Shoukoku no Altair - Vol. 26 Ch. 145 - The Garden of Labyrinth

[MangaDex]

 

[al_pacino]

a very competent enemy. why I love this manga.

 

[skylithos]

I find this ironic how Davud Pasha put all his effort towards destroying everything Zaganos built because their stratocracy is starting to be filled with civilians officers instead of military. He mentions that Halil Pasha already foresee this happening and that's why Halil keep avoiding the war but in reality Halil Pasha probably would have been okay with how things are going because Halil was implied to always administer his region through commerce and civics governance first and foremost. His biggest wish have always been stability and peace which is what Davud Pasha try to destroy by trying to kill Zaganos with empire remnants help.

 

[Grimmycoffee]

Hmm, I'm still not seeing a clear way on how this is gonna go. How exciting!'

Thank you for the chapter!

 

[zanonyn]

Thanks for the chapter as well. Looking through history, arguably one of the biggest final challenges in transitioning to modern forms of government has been dealing with almost a paradox of power. In order to defeat autocratic empires bent on conquest in a major war, it's necessary for a nation to become pretty militarized as well, and during this time a victorious military will build up clear achievements over regular politicians and likely become popular and powerful. The needs for victory may push towards at least some use of martial law, lots of people will become soldiers, etc. But even if the war is successful, now what? Almost by definition, the moment of victory is also the moment when the existing militarized system has had its greatest success, and things are in a lot of flux. Many people will have spent all of their professional lives for this moment and shed a lot of blood. It's all too easy at that point for certain elements to seize power for themselves. Managing the transition from that to civilian rule, demobilizing and rebuilding isn't easy, you really need some long term thinkers with the right character and there is no formula for that. It's a fitting final great act for this epic saga.

Definitely liking how it continues to have depth. All the various sides and swirling factions and alliances have their own motivations, and are thinking through not just their plans but predicting each other. The history and personal relationships continue to play a major role which is very realistic. Will be a treat to watch who comes out on top in the end, and what price they pay to do so.

 

[alacaelum]

So yeah... Zaganos is privy to the rebels' ruse, not exactly difficult, there are only so many strategies they can employ and someone like him would guess most of them.

But... does he know about Davud? He said "our reinforcements", does he mean Davud... or Mamuht?

I still think he knows that he caused strife inside the Pashalu, that doesn't take a genius to understand that his actions would have disagreements... but the question still is if he envisioned the possibilities and planned as such.

Even if I understand Davud's grievances, I still think he is making a stupid decision here, I am not Zaganos biggest fan... actually, even today I think he is an asshole... but it would be stupid to not see that this victory was possible because of him, and not only he won a war by the skin of their teeth, he showed a scandalous amount of restrictions all things considered, both his personal story and the empire's actions during the war.

 

[Grimmycoffee]

So yeah... Zaganos is privy to the rebels' ruse, not exactly difficult, there are only so many strategies they can employ and someone like him would guess most of them.

But... does he know about Davud? He said "our reinforcements", does he mean Davud... or Mamuht?

I still think he knows that he caused strife inside the Pashalu, that doesn't take a genius to understand that his actions would have disagreements... but the question still is if he envisioned the possibilities and planned as such.

Even if I understand Davud's grievances, I still think he is making a stupid decision here, I am not Zaganos biggest fan... actually, even today I think he is an asshole... but it would be stupid to not see that this victory was possible because of him, and not only he won a war by the skin of their teeth, he showed a scandalous amount of restrictions all things considered, both his personal story and the empire's actions during the war.

After re-reading, my guess is he's

Spoiler

trying to kill himself along with the rebels together, seeing himself as a poison that either lost purpose now that Balt-rhein is gone or because he knows despite his hatred he still idealized Balt-rhein's system as ideal for their country's size (related to Prime Minister's talk with Mahmut in one of the missing chapters).