Ch.397China and Nanyue

# The Royal Wedding and the Duma

After the royal wedding, I attended the Duma.

It wasn’t really that long since I’d last been there. How many months had it been since I saw them in France?

Come to think of it, I once shouted “Tsar on strike!” and left Vladimir in charge of grading for a few months. It had only been a few months.

Well, if I’d held a separate coronation in Spain, the Duma would have come to me.

Instead, they simply announced throughout Spain that a new emperor had arrived.

Actually, Rivera had suggested preparing a coronation ceremony, but I’ve already gone through countless coronations, especially when uniting France, Spain, and Portugal. I couldn’t hold another one after already having one in France, and everyone agreed on this point.

Frankly speaking, how much money would it cost to hold coronation ceremonies every time?

It was honestly quite unexpected that I ended up attending this royal wedding.

At least I managed to slip in quietly during my secret return home, followed by Charles and fake Maria’s wedding. Anyway.

It feels like I went there to have fun but ended up working instead.

“Your Majesty. Have you been well?”

“Of all times, I happened to return just in time for their wedding.”

I never dreamed I’d end up at such an occasion.

Oh, this is really bothersome. I’m so annoyed with all these things I have to do.

What sin did I commit to have to congratulate others on their marriage at my age?

“Still, it’s fortunate that you could join us for such a joyous occasion.”

“Join” isn’t quite the right word—it was more like an abduction halfway through.

I ended up inadvertently participating in the Eastern-Western Alliance wedding.

“I should have come even later.”

Talk about bad timing.

Please save me from the hassle of attending coronation ceremonies.

“It would have been awkward to postpone the wedding. Besides, most people want to receive Your Majesty’s blessing.”

“Yes, I suppose that’s true.”

Receiving the blessing of the Roman Emperor.

Hmm, come to think of it, that does make for a nice picture.

“Hahaha, but it’s a good day. Now Europe truly has one emperor,” Alisa laughed heartily.

Truly one emperor. The idol of every European nation.

“I suppose it can’t be helped. This world can’t function without me.”

This world has become one that can’t function without me. That’s unavoidable.

It seems I’ll continue to grade the Duma’s work in the future as well.

Somehow, I can’t shake the feeling that this world has become what it is solely because of me.

As time passes, people increasingly exalt me as they witness my immortality. How could it be otherwise?

If I were to use this, it wouldn’t be difficult to extend my influence throughout the world.

“There aren’t any particular domestic issues, are there?”

“Nothing except for the Vietnam matter.”

“What has Vietnam done?”

Well, the fact that it hasn’t been escalated to me suggests they’re handling it well, but seeing Vietnam playing both sides between the United States and the Roman Treaty makes them seem rather suspicious.

Those guys kept saying nonsense like “We were greatly influenced by France, a Roman Treaty member, during colonial times, so we must cooperate with the Roman Treaty even if we don’t want to,” despite our efforts to feed them to America and set the stage for them to side with the US.

Meanwhile, they kept trying to benefit from being in the middle while claiming they didn’t like it.

Didn’t the Roman Treaty provide extensive support because of its policy of apologizing to “former colonies” from the imperialist era?

That became the problem.

From our perspective, we couldn’t not help them, so we reached the point of almost being forced to provide aid.

“Vietnam is experiencing a movement to reclaim their ancient territories, calling it the restoration of ancestral lands.”

“Restoration of ancestral lands?”

What is this, King Seong’s movement to restore ancient territories?

That’s right. Vietnam once ruled parts of southern China.

So they want to restore those territories. That’s commendable.

In the original history, Vietnam wouldn’t have dared to even attempt such a thing.

Since China is divided, it’s worth trying. That’s what it is.

I want to give them a lot of credit for that.

“We haven’t given them any response on this matter yet.”

“As you should.”

What answer could we possibly give them? Neither opposition nor support.

It’s interference in internal affairs, after all. I have no right to either hinder or permit what Vietnam is doing.

“They’re appealing to the international community about their desire to restore their former territories.”

But would anything really change if they reclaimed those territories now?

They’d gain more land, but they’d have to incorporate an enormous number of Chinese people into Vietnam if they truly wanted to restore all of Nam Viet’s ancient territories.

In my view, it seems impossible at Vietnam’s current level.

“What does the American side say?”

America’s unnecessary involvement—that’s the problem.

If America tries to do something with China, we have no choice but to get involved.

If America places Vietnam and China under its influence in Asia, we would naturally feel pressured.

“They’re neither opposing nor supporting it, but they say they respect Vietnam’s intentions.”

Respect, huh? Nothing is more ambiguous than that.

In the end, we’ll just watch. We’ll intervene when appropriate.

That’s how it could play out.

“They respect their intentions. Hmm.”

Yes, America probably sees no need to push too hard there either. China is beyond our concern now anyway.

We just need to mediate appropriately when they clash with Israel.

As long as things don’t tilt too far in one direction, that’s fine. If Vietnam goes overboard in China, we’ll have to stop them.

“We’ve also responded that we’ll observe the situation.”

“Well done.”

That’s satisfactory enough. Let them kill or save each other as they please.

Why should we bother ourselves with monitoring their every move?

“Your Majesty, by any chance…”

“By any chance what? What is it?”

At my question, one representative hesitantly tried to speak.

“I was wondering if you might be upset that we handled the Vietnam issue on our own.”

Why would I be upset about handling something as trivial as Vietnam? Should I be sad or angry about that?

The Duma has changed a lot in my absence.

Talk about cowards—there are none greater.

“Why would I be? Not particularly.”

I don’t understand why they need my permission, but they’re all such mama’s boys. They need to leave their mother’s embrace and try governing on their own.

Looking at these guys, I’m really worried.

Will this country function properly without me? Will the Roman Treaty continue to operate?

What if it all falls apart?

AI Anastasia is truly the only solution to this situation.

“Since Your Majesty usually handles territorial matters, we were concerned.”

What is there to be concerned about?

There’s nothing we can gain through Vietnam.

If their justification is restoring ancestral lands, we maintain absolute neutrality. However, if they try to go beyond those ancestral territories, that’s when we need to step in.

Nam Viet’s territory was what, Guangdong? Something like that?

If so, we’ll just observe until that point, and if they get greedy for more, then we’ll crush them.

Honestly, Vietnam and Israel tearing apart southern China seems like one possible approach.

Appropriately dividing it along Nam Viet’s territorial lines. That sounds interesting, doesn’t it? Southern China with Israeli-controlled China and Nam Viet. This way, Israel’s territory might be a bit messy, but not bad.

It would mix up the Chinese population itself.

The Duma must be thinking along these lines as well.

“Let me reiterate, this is something the Duma should handle on its own. So don’t worry about me and do as you see fit. The Duma would put a stop to Vietnam if they tried to recover more than their ancestral territories, wouldn’t you?”

If they’re going to make them stop at an appropriate point anyway, it doesn’t matter.

“Yes.”

“Then your approach is the same as mine, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

The Duma already knew what I would do.

In that case, why would I have any reason to scold them for acting on their own?

“We were wondering if you might be considering using Vietnam to tear China apart even more.”

Tearing it apart is good. I like that. But I’m not an idiot. If I went further and said, “Hehe, I love tearing China apart!” my position as a saint would be in danger.

I may not know much else, but I’ve maintained my saintly position all this time while putting on a facade.

But if I said I wanted to tear China apart more by using Vietnam, my position as a saint would be at risk.

“No. That would put my position as a saint in too much danger. China may be the root of all evil, but they no longer have the capacity to unify, and their leaders are all much the same.”

China has become irreparable after decades of civil war.

The evil spirits like the original history’s Communist China won’t be able to emerge.

There’s no need to confirm the kill here. I can’t have people saying, “The Tsar did something strange!”

“However, there is one issue that we should discuss with Your Majesty—”

“What is it?”

“Vietnam continues to benefit from playing both sides between us and America.”

“And? Wasn’t Vietnam supposed to be handed over to America?”

So we’re supposed to keep playing with those we agreed to hand over to America?

We acknowledged them as being in America’s sphere of influence, so how would America react to this?

America isn’t stupid, so they must know that the Roman Treaty is trying to draw a line with Vietnam.

But Vietnam’s behavior is the problem here.

Just because we don’t approach them doesn’t mean they won’t approach us. Normally, one would think, “Why would former colonies want to approach the country that colonized them?” That would be the mindset.

Maybe in the more distant future it would be different, but Vietnam has consistently tried to maintain close relations with us since their independence.

“The problem is that Vietnam is deliberately approaching us.”

Yes, so they’re still doing that.

Of course, this can’t simply be seen as “Huff, huff. Let’s be friends!”

Even among the Vietnamese, Ho Chi Minh is quite clever.

“Deliberately, you say. That means they want to milk this situation for all it’s worth.”

They’re deliberately approaching the Roman Treaty to make America anxious and receive support.

On the other hand, I’ve advocated for “reflection on imperialism” and said we should support former colonies in joining the international community as much as possible. Because of this, we can’t do much either way.

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“Hmm, then let’s compromise by gradually reducing support. It would be troublesome to get caught by America.”

We’ve given them many benefits so far.

They’ve gained a lot by making America anxious, and I think we’ve indulged them enough.

If we really want to get into it, from an imperialist perspective, we developed an enormous amount of colonial infrastructure just to exploit them.

We handed it all over intact without destroying anything, and even left behind educators and military advisors who were later repatriated.

Plus financial aid, weapons, and all sorts of assistance.

Is this what it feels like when kindness is taken for granted?

“Yes, we will do so.”

The Duma continued its meeting with various bills related to the Roman Treaty.

As the government controlling more than half of the Roman Treaty headquarters’ shares, they discussed in detail my recent official recognition as Emperor.

Hmm, it looks good. It looks very good.

Although I’ve stepped in regarding territorial matters, I only need to grade their work.

When an electronic government is established here, my existence will become eternal.

# The Republic of Vietnam

Around this time in the Republic of Vietnam, after the death of Ho Chi Minh, who had been strengthening internal affairs and taking advantage of both the Roman Treaty and America, a wave of nationalism swept through the country.

More precisely, with China—which had historically pressured Vietnam—now divided and consuming itself, Vietnam wanted to revive its past glory.

Yes, the dream of Nam Viet, which once occupied southern China.

The Vietnamese government changed its name from Vietnam—which had been changed because of the Qing Dynasty—back to “Nam Viet.”

This was to revive the glory of Nam Viet, which had once occupied southern China.

At this time, since China was entangled in warlord conflicts, Nam Viet’s attempt seemed quite possible.

“Let’s reclaim Nam Viet’s territory!”

“Let’s bring back the glory of Trieu Da once more!”

The Nam Viet army actually began crossing the Chinese border in 1972.

The Chinese warlords were greatly surprised by the Nam Viet army’s northern advance.

They hadn’t expected Nam Viet’s attack at all.

“Zhao Tuo was a Chinese general who rose up in Guangdong, conquered Vietnam, and established a dynasty—he’s clearly part of Chinese history! Vietnam has no right to make claims!”

“If you withdraw now, we might forgive you, but if you continue to fight, our China will make Nam Viet a vassal state again!”

The Chinese warlords, whose capabilities had been severely diminished as the old leaders had died or been replaced through coups, could only angrily shout at the Nam Viet army.

The Chinese warlords could barely counterattack Nam Viet.

“A divided China is no match for us!”

Vietnam aggressively pushed into southern China, first fiercely attacking the Guangdong warlord faction.

The Nationalist Government came to their aid, but having suffered too much damage from fighting Israel and various other conflicts, they couldn’t defeat Nam Viet, which had grown stronger by exploiting both the Roman Treaty and America.

“Please help us at the UN!”

“Do you always run to the UN at the slightest problem?”

“Isn’t that what the UN is for—to help in situations like this?”

“That’s not wrong, but I’ve heard that Nam Viet is advancing to restore their ancient territories. Doesn’t that give Nam Viet justification?”

“Do you think it’s right to start a war over territories from so long ago?”

The Nationalist Government, representing the Chinese warlord alliance, protested that there was no justification, but:

“Unfortunately, our history is only a few hundred years old, so we’re not in a position to comment on claims of ancestral land restoration, and we can’t take sides.”

“We restored Rome, so what lacks justification? The UN only intervenes in wars without justification.”

Both America and the Roman Treaty declared non-interference.

Nam Viet’s claim of restoring ancestral lands seemed absurd at first glance.

If we followed Nam Viet’s argument, countries around the world would have to restore all territories lost throughout ancient history.

However, America’s history was only a few hundred years old, making them ill-positioned to criticize claims of ancestral land restoration, while the Roman Treaty had not only reclaimed all of ancient Rome’s territories but expanded far beyond them.

In other words, the two pillars of the world had no reason to interfere, even if they could.