I Became a Genius Commander at the Academy

Chapter 215: Unexpected Crises

‘Is the world intentionally trying to push me into a crisis?’ After encountering a disaster that made me think this, I decided to clean my ears.

Because I wanted to believe that the nonsensical sounds I heard were due to too much earwax in my ears.

“Lieutenant Hawkman, it seems I’ve heard some absurd sounds because I haven’t been able to clean my ears for a few days. Could you bring me some water to wash them right now?”

Hearing this, the Lieutenant went to fetch water for me to wash my ears with a bewildered expression, while General Kaitel in front of me sighed and shook his head.

Meanwhile, he, who had treated me only with official relations based on discipline and principles until now, hardly showing any human emotion, patted my shoulder with a look of full understanding and said,

“General Yaeger, everything you’ve heard is true. Leading a thousand northern light cavalry to raid the main camp and greatly demoralize the enemy is a significant achievement, and it’s embarrassing to hear such words from you, who just returned. This is a document sent directly from the Imperial Foreign Ministry. It seems you still can’t believe it, so I will show you a copy of the document.”

With those words, the Captain handed me a copy of the document, and I immediately started to read it.

[To the commander of the Reich Empire’s Stockholm expeditionary force, General Gerhardt von Kaitel.

Three days after the expeditionary force left the North for Stockholm, Grand Duchess Irina von Augusto of the Warsaw Duchy and the Crown Prince of Stockholm held their wedding ceremony.

At the same time, the Warsaw Duchy declared it unacceptable for the Reich Empire to invade Stockholm, the country of their son-in-law, and criticized His Majesty the Emperor for wrongfully accusing the innocent Chieftain Istvan of treason, an act against humanity.

Based on this, the Imperial Intelligence Service estimates that Sweske will send reinforcements of at least 30,000 to a maximum of 50,000 troops to Stockholm.

Furthermore, it is deeply hoped for understanding that due to the Duchies of Morenzia and Belgium in the west mobilizing 80,000 troops to attack the western part of the Empire, aiming at the Empire’s crisis, there might be disruptions in military supplies.

By Count Benchel Zwei von Kaunitz, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Imperial Foreign Ministry.]

Fortunately, the Swedia scoundrels had not broken their promise to attack northern Stockholm, excusing themselves for being unable to deploy soldiers.

No. With our forces at merely 110,000 and the enemy’s at 200,000, according to the beautiful diplomatic rules of this era, one might say,

‘Ah, dear Reich Empire. We also need to survive. Forget everything; we don’t know about any alliance. So, seeing as your back looks tempting, we’re going to take a swing at it.’

Then, I would be in a position so desperate that I could really go mad with frustration.

As I was about to heave sighs of despair, the Captain looked at me and said,

“You don’t need to worry about the Kingdom of Swedia’s betrayal. By the time the alliance between the Warsaw Duchy and the Kingdom of Stockholm was announced, the engagement between the 1st Princess of the Reich Empire and the Crown Prince of Swedia had been established. No matter how desperate they are, they can’t betray an empire they have a marital alliance with, can they?”

In this era’s European Continent, backstabbing a nation with whom an alliance or a non-aggression pact had been made was as common as eating bread and soup.

However, in the case of a marital alliance, unless in extreme circumstances, backstabbing by declaring war or breaking promises was implicitly forbidden, at least not to the extent of failing to support the ally.

Since the royals had engaged and married, betraying within three years, except in very special cases, would subject them to condemnation and scorn.

If unlucky, a nation that backstabs could be excommunicated by His Holiness, the Pope, and suffer all kinds of disadvantages.

This meant that, like in the Francois Republic, where people and nobles fear excommunication as much as death, it could lead to internal strife to dethrone the Emperor and “board the train to heaven” in the afterlife.

“So, there’s no chance of us being backstabbed after the 1st Princess and the Crown Prince of Swedia got engaged.”

“It’s a silver lining in a bad situation. If Swedia had betrayed us too, we would have had no choice but to flee as quickly as possible, rather than subduing that Istvan scoundrel, just as we did in Lichten.”

“Just thinking about it is dreadful. But I fully agree with that judgment. Even someone like you would have a hard time if attacked consecutively by Stockholm, Warsaw, and Swedia. However, we decided not to retreat because we think we can manage somehow with about 200,000 from two countries.”

The fact that a commander who doesn’t usually make jokes started to awkwardly mix in jokes or some sort of gag meant the situation was really bad.

It meant the situation was so bad that someone who didn’t joke had to pretend everything was fine with jokes, just to keep the morale of the soldiers around him up.

“What’s the current supply situation? According to the letter from His Excellency, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, there might be disruptions with the military supplies. Does this mean our supplies will be reduced as well?”

The last thing a commander wanted to hear was about supplies, especially a decrease, yet the Captain’s face was quite bright despite mentioning this.

No, he responded with a slightly confident expression.

“I’ve been promoted to captain, doing staff work like supplies, training, and operations in the empire. Do you think I would just stand by and watch our supplies decrease over an issue of this magnitude? I’ve found a way to maintain, or rather increase, our supplies by attaching a suitable justification.”

…To me, it seemed utterly impossible to increase supplies in this situation. What kind of magic did he do?

“Aren’t there many from the north among those conscripted for this battle? Those who were warriors when they lived as barbarians, and even the common peasant (serf) class, have taken on the same military obligations. In return, His Majesty the Emperor has decreed that if we achieve victory in this war, taxes will be collected at the same rate from the north as from the imperial serfs.”

Specifically, the decree promised the same treatment as the serfs who had lived in the empire for a long time in return for taking on military duties.

Since one of the conditions for receiving such treatment was to win this expedition, it wasn’t entirely wrong.

But how could that be utilized to not just maintain but also increase supplies?

“That’s why, having met with Lieutenant Colonel Kerzhit and other northerners before, I found they have the passion to do anything for equal treatment with the citizens of the empire. So, we decided to levy a special tax on the northerners that wouldn’t be too burdensome. We’ll collect deer, wolf, and bear skins through this special tax, sell them all to the empire’s merchants, and then use that money to buy military supplies like grain, weapons, armor, and horses. This way, even if the General Staff decides to cut down on the supplies, we can continue to provide them without issue.”

“Even if they wish for the empire’s victory, wouldn’t there be various problems with levying additional taxes?”

Excessive taxation easily leads to rebellion.

This was because the sense of deprivation that would arise when one’s earnings were taxed beyond a reasonable level would quickly turn into defiance.

“In other provinces, the commander of the Northern Army oversees both administrative and military affairs, right? So, there won’t be any legal issues with increasing taxes using the authority I, the superior, hold. Moreover, the northerners want to be recognized by the empire, so we’re merely giving them an opportunity to contribute.”

“Are you saying they need to show dedication to be recognized?”

“Also, if we win this war, I’ve promised to allocate a part of the reparations to repay them. In cash, about 1.3 times the price of the skins we buy.”

“If the empire wins and repays them 1.3 times in cash, all northerners will truly be loyal to the empire.”

However, if General Kaitel and I were to lose, we’d both be damned by the northerners for levying a useless tax.

Not doing what needed to be done now and losing as a result would be a billion times worse than this strategy.

“By the way, where do you think this battle will take place, in your opinion?”

“Shouldn’t we draw the enemy to us? In that sense…”

Saying that, I pointed to a spot on the map and said,

“Osby Plains. Fighting at Osby would be best.”