For Field Marshal Sigmunt, 1625 could not have been a worse year, and from the beginning of the year he could not help but fall into the whirlpool of public opinion, and his situation became increasingly difficult.

This marshal, who had made great contributions to the Yashan Empire, was now in a situation where everyone shouted and beaten, and was ridiculed as "a timid old stubborn" by those literati who had never been a soldier for a day and knew nothing about military command, and even a literati published a mocking limerick in the "Holy City Evening News", which ridiculed the poor veteran to the fullest:

I was asked

Your Excellency the Marshal is invincible

That's because

He never fights battles that he is not sure of

Even if there is only a 1 in 10,000 risk of failure

He would also chant "surrender" before going to war

The lion beats the sheep a hundred times

We cannot call it heroic

Dare to challenge strong opponents

is worthy of the name of "God of War".

……

However, few people have really thought about these two questions:

Wouldn't it be safer for Sigmunt, even if he was not in favor of launching a crusade, to speak out against it, and that he could have emulated the slippery politicians who refused to take a public stand, or to say some vague and ambiguous nonsense, and no one could catch his fault? But what good would he do personally to speak out in the midst of the nationwide euphoria of the Crusades, and to issue an unpleasant warning despite the tarnishing of his own reputation?

In fact, this is the embodiment of a soldier's courage and principle, but unfortunately the public does not appreciate Sigmunt's way of expressing courage and principle.

In a populist country, when a former idol is overthrown, the people always consciously or unconsciously desire to erect a new idol that is more in line with their preferences to replace the old one.

Now that Sigmunt, the former "god of war", has been pushed down by public opinion, and has been trampled on 10,000 feet, reduced to the protagonist of cold jokes and satirical poems, the imperial military needs to introduce a new idol to fill the void left by Sigmunt.

The new idol who was introduced to replace Sigmunt, named Franz Engel, has a near-perfect life resume: born into an old-school aristocratic family in the holy city of Assan, he became a genius at a young age, and during his studies at the Imperial Military Academy, he scored perfect marks in all subjects - this is the only exception in the history of the Empire, and another high-achieving student whose academic performance is comparable to that of Franz Engel is precisely his military school classmate and rival, and now he has become the most hated person in the imperial government and the opposition - Rudolf Kolas.

Franz Engel's life trajectory was much smoother than that of Rudolf Kolas, the two men came from similar backgrounds, had similar academic performance, and after graduation, they were both appreciated by the high-level and rose to prominence in key positions in the then newly created Imperial General Staff. At the time, people called these two young talents the "double stars" of the Imperial General Staff, and if nothing else, the post of chief of the Imperial General Staff would definitely be produced in this "double star" twenty years later.

Looking back today, only half of the predictions were confirmed. Rudolph did not rise through the ranks as expected after his service, as his future was devastated by a tragic marriage, resulting in the destruction of his family and his sentence to exile. The young general who was once admired in the imperial army was reduced to a small exile on the Far Eastern frontier, which really made those who were optimistic about him regret it at the beginning. As for Rudolph's later turnaround and rebellion in the Far East to establish himself as king, that's another matter.

Compared to Rudolph, Franz Engel's life was much smoother, and because Rudolph was expelled from the army on suspicion of heresy, the position that was originally fiercely contested between the two naturally fell into Engel's hands. As expected twenty years ago, he was promoted to Imperial General and Chief of the General Staff, second only to Marshal Sigmuntt in the Imperial Army.

Young and promising generals certainly need equally young and promising subordinates, and Engel has worked hard in the army for more than 20 years, focusing on cultivating and promoting young talents. At the same time as Engel's own promotion, the young Zhuang officers he cultivated were also promoted to the rank of knight, and when he became the chief of the general staff of the general under the imperial military department, he already had a strong team under his command, and naturally became the recognized leader of the military young Zhuang faction, and at the same time, the "radical faction" eager to make achievements.

Engel never minded using the power in his hands to remove the stumbling blocks on the road to Qingyun, sending those old generals who talked about seniority at every turn to Leng Yamen for retirement, leaving important departments to young and strong officers he trusted, and now he and his faction basically controlled the Imperial Military Department, and the last "ceiling" that hindered him from continuing to climb was Marshal Sigmunt.

General Franz Engel judged the situation and thought that it was time to break the last "ceiling" above his head, for which he needed to fight a beautiful and convincing enough victory as a qualification for promotion, and the controversy over the Eastern Crusade provided him with an excellent opportunity to openly oppose and oppose His Excellency the Marshal on behalf of the radical generals of the military, and advocated seizing the opportunity of the assassination of the leader of the rebel party in the Far East, the suspicion of the lord and the young country, and the chaotic situation, and decisively send troops to the East to fight a quick victory.

"If the military logistics are secured, we are confident that we can retake Fort Atonement within four to eight weeks."

When he went to the Cabinet Defense Committee last week for a consultation, Franz Engel calmly threw out the above quick victory argument, and then the declaration was published in the public, and immediately attracted widespread discussion in both the government and the opposition.

Sigmund claimed that a quick victory would never be possible in the Eastern Crusade, and that a stalemate of three years or two would not be clear; Engel's view was the opposite, believing that a decisive victory would be possible in two months at most.

Sigmunt's pessimistic arguments, only his own hoarse shouting, did not receive the support of any heavyweights; Engel's optimism was not only popular with the people, but also strongly supported by senior generals of the Young Zhuang faction, such as Admiral Alvons Beck, commander of the Imperial Air Force, and Admiral Charles Lucien, commander of the Imperial Navy.

Generals Alvons Baker and Charles Lucien also made more radical and explicit statements in informal settings, claiming that both the Imperial Air Force and the Imperial Navy fleet were well prepared for war and that they were now only two things away from victory: the determination of the Imperial authorities to launch a crusade, and a letter of appointment granting Admiral Franz Engel – not Field Marshal Siegemundt Hansenberg – commander-in-chief of the Crusade.