Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

The Emperor must employ a character like Alexei Arakcheyev — decisive, impartial, and unconditionally obedient to orders.

In other words, Araktcheev is the Emperor's enforcer for solving problems, and at the same time, a skilled problem solver.

For an Emperor who governs an Empire that is massively bloated, inefficient, and overwhelmed by bureaucratic systems to maintain power amidst intertwined interests, internal strife, and vast territories, a figure like Alexei Arakcheyev can be seen as the most valuable asset.

For the invisible patrons pervasive across the Empire's government and military — the network of protégés, someone like Alexei Arakcheyev, who belongs to no political faction and ascended solely by the monarch's fondness and support, is undoubtedly a bloodstained blade.

"Alexei, who rose without any faction." Earl Narsia thought silently: "When will he become Alexei, who falls deep into the abyss because he has no faction?"

Though he has no intention of questioning His Majesty the Emperor's trust and sincerity toward Alexei Arakcheyev, Earl Narsia does not believe the Emperor is unaware of this — an enforcer without any foundation or connections in the upper nobility can be easily thrown to the Wolf Pack if necessary.

As the heavy footsteps faded away, the office door opened to a width of a palm, and the attendant inquired from outside: "Your Majesty, General Araktcheev has arrived."

Earl Narsia made a slight gesture.

The door quietly closed, and after a moment of silence, it opened fully.

With his tall stature, rounded shoulders, and long neck, Alexei Arakcheyev walked into the office clutching his cap, and each step seemed to make the floor tremble.

Araktcheev stood firmly before the desk, closed his boot heels together, and bowed deeply in salute.

Looking with compassion at the gaunt cheeks and sparse hair of the Minister of War, Earl Narsia couldn't help but wonder: "Does this sword serving the Emperor through 'lonely loyalty' also realize that one day it might be cast away to the Wolf Pack without burden?"

...

The distribution of power is like gathering around a fireplace; location is everything, and the closer you are to the flames, the warmer you will be.

Hence, being able to enter the Emperor's private office is not only a privilege but also enormous power—Alexei Arakcheyev is well aware of this.

However, even so, Araktcheev did not abuse this privilege.

Unlike Earl Narsia, who wished to hover around the Emperor twenty-four hours a day, Araktcheev only met with him once a week at a fixed time.

And today's audience was not on his schedule.

After the routine work report concluded, Araktcheev learned the reason for the Emperor's exclusive summons:

An unprecedented new institution will emerge at the core of the Empire's political ecology, named [State Council].

The Emperor provided his sword with an option: either continue as Minister of War or take the position as chairman of the Military Committee under the newly established State Council.

As Earl Narsia explained, the function of the State Council will be to debate all legislative and budgetary matters, provide advice to the Emperor, and exercise a certain supervisory function.

Araktcheev is no stranger to the various "committees," as the core of the Empire's governance system is grounded on a series of large and small advisory bodies, councils, and committees.

The Emperor has established multiple councils across different areas of responsibility and governance.

The members of these councils review and discuss all correspondence, papers, and memoranda within their responsibilities, annotate them, and submit them to the Emperor, providing recommendations for the actions the Emperor should take.

This system was established by the current Emperor's grandfather, at a time when the power of the Emperor was far from what it is today. Imperial authority existed within the crevices of the aristocracy, and the area truly ruled by the Emperor resembled an isolated island within a duchy.

The council system significantly improved the efficiency of the Empire's bureaucracy, allowing the Emperor to extract more strength from limited territories and incessantly win internal conflicts.

However, as the imperial power expanded and the governance of the Empire became more refined, the councils alone were insufficient to handle the copious reports both domestically and abroad.

Consequently, Mad Emperor Richard IV built a series of permanent institutions based on the council system to handle matters within specific areas of responsibility—thus introducing the concept of "government departments" into the Empire's politics.

Yet, the redistribution of power inevitably incited the backlash of vested interests, and Richard IV's initiative to establish "permanent departments" naturally aroused strong dissatisfaction among the "robe nobles."

In order to gain enough support to implement the reforms, Richard IV compromised by placing the permanent departments under the councils.

From then on, correspondence, papers, and memos from all corners of the Empire were first processed by each government department; the content requiring decisions was submitted to the relevant councils, which discussed it and added their recommendations before handing it over for the Emperor's adjudication.

Although this design caused issues such as overlapping authority, unclear responsibilities, and inefficient communication, the administrative system is running relatively well at present.

In the past thirty years, the Empire's series of glorious victories in foreign wars are proof of this.

So, what exactly is this "State Council," which sounds very much like a Southern Rebel Party, supposed to do?