CH268 War Reparation II

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"After neutralising the Wildkin threat in the Konradi barony and the greater Kellerman northwest county, Sir Holder and I quietly began a propaganda and indoctrination campaign across those lands.

"As a result, the people of the Konradi Barony now stand as our diehard citizens in diaspora, while much of the northwest county's population now favours us in their hearts over the Kellermans. In truth, both groups are essentially ours."

Alex's smile widened.

"When the Kellermans begin relocating people from the Barony, they'll likely reshuffle the population of the greater northwest county as well—moving some deeper inland. But that only plays into our hands. Because to us, that's no different than them moving our people straight into the Kellerman heartlands."

His grin sharpened, eyes glinting with the thrill of foresight.

"These people can't act on their own, of course. But they will become important nodes—anchors—for the intelligence network Black Mantle will weave throughout the Kellerman heartland.

"With those nodes in place, we will gain accurate, constant intelligence on the family and their fief. And with that information, we can bleed them dry, piece by piece, without them ever realising what's happening."

He leaned back slightly, voice dropping into a tone of cold certainty.

"By the time they notice their downfall and seek outside aid, it will be too late. The Kellermans and their holdings will have been damaged beyond appeal, becoming unattractive to any foreign power worth allying with.

"Instead, those same outside powers would see more profit in simply taking what's left of the Kellermans rather than helping them. The Kellerman would have no choice but to avoid them and try to come up with other solutions. But by then, the web will already be woven. All paths forward would be closed, and it will be up to us whether to finish them with a killing blow, take whatever is left of them as vassals or simply let them rot away in a slow death."

Strangely, this wasn't too difficult for Alex to conceive.

Destabilising smaller nations by larger world powers had been an open secret in his past life. It had done countless times by many powerful nations in history—and was still happening at the hands of the world's superpower nations even at the time of his reincarnation into this world.

Every superpower nation had, at one point, researched—if not outright carried out—such operations on weaker nations, or even on each other. And because of that, there had been no shortage of literature on the subject. Alex had consumed those works as well, many times, in his previous life.

They were baked as conspiracy theories by the world's superpowers, however, a quick look at the global map and areas of conflicts globally always reveals the clear truth.

Superpower nations had learnt the hard way that not every smaller country could be subdued by brute military force alone. Even when they could be conquered, the cost in lives and resources often outweighed the benefits, making direct warfare increasingly unattractive.

So, these superpowers turned to indirect warfare—subversion and destabilisation—as their weapon of choice.

They had refined the art of dismantling nations until it was almost a science. With the right knowledge, even a small, specialised team could bring a country to its knees.

What struck Alex the most was how similar their methods were across the board of these superpowers:

Enter the target nation. Spread propaganda and misinformation to turn the people against their rulers. Use bribery, blackmail, intimidation—or any means available—to make officials take seemingly harmless actions, each one a small domino that eventually toppled the nation's economy. Worsen the standard of living of already agitated citizens. Then, amplify the propaganda until rebellion broke out.

Once the government inevitably cracked down on the uprising—as most would—arm the rebels under the guise of aiding the oppressed. From there, chaos would spiral. The country would fracture into anarchy, leaving wounds deeper than any conventional war could inflict.

And in that chaos lay the true prize: resources ripe for exploitation, harvested freely while the broken nation struggled in vain to recover, too disorganised to resist.

By claiming to be the "good guys", "supporters of the people", or "advocates of restoring order", these superpower nations would send in personnel to pave the way for a puppet government—one they could control, ensuring the flow of resources remained undisturbed.

If conventional warfare was like tossing a frog into boiling water—where it would immediately struggle to leap out—then political action missions, or national destabilisation operations, were more akin to placing that same frog in cold water and slowly turning up the heat. The frog wouldn't even realise it was being cooked until it was too late.

The entire process cost these nations little more than money and technology, yet the rewards were enormous. It was no surprise that almost every superpower in Alex's past life had turned to this method.

Alex's plan was, in essence, to replicate such an operation within the Kellerman fief. The only twist was his intent to keep bloodshed to a minimum. Instead of driving the fief into civil war, he aimed to weaken it just enough that a Special Forces unit could finish off the remaining Kellerman officials and family members—surgical, decisive, and without plunging the populace into chaos.

One might argue he was being naïve, or even hypocritical, but Alex cared little. He still clung to a sense of morality, however fragile, even as he found himself adapting to the cruelty and veiled savagery of this world.

When his proposal ended, Earl Drake Fury rose from his seat and walked to the window. It was unclear if he was looking out across the city and plains beyond, or at his own reflection in the glass. He stood there in silence for over five minutes, deep in thought.

Alex assumed his father was weighing the merits of the plan. He couldn't have been more wrong.

Because when Earl Drake finally spoke, his words were utterly unexpected.

"Alex," he said evenly, "it is time you left the family…"

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