Empire Conquest-Chapter 887 - 113: Internal Conflict (Part 2)

To put it more directly, it was a revolution that reshaped the entire nation.

This wasn’t simple reform; it required sacrifice, bloodshed, destined to cause the deaths of many, and meant to overthrow many of the traditional aristocratic classes!

In just a few decades, not only was the foundation of industrialization laid, but also a new class of aristocracy was born, namely the industrial capitalists of today.

Of course, the cost was undoubtedly very severe.

In just a few decades, many families that had existed for centuries, even millennia, were blown away in the waves of revolution.

According to folklore, during the reign of Emperor Shiwu of the Liangxia Empire, the number of people who died directly or indirectly due to war and turmoil exceeded 15 million!

At that time, the population of the Liangxia Empire was less than 400 million.

In all subsequent wars, the total number of fallen soldiers of the Liangxia Empire was less than 10 million.

From this, one can see how fierce the internal changes were that the Liangxia Empire underwent to embark on the path of industrialization.

In comparison, what Fanluo Country lacked was precisely such a fierce internal transformation!

Because Fanluo Country did not experience such dramatic internal change, it was unable to eradicate the old aristocracy reliant on land after its founding.

On the road to industrialization, it inevitably encountered a lot of resistance.

Those who controlled the land, the aristocratic class, were able to obtain rich rewards through land, leading lives far beyond the happiness of ordinary people, without needing reforms to improve living standards. What reason did they have to give up their vested interests?

Looking globally, all industrial powers actually completed the process of industrialization by liberating laborers tied to the land through reform.

The "enclosure movement" in Bulan, where "sheep eat people," the Civil War in Newland, the centralization of the Liangxia Empire—all without exception!

The key is these reforms all happened before the industrialization process started, preferably after the founding of the state.

Unfortunately, Fanluo Country has already missed the best opportunity.

In fact, this "opportunity" never truly arrived. Don’t forget, Fanluo Country has yet to unify the Southern Subcontinent, so there’s no discussion of land reform.

Seeing through all this, Digalla returned to Fanluo Country and joined the government led by his father.

Unfortunately, a few months later, Niru was shot at an election rally, and the assailant was a landlord from the Central State.

As for the motive, Digalla knew very well.

Under his persuasion, Niru agreed to implement the "New Deal" after the election, whose core was nationwide land reform.

According to Digalla’s idea, it was to use reform to strip the aristocratic class of land control, thus liberating the population from the land.

This was actually imitating the Liangxia Empire.

The difference being Digalla chose a more moderate legislative reform, not radical revolution.

Niru’s assassination proved that through mild reform, it was impossible to fundamentally solve the chronic problem that has existed in the Southern Subcontinent for thousands of years.

To put it bluntly, this touched the foundation of the ruling class; it would be strange if others didn’t fight desperately!

However, the situation was far from simple.

Post-investigation revealed that the assassin could get close to Niru not due to luck, but because the Guard Captain responsible for the Prime Minister’s safety deliberately let the assassin in.

Subsequently, over a hundred members of the guard, including the Guard Captain, were implicated.

The relevant investigation did not proceed, ultimately ending inconclusively.

It wasn’t due to a lack of clues but because further investigation would likely trigger a military coup.

To put it bluntly, the Guard Captain, the implicated guards, and even the assassin were merely tools in the hands of the real perpetrators.

Evidently, not only great landlords wanted Niru gone, or rather, assassinating Niru was the simplest means to maintain the aristocratic class’s dominance.

Indeed, it’s also the method with the lowest cost.

The key lies in that all generals, senior officers, and most lower-level officers hail from the aristocratic class.

Niru wanted to reclaim the land controlled by the aristocratic class for thousands of years through reform; would they agree?

In retrospect, if the assassin had failed, a military coup would inevitably break out several months later, and by then it wouldn’t just be Niru in trouble.

Given the situation then, if Niru persisted in pushing for land reform, the entire Gambara family could be uprooted.

It was this very point that left Digalla in despair for a few years, even considering leaving Fanluo Country at one point.

What brought him back wasn’t a sense of mission but the life and death of his family.

In his two years of despair, the Gambara family not only faced political exclusion but also threats to their core interests, especially land!

In just two years, the land controlled by the Gambara family shrank by a third.

At this rate, in less than ten years, the Gambara family would be gone.

Moreover, in those two years, Digalla’s younger sister and several cousins either met untimely ends or suddenly disappeared.

These relatives were the ones expected to support the family after Digalla, all harboring considerable political ambition.

If no one stood up, the Gambara family, creators of Fanluo Country, would be finished!

The only one capable of stepping up and leading the entire family was Digalla.

After two years of despair, Digalla returned and, with the support of his family and several allied great families, was elected Prime Minister.

In the subsequent years, Digalla focused on the military.

To be precise, it was about purging the military.

Back then, all generals connected to Niru’s assassination were eliminated one by one by Digalla, and their supporting families were also hit.

The actions Digalla took were not only to avenge his father but also to prepare for implementing land reform.

However, the time was not yet ripe.

In fact, this was also the key reason why Digalla advocated for immediate participation in the war.

Only by joining the war could the young officers promoted by Digalla be utilized, replacing senior generals and officers from the aristocratic class.

And only after seizing military power could one forcibly promote land reform.

Of course, implementing reform during wartime could achieve double the result with half the effort.

Only when facing life and death crises would the aristocratic classes of the local states make concessions for survival and potentially abandon their vested interests.

To say it, almost all government officials stood by Digalla’s side.

The reason is quite simple; most officials were selected by Digalla, and all hailed from enlightened families, many having already transitioned from great landlords to great capitalists. These officials represented families that controlled nearly half the industry in Fanluo Country.

Clearly, they also hoped to push land reform and accelerate industrialization.

As for the senior generals, they still represented the traditional aristocratic class, the great landlords ruling over local areas.

The main issue is that the young officers promoted by Digalla are too inexperienced, not yet climbing up, so within the military, conservative senior generals still held power.

Their opposition to active participation in the war was essentially because they didn’t want to implement land reform.

On another level, these traditional aristocratic classes are also "victims" of industrialization or haven’t yet tasted its benefits.

To put it, these generals were even unwilling to get too close to the Newland Republic, as the Newland Republic had continuously assisted Fanluo Country in industrial development.

To put it more directly, they preferred to profit from hiding behind the Newland Republic.

This way, they could preserve their original vested interests, namely land, profit from war, and simultaneously enhance their family’s influence in the military.

Not to mention, just exporting food during the war, these great landlords could earn a fortune.

Therefore, waiting until the Newland Republic went to war was the prerequisite for declaring war on the Liangxia Empire.

No matter what reasons were laid out, even if they seemed like reasons, they weren’t the real point.

Digalla was well aware of this and had made a second plan in advance.

Throughout August, Digalla privately met with more than 200 influential parliamentarians, securing their support through compromise and concessions.

The main compromise was to ensure not to use wartime authority to promote land reform during the war.

Clearly, dealing with opportunistic parliamentarians was much easier.

As long as Parliament approved war authorization, even if military leaders disagreed, Digalla could bring Fanluo Country into a state of war.

Once war authorization was secured, dealing with those disobedient generals would become much simpler.