AYKRR Chapter 8
Planning For the Future
3rd August 1942,
Berun,
That night, Visha was making chicken schnitzel and gurkensalat for her and Tanya. She then checked the time. Seven o'clock. Tanya would be back soon from her meeting with her generals and admirals.
Tanya had told her that today's meeting would mainly be about the issue of funding allocation, since Germania's demobilisation was nearly complete.
She heard the wooshes of mages stopping just outside their apartment's window, and Tanya's voice as she said goodbye to Neumann, whom she had appointed as her head of security after the war ended. The window opened as Tanya flew in, enveloping Visha in a tight embrace.
"Tanya! You're going to make me burn the food." Visha chided.
"Sorry, I'm just exhausted. I basically had to give Admiral Albrecht an hour-long lecture on why we don't need a bigger navy than the Albish one." Tanya moaned in mental exhaustion.
"I have to walk Ernst through his job tomorrow, then immediately head to Schugel's lab as well. I might have no time to see you until next night" Tanya complained.
"I can introduce President Ernst to his job for you. Then we can spend the afternoon together." Visha offered.
"You would? Thank you, Visha! You're an angel." Tanya's face brightened, and Tanya snuggled her face into her back.
After Tanya finally stopped clinging to her, she served the schnitzel and gurkensalat at the dinner table and they both sat down to eat. As they began digging in, Visha brought up something that has been on the back of her mind since they started their relationship.
"Tanya, have you ever thought of getting married?" Same-sex marriage was still illegal in Germania, despite it being arguably the most progressive country on the continent.
"What brought this on?" Tanya asked back. Despite her attempt to look cheerful, she was clearly exhausted from today's work.
"Maybe for another day." Visha said. If Tanya didn't want to entertain the topic, that was fine.
Tanya held up a hand. "No, stop. I'll answer your question. Yes, I have been thinking about us getting married one day. Maybe just before my term as Chancellor ends, I'll use all my power and influence to bring it into the legislature. Then we can get married and retire in peace." Her answer ignited a warm, comfortable sensation within Visha.
That was good news. While the work they do was rewarding when they see the changes they have enacted, it was also exhausting at times. Perhaps they should schedule a vacation soon. Isolate themselves from world news so they can enjoy their time together in peace.
Visha smiled. "Are you sure you don't want to keep being Chancellor? Many people in Germania assume you will be ruling forever."
Tanya looked positively horrified. "Me? Babysitting this nation forever? I'll go mad. The moment that I can make sure that Ernst will be a good successor for me and won't fire a nuclear bomb at a country for the slightest inconvenience, I'll retire."
Visha looked at Tanya in confusion. Didn't she mean to drop a nuclear bomb? How would they fire such a heavy weapon? With artillery? Was this one of the moments where Tanya could foresee technology of the future again?
Tanya coughed conspicuously into her hand. "I mean drop. Yes, drop a nuclear bomb." She then tried to hide her slip.
"Anyways, what brought on the topic of marriage?"
"Well," Visha said, looking down at her plate. "Back in the old Russy Empire, I lived in a large family, with aunts, uncles, plenty of cousins and siblings. I guess I wanted to have something similar to that again. Maybe we can even adopt some children."
"Children? I'm not sure I'm ready for that kind of responsibility." Tanya said.
"I'm sure you'd be a great mother, Tanya. After all, if you can babysit a nation, then surely taking care of a baby will be child's play."
After dinner, Visha washed the dishes while Tanya dried them and cleaned the table. In the past, some people had expressed that they should hire servants to do the chores for them. They had refused because they both enjoyed doing simple activities like these together and immerse themselves in the peaceful monotony of it, to offset how busy and chaotic their schedules were.
When they retired to their bedroom that night to… relieve stress, Tanya had been especially enthusiastic after having to abstain for months due to her busy schedule. She had even busted out a few tricks she learned to do with miniaturised barrier spells.
The next day,
Presidential Palace,
Initially, Visha had been wholly surprised when Tanya had come back to the GWP and declared her support for Chairman Ernst of the Imperial Party as the Presidential candidate.
Many of the GWP party members had been in shock too, most of them had expected a GWP member like Hiedler to be chosen for the position. Regardless, they all ended up voting for him in the Presidential election two days ago. Wherever Tanya went, they followed. They would be wise to do so. Especially if they remembered what happened to those who had initially opposed Tanya during her first years as a member of the GWP.
Chairman Ernst has often declared admiration for Tanya's policies and way of ruling, often using her as an example of the benevolent dictator. Supporting the Imperial Party's Chairman basically ensured that the Imperial Party would be a close ally of the Germanian Workers Party, which in practice ensured that Tanya controlled over ninety percent of the seats in the Reichstag.
Tanya had also told her that she was aiming to train Ernst as her replacement. The only issue with him was his overly monarchist leaning. But that could be fixed with time and political education.
It was certainly quite the stroke of brilliance from Tanya. Now she could shed her extra responsibility of the Presidency and foist the position to Chairman Ernst.
Of course, there were some criticisms of Tanya's decision, as well as criticisms aimed towards Chairman Ernst. Many pointed out his youth and experience, but it was countered easily by pointing out that Tanya dove into politics at merely seventeen. Others expressed concern that Ernst's monarchist stance and his former royal status would make him an odd fit into a democratic position, but Tanya had assured them that he had simply taken that stance for his campaign and that wasn't his true political leaning.
There were even a few inane detractors claiming that Tanya was showing favouritism or even having a secret love affair with the man. Ridiculous. Visha knew that Tanya only had eyes for her.
That morning, Visha had met Chairman – well President now – Ernst to help ease him into his new role. After all, he would be the youngest person to ever hold the position, having only turned twenty this February. He was lucky that he was becoming President after the precedent of Tanya. Before her, the minimum age to be President was thirty-six. The Reichstag had abolished the age requirement so Tanya could assume her position as Chancellor-President.
The young man had seemed quite nervous to be the President of Germania. He only schooled his expressions after Visha assured him that his daily duties would mostly be stamping paperwork and being present at ceremonies.
Visha had a good impression of President Ernst. The young man was clearly dignified, straight-laced and lacked the attitude of a playboy. He was quite unfortunate to have the rumour of having an active affair attached to him.
As they were both former aristocrats, she was sure that he would carry out his duties splendidly. Visha herself was only a middling noble, yet had nicely settled into the role of Vice Chancellor. The former Prince should have an even easier time. The office of the President had been created to emulate the role of the monarch in the first place. President Ernst was basically born for the role.
Ludwig had no idea what the fuck he was doing. When Chancellor Degurechaff had approached him with the idea of making him President, he had thought he was the victim of a practical joke. It was only after seeing her dead serious expression that he had accepted, more out of nervousness than logic. The President election and him being sworn into the office afterwards had been a haze.
Of course, him becoming the President of Germania as the Chairman of the Imperial Party meant that he was closer to his goal of helping Chancellor Degurechaff become the Kaiserin. Now that he had removed the staunchest democrats in the country for her, Degurechaff was able to publicly support the Imperial Party by declaring her endorsement. Now that he was President, he was in a much better position to support the Chancellor's ascension.
This didn't help the fact that he knew almost nothing about the role of the President. He knew that it was officially a position even above that of the Chancellor and was Germania's official Head of State. However, he also knew that as long as the Chancellor maintained a majority government, the President was not very powerful aside from a few special functions. He could also be removed from power in a referendum, should the Reichstag initiate it with a two-thirds majority. An impeachment could also be made with a two-thirds majority.
And unlike the Chancellor, the President had a fixed term length of five years, renewable only once consecutively. This meant that Ludwig could only be President for the next ten years at most. It didn't matter though, since he was planning to make Degurechaff the Kaiserin before that.
When he had accepted the Chancellor's offer, she had set out a few conditions for him. One of those was to quiet down his monarchist rhetoric. He had agreed because he no longer needed to do it anymore. He had successfully gauged the public's reception to a return to the monarchy. And as President, he could now gauge its support in the Reichstag while enacting his plans to coronate the Chancellor.
The one roadblock in his way was his lack of knowledge about any sort of governance. As a grandchild who was never expected to inherit, his education had been mostly on economics, logistics and the military. Luckily for him, the Chancellor had asked the Vice Chancellor to help him through this.
That morning, he had met the Chancellor's right hand woman, or lover if you believed the rumours, which Ludwig was inclined to after receiving an anonymous letter that morning. The letter had contained a list of things he absolutely was forbidden to do.
The first entry on that list was 'flirt with Viktoriya Serebryakov'. The handwriting of the letter was feminine. The name that was signed at the bottom of the letter was TvD. Needless to say, ace of aces or not, Ludwig didn't have a death wish.
His first impression of the Vice Chancellor was that she was a vibrant, magnanimous and helpful person. She had been patient when he had asked questions, or when he needed her to repeat something. She even explained the legalese of the legislature that he would be reviewing as part of his daily task. In a way, she reminded him of a kindergarten teacher.
Right now, she was currently leading him through a tour of the Presidential Palace, where he was expected to live. The building was bare of any furniture, since the Chancellor and the Vice Chancellor, who were living together, had moved out.
"And here is the Presidential Office. This will be where you carry out your duties, and also where your work will be delivered to you." Vice Chancellor Serebryakov opened the heavy double oaken door leading to the office.
It was a spacious working area, easily many times the size of his office as the Chairman of the Imperial Party. The mahogany working desk was in front of a large window, which could be opened and shut easily. He'd make sure to use that window as a quick entrance and exit, given that as President, he'd been given the newest dual-core orb for self-defence.
"Vice Chancellor, you told me that the President of Germania has a few special duties and responsibilities, can you tell me what they are?"
"Well, you are supposed to both appoint and remove the Chancellor, although no President has ever dared to remove the Chancellor before the end of the Chancellor's term in the Republic of Germania's history. With the Chancellor's request, you can do the same with members of the cabinet." Ludwig nodded. That would be a very useful power to remove dissidents and to appoint loyalists.
"You are also responsible for signing bills into law that's been passed by the Reichstag. But if there's a law that the Reichstag votes against, you can force it into a referendum." Ludwig paused. If that was the case, with great enough public support, he could even induce a return to the monarchy even without the Reichstag. He nodded for the Vice Chancellor to continue.
"Although I think that a President's most influential power is the ability to dissolve the Reichstag at any time. A general election would then be held within sixty days. You can even dissolve the Reichstag multiple times too, as long as it's a different reason each time."
That couldn't be right. If the President could only be petitioned to be removed from power or impeached by a two-thirds majority in the Reichstag, why would the President have the power to dissolve the Reichstag? Even if a general election would have to be held within sixty days, within that time frame, there was no one to oppose the President.
Nevertheless, he did have that power. He was sure that it would serve him well one day.
Yet Chancellor Degurechaff had called its position mostly ceremonial. Just how much power did she have in this country if the power of the President was perfunctory enough to her to just give it away? He shuddered to even think about it.
The Vice Chancellor continued with outlining his duties. "You're also meant to handle foreign relations. Such as handling foreign ambassadors and signing treaties. With approval of the Reichstag, you can even declare war or peace. This isn't something that you're expected to handle straight away. You'll mainly be accompanying Tanya first when she talks to ambassadors or attend OZEV meetings before handling them on your own. On that note, there is an OZEV meeting in three weeks, so you'll get to have firsthand experience of how the alliance makes decisions."
"Was that all the duties of the President? It seemed like a bit more than a few."
"Well, you're also the de-jure commander-in-chief of the armed forces. But don't worry, you're not expected to make strategic plans or anything." Ludwig breathed a sigh of relief. Putting a mere former first lieutenant in charge of an army would be a horrific decision.
The post of the Presidency had come with more perks than Ludwig realised. There were numerous ways for him to halt or even usurp the process of democracy. He could bypass the Reichstag completely by passing a referendum. He could dissolve the Reichstag if he needed them out of the way. He could even potentially stage a coup d'etat if he garnered enough support from the military.
But since Chancellor Degurechaff once held the post of President, why hadn't she tried to ascend to the throne without having to call for the imperial family's support? Then Ludwig remembered. She only held the post for roughly a year, and that year had been spent at war. She likely didn't have time to implement any plans before the next Presidential election could be held. There was also the issue of unclear public support back then, but Ludwig had already tackled that problem.
Now, he had a clear plan to unite the Empire and place Degurechaff on the throne.
Firstly, he had to reunite the Empire. As of now, there are only Daneland, Croatia and Lothiern left as former Imperial states. Daneland would be a simple matter, since they're already in OZEV and the First Great War had been fought to protect them from Legadonia. Plenty of Imperial sentiments and Imperial propaganda could be drawn from the latter. He'd have to ask Walther to make a few posters with the theme of Germania being the protector of Daneland.
Lothiern was a harder subject, since they were neither in the MEF or OZEV. However, he remembered that his grandfather was already having talks with the Prime Minister of Lothiern. Hopefully that would change Lothiern's attitude soon. If his grandfather failed, then Ludwig would need a different plan.
Croatia would be the hardest to unite with. Although they were in OZEV, they had quite a strong national identity and culture, owing to having only become part of the Empire in 1868. Perhaps an opportunity might arise in the near future, but he couldn't see any to exploit as of now. Croatia would be a longer-term project.
On the issue of reinstating the monarchy, he could aim for a referendum instead of passing the vote in the Reichstag. But to do that, he needed supportive citizens and low dissent. Therefore, he needed to keep them happy and assure them that their quality of life will remain high even as the country transitioned to a monarchy. On this matter, he would need more of the Chancellor's tutelage.
The best way to keep citizens content was to make the economy flourish. As long as people had food on their tables and spending money in their pocket, it wasn't worth protesting a change in government. Especially if that new government promises that your life will get even better.
The last issue was Degurechaff's own worthiness as the Kaiserin. Of course, her skills in warfare, economics, politics and governance were undeniable. But that only mattered to the common people.
To raise Degurechaff's legitimacy as the Kaiserin, she needed either a strong pedigree or recognition by the other royalties. Preferably, they would be Europan royalties, but recognition from royal families outside of Europa was just as well. Around three to five royal families recognising the House of Degurechaff as legitimate would be enough.
As an orphan of unknown parentage who later earned a non-inheritable knightly title, her pedigree was, for lack of better words, pitiful. She could increase it by marrying another noble of higher birth though.
Ludwig chanced a glance at the Vice Chancellor. The Vice Chancellor came from middle-of-the-pack Rus nobility. If the rumours between her and the Chancellor were true, a marriage between them could work. He doubted that the Chancellor was the type to accept an arranged marriage to a man. He'd also have to find a way to legitimise same-sex marriage. Maybe kickstart a progressive cultural movement? Food for thought.
On the matter of recognition, Ludwig had ideas for the royal families he could approach.
The Albish royal family was a lost case. The Chancellor had slaughtered countless Albishmen during the First Great War. Not only that, but she also recently humiliated the Allied Kingdom by prying Legadonia from their hands and adopting Legadonia as part of OZEV. Even if Ludwig were to leverage his blood connection to the House of Windsor as a member of the House of Hohenzollern, he was still only a second cousin, once removed to George VI. He had never even met the man, although his mother had.
The Ragma Rumeli royal family would be neutral towards Degurechaff. That was easier to work with. Ludwig simply needed to offer them some political concessions. Perhaps offering Ragma Rumeli an entrance into the MEF or OZEV, since Croatia now shares a land border with them after annexing land from Yugoslavia. That might be something Ragma Rumeli was pursuing already too, due to their territorial conflicts with the Turkmen Empire. Ludwig nodded in satisfaction. That was one royal family in the bag.
Next, the imperial family of Akitsushima was the easiest choice. The emperor of Akitsushima was deeply grateful for Degurechaff's food aid when his country desperately needed it. She was likely the second-most popular world leader in Akitsushima, just behind the emperor. Ludwig didn't even need to offer anything to Akitsushima aside from an invitation to the coronation. She already had their support.
Now that he thought about it, was that her goal all along when she sent aid to Akitsushima? Before that, almost nobody in Germania had given thought about such a distant island nation. Degurechaff's ambition for the throne must have started even earlier than he thought.
How early did the thought of becoming Kaiserin pop into her mind? Five years ago? Ten? Even before the First Great War ended? Before it started? Perhaps it was a good thing that his family had lost their royal status. They would have been an obstacle instead of an ally. Ludwig cleared his mind of such dangerous thoughts. It was better not to think about that.
Ludwig mused. He still needed at least one more royal family. Technically, there was his own, but they weren't in power any longer. Then he had an idea.
The Russy Tsardom!
The country might be a mere month old, but if Aleksei Romanov was truly the grandson of Nicholas II, then he was legitimate royalty. The man must be trying to stabilise the condition of his fledgling country right now. But if Aleksei Romanov started receiving the support of the President of Germania, who had the tacit consent of the Chancellor, his efforts would be much smoother. Ludwig could even offer him MEF membership later on to boost the Russy Tsardom's economy and industry. Both political favours could be exchanged for recognising the Kaiserin's legitimacy.
Assuming Aleksei Romanov's claim of relation to Nicholas II was true, that would make Ludwig and Aleksei fifth cousins. Even if he wasn't an actual member of the House of Romanov, Ludwig could still vouch for his legitimacy anyways. It's not like anyone else would know the truth. He could even count that as an additional political favour he could draw from.
If those royal families weren't enough, Ludwig could even branch out to the Ispagnian royal family or Southern Continent royal families such as the Ethiopian royal family.
There was a roadblock in the way though, and one that Ludwig was unsure how to approach.
Hereditary succession. Tanya von Degurechaff needed an heir to secure her line.
If he eliminated the possibility of her marrying a man due to the Chancellor's supposed sexuality, there were few ways he could approach this problem. He would need to consult her opinion on all of those approaches.
Ludwig was aware of scientific advancement enough to know that scientists have managed to preserve frozen sperm and retain their viability. Perhaps when artificial impregnation was possible in the future, the Chancellor might consider it as an option to real copulation.
Another possibility was adoption. It shouldn't be hard to find a baby orphan that bears close resemblance to the Chancellor, then forge documents to prove that the orphan is the Chancellor's child. To explain the lack of visible pregnancy, he could ask the Chancellor to dress up in thick clothing for a few months to hide her non-existent baby bulge, then take another few months of maternal leave to bond with the adopted baby. She would likely be more receptive towards this idea, given that she was an orphan herself.
He would need to establish a moving list of blonde-haired, blue-eyed orphans in Germania, preferably under six months of age. As they aged, he would need to remove the older ones from the list while adding in younger orphans. He would also need to talk to the Head of the BND to obtain such a list.
Those were the only plans he had in mind to solve the lack of an heir. It wasn't much, but it was something in mind. It's not like God was going to send the Imperial eagle down from the heavens and deliver a baby to the Chancellor's doorsteps with a note attached.
With his strategy in mind, he planned to discuss it with the Chancellor later for revision and confirmation.
"Is something on your mind, President Ernst? You seem distracted." The Vice Chancellor asked.
"It's nothing. By the way, Vice Chancellor, can I ask you something about Chancellor Degurechaff?" He needed to know the time frame that Chancellor Degurechaff wanted to ascend to the throne. As the Chancellor's confidant (Lover? Girlfriend? Unofficial Wife?), the Vice Chancellor had surely been told of Degurechaff's imperial ambition.
"Sure, go ahead."
"Are you and the Chancellor… you know… together?" He had no idea how to confirm this without sounding like he was accusing them of something.
The Vice Chancellor paused, her expression changing to an icier one. "Yes, we are. Do you have an issue with that?"
"No, no! Of course not! Plenty of students at the academy weren't exactly sexually typical. I just wanted to confirm office relationship dynamics. It's crucial to know that when you start at a new workplace." Ludwig made up an excuse on the fly.
"Ah, that's good." Vice Chancellor Serebryakov suddenly brightened up, all the tension earlier gone.
"By the way, where does the Chancellor see herself, say, five years from now?" That was when his first term as President would end.
"Tanya hopes she's no longer the Chancellor by then." So Degurechaff wants the plan to be executed within his first term. He could manage that.
Then he could be out of here.