After listening to the chief of staff, Tan Renhao understood what was going on, which was not much different from what he had guessed before.

Allowing the army and navy to submit the military budget for the next year a few months in advance will make it easier to arrange the government's financial budget for the next year. But this is also an excuse for Nie Renfeng and Yan Yulong to go to the capital.

Before the outbreak of war, the imperial government's budget for the next year was usually submitted to the parliament at the end of the year, so the navy and army had to submit the military budget before the government made the budget. By December 1 at the latest, the government will have to send the budget for the next year to Parliament, and then the Parliament will form several committees to examine the government's budget in detail and propose amendments for the government to revise the budget. To put it bluntly, the government is bargaining with the parliament, the government wants to get more budgets, and the parliament wants to make sure that every budget is used for the real time, and not into the pockets of corrupt officials, or one or more parties in the parliament use the budget as a threat to the government to make concessions on some policies that are beneficial to them. Such discussions usually last for a month, sometimes ahead of schedule, sometimes more time, but under normal circumstances, the budget for the new year will be determined in January, so as to ensure the smooth operation of the imperial government.

After the outbreak of the war, the budget arrangements were not revised much, and the navy and army still submitted the military budget in November. During the war, the government's budget was discussed only through a committee of members of the wartime parliament, which had only the power to make recommendations, not decisions. As a result, the government's budget is generally not in trouble. Therefore, it is easier to get the budget for the new year to be approved, and often at the beginning of December, the imperial government will be able to get the budget for the new year. However, there is also a serious problem with this, that is, if both the navy and the army are dissatisfied with the allocated military budget. Then the work of the local government budget for the new year will certainly not be completed in time. In '24 and '25, this happened when both the navy and the army wanted to spend more, but the budget for that year was not completed until the end of December. For example, in 25 years, the actual military expenditure of the Imperial Navy was about 2 billion less than the budget, which made Nie Renfeng very annoyed, and as a result, the Navy had to make up for this loophole by cutting the allowance for non-combatants.

Then. Xue Xiyue asked the navy and army to hand over the military budget in advance, which was precisely to give the navy and army more time to bargain with the government and do a good job in the budget work as much as possible, and in the next few months, they could fully adjust the procurement plan and expansion plan of the navy and army, and try their best to get the military expenses to the most reasonable place. Of course. The relevant discussions will certainly continue for several months, even half a year, and the time to determine the military budget is still in early December. Therefore. The navy and army will have to submit their budgets for the next year in June. 26 years is obviously too late, only from 27. The military budget for the first year of the Navy and the Army had to be submitted in June.

At that time, there was no need for Xue Xiyue to let Nie Renfeng and Yan Dingyu go to the capital in August to make a budget report, after all, the 26-year local budget was still carried out in the old way. And Xue Xiyue's real purpose is to ask Nie Renfeng and Yan Dingyu to support his actions, that is, actions against the domestic opposition.

To put it bluntly, the prime minister is now very annoyed by the opposition in the country. But the problem is that the prime minister needs the support of at least two powerful forces to deal with the opposition. ”

"Except for the military, it must be the Supreme Court."

"The Emperor behind the Supreme Court, to be precise."

Tan Renhao frowned slightly. Then he nodded. The Emperor was not even the head of the Reich to a large extent, with only limited symbolic significance, which was the biggest difference between the Reich and other constitutional monarchies. in other countries. For example, Japan, the United Kingdom. Both the emperor and the king are the supreme heads of state and have great influence. On the contrary, in the Tang Empire, the emperor was nothing more than a statue on the altar. Since Prime Minister Zhang Shaoting came to power, the status of the emperor has been decreasing, and I am afraid that this is also a necessary measure to prevent the emperor from interfering in politics and destroying the political system of the empire.

After hundreds of years of development, to a large extent, the prime minister is no longer even directly accountable to the emperor, and the institutions that supervise the prime minister are the parliament and the Supreme Court, and the prime minister is the head of the empire, which is beyond the scope of the political head. Of the two bodies that constrain the prime minister, the parliament plays the largest role, and the parliament represents the people of the empire, and the members of parliament are also elected from the people of the empire, while the upper house, which represents the aristocracy, has effectively existed in name only, and has become a place for some boring nobles to chat. And the justices of the Supreme Court are all appointed by the emperor, at least symbolically, so that on the face of it, the Supreme Court represents the emperor.

In peacetime, the main constraint on the power of the prime minister is the parliament, and the influence of a strong, multi-party parliament led by a party leader is very huge, and any prime minister must take into account the constraints of parliament when governing the country. However, in times of war, the parliament itself has no real power, and it is the Supreme Court that restricts the prime minister, and only the justices of the Supreme Court have the power to impeach the prime minister. This can be regarded as a characteristic of the two sets of political systems of the empire in peacetime and war, which not only ensures that in times of war, the prime minister of the empire has enough power to mobilize the war potential of the empire and lead the empire to victory. At the same time, it can also ensure that when the Imperial Prime Minister is unable to continue to govern and lead the Imperial to victory, there will be a sound system for impeaching the Prime Minister and establishing a new Supreme Commander of the Empire.

On the surface, all the soldiers of the empire swore allegiance to the empire, to the emperor. But in reality, the soldiers of the empire swore allegiance to the laws of the empire and to the constitution of the empire. This determined that the Imperial soldiers were not loyal to the Prime Minister, who could mobilize the army but could not order the army to undermine the Empire's constitution. Therefore, when the Supreme Court decides that the Prime Minister should be impeached, the Imperial Army will be controlled by the Supreme Court, not by the Prime Minister. All soldiers understand this truth, and Tan Renhao also understands it. Therefore, if Prime Minister Xue Xiyue wants to deal with the opposition in the country, then he must get the support of the army at the same time. It was also supported by the Supreme Court, that is, by the Emperor.

Only the emperor was able to recall, and appoint the supreme judge. The Emperor can only remove up to two Supreme Courts at a time, and must receive five votes from the other seven Supreme Justices. To put it bluntly, the system itself was designed to prevent the emperor from seizing power, and at the same time to prevent anyone from controlling the Supreme Court, thus paralyzing the empire during the war. To get the Emperor at the same time. and the support of the five justices, which is obviously not easy.

"Now the prime minister is definitely trying to get the Supreme Court's support to pass a few bills that he has just introduced." Gan Yongxing's understanding of the domestic situation is much deeper than that of Tan Renhao. "Only four justices on the Supreme Court have said they will support the bills, three others have explicitly opposed them, and the last two have not yet taken a position."

"Then the prime minister will have to convince at least one of them."

"Or remove two judges and send the judges who supported him to the Supreme Court."

Tan Renhao nodded, it was a bit like playing a gambling game.

"The emperor's intention is not completely clear, but as long as the prime minister asks for the removal of the judge, the emperor should not refuse."

"But the prime minister can't get the support of the five judges."

"Then it depends on who recalls you."

Tan Renhao frowned slightly. He really didn't think it had anything to do with it.

"If the recall is an opposition, it will be difficult to pass, but if the bill itself drags on for a long time, then the two neutral justices will definitely have a choice, and even if only one of them supports the prime minister, then the bill will pass." So the opposition will support the removal of neutral judges. It is hoped that two other judges who oppose the prime minister will go to the Supreme Court. ”

"But the prime minister won't let that happen."

"Yes, so the Prime Minister will try to arrange for a judge who supports him to enter the Supreme Court, so that the Prime Minister can get the support of the four justices, and the local bill that he proposes will not be affected."

Tan Renhao nodded slightly, if only one of the two justices who entered the new Supreme Court supported the prime minister, then the prime minister won.

"The prime minister needs time now, and at the same time, the prime minister needs the support of the army." Gan Yongxing hesitated. "The attack on the Hawaiian Islands will not be approved immediately, so we can only do our best to prepare for it now."

Tan Renhao was secretly surprised. Now he completely understood that the prime minister wanted to use the attack on the Hawaiian Islands to make a fuss. When it comes to the removal and appointment of the Shinkchi justices, there will certainly be a lot of contradictions, and if the two justices elected are both oppositionists, the prime minister will be killing himself. Therefore, the Prime Minister must ensure that at least one of the two newly elected justices supports him. And this requires the prime minister to put pressure on the emperor, and to put pressure on the emperor, it is necessary to let the emperor know that the war is not over and that the enemy can still win. Therefore, the most effective way is to let the Imperial army have some problems on the battlefield. There will be no surprises on the side of the army, after all, defeating Russia is the most critical. There are no accidents that may happen on the Australian side, if it is not possible to defeat Australia now, it can only mean that Xue Xiyue is incompetent. Therefore, the only thing the Prime Minister can use is to attack the Hawaiian Islands for combat operations!

Linked to Gan Yongxing's attitude, as well as Nie Renfeng's avoidance of attacking the Hawaiian Islands, it is obvious that the principal has reached an agreement with the prime minister to use the disadvantage of attacking the Hawaiian Islands to make the emperor submit, and finally let the prime minister get the support of four justices, thus paving the way for the first eradication of the domestic opposition. This is a complete, thorough political struggle, and the army will again become an instrument in the political struggle, and the military will once again pay for politics.

Thinking of this, Tan Renhao felt very uncomfortable. He was not afraid to die on the battlefield, which was the best destination for every soldier, but he did not want to be a victim because of the ambitions of politicians. Even if Xue Xiyue eliminated the domestic opposition in order to be able to win faster, perhaps sacrificing one imperial soldier at this time would avoid sacrificing two more imperial soldiers in the future. And in the eyes of politicians, the sacrifice of soldiers is often just a number. Tan Renhao couldn't accept it at all, he didn't want the soldiers to die on the battlefield in vain, especially when he found out that he had also become a small soldier in this game of political chess, he felt even more uncomfortable.

"These things are handled by the principal himself, and he didn't let me interfere." Gan Yongxing's words were calm.

"Why would the headmaster do this?" Tan Renhao raised his head.

"I don't know, I just know that if the prime minister loses this time, then we may have to face a wartime election, or a wartime prime minister arranged by the Supreme Court. Neither wartime elections nor the arrangement of a new prime minister would do the empire any good. ”

"But ......"

"Perhaps, the enemy is waiting for us to have civil strife, and as long as there are no problems within the empire, no country can defeat us." Gan Yongxing's words were firm, "Supporting the prime minister is our only choice." I don't know what the principal is thinking, but I do know that the principal is thinking about the big picture. If we don't support the prime minister at this time, then we will lose the war completely. ”

"Is this worth sacrificing thousands of Imperial soldiers?"

"If this is to avoid sacrificing more Imperial soldiers in the future, then I think it's totally worth it. I don't agree with this approach, but is there any other way? In addition, we have already lost thousands of soldiers in the war, and if we lose this war, their sacrifice will be meaningless. Our primary goal is to achieve the final victory, and it is inevitable and necessary to make sacrifices for this. In addition, weren't all the Imperial soldiers who had sacrificed before rushing to the battlefield for the same purpose, fighting the enemy as if they were dead? ”

Tan Renhao fell silent, this is a philosophical question.

"Renhao, I know how you feel, to be honest, I have felt the same way as you, but we have no choice."

Tan Renhao sighed secretly, soldiers really don't have many choices, in this war, soldiers are more like tools of warfare than people with the ability to judge themselves!