I Became a Genius Commander at the Academy - Chapter 96
EP.96
Reich Imperial Palace conference room.
Here, the emperor, the military leaders, and the heads of each administrative department were sitting in their respective seats and preparing for the meeting.
What was different from the usual business meetings was that a glass of top-quality wine was placed on each person’s desk.
“Finally, Ludvik is dead. “Our treasury was almost strained preparing for war, but it’s great that we don’t have to worry about losing money because of these guys in the future.”
“That guy, Count Benner, did a great job. I was expecting to win. “How could it be that they killed 35,000 barbarians and captured 10,000 warriors with only 5,000 casualties?”
“They say there are over 400,000 prisoners and they can’t even count the livestock! “This is a great victory that will go down in history!”
None of the people who participated had drunk enough to get drunk, the issues to be dealt with were enormous, and the meeting had not even started, but the atmosphere was already lively.
“It is eaten by His Majesty Fernando von Reich, the only sun of the Reich Empire and agent of Deus!”
At those words, everyone present at the meeting stood up from their seats and saluted, and the emperor also spoke with a voice full of joy while maintaining his dignity.
“Everyone please take your seats.”
So everyone sat down, and the imperial chancellor received a signal from the emperor and began the performance by tapping the wooden mallet three times.
“In the case of this war, by special order of His Majesty, the merits of the 1st to 3rd places will be discussed regardless of rank. “Let us start with the first meritorious person, Heinz von Wehner, Your Majesty.”
“Do it.”
“First of all, of course, General Benner, commander of the Northern Army, maintained the supply of the 70,000-strong expeditionary force without interruption. “We won the great war called the suppression of Ludwig and succeeded in securing hundreds of thousands of prisoners and the entire Köppenhavn Peninsula. There is no need to discuss the rest, so we will omit it.”
With that being said, everyone, including the emperor, wrote down what they thought was an appropriate reward and submitted it, then discussed it for about 30 minutes.
“Count Heinz von Venner is granted the entire County of Alsace, and as a reward, 50,000 gold pieces, the right to place a golden lion symbolizing the imperial family on the family crest, the Diamond Knight’s Sword Cross, and the Order of Northern Peace. And in consideration of the contributions he and his family have made to the country so far, he will be promoted to the rank of marquis.”
The Diamond Cross of Knight’s Sword is the final step toward becoming a Marshal, the highest rank in the Imperial Army, and the County of Alsace is one of the ten wealthiest territories in the Empire.
In addition, the title of marquis is the highest title that can be achieved as an imperial noble, so among the families with over hundreds of titles, there are only 7 marquis families.
Therefore, regardless of the factional fight, it is likely that there will be voices expressing concern to the emperor.
If they had failed to subdue Ludvik in the north, they established an archduke who would have prevented the empire from being surrounded by many countries and at a diplomatic/military disadvantage, which would have put the empire in a dangerous position.
Everyone just cleared their throats and couldn’t express their opposition.
“Then it is the turn of Colonel Peter Yeager, commander of the 24th Regiment of Merit.”
With those words, an invisible political fight began between those who supported the other princes.
Those who belong to the faction that supports the crown prince.
‘Anyway, that bastard is a bastard, so if he compares himself to my child and gets upset, he is an idiot. Therefore, it is better to strengthen your position by raising it sharply. That way, my children will also benefit from him.’
On the other hand, those who were pushing the 2nd and 3rd princes, excluding the crown prince, thought this way.
‘Your Majesty is already unwell. Therefore, we must do whatever it takes to slow down Jaeger’s advancement without damaging national interests. ‘I don’t know what kind of ridiculous feat he might make if he becomes a major general and division commander.’
“When Ludvik and the imperial army were engaged in a fierce battle, he mobilized the soldiers under his command, disguised them as a division, and attacked the infantry in the enemy’s center, turning the battle in his favor. When Ludvik’s archers formed a wedge formation and charged towards the 7th regiment of the 12th division, which was on the verge of annihilation, he collected 200 knights who were retreating and mobilized 300 knights, including his knight battalion, to kill Ludvik’s archers. “Yes.”
When they heard those words, all the ministers thought to themselves, ‘Why can’t my son, who is in the military, do something like that?’ I thought about it.
Now the information everyone knows has been announced.
“According to the analysis of the battlefield report by the Chief of Staff, the colonel’s judgment is that the enemy completely missed the opportunity to turn the tables, and the sacrifices of our troops would have been reduced by at least 4,000 and up to 10,000. And as the commander of the 24th Regiment, I personally took down Khan with a sword.”
When Fernando heard the report, he praised him for killing Khan, who would have been a headache for the Reich Empire for at least several decades if he had neglected it as emperor.
The remaining ministers and military leaders responded with applause, no, they had no choice but to respond.
To put it bluntly, the reason why the Chief of Staff mobilized 70,000 troops was because all diplomats and generals thought that if a country created by Ludvik were created in the north…?
In a situation where it is surrounded by Francois in the west, Czechia in the east, and the Kingdom of Warsaw in the south by the Union of Naples and the Grand Duchy of Austria…
there is another enemy army with formidable power.
On the other hand, the Emperor did not create any potential enemies above him due to the activities of Captain Benner and Colonel Yeager.
Furthermore, he looked satisfied with the emotion that the crown prince’s reign would be able to realize the overwhelming imperial power that many emperors had dreamed of until now, thanks to the activities of the two people who can be said to be the swords of the crown prince.
“Discuss the award regarding Colonel Yeager.”
The Minister of Military Affairs was about to respond to those words, but the Prime Minister, who belongs to the 2nd Prince faction, raised his hand and thought first.
‘Now that it’s like this, the limit is to follow the precedent and slow down the speed of his advancement a little. He even cut off the Khan’s head… and he was going to gain a huge amount of territory and power anyway.’
“For about 200 years after the founding of the original empire, there was no case in which a man under the age of 30 was promoted to general, except in cases where a man from a duke’s family inherited the family line.”
Of course, the dukes who were among the very few cases were great people who, regardless of their status, were evaluated after their death as the empire’s greatest generals and heroes.
“Compared to those people, Baron Jaeger’s achievements are not lacking at all. Moreover, he has already made great achievements several times, preventing near-defeat or great damage. Therefore, I think it is okay to break the customs that have been established so far.”
Everyone’s attention focused on those words, and the Prime Minister continued.
“So promoting him to brigadier general is for the benefit of the Reich Empire. However, I don’t think it’s a good idea for a young man to quickly advance through the ranks in just one battle. Just keep that in mind.”
It was an irrefutable statement, and everyone, including the emperor, had no choice but to agree with it.
This is because Peter Yeager was highly regarded simply for breaking the custom that only those who had already made the exception of succeeding to the dukedom were able to overcome.
“What the Prime Minister said is right. Then Colonel Yeager is promoted to brigadier general. In addition, in recognition of his contribution to killing Khan, he was promoted to Viscount. The territory includes Töner Grasten and the entire Barony of Rosenheim, and a reward of 30,000 gold is given. Also, in recognition of cutting Khan’s head, I will specially award him the Golden Knight’s Sword Medal.”
The emperor promoted him to one rank and at the same time gave him a huge reward of a fiefdom title, but no one could object.
Because if I said more here, it was obvious that I would be chewed on by saying, ‘Then the commander who directly killed the Khan and led the victory in the war…’
“This is Minister of Military Affairs Oto Moritz. I have something I would like to ask your Majesty.”
At those words, the emperor looked at his favorite minister of military affairs and who was called the guardian of the empire during his time as an active soldier.
“Tell me.”
“The Francois Republic received news that the Reich Empire was in trouble due to Ludwig, and has been making steady provocations since April of last year. Didn’t we lose a lot of village and field serfs on the eastern border as a result?”
As they said, while attention was focused on the north, many losses were suffered by Francois, who were relatively less threatening than the north.
Fortunately, there were not many serfs killed thanks to the illusory justification that the two countries were comrades in the religion of Deus.
The number of wanderers who lost all their property reached nearly hundreds of thousands, and if the northern conquest had ended in failure, there was a high possibility that they would all become vagabonds as they would not be able to secure land to settle them.
Of course, I responded to the provocation after that, but I haven’t been able to get proper revenge yet…
“Now that I think about it, it’s time to compete with those who can only debate among nobles.”
“We have to compete with the Francois Republic. And these days, Brigadier General Jaeger gave a lecture at the General Staff College titled ‘What is war?’ The lecture touched my heart deeply. Please assign Brigadier General Jaeger to the General Staff to help establish the Francois invasion operation.”
The emperor heard this and said:
“Good idea. Do it like that. Then let’s start the next business. Let’s take a look… The third person who received meritorious service, Vice-Commander of the Northern Army, Lieutenant General Northenburg, was granted the Barony of Chase and the Barony of Tolaine and 15,000 gold…” On this day,
Count Venner was nominated as the next Marshal. Brigadier General Jaeger performed a miracle of breaking through the imperial customs.
A word from the author (author’s afterword)
A brief overview of the empire’s status system and ratios
1. Emperor
2. Imperial family
3. Families with ancestors who have made great achievements among the collateral royal family (4 duke families)
4. Marquis (8 families)
5. Count (30 families)
6. Viscount (150 families)
7. Baron (450 families)
8. Knight (approximately 1-2% of the empire’s population) => Title as a title, excluding those who belong to the knight unit in the military and are called knights. A man with a knighthood.
9.Citizens (10-20% of the empire’s population) => People like craftsmen, merchants, and guards (professional police, different from the garrison) who live in the city.
10. Serfs (60-70%)
11. Slaves (the rest)
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