The doctor suffers from amnesia, but not complete amnesia.

Nikolai nodded and remembered the name.

"I—I don't understand. If this is harmful to the Empire, why would Witt support me in doing it?"

Anatoly was clearly in a state of confusion, but this meant he was waking up from the spell cast by Northvit.

"You shouldn't ask why he would support you in doing this, but rather what benefit it would bring him—the answer is very simple: this commoner-born speaker hopes to use this opportunity to become a 'new noble.'"

"...The new aristocracy?"

Anatoly muttered to himself.

"Why did the late emperor insist on elevating the status of the Imperial Council when he was at the height of his power? Why did he insist on supporting Witte as the speaker to maintain the opposition between the civil servants and the nobles, so that they could balance each other out?"

"The answer is that he must leave a balanced political template for the future emperors of Ursus, and not go back to the past, where nobles chose to be loyal or go their own way depending on the strength of the emperor, which only increased internal strife."

Parliament is the art of compromise; only through mutual opposition and compromise can each side continuously advance its own ideas.

Of course, if one possesses abilities as outstanding as Vladimir's, one can naturally unite the originally contradictory sides and use them all for one's own benefit.

"The current emperor has no capable men around him. The army is in your father's hands, civil officials of commoner origin are gathered around Speaker Witte, and there are nobles who have never been on good terms with the emperor—and Grand Duke Nicholas must maintain the military's position as an opposition figure. Therefore, Speaker Witte saw an opportunity."

The man pointed to the portrait of Vladimir behind Nikolai.

“In the original council, it was Witte and his people who needed Vladimir’s open support to fight against the nobles. Now, it is the emperor who needs their open support to fight against the nobles. This change in relationship is the most direct reason why he has become what he is today.”

[Ambition.]

Kosiché hit the nail on the head.

"So, he wants to obtain noble status and rise in social class from a commoner?"

“No, no, no, you underestimate him, Grand Duke Nicholas. What he wants is not status, but the right to stand on equal footing with the nobles—he wants to be truly qualified to put forward his own bills, rather than just being the emperor’s mouthpiece in parliament.”

"Merchants have enough money, so they crave political status, just like Kazimir—you think Witte and those people gathered around the Emperor to maintain the Empire? No, they gathered around His Majesty to turn the Empire into their own."

Qiao Yelan laid out Witt's plans openly to everyone.

This was indeed the seed he planted, but he never expected that it would be Witte, the man Vladimir had once valued, who would bear fruit.

It was as if he thought the rebellion was launched by nobles who were dissatisfied with the status quo, but in the end it was the army that was ultimately loyal to Vladimir who raised the banner of rebellion.

However, for Qiao Yelan, the difference was not significant.

After all, all we have to do is use the backup plan.

"This is the real situation the empire is currently facing. It's not that the empire is short of money, but that the central government simply can't collect it. And the empire isn't short of money either; at least Witte and the nobles can still come up with huge sums of money to play political games."

"From beginning to end, the only one lacking money is the Imperial military. This is because, although both the nobility and the civil service are fighting for power, they also hope to weaken the military's strength. This is their common demand at present."

One sentence made the veins on Nikolai's head swell up three times.

Is there a way to resolve this?

"Yes—orders were issued to reduce the size of each army group, and military pay was strictly based on the reduced number of troops, making a gesture of compromise."

what?

Nikolai was stunned.

"Let me put it this way again—are your Second and Seventh Armies at full strength right now?"

"The staffing is not full, and there is a large shortfall."

Is the First Army Group currently at full strength?

"It's completely an empty shell."

"So, after the major rebellion, which army groups were at full strength?"

"During the great rebellion, many people personally promoted by the late emperor rose up in rebellion. Only among the army groups controlled by nobles, either the number of rebellious troops was very small, or there were none at all—"

Nicholas Tse stayed.

According to this statement, it seems that the downsizing plan that Qiao Yelan mentioned will not affect him at all.

Even after downsizing, the First, Second, and Seventh Army Groups will still be understrength, and their pay will only increase, not decrease. In contrast, the aristocratic army groups will be significantly downsized.

“Now the nobles and civil officials both want to suppress the military, which is unacceptable. We cannot become the target of everyone’s criticism. Therefore, the first thing to do is to disrupt the unity between the two sides.”

"Your initiative to propose downsizing is a gesture of goodwill towards Witt and the others. By making a concession first, they will naturally accept it. Moreover, they can see that this suggestion not only weakens the military but also the nobility, so they will definitely support it with all their might."

Qiao Yelan laughed.

"In this way, the suppression of the military is considered complete by the civil officials. They no longer have a reason to cooperate with the nobles. On the issue of downsizing, they are on our side."

"But the nobles will definitely object."

"Yes, they will definitely oppose it, and they might even turn their anger towards you—at that point, you need to learn to shift the blame. Just say that the Imperial Treasury couldn't pay enough military salaries and had no choice but to do this, and then throw the blame back at them."

Nikolai's eyes lit up. He knew that the current Finance Minister, Igor, was a member of the nobility.

Either the nobles, in order to maintain their ranks, gritted their teeth and forced Igor to cede more benefits to the military, or they had no choice but to accept the reality of downsizing.

Those who are good at uniting others are also good at dividing others, since this matter is ultimately worthless—it's nothing more than a transfer of interests and conflicts.

Before Nicholas proposed downsizing, the nobles and civil officials stood together; after the proposal, they parted ways and instead turned to court the military, which had already chosen to show weakness.

Civil officials wanted the military to stick to the downsizing plan, while nobles wanted the military to stop the downsizing plan—thus, the situation changed from simultaneous resistance from both sides to simultaneous courting of both sides.

"In that case, we'll ultimately have to choose a side. After all, such a big matter can't be dragged on for too long, otherwise they'll become suspicious again. Should we support the downsizing and stand on the side of the civil servants, or should we resist the downsizing and align ourselves with the nobles?"

Nikolai looked at Qiao Yelan with eager eyes.

"Downsizing is imperative. The reason is simple: there are no more enemies around Ursus that can be easily defeated, and the domestic turmoil will take some time to recover. The next twenty years will be a period of peaceful truce. If we continue to maintain an excessively large army, it will only drag the empire down."

The old man sighed softly. He knew all too well that Ursus was currently in a state of war-mongering and its military was not in a position to support a new war.

"In other words, in doing this, we will stand on the side of the civil officials, reject the nobles' attempts to win us over, and firmly promote downsizing?"

“It’s right to firmly promote downsizing, but why should we choose one side? Since both sides want to win us over, we should take this opportunity to get enough benefits from both sides—don’t forget, we also represent a significant political force within the empire, so we are also on one side.”

Qiao Yelan rejected Nikolai's words without hesitation, and the other party did not take offense at all, but instead nodded in agreement.

"But what should we do?"

“Talk to Speaker Witte. I reckon that even if Fyodor doesn’t tell him, that fox should be able to figure out your true attitude, after all, you’ve worked together for so many years. So you can make it clear to him that you are loyal to His Majesty, and let Witte think that he can use you to do things for him.”

“When a person feels that he can control and use you, he will be more inclined to do things in your favor. Therefore, this means that if the nobles want to attack you and oust you, Witte will definitely protect you, because he is not sure whether the next person to come to power will continue to support the emperor and him.”

Qiao Yelan revealed a slight smile.

"As for what we want to get from them—do you think an army group designation is enough?"

"what?"

This time, Nikolai really jumped up.

"Can they agree to allow us to expand by an army group while we are downsizing?"

“Of course, there must be an exchange—we can offer the designation of the First Army Group in exchange for the designation of the Sixth Army Group.”

A sinister smile curled at the corner of the man's mouth.

“The designation of the First Army Group belongs to His Majesty the Emperor, and neither you nor His Majesty have the resources to rebuild it now. As wise as the Speaker is, he will naturally understand whether the army group I sent back is to be given to His Majesty or to him.”

Chapter Fifty-Five: Arranged Clearly

"Leave the deal with Witt to me. It seems like only I'm capable of this position."

Qiao Yelan took on half of the work herself.

"As for the nobles, I'll leave that to Your Excellency the Grand Duke."

"Okay, I'll handle the negotiations over there. Basically, just shift the blame and complain, and see if we can get some money from the Ministry of Finance."

Nicholas nodded.

"However, since downsizing is inevitable, how can I appease the powerful nobles who control the army?"

"It's very simple. The downsizing issue should actually be handled by the military. You just need to give them a hint during the inspection, and you can help them get away with it. Then these nobles will figure out what's really going on."

This operation leads to a familiar territory for Nicholas—Qiao Yelan's idea is to have Nicholas condone the nobles embezzling public funds.

In other words, the nominal size of an army group is definitely reduced, but this only determines the amount of military pay issued by the Ministry of Finance. As long as you have money, how many troops you want to support is your own business, and the military will turn a blind eye.

To put it bluntly, these are essentially troops that were transformed from private armies into regular armies and then received state funding, only to revert back to the form of private armies.

"The troops under these nobles were originally converted from private armies into army groups during Vladimir's time in order to gain military merit. Now they are just back to square one. Just make it clear to them that the basic policy of 'the military does not encourage the reduction of troops' will be maintained."

This was Qiao Yelan's plan. After the great rebellion, more than half of Ursus's military expenditures were actually paid for by these noble armies. Now that it was difficult to increase revenue, it was natural to cut spending.

"But this matter can't be kept secret. After all, the amount involved is too large and the scope is too wide. Eventually, it will reach the civil service—won't they use this opportunity to strangle us with financial means again?"

"That's why we had to exchange the designation of the First Army Group for the designation of the Sixth Army Group."

Qiao Yelan laughed.

“In the past, the army was only in the hands of you and the nobles. Witte and his men did not have a single organized army. Therefore, they could use any means to suppress the army, because it would only weaken your strength. But what if they also had an army group? Would they still be willing to weaken it like this?”

To reiterate, Qiao Yelan is extremely adept at both uniting and dividing.

"Yes, you condoned the nobles' practice of not downsizing the army groups under their control, which also means that you will condone the covert expansion of the First Army Group under Witt's command—after all, the unspoken rule is to treat everyone equally, at most you will collect money from both sides during inspections."

These words enlightened Nikolai.

“I understand. As long as we keep the nobles in check, the civil officials will naturally take care of the rest. What about us? We’ll also follow the unspoken rules and only nominally downsize?”