185 – Move the Emperor (2)
Count Dion stared into my eyes and opened his mouth.
“…… Let’s call His Majesty? “Are you out of your mind right now?”
If this fishing operation had not been a complete success, much clearer and sweeter words than these would have poured out of the count’s mouth like a waterfall.
No, during the operation, I heard something like a grand delusion that a count was calling the emperor, who was nearly a hundred kilometers away, to his camp, saying, ‘You come,’ and he seemed so shocked that he couldn’t speak properly.
No matter what happens, if I don’t give a proper explanation, I’m going to be kicked out of this place right now.
“I, a mere mercenary leader, took numerous strategic and political considerations before suggesting to the Count that we should call His Majesty.”
Count Dion looked at me with narrowed eyes.
“Well, I don’t want to doubt what you say, but I guess this is…”
The count raised his hand and tried to signal them to step aside.
However, if I withdraw like this without being able to explain my intentions, the trust and good image I have gained from the Count so far will quickly deteriorate, if not not into the abyss, then significantly.
Then it will affect your future reputation and the pay you receive after this war is over.
It is impossible for something like that to happen.
“The most important thing in this war is not the Count, but your Majesty.”
Count Dion froze at this unexpected but shocking word.
We have to push a little harder here.
“Think about it, the Count has already made great achievements in this war. So, even if he does not achieve any special achievements, he will be granted more territory. But what about Your Majesty?”
Count Dion’s brow twitched.
“You are being rude to Your Majesty.”
But since he didn’t tell me to step down, he gave me an opportunity to persuade myself.
“If things continue like this, there is a high probability that Your Majesty will win this war. But think about it. “This is a war that Your Majesty personally participated in, but to put it bluntly, isn’t there a major point that Your Majesty personally established?”
Of course, the role of the commander-in-chief is not to cut down the enemy at the vanguard and directly capture mercenaries or nobles like a mercenary leader like me.
There is no need to lead a large army of up to 15,000 people like the Count of Dion and spend effort in occupying several castles.
There is just one thing: whether you win or lose this war without suffering any losses, this determines whether or not you have fulfilled your role as commander-in-chief.
“What’s so important about that? Your Majesty is the commander-in-chief of this battle. This means that my achievements were established by His Majesty…”
The count who was saying that stopped talking and then his tone changed.
“In order to participate in this war, His Majesty collected a huge amount of money from numerous central nobles and nobles in the territories. Moreover, this war was waged by His Majesty Himself to punish King Barcelo because he claimed ownership of the Duchy of Tulua without any basis. But the fact is that His Majesty has not been active in anything directly.”
The count paused for a moment and spoke carefully.
“Even if I lead the war to victory, I will give the central nobles and other nobles room to doubt Your Majesty’s military capabilities.”
The role of the commander in chief is to lead the war to victory.
But what if the commander-in-chief himself does not do anything and only gives appropriate instructions from the safe rear?
This gives us something to say to those who were ripped off and failed to reap the benefits.
‘The king, that bastard, he only took care of the poor nobles, and while he was the commander-in-chief, he took advantage of everything!’
Then, after going through a high level of political calculation, they will make a fuss.
This war is a gamble that the emperor started by risking all of his status and money, so he will reap huge dividends after his victory.
Those who don’t like things like that and don’t have the benefit of it would rather support someone like Count Dion, who is like their competitor, so that the ‘imperial power’ that can oppress them doesn’t have room to get stronger.
Nobles like the Count of Dion can be kept in check to some extent, but they cannot be kept in check when the Emperor becomes strong.
“That doesn’t necessarily mean anything bad to Count Dion. However, I don’t think we will be able to maximize the benefits that the Count can receive.”
“… You’re arrogant.”
There are two types of cocky guys.
One is just a cocky bastard, and the other is cocky but has abilities that are so great that you can’t stay away from him.
I will definitely be the latter.
“I have a track record of turning a former mercenary leader who was leading 500 mercenaries into a baron.”
“Um…”
“And we can provide the Count with maximum benefit and glory.”
“Okay, then let’s take a listen. There is no need to be pretentious. You can swear, or you can say that the nobles of Montmartre are barbarians like the islanders who boil mint leaves and eat bread with sugar-added sauce, or at the very least, that they are like pagan homos*xuals. “As long as it helps me.”
Pagan homos*xuals, in Korea’s terms, would be more acceptable to criticize them than those who would sell out independence fighter heroes to pro-Japanese factions.
Since it is okay to be that drastic, he must come up with a proper strategy.
“The nobles who paid money to His Majesty in return for not being able to go to war will make this claim if this war ends like this. “Your Majesty just left everything to the commanders behind the scenes, so why on earth do you take the lion’s share of this war?”
It is said that even in companies, hard work is done by employees, assistant managers, or managers, and the results are sometimes taken by managers who steal salaries and destroy character.
And the people who suffered from that became so angry that they wished for the manager to die several times a day.
Wouldn’t it be more so if they were nobles who played an active role on the front line by exchanging the enormous amount of taxes, soldiers, food, and population collected from their territories?
If it were me, I would rather have the low-level employees pray for their manager to die and tell them to f*ck the emperor who stole my money.
‘It leaves the emperor penniless.’
I personally feel this way too, why? Because nobles are people too.
“So?”
“So, Your Majesty didn’t do much in this war. We will argue that the benefits the emperor should receive should go to people like the Count who shed blood on the front lines. That way, the imperial power will become overwhelmingly strong and there will be less room for it to put pressure on them.”
If this happens, non-gong peddling will take place in this form.
A significant portion of the territory that the emperor can receive by directly participating in the war will go to the nobles who participated in the war on the front lines.
So, even if things turn out like this, Count Dion will eventually receive a ‘huge reward’…
The Count was puzzled after hearing what I said.
“Then there’s nothing bad about me, right?”
“That’s why I said it was in my best interests. If we continue like this, we will lose a huge amount of territory, but if you are going to receive the Discipline Award for your contribution to the victory, shouldn’t you receive a lot of it?”
“There is nothing wrong with what you said, but the story is a bit long. “Let me get to the point.”
To persuade the Count, I had to appeal to him that I knew his political background, so the story became longer.
So from now on, I’ll try to reduce unnecessary talk as much as possible.
“As long as your Majesty comes down with the 20,000 troops under your direct command, we can reward the emperor of the Montmartre Empire with our achievements. “So much, so much that it’s jaw-dropping.”
“Let me explain.”
“First, we will surround Castle Kasa and Castle Lamasana, and we will hand over all the castles on the way to Castle Ramasana to Your Majesty.”
There are no guards anyway, so these castles are opened just by recommendation, so we have completed 99% of them.
So, no matter how much the emperor is a thick-faced, iron-faced bastard, he cannot deny Count Dion’s achievements, so you can just give him this much.
“With the Castle of La Massana under siege, the Count tells us that His Majesty, the Emperor of the Empire of Montmartre, is coming with a large army. Then, when His Majesty comes in person, the door will naturally open.”
“After interrogating the vassals under Baron Sornas, their castle only has about 4,000 defenders, and it will take a long time for help to arrive. “If you face an army of 34,000, you will have no choice but to open the gate.”
A common misconception is that if you defend a castle in a defensive battle, you can block up to 10 times as many troops.
Strictly speaking, this is not wrong, but if there is something that is a prerequisite.
In order to deal with an enemy 10 times stronger, you must have an insanely capable general like Guan Yu or Zhang Fei, even if he is not at the level of Zhuge Gongming according to the Three Kingdoms.
And it is common sense that most generals are not even close to Guan Yu or Zhang Zhang.
Why? Guan Yu and Zhang Fei are among the top 0.1% Of the thousands of generals who lived during the Three Kingdoms period.
“The reason this is possible is because His Majesty the Emperor trusted you and came this far. Then, with this alone, His Majesty will have achieved ‘achievement.'”
The fact that we, who numbered about 15,000 people, were able to avoid a useless battle and take the castle was, in other words, the same thing as saving the lives of hundreds of our allies.
Hearing those words, the Count pestered me as if he was expecting something.
“Keep talking.”
“I think it would be easier to explain if you gave me a map. Can I take it out and show it to you?”
“Like that.”
After unfolding the map, he pointed out each item with his finger and spoke.
“Look here. After passing Lamasana Castle, there are several smaller castles, but at the end is the city of Laceu. The city of Laceu itself is a large city with a population of over 40,000, but right in front of it is the city of Terasas, one of the five largest cities in the Kingdom of Barcelo.”
As Terasashi is one of the five largest cities in a kingdom, it is said that the population living within the walls of this city is approximately 200,000 to 250,000.
Then, there are about 500,000 people living in the surrounding suburbs, and 500,000 people in the surrounding area of the city.
If you obtain this, you will be able to practically dominate a total population of over 1.2 Million people.
“If Terasashi is breached, we will be able to take over the entire surrounding area. So, we will have to take out all the troops on other fronts and protect Raseu City.”
“Isn’t it amazing? “I can’t believe that just your Majesty’s movements can have such a big effect.”
This is the same as saying that the remaining three fronts can be calmed down in an instant just by the emperor moving the 20,000 troops under his command.
If that happens, the emperor will greatly contribute directly and indirectly to pacifying the three fronts…
‘At this level, even if the nobles of Montmartre had their faces covered in iron, they would not be able to deny the emperor’s achievements.’
When the Count heard my strategy, he sighed as if he was astonished.
“This will work. So where is the benefit for me?”
I smiled at those words.
“Your Majesty will remember the Count. The three fronts were crossed in an instant, and why he was able to make such a huge contribution as he was only waiting for news from messengers from the rear. And the achievement of being instrumental in quickly subduing the three fronts is too great for Your Majesty to monopolize alone. “I’m sure you’ll want to share it with the Count who coordinated all of this.”
Nobles value trust relationships more than anyone else.
From Noble mtl dot com
Because you never know when someone you don’t trust, even if it’s the emperor, might end up getting stabbed in the back by one of his own subordinates and being dragged down.
So, if it is clear to anyone that Count Dion has accomplished a great feat, even the emperor has no choice but to share in the credit.
When the Count heard that, he started laughing like crazy.
“Ha, hahahahaha, f*ck. Yeah, this will definitely work. “Everything is as you said.”
Then he slammed the desk.
“To be honest, the reason His Majesty accepted this war was because the imperial authority in Montmartre was weak. It was a war waged to strengthen the imperial power, and His Majesty would have been such a shame if he could not do anything. But I make up for it all and reap the credit? “It’s an idea I could never have imagined.”
The fact that the power of the Emperor of Montmartre has weakened is information that only those who are noblemen with the title of Montmartre or administrative officers of the court would know.
I succeeded in getting some really good information.
“Okay, do whatever you want. “Let’s try to properly move His Majesty the Emperor.”
“Thank you.”
“I will write the personal letter myself. And this is just a small example from me.”
The Count handed me a bill.
“It’s a bill worth a thousand gold coins received from a merchant in the Medici Republic. You can exchange money anywhere on the continent, so you can use it however you want. “It’s completely separate from the regular rewards.”
And without even looking at me, he started writing with a pen on a piece of high-quality paper.
I’m sure he’s writing a letter to the emperor detailing the reasons why he should come here and praising the emperor.
“Then I’ll just leave.”
“Go ahead and rest.”