Empire Conquest
Chapter 105 - 101: Leaving in Despair

Chapter 105: Chapter 101: Leaving in Despair

Saiyi Imperial Kingdom, East Imperial City, Cabinet Prime Minister’s Mansion.

Before getting into the car, Nobube turned back again to look at the haughty newcomer standing on the second-floor balcony, who watched him leave.

That fellow wasn’t just a newcomer; he was a real noble, the thirtieth family head of the Wen Family, one of the Five Great Families.

"Prime Minister..."

"I am no longer the Prime Minister, so please don’t address me as such." After reminding his secretary, Nobube got into the car.

Outside on the main street, armed soldiers were everywhere. In front of the Prime Minister’s Mansion’s gate, several armored vehicles were parked, and there were two barricades made of sandbags.

The Commander was a fifty-year-old Army Vice Admiral.

He had a small mustache above his upper lip, squinty eyes, and a bald head shiny enough to be used as a light bulb, which was indecently offensive.

The sedan hadn’t started running when it was stopped by the guards at the door.

As the car window was rolled down, he walked over and glanced inside. After staring at Nobube for several seconds with beady eyes, the Vice Admiral stepped back and dismissively waved his hand as if the person sitting in the car was some lowly commoner.

Nobube didn’t lose his temper, nor did he have the right to.

Half an hour ago, upstairs, that newcomer—Wen Wei, along with the Army led by Commander Yingxi, had arrived at the Prime Minister’s Mansion with an imperial edict bearing Emperor Xia’s seal, demanding Nobube’s immediate resignation from the position of Cabinet Prime Minister. At that moment, he ceased to be the dignified and respected Cabinet Prime Minister.

Having lost his position as Prime Minister, Nobube was at most just an out-of-favor elder statesman with little regard.

He could go back to being a wealthy man; no one would trouble him.

However, the idea of staying at the center of power to continue dancing on the political stage was clearly impossible.

The tune had completely changed, leaving Nobube with nothing but a somber exit.

In fact, that morning, upon receiving the message from the Sea Minister, knowing that under Takano’s planning and organization, Lan Yun’s command of the Mobile Fleet had successfully ambushed Liangxia Empire’s Chengjiang Port and then engaged in battle with the Liangxia Navy, Nobube knew his days as Prime Minister were over.

Although he had been an Army general before entering politics and had participated in the last great war, Nobube never believed that opposing the Liangxia Empire was a wise choice.

This political stance was closely related to his experiences during the last great war.

In the later stages of the great war, Nobube served as a Frontline Commander on the Ice Storm Peninsula, personally directing all major military operations during the last year.

Though there are no exact figures, under his command, not a million, but at least eight hundred thousand soldiers had fallen.

Moreover, several of his cousins and many classmates from the military academy and officer training school had also fallen on that blood-soaked battlefield, becoming rigid corpses in the icy, snowy landscape; some were blown to pieces, leaving not even half a bone behind.

Not to mention others, Nobube had personally buried more than a dozen colleagues and subordinates.

The toughest times were especially during winter and spring. Those officers and soldiers who had been stuck in muddy trenches for months, tormented to death by rotting toes, suffocating stench, and relentless nightmares, often lost their sanity. They frequently crawled out of the trenches in groups, singing war songs as they charged towards the enemy lines, only to be torn apart by a barrage of bullets.

In the months before the end of the great war, about one hundred thousand Saiyi soldiers sought relief in this way!

It was brutally cruel, utterly horrifying combat that helped Nobube realize one truth.

It was absolutely impossible to defeat the Liangxia Empire through military means!

Thus, after the war, Nobube strongly advocated for reconciling with the Liangxia Empire and securing Saiyi Imperial Kingdom’s strategic safety through the signing of a peace treaty.

During Nobube’s term in government, the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom and the Liangxia Empire began negotiating over overseas territories.

Unfortunately, not everyone saw it that way.

In fact, factions like Nobube’s, the "Peace Faction," were in the absolute minority. In the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom, the "War Faction," which held the power of discourse, was the overwhelming majority. To put it more bluntly, allowing the Peace Faction like Nobube to take power was also to serve the war strategy planned by the War Faction.

Peace?

How could that be possible?

Though during the great war, the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom had seized the opportunity to become a core member of the Alliance Group, its actual national strength and contributions were far less than other Great Powers. However, post-war, represented by Wen Wei and Yingxi, the ambition of the War Faction had inflated rapidly, becoming incredibly arrogant and overconfident, as if within a mere two years, the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom had leapt to become the premier power on the western coast of the East Ocean.

To put it bluntly, the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom’s status within the Alliance Group was actually a reward for betraying the Liangxia Empire.

These fellows certainly never considered that even the vast, resource-rich, and populous Liangxia Empire had taken half a century to industrialize, evolving from a traditional agricultural country weakened by poverty into the world’s leading industrial power and eventually a superhegemon.

With much worse conditions, how could the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom replace the Liangxia Empire in just a few years?

Could those arrogant, conceited fellows really produce tens of millions of tons of steel annually just with their boastful mouths?

Regardless, the inflated ambitions and blind overconfidence were fully exhibited during the Seba Conference.

If it had not been for a situation of severance, the War Faction would definitely not have signed a twenty-year lease agreement with the Liangxia Empire.

According to the War Faction’s perspective, the whole world owed the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom, not to mention returning the hard-won overseas territories. The colonies around the Flame Sea, along the Fan Flame Ocean, and even those on the Xuan Continent that had been divided among the Bulan Kingdom, Locke Republic, and Newland Federation, should all belong to the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom.

Unable to negotiate did not mean no negotiations would happen.

Over the past few years, the pretentious dealings with the Liangxia Empire were actually to buy time.

The key point was that after the "Huacheng Treaty" and "Luntai Treaty" expired, even though the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom was prepared, expanding military power still required time. If they relied solely on their capabilities during the treaty period, the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom would definitely not be a match for the Liangxia Empire.

Take the Navy for instance, the Saiyi Navy’s main battle ships were only seventy percent of the Liangxia Navy’s.

And then the Army...

It’s better not to mention the Army, as there is really nothing noteworthy to discuss.

While other Great Powers were procuring tanks for their armies, the Saiyi Army was discussing the material and design of bayonets, promoting the "doomed" spirit of retreating bullets before a bayonet charge.

Thus, the preparations involved not only expanding military capability but also strengthening alliances with allies.

But the problem was, it hadn’t even been three years!

Even though both the Army and Navy had prepared for the worst, and the situation had started deteriorating three months earlier, Nobube never expected, or rather didn’t know until this morning, that those from the War Faction could be so impulsive, without even a hint of a sign.

There must have been some unspeakable secrets.

However, that no longer concerned Nobube.

With Wen Wei taking over the Cabinet and Yingxi’s War Faction assuming power, the doors to negotiation had been firmly shut; what remained was only a decisive battle to the death with the Liangxia Empire.

All Nobube could do was pray that Wen Wei and Yingxi wouldn’t fight a battle they couldn’t win.

Perhaps, tomorrow might be better.

Who could say for certain?