Henry Alfonso.
The greatest commander on the continent, a hero who had saved his nation, a man possessed of overwhelming martial might and flawless character besides.
And the ones he served were an old king with one foot in the grave, and a young crown prince who had rushed to the front, burning with ambition to cement his position as heir.
The moment I heard that arrangement, two great heroes I had read about in the history of my previous life overlapped in my mind.
Admiral Yi Sun-sin, the saintly hero of Joseon and the strongest naval commander in history.
And Yuan Chonghuan, the famed general of the late Ming dynasty.
Both were geniuses who had devoted everything they had to saving their homelands from the brink of ruin.
But their overwhelming achievements, which only grew larger beyond measure, and the support they received from the people instead pricked at the bitter inferiority complexes of incompetent monarchs and treacherous ministers.
In the end, they were caught up in the enemy’s meticulous schemes of estrangement and slander from within, and had to endure their sovereigns’ suspicion.
Admiral Yi Sun-sin, by a stroke of immense fortune, served a King Seonjo who, though gloomy and deeply suspicious, was not stupid, and since there were also some forces supporting him, he returned after serving in the ranks without title, defended his homeland at the battles of Myeongnyang and Noryang, and met a heroic death.
Yuan Chonghuan, however, was ultimately executed horribly at Emperor Chongzhen’s hands, and with his loss, Ming was eventually trampled to a miserable end beneath the hooves of Later Jin.
General Alfonso must become Yuan Chonghuan.
For my sake, and for all our sakes.
I placed my interlaced hands on the dining table and slowly opened my mouth.
“I happen to be rather fond of history.”
At my abrupt opening, the generals’ gazes gathered on me.
I smiled lightly and continued.
“Since ancient times, the monarch of a nation must be the most outstanding and excellent person in that nation. If he is not, then an incompetent monarch inevitably contracts the fatal disease of constantly keeping in check and suspecting subordinates who are better and more perfect than himself. I suspect His Majesty the Emperor constantly devotes himself to scholarship and tempers himself precisely because he understands that well.”
“……”
“Virtues such as integrity and noble character, in particular, may be objects of respect to soldiers and commoners, but from a monarch’s perspective, when looking upon such a perfect subject, they instead become suspicious and frightening traits. A man without flaws is impossible to read.”
I shrugged and added as if joking.
“So if I later become a fine subject of the Empire, I intend to live somewhat corruptly on purpose. I’ll secretly scrape together a generous fortune, drink expensive liquor every day, keep several women……”
Zing—
At that moment, the violet eyes of Victoria, who was sitting beside me, flashed toward my face.
Killing intent swept up my spine.
“…I’ll leave women out. I’ll be satisfied with liquor and wealth. Anyway!”
I gave a timid cough and quickly changed course.
“The point is that it is safer for a subject to live while showing an appropriate amount of greed and shortcomings, so that the monarch does not grow suspicious. You intentionally give him flaws he can seize upon and use to cut you down at any time. But what about this General Henry Alfonso?”
I tapped the portrait the staff officer had set down.
“A flawless hero far superior to his monarch. Absolute support from soldiers and commoners. The perfect conditions to replace the monarch and take the throne himself whenever he so wishes. Isn’t it almost strange that his head is still attached to his neck even now? On top of that, this time, they say the young crown prince, desperate to win glory, has personally deigned to appear on the front.”
The generals’ eyes began to waver faintly.
“What we must do is clear. Win a major victory on that plain ahead of the siege. And what is far more important than that…… is to steadily lay the groundwork, even before the war begins in earnest, to make the Laurent royal family constantly suspect and fear Alfonso.”
A cold, deep smile spread across my lips.
“In the end, we make them kill that hero with their own lord’s hands, not ours.”
At my declaration, a silence as if cold water had been poured over the room settled upon the dining hall.
Not stabbing the enemy’s heart, but sickening the enemy’s brain so that he digs out his own heart.
That was the operation I was proposing.
“As for the person in overall charge of this operation, I will volunteer myself, since I was the one who came up with the idea.”
I turned my head toward Victoria.
Victoria, who had been listening quietly to my explanation, nodded heavily, unable to hide her satisfaction.
“Very well. I trust your insight. I shall entrust you with all military authority concerning this operation.”
“I will need to go once as an envoy for this. Would that be all right?”
“…I am reluctant to send you, but Laurent and we do have a history of exchanging envoys before and after wars… Well, I suppose it cannot be helped. I permit it.”
“I’ll bring this up when the time comes, but if I say I’m going as an envoy, please pretend to stop me once. That way, it will give the impression that I’m entering the enemy camp without any scheme.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Just then, General Carl, who had been utterly absorbed in the discussion, could not contain his curiosity and leaned forward.
“It is a remarkable insight, Lord Harper, but how do you intend to draw up the concrete plan? At least give us a rough outline.”
“For now, the specific details will have to be adjusted on site while watching their reactions…… but the basic direction we must prepare immediately is this.”
I organized the tactics in my head for a moment, then began listing them off while folding my fingers one by one.
“First. When envoys go back and forth at the front or we hold talks, we only observe the bare minimum of formal courtesy toward the crown prince, who is the actual royal. In contrast, toward General Alfonso, we show courtesy and heap praise on him as though we were addressing a king, while hinting that he is, in effect, Laurent’s true leader.”
“Oho.”
“This part is easy. He truly is an incredible person, after all! There’s no need for empty flattery. We simply need to state the facts as they are.”
“That is true. Just reciting his military achievements would be enough to fill a book.”
“Second. When battle breaks out, we reduce the firepower directed at the direct units under General Alfonso and avoid inflicting casualties as much as possible. On the other hand, we grit our teeth and somehow deal devastating blows to the royal guard units led by the crown prince, piling up casualties.”
My voice grew lower and drier.
“When we encounter General Alfonso’s units, we fight halfheartedly and take it easy. When we see the crown prince’s banner, we charge like demons and kill them. If battles repeat like that, what will the soldiers of the Laurent Kingdom think? Ah, if I’m under the crown prince, I die; if I’m under General Alfonso, I live—won’t they feel that way? We make the soldiers themselves become desperate to leave the crown prince’s command and enter General Alfonso’s ranks by any means.”
“The moment the soldiers start saying that, from a monarch’s position, he will have no choice but to grow suspicious, whether he likes it or not.”
General Bain let out a horrified groan.
“Lastly.”
I folded my final finger and drove in the wedge.
“The secret letters we spread to entice enemy commanders, or conditions such as promises of titles, must be focused not on the Laurent royal family but solely on Henry Alfonso as an individual. Even if he burns the secret letters without reading them, all we need is for the rumor to reach the crown prince’s ears that the Empire promised Alfonso the throne.”
“Then to the Laurent royal family…”
“We promise a dukedom or grand dukedom. The point is that the title promised to General Alfonso must be greater than the promise made to the royal family.”
When I finished speaking, only silence settled over the conference room where the military leadership had gathered.
The Empire may have conquered places all over the continent until now by relying on its outstanding martial strength and dyeing them in blood, but that had nothing to do with me.
My weapons were my head and my three-inch tongue.
I could not go out to war and swing a sword, but I could devise an atrocious and insidious scheme that used a hero’s devotion and loyalty against him to drive him toward a miserable ruin.
“…Good heavens.”
The veteran generals who had survived a hundred battles merely stared at me with appalled eyes.
In that suffocating silence, Victoria, who had been staring intently at me with her chin propped on her hand, suddenly tossed out a remark.
“……If the crown prince of the Laurent Kingdom had been someone like you.”
She shook her head and clicked her tongue, looking slightly sickened.
“My head would already be displayed on the castle wall. Father would have told me to take my own life long ago.”
“But I am on Your Highness’s side, am I not?”
“That is why I say it is fortunate. I’m glad the Sterling Kingdom surrendered before we even fought. If you had… Ah, let’s not even speak of it.”