Empire Conquest
Chapter 416 - 412 Delusional Peace

Chapter 416: Chapter 412 Delusional Peace

"You needn’t make wild guesses, you just have to clear up one question."

After Zhao Yu spoke, the other three turned to look at him.

Of the four, Zhao Yu had the most authority to speak.

Zhao Yu was also a Pillar, more familiar with the noble groups of the Empire than Bai Zhizhan and the other civilian upstarts, especially those families created by the Eight Pillars.

Strictly speaking, there were actually only six major families.

"Old Zhao, what you’re saying..."

Zhao Yu opened his mouth to speak but then closed it, leaving Li Yunxiang feeling speechless.

"If Xue Yuanzheng leaves the Prime Minister Mansion, who do you think is most qualified to move in?"

Now, Bai Zhizhan and the other two furrowed their brows.

"Clearly, it’s not Situ Jingde or Peng Huaisong. I’m going to say something you two don’t like to hear, but both Commanders-in-chief are martial artists. They’re fine with charging into battle, but when it comes to overseeing the whole situation and strategizing, they fall far short. Take Situ, for example, even if he wanted to, I doubt the Holy Emperor would agree."

With that said, Lian Xusheng couldn’t help but smile bitterly.

Clearly, Zhao Yu was right.

Situ Jingde was just a martial artist, and the current Holy Emperor understood him very well. Don’t forget, when the Holy Emperor was the Crown Prince, he served under Situ Jingde’s command and even followed him to the Northwest Front, nearly risking his life in the last war against the Luosha Empire’s army.

Although, after the Constitutional Amendment, the Emperor had lost the right to meddle in political affairs, according to the laws of the Empire, it was still up to the Emperor to appoint the Imperial Chief Minister, even if typically the Privy Council acted on his behalf, the Emperor still had the right to reject the Chief Minister candidate proposed by both houses of Parliament.

In short, Situ Jingde would not get past the Holy Emperor’s hurdle and definitely couldn’t move into the Prime Minister Mansion.

According to what Lian Xusheng had said earlier, it was by the Holy Emperor’s directive that Situ Jingde expressed during the Imperial Court meeting, that if Parliament nominated him as the Cabinet Chief of the War Cabinet, even as an interim to oversee the transitional period, he would immediately resign from his position as Commander of the Imperial Guard.

If Situ Jingde was not qualified, then Peng Huaisong was even less so.

"Are you referring to the one in charge of foreign affairs?"

Zhao Yu responded to Li Yunxiang’s question with a faint smile.

Following Xue Yuanzheng, the one qualified to take up the role of Prime Minister and form the caretaker Cabinet was Song Jiaowen, who had been nominated by the largest Opposition Party to be the Minister of Foreign Affairs. This was done to unite all political parties when the war broke out, or more accurately, during the formation of the War Cabinet.

He was the great-grandson of Song Kuangguo, one of the Eight Pillars and the Wise Duke, the outstanding figure of the contemporary Song Family.

The political circles often speak of "North Tang, South Song," where "North Tang" refers to the Tang Family, and "South Song" to the Song Family.

Although in terms of "achievements," the Song Family might fall short compared to the Tang Family, having produced only two Prime Ministers both of whom had very "short-lived" tenures, the influence of the Song Family was no less than that of the Tang Family.

The key was that the Tang Family tended to focus on internal affairs, while the Song Family excelled in foreign affairs.

After the Constitutional Amendment, two-thirds of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs came from the Song Family, or had connections with them.

It was for this reason that, most of the time, especially when Tang Family’s power was at its peak, the Cabinet Chief Minister would also oversee foreign affairs.

Before the outbreak of the great war, the seat of Minister of Foreign Affairs had been vacant for over a decade.

Moreover, the principal diplomatic officials, particularly the ambassadors, were mostly from the Song Family.

When forming the War Cabinet, in order to unite all the forces that could be united and reconcile with the Song Family, declaring that the Empire had entered its most critical moment, Xue Yuanzheng took the initiative to invite Song Jiaowen to become the Minister of Foreign Affairs, whose main job was to engage with allies.

This also indirectly reflected that Xue Yuanzheng did not trust Song Jiaowen.

Even with nominating Song Jiaowen for Minister of Foreign Affairs, Xue Yuanzheng still tightly controlled the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. For instance, any diplomatic activities related to the war had to be approved by the Prime Minister.

The secret talks in Baku were also decisively handled by Xue Yuanzheng, unrelated to Song Jiaowen.

Several Cabinet ministers’ positions were handed over to the Opposition Party.

The crux of the matter lay right here.

If Xue Yuanzheng were driven out of the Prime Minister Mansion, it would mean that the ruling party, which held a majority in both houses of the Parliament, was being questioned. Since it was a time of war, it was not possible to hold early elections. Therefore, according to unwritten rules, the largest Opposition Party should nominate the Prime Minister of the caretaker government.

The most qualified person to become the Prime Minister of the caretaker government was Song Jiaowen.

To have Song Jiaowen form the government?

At this thought, even Bai Zhizhan couldn’t help but sigh!

Although Song Jiaowen was not a "Surrender Faction", everyone knew he was a bona fide member of the "Conciliation Faction".

It had always been Song Jiaowen propagating the importance of maintaining peace, asserting that even if some interests had to be sacrificed, it was well worth it.

Of course, it was not Song Jiaowen himself, but the "Diplomatic Faction" led by the Song family.

After the last great war, it was actually the Song family that advocated reconciliation with the Luosha Federation.

Moreover, at that time, it was the Song family that forced Xue Yuanzheng into retirement from the Army, holding then-Prime Minister Tang Zude responsible for the Empire’s defeat, pointing the finger directly at the then-Army Commander, Ma Zhongyi. To maintain political stability, Tang Zude had his most trusted nephew, which was Xue Yuanzheng, act as an informer. As a result, Xue Yuanzheng, unwilling to engage in such dirty deeds, angrily retired from the Army and later entered the political arena after Tang Zude.

It was the Song family, one could say, that pressured Xue Yuanzheng to leave military service for a civil one.

The Golden Decade after the war was like a fish taking to water for the Song family.

Even after the Great Depression hit, the Song family continued to advocate the "model of peace", smearing Xue Yuanzheng in every way, who was actively pushing for reforms.

According to the Song family, Xue Yuanzheng was nothing but a warmonger, his actions not in defense of peace, but in preparation for war.

So feelings held, Xue Yuanzheng should take responsibility for the great war!

After the outbreak of war, the Song family toned down a lot, since the enemy was outside the national gates, there was no reason to continue infighting.

But the problem was, if Song Jiaowen really moved into the Prime Minister Mansion, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Here, Zhao Yu mentioned something.

In the late stages of the last great war, it was actually the people of the Song family who worked behind the scenes, forcing Tang Zude to accept ceasefire proposals, thus ending the war through negotiations.

Although, looking at the final outcome, the ceasefire was the only choice at that time, it also showed that the Song family preferred to achieve peace through compromise.

According to Zhao Yu, diplomats only have value, and can make money and prosper, during times of peace.

The Song family’s resilience was based on a large number of businesses mainly engaged in import and export trades, or to be precise, commercial companies.

The outbreak of a major war meant strict regulations on import and export trade; even if it was not entirely cut off, it became unprofitable.

The Song family, and the import and export businessmen allied with them, must have suffered heavy losses.

Twenty-plus years ago, compromise could bring peace. But what about now?

The answer was clearly negative.

In the later stages of the last great war, except for the Newland Federation who joined the battle late, the other Great Powers were already exhausted, and with the Luosha Empire suffering from a military uprising and the thousand-year history of the Luosha Imperial Family going up in smoke, they were willing to sit down and negotiate, finally reaching a ceasefire agreement.

Now, the great war had just erupted!

If the Imperial Authority proposed negotiations now, it would only make the enemy perceive weakness.

By then, not only would a negotiation fail, but it would also lead to unforeseeable consequences.

Yet for those soldiers still fighting valiantly on the frontlines, all of this would be a crippling blow—their morale and fighting spirit, would likely plummet to rock bottom!

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