Ch.167Imperial Way Faction

Britain and France have supported Huey Long.

Would MacArthur actually like Britain and France? If it were me, I’d be quite upset.

“Since the world’s top two colonial empires have supported Huey Long’s government, we should clearly back MacArthur as the winner and show our benevolence. Send the Okhrana to the West. They should monitor the situation, send information to MacArthur, or create justification for military intervention.”

Whether we use Trotsky or create a situation where MacArthur has no choice but to accept our help, MacArthur would be pleased either way.

As if Russia were the only one taking MacArthur’s side.

This way, when Britain and France are in trouble, America might not help them.

“I will dispatch the Okhrana to the West as well.”

“How far are you considering military support?”

“That depends on the situation. If MacArthur is in danger and needs our help, wouldn’t we need to mobilize troops? The military should handle that part.”

Britain and France will likely support Huey Long’s government too.

But would they send troops directly like us?

Moreover, our troops are the elite of the elite. Even at this moment, they’re training as if at war, preparing for a potential conflict with Germany.

With this situation, we can sell our favor to America, extract money, and take Alaska.

It’s like a field of flowers in my mind.

As long as we create clear justification for intervention, it’s not a bad plan.

Especially since MacArthur’s military government desperately needs external support more than anything.

“This is getting serious.”

“Yes. We must prevent the West from falling to communism. Ending the civil war quickly requires overwhelming force from the beginning.”

Dragging out a civil war isn’t good.

What if Japan goes even more insane and targets the American mainland?

Oh my. That would be terrible.

How large is the Japanese navy now? Perhaps we should support China earlier.

Still.

We need to consider the worst-case scenario for America.

What if, by some remote chance, America becomes irreparably damaged?

And then Japan starts shouting about “evil Anglo-Americans” and actually targets American territory?

If America is in a miserable state, wouldn’t even Yamamoto Isoroku, who opposed war with America, agree to it?

Japan is definitely the problem.

“What’s the situation with Japan?”

“In Japan, a man named Ishiwara Kanji is loudly advocating for expansion into China to achieve harmony among the five races.”

Harmony among five races, huh. That man, even without the Manchurian Incident…

Since the South Manchuria Railway exists, I suppose the slogan was bound to emerge eventually.

But in reality, that slogan is just a pretext, and the Japanese end up being nothing more than oppressors.

I never expected Ishiwara Kanji would bring that up.

Are they starting to set things in motion for expansion into Central China?

From the Japanese perspective, they could interpret “harmony among five races” differently.

Like saying, “To achieve harmony among five races, let’s liberate the divided Han Chinese!” Something like that.

It’s not impossible.

Well, they also have the Anti-Comintern Pact as a pretext. The real question is how Japan views this American civil war.

“What’s the reaction?”

“With America facing civil war, and Britain and France in their current state, support for Ishiwara Kanji’s views is growing.”

I see. So they’re definitely considering expansion into China because of the American civil war.

Ishiwara Kanji was certainly a figure who influenced the Imperial Way Faction along with Kita Ikki.

Then, could the Imperial Way Faction gain dominance here?

Unlike the Control Faction that would later go berserk, the Imperial Way Faction was pro-Western, so it’s uncertain what might happen.

Perhaps there won’t be war, unlike with the Control Faction. Should we secretly support the Control Faction then?

“What kind of person is this Ishiwara Kanji at this point?”

“He’s someone who has been influenced by Your Majesty.”

“By me?”

“Yes. The Okhrana investigated him as one of Japan’s future key figures. He bought Your Majesty’s book ‘My War,’ and we suspect he was influenced when he came to Russia for the renewal of the Manchurian agreement.”

He was influenced by me. What does that mean?

“And?”

“He’s advocating that the Japanese Emperor should personally lead the army to conquer China. A direct command.”

That confirms it. Ishiwara Kanji was influenced by me.

I knew there had been talk about the Emperor leading the invasion of China, but…

Direct command is a different story.

I thought it was just talk, but he’s seriously proposing direct command?

The modern battlefield is filled with bullets, bombs, aerial bombardment, and more. The Emperor leading directly?

Hmm. He must be insane.

Is that side going to go berserk in its own way?

“While advocating pro-Russian and anti-Western policies, he doesn’t hesitate to say that Japan and Russia should together bring communist forces and colonial empires to their knees in the final world war.”

“Honestly, that doesn’t seem realistic, does it?”

Even if we consider the communist forces…

How can he advocate being pro-Western while targeting colonial empires?

Doesn’t he realize those Western countries are colonial empires? The Imperial Way Faction has changed significantly from its original history.

“Your Majesty’s work ‘My War’ has influenced Japanese society, so they might at least attempt such unrealistic endeavors.”

This is crazy.

Why would that influence Japanese society? Are they insane?

Surely Japan isn’t going berserk because of me?

No, seriously, it seems likely. America is in its current state because of me too.

If I had suppressed the KFC earlier, would Franklin Roosevelt have died?

“Is it like, ‘If the Russian Empress could do it, why couldn’t His Majesty the Emperor of Japan!’ That kind of thing?”

I can see where this is going.

Especially since Japan won the war against Russia.

Even though we’re allies now, with that historical record, they wouldn’t want only the Russian Empress to be so prominent.

“Yes. Moreover, even with direct command, couldn’t he just hold the baton at the front and stay back? Even now, many people outside Japan consider Your Majesty’s direct involvement on the battlefield as deification.”

I suspected as much. Boris Savinkov’s assessment means the Okhrana has already reported everything.

Recently, the Okhrana has spread worldwide, and Boris Savinkov was in charge of Japan.

Honestly, who would trust tanghulu?

“Furthermore, if Japan advances into Central China, they’ll target Beijing. The military there consists of troops from various warlords, so the military structure is disorganized. If Japan takes the Forbidden City, where there’s nominally an emperor, what then?”

Mikhail Drozdovsky made a quite plausible point.

Right. I hadn’t thought of that.

If Ishiwara Kanji mentioned direct command after harmony among five races, he might be thinking of occupying the Forbidden City and forcing the Emperor to surrender.

If they do that, Hirohito’s authority would be immense.

“The position of the Central Plains Emperor has symbolic significance in East Asia.”

“We can’t lose either! Your Majesty is the Great Khan of the steppes! We should claim the Central Plains Emperor’s position first!”

Ungern always brings this up. No matter what, that’s not right. He’s been influenced by Semyonov too.

I’m not even an East Asian royal family.

Even if Mongolia somehow forcibly accepted me as the Great Khan, this is too much.

“Let’s set that aside. If Japan moves in that direction, it’s good for us. At least they won’t be thinking about advancing into America.”

“But isn’t the distance between them and America not that far?”

“We shouldn’t underestimate their expansionist desires. We must consider even the slightest possibility.”

America is capable of waging civil war.

Although war hasn’t broken out yet, around the time of the original history’s Sino-Japanese War, America will also be engaged in civil war.

We need to make sure Japan expands into China.

“We need to make them expand into China. Let’s have our Okhrana agents in Japan create that kind of atmosphere.”

Many Russians are in Japan for business reasons.

It’s not difficult for the Okhrana to imitate these businessmen or Russians living in Japan.

They just need to create an atmosphere suggesting that Japan’s expansion into China would be beneficial.

“Yes.”

Even if Japan doesn’t expand, the American West will eventually face a choice.

We must prevent the West from being engulfed in civil war.

If it falls to communism, the civil war will grow larger. Let’s monitor the situation here and prepare for intervention, ready to push in at any time.

Today’s State Duma session ended like this.

Although the main topic was America, the internal division of the “heavenly dynasty” is an important issue.

Well, that’s settled.

Not long after, I received good news from Maria.

“Your Majesty. The Romanov Aviation Research Institute has developed a jet engine.”

“A jet engine?”

“Yes. Additionally, the Hispano company has developed an aircraft cannon.”

“That’s excellent news.”

Jet engines and aircraft cannons. At least with the jet engine, we’re ahead of other countries.

In America’s current dire situation, weapons development is like rain during a drought.

We’ll produce fighter aircraft with Hispano-Suiza’s weapons and engines, and jet fighters with the jet engines.

That should be sufficiently threatening.

Now, I need to meet Beria.

“Your Majesty! Finally! I’ve developed the jet engine that will be responsible for Russia’s future aircraft!”

Beria, whom I haven’t seen in a while, had dark circles extending to the bottom of his cheeks.

Has he been working that hard on the engine?

Even though he just built it based on the blueprints.

Still, I can understand that much.

Despite appearances, I’m a kind Tsar.

Even with blueprints, you can’t build something if you’re not smart.

From that perspective, Beria could be seen as a multipurpose consumable machine.

“Put that jet engine in an aircraft.”

“Pardon?”

“What’s there to pardon? You’ve made a jet engine, so you should put it in an aircraft. Don’t you think?”

If you’ve developed a jet engine, you should also make a fighter.

Looking at Beria’s stupid face makes me lose energy.

If I order something, it should be done properly. Right?

“Y-yes, of course.”

Don’t worry. I won’t just give orders.

People should be rewarded for their work.

I have many ways to handle someone like Beria.

“If you do well with this, I’ll give you a defense industry company. Or I could find you a position in the Interior Ministry.”

I didn’t assign him the jet engine for nothing.

He’s been working hard within the Okhrana, right?

I was planning to draw a line at an appropriate point before he exerts too much influence.

“Thank you, Your Majesty!”

There’s nothing to thank me for. The situation could change later.

Beria is definitely capable, but there’s something suspicious about him.

Considering what he did in the original history, it’s clear he’ll be hated from all sides.

He might later use my name as a shield for his misdeeds.

For now, I’ll put shackles on him, and later let him either self-destruct or live comfortably in a suitable position. That’s the plan.

Even if he was a communist in the original history, he isn’t now. I can show that much mercy.

We should probably introduce jet fighters before World War II.

But I think we’ll mostly use what we’ve been developing.

“Your Majesty. I know it’s impertinent, but may I ask something?”

“What is it?”

If you know it’s impertinent, you shouldn’t ask. You speak well.

“How do you keep moving forward like a horse that only looks ahead, without rest? Even now, communist Germany couldn’t defeat us.”

That’s truly an impertinent question.

Who does Beria think he is? As a former communist, he should just do as I say.

Well, I’ll answer anyway.

I should convey some of my deeper thoughts to Beria so he’ll work harder.

“You never know what might happen. What if suddenly someone more brilliant than our weapons developers emerges in communist Germany and creates weapons to slaughter us? We can’t be complacent.”

That’s not wrong.

As I’ve said before, even if the original history’s German technicians fled or went to other countries during the communist revolution, a hidden genius could emerge from the shadows.

That’s what I always think about.

In alternate history novels, the protagonist always achieves great success by following the original history with future knowledge. But I’ve changed too much for that to be possible.

I need to use all the knowledge I have.

“Indeed, that’s true.”

Beria looks at me with an expression struggling with emotion.

Don’t make that face and pretend to be moved.

Seriously, why does this guy give me the impression of a criminal?

“Well then.”

Suddenly, I gazed far to the east, as if looking at distant mountains.

I hope Japan doesn’t target America.