Empire Saga
In the war at the end of the world, the last survivor, Feng Chengqian, found himself transported to the German Empire in 1888. There, he cured Emperor Frederick III of throat cancer, saving the German Empire from impending disaster. With the empire’s support, he went on to forge the Chinese Empire with his own hands.
Empire Saga
March 9, 1888. Potsdam Palace, southwest of Berlin.
For the German Empire, scarcely eighteen years old, this was the most momentous day since January 18, eighteen years prior, when its founding had been proclaimed at Versailles. On this day, the Empire lost its founding emperor, William I, and welcomed its second sovereign, Frederick III.
Though the whole nation was steeped in grief at the loss of its monarch, a country cannot be left without a ruler even for a day. Therefore, Frederick III’s coronation was arranged to take place in Sanssouci Palace, built by Frederick the Great himself. Hundreds of civil and military officials assembled to swear their allegiance as the new emperor ascended the throne.
The civil ministers were led by Chancellor Bismarck; the military men by Field Marshal Moltke.
Around the founding Emperor William I, there had once been four pillars of state: Chancellor Bismarck, Minister of War Roon, Chief of the General Staff Moltke, and Prince Friedrich Karl.
Nine years ago, Count Roon succumbed to illness; three years ago, Prince Karl passed away.
Now, only Bismarck and Moltke remained.
Moltke, already over ninety and in frail health, could no longer bear the weight of the Empire; that responsibility still fell to the seventy-three-year-old Bismarck, whose vigor showed no sign of waning.
Yet the passing of the old emperor and the accession of the new one meant Bismarck’s stage would likely shrink from what it once had been.
As the bells tolled, ministers and generals filed into the chapel. The cor
