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* * *

Of course, I didn’t see it right up close, but I couldn’t just deny it, so I said it confidently.

“Ahem, as a son of the Empire of Japan, I was diligently engraving the combat capabilities of Russia right there. Indeed, the Empress was personally taking out those Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks’ bullets couldn’t touch the Empress.”

I wasn’t lying.

Of course, Japan didn’t send troops directly or help by grabbing the reins or riding tanks. But Mutaguchi Renya did indeed observe.

As a result, the Russian Empress charged at the Bolsheviks as if embodying the spirit of the Yamato people, spraying their bullets and turning the Bolsheviks into a bloody mess that suited their beloved red flags.

It’s natural for someone to die when shot, so Renya figured it was right to believe all the bullets missed the Empress.

However, that Ishiwa Kanji guy’s eyes were shining dangerously.

“I see. Indeed, there’s a possibility.”

“What are you thinking?”

“We must grow the Manchurian Army and use it as a bridgehead for advancing into China to escort Her Majesty. Since the female Tsar of Russia is directly throwing herself onto the battlefield, who’s to say the Emperor His Imperial Majesty can’t do the same?”

At that moment, Mutaguchi’s insignificantly small brain was spinning furiously.

To serve Her Majesty.

This idea came up, and here he was talking to the governor of the Manchurian Army.

Could it be that he’s suggesting the Emperor should personally lead the Manchurian Army?

“It can’t be that you’re suggesting His Majesty personally command the Manchurian Army?”

It certainly sounded like he was saying that.

Continuing to listen, Mutaguchi Renya even began to suspect if this Ishiwa Kanji fellow had been sent by the Southern Manchurian Governor’s office to test him.

What if the Emperor faced misfortune while personally commanding the Manchurian Army?

In that case, the Southern Manchurian Governor’s office would bear the responsibility entirely.

Being someone who prided himself on being an elite, Mutaguchi Renya was able to think rationally.

Truthfully, the Russian Empress was simply lucky.

However, if His Imperial Majesty were to ascend, that would also be dangerous.

Renya kept his mouth shut.

“Of course, not right now. We’re just saying we should prepare in advance. The Chinese have long been a people skilled in guerilla tactics. There’s no way His Majesty should get his hands dirty.”

“And then?”

“The Anhui Warlord suffered greatly in the Boxer Rebellion.”

The Anhui Warlord, a warlord settled in the Beijing area, excluding the Forbidden City, where the Qing Emperor resided.

After the Boxer Rebellion, Beijing had been greatly weakened, with soldiers from various warlords stationed there, nominally assisting the Qing Emperor.

But, of course, it wouldn’t operate smoothly.

Each warlord’s soldiers were guarding their territories, resulting in a lack of unified command.

If we just move the Southern Manchurian Army, the enemies would crumble like dried leaves.

“Are we supposed to attack there?”

“Escorting Her Majesty should be enough, right?”

“How do you plan to persuade the homeland? Regardless, the Imperial General Headquarters won’t give permission.”

“I’ll take care of that. So, Governor, please prepare the army.”

Ishiwa Kanji smiled coldly.

I had no idea what he was thinking, but Mutaguchi Renya decided to give up trying to understand.

He just hoped this fool wouldn’t cause any harm to Southern Manchuria.

If the Imperial General Headquarters had a thought, they wouldn’t let this fool’s nonsense manipulate them.

Yet somehow, it felt like something was about to explode.

* * *

The National Duma was busy today.

Partly due to dealing with the Great Depression, and partly because more people were crossing over from Southwestern Ukraine.

Because of this, it seems that they were in an uproar over the issue of settling people from Southwestern Ukraine in Eastern Ukraine.

“Are many Southwestern Ukrainians coming over?”

“Yes. We haven’t properly counted yet, but it’s estimated to be tens of thousands.”

I perked up at the words of the new Prime Minister, Georgy Lvov.

“Estimated?”

“They’re still increasing in real-time.”

They were still increasing in real-time.

Even though it was the 21st century, it was quite surprising to see Ukrainians entering directly into the embrace of Russia during the war.

Although it’s merely formal, there’s still an autonomous republic in Eastern Ukraine.

“Hmm. If that’s the case…”

Still, I couldn’t understand why they kept increasing like that.

I wondered if we were slowly abducting people from Southwestern Ukraine.

The daily influx seemed far greater than the North Korean defectors.

Sure, escaping from North Korea was difficult, but…

“Southwestern Ukraine is a pro-British puppet state. Since they’re tied to Britain, wouldn’t they also suffer from the Great Depression?”

I had almost forgotten that.

Southwestern Ukraine, bound to Britain, couldn’t escape the repercussions of the Great Depression.

The puppet government of Southwestern Ukraine, as a pawn of Britain, wouldn’t be able to resolve the Great Depression, nor could they handle it.

It hasn’t been long since Ukraine gained independence; what could they possibly do?

Furthermore, since no one would trust Britain, the number crossing over to Russia would only increase daily.

Right. We should keep drawing in manpower.

“Hmm. I see.”

Right. That makes sense. It would be more beneficial for those starving to death in Southwestern Ukraine to enter the Ukrainian Autonomous State.

If things go well, could it be that everyone crosses over and Southwestern Ukraine would completely collapse?

Britain could soon give up, leaving Southwestern Ukraine behind.

If they can’t maintain it due to the Great Depression, it can’t be helped.

Britain is busy with their own situation, so it would be hard to cling to Southwestern Ukraine.

They have other colonies struggling; what could they do with a puppet state like Southwestern Ukraine?

“Still, let’s not get greedy about Southwestern Ukraine. We should strike when it’s on the verge of self-destruction. We need to be a nation that minimizes military intervention.”

We need to appear benevolent.

We should present ourselves as a normal nation, not a rogue nation, but a saintly country—a sacred land.

“Your Majesty, Austria has requested that the Kaiser be recognized for the throne of Hungary.”

Here comes the real deal.

Yugoslavia and Italy are going to cause a fuss.

Just as I thought, Austria is creating a proper distraction.

Next, we should support Austria more and make them fight fiercely.

“Are they going to hold the coronation?”

“I’ve heard they can’t hold one right now.”

“Hmm.”

Well, I didn’t mind delaying the coronation either. Holding a coronation would just provoke the Communist bloc.

Especially since it’s closely linked to the Sarajevo incident.

“Looks like the Austrian Kaiser is being cautious because of the Sarajevo incident?”

“Given that Yugoslavia is on high alert, it can’t be helped.”

The military seems to be considering another Sarajevo incident.

Who would have expected that Serbia’s Black Hand would move like this even after World War I?

Yugoslavia hardly needs any mention.

“I hear that Austria has started a large-scale crackdown on communists.”

“I already knew that, but to what extent?”

“It was driven by Hitler of the Danube United Labor Party.”

Wow. That history of the Holocaust really doesn’t go away.

I’m curious about Hitler, who solely hates communists but seems rather interesting.

“But won’t they protest too much if it becomes too obvious?”

“It seems Benito Mussolini, the Secretary-General of Italy, is continuously pressuring Austria.”

Benito Mussolini?

Well, that works in Russia’s favor.

If Austria draws enough attention and unites again to stop communism, that would be good.

“Let’s leave them be.”

After all, we must be armed with an anti-communist spirit.

By hunting down and killing communists, Hitler will gain more propaganda.

Threat of communists—executing communists who might collude from within—threat of communists—bolstering power through anti-communist propaganda.

Right now, Hitler is infinitely repeating this process.

This way, even those who are still hesitant about unification will consent to join the anti-communist cause. What a clever fellow in many respects.

I wonder if Goebbels is in Communist Germany? It’s a dream collaboration with Hitler.

“The problem lies elsewhere.”

“What problem? What is it?”

“Austria’s Hitler’s SS has built a concentration camp just for communists.”

“So they’ve already done that?”

A concentration camp for communists?

Suddenly, I have a bad feeling about this.

It looks like they are trying to create a Holocaust for reds instead of Jews.

It’s not just a casual thought; it seems like Hitler is actually planning to do that.

No, while some oppression is unavoidable…

If they’ve made a concentration camp specifically for communists, doesn’t this seem suspicious?

“Really?”

“Did they actually make that? The war hasn’t even started yet! Isn’t that a bit provocative?”

Could it be that the Hitler I know has resurrected himself through his rage against Jews and is now channeling it toward the communists?

Truly, our bastard Hitler.

This could give rise to a Hitler on our side who might be even worse than Nazi Germany.

“For now, they seem to have created the camp because there is a fear that communists will spread if they are with other criminals.”

That much is true. It seems a bit suspicious.

Of course, we can’t speak given that we shot down all those Bolsheviks, but at least we had the justification of having wiped out communism through civil war victory.

But they are different, aren’t they?

It’s one thing for Hitler to engage in some stark anti-communist propaganda, but does he really need to go so far as to create concentration camps?

Now that I understand more about Hitler, it just makes it even more questionable.

“I see.”

“Why do you say that?”

Should I say this or not? No, really, this is just my speculation.

No, knowing Hitler might be painting these things with my colored glasses.

Honestly, what could he even do with that collection of reds?

Didn’t Hitler also propose urban development plans for Moscow after the Russian Civil War?

In other words, he saw the summary executions of Bolsheviks by the White Army throughout Russia.

Considering the existing revolutionary forces, the number of Bolsheviks in those camps would be just a fraction of the hundreds of thousands.

In any case, Hitler had seen those dead Bolsheviks.

Bugs that can be justifiably squashed.

For now, Austria must also have Junkers who have fled from the German Empire, which naturally means anti-communist sentiments will rise.

Hitler would seize power with support for anti-communist propaganda and the backing of the German Empire.

In this process, capturing communists would aid in solidifying his power. He can likely just hold them, and unlike Russia, Hitler must have some common sense.

A mere show to grab power.

“But with the rise of anti-communism, it seems that reactions from within are favorable. And the Austrian side has requested weapons from us.”

“Weapons?”

Sure. They’ll need weapons.

Russia’s military technology now ranks among the best.

Like the PPD automatic rifle and ongoing development of small arms.

Tanks are also emerging, and new aircraft are being continuously developed.

“Do we need to support them more? What could German communists possibly have?”

“Though the regime has changed, the technological prowess of Germany wouldn’t have plummeted.”

In the beginning, they would have resorted to some form of terror to maintain control, but now, it seems they’ve divided into communist and anti-communist camps, with communist states probably organized by now.

Seeing them standing proudly like that makes me think they might have even let some of their key technologists from the imperial era influence the communists.

There’s absolutely no room for carelessness, so they can’t be underestimated.

In any case, the German army has smashed the strongest army in Europe, France. Just because they became the German People’s Army, I doubt their momentum would change.

Karl Liebknecht is surely thinking that much.

Then, should we maybe provoke the communists a bit more?

“If that’s the case, we need to make it clear that we are backing Austria.”

“But openly helping them would be a bit risky. That Hitler guy talks about how all communists need to be killed, just like we do. While we had the justification of a civil war, interfering in Germany under His Majesty’s authority could be a bit tricky, right?”

At first glance, it may seem strange, but the upper class of the German Empire who have joined Austria would likely want to kill the communists who took what was theirs.

In the end, through Hitler’s manipulative tongue, Austria and the surrounding nations would all likely want to exterminate the communists.

Should we provide a little more power to Hitler then?

“Hmm, let’s lend a bit of strength to Hitler.”

“What? Isn’t directly supporting Hitler problematic for us Russians?”

That’s true. Right now, though this nation is called the United States, I still sit as the Tsar.

Am I just any Tsar? I hold the title of Saint.

While killing Bolsheviks from Russia is unavoidable, poking into the repression of communists occurring in other nations would somewhat tarnish my image.

But at the very least, we need to show our will.

“Let’s support them with guns and send them insecticide too. We should send Cyclone B developed by Fritz Haber, the chemist who sought asylum with us.”

“Do we really need to send insecticide?”

Hitler will face the communist “bugs.” We need to show our resolve to support him.

I wonder if he really would use that Cyanide to kill communists like he did with the Jews.

What crazy things would he do to build up military power?

“Any news from Germany?”

“I hear they’ve integrated German Empire officers who couldn’t make it to Austria or East Prussia into the People’s Army on the condition of defection.”

Has that really happened?

Oh, this might be another variable.

Nazi Germany initially filled their military with experienced veterans and elites through the Treaty of Versailles, creating a small elite force.

As they rearm, their capabilities tend to shine even more.

What the Red Army that will be created in Communist Germany will look like is a bit curious, but even that shouldn’t be too capable.

 

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