Ch.172Anastasia Defense Line

* * *

Yes. That seems like the best approach.

I twirled my hair around my finger as I began to speak.

“We’ll provide weapons and cooperate diligently to prevent the spread of communism. Let’s go with that.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to directly mention military intervention?”

“Wouldn’t that make our intentions too obvious? MacArthur might become suspicious of us. We could add something about wanting to mercilessly crush communists because of the Bolsheviks, but if we want to get Alaska back, we need to lay some groundwork.”

Bluntly saying “We’re prepared to intervene militarily to capture communists in America!” versus—

“We’re prepared to support America in various ways to help capture communists within the United States!”

Between these two, the latter sounds cleaner and better for reclaiming Alaska, doesn’t it?

Being too direct about intervention and supporting MacArthur doesn’t seem right.

Then I looked at the next item on the agenda.

It was about Japanese exchange students.

“Is Japan sending exchange students?”

“Yes. The Japanese side proposed it as their favorable impression of Russia has increased.”

“That’s not bad. Accept them as long as we’re not the ones going there.”

As long as we’re not sending our people, it shouldn’t be a problem.

Even if Russians went to Japan, they wouldn’t be influenced by Japanese ideology, but I’m not comfortable sending Russians to the Japanese mainland when it might become a battlefield.

“Also, a pro-Russian organization has formed in Japan.”

“Isn’t the Imperial Way Faction already pro-Russian?”

A separate pro-Russian organization has formed?

The unnecessary formation of a pro-Russian faction means they want something from Russia.

Even if they call themselves pro-Russian, considering how reckless they can be, they’re probably imagining that Russia will support their absurd ambitions.

“Apart from that, there’s an organization formed among the younger Japanese generation called ‘Anadan’ that worships Your Majesty.”

What.

My hands and feet are trembling, and my head is buzzing.

Is this really possible in reality?

Well, I suppose similar organizations exist in various countries, just not focused on me.

“Is Anadan derived from my name, Anastasia?”

“Yes.”

In other words, it’s basically my fan club in Japan.

To think such a thing would emerge in this era. I know fan clubs exist in this period, but is it acceptable to worship the Tsarina in Japan, a country that reveres the Emperor?

Wait, are there actually otaku in this era?

And for a real-life person?

“It’s extremely disrespectful and bizarre to even mention, but some people even call you ‘Ana-chan.'”

I almost want to give up thinking about this.

But is it really my concern?

The more the Japanese engage in such foolishness, the more Japan will deteriorate in this timeline.

Is that why they mentioned exchange students?

Because pro-Russian factions are rising in Japan?

Either way, it doesn’t matter. There’s no need for us to step in and crush something that formed naturally.

“Let’s leave them be. They’ll disappear on their own when war breaks out anyway. It doesn’t matter what the Japanese worship internally. Interfering would be meddling in their internal affairs, which would be embarrassing for both sides.”

That’s the sensible approach. If we directly told the Japanese government to disband Anadan, they’d be bewildered.

The Japanese government probably already views Anadan as a thorn in their side.

After all, in the Japanese archipelago where only their Emperor reigns supreme, suddenly people are worshipping a white female ruler in various ways.

It would be awkward if Russia demanded they disband it.

“Yes, we’ll leave them alone then.”

No, wait. Hold on.

Is it really right to just ignore this?

I’m viewing Anadan through a modern lens as something otaku-like. But in this era, Anadan might truly be an organization that worships me instead of the Emperor.

Even if that’s not the case, there’s a reason to support them.

“Ah, wait. I just thought of a good idea.”

“Yes? What kind of good idea?”

“Support Anadan covertly.”

This isn’t simply an anime character fan club or something similar.

Regardless of whether it’s fan admiration or something else, the fact remains that there’s a group in Japan that praises me.

What will happen to them when Japan goes berserk?

Or we should prepare for when Japan might spout nonsense about attacking Russia.

Didn’t historical Japan use the absurd method of expanding their front lines to extract more resources?

They might try to take advantage when Russia is tied up in a European war.

Especially the Imperial Way Faction led by Ishiwara Kanji. This isn’t just an ordinary Imperial Way Faction from the start.

They’re unpredictable madmen.

While dealing with them might be interesting, we should create safeguards.

“Ahem. Anadan, you say?”

“Seriously, beyond just being a Japanese organization that likes me, we should help them expand their influence.”

I certainly don’t want to hear something like “Japanese otaku culture has its origins in Tsarina Anastasia’s ‘My War'” on Wikipedia someday.

So supporting them is the right move.

I need to transform them into something entirely different.

Filling Anadan with Japanese people who study in Russia and become pro-Russian would be a good approach.

“Would they be useful?”

“Let’s think positively. Anadan members might come as exchange students, and students who come to study will likely become pro-Russian. If they can make their voices heard in Japan, it could benefit us in the future. Let’s investigate properly and see if they’re worth supporting.”

At least it’s better than nothing, right?

They won’t be eating away at Russia but at Japan. The more they grow, the better for us.

We just need to make sure no one later claims we cultivated them.

For that reason, we should casually dismiss any such accusations if they arise.

“Understood.”

“And there’s someone named Kita Ikki in the Imperial Way Faction, right? Have you looked into his ideology?”

I’ve only heard that Kita Ikki is part of the Imperial Way Faction.

What if he’s influenced by Ishiwara Kanji’s ideology? We should learn about Kita Ikki with that in mind.

Ishiwara Kanji isn’t normal either, but as long as he doesn’t give the impression of being hostile to Russia, we can handle him.

Kita Ikki is an unpredictable person.

So we need to know about him to prepare for any contingency.

“He spoke about upholding the Emperor and rebuilding the nation through a new restoration.”

So he’s thinking of achieving a Showa Restoration.

Kita Ikki wants to put the Emperor at the forefront while leading Japan from behind like a shadow master.

It’s similar to the constitutional monarchy of the Control Faction but subtly different.

It seems like he’s moving toward absolute monarchy, but he’s actually just borrowing the Emperor’s name to conduct politics independently.

This will clearly diminish the Emperor’s authority.

What if Anadan steps in and influences the Imperial Way Faction in this situation?

If after the war, Anadan—or more simply, a pro-Russian faction—takes power, that would be good for us.

We should also maintain our relationship with Mutaguchi Renya.

Since Mutaguchi Renya is the Governor-General of Southern Manchuria, if we get close to him, he’ll collapse immediately after we backstab him.

“Hmm, a new restoration. Hmm.”

“Should we support Kita Ikki as well?”

Supporting Kita Ikki would make it easier for the Imperial Way Faction to take power.

For a brief moment, I hesitated about supporting the Imperial Way Faction, but then shook my head.

No. A man who uses a monarch as a front to fulfill his ideals wouldn’t welcome support from Russia, where the entire population is essentially part of the Anastasia fan club.

Besides, I don’t have enough resources to support everyone.

Spain is enough.

Japan already has high goodwill toward Russia, enough for Anadan to form. With this level of goodwill, the Imperial Way Faction should easily take power without our effort.

“No, that won’t be necessary.”

I should start saving money now.

With recent high expenditures, I need to refill my wallet.

First, I’ll support MacArthur to extract money along with Alaska.

If the Spanish Civil War breaks out, I should cleverly exploit it. When the civil war starts, I’ll provide weapons to the Republicans while extracting gold.

On the other hand, I could send volunteers to the Falange.

“We need to prepare for when the Spanish Civil War breaks out.”

“The Spanish Civil War and the American Civil War too. The world is full of civil wars. Aren’t we the only peaceful country in the world?”

That’s true.

Britain has unstable colonies and lingering effects from the Great Depression. Germany has revolution problems. America is on the eve of civil war, and Spain is facing civil war.

Turkey has been beaten by the great powers for a while, and well, Russia also experienced civil war.

The important thing is that we rose up after experiencing that civil war.

“We should prepare to provide weapons to the Falange.”

Weapons support for the Falange.

Yes, we should do it, but I won’t support the Falange right away.

I’ve already approached José Antonio and provided gold, so he should view us favorably.

After all, we’re helping them.

There’s one reason I’m saying this now.

In the original history, the Soviet Union extracted a tremendous amount of gold from the Republican government in exchange for weapons support.

This caused the Republican government’s currency to become worthless.

“We should support the Republican government initially and support the Falange later. Make preparations in advance.”

I plan to support the Republican government.

I’ll add some intimidation to extract money from them.

Afterward, I’ll claim the Republican side has communists, so I’ll support the Falange instead, calling the Republicans a fake government.

Honestly, it’s not wrong.

The Republican government is being infiltrated by communists internally, so it’s not a completely baseless excuse.

I’ll extract some money and then immediately transfer those supplies to the Falange.

“The Republican government?”

“We need to extract the gold the Republican government has. We’ll fill our treasury and turn the Republican government’s currency into worthless paper.”

The Falange will receive funding from external sources for their rebellion, unlike the Republican side, so they won’t have currency problems.

It might be different after the civil war, but during the war, this approach works well.

“But we’d still have to give them weapons. Won’t the Falange feel disappointed?”

“We can first receive the gold and then give the weapons to the Falange. There are various justifications. Since there are communists within the Republican government, we can say we received the gold but cannot tolerate this situation, so we can’t return the gold and will give the weapons to the Falange, who will become the Spanish government.”

“Ah, that’s a good approach.”

Yes, that’s exactly what’s important.

We hate the Bolsheviks and communists around the world.

To the extent that we’re willing to go to war.

The reason we don’t directly attack the Spanish Republican government is because they gave us gold. That can be our excuse.

I’m quite kind, after all.

I absolutely cannot give weapons to communists. Giving them to the Falange, the legitimate Spanish government, is the basic principle.

“Of course, the Republican government might collapse faster than expected, so the Foreign Ministry should approach Spain through various channels.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

The Republican government could also be a variable.

Just like MacArthur’s US military government existed.

“Are there any other issues?”

“Nothing major, but Austria has recently begun fortifying the border areas with communist Germany, centered on the Sudetenland, increasing tensions.”

“Hmm.”

Hitler is preparing defenses.

A defensive Hitler is really unexpected, but I appreciate that he’s not being complacent and is properly preparing for battle.

But is he not defending against Italy?

“Are they leaving the Italian side undefended?”

They should be defending the Italian side too.

After all, they could be attacked from both above and below.

“Yes, they don’t seem to be preparing on that side.”

“Hmm, it’s probably a budget issue, isn’t it?”

Mikhail Drozdovsky sees it as a budget issue. Well, considering Austria’s national power.

It would be quite difficult for Austria to fortify its borders with its own resources.

Maybe we should properly build defensive lines at our borders too.

There was the Stalin Line, the Molotov Line, and such.

I know the Stalin Line was breached when the Soviets were backstabbed in the German-Soviet War. We should fortify our borders.

But I don’t want to just do it without reason.

Shouldn’t we irritate Germany and the Baltic states a bit? While Poland is one thing, we should start removing British influence from the Baltics.

They might be happy with independence, but it’s good to remind them that the Baltic states wouldn’t exist without Russia.

Look carefully.

They’re aligned with Britain with pro-British governments. Britain isn’t reliable right now.

And Russia, a member of the Anti-Comintern Pact, is building fortresses at the border.

Even as a member of the Anti-Comintern Pact, Russia is signaling that while we might provide material support, our military will be used for self-defense.

How will the Baltics react? That’s what I’m most curious about.