Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

Chapter 378: 36 Chapters: Super Long Spear

For the governments of the countries in the Alliance, and even their military counterparts, stripping an officer of their commission was an almost impossible feat.

The story begins at the founding of the Alliance.

At that time, nobles both great and small within the Republics, unwilling to abandon their privileges, raised their banners in armed separatism.

Smoke from the battles covered the lands around Senas Bay, and the nascent Alliance flickered in the wind, its fate uncertain from day to day.

It seemed as though the republican government might meet its end no sooner than it had begun.

But there was still one army in the Senas Alliance, an army led by Ned Smith. At that time, there were no divisions into separate Republics, and the people of Senas simply called this military force “the Allied Army.”

“Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun,” but at that time, the rebellious nobles had yet to realize this: the Allied Army was in itself the most powerful rebel faction in the land.

Against the Allied Army, forged in blood and fire, even the “Butcher” Duke Arlian had no choice but to suffer defeat and take his own life—who else on the shores of the bay could rival the Allied Army?

Cannon fire leveled towers, and underground tunnels blew apart castles, as the nobles’ fragmented power was easily suppressed and annihilated by the Allied Army.

As one earl after another who openly rebelled was hanged from the city walls by the army, the remaining old ruling class began to understand that violence was suicide.

They, relying on their deep-rooted local influence, willingly entered various councils to engage in party politics.

In those years, the political ecosystem of the Republics was quite comical and absurd.

Aristocratic powers gradually took over local councils, and the cities, where the new republican government resided, were like isolated islands in a vast ocean.

The so-called democratically elected representatives were nothing but old nobility in new clothing, while the military ironically became a pillar of democratic republicanism.

Calls such as “Settle the crimes of the Allied Army during the Sovereignty Wars!” and “Put Ned Smith on trial!” reverberated everywhere.

The atmosphere along Senas Bay bordered on that of a countryside encircling the cities, a peaceful evolution of power, welcoming the return of the emperor.

Based on the necessity to protect the military and the fear that the old aristocracy might seize power and control the army for a countercoup, the governments of the Republics granted considerable autonomy to their national armed forces during those years.

The Allied Army from that period did indeed stand as the last bastion for the fledgling Republic.

The old noble forces tried time and again to turn back history, only to be crushed decisively by the military of the Republics.

The Supreme Council of Guanglian Province was forcibly dissolved by the military three times, and the story of “bombarding the State Palace” is still told among the citizens of Guidu.

But this harsh medicine came with many side effects, one of which was the self-sufficient system that the Provincial Army eventually became, leading to today’s intractable situation.

The constitutional amendment that “officers cannot be stripped of their commission except for treason or espionage” was also passed during the same period.

As long as an officer wasn’t guilty of treason or espionage, no matter what they did, even if their command errors led to the death of thousands of soldiers, they could not be kicked out of the military for it.

This was the ultimate protection for officers of the Allied Army.

But this amendment indirectly led to another result: even if an officer seriously offended a powerful figure, they couldn’t strip him of his military status.

Therefore, the less favored junior officers by the higher-ups had only two destinations:

Either they were transferred to some overseas military district and became the honorable overseas garrison,

or they were assigned to the military historiography department, sitting on a cold bench, revising military histories.

These two practices became unwritten customs of the Armed Forces of the Republics.

The overseas garrison was a military institution directly under the control of the Alliance government, not subject to any member state’s jurisdiction. Going there meant losing the identity of a Republican serviceman, and it was always a one-way trip.

And historians from later generations unfamiliar with the hidden rules would find the military histories of the Allied Army from this period quite bizarre.

In contrast to the Empire’s military histories full of praises and boasting of martial achievements, the Allied Army’s accounts were written with biting satire, sarcastic tone, and the pages seemed to drip with palpable acidity.

And our Colonel John Jeska was the kind of officer particularly disliked by the higher-ups.

So twelve years ago, he was transferred from the Paratu forces to an overseas military department to work on revising military histories.

…

Of course, the three lieutenants had no idea about Colonel Jeska’s legendary “return from oblivion” upon first meeting him.

But when the colonel said he had just returned from overseas, Bard immediately understood what had happened.

Bard whispered a reminder, “Sir, Lieutenant Montaigne and Lieutenant Cellini here are Venetians, while I am a United Provincial.”

“Venetians serving in Paratu?” Colonel Jeska asked in confusion, “Has the Land Academy now abandoned the practice of ‘return to where you came from’ in favor of a dispersed distribution?”

Well, it seems that this officer is truly unaware of the situation, and Bard gave him a succinct explanation of the background.

“The friction between the Federated Provinces and Vineta—I heard of it even while overseas,” the colonel lamented after hearing the explanation, “You really are unlucky, getting caught in the middle.”

…

After dismissing the formation, the colonel didn’t stop for a moment before setting out to inspect the Arsenal.@@novelbin@@

Since combat wasn’t a concern, Winters and the others decided upon arriving at Shuangqiao Main Camp to collect and securely store the weapons and equipment of the three hundred-man units together.

The temporary Arsenal was set up in a wooden hut, overseen by an experienced Centurion named Malcolm, who with his subordinates was responsible for its guard.

During the earlier assembly, Malcolm had already noticed that the new battalion commander was not an easy officer to deal with.

After the dismissal, he hurriedly had his militia men, armed with cleaning tools, rush to the Arsenal, ready to give the storage room a thorough cleaning.

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