A History (Part II)

If there is a measurement of national unluckiness, the only one can compete Belka for the highest rating is none other than Erusea. According to the legend, the first king of Erusea once had a quite childish (and stupid) dream: A colossal, flourishing rose tree growing from the ocean (Spring Sea) west to Usean Continent, straight into the clouds. Therefore ever since its founding, Erusea made its royal seal to be rose, and engaged in the commitment to unify the Usean Continent — a dumb, self-proclaimed tall tale, modern academic communities are more convinced that the dominating Mediterranean Climate and Tropical Desert Climate, deemed too dry for crops, forced Erusea to seize lands more cultivable externally, to feed the ever-increasing population, throughout the history.

During the past millennium, Kingdom of Erusea initiated countless expeditions to the east and to the southeast, some tiny principalities, duchies and archduchies were annexed, but further advancement was blocked by its arch-nemesis — the number-one regional power in this part of the world, also a "potential superpower" occupying a prominent position on the ranking list — Federation of Central Usea. After many failed attempts of breaching the barricade, the kingdom turned to the alternative: Bypassing FCU by taking sea-routes, after Industrial Revolution — thwarted by the arch-nemesis of navy known as North Point. Finally Eruseans felt fed up by sending their husbands, fathers, sons, brothers…to be expended like consumables, a revolution erupted, led by some high-ranking military officers who had planned it for a long time. Royal family of Erusea was banished as Erusea itself was reformed into a federal republic. The king was given a choice: Admitting himself to the gallows heroically, or exiling himself cowardly, he chose the latter without any hesitation.

Luck seemed began to favor Erusea after this rather…disturbing transition of regime. Not only being entrusted with the construction of one of the Stonehenge's main cannons, largely lifting its international position, also serving as the citadel of counteroffensive during the First Usean Continental War/Usean Rebellion covered from 1997 to 1998, subsequently awarded with astronomical material and financial compensations…for a time, it was good, until the fall of Asteroid Ulysses 1994XF04's fragments and the following white-hot Second Usean Continental War triggered by the refugee issue. Hoping to get rid of FCU and its allies — also known as ISAF — once and for all, Erusean took control of the Stonehenge by blitzkrieg, and harnessed this ultimate weapon to kick ISAF off the eastern coast, but ISAF soon stroke back with its own ultimate weapon "Mobius 1" — nicknamed "Undefeatable Mute Obedient Killing Machine" — pinning Erusea on the ground and thoroughly raping it. North Point tried to persuade FCU to dissolve Erusea like disintegrating Austro-Hungarian Empire, even explicitly stated "We can't let this rabid dog to live, its so-called republic system is in fact a military dictatorship, it's only a matter of time before this canine flaming the world again". FCU declined North Point's proposal and scolded it for taking a personal grudge into a public affair, because FCU itself was planning to unify Usean Continent into a federal superpower on its own terms, to compete against Osea and Yuktobania, so it viewed Erusea worthy for a chance of turning a new leaf, even the rebellion of Free Erusea, consisted by the irrational and trouble-seeking "Young Turks" in the defunct Federal Erusea Air Force had solidly testified North Point's concern.

Although FCU allowed Erusea to live, but it didn't mean the latter will be treated like a friend. When Erusea asked FCU for funds of reconstruction, all it got was a cold, harsh response "No money". Angered by such apathy, Erusea ran westward, selling itself to Osea for money, and Osea happily agreed this transaction, signing a series of cooperative agreements of civilian and military, then began to ship astronomical assistance, investment and order-forms to Erusea, aside of garrisoning troops in Erusean territories for training the reorganized Erusean army, even invited Erusean army to be trained in Osean territories. Face-slapped, FCU and its allies acknowledged what a grave mistake they had made, but too embarrassed to do Osea and Erusea part, only could hint that they were willing to join the bilateral cooperation. Osea keeps the door open, soon all nations across Usean Continent were included into this Marshall Plan's equivalent, also validating the planning of ISEV.

When Osea and Erusea were in good terms, they looked like…well, like only a few steps from marriage: Frequent exchange-visits of high-ranking official, enormous purchasement of military and civilian products, joint military maneuvers and parades, echoing with each other like crosstalk comedians when attending the Assembly of Nations, even Erusean astronauts were granted free rides onboard Osean spacecraft…so the ISEV's construction site was chosen to be close to Erusea (not that close), and the contracts of building Arsenal Birds and supplying the associated UCAV were directly awarded to Erusea too. Sadly rifts started to emerge as ISEV was nearing completion, Erusea seized every occasion to accuse Osea for infringing its sovereignty and exploiting Usean Continent by building the space elevator, despite the objective truth is it was Erusea who actively approached Osea to sell its sovereignty for money, and the ISEV was invested by Osea and all nations across Usean Continent (although Osea paid most of the expense), the revenue generated by the mega-structure was distributed to every investor following the clauses in treaties. Osea passively responded to Erusea's blame, because even it trash-talked the so-called "Osean Hegemonism", it never refused the money Osea offered. Therefore the businesses between Osea and Erusea went on as normal, as for those groundless accusations…well, just consider them as acts from a poorly-educated kid. Sensing a storm was brewing, FCU and North Point contacted Osea in secret to suggest preparing for a backstabbing Erusea and a war against it. Osea thanked their concern, yet still held faith that Erusea won't be so shameless, even helped it to survive the COVID-2018 pandemic, against the internal objections of leaving Erusea to the virus' mercy for being ungrateful and idiotic.

According to the declassified documents after conquering Farbanti, the eruption of Lighthouse War was attributed to the collusion of Grey Men's remnants led by Dr. Schroeder and the Young Turks in Erusean military. Although Erusea was reverted back to monarch under ISAF's supervision after losing the Second Usean Continental War and the exiled royal family was invited back to hold the seal of head of the state, but the de facto military dictatorship was never corrected and those troublesome Young Turks were never purged, even after the rebellion of Free Erusea, situation remained unchanged. To avenge the defeat, Erusea acted like a whore to leech money from Osea, meanwhile opened its door as wide as it could to war criminals of each major war throughout the history, especially those who came with "core technologies", subsequently provided the shelter for Dr. Schroeder and his henchmen. After regaining some strength, these stubborn knuckleheads of Erusean origin once again began to plot a new war for enacting their revenge.

Catching the wind, Dr. Schroeder also made his move. Rosa Cossette D'Elise happened to attend the same university where he was also anonymously making a living as a teacher, considering it as a heaven-sent opportunity, doc actively approached the princess like a caring elder brother and deceiving her into a carnal relationship. After conquering the princess both physically and psychologically, doc and doc's henchmen used her as the shortcut to poison the king's mind, for finding a backdoor to infiltrate into the highest level of Erusean government. During the following years, Grey Men collaborated with the Erusean Young Turks, immersing everyone in the lavish buildings of Farbanti in the fantasy of "Uniting entire Usean Continent under the flag of Erusea, and by doing so, gets Erusea into the club of superpowers" while doubling the effort of war preparation. To hide what they were up to, also to hold the initiative in the upcoming war which would be too risky for the obvious reason, Erusea spared no expense in the R&D of strong AI drones in the name of "Arsenal Bird Complement" — doctor's team to provide end-products, military to supply base martials — not too hard to find — readily available in the borders — the decorated ace who served even before the Era of Federal Republic — Mihaly Dumitru Margareta Corneliu Leopold Blanca Karol Aeon Ignatius Raphael Maria Niketas A. Shilage — already retired as a semi-hermit for many years. The old man initially refused to be recalled, but Schroeder and representatives from the military bypassed his refusal via threatening directly "If you don't join us, we will be unable to guarantee your granddaughter's safety, maybe someday they will be run down by a drunk truck driver on their way home; and don't pretend we don't know your past: The national hero Yellow Thirteen was your apprentice, yet you let him to face that demon Mobius 1, who slaughters everyone in his way without blinking eyes and devours anything in his path without spitting bones, by himself, what public will react if we let them know", forcing him to cooperate.

Projects of strong AI drones advanced way faster than anticipated, not to mention since Arsenal Birds were contracted to Erusea to build, and Osea imported many UCAV such as MQ-99 from it, undoubtedly opening the backdoor for the backstabbing, resulting Erusea gained the upper hand, even occupied most of Usean Continent during the early stage of Lighthouse War. However after the Osean Doolittle Raid over Farbanti, the king was slapped to be sober: The one he was messing with was not a docile domesticated cat, but a ferocious felidae! His majesty dispatched diplomats to negotiate with Osea, hurriedly and secretly, for "ending the war in terms acceptable and honorable by both sides". Osea wanted the affair to be kept low and cool as well, not only because peace brings prosperity, also for the reverend former president, head of ISEV Project, Vincent Harling, was still trapped inside the mega-structure. It was Harling who braved all odds and objections to negotiate for supports from all parties involved in the project, and he moved countless people by the famous motto "They advocate conflicts, we strive for cooperations, for we have faith to this world, to the humankind".

The possibility of achieving peace between the warring sides was supposed to be high — executing the warmongers, defraying sufficient war indemnities…and above all, escorting Harling back home safe and sound, he would definitely persuade Osea to keep things down. Sadly, by the will of the divine providence, Grey Men and Young Turks, who discovered the king's plan, secretly had him arrested and shot — firstly deceiving him to leave Farbanti by the reason "you're not safe in the strike distance of Osea", then killing him in an undisclosed place. Poor bastard, stupid he was, but the ironic part was not being caught in the blast of an Osean bomb, instead being caught a bullet from Erusean military officers who were supposed to be his loyal subjects. After declaring the king was lost in the aforementioned Doolittle Raid, the princess was pushed forward to be the head of the state and without any questions, she was deceived to the one-way track of further escalating the war. Seeing the impossibility of negotiation, Osea mounted an offensive to ISEV for rescuing Harling — messed up and Harling died — the felidae was truly enraged.

When the news of Harling's perish reached Osea, entire federation half-masted and put on mourning apparels, prominent figures around the world expressed their grieves too. Erusean Foreign Secretary, knowing his fatherland's fate was sealed, took his own life in his residence by ingesting poison, leaving only one message in the posthumous paper "Godspeed". The Foreign Minister of Osean Federation, who's known for being mercilessly sarcastic, surprisingly commented with a sympathetic tone: "He (Erusean Foreign Secretary) was my friend for many years, we worked hard together for the peace between two counties, and for a prosper future. You had done everything you can for your fatherland, may you reincarnate in a country with an adequate IQ next life."

It's said according to genetic research, certain defective DNA strains are found in samples of generic materials collected from Erusean royals (alive or otherwise), passed down for generations by inbreeding, this may explain why they're born with defective brains (absolutely not attributed to brain-damage caused by obstetric forceps).

Although a universal sentiment that Erusea must pay dearly for its crime was shared among the highest-ranking officers in Osean military, but when discussing how to make Erusea pay, they squabbled: Osean Maritime Defense Force proposed endless surgical strikes; Osean Ground Defense Force championed precision eliminations on those Eruseans who were responsible, via coordinating the forces on lands and in skies; Osean Air Defense Force insisted the idea of replicating Curtis Emerson LeMay's Operation Meetinghouse; Osean Space Defense Force advised the use of space weapons; Osean Strategic Rocket Corps suggested to bring out the stockpile of V1 from storage…there was even a plan of genetic-modifying Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 to be more deadly and only infects Erusean ethnics. After a discussion between the president and the Secretary of Defense, the overall strategy "Unrestricted Warfare" was chosen, blockading Erusea and destroying its economic and social foundations simultaneously, especially the two most essential factors — agriculture and medic — population is rather a burden than a kind of resources if not properly fed or medicated, a burden so heavy even can collapse a sovereignty. The general lack of farmlands and favorable climates casted grave negative effects on the agriculture of Erusea, also extended such effect to medic. Benefited by globalization, importation seemly compensated the predicament, but also buried a lurking peril of the overdependency of foreign trade. Knowing this well, Osea Force-chocked Erusea right on its throat, kept smashing its production, processing, storage and transportation of agriculture, besides cutting off all kinds of inbound materials. Erusea attempted to counter Osea by cultivating edible algae and fungi, but yielded too little to be valid. A frontline Erusean officer recorded this in his journal: "We happened to capture a mobile refrigerator truck from enemies and found it's laden with fresh milk in containers, produced and shipped from Osean mainland on the very same day. They can have daily fresh milk, but we can only chew on sour breads and dried algae, since then I revile that 'smart' princess and her 'intelligent' ancestors in my heart for one hundred times every single day."

Civilians were more susceptible to the shortage of supplies than military, the most noticeable evidence is the empty racks and cabinets in convenient stores and super markets, and were getting emptier over time, even table salt must be rationed by being exchanged by special coupons. An even more threatening phenomenon was the shortage of medical stuff, only can be described as "critical". You can temporally relief a diabetic patient's pain by injecting him with synthetized insulin, bur from the long shot, it just further represses his own pancreas' functionality. Having enjoyed abundant and inexpensive imports for too many years, Eruseans astonishingly found their domestic medical system's hierarchy had long since withered, not only lack of core techs and talented personnel, even no places and machineries for production. As the result, every hospital met extended queues of delayed patients, some of them were measured by kilometers, queues of similar lengths were also seen in and around morgues, since too many patients, mostly elders, children and pregnant women who were naturally more health-challenged, were claimed by death for the insufficient and untimely treatments caused by the severe inadequacy of stuff and staffs, also for the fuel required incinerating the bodies was badly short, and in return the ever increasing stockpile of bodies become a hotbed of more pathogens. Eruseans should still be grateful for the luckiness of the low latitude, or there would be winter influenza to add infection to infestation.

In extremis, Erusean military attempted to open up a new hope by forcing Osean military into a face-to-face showdown, yet only plummeted into an even bigger despair, for Osea upheld the golden rules championed by Mao Zedong, namely "When the enemy advances, we retreat; when the enemy rests, we harass; when the enemy avoids a battle, we attack; when the enemy retreats, we advance" — the first priority of Osea in this war was never gaining ground, but dragging time to waste the already-fatigued Erusean logistics, simultaneously grabbing any chances to eliminate as many Erusean combatants as possible with least to zero Osean casualties. Putting it in a more figurative description: Erusea is a rabid dog chained to the ISEV, every time it charges forward, Osea steps back right beyond its farthest reach allowed by the chain, and stays right there no matter how the dog barks and pounces, then lands a solid kick on the dog's ass after it drains all stamina and is forced to retreat. Osean propagandas also spared no efforts to contribute in the war effort, exposing the scandals of Erusean high-ranking officers still enjoying lavish banquets while low-ranking officers and soldiers were inadequately fed, resulting Erusean units near the military demarcation line to defect to the Osean side. Those defectors were accepted in for being consisted by minorities in Erusean ethical composition, much like the region of Ustio during the years of Belkan reign, many of them later participated in the anti-Erusea propaganda campaigns, even directly fought against Erusea with real armaments in hands.

Dimwitted Rosa Cossette D'Elise was, but still a little smarter than Marie Antoinette. Witnessing her fatherland being tortured exceedingly and population being starved to death in an alarming rate, she definitely would struggle to do something not stupid — restarting peace-talk for instance, before situation further degenerates. Unfortunately it was already too late, Osea actively rejected any propositions of reconciliation, and the Foreign Minister of Osea explicitly insulted the Erusean royal slut in public: "Now you're afraid, Lady Mussolini? Certainly took the empty, deflated skull of yours long enough. Where's your previous blatant arrogance? 'Burn Osea to the ground' sounds familiar? Lemme tell ya an objective truth, ever since my fatherland's founding, countless individuals and organizations attempted to pull such stunt, instead they burnt themselves into crisps, every last one of them. Then here comes you, another moron to challenge the old saying 'He who plays with fire will be incinerated by the fire he plays with'. Can you feel it? The raging flame burning through your seat and licking your bottom? Good, very well. We can immediately withdraw our forces and provide humanitarian assistance more than enough to restore Erusean population's living standard to pre-war, on one condition: You strip yourself bare, strap bramble twigs on your back, and answer your crime by kneeling in the front of Bright Hill's gate. Oh who am I kidding? You're coward and idiotic as you always are, they run through your ancestry. Last time I checked when your forefathers were being ousted, they were offered a choice between submitting to the guillotine like heroes or going into exile like cowards, it turned out your progenitors chose the latter in a blink of eye, why should I give you so much credit…" Actually even Osea agreed to negotiate with Lady Mussolini, Erusea wouldn't allow that to happen — hypnotized by Grey Men, those Young Turks had lost the minimum capabilities of reasoning and would shoot dead anyone dared to say "peace" or any synonyms of peace, even the king — by "high treason of illicit foreign relations" — suitable for "trial and execution without a public hearing". Rosa Cossette D'Elise attempted to call for help from the international society, but majority of the governments worldwide reacted coldly, for the following reasons:

First off, reputation of Erusea is bad globally. You can't expect the very sovereignty lost a devastating war started by itself to leave a good impression to others, especially a war less than two decades ago. Time is the best cure, but even the best cure needs time to take effect. Germany spent twenty-eight years to regain the recognition from the world after WWII, and it would take much longer if not the Kniefall von Warschau (ironically Willy Brandt was not a Nazi, but a steadfast anti-Nazi, so he kneeled for the crimes he never committed).

Secondly, Osea has preemptively released the detailed contents of treaties and agreements between itself and Erusea through the years, including those about the ISEV Project, to the international society, for letting everyone to clearly see the good, the bad and the ugly — also to acknowledge who drew the first blood. Prostituting is never a problem in an open-minded world, but don't package yourself as a woman of virtue if you're a whore, obviously Erusea lacked such commonsense as a whole.

Thirdly, Osea has been engaging all-out diplomatic maneuvers to prevent anyone from extending a helping hand to Erusea, backed by its monstrous economy. Being the primary even the exclusive manufacturer/exporter of so many essential raw materials, semi-finished articles and end-products, nobody willing to risk its own interest by making this "World Mega-Factory" unhappy. On the other hand, shutting down exportation only impacts Osea itself to a minor extent, for its population over one billion can consume the stockpile without much trouble. Just like Israel and China — you don't agree with Israeli policies to Palestine, but you still keep doing business with Israel for money and other equally lovable items, for example China who always criticizes Israel for murdering Palestinians and "morally supports Palestinians", yet China is known for being a major business partner with Israel and Israel even helped PLAAF to build J-10; meanwhile most of artificially synthesized insulin is made in China, millions of diabetic patients will die in days once it cuts the supply to the world, and it's only a tip of the iceberg, since entire planet will suffer a deadly general material storage if China stops exporting anything, and the vast Chinese population can easily assimilate the backlogged inventory, even can benefit from it since more the goods, less the prices.

As the result, more than half of the countries held indifferent attitudes to Rosa Cossette D'Elise's shout-out, the rest expressed possible conditional assistance — the alternative of "There's nothing we can do", a few nations who happened to enjoy close ties to Osea even explicitly taunted "Time to party" as the other form of "Serves you right, bitch". Sometimes you must admit your enemy is privileged to be crushingly superior than you, also admit yourself is an unsalvageable loser by comparison, even that doesn't mean you have to like it. In the real-world, there are hostiles messing with China in every generation, as the response, China stamped some nice footprints on both the face and the ass of every last one of them; while in the fictional universe(s) of ACE Combat, Osean Federation who is essentially a glorified integration of People's Republic of China, United States of America and Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, is capable of doing the same with an even better expertise, by nature.

Interestingly, there were two other nations moved against Erusea even earlier than Osea, on the battlefield of Assembly of Nations — FCU and North Point — being the second and the third investor of the space elevator only next to Osea, undoubtedly the Lighthouse War made them to lose astronomical amounts of money respectively. Since the most persuasive approach to a man is giving him money, then the most angering approach to a man is taking money away from him, especially to North Point for holding a grudge toward Erusea historically — naval conflicts, further deepened by the two previous major wars ravaged Usean Continent, resulting an instinctive hostility against Erusea in the assembly. So each time when Representative of Erusea requested humanitarian assistance during a conference, Representative of North Point immediately opposed as "Violation of legal progress, must vote after official report generated by an authorized international delegation group's local investigation", deliberately dragging time. Finally Representative of Erusea lost his temper and burst into tears: "I know my fatherland pulled the trigger in the first place, but the civilians don't deserve any sufferings! I know you lost a lot of money for this war, but isn't human lives immeasurable by money?!"

Representative of North Point stroke the table and rose up, upon hearing what the Erusean said. Don't be so surprised, ethical customs in North Point are quite…valiant, for its people are generally descendants of fishermen who used to struggle against rough seas — directly characterized by the muscular physiques and offending words. "You're in no place to act like a victim! 'Human lives immeasurable by money?!' Good, I'll show you the truth!" He took out a notebook-resembling object, which turned out to be an old-fashioned airliner ticket, before electronic tickets becoming mainstream, it also turned out majority of the contents in this "notebook" were about the compensation standard should any physical harms occurred to the passenger during an aviation accident: "Death — 1.5 million North Point Credits; alive but permanently lost all four limbs — 1.2 million North Point Credits…you honor and all your excellences, human lives are measurable by money, and the prices fluctuant by countries. Are there any really invaluable human lives? Yes there are — Mr. Vincent Harling! He defeated a world-destroying conspiracy! He proposed the construction of the space elevator! He devoted his life for peace and prosperity of the world and Usean Continent! He bestowed us hope and faith for the future! But now the hero is dead! Murdered in a groundless war triggered by a certain regime in Western Usea who even doesn't possess the minimum capability of reasoning! Almost everything he had accomplished through hardworking is destroyed! Even the grand total of entire Erusean population is insignificant next to the life of Mr. Harling!"

Total silence in the conference chamber, slowly some scattered applause and suppressed laughter arose. Representative of FCU who happened to sit beside Representative of North Point, hinted him to sit down by secretly pulling the edge of his suit, and he took the hint — after giving Representative of Erusea a glare of contempt.

The Chairman spoke awkwardly: "Um…we will discuss sending humanitarian aid to Kingdom of Erusea on another selected day, now proceed to the next topic…" Meanwhile Representative of Erusea was swallowing heart-attack pills, bottle after bottle. After the conference, representatives of North Point and Erusea were locked into a hand-to-hand wrestling in the corridor outside the conference chamber, then both were pulled away approximately three minutes later, by representatives of FCU and Osea, Yuktobania and Emmeria, respectively. Representative of Erusea was the one who got more bruises.

"Are you alright?" Representative of FCU asked.

"Never been better." Representative of North Point wiped off blood stain from his mouth's corner by hand: "I had thoroughly exercised myself by fishing with my father since young, more than enough to beat up lowlifes of the likes of Eruseans."

"Thank you." Representative of Osea spoke in a low volume.

"Don't be." Representative of North Point shook hand: "We will guarantee the Assembly of Nations staying motionless. If you really want to thank me, tell your president to butcher as many Erusean scums as possible."

Representative of FCU: "Sorry about Mr. Harling. We'll support you as much as our capabilities allow." He turned to his aggressive myrmidon: "I really should have listened to you — the existence of Erusea is a fundamental mistake."

Representative of North Point: "Never too late to correct it manually." So the two forwarded a proposition of dissolving Kingdom of Erusea in the next conference, Osea backed them up.

Meanwhile Representative of Yuktobania spoke with 50% of sympathy and 50% ridicule: "From the moral point of view, I don't want the situation to be this bad. How about I persuade my prime minister to reason with Osea for a relief on Erusea? I can't guarantee anything, you know it yourself, Mr. Harling was a close friend to Nikanor, he was also the first national leader to publicly mourn over his death…" On the other hand, Representative of Emmeria had already left in upset — Republic of Emmeria used to benevolently assist its eastern neighbor — Federal Republic of Estovakia, in its dark hours, and was backstabbed — Erusea only Pearl-Harbored Osean coastal cities and major naval bases, Estovakia went as far as invading Emmeria with a massive army, occupying the capital Gracemaria in hours and kept charging forward, almost drove Emmerians into the ocean, if not the legendary Garuda Team saving the day and kicking Estovakians out of the borders. Even Emmeria won the war and a peace treaty with Estovakia was signed, the two couldn't be friends anymore, although officially the communications and exchanges of politics and economies went on as usual, outcries of conquering Estovakian capital to avenge for war victims never subside among Emmerian population. By such reason, Emmeria acquired an inveterate hatred to those who backstab their benefactors, subsequently becoming exceptionally supportive to Osean Federation and Federal Republic of Aurelia, both orally and materially, at first light of Lighthouse War and Leasath-Aurelian War, respectively.