Early the next morning, at the main entrance of the palace.
The officials who were preparing to attend the funeral of the fallen soldiers had gathered. The military attachés got on their horses and the civilian officials got on their cars. However, Major General Carlos, the highest-ranking imperial general staff officer, did not give the order to set off.
Today is the first time for officials to attend a formal ceremony as imperial officials, so the Logistics Department has issued new uniforms to civil and military officials yesterday. The civil officials wore blue tunics without too many decorations, just with
The ribbon and chest badge show the specific official rank and position, which looks very concise and energetic.
According to the tradition of the dark province, the uniforms of officers are simpler, with black as the main color, with silver piping and buttons, broad shoulders, narrow sleeves, waisted tops and trousers. Military ranks are on both shoulders, and service signs are worn on
Upper arm.
From the lieutenant with the smallest official rank to the lieutenant general with the highest military rank, everyone will wear this in the future. Officers above the brigadier general will be more lavish in their clothing, with a leadership cape... Of course, because the emperor is a soldier, so the officers
Everyone in the palace was allowed to wear long swords.
"Your Excellency, General Staff Officer, everyone is here." After waiting for a while, Carlos's adjutant reminded him: "Should we set off?"
"Really?" Major General Carlos raised his head: "Who do you think the carriage driving towards us belongs to?"
"Carriage?" The adjutant looked back and saw that the emperor's special carriage and guards were driving out from the middle gate of the main palace.
"You stay in this car and I'll go greet you." Carlos adjusted his new military uniform and said, "Get ready to go."
The main gate of the palace slowly opened, and with the crisp sound of horse hooves, the Guards cavalry set off to protect the convoy.
"Good morning, Your Majesty the Emperor, good morning Your Highness the Prince." In the huge carriage, Carlos was greeting the Emperor and his son: "By the way, Your Majesty, didn't you say you weren't going?"
"Of course I said that, but you have to understand that plans can never keep up with changes." The neatly dressed Cohen replied seriously: "What's more, I am an emperor, and I have to seize every moment to complete my historical mission..."
"These words are enough to bluff people." Seeing that Cohen was about to speak at length, Carlos nodded quickly and said: "Your Majesty, please spare me!"
"I'm glad you understand what I mean." The serious expression on Cohen's face collapsed in an instant: "In fact, my behavior last night angered a certain internal affairs supervisor. She must be waiting to settle accounts with me at the dinner table.
.”
The Prime Minister, who was looking at the official document, raised his head at this moment: "What's going on?"
"There are too many rooms in the harem. I looked for the wrong window last night..." Cohen explained with a smile: "As a result, I went around and around and couldn't find where I wanted to go."
"Then what?" The Prime Minister looked at the official document in his hand again.
"Then I ran to Kelly in a daze, and then found my way to the imperial study in the morning..."
"As far as I know, Kelly and Feline's rooms are door-to-door." The Prime Minister ruthlessly exposed Cohen's lies.
"The point of the matter is here. The door was opposite and I went to the wrong door. This has become an unexplainable mistake." Cohen continued his lie: "Felin will never make me look good. I must at least avoid it.
She's most angry at breakfast time."
"Then, I can only wish you good luck at dinner." The Prime Minister reviewed the official document: "I will eat in the room with your mother, giving Feilin a chance to be angry."
"My dear dad, I am your son!"
"Feilin is my daughter-in-law, and she is the first princess with a special status, the head of the harem, and she has always performed very well. Why should I help your son, who can only cause trouble?"
"Understood, let's not talk about it now." Cohen nodded: "Carlos, dad, there is one thing we must do."
"What's up?"
"You should remember that we have a plan to gradually move the water tribe inland, right?"
"Yes, but it has been temporarily suspended due to funding reasons. The aquatic tribe has not been able to go ashore so far." Prince Weisu raised his head: "We expect to realize this plan next year, and now we can only support them with food."
"I thought of a question last night." Cohen frowned: "Didn't it mean that both the gods and demons are chasing them? If a large number of Water Tribe people appear in the empire, we cannot explain this situation to the Light God Clan. They
They may even ask us to kill all these people, and then we will be in trouble."
"Indeed, then what are you going to do?" Prince Weisu thought for a moment: "Not many people know about this plan. It is only known to our highest-level people. All incoming and outgoing materials are in the account of the internal affairs supervision. Officials even
Didn’t know we had any dealings with the Water Tribe.”
"Stop the inward relocation plan. We will talk about it later. We will continue to support them with food, but we must do it more covertly. The military personnel sent to the Shui Tribe will not have to come back. All the ports under preparation will be used by our people..." Cohen
Turning to Carlos, he said: "I think that if a few Water Tribe people occasionally appear in the empire, the Gods will not make things difficult for us. They are only disgusted with large numbers of Water Tribe people."
"It's true. In the slave markets of other empires, slaves like the Aqua Tribe are very popular." Carlos agreed with Cohen: "Then I will write to them immediately."
"Okay." Cohen thought of something again: "By the way, tell Xander and let Forna come to the Holy City."
"Miss Forna? In what capacity?"
"What status? You asked me what status she came from? I am the emperor and I have tens of thousands of things to worry about. Please don't bother me with such trivial matters, okay?" Cohen couldn't think of a suitable reason for a while, so
I brought this issue to the General Staff Officer again.
"Understood." The general staff officer could only nod and admit that he was unlucky.
The motorcade got out of the car and headed towards the countryside.
Compared with the rebels, the casualties of the imperial army in this war were very few, but the fierce battle of the Holy Capital still cost more than 6,000 soldiers their lives. Or in the eyes of others, this cost is negligible, but from Cohen's perspective,
This is a huge loss. He only has a total of 150,000 troops. Losing even one soldier will feel heartbreaking.
The Engineer Regiment spent five days building a cemetery in a beautiful place on the outskirts of the country. All the remains of more than 6,000 soldiers have been buried. More than 6,000 white tombstones are arranged in a huge circle, and in the center of the circle stands a huge
A statue of a soldier, with the names of the fallen soldiers densely engraved on the base of the statue.
Next to each tombstone stood an officer or non-commissioned officer. These people were the best friends of the fallen soldiers. They held their friends' weapons and uniforms in their hands and stood quietly beside their sleeping friends.
The Guards soldiers in new uniforms were on guard inside and outside the cemetery. They were all in high spirits and had solemn expressions. Seeing the arrival of the motorcade, the officer presiding over the ceremony nodded, and the military band began to play military music. This was the first appearance of the Royal Military Band.
A long motorcade stopped outside the cemetery, and officials waited for the emperor at the gate.
Wearing a white dress, the emperor, accompanied by the Prime Minister and the General Staff Officer, stepped off the carriage and entered the gate along the passage. The officials followed behind and passed through dozens of imperial flags flying above their heads to the open space under the statue. Stand still.
After a series of solemn and solemn ceremonies, the ceremony came to an end. The emperor walked to the front and spoke to his ministers and generals.
"We are here today to remember all the soldiers who died in this war, a total of 6,473." Cohen looked at these men with a very peaceful look: "I think among us, I Being more familiar with them, I can tell when they joined the army, when they completed their training, when and where they fought, and where they died."
This was not a good opening, and some ministers even complained in their hearts that the emperor's secretary was a fool who was just trying to make ends meet.
"I can remember them, I even remember some of them talking to me, and I can always remember them! But it is no longer important to them, they have already slept here." At this point. , Cohen shook his head: "I didn't have time to tell them my life goals, and I couldn't let them live a comfortable life for a few days. I could only give them a place to rest after they sacrificed themselves - and they !They paid the price with their lives for me!”
The emperor suddenly raised his voice, shocking all the ministers present.
"Today, we have taken back the empire! Today, there is no war in the empire! Today, we are here wearing new uniforms... We are here today because of the dedication and hard work of countless soldiers, but they don't even have new uniforms There is no chance to know what they are like!" The emperor finally got to the point: "Just because of the mistakes of a few people, we lost these soldiers. I ask you to think about it. After we take the empire back from the rebels, what should you do? What should we do, how should we do it, what should we do in return for these soldiers who are willing to sacrifice their lives... You don’t have to rush to answer me, think about it carefully."
"In the past few days, I have been in contact with many people and many official documents. Everyone has put forward many opinions and opinions on the future development of the empire. Here, I don't want to say who did it right and who did it wrong. I I just ask you to gaze at the tombstones of these soldiers, think about their faces, and then consider your own suggestions and rewrite an official document and give it to me." Cohen's eyes covered the ministers, his expression remained calm: "These sacrificed soldiers Soldiers, I sincerely hope they can rest in peace, but those who are alive should continue to work hard, there is no price to pay."
"The majestic military music, the formal ceremony, and the funeral with the emperor, it's really nothing." Cohen raised his head, he was a little excited, and his tone paused: "I feel really guilty, I don't know what will happen in the future. When I think of them, what can I offer to comfort their souls, what can all of us offer?"
"They sacrificed, they became heroes and martyrs, their names are recorded in history, we give them as much as possible... But I would rather let them live! I would rather let them live as ordinary people and enjoy the fun of life ." Cohen regained his composure: "Find out the family members of every soldier who died and take care of them for me."
Before the ministers could understand more from the emperor's words, Cohen handed over the ceremony to the Prime Minister. While the latter stood in front of the statue to speak, His Majesty the Emperor had already returned to his carriage. Because of the Emperor's temper
This has always been the case, so apart from a little dissatisfaction, no one among the ministers paid much attention to it.
However, when the ceremony came to an end, the Prime Minister did not see Cohen in the carriage. What was waiting for him was Cohen again, and Abu looked depressed - the emperor had escaped again!
The Prime Minister didn't say anything else. He directly took a few letters from Abu and said to himself: "You really know how to cause trouble! How long will you have to run this time?"
The carriage shook slightly, and the convoy was returning to the city. (To be continued)