Chapter 16
Finally, the first thing we did after seizing the Capital was to establish a new governing body.
[From now on, we will form a council comprised of key figures from our Revolutionary Army and invited specialists from various fields to assist Your Majesty in administering state affairs.]
Though the "specialists from various fields" were in reality mostly soldiers who cooperated with us during the Coup d'état.
For now, we announced it that way publicly. At least superficially, we needed to showcase diversity to lessen the criticism that the military was hogging all the power.
Thus, the hastily assembled council, formed within a week, was named the Supreme Council for National Reconstruction.
Those familiar will recognize that it's inspired by Park Chung-hee's era in South Korea. Since our goals are similar, we borrowed the name. The expression itself sounds impressive, right?
"Do we really need to go through all the trouble of creating this organization to legitimize ourselves? We've already seized the Capital and hold the military power."
"Some problems can't be solved with force alone. And our situation isn't all that stable right now."
Although I'd love to simply impose military rule and do as I please, we aren't powerful enough for that.
The Revolutionary Army was certainly elite and possesses superior combat capabilities, but its numbers were too small.
With barely 50,000 troops, controlling the Capital is feasible, but taking hold of the entire The Kingdom is impossible.
If we stay idle, there's a high probability of nationwide uprisings, the emergence of a new Revolutionary Army, or incidents of insubordination.
Honestly, even if we're called power-hungry bastards, I wouldn't have anything to refute it with.
That's why we created the pretext of the Supreme Council for National Reconstruction.
We rose up to stop the Monarch's tyranny, so now we're giving the impression that we're stepping back and returning power to the civilians.
Even if the essence is the same, the public perception is different between soldiers coercing the Monarch and influencing state affairs versus exerting influence through an organization.
The latter ostensibly follows legal procedures and adheres to existing political culture.
While we may be criticized for our actions, our very existence won't be as readily condemned.
"So, from now on, we'll be assisting Your Majesty in ruling The Kingdom?"
"Yes. Well, we'll never actually give any real authority to that pig."
Ah, of course, even with the talk of assisting in state affairs, Charles VII will be a puppet. Otherwise, our uprising would be meaningless.
A bastard who doesn't understand the dedication of soldiers or prioritize the future of The Kingdom should never be given back power. Not if we want to avoid ruining the country.
And there's another advantage to this approach.
'Soon, those who want to collude with us and share power will appear. To manage and utilize them, we need to have a council like this in place.'
Regional Nobility pushed out of Central Region politics and dreaming of revenge. Anti-Royal Family members who simply dislike the Liudolf Dynasty. Thinkers who oppose feudalism. Ambitious individuals dreaming of advancement.
Whoever they may be, those who sense the shift in the political landscape and seek opportunities are bound to emerge.
Those who were previously suppressed due to the pressure of the established powers and lack of influence. Those desperate for revenge and to become victors.
Our Revolutionary Army needed to recruit such individuals.
While we've seized the Royal Capital Lahator, we're surrounded by potential opposition forces, and a powerful external enemy looms to the north.
Instead of sitting idly and indulging in pleasure, we must act proactively to solidify our foundation to secure the future.
Alliance with minor factions will be a key means of securing that foundation. Even if they are weak individually, they can collectively gain political influence.
The Supreme Council for National Reconstruction was an extremely useful tool for such an endeavor.
Since it's an organization we can control, it facilitates communication with allied forces, and makes it easy to create positions and bestow impressive titles.
'However, we'll need to filter out those who try to take advantage of us.'
Identify the enemy and gradually increase our allies. Once we've gathered enough power, we'll crush the opposition through political maneuvering.
It's not much different from battle. Only the means have changed from military force to words, logic, and justification.
However, there's no need to create permanent allies. After all, politics is a dog-eat-dog fight for limited power.
Even if they share our goals now, there's no guarantee they'll continue to do so in the future.
We'll use them, and they'll use us. We'll make the most of each other until our usefulness expires.
When they are no longer needed, we can purge them, quietly dismiss them, or return them to their original positions.
"Have the other members arrived?"
"They should be waiting in the conference room. Let's go, Lieutenant General, I mean, General, Your Majesty."
"Looks like I'm going to be late on the first day. I should have gone to bed earlier last night."
Anyway. The Supreme Council for National Reconstruction, thus established, consisted of a total of 17 members.
The chairman is General Albrecht, Alfred von Albrecht, who cooperated with us. The vice-chairman is myself, Carolus von Roytel, who promoted myself to General.
And the members include Lieutenant General Baden, Brigadier General Ellan, Lieutenant General Mauer, and Colonel Kaise (all promoted one rank) from the Revolutionary Army, as well as Lieutenant General Holtman from the Central Region Command Center, and so on.
Regardless of military specialty, we selected only those we could trust.
"What was the agenda for today's discussion?"
"Please wait a moment. The documents are here... Ah, found them. It's an analysis of the current war situation with the Empire and a reorganization of the Front Line."
The glorious first task of our council was to discuss solutions for the seemingly endless war with the Empire.
* * * * *
"Since everyone seems to be present, we'll get straight to the main point."
A part of the detached palace, previously used for tea parties by Royalty and Nobility, was temporarily renovated into a conference room.
Close to the Command Center, we had the opportunity to access information previously unavailable to us.
To be precise, we received detailed reports on the war situation, which had been controlled until now.
At the Front Line, we only received documents censored by the Command Center to maintain morale. We needed this opportunity to properly investigate the reality.
And the results of that investigation...
"The Eastern Region seems to be much as we knew...."
"What is this about the Western Region? The Front Line is in this disastrous state, and they've been hiding the truth from us?"
"What were the Royal Family and the Command Center thinking? The troops sent there were the main force of The Kingdom! How could they be so utterly crushed?!"
The reality was truly shocking.
The Eastern Region, with its inherently rough terrain, wasn't much different from what we'd heard from the Front Line. Both our country and the Empire had deployed only enough troops to prevent a breakthrough, essentially engaging in a stalemate.
Since the Northern Region, where we came from, is still holding up, we'll skip that.
However, the Western Region...
The Front Line was on the verge of collapse.
A staggering 150,000 troops were deployed to defend the hilly terrain and low hills. And this large army had vanished.
After a series of disastrous defeats, the Western Army had long since retreated to the area around an old fortress.
But even that fortress, due to long-term neglect, was now in a precarious situation, with the war situation deteriorating in real-time.
They collected exorbitant taxes in the name of war, only to be decimated like this? How did these idiots manage the command??
"General Albrecht, why was this fact kept hidden? How could even I, the Deputy Commander of the Northern Army, be kept in the dark?"
At my reprimand, General Albrecht sighed deeply.
"What could I do? It's not like I wanted to hide it. Your Majesty directly ordered the concealment."
"The Monarch?"
It's understandable to keep defeats from the public. But what reason was there to hide it from key generals?
"Until a year and a half ago, the Western Front was relatively stable. We even occupied Empire territory. Then a new commander was appointed, and everything went wrong."
"Who was it? Among the high-ranking officers capable of overseeing the Front Line, who could have led such a disastrous campaign?"
"Sigmund von Liebert. The eldest son of the House of Liebert."
"Ah."
Damn it, of all people, it had to be that guy. Back when I was at the military academy, he used his family's connections to secure the second-highest rank and acted like it was his own merit.
"It seems he was envious of you rising to the rank of Lieutenant General at a young age and making a name for yourself. So he rashly seized the position, ordered an Offensive, and then...."
"You don't need to explain further. I understand."
It meant that he, lacking both skill and experience, ruined everything by pushing for military achievements out of greed. I didn't need to hear more.
The House of Liebert was also the family of the current Crown Prince's consort. So, the Royal Family would have tried to conceal the defeat for the sake of their reputation.
"Damn it. The idiotic Nobility and Royalty are going to ruin the country."
"Doesn't your name also include 'von'...?"
"That's why I prefaced it with 'idiotic.' What's the point of holding a high position without the necessary competence?"
Hearing this makes me look at Charles VII in a new light.
In a situation where one Front Line has crumbled and the country is being invaded, he was busy buying trinkets and further reducing other Front Lines. Just how incompetent is our King?
It's a truly absurd situation, but we have to fix it. First, we need to send reinforcements since our forces have been significantly depleted.
"Do we have any reserve troops left?"
"We can gather about 50,000 if we scrape together what we can."
"You mean the units that blocked my path here?"
"Including them and the recruits in training. We can't send them all to the Western Region. There are troops for the Southern Region defense and recruits for the Eastern Region and Northern Region mixed in."
50,000. And only a portion of that.
It's woefully insufficient. In my opinion, we need to send at least 70,000, if not more, to reclaim the lost territory. That's the only way to stabilize the war and aim for a turnaround.
Where can we procure more soldiers..... Ah!
"Then let's do this."
"What do you mean?"
"This situation is the responsibility of the Nobility and the Royal Family who abetted them. So shouldn't they be the ones to resolve it with their own resources?"
Let's weaken the forces that are hindering us and make them pay for their comfortable lives.
"We'll conscript the Private Soldiers of the Nobility. As many as possible."