Li Yao had a strong urge to scratch his head.
Why did things always go wrong wherever he went?
But this time, the situation in the Imperium of True Human Beings was even more uncertain and complicated than his experiences in the Flying Star Sector, the Blood Demon Sector, the federation, and the Ancient Sages Sector in the old days.
It was an enormous swirl that involved hundreds of Sectors and millions of starships.
Frowning, Li Yao felt that there was more to the Blood Oath Alliance’s assassination.
But he was more interested in the content on the flyers disseminated by the Blood Oath Alliance right now. Thinking for a moment, he asked, “Right. According to the flyers, Dongfang Tuo was planning to negotiate peace with the Covenant Alliance, which made him a great traitor of the Imperium and a shameless capitulator. Is it true?”
“We don’t know if Dongfang Tuo secretly got in touch with the Covenant Alliance or even reached a deal with the enemy, but it is true that he was in favor of peace talks. He proposed many times in the Council of Elders that the war must be ended as soon as possible. He even curbed many fleets from marching forward recklessly by withholding the supplies for those fleets, which made quite a few officers in the frontline angry at him. Perhaps that is the reason why the Covenant Alliance considered him as the first target on their list to assassinate.”
Li Linghai said, “Naturally, Dongfang Tuo is just a representative of the overall interests of the four Kurfürst families. The situation right now is that the four Kurfürst families want to end the war as soon as possible while the smaller nobles, the Sector Masters, and the newly-rising warlords at the periphery of the Imperium want to continue the attack. The two parties are now in a predicament, and their contradictions are intensifying after each day.”
Li Yao was slightly dazed. “How so?”
“Very simple. The four Kurfürst families want to carve up the dozens of Sectors that are newly recovered as soon as possible and to settle the interests and territory of each other. To divide the gains that they have already earned, a stable environment is naturally necessary. If fierce battles are still going on in the frontline, it will be impossible to distribute the interests.”
Li Linghai explained, “However, for the smaller nobles and the newly-rising warlords from the peripheral worlds of the Imperium, they are not confident to take much advantage during the distribution of interests. Even if they are given a few resource planets, those planets will be too far away from their nests for them to defend and run the planets due to the lack of soldiers and transportation abilities. Their trophies will be stolen by somebody else sooner or later.
“In other words, most of the dozens of Sectors that were recovered in the past decade through all the trouble are destined to fall into the stomach of the four Kurfürst families.
“However, the case will be different if the attack is continued.
“Whenever a new planet is recovered, they will be able to loot all the resources on the planet, hide the trophies in their own fleets, and even send the trophies back to their nests through secret channels.
“In the meantime, the military credits that they have accumulated will be great bargaining chips. They can also falsely report battle damage and ask for supplies from the rear.
“As to the subsequent constructions and operations on the planet, it will be the concerns of those warlords no more.
“Think about it. If you are a Sector Master of a peripheral world of the Imperium or a warlord that boasts a miscellaneous fleet, do you want to keep on looting like that or to end the war and return to your pitiful, wretched hometown?
“In many cases, it was not the Covenant Alliance that burned everything on the planets they abandoned to the ground, but the army of the Imperium that performed destructive looting and lied that the planet had been a wasteland since the very beginning. What could the base of the expedition army do with those greedy, insubordinate guys?
“All the miscellaneous fleets and local warlords are doing this. Can the direct troops of the four Kurfürst families simply take down all the local warlords?”
Pondering for a long time, Li Yao understood everything. “Got it now. The four Kurfürst hoped that the miscellaneous fleets and local warlords would lead the charge and expand the territory for the Imperium. It would also be a way to diminish the power of the miscellaneous fleets and local warlords. However, the miscellaneous fleets and local warlords were neither generous nor foolish. They simply exploited the value of the newly-recovered territory and lied that they had lost tremendous warships and were in dire need of military assets. Eventually, they would be returning with full loads, whereas the four Kurfürst families would take the blame and wipe their a*ses for them. All in all, neither of the two parties was decent.”
“Exactly. Despite your vulgar language, your conclusion is very accurate.”
Li Linghai couldn’t help but put on a scornful smile and said, “The four Kurfürst families consider other people as monkeys and swine after dominating the Imperium for hundreds of years. They think that they can manipulate everybody in the world blatantly.
“Perhaps, at the beginning of the war, they were thinking in the way you described just now. They hoped that the miscellaneous troops and the local warlords could lead the charge for them and die together with the Covenant Alliance so that they would claim all the benefits.
“However, they underestimated two things, one being the greediness and cunningness of the miscellaneous troops and the local warlords, and the other being the resistance of the Covenant Alliance.
“During the expanse of the Imperium of True Human Beings in the past hundreds of years, it encountered quite a few powerful countries of the Cultivators and independent regimes, but all the enemies were crushed unstoppably. Based on the experience in the past, after dozens of industrial worlds were seized and the main-force fleets suffered a losing streak, there should be no more resistance, and the enemy would definitely surrender obediently.
“But it is obvious now that the Covenant Alliance isn’t any of the countries that the Imperium conquered before.
“People of the Covenant Alliance are both the zealots who worshipped Pangu, their true god, and the machines made of flesh and blood, whose humanity has been erased. They do not have any notion of fear or pain.
“How will zealots and machines ever surrender?
“Therefore, despite the loss of dozens of Sectors, and even though quite a few main-force fleets were crushed to the point that they were beyond reorganization, there is no sign of instability inside the Covenant Alliance at all. They seem not bothered at all that the millennium war will go on for another thousand years.”
Li Yao said, “But the Imperium can’t take it anymore?”
With a bitter smile, Li Linghai replied, “Yes. Despite all the disagreements between the Cultivators and the Immortal Cultivators, we are humans with feelings and free will after all. The Imperium has shed too much blood in the war, and the national economy is on the brink of collapse. So, the war has to be ended soon, one way or another. Otherwise, not only can the frontier right now be barely defended, even the dozens of Sectors that we have just earned may be lost again too. Even the heartland of the Imperium may be in jeopardy!
“Although I do admire the patriotic passion of the young officers of the frontline, I hold the same view as Dongfang Tuo and the four Kurfürst families regarding this issue. I am not a fervent war maniac. The war has to end. If there is any chance to reach a truce with the Covenant Alliance, I will certainly try it too.”
Li Yao found it odd. “Reach a truce with the Covenant Alliance… Is it possible?”
“Why not?”
Li Linghai said casually, “The war between the Covenant Alliance and the Imperium has lasted a thousand years, but we were not fighting every year. There are always moments of rest. Otherwise, both the people of the Imperium and those of the Covenant Alliance would’ve long been wiped out.”
Li Yao could accept Li Linghai’s theory rationally but found it preposterous emotionally. “I just feel that… it is rather weird that the Imperium negotiates with the Covenant Alliance.”
“Then, is it not weird at all that a Cultivator and an Immortal Cultivator talk to each other in peace on the flagship of the ‘rebellions of the Imperium’?”
Li Linghai glanced at Li Yao and said, “There are abundant realists in the four Kurfürst families. For a realist, ‘interests’, instead of ‘ideas’, are always the primary concern. As long as there are enough benefits, not just the Covenant Alliance or the Cultivators, we can even cooperate with the extraterrestrial devils, or at least reach a temporary truce with them, right?”
Li Yao was at a loss for words.
He began to feel fortunate that Li Linghai was not a “fundamentalist” Immortal Cultivator.
If she were one of the purest Immortal Cultivators, she would have drawn her weapon and slashed him into pieces the moment she ran into such a Cultivator, right?
Clearing his messy thoughts, Li Yao nodded his head. “Got it now. So, what do we do next?”
Li Linghai stared at Li Yao thoughtfully for a long time. Then, as if she had made up his mind on the wild gamble, she said, one word after another, “Can I absolutely trust you?”
Li Yao said frankly, “If what you are doing is greatly beneficial for all the ordinary people of the Imperium like you said before, you can absolutely trust me.”
“Good.”
Li Linghai’s eyes seemed to have turned into two swords that had been sealed for a long time but still as sharp as ever after they were unsheathed. She said solemnly, “When the reformists are in power, the life of the ordinary people will be much better than when the nobles and the magnates are in power.
“However, after the fuss caused by the Blood Oath Alliance, our cause is now in peril!
“I left a stand-in in the capital, who had received special training, before I secretly left the capital for the execution of Li Lingfeng. Most of the time, she could handle it, but there are bound to be some problems with the chaos right now.
“We have been pushed into hopelessness. There’s no choice but to show our cards right now!
“Our strength is not good enough yet. The risk of showing the cards in advance will be very high. Soon, there will probably be a series of dangerous, bloody battles. At such a moment of life and death, a Divinity Transformation Stage expert with talents in fighting and in refining will certainly be an ace card for our side that will change the situation!
“Vulture Li Yao, as the queen of the Imperium, I promise you that as long as you are willing to help the fellow Cultivators of the reformists to weather through the difficulties and take over the Imperium, you will get everything you want and even the things that are beyond your expectation!”
Li Yao blinked his eyes. “Well, like what?”
“Like…”
Li Linghai smiled and said, “Three days ago, one of the elders of the Imperium passed away, and by my estimation, a hundred more will probably die in the next year. The five hundred seats in the Council of Elders will be half vacant and have to be replaced by new elders.
“Have you ever considered working as an elder of the Imperium?”