Chapter 86 Misfortune

“Huh, what do you mean?” Alexander said with a frown.

“You’ll be briefed once you arrive in the General Staff Building, Your Majesty. For now, we have to move.”

“What’s the matter?” Diana finally spoke.

Alexander turned to face her with a concerned look on his face. “Nothing, looks like we’re gonna have to finish this discussion tomorrow. I have to go,” Alexander said and walked away, leaving Diana puzzled

by his sudden disappearance.

As soon as Alexander reached the General Staff Building, he headed straight to the situation room. Once inside, he saw top-brass military personnel ranging from generals to the joint chiefs. Some puffing away nervously with cigarettes. Why are they in the same room?

The moment he stepped inside the room, the room suddenly turned quiet as their heads swiveled toward him, eyes widening. They all immediately stub out their smokes and stood up in unison and performed a salute.

This caught Alexander completely off guard and he had to blink rapidly before returning their salute as well. He wasn’t accustomed yet to being the supreme commander-in-chief of the Ruthenian Armed Forces.

“At ease,” Alexander ordered after the salute was returned, he looked around and saw the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergei Grigorivich, and the Minister of Defense Alexei Lavrov.

“All of the highest-ranking personnel of the Ruthenian Armed Forces are here. What the hell happened?” Alexander asked the two of them.

“Your Majesty, we’ve received a call from the Ruthenian Naval Forces Eastern Strategic Command Pacific Fleet in Vladivostok reporting the Yamato’s 1st Fleet leaving the Sasebo Naval Base and taking up positions along the Yellow Sea…”

“Your Majesty, the Yellow Sea is located between the mainland of the Han Dynasty and the Choson peninsula…” Sergei added.

“I know where the Yellow Sea is, Sergei. I was wondering why all the top-ranking military officials are in this room right now?”

“I think I can answer that, Your Majesty,” Sergei stepped in. “The Yamato learned of our intentions to take Manchuria from the Han Dynasty and they didn’t like it. Now they are mobilizing their fleet and their army towards the border of the Han Dynasty,”

“Wait…wait, what do you mean you have learned? Didn’t we reach out to them about our plan of taking Manchuria?”

Sergei was silent for a moment as sweat broke out across his forehead.

“Your Majesty…I didn’t reach out to Yamato that time,” Sergei confessed.

“What?” Alexander’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Sir, I believe it’s a bad idea to reach out to the Yamato Empire to share with them our plan of buying the Manchuria region. They’ll disagree instantly…”

“So…you did that without consulting me?” Alexander’s voice rose in an incredulous tone.

“I was planning to tell you, Your Majesty, when you return back to St. Petersburg…” Sergei couldn’t come up with another world to justify his reason as he feared he would get into trouble.

Alexander just sighed in exasperation at how things were going. This wasn’t supposed to be happening. Things never worked the way he planned.

Alexander sat down and massaged his temples. “We can talk about this later for now let’s review what just happened. So the 1st fleet of the Yamato’s Imperial Navy is in the Yellow Sea, this concerns us how?”

“Uhm…sir, as I’ve mentioned earlier, the Yamato Army is mobilizing their troops in the Kingdom of Choson, we believe that the Yamato Empire is planning another invasion in the Han Dynasty,” Sergei reminded.

“Son of a…” Alexander rubbed his temple again, but this time in frustration. The last thing he needed is to have a war in the Far East that could implicate the Ruthenia Empire.

Speaking of which, they already are.

“Sergei, if you didn’t tell them about the plan, how did they know that the Ruthenia and the Han Dynasty are engaged in a land deal?” Alexander looked up to meet his eyes, he had seen a hint of nervousness in his eyes.

“It’s possible that there’s been a leak within the Han Dynasty, Your Majesty,” Sergei said and added. “Probably Pro-Yamato officials inside the current administration of the Han Dynasty leaked the contents of the deal through third parties. We’re trying to communicate with the Yamato Empire through various channels such as telephones, the ambassador of the Yamato Empire, and our Ruthenian embassy in the Yamato Empire. So far nothing.”

“Did the Han Dynasty release a statement about this predicament?” Alexander asked Sergei again.

“Yes, Your Majesty. They said that they are taking this threat very seriously and are planning on mobilization in response to the aggression. Sir, a war between the Han Dynasty and Yamato Empire is imminent. And since this is my fault, Your Majesty, please give me a chance to fix this,” Sergei implored.

“How do you plan on fixing this? It’s not like we can involve ourselves further after knowing the fact that we backstabbed the Yamato Empire…if war is imminent we have to get ready,” Alexander’s gaze flickered to Alexei. “What is the protocol here if a neighboring country is at war with a foreign country?”

“Well, sir, the first thing we can do is to alert all our military bases in the Eastern Military District. Then if possible, mobilize them near the contested area to act as a deterrence in hope of stopping whatever the Yamato Empire is planning. Then it’s up to you sir how we should proceed next,”

Alexander sighed after hearing Alexei’s answer. This is one of the worst things that could’ve happened in his early reign. The Yamato Empire’s aggressive action in the Far East is troubling Alexander to the core. Honestly speaking, Alexander didn’t expect the Yamato Empire to react aggressively like this. This is one of his miscalculations.

Well even if they keep the deal secret, if the Yamato found out that the Han Dynasty sold Manchuria to the Ruthenian Empire, they’d surely protest. Basically, a conflict is inevitable between two countries. Now the Yamato Empire is likely planning to take the Manchuria Region by force before Ruthenia can have the chance to take it.

It’s one of his many initiatives, to expand in the Far East, if he conceded here, it’ll be a massive blow to his face. But he doesn’t want war. Is there a way to solve this thing diplomatically?

Alexander pinched the bridge of his nose and wiped his mouth before speaking. “Sergei…” Alexander called to catch Sergei’s attention.

“Yes, Your Majesty?”

“Get the ambassador of the Yamato Empire here now. I’ll try to settle this through diplomatic means…and to do so, we need another representative from a foreign country that could act as a mediator to make this successful,” Alexander said.

“Who might that be…Your Majesty?”

“The Princess of the Britannia Empire, Diana Rosemary Edinburgh,”