Chapter 249: Opening the Emperor's Eyes

The improvised anti-tank tactics Lelouch had discussed with Oswald Lutz and Guderian during their farewell banquet before they headed to the front quickly proved effective on the Western Front, specifically at Verdun and the Metz fortress.

These tactics allowed the Demanian Army on the Metz front to stop relying solely on a desperate defense of the Metz fortress and the Moselle River line. Instead, they could comfortably push their defensive line forward to the high ground west of the Moselle River. By utilizing tunnels, reverse slope mortars, camouflaged tunnel entrances and artillery observation posts, along with a combination of line-holding divisions and anti-tank grenadier regiments, they could continuously pin down and wear down the enemy over the long term.

Of course, Lelouch was far too busy to personally monitor the current situation on the Verdun front.

During the two days Guderian spent fighting bloody battles at the front, Lelouch had already assumed his new post at the Naval Intelligence Bureau, officially taking office as the Deputy Director. Following this, he was scheduled to meet the Emperor to report his insights and new plans.

The Emperor, for his part, had wanted to summon him much earlier, hoping he would immediately present a detailed new solution. This plan was meant not only to solve the naval code leak but also to exploit that very information gap to scheme against the Brit Nation.

But Lelouch didn't want to appear as if he had premeditated everything. Moreover, there were many details he could only finalize once he personally took charge at the Bureau.

Therefore, invoking the principle that "no investigation, no right to speak", Lelouch requested a "three-day grace period" from the Emperor. He claimed he would only dare to offer his strategies after spending three days at his new post fully understanding the situation.

The Emperor agreed to his request, setting the official reporting date for May 13th.

...

Early that morning, the moment he stepped into the office, he was shocked by how shabby and cramped the place was. This wasn't an independent building; it was merely a single floor of office space allocated within the naval operations department.

The Director of the Bureau, Colonel Arthur Tapken, along with several key subordinates—including Lieutenant Colonel Fritz Prieger, head of overseas maritime intelligence collection, Lieutenant Colonel Paul Albert, head of naval counter-espionage, and Major Friedman from the Telecom Code section—stood at the door to welcome the new Deputy Director.

'Just how little do the Demanians of World War I care about intelligence work?' Lelouch thought. 'A mere colonel serves as the Director. This bureau probably isn't even a proper directorate-level agency.'

Thinking it over, however, it made sense. Intelligence work nowadays was plagued by decentralized authority. The Army's General Staff had its own Third Bureau, the Navy had its own intelligence agency, and there were various other assorted organizations.

Each agency only cared about its own turf. With scattered resources and the constant risk of holding each other back, it would be a miracle if they ever accomplished anything significant.

Many observers unfamiliar with the situation might equate these organizations with the intelligence agencies later led by Himmler or Heydrich in the Earth dimension, but in reality, their statuses were entirely incomparable.

The Demanians had never been skilled at playing dirty. In past wars, they had consistently been crushed by their enemies in the realm of intelligence. In contrast, the Brit Nation and the yanks had far too many schemers.

Lelouch knew the Emperor had made him the acting Deputy Director only because he had just arrived and was unfamiliar with the operations.

As long as he produced even a slight bit of results to convince the Emperor he knew "a little something" about leading this line of work, he could be promoted to Director at any time.

Yet, even being promoted to Director wouldn't satisfy Lelouch. With authority so divided, what great things could he accomplish alongside these insects? At the very least, he needed to leverage his concurrent role in the Joint Army-Navy Operations Coordination Office to integrate Army and Naval intelligence in the future!

...

Lelouch didn't have time to waste on idle chatter with his colleagues. Although he was the Deputy Director, his rank was Major General, and he held other military positions. Therefore, he could afford to be casual and blunt when speaking to the colonel acting as Director.

He could also sense that Director Tapken was nursing a grievance. The colonel was likely unwilling to suddenly have an amateur dictating terms, but he forced a smile out of deference to Lelouch's rank.

The first impression the other lower-ranking officers had of Lelouch was surely that of a layman trying to lead experts.

Since that was the case, he had no choice but to show off his skills right away to thoroughly awe these men.

"What the hell have you people been doing? The Navy's codes were leaked ages ago!" Lelouch barked. "That's exactly how Field Marshal Rupprecht's frontline inspection telegram was intercepted by the Britannians, leading them to orchestrate the assassination attempt! Several previous naval operations were detected by the enemy in advance, and that was also a code issue!"

Lelouch didn't bother being polite. Closing the door, he laid the core problems bare before this small group, positioning himself entirely as a reformer.

"Deputy Director, do you have any evidence for these claims? Right now, we can only deduce that our intelligence leaked, and that it aligns with those events. But we still don't have a conclusion on exactly what channel the leak came from. For you to insist that it's a problem with the Telecom Code section..."

Major Friedman, who was directly responsible for that work, feared for his job and tried a last-ditch effort to deflect the blame. His status was far below Lelouch's, but he knew that if he didn't mount some kind of defense, he was guaranteed to be packing his bags.

"At least three naval operations last year were leaked in advance, and they involved entirely different theaters!" Lelouch snapped. "On two other occasions, our commanders only managed to turn defeat into victory because they improvised and adapted their orders on the fly! As for the assassination attempt on Field Marshal Rupprecht, there's absolutely no other channel for the leak!

"The people handling those leaked documents were completely different! The single common denominator is that they all used the same codebook—nothing else! You won't find any other connection! His Majesty has already reached a verdict on this, and the Admiralty has admitted it. End of discussion! I will take full responsibility for this conclusion!

"If you still have an issue with it, you can be suspended and confined for investigation."

Lelouch directly axed the head of the Telecom Code section under the Naval Intelligence Bureau. He would still retain the actual technicians, but an incompetent officer who had failed to notice such a massive, prolonged leak was undeniably useless. Making an example of him would also make it easier to start his work.

With a wave of Lelouch's hand, several military police officers from the Admiralty's internal investigation unit barged in, dragging Major Friedman away to be placed under strict surveillance and review.

These Admiralty investigators had been explicitly requested by Admiral Hipper from Admiral Tirpitz. Tirpitz had directly approved their deployment, meaning there were zero flaws in Lelouch's authority or procedures.

Seeing Major Friedman hauled off finally served as a harsh warning that terrified the rest of them. Even the formal Director didn't dare utter a word.

Having swung the big stick, Lelouch immediately needed to showcase his professional expertise. He pulled out a rough sketch and had someone bring in a technician he had recently recruited.

"I promised His Majesty that I would reform the Naval Intelligence Bureau, and naturally, I came prepared," Lelouch said. "Given that our current problem stems mainly from compromised codes, I intend to spend the next few months overhauling our operations with an entirely new encryption system. We will no longer rely on human calculation for encryption and decryption as we did before."

Pointing to the technician standing beside him, Lelouch introduced him. "This is Mr. Arthur Scherbius. He previously worked at the Electrical Mathematics Institute in Munich. I have provided him with a concept, and he will help me realize it by developing a new cipher machine. Your respective departments are to fully cooperate in providing whatever resources and coordination he needs.

"I have already vouched for him to Minister Tirpitz. Mr. Scherbius will act as the Deputy Head of the Telecom Code section and will be granted the rank of Captain to lead the research and development of the new cipher machine."

Everyone was utterly stunned. Deputy Director Lelouch had actually brought in a civilian electrical engineering researcher, handed him a captain's rank, and put him in charge of developing a cipher machine.

However, since the Bureau had just caused a massive catastrophe and was facing disciplinary action from above—coupled with the vast authority Lelouch possessed—none of them dared object. They could only force themselves to cooperate.

'We'll cooperate with him for a few months to avoid giving him any excuses or leverage, and we'll see if he gets results. If he can't produce anything, the higher-ups will naturally transfer these people away,' several of the senior staff thought.

Nobody wanted to stick their necks out while the new boss was eagerly establishing his authority. Enduring it for now was the best option.

"It's a pleasure to meet you all. I'll do my utmost, and I hope we can all work together to build the new machine Deputy Director Lelouch envisions." Dr. Scherbius, still buzzing with excitement over his recent recruitment, politely greeted his new colleagues one by one.

That was right; this Arthur Scherbius was the very electrical expert who would later invent the Enigma Machine in 1918.

Since Lelouch knew the Demanian intelligence agencies' codes were compromised, he naturally laid the groundwork in advance. Having thoroughly studied military history, he was no stranger to the famous Enigma, nor did he forget that Scherbius was its inventor.

Lelouch didn't just know of Scherbius; he also understood the broad principles behind the Enigma. The core concept involved several encrypting rotors. Each time a letter was input and encrypted, the rotors would turn, altering the result of the subsequent encryption. This made the rule of "one letter encrypting into another" seem entirely random, drastically reducing their dependence on constantly swapping codebooks.

Of course, Lelouch was also well aware that the supposed invulnerability of the Enigma would eventually be cracked in the future by British mathematicians at Bletchley Park, relying on the computing machines developed by Alan Turing and his peers.

Regardless, bringing the Enigma into the 1910s guaranteed absolute security. Since it could be utilized for a very long time, why not copy history's answer?

Therefore, as early as the latter half of last year, as Lelouch's status steadily rose and he gained access to more resources, he had already begun searching for Dr. Scherbius to set his plan in motion.

Historically, Scherbius would have quit his job to strike out on his own toward the end of World War I. He would later partner with friends to open a company dedicated to developing cipher machines, succeeding in late 1918.

The gap between 1916 and 1918 wasn't all that vast. As long as Lelouch provided the conceptual direction, leaving Scherbius to iron out the engineering details, hashing out the Enigma Machine within half a year was entirely feasible.

Lelouch had already privately arranged for him to perform some preliminary work. That started around the time Lelouch graduated from his military academy course and was officially promoted to Major General, which was back in March.

By July or August, Lelouch was confident the Enigma Machine would be ready for production, and it could be distributed to the high command by September.

Furthermore, developing the Enigma this way came with an added benefit. In the Earth dimension, the Enigma Machine was initially developed as a commercial technology, which meant Scherbius applied for a patent the moment he had a working model.

A major tradeoff for filing a patent was that the general principles behind the technology had to be disclosed to the public. Ironically, the Demanian military had just lost the war at that time. They remained blissfully ignorant of how utterly their cryptographic systems had failed during WWI and refused to pay the high price for the cipher machines. As a result, the Enigma Machine saw almost no sales between 1918 and 1926, meaning its core principles were made public for absolutely no gain.

Ironically enough, the decisive catalyst that finally pushed the Demanians to purchase the Enigma Machine was their enemy—the former Britannian Admiralty Minister, Wharton Spencer, who had already resigned in disgrace. He penned a memoir on WWI in which he stated, "Thanks to the sheer incompetence of the Demanian Naval Intelligence Bureau, their codes were completely transparent to the Britannia Royal Navy throughout the entirety of World War I. That was how we managed to blockade them completely for four years and ultimately win the war."

That memoir was written in 1923, and after becoming a massive bestseller in 1924, it delivered a resounding slap to the face of the Demanian intelligence agencies. Having suffered such a profound humiliation, by 1926 they no longer dared complain about the Enigma Machine's price tag; they had to buy them, even at a wholesale cost of 40,000 marks apiece.

But in this life, right from the start—before Scherbius had even decided to launch his own startup—Lelouch had recruited him with a lavish salary. He wouldn't mistreat Scherbius financially in the future, either, allowing him to treat the Enigma project strictly as a classified military development.

This way, Scherbius wouldn't need to file a patent—nor would he ever be allowed to. The machine would solely serve as a classified technology with absolutely no intention of commercial sales.

The principles behind the Enigma Machine could remain a secret for a few extra years. Of course, once the machine was put into use, the enemy would instantly realize that "the Demanians are definitely using new encryption technology, because all intercepted telegrams have turned into seemingly meaningless, randomized gibberish."

However, figuring out exactly what this new technology was and how it functioned would take the enemy at least a year or two, if not longer. That being the case, keeping the codes secure until the end of the current war was entirely achievable.

As for the future—if war broke out again years after the armistice—the existence and fundamental principles of the machine would likely no longer be a secret. But even then, cracking the codes would remain excruciatingly difficult. At worst, Lelouch would just be a bit humble and upgrade the ciphers when the time came.

...

Right now, Lelouch introduced Dr. Scherbius, assigned some general tasks, and gave a broad explanation of his design principles, picking only the parts he could safely disclose.

Director Tapken, along with the other two operations heads, Lieutenant Colonels Prieger and Albert, were instantly awestruck.

'I never imagined General Lelouch had such a profound understanding of intelligence encryption...' they realized. 'Compared to his concepts, our previous cryptographic methods are absolute garbage...'

At this moment, the advantages of the Demanians' relatively straightforward nature shone through. Compared to the Britannians, they were far more willing to submit to true strength. As long as you possessed genuine skill and could thoroughly convince them, they would obey.

And Lelouch clearly possessed genuine skill. The superiority of an encryption technology was highly objective—it couldn't be faked.

Nothing related to mathematics could be faked. Brilliance was brilliance, garbage was garbage; the disparity was obvious at a glance.

"The Naval Intelligence Bureau has long needed a general with your brilliant foresight to lead it," Director Tapken said sincerely. "Once the results of this project are presented to His Majesty and Admiral Tirpitz, they will undoubtedly appoint you as the official Director immediately. We are all completely convinced."

Lelouch, however, simply patted his shoulder. "Just do your job well. As long as you correct your mistakes, you're still a good comrade. I have my sights set higher than this Director position anyway. You will continue to handle the relevant work here.

"Currently, the Empire's intelligence agencies are far too decentralized. The General Staff has its Third Bureau, but it solely manages Army intelligence. The Navy has its own department. If you ask me, military intelligence shouldn't be divided. Where is the logic in the Army and Navy each managing their own separate turfs!

"His Majesty has now placed me concurrently in charge of the Joint Army-Navy Operations Coordination Office. In the future, I will definitely restructure things to ensure the Army and Navy intelligence agencies operate under a unified command, sharing both intel and counter-espionage assets."

Lelouch had no desire to see the future intelligence apparatus devolve into the same garbage as the Japanese in the Earth dimension. The Japanese forces had suffered tremendously precisely because their Army and Navy were too sharply divided, leading them to sabotage each other at every turn.

As for the Demanians in the Earth dimension, since their Navy had still been very strong during WWI, their Army and Navy had also largely operated independently. It wasn't until the Navy collapsed and lost its status later on that intelligence authority was relatively consolidated.

In this dimension, the Navy certainly wasn't going to be destroyed. But Lelouch still had to address and resolve the intelligence fragmentation caused by having both a strong Army and Navy.

Hearing this, Colonel Tapken realized that Major General Lelouch harbored grand ambitions. The man had zero interest in the minor stall that was Naval Intelligence; he aimed to be the grand integrator of the entire apparatus. His future prospects were boundless.

"I understand. We guarantee our complete cooperation with your work, General Lelouch," Tapken replied.

Tapken didn't dare make any bold boasts; he merely pledged to do whatever Lelouch ordered. They were all utterly and thoroughly won over.

Having reeled in his new subordinates, Lelouch finally posed the second crucial question of his first day in office.

"We have three months to take our time overhauling the codes. But for the next three months, there is another task far more critical than code reform.

"That is to exploit the fact that the enemy still doesn't know we know they've cracked our ciphers. We will use this information gap to pull off one final, devastating deception against them.

"I already have a rough outline of the plan. But before I report to His Majesty, I need all of you—especially Lieutenant Colonel Prieger, who handles overseas intelligence—to confirm whether or not you can meet a certain requirement of mine."

Called by name, Lieutenant Colonel Prieger, head of the Overseas Intelligence department, immediately snapped to attention and saluted, asking the Deputy Director for his orders.

Only then did Lelouch reveal his true intent. "Do you have an adequate spy network in London? If I demand that you monitor the movements of the Lusha Ambassador to the Brit Nation, Count Alexander Konstantinovich Benckendorff, can you do it?

"Effective immediately, drop all other tasks! Pour the full strength of the Bureau into securing this, at any cost! If Ambassador Alexander Konstantinovich Benckendorff leaves London, or if he boards a Britannia Royal Navy cruiser destined for Saint Petersburg via the Arctic route to report on his duties, I want to know immediately—the very first second it happens!"

This was the biggest gamble Lelouch had made since his transmigration. It directly concerned the ultimate outcome of the war.

Colonel Tapken and Lieutenant Colonel Prieger were both shaken by Major General Lelouch's sudden severity, but after a tense consultation, the two answered with absolute certainty.

"We still have a network in London. If we push to spy at all costs, we can absolutely achieve this! However, investigating too aggressively might expose several of our deeply planted agents..."

Lelouch raised a hand, cutting them off firmly. "That is an acceptable price to pay! As long as you confirm it can be done, I will go report to His Majesty!"

"Absolutely! We guarantee it can be done! We will draft a concrete operational plan immediately and submit it for your review tomorrow."

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