Ch.280Dutch East Indies (3)

* * *

At this point, since I’ve arrived, this place is as good as finished. Of course, it’s a bit regrettable to pour in so many resources. On the other hand, we must also prepare for the enemy to wage guerrilla warfare.

And then, I met the army of Ratu Adil? who was in charge of that guerrilla warfare.

“This is Ratu Adil’s army, which conducted guerrilla operations against Sukarno’s rebels.”

“To have the Emperor of Rome personally come to lead the campaign is truly an honor, Your Majesty.”

Westerling, the commander of Ratu Adil’s forces, saluted me.

And behind him, Indonesians followed Westerling in an orderly fashion.

“These are Ratu Adil’s forces?”

“Yes. They’re all pro-Dutch and have completed Western training, so they’ve defeated Sukarno’s ragtag army several times.”

Well, looking at the composition of Sukarno’s army, it does seem like a militia trained by Dutch officers would be stronger.

In the original history, if the United States hadn’t intervened, the Netherlands would have pacified the East Indies again.

Looking at Indonesia’s subsequent path, these bastards don’t seem to have any answers either.

Ah, an interesting thought just occurred to me.

“Hmm. Yes. Something interesting just came to mind.”

“What is it?”

“In India, we once used the term ‘Army of Kali.’ Similarly, what if we propagate that Ratu Adil has come to capture the rebels?”

It’s really just wordplay, but it seems like an appropriate justification to use.

We’re promoting the idea that we represent justice, not imperialism.

“Oh. That doesn’t sound bad.”

It’s really just wordplay, but this is the luxury of the victor.

As the victor, I’m entitled to play these kinds of games.

Besides, if it works well, it might make suppressing the rebellion even easier.

“But will those uncivilized people understand?”

“They’re human beings. When afraid, people tend to believe in something. If the reason their enemy is so powerful is because they’re actually a legendary ruler, that makes for a good story.”

That’s human nature.

If someone is truly your mortal enemy, you must fight to the end. But what if the opponent isn’t an enemy but a legendary ruler from Indonesian folklore?

“Oh. I see.”

“This also provides them with a suitable justification to surrender. From their perspective, surrendering to the Constantinople Treaty Organization would look like surrendering to an imperialist nation, but surrendering to a legendary ruler would be different, wouldn’t it?”

No matter what they do, they can’t defeat us.

They’re just buying time. Even if the American military provides weapons, American weapons still lag behind ours.

So we beat them thoroughly while urging them to surrender. And Ratu Adil and Ratu Adil’s army provide the perfect justification.

From the beginning, we said we would support peaceful power transfers and independence for countries that wanted it, so rising up in this situation doesn’t look particularly good.

“Ratu Adil has come with an army to bring peace to this land! Rebels, surrender! If you don’t, Ratu Adil will not forgive you!”

The Constantinople Treaty forces headquarters continued to propagandize to Sukarno’s army.

Anyway, they’re the ones who are cornered now.

They can’t stop us no matter what we do.

“Ridiculous! How could Ratu Adil come to suppress us who have risen up for Indonesia!”

Of course, since their mouths still work, they naturally responded with rebuttals.

“Didn’t you break the peaceful independence and start a rebellion for your own benefit and power! Shouting for a unified Indonesia while oppressing countries trying to gain independence everywhere! You’re just like Gandhi in India!”

That’s right. Their actions are truly like Gandhi himself.

Well, unlike Gandhi, they can’t even deploy peacekeeping forces, and there’s a risk of American intervention, but anyway.

They’ve misjudged the situation completely.

“We cannot stand by and watch as you oppress us, exploit us as much as possible, and then leave while dividing the country as if doing us a favor!”

“You too would threaten and try to conquer neighboring countries seeking independence if you established your own country, so I don’t know who’s criticizing whom!”

In reality, Sukarno isn’t such a good person either.

Moreover, Suharto or whoever is with Sukarno is also trash.

“Your Majesty. As expected, they have no intention of surrendering.”

“How unfortunate.”

It truly is unfortunate. Despite clearly giving them a chance, they remain rebels who have defied Ratu Adil.

I can understand their position to some extent.

They obviously wanted to use this opportunity to drive out the East Indies and establish their own country immediately.

Sukarno is probably thinking, ‘This isn’t right.’ We’re withdrawing not because colonial management has become difficult due to poor circumstances, but for genuine decolonization, and the United States isn’t particularly intervening.

Personally, not from the Constantinople Treaty’s standpoint, I could applaud Sukarno’s courage.

Of course, whether his courage is remarkable or not, he’s ultimately shown excessive greed.

So what should we do? We need to beat them mercilessly until those under Sukarno want to surrender.

We need to create a situation where they have no choice but to surrender.

“They’re incredibly arrogant. There’s no reason to show Your Majesty’s mercy to those bastards.”

I nodded at Vlasov’s words.

There’s absolutely no need to show mercy.

“Then pour it on.”

They’re isolated, and we have abundant resources.

This is a good opportunity to use new weapons as a testing ground on them. They seem to be holding out quite well, but they won’t last long.

Can Japanese weapons even compare to ours? No.

Whatever they left behind, even tanks that could crush China, would be far inferior to our tanks.

Eventually, our army unleashed all kinds of weapons on the rebels’ fortress on Java Island.

BOOM! BANG! KABOOM!

Various missiles attacked the enemy fortresses and cities.

Our advancing soldiers pounded Sukarno’s forces that existed everywhere.

“Capture the rebel bastards!”

“Stop them! Stop the imperialists and liberate Indonesia!”

Then our tank units and soldiers pushed in.

It seemed like they would be crushed instantly—but something’s strange.

“They’re holding out quite well.”

Well, “holding out” might not be the right term—they’re being completely destroyed. But for some reason, our advance is too sluggish.

We seem to be pushing forward smoothly, but this isn’t right. We could certainly win if we pushed more, but if we leave things as they are, we must consider American intervention.

I promised coexistence with the United States to MacArthur, but MacArthur is also someone who prioritizes national interests.

He might watch the situation and then mediate.

While accepting a mediation proposal wouldn’t be bad, it would be embarrassing for the Tsar who came personally.

Beyond that, it wouldn’t look good to withdraw from a war we just started with American help. And Sukarno would survive.

What is Sukarno doing that allows him to hold out?

“Sukarno is using civilians as shields.”

Ah, civilians. That’s the problem.

“If we kill civilians here, it could lead to American intervention.”

I can say with certainty that none of the officers present would care if a few Indonesian civilians died before their eyes.

The problem is indeed this.

“As we’ve declared decolonization, we’re not in a position to kill civilians, so it can’t be helped.”

Right. Decolonization. We’ve abandoned imperialism.

In the midst of this, if the Saint’s army is killing civilians, that’s problematic. The fact that I’m the Saint ironically creates this impact.

Should we just push forward regardless? They’re not civilians.

We can package it in various ways, but simply packaging it isn’t enough.

More perfectly. Somehow define even those civilians as rebels so we can freely capture them.

Or guide them to collapse more easily.

We need to choose one of these two approaches.

And I know that method better than anyone.

No, if this were a novel, readers would know exactly what method I should use to easily defeat them.

Yes. I’m right here, aren’t I? I myself am the very good solution to escape this situation.

“In that case, there’s no choice.”

To end this faster than India, this is the answer.

At least this place was planned to have autonomous regions gain independence after the decolonization declaration, so it’s easier than India.

“Pardon?”

“They’re Sukarno’s hostages anyway. We didn’t make them hostages. Saint or not, the treaty organization’s soldiers come first, so I’ll step forward myself so we don’t have to worry. If I fight alongside the soldiers in the Tsar’s name, even civilians will look like rebels pretending to be civilians. They’ll also see me as Ratu Adil, which isn’t bad.”

“Your Majesty personally? It’s dangerous. To stand on the battlefield with those barbaric bastards is a bit…”

“If I, the Saint, certify it, they are no longer civilians. I must take this level of risk.”

If all else fails, we can just label them as communists.

Just like we called it the Army of Kali, we can spout nonsense about it being Ratu Adil’s army and create absurd justifications like hostile nations.

Future historians will have much to say about me.

The Tsar, the Saint of Death who committed war crimes by killing civilians. Or the Saint who devoted herself to peace.

I’ll be treated as one of these two.

Of course, I’ll make sure there’s no noise from Indonesia so I don’t become the former, but I can’t dawdle here, and anyway, one thing is clear: this is something only I can resolve by stepping forward directly.

So I stepped forward personally.

“Your Majesty! It’s too dangerous! You should remain at headquarters!”

The staff tried to stop me, but it’s futile. Tanghulu is invincible!

“Isn’t this how Ratu Adil’s justification is established? Above all, I am not Hirohito.”

I like justification. And this justification as Ratu Adil is sufficient.

The woman called Ratu Adil comes to the front line to fight personally.

Isn’t that a perfect bait? An immortal body. A body that doesn’t hesitate to enter the battlefield of the 20th century where one becomes minced meat.

The Emperor who rules Europe shows no hesitation to risk his own life. Just seeing this, wouldn’t one consider me Ratu Adil?

I’ve seen and learned something in India. In the end, if I trust my cheat key and step forward directly, most things can be resolved.

What would happen if a legend that would only appear in ancient myths occurred in reality? If you’ve received a cheat key, you use that cheat key liberally.

Having a cheat key but only using future knowledge until now—don’t I deserve high praise?

Rather, that old man might say, “You’re only using the cheat I gave you now?” But you know what? When I accidentally saw the cheat effect, it wasn’t something to just pass by.

How painful is this? It’s painful, but I just need to endure this one battle.

“This is the first time I’ve fought directly since the Russian Civil War.”

It’s not as dangerous as it was then.

If I had to compare, it would be like the Battle of Tsaritsyn. Danube Mountain tanks escort me, crushing enemies as they advance.

The problem is that every time this happens, the enemies put civilians in front. This seems like a new method of suicide.

When fighting the Bolsheviks, I experienced such things, but humans are so hypocritical.

Killing civilians is a war crime. But on the other hand, my heart is racing.

I wonder how powerful I will be on this challenging battlefield.

And. Regrettably, it’s been a long time for me too.

From my previous life, from the Russian Civil War, in various ways. I’ve long since lost most of my fear.

I thought about grabbing an AK, but somehow an automatic pistol suits me better, so I just took this.

This Walther PPK automatic pistol.

It’s just right to hold with one hand. This much is needed to be called Ratu Adil, right?

“Die!”

First, a rather young guy charging at me.

Judging by appearance, he’s about my age—a young guy pointing a gun at me.

Of course, I’m over 40, but anyway, setting that aside, he looks about my age.

He’s quite emaciated, probably from not eating properly.

Seeing that he’s holding a gun I don’t recognize, it’s probably some shabby Japanese gun I’ve never seen or heard of. Looking at his desperate appearance makes me feel sorry for him.

It must all be because of Sukarno. Ah, how sad.

If I weren’t the Tsar, there would have been no need to bloody my hands here.

BANG!

Unfortunately, my gun was faster.

Did they use untrained men to fight against us?

“Kuhek!”

This rebel clutched his chest and collapsed.

“Hmm. This doesn’t feel particularly good.”

This feeling of killing people. I always feel it, and it’s disgusting.

On our side, the Roman Emperor’s personal army, how magnificent is the sight of the Roman Emperor personally commanding soldiers in battle.

Of course, because I stepped forward, Vlasov and other officers behind me had to jump in too, but I’m fine—aren’t these people mortal?

I frowned and dusted off my hands as if annoyed.

“You all can die, so stay back.”

“Pardon?”

Common folk who die don’t deserve to fight with me! That’s basically it.