war.”
When I was deployed to Switzerland, I saw that no matter where I looked, Switzerland was a harsh place where I couldn’t see anything except real mountains.
It is such a barren place that it seems impossible to get enough food for people to survive even if you farm there.
It was a country where men worked as mercenaries to support their wives and children and used the money they received in return to buy wheat and barley to survive, but since that was not possible, many people died of starvation one after another.
As he was starving to death like this, he must have woken up thinking that it would be a good idea to kill the Duke of Switzerland, the culprit of all evil.
Even in novels such as Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Chu Hanji, there are dozens or hundreds of stories of people starving to death due to the government’s mistakes in the background of the appearance of heroes such as Liu Bei and Xiang Yu.
Even to a person ignorant of diplomacy, if the Empire adds a little more oil, the uprising, which is currently at the level of a civil rebellion, could have an opportunity to develop into a full-scale civil war with the nobles aiming for the title of Duke of Switzerland.
At this point, I think Deus, whom I don’t really trust, is hoping that the Duke of Switzerland will fall.
His Majesty slightly raised the corners of his mouth and smiled evilly.
“As you said, the current situation in the Principality of Switzerland is like five minutes ago, no, it’s just chaos. Because, I got intelligence that the stupid duke had ruined the duchy and passed the blame on to someone else.”
In this situation, it’s not enough to kneel down and beg and say that everything is my fault, but something unimaginable is happening.
This is not a famous line from the legend to make it seem like King Seonjo had no responsibility for the Japanese invasions of Korea.
‘To be honest, the Ming Dynasty army was responsible for winning the Japanese Invasion of Korea. So, remove the volunteer army from merit.’
For a moment, I was so dumbfounded that my mouth dropped open.
When His Majesty saw that, he suddenly started laughing hysterically.
“I’ve never seen you so surprised.”
“Isn’t it so absurd? “He lost the war because of his own fault, ruined the entire country of Switzerland, and then tried to blame it on others.”
“Isn’t it fortunate that you are not serving such a monarch, and the monarch of those Swiss people is such a man? And this time, it was the Count of Bern who took all the blame. “He’s like a bat.”
During the last expedition to Switzerland, when His Majesty was the crown prince, he was lured into Switzerland and tried to kill him in a pincer attack.
A legendary spy who succeeded in deceiving the Reich Imperial Army Headquarters for over three years, despite the inevitable risk of death if discovered, and a man that the Imperial Intelligence Department would grind against.
No matter how you think about it, that guy didn’t do anything wrong to his country, so why on earth did His Royal Highness the Duke of Switzerland purge that guy whose only crime was carrying out the operation loyally?
“Can you tell me a specific story?”
“It was said that it was the Count of Bern who planned to capture the Crown Prince through an all-out war with the Reich Imperial Army, and that he deceived the Duke of Switzerland to enrich himself. “It’s bullsh*t no matter who hears it, but the uneducated and hungry people will probably accept everything the Duke of Switzerland says.”
In this era, for the people, a monarch is someone who should be respected and no objection should be raised.
Therefore, even if the leader is doing a terrible job, if he bows his head a little or blames someone else, there is a very strong tendency to believe it.
Moreover, the people who participated in the civil uprising have repeatedly lived as the nobles told them to do for generations, and since they have not received education, it will be difficult for them to think critically and analyze from a rational perspective…
If the target of the witch hunt, the Count of Bern, had been handed over with a proper justification, the people would have gone away satisfied that the Duke of Switzerland had handed over a true criminal through their protests.
“He was the most capable loyalist of the Duke of Switzerland, and he delivered such a guy into the hands of the people. They say those who started the uprising stoned him to death. “How can a man called the Duke hand over his loyal subjects, especially innocent ones, to the common people to shed noble blood?”
As someone who rose from a commoner orphan to a marquis, in my view, noble blood or status is simply a reward given to a person from a wealthy family and performing the duties given to him.
I don’t think bloodline is sacred or noble, but in a country that recognizes the caste system, would an innocent noble be handed over to be killed?
It’s like the Duke poured hydrochloric acid on his own feet to melt them.
“…… I’m so speechless, Your Majesty.”
His Majesty tapped his shoulder as if he understood my feelings.
“But Captain Jaeger, wouldn’t now be the best time to start a civil war among them? “If there is a good solution, let’s talk about it.”