Warhammer

Although if the most fundamental problem is not changed, all of this is only a temporary solution to the problem the empire is facing now. After all, the population will increase, but land is something that cannot be increased.

But as long as it could create a brief period of "prosperity", it would be enough for the emperor sitting high on the throne.

Although so much has been mentioned before, the issue of border territories is no longer considered to exist as an independent entity... but in the final analysis, those independent city-states, large and small, are still part of human civilization. The longest ones may be traced back to those "princes" hundreds or thousands of years ago, and the shortest ones have been independent for dozens or nearly a hundred years.

Even if the empire decides to enter the border territory in a big way and expand here, it should not be too rough and turn it into a military conquest of the weak. That would be a loss to the empire's reputation and would be embarrassing.

Therefore, the empire's policy toward the border territories faced a contradictory situation: "I want the substance, but I cannot lose face."

Augustine was keenly aware of this contradiction and made up his mind to seize such an opportunity for himself:

In the border areas, in theory, he is the highest military and political commander of the empire, the chief warrior of the empire.

Although they had suffered a defeat, after regrouping and reorganizing the legion, the Chief still had as many as 60,000 troops under his command. They also joined forces with the Imperial garrison of Matoka, and the force quickly recovered to a size close to its peak. If this force were to go against the greenskins, although it cannot be said that they would definitely win...but in the border territories, this force was already an overwhelming advantage for the locals.

Augustin knew how to demonstrate his own value so that he would not be bullied, or be punished less severely when held accountable for failure. If he did well, he would pay with his reputation, but at least he could keep his power. So after the greenskins fled eastward and the news of the end of the war came, the troubled Western March territories had no time to cheer before the next "new conqueror" came riding on their heads.

When the greenskins were besieging Matoka, the expeditionary force of the Chief of the Conquest marched south from Thorland to the border, and "liberated" many city-states "occupied" by the greenskins in the northwest region. They were unanimously welcomed by the local residents as saviors, and then formed a coalition force (vassal army) to march eastward. At least the name used was a coalition of the Empire and the border areas. Although it was actually the suzerain country with its younger brothers, at least the Empire had not shown an attitude of intervening in border politics at that time.

After the victory of the war, in order to make up for his failure, Augustine made up his mind. After writing a letter to Altof to explain his situation, he began to issue orders directly in the name of the empire's highest military and political chief in the south. These military orders were all about dispatching garrisons and placing officials, which were beyond the scope of the military commander's authority and responsibilities.

After he joined up with the Matoka garrison, he immediately turned northwest. The people on the border thought that the chief was going to hold a celebration party or return to the empire to report on his work. Although they privately criticized Augustine's defeat, they still showed "great respect" to the commander who represented the authority of the empire, so they were prepared to welcome him.

But who knew that what they would encounter were unquestionable military orders and brutal imperial soldiers.

The Empire needs the interests of the border territories, but at the same time, it does not want to be accused of forcibly expanding the borders that are also part of the order by force. How can the Empire get the benefits without taking the blame, or at least not taking part of the blame...

Naturally, someone has to take the blame in advance.

A tyrannical commander who is unreasonable, acts on his own, and oversteps his authority is naturally the best target.

Augustine would use his reputation to do the dirty work for the emperor, and then wait for the imperial meeting or the Senate to impeach him, and the military would recall him, "severely reprimand" and "punish him severely". The public indignation caused by what the empire did in the border areas was mainly due to him. If he was strictly "dealt with" in the country, the public indignation of the people in the border areas would be largely eliminated, and he himself could at least escape the consequences of defeat by showing that he had no merit but had worked hard.

Therefore, under the tacit understanding between Augustine and the country, a ridiculous drama of a 100,000-man army "going alone" because of one person's arrogance was held at the border.

The military order signed by the chief is the highest order. Due to the deliberate neglect in the empire, no one can enforce this.

When Augustine arrived in the northwest, he immediately convened a meeting and strongly criticized the border coalition forces that had been the first to collapse. He accused them of being the culprits that led to a humiliating defeat, and even accused some of colluding with the greenskins to deliberately cause trouble.

Everything is just like the story of El in Estalia.

He also pointed out the previous words "liberated" and "occupied", accusing the local city-states of bending to Mao and cooperating with the greenskins, betraying the civilized order, and collaborating with the enemy! They must be severely punished.

Then they sent troops to forcibly take over control of the main city-states and transportation routes. Those with parliaments were forcibly stopped, and it was announced that the parliament could no longer be trusted until the Empire purged the traitors who colluded with the greenskins. Those controlled by oligarchs were found to cooperate with those who were willing to serve the Empire and recognize the incorporation of border territories into the Empire.

Such brutal behavior frightened the people on the border, especially after the imperial army used bayonets to force the parliament to hold a new election. After the elected representatives did not pass the resolution of "In view of the war... blah blah, it is decided to hold a referendum to join the empire", they directly followed the map on the spot, arrested those opposing members of parliament and imprisoned them. After a second referendum, the ambitions of the empire behind the chief for the border territories have become obvious.

Chapter 254: The Domineering Army

Augustine's methods were shockingly brutal, but after informing the country, the Empire deliberately turned a deaf ear and cooperated tacitly, so the voices of appeal and complaint fell on deaf ears, and they were even stopped before they could get past Sol Territory.

Augustine himself is very sensible and wants to take the blame for the country, so they naturally will not "drag their feet" at this time.

A knife with a chip on it is incomplete whether it is hung on the wall or carried on the body, but it can still be used to chop wood or slaughter livestock.

It's nothing more than throwing it away when it gets dirty.

The Empire already had an advantage in status in the border territories, and Augustine claimed that the defeat in the war was caused by the betrayal of traitors in the local border city-states who colluded with the greenskins. Therefore, his domineering and rude style seemed to have a "legitimate reason".

The first step was to control the local authorities in the border territories, either by supporting collaborators to take power or simply implementing "military control" with the imperial garrison. At the same time, although the tacit approval of the country was obtained, how could the subordinates obey the command of a leader who had lost the battle and was destined to step down, and obey Augustine's "military orders" that were obviously beyond the scope of the army's authority and responsibility? The chief of the expedition also thought of a good idea:

Promise them benefits and let them go.

For the children of the Imperial Military Honors, joining the army is a right to inherit the family lineage, and it is also a "responsibility" that they must fulfill as the Imperial Military Honors. For those "hereditary military" families who have "imperial land" granted by the emperor in Reikland and enjoy extremely low or even tax-free policy benefits, and are high-quality self-employed farmers, sending at least one male family member into the Reik Guard to serve the emperor is a necessary payment to maintain their social class from falling and for other members to continue to enjoy the current benefits.

As for the huge size of the empire's army, the purpose of joining the army for 80 to 90 percent of the soldiers was actually very simple:

It's just a job that provides a stable income and is just enough to get by.

But even so, military salaries were not always paid on time and in full. This was a common problem in almost all countries that were still in the "feudal period".

Although being a soldier is much more decent and comfortable than working in a factory with shackles on your feet and tied to your workstation, the income of ordinary privates and provincial troops is only average, and is still only the middle and lower level in the empire. The corruption of the military system and the development of society have led to various bad habits such as gambling, prostitution, and taking hallucinogenic drugs becoming highly prevalent in the military. In peacetime, officers themselves are unable to set an example, and they draw salaries without doing anything and treat soldiers as their servants... let alone strict military discipline.

These bad behaviors also frequently cost money to officers and soldiers, further undermining the discipline of the troops.

When a force defending the country cannot meet even the most basic "needs", and does not have other aspects such as the blessing of faith, its combat effectiveness cannot be guaranteed.

Augustine decided to take on all the dirty work at home, and he also had to entice his subordinates with benefits so that they would obey his orders and help do the dirty work.

If, when the empire recalled him, Augustine had ensured the empire's actual control over the border territories, saving the emperor and the Senate's face, and made the expeditionary army that followed him satisfied, thus offsetting the loss of prestige caused by the previous defeat, then he might still not be able to keep his position as the chief, but it would not be impossible for him to be transferred horizontally or retire (a milder form of demotion) to serve as a local governor. At least he would have the security of being a rich man.

The deeds of an imperial baron named Albert von Conrad inspired the war chief.

After Augustine was defeated and reorganized his troops, he unexpectedly received a batch of "funding" from the dwarves. He was overjoyed and found out after detailed investigation that this was the aid that Conrad paid to the dwarves in exchange after he "retreat" to the north. By accident, the chief of the defeated soldiers paid attention to this matter, and then everything before and after became difficult to conceal.

Augustine marveled at the baron's "creativity" and courage, and was also moved by the wealth of the border territory.

In his view, Conrad, with less than a thousand old, weak and sick people, easily made a city with a population of tens of thousands submit to him and obey his orders under the banner of the empire. Because he was unrighteous and privately overstepped his authority, the local ruling Ede family was afraid of the empire's punishment. In fact, it would be enough for Albert to announce in the name of the empire that Altdorf did not recognize the so-called "Ede family" in all governance rights over the Rock Castle. No one would care whether the empire's recognition had a legal basis on the border. The local subjects who had been exploited for so long would rise up and overthrow Ede as soon as the right opportunity came.

Therefore, as a ruling family that should have maintained local interests, Ed chose to prioritize "maintaining its own" interests and continuously transferred the wealth of Rock Castle to Albert von Conrad.

This kind of behavior of extorting local lords in the name of the army and the country, and claiming to be the "supreme commander" is actually a crime and usurpation of power, but Augustine only saw opportunities and possible wealth in it!

A rock fortress with a population of only about 20,000 can feed Albert and his troops of a thousand men fat and strong. If this battle goes smoothly, Albert can go home and retire to live a leisurely life as a rich man. Why would he need to stay in the army and risk being deprived of his title and losing his head to draw a salary without doing anything?

This may not seem worth mentioning to Augustine before the defeat, as he had greater ambitions; but after losing to the greenskins and having no hope of a comeback, it undoubtedly seems to him like a "broad road" that is dishonorable but glittering.

"The Borderers have accumulated such a huge wealth, but they have no strength to protect it! When the Greenskins come, they are plundered by the Greenskins. When the Southerners (Alliance) come, they kneel to the Southerners. The Empire has fought for their freedom and security and paid so many sacrifices. Shouldn't they make a "reward" for our efforts?!"

Augustin brought Albert von Conrad with him and specifically pushed him to hold an "experience meeting" for hundreds of high-, middle- and low-level officers and commanders at all levels in the legion.

Albert, who was forcibly tied onto the pirate ship, knew that he had been caught by the Chief as a "positive example". His actions in the Rock Castle had been exposed to countless eyes. The only choice was to let everyone do the same thing as him. If everyone took, everyone was greedy, and if everyone made mistakes, it would be the same as not making any mistakes.

The Senate can't punish the entire border legion in one go.

So he did his best to tell them about his own mental journey, how he controlled the natives of the border territories, how he took advantage of the garrison of the superior country, and shared all kinds of "experiences" of squeezing benefits from the locals. He even asked his servants to carry large and small bags to the meeting site, and dumped gold, silver and jewelry all over the floor. The glittering, golden wealth was so breathtaking.

The gift that the Ed family gave him at one time was equivalent to Albert's military salary for several years. He did take a lot of empty salaries, but not all of them went into his pocket. Even the military salary itself was not paid in full. In addition, officers were nobles, and their salaries were several times higher than those of ordinary soldiers. The accumulated income from empty salaries was not as much as what he earned from "fighting" on the border, and he did not have to bear any risks abroad. If he really squeezed them to death and regarded himself as a "legitimate occupying force", he could probably squeeze out even more.

This made many officers angry.

On the one hand, there were no instructions within the empire—no instructions were the best instructions.

Obedience is their duty. Everything they do is to obey the orders of the Chief of War - the Empire, so this is one of the reasons.

The second is naturally the most basic one: money can move people’s hearts.

So Augustine relied on these two tricks to easily make the failed expeditionary army unite around him because of the temptation of interests. In order to make his subordinates realize their goals for him, Augustine also carried out the "feudalization" project in order to realize his plan of incorporating border territories into the empire's territory, and also to make money for the future.

He analyzed Albert's operation of controlling a castle of tens of thousands of people with a thousand old and weak people, and drew on the advanced experience used by Gao Maoliang in the border territories to optimize his playing style, combined with past advantages, and launched iterative attacks on the border territories.

Augustine dispatched troops, setting up an army of 1,000 to 3,000 people. Whenever there were more than 10,000 people, there would be an army stationed there to control the city defense and supervise the parliament. Internally, they would collude with collaborators who were willing to serve the empire to control the government. Externally, on the grounds of purge of counter-revolutionaries and traitors and military security, the imperial garrison took over all military affairs. The old city defense army was either disbanded or the command was transferred, which formed an absolute military advantage over the local people.

And the imperial garrison would naturally not work in vain.

Regardless of whether there are imperial garrisons or not, as long as they are border forces within the empire's sphere of influence, whether they are big cities or small villages, they must pay a considerable sum of money to the garrison, and also combine "garrison expenses" including head tax to supply the army. At the same time, the imperial people also use the banner of strictly investigating traitors. At the beginning, there were only a few cases, and later gradually developed into a large-scale "investigation" of local wealthy and powerful people, which was actually extortion.

There are also private checkpoints, charging high tolls; forcibly requisitioning shops and real estate, or forcing purchases and sales at extremely unreasonable prices, and taking the opportunity to extort money...

The imperial garrison's domineering and poor military discipline led to several vicious incidents involving bloodshed almost every day in the northern controlled area.

In response to this, the "Border Defense Front" supported by the Alliance, which was vaguely opposed to the Empire-controlled areas in the south and the north, expressed a stable mood.

ask for leave

It's the last holiday of this month...

255: Carnival

After the Greenskin War ended with the victory of the Order Alliance, the entire area of ​​the Western Border Princedom was divided into two spheres of influence in the north and south.

Needless to say, the north and the south are controlled by the Alliance and the Empire respectively. The control areas of the two countries are mainly divided by the Gran River south of Zorak. The south is the "border defense line" and the north is the Empire control area - now it may also be called the "occupied area."

Compared to Augustine, who threw the interests of the border people as spoils to his greedy and vicious dogs to be torn apart at will in order to win over the generals below and squeeze their wealth for his own future, what the Alliance did in the South was much more gentle.

The alliance's system and high efficiency and clarity ensure that, firstly, the situation of "thieves assigned to the army", "servants" and "empty salaries" that is now common in the empire will not appear in the army. Secondly, after Al invested a lot of time and energy in forging it, he even "modestly" expressed it in his "autobiography":

I only did a few small things in the south. The first was to drive the greenskins back to the badlands. The second was to build a real "military-civilian integration" team that belonged to the Alliance and the people of the Alliance...

The new alliance army, which ranked second to his own achievements and even surpassed the founding of the alliance itself, was in many ways, to put it bluntly, a "poor imitation" of the Elben family's army.

But it did produce results.

On the premise of guaranteed treatment, common beliefs and common goals, and under the day-to-day preaching and dogmatic norms, the Alliance Army is indeed a "king's army" that is extremely rare, or even unique, in today's old world.

Things like "women and children competing with the king's teacher for the truth" would only happen in the League nowadays, and Al used it as an extremely brilliant example of publicity, promoting it but not deliberately pushing it.

Of course, the premise of all this is that Ai'er, the command system of the Allied Forces that practices Ai'er's will, and the believers and soldiers who are loyal to the Five Seals receive orders from the Eternal Chosen, the King, and the Commander-in-Chief that require them to "love the people as themselves" "as in the past."

If one day Al issues a cruel and cold order to a certain place, the believers who follow the Five Seals will still raise their butcher knives without hesitation and carry out the orders of those who bear the Five Seals.

But in the competition for the border territories, it was clear that Aiel had no reason to let his legion show its cruel and brutal side.

Therefore, the image of the Allied Forces in the border areas became even more brilliant in sharp contrast with the "Big Brother" from the north.

Even the stationing fees do not need to be paid, because that would be suspected of being "paid for", and instead a series of "friendly terms" covering all aspects are offered.

But on the surface, the local people stationed by the Alliance in the border areas "did not pay a penny" and "legally stationed" out of moral reasons and in response to the invitation of the Hundred-Man Group, the highest authority on the defense front.

The strict discipline of the alliance army even surpassed the performance of the city-state garrisons in the region, which were mainly composed of local people, in all aspects. This is extremely incredible.

In order to make it easier for the alliance to exert influence on the border city-states, the Judgment Hundreds, under their secret control, passed a resolution to establish a centralized army, intending to build a large army with unified command and dispatch to deal with threats from all sides. But in fact, this is to facilitate the alliance to infiltrate and control the armed forces on the border. The scattered legions are brought together, and then controlling their heads means controlling everything.

After centralization, the officers and commanders of the border army were all selected by the alliance, and a large number of Five Seals believers were sent in under the name of "military assistance". This was not considered as mixing sand, and it was directly split in half. With the passage of time, the strength of this "border army" continued to increase under the influence of the alliance. In name, the defense front could have a powerful legion with almost no additional expenditure, but in fact it completely lost the command of its own troops.

All of this was done with gentle means, like a gentle spring breeze or drizzle, moistening things silently. It was much more decent than the imperialists forcibly seizing military power and taking control of it, and then directly dismissing or even punishing those who disobeyed or looked down upon them.

In the process, the alliance's garrisons gradually replaced these border troops, which were of little use and whose greatest role was to maintain urban security in their respective places.

After the military reform, all the remaining front-line combat troops were concentrated in the Black Bay Peninsula where Mirmiden was located to receive unified command and training, while the rest were directly paid to retire and fend for themselves. The Alliance garrison firmly controlled the area, and all this did not require the border people to spend a penny extra, and they could enjoy the benefits brought to them by an "unprecedented" army.

During the Northern Expedition and construction period of Estalia, Aiel vigorously promoted the "production and construction troops" that imitated the experience of his hometown. The system of combining politics, military, agriculture, industry and commerce and integrating military and industry has weakened its presence in the Alliance. Many construction troops were disbanded after the local areas resumed normal operations and returned to normal central control and local governance. However, in the Western Border Princedom that had been ravaged by the greenskins, the system of combining construction troops and military and industry has been rejuvenated.

Has anyone on the border ever seen such a "strange" army?

Do not disturb the public, do not take bribes, do not engage in corruption, have a clean style, behave in a friendly manner, and have a friendly attitude;

Bandits, wild beasts, and robbers, as soon as the news came, the Alliance troops would wipe them out within two or three days. Thanks to the efforts of the Alliance garrison, the border security environment that was extremely chaotic after the Greenskin War was restored to an unprecedented level.

Those tall and mighty orcs in the Alliance Army, with various shapes and terrifying looks, would change out of their battle uniforms, pick up their tools, and work hard to reclaim the post-war ruins and abandoned fields as long as the order was given. Their actions eliminated the border people's misunderstanding of the aliens. In addition, due to the signing of a large number of friendly treaties between the Alliance and the defense front, trade became more frequent, and economic activities in the border areas that had been ravaged by war began to recover rapidly... This series of achievements undoubtedly made the border people sing praises to the "good second brother" in the South.

If it had ended up to this point, it would not be a big deal. But on the other hand, with the hard work of the Alliance's Propaganda Department, a large amount of information from the northern "occupied areas" flowed to all directions in various forms such as "news", "rumors" and "it is said". One after another, "horrifying" deeds were widely circulated under the instigation of the Alliance.

The free militia, under the banner of "eliminating traitors who collaborate with the greenskins", surrounded the rich area with swords, guns and torches, and extorted money from house to house in the name of search; the garrison set up checkpoints at the city gates, and those who did not pay the extra entry and exit fees were locked up on the charge of colluding with the greenskins; drunk imperial soldiers rioted in the streets, set fire to a street, and beat up the local sheriff who came to stop them...

These events are terrifying just to hear about.

It is true that El had carried out a purge in Estalia, and although it also had the purpose of cracking down on dissidents and strengthening himself, it essentially led to El finally taking control of the central government in the name of "Regent King" and completing the feat of swallowing an elephant by backdoor listing.

But in the specific implementation process and the final results, Al can also pat his chest and say that "there has not been a single subjective false case". He used the banner of "anti-counterrevolutionary and anti-traitor" to "seek personal gain", but it was absolutely reasonable and well-founded, and he was indeed contributing to the "betterment" of Estalia. Regardless of the reasons or the means, those who criticized this matter had basically no criticism even within Estalia, except for those very few exiles who were hit and whose reputation was basically ruined.

However, under Augustine's promotion, the "anti-espionage" campaign actually gave the imperial garrisons in the border areas a legal excuse to extort local people and crack down on dissidents, and it became a carnival for the imperial garrisons to legally exploit the wealth of the people in the border areas.

256: Turning Waste into Treasure

In terms of military discipline, the Imperial Army, which had grown or become corrupted during the 150 years of peace after the victory of the Great Crusade, was by no means very good.

Only the elite front-line troops, such as Rick's Guards and the Elector Legion, can be guaranteed because of their good status and treatment, but in the two larger systems of "Free Militia" and "Provincial Army", "bad record" seems to have become their common point.

The former is better off being less in normal times, because when the country is not called up, the free militia can only get a very small amount of funding from the local government of the empire, which is not even enough to support their reserve activities. They can only ensure that the militia command system is maintained at a lower supply level and then expand again in wartime.

Most people who hold the title of "Free Militia" actually have the following duties:

Farmers, workers, small citizens...

Most free militiamen may not go to the training ground a few times in their entire lives, and even whether there is a dedicated training ground for free militiamen in their local area is a problem.

Therefore, the "militia" is a group that only exists in wartime in the imperial society and its influence is not significant.

But the provincial army is different.

After several military reforms, the empire's military system has changed a lot compared to before the Holy War. Many people who don't understand it regard the "provincial army" as a continuation of the empire's special and divided electoral territories in the past - the provincial legions, but in fact this is a stereotype.

Today's empire is more centralized than in the past. The throne is hereditary in the line of the Elector Counts of Reik. Altdorf has become the capital with an unshakable position, and Reikland has become the center of the empire.

The influence of the electors on the empire has been greatly weakened. With the development of the new era, new industries and wealth have emerged and grown continuously. Altdorf has further unified the empire by strengthening its political authority. As the financial power of a country as a whole, it has brought powers such as trade, import and export back to the emperor and the Senate.

This step is the most crucial point in promoting the centralization of the empire, and its direct impact is:

The Elector's Court could no longer afford to form and maintain a large, elite local army. They could use ancient contracts and thousands of years of tradition to demand that local subjects respect their authority as rulers, but they could not demand that the army serve them when they had no money to pay them.