Compared to the unity of the Human Federation, in the Sal-Qion star system thousands of light-years away from the Deneb galaxy, on the glorious and great Qian Empire capital planet Qiannia, the young emperor and his advisors , the ministers are having a heated debate about the Krohoka star.
"It is impossible for the empire to give up on Krohokar regardless of emotion or reason! This is my will! If you dare to accuse me any more, the guillotine outside the palace is your best destination!"
I saw the furious Sazhar 22 suddenly stood up from the gem-encrusted throne. The overflowing wine in the golden cup in his hand rippled due to the emperor's roar. The spilled wine covered the gorgeous and exquisite silk fabrics at his feet. The quality carpet is dyed with bits of blood, echoing the thousands of stars hand-embroidered on it.
After raising a glass and taking a sip of the precious blood wine sent as tribute from a certain planet in the inner ring, the emperor's restless heart calmed down a little, and he sat back on the throne covered with soft animal skins again. He snorted coldly and was frightened all over. The trembling old minister returned to his original position, waiting for the next adviser or minister to speak.
"Your Majesty, in my opinion, the Empire should not give up the sovereignty of Krohoka, otherwise the Human Federation will be allowed to obtain the Bessarian stone resources on it. Under the circumstances, the situation in the outer ring of the Empire may be More critical."
"What Sir Zell said is very agreeable to me, but what I want is not these empty words, but a good strategy that can help the empire take down Krohokar!"
Seeing Zell, the royal advisor next to him, stand up and express his position, the emperor's heart did not waver, because he had seen such scenes too many times.
Compared with his father, the deceased Sazha XXI, he has never done anything beneficial to the empire since he took the throne a few years ago. This is completely different from the beautiful fantasy he had when he was still the crown prince. .
In addition to the fact that the slave taxes paid by the Slave Traders' Guild are still increasing year by year, the profits gained by the inner ring of the empire from the middle ring and the outer ring are declining year by year, especially in the outer ring star field, except for a few resource planets directly controlled by the royal family. The status of the remaining colonies was almost the same as leaving the empire.
According to the information provided by the secret police, many colonial planets in Central also established their own armed forces under various names because they were dissatisfied with the empire's policy of skewing resources. This made him annoyed at the time, but he was helpless.
Absorbing nutrients from the middle and outer star fields and feeding back the inner planets is the development method set when the empire was founded. The inner ring fleet of the royal family and die-hard royal family must be the most powerful and important, and the same is true for the army.
But this development model also brings a problem - the loyalty of the inner planets does not seem to be as strong as it was when the empire was established.
Rather than saying that they are the supreme royal family and the common masters of all benefactors and slaves, the Sazhar family is now more like a totem that comforts people's hearts.
When the Slave Traders' Guild and the Inner Circle Council asked the royal family for a "just ruling", they had to favor each other. And when they didn't need the royal family, the only thing they could do was collect more taxes to expand the royal family. It's just the troops directly under the army.
The seemingly mutual exploitation situation made the young emperor very dissatisfied, because the royal family should be higher than the Slave Traders' Guild and the Inner Circle Council, and not just an excuse for the other parties to exploit the people at the bottom.
Therefore, the Krohoka discovered in the disputed star belt and the huge reserves of Besserian stone on it are an opportunity for the royal family, an opportunity to get rid of the influence of the two major forces.
For this reason, the emperor has made a lot of preparations to ensure that after Krohokar falls into the hands of the empire, the royal family can immediately garrison troops and fully control the production of Bessarian stone on the entire planet. Cultivate armies and naval fleets to circumvent the interference of the Inner Circle Council.
As for the Slave Traders Guild? For those businessmen who have got their eyes on money, as long as they can make money, there is nothing they cannot sell.
The only problem is that the Inner Ring Council will definitely be aware of its own purpose and will be unwilling to send a fleet to fight. The royal fleet must stay near Chiennia to protect the safety of the royal family. Therefore, all the emperor can count on now is that the Central Ring Council can send troops. Go and pull the outer ring, so that the majesty accumulated by the empire for hundreds of years will not be completely lost due to defeat.
Therefore, he now only accepts advice about the war, and any person or force who wants to persuade him to give up Krohoka will be regarded by him as being against the royal family, and he will naturally liquidate them one by one after the war.
"Do you, dear friends, know anything about the recent events on Krohoka?"
Seeing that the ministers were stunned and speechless by his request, the emperor pretended to be impatient and said: "Is it possible that as ministers of the empire, as soon as the topic leaves the inner circle, you have no suggestions to make!?"
Seeing that the emperor seemed to be angry again, the police minister in charge of the imperial secret police agency "Amanda Hunter" stood up. He bowed to the emperor first and then turned around and said: "I have heard about this a little bit. If you don't know, I can do it for you." Your Majesty tells you."
"Less than a Galactic Standard Day ago, our colonial stronghold on Krohokar was shamelessly attacked by the Human Federation. Army Centurion Sidlo Siza of the colonial garrison died heroically. The entire camp was All civilians and slaves were killed, and only one of the defenders, Captain Zelax-Zoz, survived."
"There is such a thing!" "Damn humans, we must give them some color!" "Outer Rim Fleet! Where is the commander of the Outer Rim Fleet!?"
The words of the Minister of Police immediately excited the crowd in the palace hall, but a few people did not make any remarks, but looked like they were thinking, as if they were deliberating the stakes.
"But what's embarrassing is that according to this person, the Empire seems to be the one who made the first move."
Scanning the people in the hall with scrutinizing eyes, the Minister of Police stuck out his tongue and made a disturbing hissing sound - to his satisfaction, no one in the hall dared to look at him. Because in this country where the secret police is rampant, to put it bluntly, his power of life and death over officials is second only to His Majesty the Emperor himself.
"The cause of this incident was that a human Federation transport ship crashed into the defense area of Army Centurion Sidlo Siza, so he led a team to check and found that it was an empty ship with no supplies loaded. After returning to the colonial stronghold, for such an empty ship, he did not hesitate to fight with the People's Alliance envoys who came to ask for the wreckage of the spaceship. In the end, he was defeated and died, and the entire stronghold was also angry. Humanity destroys.”
Seeing that the ministers began to whisper, the police minister turned around and saluted the emperor again. The young emperor asked him a question - regardless of what other ministers thought, as the police minister, what do you think of this matter?
"I believe that there is something fishy in the words of Captain Zozu, and he may have even defected to the Human Federation camp for some reason, so he distorted such obvious facts into such an appearance. It is really hateful. Therefore, out of sympathy To protect the reputation of the Imperial Army, I recommend that this person be executed immediately to avoid future troubles.”
"You fart!"
A Qien man wearing heavy white armor and green scales walked through the crowd with heavy steps and came to the police minister. When everyone took a closer look, it was none other than the Army and Navy Commander-in-Chief of the Empire's Outer Rim Legion, Ina. Reem-Zorbakis.
"The reputation of our Outer Rim Army does not need to be defended by you, a bad guy who can only advance and slander His Majesty!"
Zobagis, who had not yet had enough to talk to, was about to continue speaking, but was interrupted by a slight cough from the advisor beside the emperor. He only heard the other person whisper: "Your Excellency, Commander, please be careful of impoliteness in front of the emperor."
"Hmph! I'm just telling the truth. Captain Zuzu fought for the country until the last moment, and he must not die in the hands of his own people because of some unfounded charges."
Glancing at the police minister beside him, Zobagis's body suddenly flickered, and then his head suddenly disappeared, and the broken part of his neck was filled with blue light, which looked very strange.
However, the ministers in the hall were not surprised by this, because this was not his true self at all, but just a projection that appeared here across the sea of stars with the help of a ceiling projector.
"Ahem, damn, why is the signal so bad?"
After a few seconds, Zobagis's head returned to his neck. He stuck out his tongue awkwardly and then touched his head and said, "Your Majesty, I have some opinions on this matter, but I don't know whether to say it or not."
"I love you, but it doesn't matter."
Raising his hand to signal the somewhat annoyed police minister to return to his original position, the emperor looked happily at the tall figure of the Commander-in-Chief of the Outer Circle. Compared to the old guys from the Slave Traders Guild and the Inner Circle Council, he would rather his men were all such straightforward, careless tough guys, who were easier to control.
The other person's next words caused the scales on his forehead to shrink and pinch together - among the Qien people, this was an expression similar to a human's frown.
"The war with the Human Federation is inevitable. Instead of waiting for death and waiting for the other side to continue to send more troops to Krohokar, I propose to dispatch all outer ring fleets and armies now, and issue a mobilization order to all outer ring planets to prepare for the war with humanity. Preparation for a showdown on Krohoka."
"If possible, the Central Ring fleet and army must also be mobilized. Even if there is no fleet support, I hope that the Central Ring Colonial Council can send several million troops to Krohoka to assist the Outer Ring Army in defense."
If the last words he said were meant for the emperor, then the next words Zobagis said were meant for the many representatives of the Central Colonial Council present.
"Haha, your Excellency, Commander, may have imagined mobilization too simply. Not to mention that it would take several months just to assemble the fleet from various garrison planets. Without naval escort, would the army's transport fleet dare to leave the star port? "
Faced with the doubts of the representatives of the Central Council, under the premise that Sazhar 22 acted as the mediator of the Central and Outer Circles, a new round of debate once again occurred in the palace hall.
The intensity makes people question whether this is really an internal discussion between representatives of different regions of a country, rather than diplomats from various countries scolding each other in the Xinghai Community.
And the final result was not very good. With the help of the emperor who could not lose face to win people's hearts, Zobagis only achieved a more compromise result.
The ring will participate in this war, and in addition to providing supplies such as ammunition, food, medicine, etc., they will also provide limited army support. However, the naval fleet must remain stationary in order to maintain the safety of trade routes between planets, and cannot spare a single capital ship to support the outer ring.
"Damn you guys, sooner or later the empire will be destroyed in the hands of you guys!"
After taking a final glance at the smiling politicians in the hall, Zobagis shouted in his heart and angrily cut off his quantum communication with Chiennia, and disappeared from the palace citing military circumstances. In everyone's sight.
Not long after, the representatives of the Slave Traders' Guild and the Inner Circle Council, who felt that there was nothing to gain from continuing to speak, cut off communication one after another, turned into a bunch of light spots after the holographic projection disappeared, and left the scene, leaving behind Sazha Twenty. The Second Emperor stood alone on the throne, looking gloomily at the group of unopinionated ministers in the audience, feeling desolate in his heart.
Does the Qien Empire, which seems glorious and everlasting to outsiders, really have the ability to survive the next thousand years?
