Chapter 19: Your Highness Craves A Dose Of The King’s White
Lelouch’s attitude was very sincere, letting Duke Rupprecht ask any questions he had, and he would certainly answer them all.
But the duke was not a reckless man; he still took a few minutes to carefully read the secret letter from Major General Karl to himself first.
Anyway, Captain Immelmann’s airplane still needed to refuel fully, so this bit of time didn’t matter.
After reading the letter, Duke Rupprecht waved his hand to dismiss those around him, then solemnly asked what he considered the most critical question.
“You told Karl that if after this operation, it turns out the Imperial Navy’s radio cipher was truly deciphered by the Britannians. Then we absolutely must not make a fuss, but continue pretending not to know, preserve this secret, and wait until we encounter an opportunity with sufficient profit in the future to detonate this secret and make a big score.
But don’t you think this would be very hard to achieve? Karl may not understand how factional the Navy is internally and how intense the struggles are, but I do. Even intelligence work is fragmented with multiple chains of command, each doing its own thing.
Once someone discovers this secret, they will definitely rush to claim merit and rewards. At that point, quickly it would be days, slowly months, and the Britannians will certainly know the truth…”
The duke saw at a glance that the secrecy Lelouch was counting on was very likely to lead to a Tragedy of the Commons.
In departments where everyone is eating from their bowl while eyeing the pot. A bird in the hand is worth ten in the forest.
A plan that maximizes Imperial interests but doesn’t maximize small group interests—who would still cover up the merit to wait and slowly make a big score?
Fortunately, Lelouch had deeply considered this issue earlier on the airplane.
After all, he came back from an era of fully competitive market economy where every trick was used, so he had long anticipated human nature’s selfishness.
The situation the duke was worried about was just like those mushroom hunters in 《Tongue Tip of China》—how could they possibly wait until the matsutake is most valuable to pick it? It would have been picked by others long ago.
So, to deal with this Tragedy of the Commons, first you must be extremely selfish yourself!
Lelouch hesitated at last, gritted his teeth, and prepared to offer a Pledge of Allegiance.
“Your Highness is truly far-sighted, seeing the crux at a glance—so we must deceive even the Naval Ministry! In all future intelligence cooperation with the Navy, we will only contact Major General Hipper from the Baria Faction privately and share intelligence only with him!
Your Highness, I am not trying to create factions within the Navy. But I have always felt that the Prussian Junker Officer Corps is too amateur and too stupid in intelligence matters. We can only trust our own people from the Baria Kingdom—
And you know, I am a foreigner, an Ollie person. I came to serve in Germania only loyal to the Germanic Tribe, not to be loyal to the Emperor, not to be loyal to those Prussian Northerners.
Back when the Germania Empire was founded, Prussia pushed the so-called Little Germania plan for its own kingdom’s interests, precisely to exclude the Ollie Emperor from the Germania Empire so that Prussia Kingdom people could usurp the throne. This was actually a betrayal of the traditions since the Holy Roman Empire!
Whereas your Baria Kingdom and the other three states of the Four Southern German States have historically been closer to the Ollie Royal Family and share the same faith; your ancestors always supported the Greater Germania plan before 1870.
So I came to serve in the 6th Army Group admiring your reputation; I would rather be loyal only to you. Because I am an Ollie person, the Germania Empire in my mind is also the Greater Germania plan! One that unites the Germanic Tribe people of the Ollie Empire under the same flag!
And this current war has already fallen into a War of Attrition; a Quick Victory is no longer possible. The intense consumption of a War of Attrition will create severe impact for any empire, and many countries will inevitably have to make changes in the future.
The Ollie Empire’s combat effectiveness is too weak, internal ethnic conflicts too severe; it’s unknown if they can hold out until the end in this war. Who knows if this great war is an opportunity for the entire Germanic Tribe to reshuffle and rebirth from the flames?
In this environment, climbing up from within might be more effective than military seizure of power. The Baria Kingdom, as a bridge between Ollie and Prussia, can fully play both sides and perhaps do even more for the country and nation…”
“Enough! Say no more! I already understand; if that’s the case, this secret might actually be kept long-term, and more new secrets in the future can be kept the same way…”
Duke Rupprecht didn’t dare listen any longer and quickly interrupted him.
This young man, how does he lack any sense of proportion in speaking?
Even though it was deep into the night on the field airport apron with those around dismissed, where the law does not pass six ears.
But is this something a lieutenant can say?
Fortunately, the duke didn’t understand Eastern History, or he would definitely think of Yao Guangxiao repeatedly egging on Zhu Di to usurp the throne.
However, in the duke’s view, although Lelouch was somewhat fanatical, his motives were absolutely good. He was definitely for the entire nation to unite under the same flag, in the same country.
As a noble of the Four Southern German States, the duke inwardly also identified more with the Greater Germania plan than the Little Germania plan.
After all, the ancestors of the Baria Kingdom were enfeoffed by the earliest Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, and the two sides already had over 700 years of friendly history.
Those who have played 《Age of Empires 2》 know the Barbarossa campaign: in the campaign, Barbarossa finally took down his great enemy “Lionheart Henry,” then enfeoffed Lionheart Henry’s territory to his subordinate, which gave rise to the Baria Kingdom’s Wittelsbach family—that was in 1180, 734 years ago.
Lelouch’s words today counted as fully offering a Pledge of Allegiance, making the duke realize this was also a like-minded person.
Such a patriot should of course be put to heavy use!
As for whether Lelouch had his own ambitions, the duke wouldn’t even think about it; the other’s status was too low, good enough to be a vanguard for him.
So after the reprimand, the duke felt he should still give a sweet date:
“Although your words today were a bit excessive, considering you are young and ignorant, I won’t blame you. Your stratagem itself is still usable; take this secret letter and go find Hipper.
Also, this is my private seal; you can take it temporarily, so if there are any details not made clear in the letter later, Hipper will believe you.”
“Thank you for your trust.” Lelouch received the secret letter and seal with both hands.
“Do well; if you really earn merit this time, I’ll promote you again.” As the duke left, he patted Lelouch’s shoulder in encouragement.
On the other side, Captain Immelmann’s airplane had been fully refueled again, necessary maintenance checks completed, and Lelouch boarded again, heading straight for Wilhelmshaven.
……
“I didn’t expect the duke to value you so much, brother. Are you really just a lieutenant? Don’t tell me you have connections above?”
Bored on the long night flight, Immelmann couldn’t help but chat casually with Lelouch after less than half an hour.
“I’m just a foreigner; how could I have connections above? It’s Your Highness the Duke and General Karl who value talent and appoint based on merit.” Lelouch responded flawlessly, very appropriately.
“There really are generals who appoint based on merit? Fine, I’ll take your word for it.” Immelmann was too lazy to pursue it and soon changed the topic.
He smugly patted the bandolier he had just wrapped over his military uniform and boasted to Lelouch: “You suggested adding seatbelts to the airplane later and carrying weapons to shoot down enemy reconnaissance aircraft.
While refueling just now, I got itchy hands and had the airport people make a bandolier and two C96 pistols. If we really encounter an enemy reconnaissance later, close in and I’ll give them a few shots; you just help me reload.”
As Immelmann spoke, he even drew a pistol and waved it.
Lelouch looked closely and saw it was the box cannon, the Mauser 20-round pistol, often seen in later anti-Japanese war films.
In a hasty situation where there was no time to install a machine gun and payload wasn’t enough, getting a few high-capacity pistols was indeed a good idea.
However, Lelouch still wanted to pour some cold water: “The idea is good, but at night even if there’s an enemy plane, you won’t see it; besides, how could Britannia airplanes have the range to fly that far? Treat this as experiencing armed flight.”
Immelmann also knew Lelouch was stating facts, feeling a bit disappointed.
The two chatted idly and flew for over two hours, with Wilhelmshaven already in sight.
This era had no air raids, so the naval port had no nighttime blackout; the airplane could land with ample lights.
However, just as Immelmann was preparing to observe for landing, he suddenly spotted something and exclaimed to the back seat: “Hey! Quick look! It’s a Britannian BE2!”
Lelouch looked in the direction he pointed but saw nothing: “Where? I see nothing! Are you sure you can make out the model?”
Immelmann: “Nonsense! Our pigeon wings and tail ends slant backward like a kite. Only the Britannians’ BE2 has elliptical wingtips. Don’t underestimate an elite pilot’s eyesight!”
Lelouch immediately shut up; specialization is key, and Immelmann becoming an ace pilot definitely meant better eyesight than his.
Immelmann could vaguely see the enemy plane with slight reflection on the underside of the wings because he was near the naval port with lights below. In the dark open sky without lights, it would be absolutely invisible.
And the opposing airplane hadn’t noticed him, or perhaps noticed but didn’t care at all—this era had no air combat, so seeing an enemy plane wasn’t worrisome.
Immelmann leisurely closed in and only saw clearly up close that the opponent’s airplane was painted with the Netherlands Kingdom flying club icon, not the Britannia Army.
Lelouch also saw it and suddenly realized: No wonder it could fly here; it wasn’t taking off from Britannia mainland, but from a neutral country!
