ch 8; Head or Tail (2)
two days before
Grab anyone from the Empire or any surrounding area and ask who's the most famous man alive as of now. At least, 99% of them would point to one man in the General Staff of the Empire, known for his brilliant, unconventional tactic.
There is a famous epithet that the reason why Eastern Coalition failed to breakthrough the Empire's Eastern defense and had to drastically pull back their offense timing, is that because the then-Leutnant General Siegmund is the one pulling the strings.
And word about his exploit in the Southern theater has been spread far and wide. How his field tactic could even overcome the hurdle of massive quantity between the two armies.
The fact that he's the son of a high-ranking noble also played a role. Son of a marquis, came from a military background, and shiningly brilliant. There was nobody more fit to become a propaganda face aside from him.
Hero, is what the Empire tried to portray him as.
And that hero in question, is currently—
"Hmmm…"
—heavily contemplating.
Was championing that man… a bad decision?
Siegmund's deep pondering began when he received a letter from an old subordinate from south, Sir Ludwig, who's currently overseeing the whole southern region as his successor in the Operation Tight Knot. While on the surface his formal station is that of a high ranking general of the Imperial Army, with his ranking being Leutnant General, his actual mission being the overseer of a special operation precisely designed for the south.
Siegmund himself was the one who personally recommended Sir Ludwig to the higher up, since in his eyes, Ludwig has more than capability to do so. Thus, imagine his surprise when that capable subordinate suddenly wrote a letter detailing the situation, and in the end he annotates: "This matter has been my great concern because my lacking self can't decide whether do this or that, thus, I ask for your understanding for this one's insolence when writing this letter."
Which, in essence, could be explained in a single word; 'help'.
But after reading the letter, Siegmund himself can't blame Ludwig for his inability to decide.
"I've had scheduled meetings for more detailed negotiation, delaying concrete response as soon as possible," wrote Ludwig.
To Siegmund, the way this Philip guy moves is… bold. No, that's an understatement.
Extremely efficient.
His various and seemingly excessive letter of request looks haughty at glance. Yet the man knows the Empire can't truly abandon the South. Surrounded by all sides, can the Empire truly need no allies? Just because it is a hegemon? That's not true at all.
In fact, allies are the sina que non of today's Empire, where their yesterday neighbor turns to hostile entities overnight. That's why diplomatic mission with Ferjya Federation has became their priority throughout the wartime.
With the already-capricious geopolitical and naturally disadvantageous geographical situation, the current king, ministers, and nobles understand they can't maintain the current system of Empire hegemony.
That's why I introduce Operation Tight Knot; to naturally naturalize the south with the Empire. By cautiously calibrating the chaos to shake the entire region, we would then pave for the narrative of pro-Empire to bloom, then install a pro-Empire person as the head of state…
And the biggest problem for this operation, is clearly timing.
Sowing chaos itself is easy; the south has already rife with it. Controlling it; now that's another story. And this is the exact point that Philip fella emphasizes a lot. But since the internal data did match, even Siegmund, the architect of this operation, can't escape from anxiety.
Should this be a no-go from the start…
Of course, he can't just shelve the operation just because of one mishap. Too many resources have been allocated for this, and the higher ups also seem to give a clear positive stance.
Clearly, they won't easily approve this kind of operation without much, much deliberate consideration in-between. Meaning the feasibility of this plan was quite high-rated.
"Huh. Thinking by myself like this won't solve anything."
In the end, Siegmund, the current General of Empire's Army combating the Eastern Coalition in the east, decided to borrow the most capable statesmen he knew. An old player in the intricate world of politics. His own father, Marquis Luther von Erlang.
***
"Fighting unpredictability with unpredictability, and establishing a strict hierarchy… furthermore, to pass the effort of containing other nations to him…"
In all honesty, Ludwig can only partially understand this instruction. His only concern is that, if the Empire made him a true champion of the south, there would be some complications but then again, that's a future he cannot dare to foresee. After all, Ludwig is a soldier. Following command is all he had to do. All the brain work has been done by the high-brass.
Surely, the Supreme Commander already has some kind of preparation in hand, for him to give such real power to that man; enough to subdue at least half of the south if used properly.
Thus, reaching a zenith of thoughts, Ludwig decided to properly show what's a real 'unpredictability' is.
"Prepare the carriage!"
***
They got me good, these Imperial bastards.
"What a pleasant surprise, to have Sir Ludwig, a famed man in the south to come all the way here. But perhaps I might forget our scheduled meeting is two days later? Ah, but of course; the earlier, the better."
The moment I see his rugged face, I rattled until my saliva dries.
However, that Ludwig bastard just calmly sipped his tea, as if he cared not about the implications behind my words.
No other choice. Parching my dry mouth, I mirrored him. Sipping the lukewarm tea on the table. A bitter one, thank god. The bitterness permeated in my tongue quickly awoke me from dizziness thanks to this guy.
Tsk. If he brings up my lateness as a conversation starter, I would have had to bow my head even more. Such a mess. How is it that the meeting hall and this room stand in the opposite building? It took me seven minutes to half-running, while breathing heavily with this round body, to reach this building.
What's the Empire's deal, anyway? Are there any real reasons for this whole facade? Everyone knows if there are any allied relationships, we'll be the one in the 'lower' position. Otherwise, this is just plain rude—
"You're late."
Oh, this fuc—
"Haha, my apologies. I was in the middle of an important meeting. An important agenda came up, it was related to our internal situation, so the discussion dragged rather… untimely."
:There is a reason for everything, and mine is a real, sensitive, and urgent matter to discuss with my fellow countrymen. However, because of someone, we had to re-schedule the whole thing.
"So yes, it is Vedora's discourtesy to appear late in this rather surprise visit, I assume."
:And you, foreigner, are talking with the king of Vedora, in a visit with no prior schedule.
"Well. it may be earlier than my letter, but here I am."
"Haha, I can see that."
:I can clearly see that, you fucker.
It is miserable because there's nothing I can do aside from subtly jabbing him with words. But would such a light jab could do any prickling to a military man? I doubt it. The fact that he's saying 'here I am' with such a poker face should tell you everything.
Ludwig, this dog, is the typical officer with soldiers bearing. The worst type of person to deal with since he would predictably parroting whatever his command was like a broken radio. Such a person is usually rigid in thinking, so I could maybe steer him into indecision.
But I have no edge in this negotiation whatsoever. Even attacking this person won't buy anything since the guy doesn't even care about his reputation.
"For the record, I am forced to appear early because of unavoidable circumstances, so I ask for your understanding."
"I understand."
See? He throws himself in the dung voluntarily just so the Empire can't be blamed in this little mischief.
"Thank you for the kind words. Now then, let's start the negotiation."
"Please."
Then again, from the beginning this is a gamble for me.
I know I could force them to move this much with that threat, but throwing a negotiation card from the start meant they already read my moves somewhat. My goal has never deviated, though.
Grain. I will only focus on that. The other requests are decoys. Negotiate high to hide your true intentions; basic tactics.
"Before we get into the agenda, there's something I want to talk about first."
The moment those words came out, I became uneasy. My guts are screaming at me. That no matter what, I won't be able to explicitly refuse or this whole set-up would instantly break before its inception.
And maybe, the real reason why the Empire dragged me out of my comfort zone.
I did believe in my own 'Empire wants peace' theory, but paradoxically, peace needs power to sustain. And I could practically sniff the crossfire going my way.
"What are your thoughts… on pacifying the south under your rule?"
Ah, shit.
Why does my bad premonition always hit bullseye, goddamit…
