Iron Powder and Spellcaster

[Maplestone City]

[Municipal Office]

In the early morning, Colonel Geza Adonis arrived at the Maple Stone City Hall on time.

As one of the four "Supreme Committee members" of the "Supreme Committee for the Preparation of the State", Colonel Gesa and his "Supreme Colleagues" spent most of their daytime every day for nearly half a month. They entered the conference room of the city hall to discuss and negotiate "matters related to the preparation of the country."

Those who stayed in the city hall longer than the four supreme committee members were the coalition military officers and provincial government civilian officials who were selected to participate in the "preparatory meeting" because they were also there at night.

After all, the General Assembly of Freemen was about to convene, and many things had to be finalized as soon as possible.

But even though the "preparatory meeting" is working day and night and sleepless nights, as the opening day of the conference is approaching, there are still many specific items waiting in line for a decision.

Once you make up your mind to "rebuild the republic", many of the original things will be like old furniture in a new house. No matter how you look at it, it will be an eyesore, and you can't help but want to tear it down and start over.

Take military matters, which account for the most important proportion, as small as the official name of the army, flag logo and color of military uniforms, as well as the army's organization method, command sequence and political status. If you don't want to copy the old things, you have to change them.

According to the opinion of the "Committee of Four", since we are moving into a new era, there should be a new atmosphere.

Thousands of tasks were placed on all members of the "preparatory meeting", including not only formal matters such as "what color military uniforms to wear", but also many important contents involving the actual interests of all parties. .

For example, how do the "informal officers" under Winters connect to the system of formal officers? Which military rank should be awarded to them?

It should be noted that in the past, the officer qualified to independently command an infantry group or a cavalry squadron was at least a major.

Even the original meaning of the military rank "major" is "one with a higher status", which refers to "a professional officer who is fully responsible for commanding a small phalanx" in the large phalanx system.

However, in the Tiefeng County Army, there are more informal officers who meet this condition than can be counted on one hand.

If they were directly awarded the rank of major based on the size of the troops they actually commanded, what would Winters Montagne, who commanded them, do?

You know, the highly respected Mr. Blood Wolf, his official military rank is only "captain".

Not only the Tiefeng County Army, but the troops in the other three counties also have a serious mismatch between military ranks and positions.

In the army of various counties, it is common for second lieutenants and lieutenants to command a brigade, and it is not uncommon for commissioned officers who have never touched a gun to be directly responsible for hundreds of lives.

The old seniority promotion model can no longer adapt to the current reality.

The army of the New Republic needs a new training and promotion system to end this ridiculous situation.

In order to solve this problem, the officers at the "preparatory meeting" racked their brains and came up with a plan.

After going through many cycles of "debates - revisions - fierce debates - drastic revisions - more fierce debates - tearing it down and starting over again", we finally gained the understanding and recognition of all parties.

The specific plan is not listed here for now.

Although in the process of finalizing the final plan, representatives of the army from each county argued hard for their own interests, the negotiations were deadlocked and it was almost impossible to reach a consensus.

However, reaching consensus through negotiation rather than through weapons is itself the greatest consensus.

Decisions such as the [Title Awarding Plan], which were just passed after many twists and turns, can only be regarded as pavilions and pavilions built on this foundation.

However, "negotiation" has certainly produced many gratifying results.

There are still some beautiful and ambitious ideas that have to bow to reality.

For example, Winters strongly advocated the establishment of an all-inclusive logistics department for the New Republic's army, which could uniformly deploy various resources from ordnance to food and grass, and be fully responsible for providing all the needs of each army.

This will "liberate" each field force from the heavy collection and distribution of materials, allowing them to focus on combat and training.

At the same time, resources should be allocated more rationally to avoid recurrences like "the troops of Baishan County and Leiqun County who resisted the enemy army in Hehe Village only had a pitiful amount of iron-cased grenades, while the troops of Tiefeng County were carrying endless iron-cased grenades. Climbing a mountain" situation occurs again.

Winters also bluntly told the other three committee members that the existence of an overarching logistics department was also a constraint.

"Since it is the country's army, it should be supported by the country."

The existence of a General Logistics Department can prevent anyone from turning the country's military into their own private property.

Colonel Gesa, Colonel Skull and Lieutenant Colonel Matthias agreed with Winters and recognized the benefits that a unified logistics system can bring to the army.

However, they also frankly expressed their concerns - logistics is related to the life and death of the army, and they are not at ease if it is handed over like this.

At this stage, the three school officials still hope to continue to maintain the current model of "each county supporting the troops of each county".

As for the uneven distribution of resources due to differences in property between counties, they believe it can be solved through transactions - just like before.

Four votes (Baishan County, Leiqun County, Bianjiang County and Jinghu County) to two votes (Tiefeng County, Wargne County), Winters' proposal to establish a unified logistics system was rejected.

The idea of ​​a "unified logistics system" was rejected, and Winters could still accept and compromise.

There was only one thing that he refused to give in to no matter what.

That is where the command belongs - how should the army exist in the new republic?

This problem sounds big, but it is difficult to put it into practice. It sounds illusory, but no consensus can be reached no matter what.

…

The "Charter of the Alliance" clearly stipulates: The right to command the entire armed forces of the republics belongs to the Alliance and the participating countries.

However, there are two problems in this sentence.

Two issues that didn't seem like a problem at the time, but became big problems later on.

First, the interests of the Union and the Republic did not always coincide.

Second, there is no independent consciousness called "Union" or "Republic" in the world.

In other words, the power to command the army belongs to the Alliance and the confederate countries, but neither the "Union" nor the "Republic" can actually exercise the power of command.

In the end, the actual command of the army naturally fell back into the hands of the army, just like letting a horse bite its own reins.

Then in the name of "for the Union and the Republic", the military has the "right" to do anything.

This is the reason why the United Provinces and Plato have reached this point, and it is also a historical case that saddens many Veneta jurists.

In the early days of the Union, the power of royalists and aristocrats was deeply rooted in local areas, especially in the vast rural areas.

They were eyeing the alliance, whose influence mainly existed in the cities, and repeatedly launched armed rebellions in an attempt to strangle the new republican regime in the cradle.

However, the combat power of the Union army after Ned Smith's reforms was far beyond that of the old aristocratic army.

Therefore, it is often the case that a certain earl or baron has just raised a rebel flag and is still recruiting friends and troops, when the alliance army comes and immediately suppresses him ruthlessly.

Most of the battered royalists and old aristocrats fled to the empire and became court aristocrats and robe-wearing aristocrats who were completely dependent on imperial power.

The members who remained within the alliance also understood that resisting with force would lead to death. As a result, they relied on the influence they had accumulated in the past to join local councils and transformed themselves into "national parliamentarians" representing the broad masses of the people.

Therefore, under this complicated background, in order to prevent the old royalist aristocrats from taking control of the Grand Council and then counterattacking.

In the rigorously worded "Charter of the Alliance", there is a word about "command power".

At that time, people regarded the Union Army as the last bulwark to protect the republic.

Only the Seablue people, who had always been wary of tyrants and careerists, insisted on adding the clause that "the Grand Council exercises commanding power on behalf of the Republic and the Alliance" in the charter of the Republic of Veneta.

And today, another Veneta man found himself at the same crossroads.

…

Lieutenant Colonel Matthias Corwin, who rarely spoke out when discussing how the military should exist in the New Republic, said:

The Palatine Army should continue to retain all the rights and authority in the old republic in the new republic.

Winters could tell that Colonel Skull Mecklund did not entirely agree with Lieutenant Colonel Matthias's views.

But as an ally of Lieutenant Colonel Matthias, especially when Winters and Colonel Geisa each had two votes, and he and Lieutenant Colonel Matthias had a combined two votes, on such an "insignificant" issue, Colonel Skull could only side with Lieutenant Colonel Matthias.

After all, Colonel Scull was more anxious about when the vacancies in the Leiqun County troops would be filled than the ownership of the command.

To everyone's surprise, Winters, who had been the friendliest in previous negotiations, fiercely opposed Lieutenant Colonel Matthias's proposal.

Winters argued hard and even said some serious words:

"If we keep things as they are, we will be creating nothing more than a poor imitation of the old Plato Republic."

On the other side, Lieutenant Colonel Matthias Corwin, who rarely expressed his opposition firmly, refused to give in on this issue.

Lieutenant Colonel Matthias gave many reasons, including very convincing practical considerations.

"Look at those people outside the door, what do you see?" Lieutenant Colonel Matthias asked himself: "Soldiers! Soldiers! Soldiers! They are the reason why we can sit here. Depriving the military of their rights is tantamount to We are digging our own roots! If you insist on doing this, then your subordinates will be the first to stand up against you! The federal troops are pressing down on the border. How can we be in chaos at this time?!"

Neither side could convince the other, and neither side was willing to give in.

Faced with this situation, Geza Adonis, who held the two decisive votes, was cautious and did not express his position on the spot.

For Colonel Gesar, the rift between Winters and Lieutenant Colonel Matthias worried him more than the ownership of command.

So Colonel Geza tried very hard to play peacemaker.

Before setting off to the city hall today, Colonel Gesar communicated with Colonel Skull, hoping to persuade Winters to compromise.

In Colonel Gesa's view, Lieutenant Colonel Matthias's statement was more reasonable.

The issue of the ownership of commanding power is really too metaphysical and divorced from reality.

Adding the "Venetta Supplementary Clauses" to the Charter of the Republic will not solve the real problems; removing the "Venetta Supplementary Clauses" will not create more problems.

What's more, as a member of the army, Colonel Gesa is unwilling to have his rights and powers restricted deep down.

So after arriving at Maplestone City Hall, Colonel Gesa did not walk directly into the door, but stayed on the steps, waiting for Winters' arrival.

Not long after, the sound of horse hooves sounded in the streets, and the black carriage painted with the winged lion emblem rumbled out of the mist and appeared in Colonel Geza's sight.

The carriage stopped at the bottom of the steps, the doors were opened and the running boards were lowered.

Colonel Gesa walked down the steps with a smile. Just as he was about to say hello, he saw an unexpected face.

The colonel's expression froze, and his brows furrowed little by little: "Kay Morland, why are you... here?"

"Colonel Gesar Adonis." Kai Morland stepped out of the carriage and forced a smile: "Long time no see."

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