Chapter 70
Chapter 70
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 70
Chapter Title: Barbarians Should Be Beaten with Barbarians (1)
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Three months had passed since the incident where the Fifth Prince's faction tried to recruit me.
During that time, as a professor at the Staff College, I had continued lecturing to the students on the subject "What is War?"
The course I taught had somehow earned the honor of being the number one lecture that Staff College students wanted to attend.
Of course, there had never been an official vote among the students to select their most desired lectures, nor any secret internal surveys conducted among them.
But when I checked, using my professorial authority, the number of students who wanted to take my class next semester—it came out to a whopping 40.
With 25 students per year at the Staff College and a total of 50 across the two-year program, that meant nearly 80% of the entire student body wanted to attend my lectures.
Occasionally, I could overhear some of the older professors grumbling and cursing about me after seeing those numbers.
But in any case, I only had to endure 18 more months as a Staff College professor before I'd be dispatched as a field commander, and I hadn't done anything to give them leverage over me.
There wasn't a single person who could touch me.
"When I first got assigned as a professor, I was really worried about how I'd manage to give lectures. But now... I've gotten pretty used to it."
However, just as the adage goes that life in this world isn't always filled with misfortune, nor is it perpetually happy...
A new trial was now descending upon me.
"Professor Jaeger, Professor Jaeger, are you inside? Minister of Military Affairs Otto Moritz has ordered the Staff College to submit operational plans. Chancellor Eugen is summoning all the professors to the First Operations Planning Room right now, so you should hurry over."
"Got it. I'll head there immediately."
Saying that, I changed clothes again and thought to myself.
Damn it, back when I was at the Academy, I could at least slack off a bit during breaks and have some fun.
But now the military was demanding that Staff College professors—through meetings—perfectly devise operational plans for regions where battles were ongoing or imminent.
And on top of that, during the measly two-month vacation period, we had to write new papers or reports on military studies.
Moreover, any professor who failed to produce a proper paper would instantly have their position revoked, get booted from the center, and reassigned as an officer in some provincial backwater.
Students, too, had to prove themselves worthy of advancing to the next semester by writing mini-papers during vacation, under the guise of "summer homework."
And they even had to preview the next semester's material, making their studies as grueling as those of frontline operations officers...
"No wonder in the original novel, the officers from the Empire who wore stars or were Staff College graduates were all depicted as smart."
Still, thanks to the war-related knowledge I'd studied in my previous life, plus my real combat experience in Rhineland and Checobia—and with all the new weapons, tactics, and strategies—I could whip up papers quickly and easily.
This would be another chance to showcase Peter Jaeger's abilities.
**
When I entered the First Operations Planning Room as guided by the staff member, the professors were already engaged in a heated debate.
"I agree with what His Excellency the Minister of Military Affairs said about smashing the north. But with our current forces, it's impossible. You know that full well."
"But haven't they said lately that the chieftain of the Ludwig Tribe up north is calling himself Khan and rallying forces? If we sit on our hands and miss the right moment, we might end up facing over 10,000 cavalry."
"It's true the northern barbarians mix nomadic and farming lifestyles, so they do have a lot of cavalry. However, that ratio is only about 40-50%..."
The atmosphere was passionate and intense, not much different from the meetings of high-ranking officials back in Checobia.
But Otto von Bismarck, the college's chancellor and bearer of four stars, clicked his tongue at the scene in disdain.
Then he slammed his marshal's baton on the desk and bellowed.
"Are you lot, who are supposed to be the Empire's honorable Staff College professors training staff officers, behaving like this? Did you not even properly read the new materials His Excellency Otto, the Minister of Military Affairs, just sent over? Start by figuring out why the Ludwig Tribe is rampaging!"
With the great chancellor, adorned with four stars, berating the lowly professors, they quietly returned to their seats.
The other professors seized the moment to begin reading the top-secret report on the Ludwig Tribe's movements, placed at each seat.
After about an hour of poring over the report, I had a rough grasp of the local situation in my head.
To cut to the chase, the reason the Ludwig Tribe's chieftain was rampaging was likely a famine in the territory he ruled.
The Ludwigs were like Mongols or Jurchens on Earth—nomads—but they'd settled in Hungary about a hundred years ago and started farming.
However, after just a century of settlement, it was practically impossible for former nomads like them to be fully self-sufficient through farming alone. Normally, they scraped by combining farming and nomadism...
But in a famine like now, they waged war to expand their tribe's size and secure food for survival.
Now, which direction were their blades pointing...?
As I pondered, the chancellor—who seemed genuinely furious—boomed in a loud voice.
"That damned Ludwig bastard! If there's a famine, he should just quietly accept our aid. Why the hell is he mobilizing his tribe to start a war? Poor fool! Soon, our great Imperial Army will send him flying by the neck!"
When I heard the rumors about the Staff College, they said our chancellor was nicknamed the Iron-Blooded Chancellor...
Even at nearly 70 years old, his voice was thunderous, like he'd boiled a train whistle. And those muscles visible through his uniform? No joke.
A 40-something active knight might not stand a chance against him.
Soon after, the chancellor pointed his baton at a professor sitting about three desks ahead of me and asked.
"The Ludwigs are expanding their power lately. So, where do you think their blades are headed?"
"Naturally, they'll slowly take out the weakest tribes around them first. They'll consolidate the surroundings while plundering food."
In nations like the Reich Empire, Franco Republic, or Checobia—where people farmed, built castles, and lived settled lives...
Soldiers were generally forbidden from plundering occupied territories.
Because while destruction is quick and fun, rebuilding ruined fields, castles, and cities takes years at minimum.
It also breeds resentment among the conquered populace, and restoring cities and lands costs money, leading to deficits for a while.
But nomads typically killed all the old men and males of defeated tribes, using the women as playthings and slaves.
So the conquered had no means to resist despite their grudges, and each plundered tribe gave them food rations worth what the old and men would have eaten—making plunder their way.
"Good. Now, in your view, do you think there's a chance they'll come raiding us? Or not?"
"In my opinion, unless they've gone mad, they won't dare invade the Empire. That said, we should reinforce the northern borders just in case."
"That's a valid point. What do the other professors think?"
Seizing the chance to catch the chancellor's eye, proposals from the professors followed.
"How about dispatching two divisions to the north to reinforce the walls?"
"It might be good if we directly smash a few tribes ourselves."
"Sending a warning letter to the Ludwigs could give us pretext for war later."
They seemed simple, but for defending the Empire, they were highly efficient methods.
Because adding two divisions to the northern walls would deter the Ludwigs from raiding our side for a while.
Smashing a few tribes would weaken him amid the famine, as plundering for food got harder, and a warning would give us justification to crush him later when weakened.
But in my view, such tactics and strategies were only specialized in defending the Empire.
An opportunity to expand Imperial territory had arisen, and they were wasting it.
So I cautiously raised my hand and made a proposal.
"Staff College Professor Peter Jaeger. I request permission to speak, Chancellor."