Chapter 17

Like most fantasy countries, this kingdom is also far from having a strong royal authority.

The nobles rule their territories like monarchs, and the king’s authority only extends within the palace and the royal direct territories. It’s considered normal for lords to create their own laws and private armies.

Except for not having independent diplomatic rights or the right to declare war and paying taxes, they are essentially states within a state.

As far as I know, except for the Republic of Albione across the sea in the southern part of the kingdom, it’s probably the same everywhere.

Even the Federal Empire, which we’ve been fighting tediously, started as a union of several princes.

Absolute monarchy where the king can arbitrarily behead his subjects and collect all taxes centrally? Perfect centralized rule like Joseon?

That’s still a long way off. Scholars have only just proposed abstract concepts at this level.

Feudalism is the common sense and foundation of this world, and any other system is just a bizarre anomaly or heresy.

That was the notion held by most people.

So why am I suddenly talking about this?

It’s to explain the justification for fleecing those noble brats.

“Until now, hasn’t the war with the Empire been fought mostly by conscripts and volunteers from the royal direct territories?”

“That’s right. The nobles usually fulfilled their obligations by supporting military expenses.”

The war has been carried out by the royal army and support troops from loyalist nobles.

The fact that many soldiers are from the Great Plains precisely means they are from the royal territories in the Great Plains.

On the other hand, other nobles not part of the loyalist faction mainly used money instead of sending troops. Buying weapons, gathering military provisions, or sending aid funds.

In short, they bought their lives with money.

Of course, some sent their private armies, but the scale was small. At most, about a tenth compared to the royal mobilization scale.

‘Thinking about it, it’s strange. It’s a long-term war that’s lasted ten years, so why is it being conducted like this?’

Honestly, it’s a bizarre way.

To fight a powerful nation like the Empire, it’s normal to conscript all able-bodied men from every region and issue mobilization orders to all lords.

Even though it’s a feudal system, the kingdom also has a long history and high administrative power. It has its own total war system.

It’s only natural to gather the nation’s full capacity to fight.

Yet, I have no idea why they’re desperately scraping together manpower from specific groups.

Surely, they don’t think this is efficient. Maybe it’s due to the war’s justification or some political reason I’m unaware of?

I’ll have to ask Colonel Kais to investigate later. I’m sure something will turn up if we look hard enough.

“If we keep fighting this way, the royal territories will run out of men. For ten years, every adult male has been dragged into the military.”

“It’s time for the noble factions to make sacrifices too.”

“Exactly.”

Anyway.

Getting back to the point, this method had to change. We can’t keep forcing one-sided sacrifices on specific regions anymore.

And we have a good pretext, don’t we? The Liebert family is notorious for its poor relations with the royal family.

They married the crown prince to a daughter of the family for reconciliation, but I heard they’re still politically opposed. Perfect conditions to pick a fight.

We’ll use this opportunity to crush the nobles’ ability to oppose us and strengthen the regime’s stability.

“Won’t there be considerable backlash from the territories?”

“Let them try. The heads of the major families are all trapped in the capital. They won’t dare act recklessly for fear of their masters’ lives.”

In this kingdom, it’s common for lords to leave territory management to employees or family and engage in social activities in the capital. Just like the countries in typical romance fantasy novels.

Thanks to this, controlling the noble residential area in Lahator was quite useful as hostages.

But we must draw the line to prevent territories from abandoning their hostages and installing new lords.

“Sir Roytel, how much do you plan to demand?”

After pondering for a moment, I answered Lieutenant General Baden’s polite question.

“40,000 to 50,000. That’s the limit for immediate extraction.”

In the long term, 100,000 or 200,000 might be possible.

Comparing the royal territories and loyalist territories to others, there’s enough capacity.

But trying to extract that much at once would lead straight to a second civil war. Everyone would come to kill us.

In our current situation, barely holding the capital, are we crazy enough to use such a self-destruct button?

We’re not like Park Chung-hee or Chun Doo-hwan, who tightly controlled the military. We’re barely treading on thin ice.

If we want to enjoy power for long, we must act wisely.

So, I set the number at 40,000. It seemed close to the line where they would be dissatisfied but still accept it.

“I’ll go and do the persuading. The one who proposed it should see it through to the end.”

I got up, taking some documents and papers with me, to fleece the high and mighty.

* * * * *

And a few hours later.

When I gathered the king and nobles in the Royal Palace Audience Hall and announced the decisions made in the meeting, an explosive reaction erupted.

“You’re going to take away the private armies we’ve raised with blood and sweat?! Are you insane?!”

“We’ve already made enough sacrifices! We’ve provided all sorts of supplies and military expenses, but now you’re after our people too?!”

“If you’re going to kidnap my people, just kill me instead!!”

A parade of bizarre nonsense followed, and when it subsided a bit, Karl VII added a word.

“General Roytel. The opposition is fierce. How about reconsidering? It seems too much to push through.”

I couldn’t help but laugh.

These brats still haven’t come to their senses and are throwing a fit. Do they think this is a matter of giving them a choice and asking?

“Alright, I get it. If you’re making such a fuss, it’s only right for our Supreme Council for National Reconstruction to make a concession.”

I pretended to back off, setting the tone. Then, thinking they had won, their faces brightened.

“In return, we’ll publicly release all the records of defeats caused by you guys.”

“…What?”

“Don’t understand? Let me say it again. We’ll make sure all citizens know about the mess you’ve made.”

I hardened my expression and moved through the nobles, escorted by guards, towards a pale-faced young man hiding among the splendid robes.

“Long time no see, Liebert.”

“…Karolus von Roytel.”

“I heard about you. You tried to catch up to me and ended up wiping out the entire Western Army? Destroying 150,000 troops single-handedly, what an achievement. If you defect to the Empire, they’ll treat you as a legendary general.”

He lost over 100,000 troops. A scale of damage rarely seen even in major battles.

And he managed to blow it all by himself.

This guy’s talent might rival that of Won Gyun, the greatest general of the Japanese army. Maybe it’s time to transfer his nationality from the kingdom to the Empire.

“Don’t insult me!”

“Insult is when you fabricate falsehoods. You’re not even worth insulting, you idiot.”

Sigmund von Liebert clenched his fists, trembling. It seemed like he wanted to throw a punch right then.

But he didn’t act on it. If he did, he’d be turned into a honeycomb by the guards’ volley.

I immediately turned my gaze elsewhere.

“There’s a celebrity here too. His name was… Friedrich, right?”

“Friedrich von Ritenheim.”

“That’s right. Former 27th Division Commander Major General Ritenheim. The idiot who lost 70% of his troops trying an unreasonable advance against his superior’s orders during the Western Front operations.”

“…..”

“It was a capital offense, but instead of a dishonorable discharge, he received no punishment. I heard he was even transferred to a rear position and continued his service. Was that true?”

It doesn’t end here. I continued to list the crimes of those around me one by one.

“Hermann von Eppenstein. Grenadier Regiment Commander who deserted because military life was tough.”

“Adolf von Schroek. Embezzled supplies from the replenishment troops and was demoted.”

“Gregor von Kanchof. Leaked military secrets in bars and was caught by the military police.”

The kingdom has a royal military academy to train officers, but not all officers come from there.

Nobles easily get positions through their family’s power and connections.

Of course, those idiots appointed solely through connections without any qualifications do all sorts of stupid things.

Even among academy graduates, there are troublemakers, but the ratio is overwhelmingly in favor of the latter. And they often escape proper punishment due to their status.

What would happen if we exposed this to the public? They’d be furious, asking if their sons were being commanded by such idiots.

“The damage the Royal Army suffered because of you guys would fill a list. Wouldn’t the people love to know?”

“You bastard…!”

“Don’t act tough. There’s only one thing you want to say.”

I glared around and shouted.

“If you’ve been messing around for over ten years, you should handle the aftermath yourself, you conscience-eating bastards. Did I ask you to sacrifice your lives? At least show some sincerity by offering your troops to cover the losses!”

I threw the documents on the floor, announcing the conscription of troops from nobles outside the royal loyalist faction.

“I’ll be back in an hour, so get it approved by then. We’ve already selected the target families, so it’s better not to mess around.”

And when I returned after leaving.

The crumpled document bore the king’s handwritten signature.