The Crown Prince desperately wanted Hu Hao to return to the Imperial Capital and take command of a primary defensive line, thereby securing at least two of the Eastern Spirit Empire's fronts. However, the Emperor countered that Hu Hao's deep-seated loyalty to his men made his return highly unlikely.
"Imperial Father, look at the circumstances! The Empire is on the verge of total collapse! Hu Hao must prioritize his duty to the nation over his personal loyalty to his conscripts! Imperial Father, I implore you: speak with Hu Hao personally! Order him to abandon those raw recruits and redeploy to the eastern or western front immediately!" the Crown Prince pleaded, standing up and bowing deeply.
The Emperor's expression darkened noticeably.
The Crown Prince remained bowed for a long moment. Hearing no response, he didn't dare raise his head to look at his father.
"Imperial Father, the Empire might truly fall! I swear to you, I am not proposing this for my own political gain, and certainly not to benefit the Grand Marshal! As you said yourself, the Grand Marshal can be replaced, but can the throne be replaced?! Imperial Father, my intentions are purely for the good of the realm!" the Crown Prince urged, still maintaining his bow.
"And I suppose your next request will be for me to immediately approve that massive backlog of general officer promotions and emergency appointments?" the Emperor asked coldly, looking down at his son.
"Yes, Imperial Father," the Crown Prince admitted, his head still bowed.
BANG!
"FOOL!" the Emperor slammed his hand onto the desk and shot to his feet, glaring fiercely at the Crown Prince.
The Crown Prince snapped his head up in shock, staring at his father in complete bewilderment. The Emperor clasped his hands behind his back and began pacing the study furiously, jabbing a finger toward his son mid-stride, too angry to form words. He continued to pace, his face flushed.
"Imperial Father... why am I a fool? Everything I propose is for the survival of the Empire!" the Crown Prince defended himself, thoroughly confused.
"Do you think I am blind to Hu Hao's brilliance?! Do you think I don't know the army desperately needs to expand?! Do you think I don't realize our defensive lines must be stabilized?!" the Emperor fired off three questions in rapid succession.
"If Imperial Father knows all this, then why have you refused to act?!" the Crown Prince demanded respectfully but firmly.
"Act?! Ha!" the Emperor laughed bitterly, a sound utterly devoid of mirth, before collapsing back into his chair, looking suddenly very old and defeated.
"Imperial Father... what is it? What are you keeping from me?" the Crown Prince asked, his confusion morphing into deep concern.
"The Northern Combat Zone, the Northwest Combat Zone, and the Northeast Combat Zone... the commanders there are all illegally expanding their private armies. Did you know that?" the Emperor asked quietly, fixing his gaze on the Crown Prince.
"What?! Illegal expansion?! They wouldn't dare!" the Crown Prince gasped in shock.
"What wouldn't they dare? Even your esteemed father-in-law has secretly raised three entirely unapproved corps! And Ma Zhenling has raised two! They think I am blind!" the Emperor stated flatly.
"They... what are they planning?!" the Crown Prince asked, a cold knot forming in his stomach.
"What do you think?" the Emperor countered, his eyes hard.
"Then... what about Jiang Kai? And the other Combat Zone Commanders?" the Crown Prince asked nervously.
"Jiang Kai hasn't... yet. I cannot speak for the future. As for the others... they've sacrificed too many generals and lost too many battles. Even if they wanted to expand, they couldn't recruit enough men unless they resorted to forced conscription," the Emperor explained.
"Then... then why can't we recall Hu Hao? Why is that so impossible?" the Crown Prince pressed, still failing to grasp the full picture.
"Sigh," the Emperor sighed heavily, gesturing for the Crown Prince to sit. The Crown Prince obeyed slowly.
"Imperial Father?" the Crown Prince prompted after a minute of tense silence.
"I staged Hu Hao in Late City specifically as a failsafe for you. Whether he ultimately proves useful or not, I cannot say. But I had to make that arrangement!
"If I recall Hu Hao now, and he discovers that the other Combat Zone Commanders are illegally expanding their private armies... what do you think he will do? He will undoubtedly expand his own!
"He already has a history of it, and I chose not to punish him! He's probably still expanding right now! I authorized him for a Group Army of 400,000 men, but he might already have 600,000, or even 800,000! And I will still not punish him!
"I won't even ask him about it! I will tolerate his ambition!" the Emperor declared, his voice filled with a complex mixture of resignation and calculated intent.
"I... I still don't understand," the Crown Prince admitted, completely lost.
"The other Combat Zone Commanders, including the Grand Marshal and Ma Zhenling... their illegal expansions are not for the defense of the Empire! They are for their own preservation!
"Hu Hao's expansion, while undeniably self-serving, is still ultimately directed at the Empire's enemies! He dares to fight the Allied forces! He slaughters them! He fights for the Empire!
"The aristocrats, however, are preparing to protect themselves. They might even be preparing to seize my throne! Of course, they wouldn't dare strike while I still draw breath, while the Imperial Guard remains loyal, and while the people still support the Crown. But what happens if our defensive lines shatter? What happens if the Allied forces breach the Imperial Capital?" the Emperor asked, leaning forward.
"They... they will become warlords. They will carve out their own fiefdoms," the Crown Prince realized with dawning horror.
"Exactly! And when that happens, who among them will offer sanctuary to the Royal Family? Will your father-in-law? Will Ma Zhenling?" the Emperor challenged him.
"They... they probably wouldn't. They wouldn't dare risk it! If they sheltered us, the Allied forces would focus their wrath entirely on them!" the Crown Prince said, a cold sweat breaking out on his forehead.
"But Hu Hao would dare!" the Emperor stated with absolute certainty.
"What?!" the Crown Prince was stunned.
"Hu Hao would dare to shelter us! Why? Because the Allied coalition will never forgive him anyway! He has slaughtered too many of their elite troops! By offering us sanctuary, he gains nothing but the absolute loyalty and support of the common people!" the Emperor explained his ruthless, desperate logic.
"But... but can't we just hold the line? Is there truly no hope of defending the Empire?!" the Crown Prince pleaded.
"Hold the line? With what?! Are we to just pile corpses until the enemy runs out of bullets? How many veteran soldiers do we have left?! Can we train raw recruits fast enough?! Even if we made Hu Hao the Grand Marshal and gave him command of the entire military, it wouldn't change the inevitable!
"The Empire will fall. It is a certainty. Initially, I hoped the great aristocratic families would unite and help the Royal Family weather this storm. But when my intelligence network reported their illegal, private conscriptions... I knew they had abandoned the Empire. We cannot rely on them.
"Our only remaining hopes are Jiang Kai and Hu Hao. Before the rainy season ends, you must take the younger members of the Royal Family and flee to Jiang Kai's headquarters. Jiang Kai and Hu Hao are essentially a single political entity now. If the opportunity arises, have Jiang Kai escort you all to Hu Hao's territory in Late City.
"Tell Hu Hao... tell him that if he guarantees the physical survival of the Royal Family, we will abdicate the throne to him!" the Emperor commanded, his voice trembling slightly with the weight of his decision.
"WHAT?!" the Crown Prince screamed, leaping to his feet in absolute shock.
"Sigh. My son... the Eastern Spirit Empire is doomed. And not just us... every single nation in the Central Region will fall. Not a single one will survive this.
"Look at this. This is the latest intelligence regarding the Allied coalition. Read it. You will understand why the true apocalypse begins the moment the rainy season ends," the Emperor said, pulling a classified dossier from his drawer and handing it to the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince took it numbly and flipped it open.
"What... sixty-nine nations?! This... this can't be real! Imperial Father?!" the Crown Prince gasped, staring at the list of invading nations.
"Nations from all four of the other domains have joined the coalition. And they are all major powers with massive populations and massive militaries! Do you honestly believe our Eastern Spirit Empire, or even the combined might of the entire Central Region, can withstand an invasion of this magnitude?" the Emperor asked bleakly.
"Then... then why don't the nations of the Central Region unite?!" the Crown Prince demanded desperately.
"Unite? Ha! Easy to say. The landlocked nations in the heart of the Central Region refuse to believe the invasion will ever reach them. And the coastal nations... they are already being overrun. They can barely defend themselves, let alone coordinate a unified defense! How can we possibly unite?" the Emperor scoffed.
"Imperial Father... how did it come to this?" the Crown Prince asked, tears welling in his eyes.
"Sigh. This is not your fault, my son. And perhaps it is not entirely mine either. I don't know why this burden has fallen upon us. I don't know why we must be the ones to oversee the death of our Empire," the Emperor said, a profound sorrow etched into his features. The Crown Prince sank back into his chair in stunned silence.
"My son... this is why I cannot approve those officer promotions. If I open the floodgates now, I am simply handing the aristocratic warlords more generals, which gives them the legal justification to expand their private armies even further!
"And here... read this report as well," the Emperor handed him another, thinner dossier. The Crown Prince took it with trembling hands.
"What is this?"
"Transcripts of communications between the patriarchs of the great aristocratic families and the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces! And this is likely only a fraction of what is actually happening!" the Emperor revealed bitterly.
"WHAT?!" The Crown Prince ripped the dossier open. The first names he saw were the Grand Marshal, Ma Zhenling, several high-ranking generals from the Ministry of Defense, and... the Commanders of the three Northern Combat Zones!
"Imperial Father... is this authentic?!" the Crown Prince asked, horrified.
The Emperor nodded slowly. "My intelligence network has deeply penetrated the households of every Lieutenant General and above in the capital. In some cases, my agents have become their most trusted confidants. These reports have been streaming in for weeks.
"They are all negotiating with Vostok. They are offering to open their defensive sectors and allow the Allied forces to march through unopposed... in exchange for guarantees that their families, their wealth, and their private lands will be spared! The three Northern Combat Zone Commanders have already finalized their deals!
"The commanders on the eastern and western fronts haven't resorted to treason yet simply because they are too busy trying to survive the daily meat grinder. As for Jiang Kai... he harbors a blood feud with the Allied forces. And Hu Hao... he has slaughtered far too many of their elite troops; they would never accept his surrender anyway.
"So tell me, my son... tell me! Knowing all of this, how could I possibly recall Hu Hao to the capital?! How could I possibly authorize those aristocratic traitors to expand their armies?!
"I HATE THIS!
"I hate that I neglected the military education of the Royal Princes! If I had groomed them properly, we might have had our own loyal, capable generals to hold the line! But now, when the Empire is burning and I desperately need talent, I have no one! No one!
"Your Second Brother... he plays the valiant warrior, but he is an incompetent fool! Every 'victory' he claims was orchestrated by Ma Zhenling! Does he think I am blind?!
"Your Fourth Brother... he possesses true talent. But I never intended for him to hold military power; I was saving him to be your premier administrator! I ruined his potential!
"And you... as the Crown Prince, tradition forbade you from ever leading troops into battle!
"I... I am the one to blame! I failed to cultivate the talent this Empire needs to survive!" the Emperor wept, burying his face in his hands, completely overwhelmed by regret and despair.
(End of Chapter)