Chapter 1712: Thirteen. Icewind Forest (4)

Principality soldiers have mixed feelings for the Minister of Finance.
They like the Minister of Finance because the Minister of Finance always tries to meet the needs of the military budget.
They hate the finance minister because the finance minister always supervises and intervenes in the military's combat plan.
Soldiers all over the world have more or less the idea that the professional field should not be interfered, that is, the military is a field of military personnel, and politicians are not professionals in this field. They should not interfere excessively with the work of professionals and create unnecessary trouble.
From the point of view of "specialization in the art industry", this kind of teaching is not unreasonable, and it is indeed easy for lay people to intervene in the management of the professional field. However, the relationship between the military and political decision-making is not parallel and equal, but the military should be subordinate to the country and subordinate to the political center. Analogy with the human body is that muscles should obey the wisdom of the brain. If the military wants to sit on par with political decision-makers, or even want to manage the country by itself and formulate major policies, it becomes muscle control. Charlieman has shown the world what kind of consequences this will bring.
The soldiers of the Principality of course do not want to carry the honorary title of "Charlie Man Red Deer's Follower", but they really do not like to be fingered by politicians. ). From their point of view, it is certainly untimely to embark on a war with the Empire at this time, but since the domestic crisis was transferred with a small victory, let's make this victory more beautiful. Even if you don’t intend to really take Helsingfors as the goal, at least after the capture of the Isthmus of Karelia, you will continue to march in order to occupy a more favorable position from the negotiating table and reach a more favorable agreement. .
With such thoughts and emotions originating from military standardism, the Minister of Finance and the Prime Minister’s instruction to
immediately turn into defense after occupying Karelia and the Hanko Peninsula and must not engage in any provocation
will of course not be seen by the elders. . But the eight elders also did not understand the worries of Earl Witt and Stolypin.
When people look at Earl Witt and Stoly, they can't help but compare the top figures of the two civic ministers and their counterparts in the empire. The reason is probably because these two have many similarities with the imperial civil bureaucracy.
Regardless of origin, these two are economics and law professionals, which is the same as most imperial bureaucrats. In addition, with national interests as the priority, the thinking model tends to be rationalized and scientific, which is also very close to the imperial bureaucracy. Due to the closeness of thinking, these two views on the relationship between the army and the government, and the transfer of crises with military victories are also similar to those of imperial politicians.
Military affairs are subordinated to politics, and they range from world wars to small unknown conflicts. The ongoing "limited war" is also impossible to be an exception. Its primary goal is to achieve political goals, and military operations are merely an extension of political intentions. Just like the military is only a violent device subordinate to the government, it requires higher treatment. It is acceptable to submit an application for increasing the national defense budget based on the actual needs of national defense. Decide the beginning and end of the war and define what form is victory-these are the jobs of politicians. The military should not intervene too much, as long as it strives to achieve these goals.
"The Minister of the Army and the Lieutenant General, I admire your work ability and professionalism, and I am very pleased with the military's continuous efforts and various achievements. But please keep in mind that all warfare officers and all officers: war is not alchemy, Victory and morale are not the stones of the sage. For the country, these are at best salt. The alchemist who used salt to make gold is unheard."
Organisms want to live, they must ingest certain salt every day. If the country wants to survive, morale and victory are also essential. Excessive intake of salt will kill lives, and the country will continue to consume its national power in frequent wars and will also perish.
This was the case with Charlemagne in the past, but now it is the same way as the Principality, and it may not be better in the end.
War and victory must never be used as addictive drugs, no matter how glorified it is, how politically necessary it is. After all, war is a crazy act of throwing everything including human life into the stove. Even a Principality proud of its abundant human resources, after all, it is impossible to harvest combatants from farmland like potatoes.
Even if we have to rely on external wars to alleviate the domestic situation, we will never allow the war to expand indefinitely, let alone normalize military adventures.
"I urge you not to forget who our real enemy is, in order to meet the future war, in order to survive the war that swept the world, and to face that monster-like country. Please control the reins in your hands~www .EbookFREE.me~ Don't do extra things."
World war.
This is the most fundamental factor for the principality's courage to provoke conflict, and it is also the reason for their courage to take such risks.
The new order is only a temporary truce, not real peace. Considering that in the next war, the empire will inevitably become the common enemy of all countries. As the main fighting force against the empire, the Principality of the mainland country and Albian of the maritime country will naturally strike the empire at the land-sea border.
Considering this unshakable background, as long as the Principality does not go too far on the Lapland issue, even if Albion inevitably condemns the Principality with the Empire, there will be no substantive moves. It will cause a stumbling block for the empire, making it difficult for the empire to cause substantial damage to the Principality.
Everything is for war, everything is for defeating the empire. In this absolute and unique sense, as long as it is "not excessive", everything can be accepted and everything can be forgiven.
Therefore, the focus is not on whether the war is just, or whether the action is in line with morality and law, but whether it is in line with interests—the interests of the self and the interests of the majority.
As long as Lapland continues to exist, since the new order can be maintained, it will not touch the red line set by the empire, nor will it intensify the situation. It will expand local conflicts into full-scale conflicts in one go. Only then will it be possible to use military victory as a bargaining chip to negotiate with the empire, reach a compromise, and completely occupy the occupied area under the control of the Principality through the form of an agreement, enjoy the war dividend with peace of mind, and achieve the goals of shifting contradictions, promoting national industrialization, and promoting a positive economic cycle.
"I repeat, there must not be a soldier's boots stepping on the land outside the Karelia isthmus and the Hanko peninsula. This is His Majesty's will and any violators will be punished severely."
At the voice of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the soldiers lowered their heads together.