Academy Genius Commander

96 – Stars and being dragged (2)

Reich Imperial Palace, Great Conference Room.

Here, the emperor, the military leaders, and the ministers of each administrative department were sitting in their respective seats and preparing for a meeting.

If there was a difference from the usual business meeting, it was that a glass of the finest wine was placed on each person’s desk.

“Finally, that Ludvik is dead. Our treasury almost got bent while preparing for war, but it’s nice not to have to worry about running out of money because of them in the future.”

“Earl Benner, he did a great job. I was expecting to win. No way to kill 35,000 barbarians and capture 10,000 warriors with just 5,000 casualties.”

“There are over 400,000 prisoners and livestock are said to be uncountable! This is a great victory that will go down in history!”

None of the people who participated in this place drank to the point of getting drunk, and the issues to be discussed were enormous, and the meeting hadn’t even started, but it was already a friendly atmosphere.

“Here is the sole sun of the Reich Empire and the agent of Deus, His Majesty Fernando von Reich!”

At that, everyone present at the meeting stood up in unison and bowed.

“Everybody have a seat.”

Everyone sat down, and the imperial chancellor, upon receiving the emperor’s signal, struck the wooden mallet three times to begin the nongong practice.

“In the case of this war, as a special order of His Majesty, we will discuss the merits of the 1st to 3rd ranks regardless of rank. First, let’s start with the merits of the first meritorious Heinz von Wenner, Your Majesty.”

“Do it.”

“First of all, of course, Captain Benner, commander of the Northern Army, maintained the supply of the 70,000 expeditionary force without interruption. We won the great war called the Subjugation of Ludvik and succeeded in securing hundreds of thousands of prisoners and the entire Kopenhavn Peninsula.

After that, everyone including the emperor wrote down the appropriate reward they thought and submitted it, and then discussed it for about 30 minutes.

“To Count Heinz von Venner, the entire county of Alsace is bestowed, 50,000 gold as a reward, the right to include the golden lion symbolizing the imperial family in the family crest, the Diamond Knight’s Cross and the Order of Northern Peace. And in consideration of the contribution he and his family have made to the country so far, he is elevated to the rank of Marquis.”

The Diamond Knight’s Sword Cross is a medal selected as the last step to advance to the rank of marshal, the number one rank in the Imperial Army, and the Alsace Countess is one of the ten richest territories in the Empire.

In addition, the title of Marquis is the highest title that can be raised as an Imperial nobleman, so there are only 7 Marquis families out of hundreds of families with titles.

Therefore, regardless of faction fighting, it is possible that voices expressing concern to the emperor would come out.

If it had failed to subdue Ludvik in the north, it would have built a grand duke that prevented the situation of the empire, which was already surrounded by various countries and was at a diplomatic/military disadvantage.

Everyone just cleared their throats and couldn’t bear to express their objections.

“Then it is the turn of Colonel Peter Yeager, commander of the 24th Regiment, 2nd Meritorious Service.”

At those words, an invisible political battle between those who supported the other princes began.

Those who belonged to the faction that supported the crown prince.

‘Anyway, I’m a guy, so if you compare it with my child, he’s a lot. That’s why it’s better to step up and strengthen your Highness’s position. That way, my children will also benefit from him.’

On the other hand, those pushing the 2nd and 3rd princes, excluding the crown prince, were thinking like this.

‘Your Majesty is already not feeling well. Therefore, Jaeger’s promotion must be delayed at all costs within the range of not damaging the national interest. I don’t know if he’ll do something ridiculous again if he becomes a major general and a division commander this time.’

“When Ludvik and the Imperial army were fighting fiercely, he mobilized his soldiers, deceived them into divisions, and attacked the infantry in the center of the enemy, turning the tide of battle in their favor. When Ludvik’s cavalry archers formed a wedge formation and charged toward the 7th Regiment of the 12th Division, which was in danger of being annihilated, 200 knights who were being defeated were recovered and 300 knights combined with the knight battalion under his command were mobilized to boost the momentum of Ludvik’s cavalry archers. killed.”

When those words were heard, all ministers thought in their hearts, ‘Why can’t my son in the army be like that?’ I thought.

Now what everyone knows has been announced.

“According to the analysis of the war situation report by the General Staff Headquarters, the colonel’s judgment completely missed the opportunity for the enemy to turn around, and the sacrifice of our forces would have been reduced by at least 4,000 and at most 10,000. And as the commander of the 24th Regiment, I took a sword and subdued Khan myself.”

When he heard the report, Fernando praised him for killing Khan, who would have troubled the Reich Empire for at least several decades if left unattended as emperor.

The rest of the ministers and military leaders also responded with applause, no, they had no choice but to respond.

All diplomats and generals think that the reason why the staff headquarters mobilized as many as 70,000 troops in such stupid words is that if there is a country created by Ludvik in the north…?

Under siege by Francois in the east, Czechia and the Kingdom of Warsaw in the west, and the Union of Naples and the Grand Duchy of Austria in the south…

It’s because there’s one more enemy with formidable power.

On the other hand, the fact that the emperor did not create a potential enemy country in the upper part due to the performance of Captain Benner and Colonel Jaeger.

Furthermore, thanks to the active performance of the two swordsmen of the crown prince, the crown prince’s reign showed a satisfied expression, thrilled that he would be able to realize the overwhelming imperial power that many emperors had dreamed of so far.

“Discuss the reward for Colonel Jaeger.”

The Minister of Military Affairs was about to reply to that, but the chancellor, who belonged to the second prince’s faction, raised his hand first and thought.

‘Now that it’s like this, the limit is to slow down the guy’s promotion a little by taking a precedent. I even cut the khan’s head… and he’ll get a huge territory, wealth, and power anyway.’

“Originally, for about 200 years after the establishment of the empire, there was no case in which a man under the age of 30 was promoted to general, except for the case where a man from a ducal family inherited the family.”

Of course, the dukes who belonged to the very few cases were great people, regardless of status, who were all evaluated as the best generals and heroes of the empire after death.

“Compared to those people, Baron Jaeger’s achievements are not lacking at all. Moreover, he has already accomplished enormous feats of preventing near-defeated or catastrophic damage on several occasions. Therefore, it is considered safe to break the conventions so far.”

Everyone’s eyes were focused on those words, and the chancellor continued.

“So, promoting him to brigadier general is for the sake of the Reich Empire. However, I don’t think it’s good for a young man who is too young to be rapidly promoted in one battle. Just keep that in mind.”

It was a theory that could not be refuted, and everyone, including the emperor, had no choice but to agree with it.

Because, Peter Yeager was highly evaluated just for breaking the custom that could not be crossed except for those who had already made the exception of inheriting the head of the ducal family.

“The Prime Minister is right. Then, Colonel Jaeger is promoted to brigadier general. In addition, he is promoted to Viscount in recognition of his achievement in killing Khan. As a territory, Thoner, Grasten, and the entire baronial territory of Rosenheim are bestowed, and a reward of 30,000 gold is bestowed. Also, in recognition of cutting Khan’s head, I will specially award him the Order of the Golden Knight’s Sword.”

The emperor promoted a rank and at the same time bestowed enormous lands, titles, and rewards, but not everyone could object.

Because if I had to say more here, it was obvious that I would be chewed up saying ‘Then the commander who directly killed Khan and led the victory in the war…’.

“I am Otto Moritz, Minister of Military Affairs, I have a request to ask Your Majesty.”

At those words, the emperor looked at the one he favored, the Minister of Military Affairs, who was called the guardian deity of the empire during active military service.

“Tell me.”

“The Francois Republic received the news that the Reich Empire was giving trouble to Ludvik, and since April of last year, it has been steadily provoking. Didn’t you lose a lot of villages, fields, and serfs in the eastern periphery?”

True to its word, while attention was focused on the north, it suffered a lot of losses from the Francois, who were relatively less threatening compared to the north.

At least, there were not many serfs killed thanks to the good cause that both countries believed in each other’s faith as comrades.

The number of nomads who lost all their property reached hundreds of thousands, and if the northern conquest ended in failure, there was no small possibility that all of them would become nomads because they could not secure land to settle them.

Of course, I responded to the provocation after that, but I still haven’t been able to get proper revenge…

“Come to think of it, it’s about time to compete with nobles who can only debate head-to-head.”

“We have to see the match against the Francois Republic. And recently, ‘What is war?’ The lecture was very touching on my heart. So, please assign Brigadier General Jaeger to the General Staff to help formulate the Francois invasion operation.”

The Emperor heard it and said.

“Good idea. Let it be. Then, let’s start the next nongongsang. Let’s see… Lieutenant General Northenburg, the deputy commander of the Northern Army, the 3rd meritorious officer, was awarded Baron Chales and Baron Tolaine, as well as 15,000 gold…”

On this day, Count Benner was nominated for the next marshal, and Brigadier General Jaeger performed a miracle of breaking through the conventions of the empire.