Chapter 212: Ennobled As A Baron, And Even Greater Benefits
“Your Highness, you look truly heroic and majestic wearing this Grand Iron Cross Medal.”
“You are truly a model for the Empire’s generals and marshals.”
One day in mid-January, inside the 6th Army Group Headquarters in Kyiv.
As Duke Rupprecht appeared before his generals and staff officers wearing the Empire’s third Grand Iron Cross Medal, his subordinates sincerely congratulated him one after another, making him feel a bit embarrassed.
Lelouch was also present, but Lelouch had more integrity and did not say such sappy compliments. He merely offered a few perfunctory words of praise and stopped there.
“This is the result of everyone’s joint efforts and hard fighting. How could I claim all the merit alone? The General Staff Headquarters will soon announce everyone’s rewards and promotions, so please have a little patience.”
Duke Rupprecht gestured for everyone to remain calm and wait for the good news, then held a grand banquet and distributed various material rewards, which goes without saying.
The victory banquet was extremely lavish. After three rounds of drinks, Duke Rupprecht found an opportunity to pull Lelouch aside and first revealed the Baria Royal Family’s personal reward for him.
“The two great merits from Kyiv and Istanbul, plus nearly 2.8 million enemies annihilated in the second half of last year, including the complete annihilation of one Lushan front and one Britain front—the greatest merit in planning there was yours, and in the Istanbul campaign, you also had the battle merit of personally serving as the vanguard.
It’s just that you are really too young, and your noble status is not solid enough. Promoting someone from commoner origins directly to high-ranking general would create too much pressure. So after discussion between the Emperor and the General Staff Headquarters, they feel it would be best to first promote you to major general, then have me provide extra compensation in nobility title and other positions. These two aspects will surely satisfy you—
You have no other objections personally, right? To be honest, if it were only a military promotion, even jumping straight to lieutenant general would be justifiable. But the Empire’s system is quite rigid, and the officer corps is very particular about faction purity, so I can only try to make it up to you from other angles.”
Lelouch answered very straightforwardly: “Military ranks are just nominal. I have already proven myself, and Your Highness will naturally continue to value me and make use of my stratagems in the future. What does it matter whether the rank is major general or lieutenant general?”
Military rank is merely a level of treatment and honor. There are plenty of people with low ranks who handle major affairs, so there’s nothing to fuss over.
Seeing how open-minded he was, the duke got straight to the point: “That’s good then. In that case, I can announce a decision today. This evening, there will be an investiture ceremony to grant you the nobility title of baron of the Baria Kingdom—
In the first half of last year, you had just been elevated from commoner status, added ‘von,’ and granted a knight title. In the second half, you were upgraded to ‘Ritter’ for a hereditary knight title. Now rising to baron means you have truly become a regular hereditary noble. You are also the Empire’s first commoner to be promoted to baron through military merit in this war.”
It was now January 1916. Promotions in nobility title certainly could not happen twice in one year. The two in 1915 were both knight titles, with the latter adding “hereditary,” but no change in level. Reaching baron this year was already very good.
On the Earth plane, General Hipper fought tooth and nail in the Battle of Jutland and only received a “Ritter” hereditary knight title, not reaching baron. In Earth’s World War I, no officer from commoner origins rose to baron either. Lelouch had already made history.
However, a baron’s status was still the lowest of the five ranks of duke, marquis, earl, viscount, and baron. There were so many nobles born nobler than Lelouch above him. In truth, Lelouch did not particularly want to enter that system to be at the bottom as a foil for others.
Not to mention anything else, just among the air force officers Lelouch had commanded, Richthofen already held a baron title. He was also quite flashy, liking to paint his fighter jet red, making enemies exclaim he was the Red Baron.
Fortunately, Duke Rupprecht saw Lelouch’s indifferent expression and recognized his nonchalance toward the nobility title. The duke, who was well prepared, cleared his throat again and told him an additional surprise:
“Don’t think that baron is just the lowest in the regular hereditary nobility. This also gives you an opportunity, meaning from now on you have a chance to enter the Empire’s noble parliament circle. It’s a threshold, a stepping stone. Once you reach baron, you can do politically what dukes and marquises can do, as long as you have the ability.”
Lelouch was stunned, temporarily unable to grasp the duke’s meaning, as he was not very familiar with the Empire’s current government operations.
The duke then smugly explained in a low voice: “For example, the Empire has two parliaments: the truly powerful Federal Parliament, and the Imperial Parliament with more people but only able to question budgets without legislative powers. You know that much, right?”
Lelouch: “I know. The Imperial Parliament is the one that approves budgets, while the Federal Parliament is the one that enacts and amends laws.”
In the Germania Empire, there is a “Federal Parliament” and an “Imperial Parliament.” Judging by the names alone, the Imperial Parliament might seem more impressive, but in reality, it is not.
The “Imperial Parliament” is roughly equivalent to the Ugly Country’s House of Representatives or Britain’s lower house. It requires any legal citizen over 25 years old; as long as someone is willing to elect you, you can be elected in your district with no other thresholds.
The “Federal Parliament” is equivalent to the Ugly Country’s Senate or Britain’s upper house; it is a house of nobles. It is called “Federal” because its seats are not distributed by population or electoral districts, but according to the fundamental law after the Franco-Prussian War, allocated by each state.
This is very similar to the Ugly Country’s Senate, where regardless of a state’s population, each state gets 2 seats, so 50 states make 100 seats.
But Germania’s Federal Parliament is not evenly divided among states; it has typical large and small states with legally specified seat numbers.
The entire Empire has 58 Federal Parliament seats in total. The largest, Kingdom of Prussia, holds 17 exclusively; the second largest, Baria, has 6; among the other three southern states, Württemberg has 4, Baden and Hesse both have 3. Saxony also has 4, Mecklenburg and Brunswick each have 2; these 8 states total 41 seats.
The remaining 17 small states, free cities, and territories have only 1 seat each, making up the 58 seats. All of the Empire’s laws are voted on by these 58 people.
Germania’s constitution stipulates that amending the constitution requires over 75% approval, meaning opponents cannot exceed 25%, or 14 out of 58 seats. Since Prussia alone has 17 seats, as long as Prussia does not have internal strife, it can ensure vetoing any attempt to amend the constitution.
Britain, Ugly Country, and others have always criticized Germania’s “rubber stamp” issue for this very reason.
Seeing that Lelouch had understood the Empire’s operations in this regard, Duke Rupprecht threw out a huge reward:
“So, although I can only bestow baron upon you this time, once you become a baron, you qualify to serve as an Imperial ‘Federal Senator.’ And I can guarantee that when this year’s Federal Parliament seats are confirmed, I will nominate you as a supplementary senator from my Baria Kingdom.
The Empire’s Federal Parliament has remained at 58 seats since the end of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871. But now, with prospects of territorial expansion, the Emperor believes the new territories incorporated into the Kingdom of Prussia in Lithuania under Marshal Mackensen should also gain 1 seat, increasing Prussia to 18. For balance and to show the Emperor’s fairness, His Majesty privately discussed with me a few days ago, willing to add 1 seat to Baria as well, since we have also expanded the Empire’s territory.
This is just a trial. In the future, Prussia will have 18 seats, my Baria will have 7, and the Federal Parliament total will increase to 60 seats. As for the additional 1 seat for us southern states, I plan to give it to you! At that time, I will appoint you as State Secretary of the Armament Department of the Baria Kingdom, and as one of the 7 senators from the Baria Kingdom in the Federal Parliament, specifically responsible for my kingdom’s proposals to the Federal Parliament on armament development.
In the future, any suggestions you have for the Empire to increase research and development on new military technology or produce new military equipment can be channeled through this, directly submitting legislative applications.”
At this point, Lelouch finally could not help but be shocked.
The duke was pulling him in so strongly; this bargaining chip was incredibly heavy.
A position in a body with only 60 seats nationwide, giving him one was equivalent to a vice-ministerial treatment in the Empire.
Just like in the Ugly Country, if a governor is full provincial/ministerial level, then a senator is at least vice-provincial/ministerial level.
Lelouch had not delved deeply into this before and instinctively applied the Ugly Country’s situation, so he could not help but confirm: “Serving as one of the Federal 60 seats won’t affect my holding other positions in the military or departments?”
Duke Rupprecht: “Of course not! The Empire’s system has never had any such conflict of interest rules. What kind of law did you study? The Empire isn’t Britain or the Ugly Country—only those countries impose such restrictions!
In the Empire, the Prime Minister naturally also serves as the presiding officer of the Federal Parliament. Back in the day, Prime Minister Bismarck served as presiding officer for many years. The other two of the founding trio, Chief of Staff Moltke the Elder and Minister of Armament Albrecht von Roon Count, also served as honorary presiding officers.
Ministers of various departments, as long as they are nobles of baron rank or above, can often concurrently serve as Federal Senators and directly propose bills. I myself am one of the original 6 from the Baria Kingdom; the Grand Duke of Baden and the Duke of Württemberg are also representatives of their states in the Federal Parliament.
Also, Naval Minister Marshal Tirpitz—you know him well, right? He was one of the original 58 seats, so he could directly personally propose《 Naval Law》 drafts, repeatedly demanding passage and funding to build battleships.”
Only after hearing this explanation did Lelouch fully understand. So in Germania’s political arena, these positions did not conflict. He had probably watched too many Ugly Country dramas from later generations, always thinking ministers had to face senator inquiries. In Germania, these identities could originally be held concurrently.
The position the duke was granting him was not as a proposer for the entire Empire’s Armament Department, but considering the Baria Kingdom’s own military traditions, the Baria Kingdom could independently propose to the Federal Parliament on armament and weapon research and development—this authority was not insignificant.
Additionally, in Germania, the main difference between “minister” and “State Secretary” is that a minister handles the daily work of a certain department in a field, while a State Secretary in charge of a department only handles that department’s bill submissions to parliament—nothing else.
So in the future, Lelouch would not need to manage the daily work of the Baria Armament Department; he would specialize in proposals. Like Marshal Tirpitz, he could go on stage during meetings to preach his spending plans and what the money would be used for.
If a general’s rank was basically equivalent to a full ministerial position and treatment, then lieutenant general was roughly vice-ministerial. Although the Empire could not promote Lelouch to lieutenant general this time, giving him a position as one of the Federal Parliament’s 60 seats, equivalent to lieutenant general/vice-ministerial treatment, was quite good.
Additionally, one point must be noted: this identity as one of the 60 seats would only take effect when the formal meeting opens this year, that is, 1916.
Before that, the duke was only nominating him as a candidate first. So there would be at least several months’ time lag in between.
Only by this summer would Lelouch be able to be formally addressed as “Senator Lelouch.”
“No problem, a few months is fine. This is all normal procedure; it should be waited for anyway.” Lelouch quickly expressed his stance, indicating he was in no rush at all and would fully comply with the organization’s arrangements.
The duke struck while the iron was hot and told him one final supplementary piece of news: “Good that you’re not in a hurry. Since that’s the case, there’s one more thing I need to tell you: your major general promotion won’t be approved right now either.
Those Junker Officer Corps people cannot tolerate someone who hasn’t attended regular military academy training serving as a general in the Empire, so someone suggested having His Majesty send you to the Potsdam Military Academy for a three-month crash course—don’t worry, it’s not starting from basics; it’s just gilding. You’ll enter the advanced strategic seminar class and complete a strategic thesis.
Many people are attacking you now, saying you’ve only won some battles starting from the grassroots but haven’t received systematic education, so you’re strong in tactics but blank in strategy. Go mix for three months, complete a thesis, shut everyone’s mouths, and you can formally be promoted to major general. For future promotions, you won’t need to bother with this.”
Lelouch understood this routine immediately. Wasn’t this just like those successful entrepreneurs from later generations who went back for a few months of prestigious MBA executive short course to gild themselves and network?
In Bright Sword, Li Yunlong, Ding Wei, and the others all became generals, but because they hadn’t attended military academy, they had to go back for gilding. In the end, Ding Wei produced a thesis with brilliant strategic vision and naturally received acclaim.
The Junker Officer Corps was a bit narrow-minded in this regard, not wanting outsiders to become generals. If foreigners absolutely had to be promoted to general, they had to first be pulled into their circle for training.
“Of course that’s no problem, but do I really need to waste three months in Berlin, unable to go anywhere and focusing solely on classes?” Lelouch first expressed gratitude, then followed up to confirm the situation.
Duke Rupprecht: “No need for that. Before the end of March, it’s best if you don’t frequently leave Berlin; occasional leave for business trips is fine. But what you do in Berlin during that time is up to you—no one interferes. Just show your face at the Potsdam Military Academy a few times a week. After three months, complete the thesis. Even if you hire a ghostwriter, I won’t bother with it.”
Lelouch thought about it. From now until the end of March, winter military operations across fronts would indeed be fewer. Moreover, after fighting continuously for so long, there were indeed many rear matters to handle. Leaving the front line for three months was fine.
Doing the thesis wouldn’t take much energy; the remaining time could be used for other things in the rear.
But before leaving, he still needed to discuss the issue of handling spoils of war from the Kievan Rus’ region with the duke.
