amaotonovel Chapter 371 Kings and Leaders
Chapter 371 Kings and Leaders
The state motorcade was traveling on the road—the Imperial Avenue of the Lucy Empire was covered in silver, and the flags of the two countries were everywhere on the most central street of the empire. The Imperial tricolor double-headed eagle and the hammer and sickle red flag of the Amerlansi Alliance were hung at the same height, which looked somewhat magical—not only because they were two completely different systems, the embodiment of two worlds, but also because just a few weeks ago, these two flags were mortal enemies on the battlefield.
Today, the national flags of both countries are prominently displayed together as decorations within the imperial palace complex. The motorcade drove onto the Imperial Avenue, passing the Imperial State Duma, the Imperial Prime Minister's Residence, the Imperial National Security Forces Building, and finally turned into Catherine Palace.
The two leaders rode in the same car. Yeka smiled as she looked at Alice, scrutinizing her closely the whole way. This was the first time she had looked at Alice so closely—she leaned down and whispered in her ear.
Alice wore an incredulous expression, but also a sense of relief—Yeka's whisper was not unexpected, but fate is so unpredictable, who would have thought?
Yekater was pleased with Alice's expression, which was quite amused. The carriage was well-insulated, and although their guards were outside the door, they couldn't hear any conversation inside.
"The Meeting of Two Queens"—that's how some third-rate tabloids reported it, a headline that was already quite suggestive, but what Yeka wanted to do was far more sensational than those tabloids reported, though unfortunately these things would never be published in the newspapers.
She reached out and personally poured Alice a cup of black tea from the samovar—if word got out that a monarch personally poured tea for someone, it would undoubtedly be a strong signal, but in this carefully chosen, enclosed carriage, no third person would know.
"Please, Alice—teacher, my dear teacher."
Yekater gently handed the steaming cup of black tea to Alice, leaving Alice bewildered. She had prepared various attitudes along the way, but had not prepared a contingency plan for dealing with this kind of attitude.
Why do all the girls around me want to eat me up?!
Such exclamations erupted among the believers. She picked up the cup of tea, a beverage that was a fine treat wherever it was served, but this cup tasted distinctly different.
A peculiar flavor spread across her tongue, carrying a refreshing fragrance and a hint of mint. As the tea aroma dissipated in her mouth, Alice glanced at Yeka.
Yeka remained silent, simply nodding and continuing to smile at Alice—some things didn't need to be said, otherwise it wouldn't be interesting.
In fact, she had read all of Alice's proposals—Lucy the Yeti were keen to achieve hegemony in the Central Continent, but some hegemonies are not so easy to obtain—whether it was Amelansi or the Elven Social Alliance, in today's world where the concept of nationalism has become a basic consensus and the nation and the people have become basic understandings, any country could become a quagmire for a great power.
The same is true of Lucy Snow. Whether invaders or resisters, Lucy Snow has never lacked their stories. Lucy Snow is a harsh and cold land with harsh and cold people. The harshness drives them crazy and saddens them, giving birth to the unique art and consciousness of this civilization.
Chauvinism has always had a place in Lucys. Whether it was the dwarves who ruled the West in the past or the current Lucy Empire, the word chauvinism has always haunted the Lucys. Civil war, strife, and barbarity have continued until Yeka established a unified Lucy Empire, when the Lucys could be said to have stepped into civilization for the first time.
She knew what Alice wanted to do, and her thoughts were different from Alice's. She knew deeply that if the empire did not transform quickly, it would collapse one day. The empire's light industry was basically dependent on imports, and its heavy industry was developed, but these heavy industries were based on equipment left over from the dwarf country and imported equipment from Ameransia.
The empire lacked depth, while its people craved war—resulting in defeat in the World Wars.
Lucy Snow's advantage had vanished by the later stages of the war. The Amerlancy Air Force could shoot down Imperial Air Forces beyond visual range, but the Imperial Air Force could only engage in close-range dogfights with the Amerlancy Air Force.
Despite having a large army, it cannot withstand air superiority for long. Lucy faced a losing war if not for that natural disaster.
Alice offered a solution and a reason: the Empire could have a backer while waging war—the so-called United Nations. What Yeka valued was not anything else but its subordinate "Human Defense Initiative Agreement," which allowed countries that joined the United Nations to support the agreement in different ways and fight against the "enemy of all mankind."
There is a war to fight, and it is a war against an enemy of all mankind.
Yeka could not possibly refuse this United Nations, and the Declaration of the United Nations, according to intelligence from the Imperial Security Bureau, had already been recognized by multiple countries, including even the Sirens of the deep sea.
Columbia, Canata, Rome, Amelansi... the Federation of the Social Republic of Yugosrafa, the Elves... civilized nations all over the world are about to join, so even if the Lucy Snow Empire had previously fought against Amelansi, there was absolutely no reason for it not to join.
So even if Alice doesn't contact her, she will send someone to make contact with Alice—this so-called United Nations is not a loose international organization, but a real alliance, which aims to "address the threats that all mankind will face, unite the strength of all of us, jointly develop space, and cooperate as equals and in a friendly manner with the sovereign members of the organization."
Although many people do not agree with the initiative that "United Nations members will gradually transfer their military forces to the United Nations Human Defense Initiative Agreement to form a unified international army," the power of this supranational entity ultimately derives from the United Nations General Assembly, and the organizational terms still need to be agreed upon by the member states.
Large countries join for strategic maneuvering, but many small countries join for a clause in the agreement: "United Nations members, regardless of size or power, have sacred rights of independence. If any member state is subjected to unlawful invasion, the members of the United Nations have a common obligation to provide assistance to the member state, to sanction the unlawful invaders, and to deploy a joint international peacekeeping force under the United Nations Human Defense Initiative Agreement."
From this perspective, not joining the United Nations would lead to a problem—countries that do not join the UN are very likely to face sanctions from UN member states and armed threats from multinational forces. These threats may not necessarily originate from the UN, but are more likely to come from other countries. Although the UN's mission is "for peace, equality and dignity for mankind," everyone knows that ultimately, strength will prevail. However, at least procedurally, this is the only way to potentially prevent war on this planet.