The Foxes go to War

[aimway921]

Princess Yuzura was making her final preparations. This was not the first time she was performing public speeches in place of her father, who's health no longer permits him to make public appearances, but it was the first time she had to make an announcement as grand as this one. 

"Your highness," a female servant has jerked her out of her thoughts. "Everything is ready. We only await you."

"Thank you, Marichka," Yuzura said, as she stood up from the velvet chair. As was tradition, the Hetman is considered the Grand Commander of the Ashinaran military. The Crown Prince - or Princess, in Yuzura's case, was considered the second in command to the Grand Commander - but this was the first time in many royal generations the second in command will carry out the duties of the Grand Commander. With this duty, of course, also came a uniform. Although the quality of her uniform was significantly superior, it was much in the style of regular Army officers. Grayish purple tunic - hers embroided with silver and gold - complemented by a peaked visored cap in the same colors. The National crest however moved down into the place where regular officers would have their service branch coat of arms, and the original spot of the crest was taken by the Royal Seal. After a prolonged debate with herself, Yuzura has chosen the trousers over the skirt, meaning to impose greater authority with her presentation. The only thing detracting from her look was the distinct lack of medals on her chest. Now was time to change that.

The Central Plaza of Kyograd was suspended in silence. Everyone was waiting for the Princess. Finally, after a wait that felt like an eternity, the doors of the great building, and the Princess walked out to the center of the stage that doubled as the imposing and ornate porch of the City Hall. The plaza erupted in cheers as the people reveled in the presence of their of their leader, de-facto now, and de-jure - very soon. Once she made it to the microphone stand, which housed two microphones - one connected to the loudspeakers in the plaza, and the other - to the radio broadcast - which at the time, as very few in Ashinara actually owned radios, was broadcasting to public announcement systems in cities throughout the nation - the simple gesture of raising her hand was enough to bring silence once again.

"By beloved future subjects," the Princess has begun, almost forgetting to put in the specifier - even if she was to inherit the throne, she was not Hetman just yet. "It fills me with great pride to look back on the history of our nation. We have been one of the few nations in Touli to remain proudly independent. What's more, we count ourselves in the even more exclusively small number of independent Toulians who are on a steady pace to catch up with modern times. But my heart aches for those who are not free as we are. Recently ambassadors to our friend Franerre have brought me grave news from the South. News of despicable things happening in the South of the continent we, even as separated by a channel of water, call our home. No, it does not even make my heart ache - it makes it burn in fury, when a nation in the land ravaged by foreign powers oppresses her own people! The Union of South Touli is Union in but a name. It is an Empire, and her colonies are her own neighbors. Noscovo has effectively enslaved her own people, working them in mines until death, and slaughtering those who protest against it! 

The Northern reaches of this so-called Union call themselves Tafatu. They are a proud people, just like us, but unlike us they did not have the protection of the sea to shield them from enslavement by an entity more powerful than them. And now they are crying out for help. They come to Franerre, as their closest window to the world, and as Franerre's friend, they come to us, for they have nowhere else to go."

The Princess made a short pause to catch her breath, as she was loosing control over her emotion. Originally planned as only a display for the crowd, her anger and disgust with the Noscovo regime was becoming genuine. The crowd, meanwhile, began whispering between eachother.

"So I ask you, my people," Yuzuru suddenly resumed. "Are we going to abandon our Toulian brothers and sisters in need?"  

"Noooo!!!!" Some people in the crowd cheered 

"Will we answer their plead for help?"

"Yeeeeees!!!" more people have cheered this time, the sentiment of those who cheered first starting to spread among the crowd like wildfire.

"WE THROW THE OPRESSORS OUT!" Yuzura smoothly transitioned from merely speaking loudly to shouting.

"YEEEEEES!!!" The crowd, who was all riled up by now shouted in response.

"WE SHALL SHOW THE SLAVERS THAT WE ARE NOT TO BE MESSED WITH!"

"YEEEEEES!!!"

"WE SHALL MARCH SOUTH AND BRING FREEDOM TO THE OPPRESSED, AND DESTRUCTION TO THE OPRESSORS! WE SHALL MARCH TO WAR!"

"TO WAAAAAR!!!" the crowd shouted back, their energy no longer containable, as they shouted more and more in support of their Princess.

The Princess, in the meantime, was already leaving back inside the building. He task here was done. The people were informed - they are going to war. 

[aimway921]

Zynobiy te Khmelnitsky was pondering over the reports he was receiving from the Tafatu frontlines. The war was not going as well as hoped. The Royal Army was sustaining higher than expected casualties, partly due to antiquated tactics, and partly due to the unprecedented amounts of troops the enemy army has mobilized. Perhaps Ashinara will need to mobilize it's reserves after all. Maybe even open the draft if that would also not be enough. No, enough gambles. The dice have rolled poorly so far. It was time to fight by the rulebook again.

The Minister of War has quickly written up an appeal to the Hetman, stating that if they want to win this war, the MUST mobilize more troops. The Princess's speech earlier that month has already riled up the populace to support the effort.

Following the Minister's advice, enlistment campaigns have been started in many states, while the reserves have been called up. Filling the vacant bases that were once filled by the troops currently in Tafatu, 1 month refresher training has been kickstarted for the reserves, while 3 months training regiments were being prepared for fresh recruits. Khmelnitsky was expecting to pump out 250,000 new soldiers to join the fight every season. Now it was up to the Minister of Industry to whip up the nation's factories into overdrive to make sure those 250,000 seasonally soldiers have guns and ammo to fight with.

Meanwhile, a new plan has began to brew in Khmelnitky's head...

[aimway921]

Ashinara had a small industry base, so luckily it didn't need to convert a whole lot of factories from producing civilian goods to military equipment - as there wasn't a lot of them to begin with. What it meant, however, was that the amount of goods that could be produced at a time was limited. It was barely enough to equip the new recruits with their new weaponry - and they still had to keep up with supplying the troops already overseas. To try and remedy this, Minister of Industry proposed a plan to hire more workers to allow for multiple shifts that would let the factories run around the clock without stopping, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Being a noble, the Minister offered to incentivize the new workers out of his own pocket... However a few in his government office raised an eyebrow on where he was getting that money. Someone even made an inquiry into the national budget.

[EpicToaster1]

DIRECTOR EVENT


The Minister of War would enter the main office of the palace, tossing a set of documents on the desk.

"We are out of men." They'd say blatantly.

They'd let out a heavy sigh, walking over to the window.

"There are no more able-bodies willing to join, and there are no more who meet the requirements of our conscription. We have raised forty-hundred-and-fifty-eight-thousand soldiers."

[aimway921]

Talks in the Rada have dragged on for a couple months. Now that winter was approaching, and the largest offensive was about to start in Tafatu, the Government of Ashinara has finally come to a consensus, largely due to the end of the old Hetman's patience to the bickering of his advisors.

Ministry of War shall oversee an overhaul to the conscription system. From now on, every male aged 17 to 25 was eligible for mandatory 2 year service, even in times of peace. This would create a backbone of trained recruits that the nation could always rely on in times of crisis. Furthermore, until the age 40, said recruits would remain in the Royal Army as reservists, allowing them to return to civilian live, but requiring them to show up for mandatory 1 month training every 2 years to maintain their skills. Veterans who would see active combat would have their reservist status removed at the age of 35. Military service for females would remain voluntary, however recruitment ages would be limited to 18 - 20, and reservist status ending at age 25. Of course, career soldiers may remain in the Army until military retirement age of 50 for males and 60 for females if they so wish.

While the Ministry of War would address the manpower shortage, the Ministry of Industry shall address the material shortage. Official age of employment would be increased in range from 18-60 to 15-75. Furthermore, excess numbers of recruits, if the new conscription system would yield such, would be used to field heavy industry. The goal was to increase the amount of Armament Factories to meet the war's demand while preserving the output numbers of all the other numbers.