Chapter 297: Scheming And Plotting
Li Jian’s face was filled with confidence, and this confidence came from the scientific research team led by Fan Ren, who through their tireless efforts day and night, developed one technological product after another that reached or even surpassed the equivalent technology products of the Hans Civilization.
As the only unit that truly possesses large-scale actual combat experience to date, the Azure Phoenix Legion enjoyed nearly unlimited investment of all human resources without regard to cost.
Regarding the battle against the Hans Civilization, from the very beginning, there was no resistance emotion within the Azure Phoenix Legion; on the contrary, due to the long period of monotonous training, the eagerness to fight within the legion was extremely high.
This could be seen from the eager eyes of the commanders in front of him.
He nodded to Fan Ren beside him, then without pause pointed at the location of the Hans Civilization Space City on the star map and said solemnly:
“1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Brigades, a total of five thousand battleships—no matter what method you use, you must gnaw down this tough bone for me. Can you do it?”
“Guarantee mission accomplished!”
The responses were remarkably unanimous and high-spirited, instantly resounding throughout the entire meeting room.
Li Jian nodded slightly, his gaze continuing toward the Star Gate direction—this was also a very important strategic point, concerning the retreat route for the entire Azure Phoenix Legion in case the battle situation turned unfavorable.
“Sixth Brigade Commander, step forward.”
“Yes, Legion Commander!”
From the crowd, a captain nearly two meters tall and burly all over stepped forward, his response voice very loud and clear.
Fan Ren looked at this young Sixth Brigade Captain and subconsciously turned his head to glance at Li Jian.
Good grief, this captain’s appearance resembled Li Jian in his youth by eight points.
Li Jian understood his meaning, a slight smile involuntarily appearing at the corner of his mouth, then he continued pointing at the Star Gate: “There is one of the Hans Civilization’s most elite troops of ten thousand here. On top of the base of 1000 battleships for you, I’m adding ten thousand Young Dragon ships equipped with electromagnetic railguns. Do you have the confidence to take this place?
You know the importance of this place.
After the war begins in other areas, this will be the most important point to ensure our legion’s safe withdrawal.
Moreover, even if everything goes smoothly in other areas, this will become the enemy’s escape route, and at that time, the fleeing soldiers you will face will not be few.
In the entire Hans System, this place will undoubtedly become a Shura field.”
“Report to Legion Commander, guarantee mission accomplished! I, Li Dagang, guarantee with the honor of the Sixth Brigade that if the enemy wants to pass through this Star Gate, they must step over my corpse; otherwise, as long as one soldier or one pawn of the Sixth Brigade is alive, not even a single fly will be allowed to pass through the Star Gate!”
Li Dagang, 70 years old, enlisted over 50 years ago, is a meritorious Space Force soldier who participated in the Interstellar Space Interception Battle more than 30 years ago.
In that campaign, as a Young Dragon pilot, he achieved the brilliant record of destroying over 30 carrier-based aircraft sorties, as well as high-speed interception and destruction of hundreds of frigates.
After the Azure Phoenix Legion was stationed at the hidden base afterward, he was promoted on the front lines and rose all the way to captain.
It can be said that this rising star in the Azure Phoenix Legion is currently the captain Li Jian values the most; otherwise, it would be impossible to entrust such an important mission to him.
Fan Ren did not interject; he was quite clueless about military matters and never meddled in this area. Although the Li Dagang in front of him was very young, in the Space Force with an average age of 180, he was practically a child’s age.
But his resume was very impressive.
Even so, Fan Ren felt that such an important mission should be shouldered by a seasoned and steady captain.
However, he did not voice an opinion on this; he trusted Li Jian’s judgment.
After arranging tasks for the two extremely important strategic points, the subsequent tasks seemed less complex.
The remaining 4000 Punishers were dismantled by Li Jian into several formations, divided into corresponding numbers of fleets at a 1:15 ratio, to respectively deal with the garrison troops scattered in various areas of the Hans System.
The entire war conference lasted nearly a day, until Li Jian, with A’dai’s assistance, completed supplements to every detail, then the crowd dispersed one after another.
Hans System Space City, Royal Palace.
“Your Majesty, those people in the military headquarters are really too much; they are now almost openly defying Your Majesty’s orders.”
Below the throne, Luo Er knelt on the ground, his face full of resentment.
Originally thought that after spending considerable effort and a sum of funds from the imperial inner treasury for rewards, and after the successful military parade, these Ministry of War Officials who had eaten their fill would give the Emperor some face.
But now it seems that everything they did before was in vain; the entire Ministry of War had returned to the situation from several years ago, completely ignoring any orders not from the Prime Minister.
Hans Ming heard this, lifted his dark and sullen face to look at him, cursing ‘useless’ in his heart, then helplessly said:
“Is there a result from that matter I asked you to handle?”
Hearing this, Luo Er was stunned, clearly not reacting to which matter His Majesty the Emperor was referring to.
“Idiot, is there a result from the investigation on the Sirius Civilization side?”
Hearing this, Luo Er suddenly understood, then bowed and kowtowed hurriedly: “Yes, Your Majesty. The Intelligence Department, through investigation and various means, has fed back the results.”
“Speak!”
Hans Ming looked at Luo Er below; in this instant, he was even too angry to breathe.
Such important intelligence, and he didn’t present it immediately, instead trying to incite him to act against the Prime Minister in a rage.
What a joke; although he was young, he also knew that if he truly angered Prime Minister Mai Si and made him desperate, the first to suffer would be him as the Emperor.
Luo Er didn’t react, just suddenly feeling that His Majesty the Emperor seemed somewhat impatient with him, and answered in a trembling voice:
“In response to Your Majesty, through my tireless efforts”
“Get to the point!”
“Yes, Your Majesty. Intelligence shows that Prime Minister Mai Si had several exchanges and contacts with Sirius Civilization diplomatic officials, but all were reported in accordance with strict diplomatic procedures.
Even the few banquets with the other party’s officials had recording equipment nearby, fully recorded throughout.”
After he finished speaking, the hall fell into a period of silence.
Luo Er’s heart trembled slightly; he knew His Majesty wanted intelligence on Mai Si colluding with the Sirius Civilization.
But evidently, as an old fox politician who had controlled the empire’s mundane affairs for 300 years, Mai Si wouldn’t reveal too many handles in this regard.
Upon hearing this, Hans Ming’s face on the throne grew even more sullen.
He had wanted to create some trouble for Mai Si through this method, to exchange for certain interests with him, but now it seemed this path was unfeasible.
While he was silent, Luo Er below moved his lips, appearing somewhat hesitant to speak.
This scene was seen by Hans Ming, who directly said: “What do you want to say? Speak!”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
Luo Er hurriedly bowed, hesitated for a moment, then said: “The Intelligence Department previously intercepted a transport ship carrying mineral workers to the Solar System for work, and on it discovered a document about our Hans Civilization holding a military parade, as well as some irrelevant trivial messages.”
“What messages? Speak!”
Hans Ming stared deadly at Luo Er; looking at this important subordinate he had appointed as Minister of Personnel and who also oversaw the Intelligence Department, he wished he could devour him alive.
Such a crucial message, and he was still hemming and hawing, as if it weren’t important in his view.
One must know, although the Hans Civilization held a large-scale military parade, the process was confidential.
Although he knew that keeping such major information secret in the current Hans Civilization was somewhat wishful thinking, it still depended on where this message was being sent.
Now it was obvious; even Luo Er knew this intelligence was headed to Humanity, yet he still didn’t grasp its importance.
It simply made him seethe with anger.
Stupid beyond remedy.
“In response to Your Majesty, the intelligence also mentioned the general areas of garrison troops in our system, as well as their configurations.
However, this information is basically semi-public; anyone determined could investigate it.
Oh right, one more thing: this intelligence was intercepted from a Mai Family mine, in the hands of mining workers who chose to go to Human Civilization for work due to resource depletion at the mine.”
‘Bang!’
After he finished speaking, a sharp glint flashed in Hans Ming’s eyes.
He knew this old fox absolutely wouldn’t let his plan proceed smoothly.
For the military side, he still had some moves unused; this was planned for recently, after the last batch of battleships was commissioned, a very major message announced personally by him that could even change the entire situation.
But before that, he still needed to find some stains on Mai Si to enhance the authenticity of his words.
Or rather, through this method, make this Prime Minister who had controlled the empire’s mundane affairs for 300 years, nearly perfect in the minds of all intelligent lifeforms in the Hans Civilization, appear not entirely devoted to the country.
At least, make him seem to have selfish motives, not purely patriotic.
Currently, within the empire, due to the sharp rise in unemployment among civilians, internal emotions were all focused on the Imperial Family.
Under Prime Minister Mai Si’s operations, the empire’s populace attributed the root cause of all this to the lofty Emperor His Majesty, while he remained glorious and majestic, wholly devoted to the people.
This situation must be changed.
Many times, a person’s image in others’ eyes can be changed merely by a small matter.
Even just a little bit is better than doing nothing.
Hans Ming pointed at Luo Er below, who looked baffled; his lips moved for a while, ultimately seeming to give up, shaking his head: “Utilize this intelligence; it must be combined with real evidence, and collect related negative news about Mai Si, spread it among the populace in the form of gossip. Can you do it?”
Hearing this, Luo Er immediately fell into confusion; he couldn’t figure out what effect this level of insult would have on Prime Minister Mai Si, whose status was now almost equal to His Majesty’s.
Seeing his subordinate like this, Hans Ming fell silent, then seemed to restrain his temper and said softly: “You don’t need to think about the rest.
Like this: withdraw all personnel from the Sirius Civilization side, put them all on the Human Civilization side, continue collecting related intelligence.
Next, just handle these two things well; you don’t need to worry about the others. Can you do it?”
Hans Ming tried to use a gentle tone, afraid that his attitude would make this waste in front of him misunderstand something.
Currently, he had a group of talents available among his subordinates, but most were like Hans Qi—capable but without prestige, young people.
And for the prestigious position of empire Minister of Personnel, although he had the qualification to dismiss, to appoint would require the Prime Minister’s nod.
Evidently, at this time, even if the Prime Minister side agreed to his orders, it absolutely wouldn’t be smooth.
Hans Ming was very clear that the current Prime Minister had no explicit opposition to his orders.
All responses and purposes revolved around just one word.
That was ‘delay’!
As long as delayed to an appropriate timing, the Prime Minister would definitely launch a choice that the Imperial Family was bound to lose.
Universal Referendum Act
After 300 years of governance, although the current Imperial Family still stood high above, that was merely the divine right of imperial authority accumulated over thousands of years of rule.
But in this Space Age, intelligent lifeforms, needing to familiarize themselves with various technology products’ operations, more or less received some education.
In this situation, intelligent lifeforms inevitably had some ‘doubts’ about divine right.
Plus Mai Si’s operations over these years, Hans Ming firmly believed that once the Universal Referendum began, their Imperial Family would lose everything.
Hearing this, Luo Er didn’t think much, nodded repeatedly, and responded: “Your minister obeys the decree.”
“Withdraw.”
Seeing this, Hans Ming waved his hand with a complex expression, as if even looking at Luo Er one more time would suffocate him, turning his gaze to the documents on the desk.
Prime Minister’s Mansion.
“Are they looking for our message over there?”
“Yes, Prime Minister. After our informants sent out the message, they were immediately targeted and captured by the other side, but everything has been arranged; the other side cannot find our clues.”
The one asking was the elderly Prime Minister Mai Si, and the one answering was surprisingly Mai Dao, who had once been dispatched to Human Civilization.
Hearing this, Mai Si nodded slightly; this nephew of his handled matters very reassuringly.
He leaned back in the chair, not answering immediately, his eyes narrowing as he fell into thought.
It was understandable that Human Civilization, upon receiving his intelligence, would try to trace the line of the intelligence sender back to them; he wasn’t surprised.
What he was pondering was why, after some time had passed since this incident, Human Civilization showed no reaction whatsoever.
Although the Hans Civilization was said to be a civilization force of the same level as the other, it was still a Tier 2 Civilization that had entered the Space Age for 300 years.
Moreover, it was a powerful existence under its command with as many as 150,000 battleships.
And most importantly, the current state of the Hans Civilization was no secret in the entire Alpha Centauri star domain.
Currently in the star domain, the gazes of other Tier 2 Civilizations were undoubtedly all fixed on the Hans Civilization.
All wanting to know what the Hans Civilization would do next—whether to join the Sirius Civilization or have other methods.
The emergence of Human Civilization now was not only an opportunity for the Hans Civilization but also equally for the other few civilizations in the same predicament as the Hans Civilization.
He was very puzzled why Human Civilization, aware of all these situations, had no reaction at all after learning that the Hans Civilization was about to declare war on them.
What gave them such confidence?
