Extreme Cold Era: Shelter Don't Keep Waste
Chapter 47: The Benefits of War

Chapter 47: Chapter 47: The Benefits of War

Although backed by Eldest Princess Annie, Perfikot’s trust in O’Connor remained limited. After all, his tactics certainly did not endear him to her.

So in the end, O’Connor was thrown into the POW camp by Perfikot as well, though not as a prisoner of war, but as an administrator.

Perfikot’s task for him was to manage and organize the groups of thugs detained, to have them build the POW camp themselves, and maintain its order.

This task was not difficult for someone like O’Connor, who was once a mercenary officer, it could only be considered cumbersome, not even bothersome.

Therefore, he accepted the task without any hesitation.

Of course, Perfikot did not intend to leave him in the POW camp forever, for she still needed O’Connor to provide security for the exploration team.

She made it clear to O’Connor that once he had completed the management of the POW camp without any problems, she would call for him to join when the exploration team set out.

As for his time in the POW camp? Consider it punishment for involving Perfikot in dangerous areas.

After dealing with O’Connor, Perfikot left with Eldest Princess Annie.

However, they did not return to Windsor Castle but instead proceeded to Brandelis Manor under the escort of the Imperial Guard Knight.

In fact, this was the main purpose of Eldest Princess Annie’s grand mobilization today, which included bringing the Imperial Guard Knight.

"I’ve seen the Steam Knight design you had Butler Foster submit to the Military Department. I have to say, it’s a genius design!" Eldest Princess Annie praised Perfikot, with undisguised surprise and shock in her eyes: "You should have seen the expressions on those old generals of the Empire, they were practically jumping for joy with your design! I’ve never seen the generals of the Empire like that."

"They are all from my grandfather’s generation, witnesses to the last glory of the Age of Knights, so it is understandable they want to revive the knights’ honor." Perfikot wasn’t surprised by this, knowing Foster, she could guess how these old fellows viewed the Steam Knights.

The emergence of the steam engine shattered the foundation upon which the knight system survived, and the introduction of new weapons changed the original military system, making the Empire no longer need knights to charge into battle.

This left many old knights and nobles of that generation feeling lost and hurt.

Brandlis Clan, as the last knight family ennobled due to military achievements, was thus categorized as conservative.

This is the faction of the old generals in the Military Department now, all of whom are old veterans holding high positions in the Empire, having experienced the wars for global supremacy between the Empire and France, they all have rich war experience and a chest full of medals.

This made the young or reform factions often lack the confidence to speak loudly before them, for these old veterans were all titled knights with general ranks earned through battle.

These old fellows had realized that with the advent of the steam engine, the form of warfare had changed too, so they actively embraced reform, otherwise, maintaining old traditions wouldn’t be that hard for them.

One can imagine how excited these old veterans became when they learned there was a way for knights to regain their status on the battlefield.

But...

Perfikot thought of a question and asked Eldest Princess Annie, "But with the world nearly ending, shouldn’t we focus on building shelters and addressing the disaster with our precious resources? Isn’t expanding military might a bit...untimely?"

"Little Perfikot, I don’t believe with your intelligence, you can’t see why those old generals are excited." Eldest Princess Annie smiled at Perfikot and then explained: "The world indeed is nearing its end, but only we know this, France doesn’t know, nor do other countries.

So imagine if they see the Empire plowing vast resources into some unclear projects, won’t they seize the moment to wage war against the Empire?

And even if the Empire informs them of the impending disaster, or if they discover this disaster internally themselves, war will still break out!

Don’t forget, as you said, we can’t save everyone, and the same goes for other countries, in such times, every nation will need to abandon large portions of its lower populace."

At this, Eldest Princess Annie’s expression turned playfully intriguing, and she posed a near insightful question to Perfikot: "What is the first thing they might think of, which could legitimize the consumption of large populations and the gathering of ample resources?"

Hearing Eldest Princess Annie’s analysis, Perfikot couldn’t help but take a deep breath, then sighed heavily in resignation.

The only thing that comes to Perfikot’s mind, which can consume large populations and simultaneously validly exploit its people to gather resources for critical projects, is warfare.

An unprecedentedly large war, because only such could consume enough population and gather ample resources, exchanging the survival of a few with the abandonment of the majority of the grassroots.

For every country, this indeed sounds like a plausible solution.

To counter potential threats in the war, strong bunkers are needed to protect important individuals.

Responding to the demands of large-scale war, the country needs to enforce a wartime system, focusing resources and labor into military and related industries, while other industries make way.

In such circumstances, diverting some resources to disaster preparedness plans becomes unnoticeable.

After all, no one would delve into these matters before war ends, and once disaster strikes, both war and these matters cease to hold importance.

Moreover, war allows for news control, although journalism hasn’t developed to the sensational level of Perfikot’s past world, newspapers and such media have begun to appear.

Using war as an excuse to prevent the publication of unwanted news in newspapers is something governments relish.

Not to mention, war can throw numerous social destabilizing factors into military camps and send them to battle — if they die, instability factors cease to exist.

Beyond social instability factors, even large populations at the lower levels could be systematically consumed in warfare, with the resources saved used to sustain a selected few.