NOVEL NEXT vol. 4 chapter 27 - Do Your Best, Army
“It seems the rift between the navy and the army is breaking the surface.”
According to Ringo’s report, the navy had been dodging scrutiny with slippery finesse, but that was becoming untenable.
“Will that affect negotiations going forward?”
“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. There is a possibility that army personnel will join the talks. Fundamentally, the army’s only thought is to trip the navy, so we should assume obstacles in every negotiation.”
They had wanted to clinch some kind of treaty before it came to this.
In the end, the commotion at the showcase party had frozen talks for several days.
The navy was full of realists, easy partners for searching out a compromise.
The army was not.
Unlike the navy, it had no conspicuous achievements and trailed perpetually in the navy’s wake.
Worse, it was a hopeless organization that thought not of overtaking but of laying out a leg to make others fall.
That the navy’s exploits had thinned the army’s reason to exist was part of the problem.
“Hm. And in the end, what does the army even want? I can’t tell what they’re trying to do.”
“By our analysis, few blocs have cohesion. Various factions are jostling in a warlord patchwork. Their budget shrinks year by year, siphoned to the navy. Their equipment is obsolete with no prospect of renewal. As for border defense, they cover only about 100 km where the kingdom touches its neighbor. Even there, the navy glowers from both seas, and a fortress sits in the center—defense is ironclad.”
In the first place, they’d already signed a friendly treaty with the Wheat Country of Weizenland; there was no neighboring threat for the army to watch.
They needed only to guard against an amphibious landing from the sea.
And all the surrounding states were small fry from Lepuitari’s vantage—hardly worth the worry.
That, of course, assumed ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) sufficient naval power and enough army force to throw invaders back even if they landed.
“The army is asked only for the power needed to defend the homeland. Accordingly, the once-ample budget is being ‘appropriately’ shaved under various pretexts. The navy is often used as the rationale for the cuts, so the army has made it a hated enemy.”
“Oh? So it’s misdirected anger.”
Commander Eve cut the army down in one stroke.
“Though land-connected to the continent, by nature this is a maritime nation. An army waning is the tide of the times. At the start, when they subdued this peninsula, they did hold powerful ground forces.”
Having unified the peninsula into a single state, the need for a large army disappeared. Had they dissolved it then and shifted personnel into the navy, all might have been well.
“The army remained as-is. The navy—once little more than coastal guards—achieved some breakthrough and seized predominance without the army’s help. They plundered wealth from overseas and enriched the state; the navy became the star of the next age. The army failed to ingratiate itself and left only tinder behind.”
“Hm…”
On the display Ringo projected was a power-relations chart built from spy-bot data, analyzed in detail.
Factions, influence, popularity for each figure were quantified and run through their proprietary analysis.
“Call it ‘proprietary’ and it suddenly sounds shady…”
“Akane insisted.”
“We’ll allow it.”
The navy was neatly pyramidal. The army was a jumble. It wasn’t even clear who sat on top.
Around them, local lords, nobles, and merchants all pushed their own presence.
“The Kingdom of Lepuitari has until now held to an expansion line. We have driven in a wedge and succeeded in turning attention inward.”
“Honestly, I wasn’t thinking that far ahead. But seen like this, it looks chaotic enough to spark another civil war…”
For now, national attention faced overseas. In a sense it was stable. Wealth flowed in from abroad irrespective of domestic affairs, and every citizen benefited in some form.
But here the expansion line was hitting the brakes.
With a force vastly greater than themselves now evident, who could say how public opinion would move?
“If we can trade, that’s best. Can the navy hold the line…?”
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“Leave it to the navy, and they’ll only bind us under unfavorable terms!”
“Just so! Losing in ship performance is no excuse for cowardice!”
As expected, the admirals’ council was in an uproar.
“Depending on our response, shells could be hurled into our fair Moar! I’m telling you we cannot act rashly!”
“It’s those guns you fear? Then line up our own guns!”
“We can’t line artillery through the city streets, you fool!”
A cautious navy, and an army refusing to let it hold the reins. The joint command had long since ceased to function. Old generals shuffled off to sinecures kept their silence.
“In the current setup, who will gainsay them when they shove an unequal treaty at us?”
“Are you insulting our negotiators? We have seasoned veterans at the table!”
A brawl of words wearing the mask of a meeting.
Even so, the meeting served an important purpose: venting the army’s steam.
Thus it was brigadiers and rear admirals shouting for the navy, while full admirals and vice admirals watched the flow.
“We of the army will attend the negotiations. You have no objection, I trust?”
“The other side does not wish to speak with the army! If you sour their mood, will you take responsibility!?”
“It’s a waste to treat with a country that shifts on mere mood!”
“Are you content to be seen as a savage state that cannot even command itself!”
“Better that than to be scorned as cravens who can’t muster a proper argument!”
The chamber was at full boil; the torrent of abuse could turn into grappling any moment.
From the outside it was ridiculous. The participants shouted in earnest.
Traditionally, both army and navy held these meetings on a tacit understanding—pressure release.
They had now burst those bounds into outright mudslinging.
The one saving grace was the preexisting ban on bringing weapons into the hall.
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“They’re lively.”
“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. If the navy is forced back and the army joins the meeting…”
“If they mouth off, we deck them?”
“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. That is one option. We can ignore a mere cabinet shuffle, but a coup would be troublesome. If we sense that, we will not hesitate to crush it preemptively.”
A live relay of the chamber’s melee.
Watching it, Commander Eve and Ringo chatted at leisure.
“If we tossed fuelstone trade into the mix right now, it’d be pandemonium.”
“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. Like firing an incendiary into a magazine. With a grand firework, the nation’s core would blow sky-high.”
At present, Paraiso was menacing with force while pressing for a favorable treaty.
What would happen if they heaped literal fuel onto that fire in the form of fuelstone?
“The navy would of course want to secure it. The army would covet it. The merchant houses would not sit still. A savage scramble is obvious.”
Thus they had deliberately omitted fuelstone from the transport manifest they presented.
Even so, that list alone was enticing enough from Lepuitari’s perspective—the bite was very strong.