Ch.281Dutch East Indies (4)

Of course, even with that said, when the Emperor takes the lead, everyone has no choice but to rush forward.

The Dutch Governor and officers of the Roman Treaty all rushed out to follow me. I’m telling you, you’ll die before I do. There’s no need to follow me out of mere courtesy.

I can do this because I’m not someone who can die, but ordinary humans who step forward like this typically meet a Hirohito-style ending.

Even though those guys are holding civilians hostage, it’s honestly a bit suspicious.

At least the overwhelming difference in weaponry means the enemy’s attacks are somewhat less intense.

“Oh! It’s really Ratu Adil!”

On our side, the pro-Dutch militia cheered enthusiastically.

The army, whose morale hadn’t been great at the thought of crossing distant seas just to capture Indonesian rebels, followed me in pouring bullets into the Indonesian rebels.

The pro-Dutch faction’s militia also had their morale boosted. Sukarno’s army quickly began to be pushed back.

In Yekaterinburg, Tsaritsyn, Moscow, Petrograd, Poland, Berlin, and India too. This method works well indeed.

The Grand Duchess they overthrew through revolution and killed—survived, and even after taking countless Bolshevik bullets, Russia’s legitimacy passed to me.

In Poland too, I was able to put a leash on Poland through bomb terrorism. And after the bombing in Berlin, I was deified among the Anti-Comintern Pact forces.

Of course, I was faster in India, but my reputation should be quite useful here as well.

In reality, this approach was effective.

Those fools were at a military disadvantage, so they had to come up with a new strategy. And something very convenient appeared right before their eyes.

That would be me.

“C-capture that woman! Or kill her! She’s the Russian Empress!”

The result is them rushing toward me as their sole target.

Their plan might be to create confusion among the allied forces by either killing or capturing me, and then attack during that chaos—well, that might be the scenario.

That would work if I were an ordinary woman.

In order to capture me, the enemies abandoned their fortress and rushed out toward me, only to die.

Bang! Bang bang!

Naturally, their bullets couldn’t penetrate me.

Of course, I didn’t intend to run wild everywhere in this era and be deified.

“Wow. I always enjoy moments like this.”

Look at the face of the rebel who put bullets in me. His eyes went blank as he dropped his gun.

A face of utter shock. It feels wrong to put a bullet in that face.

How does it feel to see an immortal human in reality, not in a fantasy world? In the distant future, there won’t be a woman praised as a saint who compares to me, right?

Naturally, the dazed soldiers either died from friendly fire or laid down their weapons on the spot.

Some would do that.

It’s a chaotic battlefield after all.

How many of those soldiers who desperately rushed to kill me actually saw me survive the bullets?

But you should know that this isn’t just to lower the enemy’s morale.

No matter how much they claim to be part of the civilized world. Before their eyes, a being who doesn’t die no matter how many bullets she takes is directly leading them to victory.

They can’t help but go wild.

“Oh. The Russian Tsar is truly a saint.”

“Honestly, I thought it was just a lie.”

“Indeed, this means we’re on the side of justice!”

“Did you see that, you Indonesian rabble! Can your Sukarno do something like this?”

Unfortunately, everything was decided just by my participation in battle once.

Sukarno became the villain opposing justice, the saint, and Ratu Adil.

Our side became the army of the saint and Ratu Adil who appeared to realize justice.

Quite convincing, isn’t it?

That fool Sukarno ultimately chose his own path to death.

Unlike Gandhi, he fought back, which means he’ll be utterly crushed. Anyway.

“The saint declares: Those who do not surrender are communists who ruin world peace!”

If you don’t follow us, you’re a communist.

That’s how you nail it down. So what happens now? Things get ridiculous.

“Justice is on our side!”

Bang! Boom!

The T-34’s main gun spewed fire and finally broke through the eastern fortress.

Even the guerrillas were finished in the face of the Treaty forces’ combat power.

No matter how they hide in forests or damp places and ambush, the tide of battle has already turned.

“Anyone who sides with these rebels, even if they are civilians, has fallen to become rebels! Kill them all!”

There was nothing to hold back anymore.

The Roman Treaty forces, freed from hesitation about killing civilians, advanced relentlessly and captured the enemy.

Well, they are the modern Roman army after all. Losing is out of the question.

Whether civilian or not, as long as I—living justice that cannot die—am here, anyone with the rebels is an enemy, civilian or otherwise.

Moreover—

“Above all, when we attack, the true identity of those civilians will be revealed.”

Only a few civilians were trying to escape.

Unless they were prepared to die while escaping from Sukarno.

Since cooperating with Sukarno meant they couldn’t be classified as civilians.

Some escaping civilians even carried bombs and conducted suicide attacks against the Treaty forces.

At first, it was almost like using my name and reputation to drive civilians to be labeled as rebels, but fortunately, they were truly rebels in civilian clothing.

“Indeed, Your Majesty. They may be called civilians, but they were all cooperating with those rebels. You knew in advance and ordered us to sweep away even the civilians.”

Unfortunately, another misunderstanding arose.

I was actually thinking of pushing back civilians to spare the Treaty forces.

But this kind of misunderstanding isn’t bad.

* * *

Meanwhile, in Sukarno’s camp, the atmosphere was gloomy except for Sukarno and his close associates as the battle situation became unfavorable.

“How is this happening! The Russian monarch coming all the way here!”

“She reportedly survived a barrage of bombs and bullets!”

“That’s impossible!”

“Whether the rumors are true or not, our human shield strategy isn’t working.”

“And they call her a saint?”

Suharto barely suppressed the words that almost burst out of him about who had planned this strategy first.

Anyway, the other side is selling the name of the immortal saint, the legendary ruler Ratu Adil, and designating even civilians as enemies.

There’s no answer to this. There’s a difference in weapon quality, training, and quantity.

‘I didn’t expect them to move this quickly.’

Sukarno was no fool.

He had learned something from watching Gandhi in India.

He couldn’t accept separate independence under imperialists again, and believing this was a definite opportunity, he raised an army.

Even though India might somehow be close to Europe, Indonesia is much farther away.

The plan was to quickly overthrow the Dutch East Indies government and then either make peace with them or ask the United States to mediate.

The U.S. would certainly not stand by and watch the Roman Treaty’s attempt to expand its influence in the Pacific, so they would definitely try to check the Roman Treaty in some way.

That’s what he thought. But what is this? America is not helping.

Does America truly intend to hand over Indonesia to the Roman Treaty?

“All the other islands have been occupied by them. We need to flee at this point. Seek asylum in America or somewhere.”

What fools! Trying to diminish Indonesia’s own power! What are they thinking!

“Damn it. Is America really going to just watch this situation? Isn’t there any way to contact America?”

“The American side urged us to surrender quickly. They said they would try to persuade the Roman Treaty if we did.”

So in the end, even America couldn’t defeat the Roman Treaty.

If that’s the case, what’s the point of further resistance?

It might be better to surrender now while the enemy is still willing to accept it.

“Hmm. Will the enemy accept our surrender?”

“They’ve already mobilized a large army, so they won’t accept it easily.”

The enemy has mobilized a large force to pacify Indonesia.

More precisely, they’re showing that they can still move such a large military force with ease, to crush any rebellion that dares to stand against the Roman Treaty.

Anyway, it was becoming difficult to hold out any longer.

“Can we not hold out anymore?”

“Whatever happens, we need to make a decision now. No matter how much they’re killing civilians, they probably can’t do anything more that would tarnish the Russian Empress’s reputation.”

“Hmm.”

In the end, Sukarno’s choice was to negotiate with the Treaty forces.

Suharto, dispatched from the rebels, went to find the Russian commander Vlasov of the Treaty forces to negotiate surrender.

“Huh, you held out well until now, but it’s quite amusing to see you begging for your life when you’re about to lose.”

“Isn’t there any way? Please.”

“Unfortunately, our Mother Tsar is extremely angry at your leader Sukarno, who has brought a sea of blood to Indonesia. However, as our Roman Treaty Organization desires peace, if you listen to our demands, there will be no further hostilities.”

“What are they?”

“War crimes trials for Sukarno, Suharto, and the current rebel leadership, and cooperation with Mohammad Hatta’s government after the disarmament of the rebels.”

It was an impossible demand.

War crimes trials for the rebel leadership meant the end of Sukarno’s life.

Sukarno, who desired a unified Indonesia and the position of supreme power, could never accept death.

In effect, they were saying: you’re going to die anyway. Sukarno couldn’t accept that.

He would rather hold out until the end and die here than surrender and be subjected to a war crimes trial.

“We will never surrender to the imperialists!”

Unfortunately, there were many who no longer supported Sukarno.

Unlike before.

“Is their Tsar really Ratu Adil?”

“We’re already being pushed back, what more can we fight for?”

“Can’t we just live peacefully?”

“Their monarch comes out to fight directly, while Sukarno hides behind and only protects his own life!”

It was strange that the Tsar couldn’t die, but more than that, it was too overwhelming to face that overwhelming military power.

The last strategy of using civilians as hostages was being ignored by the enemy, who attacked while claiming some incomprehensible justification.

From the moment civilians were taken hostage, this uprising was doomed to fail, but Sukarno was trying to cause more meaningless casualties just to save himself.

At this point, it was better to surrender to Mohammad Hatta’s provisional government rather than die for Sukarno without any cause, rather than just trying to survive without any principles.

Until now, they had been united by patriotism, but the volunteers weren’t foolish enough to die for Sukarno personally.

“We surrender!”

“We’ve laid down our weapons!”

Thus, many surrendered, and Sukarno’s army gradually collapsed.

Indonesia’s future also gradually brightened.

In many ways.

* * *

Sukarno’s army collapsed.

All we did was set the condition of bringing Sukarno and his leadership to war crimes trials. We expected a fight to the death, but they collapsed on their own.

“Logically speaking, even if they were incited by patriotism until now, they wouldn’t want to die for Sukarno personally.”

“Moreover, Your Majesty took the field directly, while Sukarno only commanded from the back. The difference is even greater.”

“Indeed, Your Majesty anticipated that point.”

“Ah, yes, that’s right.”

Well, I had anticipated a fight to the death.

I had thought about it to some extent. In fact, I was hoping for it. Because someone like Sukarno is dangerous.

Anyway, whether it’s him or the next guy, Suharto, it wouldn’t be bad for Indonesia if both died.

But for the enemy’s army to collapse due to the difference between whether a leader takes the field directly or not, rather than because of my cheat ability Tanghulu…

Well, I guess that’s still ultimately a snowball effect caused by Tanghulu, since I have an immortal body that allowed me to take the field directly.

Shouldn’t Sukarno at least show the courage to fight directly at the end?

Actually, I didn’t expect that much, but anyway. What I intended was to establish the logic that even civilians could be designated as enemies and killed.

That’s exactly what happened. And after thoroughly crushing everything, I planned to ensure they couldn’t easily become a powerful nation even under future American influence.

Hmm, this is quite annoying.

But I can’t just kill all these surrendering people.

“What about Sukarno?”

“Our subordinates have captured him, they say.”

“Have him put on trial for war crimes by the East Indies government and the new Indonesian government, then execute him.”

“Understood.”

After all, wasn’t he a hero of Indonesia’s independence war and someone who worked for Indonesian unification?

Since the Netherlands, which had kept Indonesia as a colony, is part of the Roman Treaty, we should kill both Sukarno and Suharto to prevent Indonesia from siding with the United States and challenging the Roman Treaty in the future.

Of course, even if those two die, there might be second and third Sukarnos or Suhartos. But that’s a problem for another time.

For a while, Indonesia will be divided like India.

And the war crimes trial for Sukarno was nothing special.

Since it was just a formality anyway, we treated him exactly as they called us—imperialists.

“Does the defendant admit to destroying Indonesia’s peace and turning it into a sea of blood under the pretext of liberating Indonesia?”

“Ridiculous! I did it to prevent you from dividing and devouring Indonesia while pretending to grant independence!”

Since Sukarno was going to die anyway, he took the position of refuting until the end and shouted angrily.

Our chief judge picked his ear as if a dog was barking and lightly replied.

“He admits it. But admission doesn’t erase the crime. Sukarno, Suharto, and all the Indonesian rebel leadership below them are sentenced to death by hanging.”

Bang, bang, bang.

And so the formal trial ended. Sukarno shouted again that he couldn’t accept it.

“I didn’t admit it! I didn’t admit—urgh!”

Trials, too, are led by those with power.