Chapter 293
Chapter 293
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 293
Chapter Title: Divide and Conquer (3)
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Warsaw Embassy, secret chamber.
Warsaw's ambassador, Sędler, served me tea with a voice laced with feigned cordiality.
"I wanted to treat you to a fine reception at one of the taverns our embassy staff frequent, but I hear you, Colonel Jaeger, aren't fond of that sort of hospitality. So instead, I'll personally brew some tea for you."
"Ah, thank you, Ambassador Sędler."
"That said, it's a bit surprising that after meeting with the ambassadors from the other nations tonight, you sought me out separately. Of course, I'm always delighted to make time for a young and outstanding gentleman like yourself..."
What diplomats say—or rather, what he's saying right now—is all just a roundabout way of speaking. In truth, it's no different from saying this outright:
'Damn it, I need to sleep too. Why show up at this hour? Can't you read the room? Are you insane?!'
But hearing that didn't particularly offend me.
It wasn't a diplomatic faux pas per se, but by any common-sense standard, calling on someone again at 2 a.m. was something you just didn't do unless absolutely necessary.
"My apologies, but there was something I absolutely had to convey to you, Sir Sędler, ambassador of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw."
Sędler frowned at my words.
"I have important business tomorrow myself, so I'd appreciate it if we could wrap this up as quickly as possible."
"Very well, then. Shall we both speak frankly and at ease? As a soldier rather than a diplomat, that suits me much better."
Sędler stared at me in utter disbelief, at a complete loss for words.
A man like Peter Jaeger—who had maneuvered kings and grand dukes decades his senior, like the King of Stockholm and the Grand Duke of Warsaw, with just a few words—was saying something like that. No wonder he couldn't buy it...
Even diplomats say it takes ten years to master the peculiar rhetoric of their trade. For someone like me, a mere officer, speaking like a seasoned diplomat was damn near impossible.
I was just trying not to show it in front of him, but even now, his typical diplomatic barbs and deflections were giving me a headache.
"......Very well. We're both busy, after all."
I finished the fragrant black tea in front of me and spoke in a calm voice.
"To get straight to the point: if you, Sir Sędler, reject the peace treaty I've proposed, what do you think the Reich Empire will do?"
Sędler put on a nonchalant expression upon hearing that.
Even after getting trounced by me on both land and sea, he'd gained some courage from the fact that multiple nations had now allied to attack the Reich Empire.
Like locusts: a single one flees at the sight of a human, but when hundreds or thousands swarm together, they overwhelm them outright.
He seemed convinced that the Empire's diplomatic encirclement by multiple states was an unbeatable disadvantage.
"Start a war? Fine by us. The Grand Duchy of Warsaw will not yield to the Empire this time. We'll claim victory at last and reclaim the ancestral territories lost by His Highness Archduke Stefan."
The ambassador of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, standing in for the grand duke, seemed to think even the Empire couldn't handle this and was trying to intimidate me... He'd picked exactly the wrong opponent.
"Hah, does His Highness the Grand Duke truly believe he can defeat me this time?"
"Haven't you seen that we've already joined forces with like-minded nations? If the Imperial forces invade, the Grand Duchy of Warsaw won't fight head-on. We'll hole up in our fortresses and wait. Before long, the Franco Republic, Checobia, Austrika, Switcheland, and Stockholm—five nations—will march on the Empire. You won't be able to hold out without retreating, will you?"
I'd told His Majesty as much several times before: the Empire could defeat any single nation in a one-on-one clash.
But the moment it became two-on-one, our odds dropped to about 30%. At five-on-one, even a genius admiral like Yi Sun-sin would struggle immensely.
For a diplomat, he understood that logic well and was using it to threaten me—quite clever. But as the saying goes, counter threats with even greater ones.
Like pointing a gun at a man wielding a knife; he shuts up quick.
Before speaking, I raised both hands with a sigh.
"You've got me. There's no way the Empire could withstand that."
Sędler smirked in triumph at my words, but inwardly mocking him, I continued.
"So here's the plan. When diplomatically and militarily surrounded by five nations, the Empire's strategy is simple: pick the weakest one and utterly crush its ability to resist. Crudely put, we'd plunder the entire Grand Duchy of Warsaw."
I don't enjoy killing civilians even when plundering, so no slaughtering people.
"Ah, we won't kill anyone. If there are those who couldn't evacuate, we'll ensure they can at least enter your fortresses empty-handed under the protection of the Warsaw army. In exchange, the Imperial forces will destroy every field, orchard, workshop, mine—every facility outside the walls—without leaving a single one intact. Even after we withdraw, the Grand Duchy won't have the capacity to raise an army anymore, right?"
Before I was isekai'd into this world, America was the superpower with the strongest military, and that was because its economy was number one.
A nation's economic power is crucial for sustaining an army, and with the strategy I described, Warsaw's capacity to sustain itself would vanish by over 80%.
That means after we pull back, the common folk would starve, and the leadership would live in fear of peasant uprisings at any moment.
"Deploying around 200,000 troops would be more than enough for the Imperial army to melt down Warsaw."
Ambassador Sędler broke into a cold sweat at my stark threat.
"We wouldn't bother attacking an empty Warsaw, but the Grand Duchy of Checobia and the Kingdom of Stockholm would surely pity His Highness the Grand Duke's misfortune and march their entire armies into the duchy. Why? Because fighting a penniless Warsaw is far more profitable and less risky than battling the Empire's hundreds of thousands of elite troops. Ah, as for the Kingdom of Stockholm—they won't have the means to come at us directly—so to make it easier when we land on the Königsburg Principality side to defend the Empire, we'll hand it over."
"......"
"That leaves us facing Switcheland, Austrika, and the Franco Republic. The Principality of Switcheland has a love-hate history of getting battered by the Reich Empire's 7th Guard Division, so stationing 50,000 troops including the 7th there should hold the border. Austrika aside, the Franco Republic is currently embroiled in infighting between moderates and radicals, so their mobilization will lag. After completely flattening the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, we'll throw everything at crushing Austrika's horde. Then, when we turn to the Franco Republic, victory is assured."
Warsaw, Checobia, and Stockholm were strategies His Majesty could realistically execute if he set his mind to it, but the latter ones would fail without incredible luck.
Thus, if those six nations allied against us, the Empire would suffer losses of about a third to a quarter of its territory.
Austrika and the Franco Republic would claim those lands.
To survive, the Empire would cede the Grand Duchy of Warsaw to the Kingdom of Stockholm and Checobia.
"With this approach, the Empire takes heavy damage—wounds that'd require about 15 years to recover from—but the Grand Duchy of Warsaw gets outright destroyed. I'll make sure of it. That's what I came to tell you."
The Warsaw ambassador before me trembled in his pupils, stammering "Y-You're..." after hearing my threat.
But he couldn't muster a rebuttal.
He clearly realized how brutally realistic my threat was.
Here, I flashed a bright smile, took Ambassador Sędler's hand, and said,
"Here's a proposal that ensures the Grand Duchy's survival and benefits the Empire too: a five-year peace treaty. Agree to this, and Warsaw will be safe."
Removing just Warsaw from the anti-Empire alliance would shatter their flimsy coalition completely, securing the Empire's safety.
"As His Highness the Grand Duke's proxy, stamp your seal on this contract. Then the Grand Duchy will be safe."
At those words, our ambassador stared at me—the man toying with his nation's fate—in horror and shock, then slammed his seal down with a thud.
That should crumble their alliance.
And three days later, I reconvened the group—everyone from before, minus the Warsaw ambassador.