The republic began secretly preparing for the war, and so did Jack; they started producing cannons, arrows, body armor, etc.
However, keeping such massive-scale preparations secret for long was impossible; the Ministry of Truth of Kampaku was not good, but that is only compared to its huge size; it wasn't much worse than ninja spy agencies. It had stumbled before, like when it couldn't detect anything when the republic attacked the last time. But, that was because of unpreparedness; now, they have thousands of spies in Jack and the republic's land; it's basically impossible to prevent the spies from delivering the news, as Jack and the republic did last time.
...
"Is this confirmed?" Kampaku asked solemnly, not screaming and tearing or burning the letters. The news was so serious that he didn't even get angry; he was more scared than angry.
"Yes, your honor! The republic has started preparing for a massive military operation!" said the deputy minister of truth. The minister of truth ran away a week ago.
"Go away!" Kampaku said, waving his hand.
The deputy minister secretly sighed with relief and respectfully yet quickly left the room.
...
After a while, Kampaku calmed down, steeled his heart, and called his minister of defense, acting minister of truth, and other ministers.
...
"Minister of Defense, call into service Half of our reserves; I want them armed and ready for the fight before the republic's invading forces arrive."
"Minister of Truth, start spreading the news that Republic plans on completely eliminating us; make up stories about Republic's previous horrifying actions when they conquered our cities; make them as evil as possible."
"Minister of Economy, start preparation for a war economy; increase interest rates, start printing money, the usual stuff."
In the empire, all the banks are controlled by the government, so increasing the interest rates has the added benefit of providing the government with huge quantities of cash; along with printing money, at least in the short term, Kampaku will have infinite money.
Of course, paying all that interest would be devastating in the long term, but for a war economy, the short term is all that matters.
"Minister of Treasury, look through every government account; I want all the money from all departments and ministries to be recorded in detail."
"Minister of Audits, check every expenditure; make sure there is no wastage in any government spending; if you detect any wastage, you, with consultation with the minister of treasury and economy, and approval of the prime minister, have authority to cut it without asking me."
"Minister of Justice, arrest any official who receives bribes and steals the government's money; use prisoners as cannon fodders; promise them that if they survive, not only will they be pardoned, they also be rewarded generously."
"Minister of Public Service, start getting ready for large-scale conscription; find out the place of habitation of all males between the ages of 14 to 54; we may need to conscript them and send them into war."
"Minister of Interior, the same applies to you; require addresses for granting any permit for private jobs."
"Minister of Environment, suspend any environmental regulation that may get in the way…" Kampaku kept giving wide and broad orders, leaving the implementation to his ministers.
Finally, after half an hour, he looked at the prime minister and said, "Supervise how everyone does; report to me if there is an issue worth my attention." he said.
The prime minister is not the leader in the empire; it's Kampaku who gave orders; the prime minister is at best a supervisor.
After finishing this and giving all necessary instructions, Kampaku said, "I am appointing Hinode as the general commander; the minister of defense is responsible for implementation of this order; the General Commander of the army is responsible for war strategy, appointing generals, and military supplies, and other tasks that directly relate to the war; in case of any conflict with other ministers's duties and responsibilities, the General Commander's authority overrides their authority."
The Minister of Defense was bitter in his heart; Kampaku had just now taken away the majority of his powers; now, he was, at best, a supporting role to the General Commander.
Hinode was one of Kampaku's trusted bodyguards; he was amazing when it came to fighting but also amazing when it came to strategy; he was, after all, both peak human and peak skill.
"Do your tasks cautiously; now, you can all go!" ordered Kampaku.
Everyone bowed and left.
...
After 3 months, the war preparation of both sides was mostly done.
The republic gathered an army of 2,500,000, while Jack gathered an army of 5,000,000.
It was difficult for the empire to gather many soldiers, as their army was made of volunteers, and not all volunteers were qualified. To make up that number, the republic was forced to lower its standards; it allowed even those who were physically sick to enter the military.
As for why over 2.5 million men volunteered to join, the reason was simply for benefits. These people were not as well-informed as Jack or Kashu; they thought that, like last time, the war would end with a simple peace treaty. It must be noted that the empire's soldiers last time were rewarded with 20 gold coins each and received a myriad of benefits; after the last war ended with victory, the soldiers were hailed as heroes wherever they went; they married beautiful women, and all their costs of marriage were paid by the government.
Any country that anticipates a war would treat its soldiers and veterans well; if they don't, the next time they need fighters, nobody would want to join.
Many regretted that they didn't join when they had the opportunity last time, so millions volunteered when the registration opened this time.
Still, even with that, the republic was forced to lower its standards, which suggested that even though many were misinformed and thought this war would end with a peace treaty, many others were smart individuals who knew that they would probably die if they joined; no amount of money or beautiful women can replace one's life, so they simply didn't volunteer.
Jack, on the other hand, had as many volunteers as he had men; the rural people, especially, were throwing their lives away for him; he had tens of millions of volunteers, so he only chose the best and most suitable; he also armed them well, as the republic had more arms than people, so it sent its spare arms and weapons to Jack.
Kampaku's army was also made up of volunteers; he had gathered an army of 2 million volunteers. These 2 million were the most loyal to him and the country, who joined without much monetary benefits; they volunteered only because they wanted to defend their country against 'traitor' Jack and the republic.
However, Kampaku was not optimistic about the fate of these 2 million people; he would never surrender, so if things went as he expected, all of them would die, and he would be forced to call the rest of the reserves.
Having an army entirely made of conscripts is no good; it is best to mix the conscript and volunteer army together and give the commander positions to the volunteer soldiers. Otherwise, with the low morale of the conscripted army, they might surrender before fighting. But, with volunteers as commanders, the chances of surrender would be lowered.
So, Kampaku Ordered his minister and started conscripting adult-looking men off the streets. In addition to his 2 million volunteer army, he gathered 3 million conscripted soldiers.
He could have gathered much more but didn't, as keeping that many in barracks would have terrifying costs; he has everyone's address and can start kicking their doors when needed.
The territory under Kampaku had a population of 150,000,000, so these 5 million were a huge percentage of the male population; with this many people being in the military and not working in productive jobs, there would be huge problems if it lasted for long.
Kampaku was forced to use many schools, hospitals, and government buildings, and he even confiscated people's houses just to accommodate these many soldiers; as for weapons and armor, he prioritized his volunteer army and armed them with good weapons.
One may think that He would treat the conscripted army, who were forced to join the army, better than volunteers, who willingly signed up for all the hardship, but whoever thinks that is crazy or naive.
He gave the worst treatment to conscripted soldiers, treating them as borderline criminals and prisoners. He gave them the worst food, the worst place to sleep, bad clothes, only once a week of bath, no contact with their families, etc.; basically, he made a living hell for conscripted soldiers and spread the news, making sure every young man knew that conscripts are treated horribly.
His actions were for a reason; he wanted to set an example, so the next time he asked, everyone just volunteered themselves; the next time, everyone knew that if they didn't volunteer and were conscripted, their treatment would be much worse. This also created a divide between volunteer soldiers and conscripted ones, which could be problematic, but for Kampaku's current purposes, it is not bad to use the divide-and-conquer technique.
He even ordered the minister of truth to spread the news that conscripted soldiers would be used as cannon fodders; the next time he asks for volunteers, he expects many more volunteers.
...
Kampaku's territory was in the southeast of the empire; it had only two land neighbors, the kingdom and Jack's territory.
Empire's economic centers, ports, and big cities were all on land controlled by Kampaku; Jack's land was mostly rural agricultural villages.
In this war, Republic and Jack were the invaders; Kampaku just remained where he was and continued strengthening his castles' defenses.
Jack and Kampaku combined their armies for the sake of unity, giving the position of commander to three commanders; all big decisions must be approved by all 3.
The first was Mike; he got the position of supreme commander; still, his position was ceremonial, as he needed the consent of the other 2 to do anything.
The second was Commander Seiko, who was from the Republic; he had great talent in war strategy.
The third person was Shinia Ninja; she was good at a wide range of topics, such as spying, war strategy, geography, math, etc.; she wasn't an expert at one topic but good at many different topics, a well-rounded person very helpful in many different situations.
Ninjas joined the war against Kampaku and committed thousands of personnel to it; they had the ability to help massively, so the Republic and Jack agreed to give them a veto on big decisions.
Criminal gangs also helped in the war but weren't strong enough to get a veto. They are a confederation of all kinds of gangs: drug gangs, smuggling gangs, human trafficking, theft gangs, etc.
Though most gangs were generally scary, the worst type were drug gangs; their leaders were usually addicted, and were in general crazy and less rational than other gangs. But when it came to manpower and gunmen, the drug and smuggling gangs were strongest; still, even the strongest gangs were no match for ninjas. It can be said that if all gangs were united, they would have been stronger than ninjas and may have gotten veto power, but unfortunately for them, the gangs' factions were too divided and, therefore, weaker than the ninjas.
The gang federation used to include all gangs throughout the Empire, both Jack's and Kampaku's territory, but nowadays, the gang federation of Kampaku's land is nearly entirely separate from the one in Jack's territory; although they haven't yet officially separated, they are de facto separate.
The gang federation in Kampaku's territory is actually working closely with Kampaku, locating all conscription candidates in exchange for making gang members exempt. This matter is a secret that few know about. If it gets out, many young men may join gangs to get exempted.
Kampaku has given gangs other orders, too; he completely prohibited gangs from selling drugs to people of his territory and would reward them if they sell to people in Jack's territory.
Technically, drug dealing was illegal in the empire for many years, but these laws were never enforced on gangs that kept within certain lines and paid their tax. Kampaku didn't take any cut, but gangs also had to pay taxes; Kampaku didn't count taxes as a cut for himself, as taxes were used for the government.
The legal status of drug dealing didn't change, but enforcement changed; basically, Kampaku's subordinate crushed and ruthlessly killed anyone daring to disobey him. It's impossible to destroy drug dealing completely; as long as there is demand, some people will be tempted and start supplying drugs. But, it's possible to destroy specific gangs and make examples.
With every preparation completed, Jack and Republic finally invaded the first big city of Kampaku, which was called Golden Flower City.