He Became The Most Insane Emperor Of All Time [EN]: Chapter 8

I Became the Crazy Emperor of the Era – Episode 8

I Became the Crazy Emperor of the Era Episode 8

“Your Majesty, while I commend your dedication to training, please do not neglect your state affairs.”

The next day, as I was engrossed in my training as usual, I was taken aback by the words of the head of the Imperial Guard.

For a moment, I thought it was the Chief State Councilor speaking, not the head of the Imperial Guard.

“Even the head of the Imperial Guard is saying such things; it seems I have no allies left.”

“I am always on Your Majesty’s side, but even so, isn’t neglecting state affairs still contrary to Your Majesty’s intentions?”

My intentions?

I have no idea what intentions I could have other than simply disliking work.

Of course, the head of the Imperial Guard’s words had their own logic.

“Now that we’ve brought in the merchants, shouldn’t we start managing state affairs and coordinating them?”

“Ah, of course. I’m already doing that.”

“You say you are doing that?”

Seeing his expression of doubt as to how I could be doing that when I wasn’t working, I smiled and said,

“I’m talking about those guys who kept submitting trash proposals.”

The officials who kept making excuses and submitting substandard proposals.

“I ordered those fellows to come up with solutions and submit them. I also warned them that it wouldn’t be fun if they submitted trash proposals again, so they’re working hard.”

“…….”

Indeed, people work well when they are motivated.

Of course, I didn’t just give them homework without teaching them anything.

These are still very unfamiliar, advanced concepts to them.

Public sanitation, budget, economy, administration, military affairs, diplomacy, and so on.

It was only a superficial level, but I roughly sorted out and taught them what they needed first.

The Chief State Councilor called it a new field of study and started using the officials as voluntary graduate students—no, as workhorses.

Naturally, the officials glared at me with resentment, but if they didn’t like it, I told them to become the emperor, haha!

“……The officials must be suffering a lot.”

“Well, everyone has their own job to do. Anyway, as you said, I can’t just be absorbed in training.”

As emperor, I’m using the Chief State Councilor and the officials, but the organization won’t run well if I just use them.

There’s no need for the emperor to roll up his sleeves and run around, but he needs to act appropriately for his position.

“I should check on the soldiers today.”

“Do you mean an inspection? Then I’ll immediately prepare the Imperial Guards…….”

“No, the Imperial Guards are fine. They’re under the direct command of the head of the Imperial Guard, so they must be doing well without me needing to see it.”

What’s the point of visiting a unit that’s already doing well?

Of course, if a war breaks out, there’s a high probability that the elite troops will fight at the forefront or defend against the enemy first, so it’s not meaningless.

But if an inspection is to have any meaning, shouldn’t we check on the underperformers unexpectedly so that the lower ranks can pull themselves together?

If we truly need to prepare for war, rather than being satisfied with a disorganized army, that’s what we should do.

“I want to inspect the Imperial Army. The exact name is the standing army under the Imperial Corps, right?”

“That’s correct, but are you going to inspect the soldiers, not the Knights?”

“I am, is there a problem with that?”

“……There certainly is a problem, but I think it would be faster for you to see it for yourself rather than me explaining it.”

And as I roughly expected, the head of the Imperial Guard’s expression wasn’t bright when he heard my decision.

* * *

Before I fell into this world, there was a popular saying.

And after seeing the state of the Imperial Army, I couldn’t help but smile wryly and say that catchphrase.

“This is…… the Imperial Army?”

The word ’empire’ is merely a word that signifies a form of government, system, or scale.

It doesn’t inherently imply military power.

But strangely, the Imperial Army always has the image of a strong army in any genre of novel.

“Head of the Imperial Guard, am I too disappointed because I’m comparing them to the Imperial Guard?”

“No, Your Majesty. You are disappointed for perfectly normal reasons.”

But no matter how I looked at it, the Imperial Army before my eyes didn’t look like a strong army.

They were lined up because the emperor had come, but it was hard to find any spirit or discipline.

There’s no way that regulations and military discipline would follow.

Above all, their appearance was too shabby.

Many of them were wearing unkempt, old armor, their insignias were dirty, and their nutritional status seemed poor.

“Even if they’re not the Imperial Guard, they’re still the standing army under my command, but their condition is too much.”

Although I expected them to be somewhat lacking.

As I showed signs of discomfort, the corps commander, who was standing next to me and the head of the Imperial Guard, was constantly sweating.

“Tell me why this is the case, Head of the Imperial Guard.”

“If I were to list the reasons one by one, there would be no end, but the biggest problem is the military budget.”

“Surely you’re not failing to pay their salaries properly, are you?”

I recalled the proposals that I had been casually skimming through every morning, even though I had been neglecting them.

There were definitely no officials among them who had seriously raised the issue of military spending.

“Fortunately, their salaries haven’t been delayed, but the salaries themselves have been cut for a long time, so it’s not a meaningful thing.”

It seemed that they had made the typical mistake of cutting soldiers’ salaries first, citing the country’s difficult financial situation.

It was just like telling them to lie down and start the Imo Incident [a military mutiny due to unpaid salaries], but the rulers of a failing country considered soldiers’ salaries the easiest to cut.

“In the first place, the Imperial Army’s size is only around 5,000 men.”

Five thousand men isn’t a small number, but it’s definitely too small to be labeled as the Imperial Army. Yes.

At least, the size of the standing army is too small compared to the size of the country.

“Head of the Imperial Guard, do you think we can improve it now?”

Thanks to the patriotic merchants’ voluntary (?) donations, the financial situation has improved, so we can solve the military spending problem to some extent.

But the head of the Imperial Guard shook his head, seemingly skeptical.

“I am honestly skeptical. It is not easy to restore discipline once it has collapsed.”

Perhaps because he was a military man, his perspective was very realistic.

The problem was that the reality was a bit too painful.

Still, recognizing the reality and trying to solve the problem is the right attitude required of a true emperor.

“Good, from today, training will be with them.”

I threw out words that would shock everyone who heard my declaration on the spot.

It was natural to have such a reaction.

It’s only natural that if a president visits a military unit one day, suddenly laments the state of the military, and then says he’s going to train with them, it would cause an uproar.

Of course, if the president did it, it would be a political show, but surprisingly, it was a common occurrence historically for emperors.

Even Napoleon often lived and worked with his Imperial Guards.

“Don’t worry too much. We’ll start with a light stroll through the forest or mountains.”

“If you mean the forest……?”

“I mean the hunting grounds. It seems like the perfect place to go for a stroll.”

Of course, the name of that stroll will be hell training.

* * *

The concept of going to a forest-like place for military training isn’t particularly unfamiliar to Korean men.

Most people who go to the military experience guerilla warfare training in such places.

Of course, I had no intention of recreating guerilla warfare training here like some other world story.

“Is it around here? Where the monsters that have crossed over from near the Demon Realm appear?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Then this is a good place. Tell them to form a defensive formation.”

“Are you going to hunt monsters right away?”

“No, that’s still a bit dangerous. The reason I chose this place is to give them some tension.”

I couldn’t tell a weakened person to run right away.

Until they regained their strength, they needed to do training that wasn’t real combat, but had real combat elements.

“The opponent will not be monsters, but an opposing force.”

“What is an opposing force?”

“In simple terms, I or other soldiers or knights will take on the roles of beasts or monsters.”

I was thinking of adapting the training that modern Earth’s military uses with an opposing force to suit this place.

“There is a high risk of injury.”

“Of course, we have to be considerate. It’s difficult to have a level that’s too dangerous right now, so it would be good to use training weapons.”

Of course, it might get a bit bland if we didn’t use swords and only held wooden swords or staffs, but I didn’t expect to be full on the first try.

Since it’s the first time, I can only hope that it will gradually improve, even if it’s somewhat awkward or clumsy this time.

“I’m not expecting them to become elite right away.”

I looked at the unmotivated soldiers, slamming the scabbard into the ground as if loosening my body.

What they needed most right now was self-esteem and confidence.

“We have to make them aware that they are soldiers.”

I’m not telling them to know their place.

I was telling them to change back to being soldiers.

Of course, I have no intention of pushing the idea of grit [unyielding courage in the face of hardship].

I plan to increase military spending again, even if I have to push the Chief State Councilor.

But even if support increases, it’s meaningless if the soldiers themselves are not soldiers, but just salary thieves.

“I agree with Your Majesty’s opinion, but I think the Chief State Councilor will definitely mention the budget issue.”

While the soldiers were at least pretending to form a formation at the stern command of the Imperial Knights, the head of the Imperial Guard pointed out the realistic part again.

As he said, the Chief State Councilor was likely to view the increase in military spending negatively.

That’s not wrong.

Rather, the Chief State Councilor is just doing his job faithfully.

“That’s because there is one solution if the military is normal.”

“If you mean a solution……?”

The head of the Imperial Guard seemed doubtful as to how there could be a solution to military training, which is a money-eating hippopotamus.

I gave him a simple answer while loosening my body indifferently.

“Why are you asking something you should know? Of course, we have to hunt monsters and make money.”

“Are you going to hunt monsters after all?”

“Of course, we can’t just train forever, and we need practical training.”

At the same time, the military, which is just lazing around and eating, can also earn extra income.

If we can accept the ‘relatively minor’ problem that casualties may occur during the hunt, it is a simple and rational solution that can solve several problems at once.

“Besides, I’m seriously thinking of growing this plan.”

To be precise, it was something that went beyond a reasonable level and was so surprising that it hadn’t been done until now.

There were monsters in the front yard that gave money when you caught them, but they had only been loafing around until now.

Of course, there must be a reason, but seeing that I don’t know the reason, it seems that I’m still unfamiliar with the physiology of this fantasy other world.

“Even during the empire’s heyday, they couldn’t completely push back the Demon Realm. Not to mention now…….”

The head of the Imperial Guard said with a worried tone as he looked at the soldiers who had just formed a crude formation.

He was a true soldier who could understand the soldiers’ hearts, but unfortunately, I had no intention of stopping pushing forward.

“We have to do it even more now because it’s now.”

If we can’t even overcome the monsters of the Demon Realm, we’re just going to perish anyway.

Of course, whether people realize that or not is a separate issue.

“Making them aware of that is what we have to do.”

So let’s roll them until they realize it.

I’ll roll them until they involuntarily scream.