Chapter 284: Finale
Mai Si’s words resounded like a deafening bell, shocking everyone.
At this moment, the atmosphere previously stirred up by Luo Er inevitably sank back into a trough with his words.
Mai Si was very satisfied with this.
Similarly, as a mature politician, he knew that since the problem had been fully exposed to everyone today, there must be a clear result between the Imperial Family and the Prime Minister Group; otherwise, this young Emperor Majesty would not be satisfied with the ‘war results’ they had achieved so far and would continue to make things difficult.
After thinking for a moment, Mai Si bowed again toward Hans Ming on the throne above and said:
“Your Majesty, every word from this old minister comes from the heart. But as Luo Er said, if Your Majesty still decides to declare war on human civilization, this old minister will lead the ministers and workers to follow Your Majesty to the death.”
He was very clever; even at this point, the attitude he gave was merely one of not objecting.
However, evidently, achieving this purpose was already very satisfying in Hans Ming’s view.
After much deliberation, Hans Ming waved his hand signaling the Prime Minister to rise, then took a deep breath and said:
“Human civilization’s many advantages are one aspect; on the other hand, it is to solve the employment issues and such for our civilization’s excessively high number of mineral workers.
20 billion mineral workers—even though 2 billion have currently been arranged to go to the solar system to rent to human civilization for use—compared to the total number, it is still a drop in the bucket.
If I remember correctly, the few resource planets we have in hand now have less than 10 years of mining time left.
And as this time approaches, if the placement issues for more and more mineral workers are not resolved, we will face an unprecedented humanitarian disaster.
For this reason, the Empire decides to coordinate the Ministry of War’s available military force to complete preparations for all warships’ maintenance, personnel equipment, firepower configuration, and such within three years. Does the Prime Minister have any issues?
Hans Ming knew this was a rare opportunity; even if this disloyal Prime Minister could outwardly comply but covertly resist his orders afterward, as long as he agreed, Hans Ming could use his identity to dispatch relevant coordination personnel to handle the related affairs together.
At the same time, he still had a backup plan not yet revealed, but that was not urgent; everything had to wait until the pre-war coordination work was completed.
Faced with the Empire Emperor’s aggressive questioning, Prime Minister Mai Si clearly did not want to drag this meeting out too long today; he nodded and said: “This old minister obeys the decree.”
Seeing this, Hans Ming breathed a sigh of relief in his heart; finally, this old dog had fulfilled his previous promise and would no longer repeatedly oppose.
Even if it was just superficial compliance, it was enough for him.
“The Ministry of Personnel, Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Rites, and Ministry of Justice each dispatch a work group to coordinate with the Prime Minister to complete the coordination work.
Order the Ministry of Revenue to calculate the surplus this year in advance, list the remaining star coins in the national treasury; from today onward, no department’s seals without my imperial brush endorsement may request any funds from the Ministry of Revenue.
Stop all large-scale projects under construction within the Empire, as well as all expenditures for any projects except necessary livelihood issues; all expenditures must have my endorsement.
Order the Empire Ministry of War, after completing the coordination preparations, to hold a military parade three years later including all Empire warships.
What does the Prime Minister think of the above?”
In the meeting room at this moment, it was as if only Emperor Hans Ming and Prime Minister Mai Si remained; one speaking, the other forced to state his position.
As Hans Ming’s words fell, the atmosphere in the meeting room dropped to freezing point once again.
Below, Mai Si’s pair of turbid eyes narrowed slightly; he did not immediately answer the Emperor’s question, as his brain, which had not operated at high efficiency for many years, started up again, analyzing the pros and cons.
Evidently, the Emperor was preparing in advance for centralizing power.
From the current content, although the Emperor’s orders appeared to be pre-war preparations on the surface, just the operation of joint surveillance by the four ministries revealed the other’s impatient psychology for centralizing power.
However, this was also understandable; these were all things that could be anticipated in advance.
After all, as he had said before, even if he held an opposing opinion, he would comply with the Emperor’s decree.
Thinking of this, Mai Si nodded helplessly; as long as this meeting ended quickly, the situation could not get any worse.
In his 300 years of governance, his control over the Empire’s interior was not limited to just the Ministry of War and Ministry of Revenue.
“In response to Your Majesty, this old minister obeys the decree.”
“Very good, my dear subject, please rise.”
Seeing this, Hans Ming’s always tense face finally revealed a smile at this moment; he made a gesture of virtual support with both hands, and after Mai Si rose, he turned his gaze again to Luo Er who had been quietly sitting there.
“Luo Er, the intelligence reconnaissance work on human civilization continues to be arranged by your department; the Empire Intelligence Department is now under your unified coordination. Any issues?”
As the Minister of Personnel whom Hans Ming had particularly cultivated, Luo Er not only had work experience in the Ministry of Personnel, but he also possessed considerable abilities in military affairs, intelligence collection, and such.
And this so-called Empire Intelligence Department had always been a secret service organization within the Imperial Family; although its operational capabilities had declined due to the Prime Minister’s side’s interference, after all, what they faced was just a second-level early-stage civilization that had only recently joined the Galactic Alliance.
Compared to the various mature technology equipment their Hans Civilization had purchased from the starfield market, a task of spying on human civilization should not be too difficult.
Hearing this, Luo Er stood up, stepped forward, and bowed: “In response to Your Majesty, your minister obeys the decree.”
Hans Ming nodded; after thinking in his mind, today’s meeting was already an unexpected great victory for him.
If he pushed further with more conditions, it would inevitably provoke the Prime Minister’s sensitive nerves again and cause an outburst.
Forget it; the numerous interest objectives had already been achieved.
“Then it is decided; each ministry’s ministers, upon returning, immediately start on the relevant arrangements. I want to see your actions within three days; otherwise, the Empire has plenty of talent to replace your positions.
Meeting adjourned.”
Hans Ming, with a serious expression, issued another warning, then rose and walked toward the passage behind, soon disappearing from everyone’s sight.
He knew his orders would certainly be outwardly complied with but covertly resisted by the Prime Minister’s side.
But it did not matter; these words were not said to the officials of that force, but as a warning to his own side’s high-ranking officials in each ministry.
In 300 years, he had not merely existed as a puppet emperor.
For changes within the Empire, although he was powerless, as Emperor, he had his own treasury and had long made corresponding arrangements.
Just as he said, the Empire—or rather, he—did have a very large number of nearly mature talents of various types cultivated, ready to be brought out at any time to replace these officials.
Seeing this, everyone exchanged glances; the enthusiastic atmosphere previously stirred up by Luo Er was no longer there.
All wore serious expressions, then dispersed one after another.
With this, this meeting regarding the Empire’s development direction for the next ten years and its strategic direction finally came to a close.
