Chapter 170: Planting Another Time Bomb for the Enemy

Given Hipper's baseline of understanding, Lelouch could only begin by wiping away some fundamental blind spots.

"Are you two really completely oblivious, or merely pretending to be? If our fleet cannot push deep into the Gulf of Bothnia and instead only patrols and intercepts at the mouth of the Gulf of Finland, the only merchant vessels we will ever catch are those bound directly for Helsinki or Saint Petersburg.

"However, I suspect the import ports currently utilized by the Lusha people extend far beyond Helsinki and those further southeast along the coast. They likely include small harbors to the west and north of Helsinki, located around the Gulf of Bothnia itself. As long as those minor ports satisfy a single condition—having a rail connection to Helsinki—they can function as viable import hubs for Lusha."

There were not many elements to Lelouch's statement.

Yet one single word instantly seized the undivided attention of both the Grand Duke of Baden and Admiral Hipper: import !

Originally, Hipper had given the matter little thought, viewing the Gulf of Bothnia shipping lanes strictly as "a route for the Lusha people to ship supplies southward from their own northern territories." This assumption stemmed purely from his failure to consider the issue of foreign imports.

He had assumed that, at most, northern Finland possessed rich forest reserves or certain mineral deposits. But given the bitter cold of the Finnish region and the lack of northern rail lines, anything produced there would be impossible to move overland. Thus, it naturally had to travel by sea to Helsinki or Saint Petersburg.

If it amounted to nothing more than those few domestic goods, whether the navy intercepted them or not hardly mattered. After all, Lusha was already famed as a land of vast territory and abundant resources; blockading its forestry and mineral yields carried negligible value. Even if the mining, timber, and fishing output of the entire Finland region were entirely paralyzed, the Lusha Empire could easily compensate by drawing from its other regions.

Once Lelouch drew their attention to the word "import," however, the entire nature of the problem shifted dramatically.

The Grand Duke of Baden, on the other hand, was intimately acquainted with the economic realities of Sweden and its neighboring states. Part of his ministerial portfolio explicitly covered external affairs, and moreover, King Gustav V of Sweden was his own brother-in-law—the Grand Duke had two elder sisters of full blood, the elder married to the King of Sweden, and the younger to the Duke of Anhalt.

Thus, almost the instant the words left Lelouch's mouth, the Grand Duke blurted out, "Are you suggesting... that Sweden is violating neutrality laws by exporting iron ore to the Lusha people? That's impossible! Granted, there is a considerable pro-Brit faction within Sweden, and their sympathies naturally incline them to lend Lusha a hand.

"However, Sweden is a neutral nation at the end of the day, subject to strict oversight, and their King is staunchly pro-Empire! Their King is my own brother-in-law; he would never tolerate such a thing happening under his watch! Furthermore, the Lusha people hardly lack mineral resources. With a territory as vast as theirs, why would they ever worry about a shortage of ore?"

Faced with the Grand Duke's eager defense, Lelouch calmly extended three fingers, taking his time to dismantle every point in order.

"No, no, no. You misunderstand me, Minister Baden. I never once claimed Sweden was exporting iron ore to Lusha. And just as you noted, Lusha hardly lacks iron ore; what they lack is industrial capability, not raw materials.

"Moreover, there is a technical flaw in what you just said. Sweden is indeed a neutral nation, but exporting iron ore does not actually constitute a violation of international law. The relevant international treaties stipulate that during wartime, a neutral nation must not sell weapons or other equipment capable of being put to direct military use to any belligerent power. That ban, however, does not cover resources meant for civilian consumption, nor does it cover foodstuffs.

"Over the past year and more, the Britannians have continually intercepted our merchant ships and strangled our maritime trade, yet they have never cited international law as their justification. They frame every instance as an act of war against a belligerent power. When encountering vessels flying neutral flags and carrying iron ore or grain to our nation, even they do not dare sink them outright. Instead, after stopping them, they forcibly purchase the cargo at a deflated, internationally recognized rate, confiscating the goods as their own property."

In later eras, many outside observers holding historical misconceptions regarding Britannian maritime trade interceptions during the World War assumed that "so long as Brit warships stopped a merchant ship delivering supplies to Demania, they simply sent it to the bottom." In reality, this was never the case; they simply lacked the audacity to go that far.

They could only sink ships explicitly flying the Demanian flag or the colors of other active combatant nations. If a neutral nation's vessel was en route to Demania to conduct trade, the Britannians were legally restricted to demanding a boarding inspection. Only if their inspectors uncovered contraband such as weapons, munitions, or other prohibited war materiel could they declare that "this merchant ship has violated international law" and subsequently send it to the bottom.

If the search revealed no armaments—only raw commodities like iron ore and grain, which international law could not strictly classify as having "direct military utility"—then the neutral nation had broken no laws. Under those circumstances, the Brit Nation had no choice but to shell out some coin, force a mandatory buy-out of the shipment, and escort the merchant vessel back to a home port in Britannia.

The Grand Duke of Baden's earlier outburst had merely been spoken in haste, resulting in the slip of the tongue that "Sweden violated international law by exporting iron ore." In truth, he naturally understood the treaties inside and out, knowing full well that such trade was completely unassailable upon strict scrutiny of the legal clauses.

Seeing how effortlessly and precisely Lelouch dismantled the argument, the Grand Duke turned serious and solemn. "Now you have piqued my curiosity. What precisely do you believe this 'import' route through the Gulf of Bothnia is bringing in?"

Seeing that the question was asked in earnest, Lelouch dispensed with the roundabout buildup and dropped his core premise directly onto the table. "I suspect those pro-Brit dogs in Norway are helping the Britannians transport munitions and other contraband violating neutrality laws straight to the Lusha people!

"Of course, while Norway and Lusha's Finnish territory share a direct land border, that frontier lies entirely along frozen fjords deep within the Arctic Circle. The coastal waters there are frozen solid and unnavigable, and the interior lacks any traversable road networks.

"However, Norway's port of Narvik is a rare northern ice-free harbor. Originally, it served as a vital export terminal for Swedish iron ore. As early as 1903, a dedicated rail line was constructed from Kiruna—Sweden's primary iron ore mining district—straight to the port of Narvik to enable year-round, unhindered maritime export of Swedish ore.

"At the same time, the Swedes constructed a secondary branch line across their own territory, which opened to traffic in 1906. It runs from the core mining district in Kiruna down to the shores of the Baltic Sea, terminating at the port of Lulea at the northernmost tip of the Gulf of Bothnia.

"Lulea is likewise a major harbor for Swedish ore exports, yet when compared to Norway's port of Narvik, it suffers from three critical shortcomings:

"First, Lulea's harbor facilities are far smaller, resulting in significantly lower cargo throughput capacity.

"Second, the navigable channels in the Gulf of Bothnia have much shallower draft limits than the sea lanes of the North Sea. Consequently, ships exporting Swedish ore through Lulea are restricted to smaller tonnages; utilizing massive freighters exceeding twenty thousand deadweight tons is nearly impossible.

"The final and most crucial handicap is that Lulea is by no means an ice-free harbor. Every year from late November through April of the following spring, the northern reaches of the Gulf of Bothnia freeze over completely. As a result, the Lulea route can only operate during the warmer seven months of the year. Despite Lulea sitting at a lower latitude than Narvik, the salinity of the Baltic Sea is drastically lower than that of the North Sea, giving Baltic waters a much higher freezing point in winter. Furthermore, while the North Sea benefits from the warming influence of the North Atlantic Drift, the Baltic receives no warm ocean currents whatsoever..."

As Lelouch methodically laid out this foundational geographic literacy step by step, Admiral Hipper still sat listening in a slight haze of confusion. The Grand Duke of Baden, however, rapidly assembled the scattered puzzle pieces of information, finally grasping the complete picture enough to interject before anyone else could speak.

"So... you are saying the Norwegians could run this logistics corridor in reverse! Narvik was originally built to help Sweden export iron ore to the outside world. But if a Britannian convoy heading to Narvik to load ore were to fill their vessels on the outbound journey with contraband supplies—such as rifles, artillery, ammunition, trucks, and machine tools destined for the Lusha forces—and unload that cargo upon arriving in Narvik...

"Those goods could then be loaded onto the very Swedish railcars that just finished dumping their ore at Narvik, hauling the contraband right back into the Kiruna mining district! From there, utilizing Kiruna's rail hub, the freight could be transferred down to the port of Lulea, shipped across the Gulf of Bothnia to Finnish coastal ports connected by rail to Lusha's interior, and delivered straight to the front! In this manner, the weapons, munitions, heavy artillery, and industrial machine tools smuggled to Lusha by the Britannians would provide an endless blood transfusion to the Lusha war machine!"

Lelouch gave a firm, emphatic nod. "Precisely. That is exactly what I deduce is happening."

The Grand Duke of Baden and Admiral Hipper could not help but draw a sharp breath.

Unwilling to accept it blindly, the Grand Duke pressed him immediately, "How did you even arrive at such a thought? Is this pure speculation on your part, or do you possess concrete proof?"

Lelouch backed his stance with unwavering resolve. "I have no proof. That is precisely why I require the navy's assistance to find it. Yet judging by common sense alone, given how fragile Lusha's industrial base truly is, they possess raw materials in abundance but suffer an acute shortage of manufactured goods, weaponry, and industrial equipment. The Britannians could never simply stand by and watch Lusha collapse.

"Do you two truly distrust my judgment so much that you are unwilling to exercise careful verification of this bold deduction of mine?"

Outwardly, Lelouch claimed it was merely wild speculation, but in truth, it was anything but wild.

In a history text he had read before his crossover, the pages laid out in stark, unequivocal detail exactly how the britannian dogs systematically violated international law and trampled neutral nations' sovereignty under the table throughout various conflicts.

The crucial point was not even the trampling itself—all is fair in war, after all. What made the britannian dogs truly detestable was their eternal obsession with acting the hypocrite: indulging in dirty underhand schemes themselves while hiding behind a mask of sanctimonious pretense.

For a man like Lelouch, nothing brought greater satisfaction than copying the historical answer sheet to counter darkness with darkness, deliberately turning the tables on precisely this breed of enemy.

Whenever history showed someone daring to play dirty, if Lelouch caught them in the act, he would play far dirtier than they ever dreamed. Dragging the second-dirtiest schemers in the world into the grave by out-scheming them was the most exhilarating pleasure on earth.

In his own way, Lelouch practiced a twisted code of honor in his schemes. Harmless, naive fools never warranted the exertion of his darker methods—crushing them offered neither challenge nor sense of accomplishment. He reserved his venom exclusively for fellow schemers.

After listening to his breakdown, Admiral Hipper and the Grand Duke of Baden were largely convinced that such an operation was indeed underway.

After all, Lelouch had proven his prophetic foresight time and time again. Those in the navy who aligned their steps with his direction consistently harvested monumental merit; who in their right mind would deliberately pick a fight with career advancement?

Admiral Hipper slammed a hand down in decision almost immediately. "Within the next few days, I will devise a way to dispatch cruisers deep into the Gulf of Bothnia to sweep for mines, and simultaneously run patrols to see if we can catch these contraband convoys red-handed...

"However, if we actually seize them, how do you propose we handle the aftermath? Blow the affair open for the entire world to see? Furthermore, a contraband transit scheme relying on maritime delivery to Narvik followed by overland rail shipment to Lulea simultaneously implicates two sovereign states: Norway and Sweden."

No sooner had Admiral Hipper voiced his logistical anxieties than the Grand Duke of Baden chimed in with immediate agreement.

"Indeed, indeed! I feel this matter demands extreme prudence. Those treacherous Norwegian dogs are straightforward enough—they have always been lapdogs to the britannian dogs. Once the Empire secures solid evidence, we can simply punish them without mercy! They only managed to split off from Sweden and stir up trouble a few short years before the war began, entirely backed by Britannian support.

"My brother-in-law's father was tormented to wit's end by the unrest stirred up by those Norwegians back then, to the point where he was forced to abdicate his rule over Norway. Suffering their endless disgust afterward, he died of depression and grief scarcely over a year later. My brother-in-law shares a blood feud of indirect patricide with those Norwegian dogs. When the war first erupted in 1914, he personally marched into their Parliament to rally support, seeking to mobilize his army and navy to stand beside us.

"Therefore, I maintain we cannot afford rash actions. Even if we uncover evidence that individuals within Sweden are actively cooperating with Norway to violate neutrality, we must carefully examine which political faction the specific culprits belong to. If they turn out to be loyal subordinates of my brother-in-law, we handle the matter with utmost discretion; I will personally dispatch a secret courier to deliver a private dossier to him, allowing him to rein in his subordinates and clean house internally without letting the Prime Minister and Parliament seize any political ammunition against him.

"However, if we confirm that pro-Brit officials within the Swedish bureaucracy executed these neutrality-breaking schemes... then we seize the opportunity to blow the scandal sky-high, lending my brother-in-law the leverage he needs to purge the pro-Brit faction from his own country!"

Hearing the Grand Duke's political blueprint, Lelouch could not help but chuckle. "Great minds think alike, it seems. In fact, that mirrors my thoughts exactly. Furthermore, I believe that even if we confirm the facts immediately, it would be unwise to startle the snakes in the grass right now.

"The shipping lanes out of Lulea remain open only from April through November each year, and we are already sitting in mid-September. If we 'accidentally' wipe out a convoy now, the enemy's subsequent shipments will not arrive until October at the earliest; they will inevitably pause to evaluate the reasons for their losses, lacking the nerve to feed more ships immediately into the breach. Thus, before the winter freeze severs the route in late November, they would only manage to run a handful of deliveries at best.

"Rather than acting prematurely, we should use this window to quietly gather rock-solid evidence, building an airtight case. Once the shipping lanes freeze over in November, Your Excellency can personally travel to pay a visit to your royal brother-in-law in Sweden. You can spend the winter months coordinating your moves and laying out the charges until the case becomes an ironclad trap.

"If His Majesty King Gustav V wishes to seize the opportunity to reclaim regal authority—declaring that 'the pro-Brit cabinet has violated the nation's permanent neutrality maintained since the Napoleonic era, betraying the constitution, the nation, and the people, necessitating royal intervention to quell treason'—then we can conveniently utilize the winter months to supply him with mercenary forces.

"When the ice melts in early April next year and those scoundrels resume their smuggling runs, His Majesty King Gustav V might very well proclaim a campaign to 'defend the constitution and suppress treason.' Furthermore, he can use Norway's violation of Sweden's permanent neutrality as justification, citing their betrayal of the solemn commitments made during the dissolution of the union in 1905.

"When his late royal father permitted the separation of Norway, one of the binding clauses explicitly mandated that Norway maintain permanent neutrality identical to Sweden's, forbidding either party from dragging external war into Scandinavia. Since the Norwegians trampled the treaty beneath their boots, reclaiming the territories his late father was forced to cede becomes a completely righteous and logical campaign, does it not?

"Regardless, once the dust settles, the Empire has no need to demand that Sweden formally enter the war on our side. They can continue maintaining genuine, permanent neutrality, provided they annihilate that Britannian hound called Norway, ensuring Northern Europe no longer serves as a gaping loophole for the britannian dogs to bypass our blockade of Lusha.

"And according to international law, selling timber, iron ore, and fishery products to active combatants during wartime breaches neither international treaties nor neutrality. The Empire's requirements from Northern Europe consist strictly of these entirely legal raw commodities; thus, Scandinavian neutrality is more than sufficient for our needs."

Northern European neutrality was nowhere near enough for Lusha, because Lusha's underlying industrial framework dictated that it had to import goods violating neutrality statutes to survive.

For Demania, however, Northern European neutrality was absolute perfection. Demania's domestic industrial base was overwhelmingly powerful; the nation had zero need to import foreign weaponry, ammunition, or manufactured equipment. It required only raw materials.

And importing raw materials broke no neutrality laws whatsoever.

Consequently, the Demanians had no need for deception or underhand tricks on this particular front; they could afford to let the Swedes practice sincere, pristine neutrality until the end of time, conducting nothing but lawful trade.

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