In order to prevent the solemn and sacred Imperial Congress from becoming an occasion for politicians and nobles to quarrel with each other, the royal advisers set the main theme of the entire conference a few days before the meeting began.
Why did the powerful empire lose to the newly established Human Federation, which was only a few decades old? And what should the empire do in the coming days to avoid being exploited by neighboring countries that are ready to take advantage of it.
To this end, Sazha XXII specially brought a royal military advisory group to observe the entire war between the Empire and the People's Alliance. It seemed that he planned to let them first serve as a guide for most of the participants in the venue who did not know much about the direction of the war. Answer questions and then discuss solutions.
Faced with the signal proactively released by the emperor, many nobles from Central immediately became excited and began to question.
After all, when the war was still halfway through, a considerable number of Middle Ring planets sent massive resources to the Outer Ring army that was already unable to maintain itself.
And because the emperor himself had promised to uniformly distribute the fruits of victory after the empire's victory, the nobles were very generous with their actions. Many gamblers who were blinded by greed even mortgaged their family property in exchange for support. Resources and money for war.
Now that the empire is defeated, the owners of these resources are naturally unable to recover their costs. And under the surveillance of the secret police, it is impossible for them to exploit the outer-ring colonies that are already in a mess.
"Did Viscount Siligosa lose a battle in which the Empire actually had the upper hand, as the outside world said?"
Seeing that everyone in the venue had been discussing for a long time without a unified voice, an Imperial Marquis from Central cleared his throat and asked a very pointed question to the advisory group through a loudspeaker.
"The empire's national power far exceeds that of the Human Federation, and it has always been a military power unanimously recognized by the Star Sea Community! But in this war, to be precise, in the ground war on Krohoka, I have to say that the performance of the Imperial Army is real It really surprised us!”
Before the military advisers could formulate a response, another middle-aged member of the Central Council who had served as an army general also raised his own questions.
"The Central Star Territory tried its best to support the Outer Rim, but until the end of the war, we did not see any commendable achievements by the Outer Rim troops in fighting against the People's Alliance. Will we still rely on this when the next war comes? Do you want to give terminally ill patients blood transfusions to extend their lives in exchange for a miserable peace!?"
"Excuse me, advisors, before the Battle of Cross Nebula broke out, did the Imperial Navy get any information about the new weapons of the People's Alliance? Is the fleet commander's passive response reasonable when it was suddenly attacked by the enemy? Where is Viscount Siligosa!? If he has any sense of shame, he will commit suicide to apologize for the hundreds of thousands of Imperial Navy officers and soldiers who died in battle!"
"If there is another conflict between the Empire and the People's Alliance in the future, and the weak points of the outer ring have been exposed to the enemy fleet, what do you think?"
"The People's Federation expressed its willingness to exchange the sovereignty of Krohoka at a higher price before the war began. The Empire could have exchanged an insignificant border planet for a powerful ally. Unfortunately, our diplomats seem to be uninterested in any The empire is not interested in any favorable deals!"
"Since the beginning of the war, the Imperial Navy has been advocating the use of small fleets to harass the People's Federation's logistics transportation lines. However, judging from the post-war statistics, the enemy's logistics support has hardly been affected. On the contrary, the Empire's attack on Crow Hoka's army is often short of food and ammunition. I would like to ask the commanders who harassed the fleet, did they really get admitted to the Imperial Naval Academy on their own?"
"I wonder what countermeasures your advisers would have in the future when neighboring countries take advantage of the situation to encroach on our territory and threaten the foundation of the outer ring?"
"What about the future of the empire!
! "
As time went by, the noisy discussions, questions and curses in the venue gradually merged into one, and thousands of words finally turned into a simple question.
What to do about the future of the empire?
"Please keep quiet! Don't be rude in front of the emperor!"
When the "hot" atmosphere in the venue was brought back to a freezing point by a sharp shout from the chamberlain, Sazha 22nd spoke at the right time to comfort him: "My dear friends, please be quiet for a moment. Before the advisory group answers your questions, why not Let Sir Hilizaga say a few words first."
"Tino Hilizaga? Isn't this guy the Minister of Police? Regarding military matters, I'm afraid he won't be able to get to the essence of the problem even if he says hundreds of words."
After hearing the name, Speaker Zuo Erchi, who had been sitting in his seat and had not spoken since the beginning of the meeting, shook his head, put his head next to Jia Tu's ear and whispered: "Hiliza The Jia family is one of the twelve princely families that founded the country. As the son of the current head of the family, this man must have some abilities, but his ability to obtain such an important position as the Minister of Police must be related to his father."
Realizing that the speaker's tone seemed a bit sour, Jia Tu glanced at Zuo Erchi who was sitting upright in surprise. While he was responding on the surface, he was secretly amused.
One is a royal queen with noble blood, a celebrity around the emperor, and a police minister who can easily decide the fate of tens of millions of people. The other is the speaker jointly elected by the Central Colony Assembly, a descendant of a certain Central family.
If the two of them were to debate face to face, I am afraid that as long as the former opened his mouth, the latter would be so frightened that he would kneel down and beg for mercy. Fortunately, the venue where the conference was held was wide enough, otherwise if Hilizaga heard these strange words, the petty police minister would probably start another bloody storm.
“Dear Members, what I am going to say may shock most of you, but please pay attention, because it is not only related to the safety and survival of the empire, but also related to the vital interests, wealth and life of each of you. ,so......"
The Minister of Police scanned the venue with his sharp eyes, and then said calmly: "Please keep it confidential and don't be taken advantage of by those villains living in the dark."
"First of all, let me answer the question about the Cross Nebula Battle that everyone is most concerned about."
"During the campaign, my Amanda Hunters never stopped investigating the destroyed space station and Nebula Refinery. Of course, counting losses is the job of other departments, and the Hunters' main targets are those who survived the Human League attack The lucky one."
After sending a list of hundreds of names to each participant, Hilizaga said solemnly: "After examining and interrogating approximately half a million survivors, The hunters gave me this list. You guessed it right, everyone on the list is a collaborator who served for the Awami League during the war!"
After hearing this, Speaker Zuo Erchi looked at the number of people on the list. No matter how much he tried to pretend to be calm, his plump body could not sit still at this time.
You must know that there are five to six thousand people on this list that seems to be bleeding. Counting some suspects who are still under trial, the number may be even more than this. In other words, in the most important mineral and rare resource production base in the outer ring of the empire, the ratio of imperial citizens to collaborators and spies is astonishingly high: a thousand to one or even higher!
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Although he does not believe that the people on the list are all traitors, and some of them must be innocent people who were beaten into submission by the secret police, but since Hilizaga dares to make the list public, it means that the outer ring may have really been betrayed by the People's Federation intelligence agency. Penetrated into a sieve.
Seeing Zuo Erchi's face full of disbelief, Jia Tu, who was expressionless at the side, almost laughed out loud.
After all, on the Tianxi Star battlefield at that time, it could be said that his departure from the Golden Claw Legion without saying goodbye indirectly caused the new commander, the Count of the Cerdi Empire, to completely lose confidence in the entire battle. What's more, the reason why the People's Federation can advance so smoothly on the ground battlefield is also inseparable from the large amount of intelligence provided by itself.
I'm afraid Speaker Zorcchi never dreamed that General Sigris, who was sitting next to him and deeply trusted by the colonial assembly, was the biggest variable in the entire battle.
But in Jia Tu's view, he didn't owe the empire anything.
Rather than saying that he is a traitor, it is better to say that the corrupt officers and nobles who plundered the people's wealth and led to the deterioration of the military power in the outer ring are the war criminals most responsible for the defeat.
While Jatu was rejoicing about his contribution to the group, there were also some doubts about the authenticity of the list in the venue.
Not to mention the negative impact that Hilizaga had on the already precarious political situation of the empire by ordering his notorious Amanda Hunter to arrest people everywhere. Many people in the venue clearly remembered that the scope of activities of the Amanda Hunter organization when it was first established should not include the outer star field, but only the inner ring planets and a small number of middle ring colonies.
Regarding these doubts and accusations of evil intentions, a sinister smile flashed across the corner of the Police Minister's lips.
Sure enough, when the doubts in the venue reached their peak, Sazhar 22, who had always been on the throne and seldom spoke, said in a deep voice: "I allowed Hunter Amanda to find those pests for the empire. If you are right, If you have any dissatisfaction with this, I welcome you to come to the drawing room of the palace to discuss it in detail at any time."
After suppressing all the objections in the room, Hilizaga unhurriedly presented his evidence.
"First, shortly before the Battle of the Cross Nebula began, the early warning space station deployed by the Empire in the star belt on the border between the two countries failed to transmit data back to the headquarters. Such a huge and unforgivable mistake can no longer be described as dereliction of duty, except Apart from the fact that there are spies inside the space station to disrupt data transmission, I can’t think of any other reason.”
"Second, Nebula Refining Station No. 13 was the first space station to be attacked. It is worth noting that it is also the empire's largest refining station in the nebula. Due to the special environment inside the nebula, the detectors and radars of both the enemy and our armies were blocked. We are in the dark, so why can the People's Federation be able to hit it with one strike, but our army has to rely on luck to find the enemy's supply space station?"
Seeing that everyone in the venue had been shaken by his evidence, Hilizaga shook his head and said that he had personally discussed it with Viscount Siligosa, the former commander of the Royal Fleet who was in prison.
The answer given by the other party was that if the People's Alliance Fleet attacked the Empire's many space stations in the Cross Nebula without intelligence support, it would be absolutely impossible. At least since the Imperial Navy was formed hundreds of years ago, Never had such great luck.
In other words, the Imperial Navy does not have the ability to maintain most of its combat power after losing intelligence support. And what the Imperial Navy cannot do, why can the People's Federation do it?
However, there are obviously certain logical loopholes in this statement - who stipulates that the navy of the Human Federation that has been in force for 20 years cannot defeat the Imperial Navy that has been in force for hundreds of years?
But what made all the participants extremely depressed was that even if they caught the loopholes in Hilizaga's evidence, they would only be boosting others' ambitions and destroying their own prestige.
The People's Alliance's navy, which has been established for 20 or 30 years, can defeat the Empire. So let's not discuss the issue of the next war at the meeting, because then the Empire will only be defeated again by the more powerful People's Alliance army.
"To sum up, both Amanda Hunter and I have come to the conclusion that before launching all the campaigns, including the Krohoka ground campaign, the Awami League conducted careful planning and targeted operations based on the intelligence provided by the traitors. Training, otherwise the iron-blooded army of our empire will never be able to let the little humans fight so embarrassingly."
Upon hearing this, the imperial military representatives sitting in their respective seats looked at each other and nodded their heads quietly, indicating that they recognized Hilizaga's statement.
Although they also believed that the Minister of Police's words were mostly speculative and there was too little evidence that could be put on the table, the other party's statement was helpful in reducing the military's responsibility for the defeat.
And they don’t dare to guarantee that the empire is monolithic. If the secret police can use the help of the secret police to wipe out all the corrupt elements and speculators in the army, the military will have to thank Amanda Hunter. The army has been scolded by the civilians. Still willing to lend a helping hand when I'm having a shower.
"Please be patient, I have another question for you."
The Minister of Police raised his hand to signal everyone in the venue to remain silent and asked: "What should we do with the traitors who have not yet appeared on the list?"
"Of course, shoot!" "Hang all the bastards who collaborate with the enemy and betray the country!"
The attendees suddenly roared, thinking that Hilizaga was going to include a certain big shot on the list. Unexpectedly, the other party changed the subject and said in a smooth tone: "Then if they only treason in their thoughts and did not take action, how should they be punished?"
"What difference does it make?" "Of course it's still hanging!"
Some of the higher-ups were still shouting, but these brainless guys were quickly taken out by the palace guards summoned by Hilizaga's eyes.
"From the perspective of the Magna Carta of the Empire, judging whether a citizen is treasonous should be based on his specific actions rather than subjective thoughts. Punishing citizens on the pretext of ideological misconduct is essentially helping the treasonous organization to strengthen its momentum, so the hunters under my command never Catch the so-called 'thought criminals', but..."
Hilizaga paused, narrowed his eyes and gave his own solution.
"From past cases, I have come to a conclusion. Only treason in thought can lead to treason in action. Thoughts always come before actions. However, in times of war, we cannot give those who are wavering a chance. They must be Nip any threat in the bud and be prepared for a rainy day."
Without waiting for everyone in the venue to ask how to realize this beautiful vision, the Minister of Police said quickly: "Therefore, Amanda Hunter's scope of authority still needs to be further expanded, from the previous civilian review to the aristocratic review. At the same time, every Every planet, including the inner planets, should have an official hunter office.”
"Those warriors who have the courage to report and expose should be commended, and the surge in the number of hunters on duty can ensure that even traitors with powerful hands and eyes will not be able to escape the justice they deserve."
This time, no one in the venue was in a hurry to speak.
First of all, speaking at this time will definitely be a mistake. No one wants to risk being branded as treason and question whether the Minister of Police is taking advantage of the situation to expand his power.
Secondly, they didn't know whether this was what His Majesty the Emperor meant. Even if it is, those powerful kings and noble families must question and oppose it. In the contest for the pinnacle of power, it is not their turn for councilors and local nobles to speak out.
However, whether they are members of parliament or nobles, they were once exempted from investigation because of their superior status. Very few people were willing to sacrifice their freedom in exchange for the security of the country.
The key is who will be the first to stand up and object.
