by <unknown>
Li Yao thought for a moment and realized that it did make sense. The last Sector with particularly rampant space pirates that he met was the Flying Star Sector, which did not have a central government but only had a loose coalition of major sects.
Later, the space pirates of the Flying Star Sector were throttled by the "Grand Illusionary Soldier Project" proposed by the six major sects. Their room of activity was smaller and smaller, and they were about to die in the end.
If the Grand Illusionary Soldier Project had not been a scheme with ill intentions since the very beginning, the space pirates of the Flying Star Sector definitely would've been annihilated by them.
Then, here came the question. The so-called "Grand Illusionary Soldiers" adopted the technologies of remote control on battle puppets from the Imperium of True Human Beings. If the Flying Star Sector was already capable of eliminating space pirates with such a technology, it should be more than easy for the Imperium of True Human Beings, which should've had more advanced Grand Illusionary Soldiers, to deal with the insignificant space pirates, right?
"In the Imperium, those guys who are called 'space pirates' on the surface can be more precisely addressed as 'privateers'."
Li Linghai sniffed and said, "The Imperium is simply too vast and boundless. There are all kinds of conflicts between the nobles and the emperor, the nobles and the magnates, and the magnates and the sects. It is impossible to establish a powerful central government to manage the local areas directly, and autonomy has been forced to be granted to them exactly like feudalism in the past.
"There is no need to mention the direct fiefs of the four Kurfürst families, which are essentially independent kingdoms with the power of levying taxes, forging coins, enlisting soldiers, and nominating officials. They are even threatening the capital.
"Even the Sector Masters and the warlords at the peripheral worlds are also lawless dominators who can only see their own territories. For the interests in trade routes, resource planets, or world fragments, they often had frictions with their neighbors.
"In order to check the smaller nobles and the warlords at the peripheral worlds, the four Kurfürst families intentionally allow them to attack each other and encourage them to escalate their frictions.
"Of course, on the surface, everybody is a citizen of the Imperium and an Immortal Cultivator, with the lightning trident emblem painted on the starships and the crystal suits. It is impossible for them to wage a war on each other with their fleets. So, two ways are often adopted to settle their conflicts.
"The way that is open and protected by the law of the Imperium is 'arena games'.
"When there are trade conflicts or competitions in resources, each party will send a certain number of champions to have a fair match in the arena to decide the conflicts.
"Strength is highly worshipped in the Imperium. Such a way to resolve conflicts wins the support of most people. It has even evolved into an extremely popular way of entertainment. When two fairly large worlds send their famous experts to 'settle the conflicts', it is not unusual that they can catch billions of eyes. They are certainly much more attractive than the slaughter stream platforms.
"In the early years, when the order and ethos of the Imperium were not corrupted yet, most of the Immortal Cultivators still remembered the glory in the past and quite respected the system of the arena games. If they were defeated in the arena, they would carry out the ruling dutifully and give away part of their interests.
"However, the Imperium has been gradually decaying in the past ten thousand years, to the point that honor and law mean nothing today. More and more people show no respect for the arena games now.
"Now that they cannot seize the clandestine interests with the army under their command openly, 'privateers' inevitably come into being.
"They are space pirates in name but are in fact supported by the warlords and the nobles, and even the four Kurfürst families. Many of the 'space pirates' are actually the regular army in disguise.
"Many Immortal Cultivators are the prominent, upper-class men in their own world, and some might even have titles when they are in the Imperium. But when they sneak into other worlds, they will immediately change into ruthless and bloodthirsty bandits!"
"Hiss…"
Li Yao took a deep breath. He was certainly no stranger to "privateers". As space pirates with official licenses, they were ten times more difficult to deal with than the common space pirates, because they were supported by the authorities in terms of delivery of supplies and trophies!
Li Linghai went on, "The dozens of Sectors in the fourth quadrant of the Imperium are almost all the territories of the small nobles and the warlords. Their territories are deeply entangled with each other, and the friction among them can be very frequent.
"When there are a lot of frictions, there are bound to be a lot of space pirates. You rob me today, and I'll kill you tomorrow. Although the intensity of the battles is not very high, there has never been a ceasefire for a hundred years. Not only have the people been suffering, the local warlords and Sector Masters are also mired in the meaningless war of attrition, with no hope of complete peace.
"On the surface, General Lei Chenghu was trying to eliminate the space pirates, but in fact, he intended to completely settle the chaos in the fourth quadrant and establish a stable order."
Li Yao exclaimed and began to feel that "Lei Chenghu" was truly not a common Immortal Cultivator.
"At first, nobody believed that Lei Chenghu was capable of resolving the chaotic situation in the fourth quadrant where everybody hated each other. In fact, barely anyone knew his ambitions—General Lei has always been more of a doer than a talker."
Li Linghai said in admiration, "At first, General Lei visited one world after another, met the local governors, and proposed for everyone to establish a little organization to strike the space pirates that were getting more and more untamable. In order not to stimulate the capital, the organization could be given a low-key name such as 'Sailing Route Guards'.
"At that time, nobody knew how terrifying Lei Chenghu was yet. They all considered him a fool. Even though they were patient enough to let him finish his proposal, for the sake that he was from 'the Lei family of Guangyuan', they would often burst into laughter after they saw him off politely.
"The so-called space pirates were all in fact privateers that were disguised by the regular armies, but even if they were not, how could the 'Sailing Route Guards' really work when the dozens of worlds were not united but each had their own plans?
"Nobody paid any attention to General Lei or took the young family leader's words seriously. Many of them sighed that the Lei family of Guangyuan had chosen an idiotic leader when it had been passed on for almost a thousand years. They believed that the Lei family would soon decline.
"However, after General Lei annihilated three privateers in thunderous strikes in only half a year, those Sector Masters and warlords discovered that they were wrong. Greatly wrong.
"General Lei was serious. He was truly determined to end the mayhem in the fourth quadrant even at the cost of all the resources that the Lei family of Guangyuan had accumulated for a thousand years as well as his own life and soul.
"General Lei Chenghu was not exactly a talented great general or a judicious politician at the beginning. He was only a selfless man who strived with nothing but seriousness.
"All the Sector Masters and warlords had their selfish interests. They all wanted to hide from the attacks and conceal their own strength, not daring to have head-on clashes with General Lei's fleet. Instead, they tried to attract General Lei's troops to other people's territories and even offered a lot of supplies and intelligence to General Lei for that.
"General Lei, however, simply regarded every battle to annihilate the space pirates as his last battle where he would perish with the enemy. He did not consider the interests of his own fleet at all. Naturally, he was invincible.
"His commanding arts that were slightly na�
�ve and immature at the beginning were gradually honed in decades of battles.
"Then, with a true heart of selflessness, he traveled among the local warlords and leaders nonstop for decades, trying his best to eliminate the conflicts among them and show them the benefits of abandoning the frictions and trading with each other. Gradually, the foundation of the privateers was no more.
"Just like that, decades later, the organization named 'Sailing Route Guards' was indeed established!
"Although it had a harmless name and sounded like a co-op of the police of different worlds, it was in fact an enormous organization that included a package deal about military, trade, tariff coordination, and even development banks.
"It is even safe to say that it was a half-alliance of the peripheral worlds at the fourth quadrant of the Imperium with a span of military, politics, and economy!
"After completely destroying all the privateers of two Sectors that refused to obey the orders of the 'Sailing Route Guards', and when the army of the coalition army marched at their capitals, nobody dared to question General Lei's authority in the fourth quadrant anymore."
Hearing that, Li Yao couldn't help but remark with his eyes glittering, "This General Lei Chenghu must be a deeply-hidden schemer if he is not a model soldier who is really selfless!"
Li Linghai smiled and nodded her head. "Yes. At that time, everybody thought that General Lei Chenghu was a deeply-hidden ambitious schemer, and he had used the disguise of selflessness for decades before he finally became the leader of the many worlds at the periphery of the fourth quadrant.
"Even the four Kurfürst families were shocked by General Lei Chenghu's performance and considered him a great threat. They came up with many plans to deal with him.
"That was more than a hundred years ago. At that time, the War of Black Wind that shocked the entire Imperium took place. The Imperium suffered an unprecedented brutal failure in the five border worlds including the Black Wind Sector!"
Chapter 2194: Silly General |
Li Yao blinked and thought that the War of Black Wind was truly the origin of everything.
It was exactly because of the War of Black Wind that the remnants of the Black Wind Fleet marched to the edge of the sea of stars, and the worlds at the edge of the sea of stars were forced to be united into the "New Federation" against the enemy together.
It was also because of the Imperium of True Human Beings' brutal failure in the War of Black Wind that the ideas of reform arose in the past hundred years and the four Kurfürst families' reign loosened. Eventually, an ambitious reformist such as Li Linghai was born.
Right now, the legend of General Lei Chenghu was involved in the War of Black Wind too.
Li Linghai sighed and said, "In the past thousand years, when the Imperium and the Covenant Alliance fought for the hegemony at the center of the cosmos, although the Covenant Alliance had attacked many times aggressively, the Imperium always managed to hold the positions and never showed any sign of losing.
"In the recent several hundred years, the Covenant Alliance's attacks were more and more hasty and disordered. Many leaders of the Imperium believed that the Covenant Alliance had seriously exhausted the national strength, and although their brainwashing techniques such as 'Three Fundamental Laws' could allure the people to dedicate their lives to their 'god', it was impossible for them to persist on.
"Therefore, the Imperium was filled with optimism. Everybody believed that as long as the defense line in the space was held for another several hundred years, the day would come when the Covenant Alliance collapsed on its own.
"However, the War of Blank Wind poured a bucket of icy water on everyone's back.
"The entire defensive line of the army completely collapsed. Quite a few deep-sky fleets suffered destructive strikes. Five war worlds, including the Black Wind Sector, fell to the hands of the Covenant Alliance, thus allowing the Covenant Alliance's unstoppable vanguard to reach the softest abdomen of the Imperium. What the Covenant Alliance's fleets were coveting became the prosperous lands that the Imperium had constructed hard for a thousand years!"
Li Yao asked, "War worlds?"
"Yes, according to the number of resources and the development, the Sectors within the territory of the Imperium have been generally divided into four levels, namely the underdeveloped worlds, the resource worlds, the industrial worlds, and the war worlds."
Li Linghai said, "The war worlds are the level with the highest comprehensive value. They have the deepest industrial foundation and boast an enormous scale of weapon factories, magical equipment assembly lines, and even space docks. They are capable of producing a great fleet independently, and they are heavily guarded by the troops of the Imperium.
"One war world is more valuable than ten underdeveloped worlds!
"The five worlds including the Black Wind Sector were all the military strongholds that the Imperium had operated for hundreds of years. Now that they fell into the enemy's hands, there was no telling how many resources would be lost and how many secrets would be leaked. It was the greatest threat of the Imperium in the past hundreds of years.
"Having heard the news that the five war worlds at the border were lost, the nobles in the capital, after the initial shock, naturally burst into fury and decided to counterattack.
"Other than sending the elite troops of the four Kurfürst families to the frontline, they certainly called for the troops of the nobles and the warlords to 'defend the Imperium'.
"At such a moment, the consequence of the four Kurfürst families dominating the politics for years, resulting in the fragmentation of the local areas, was revealed.
"Most of the smaller nobles and warlords at the local areas wavered and hesitated. They all thought that the elite troops of the four Kurfürst families were before them, and there was no need for them to go to the frontline as cannon fodder.
"The most shameless of all was naturally the warlord that had been managing the Black Wind Sector before.
"The Black Wind Fleet was to blame for the collapse of the defense line in the Black Wind Sector, and the Black Wind Sector that had been lost was their hometown. Wasn't it only necessary for the people of the Black Wind Sector to reclaim the territory they lost without bothering the cost?
"However, Heiye Ming, the commander of the Black Wind Fleet at that time, was an old and cunning warlord. He simply swallowed the remaining troops of the other four war worlds ruthlessly, which gave him enough bargaining chips to negotiate with the capital. While the situation in the frontline was still a mess, he simply ran to the edge of the cosmos under the name of expanding the territory for the Imperium!
"Hehe. Although the journey to explore the edge of the cosmos was long and perilous, it couldn't have been more dangerous than dealing with the army of Covenant Alliance that was right next to them. If they really wanted to 'expand the territory for the Imperium', they could've just turned around and marched back to their hometown. Why bother going such a long distance?"
Li Yao: "… Well, the commander of the Black Wind Fleet is truly sordid!"
But in his heart, he couldn't help but chuckle. This was already a third theory about the Black Wind Fleet's march to the edge of the cosmos. All the narrators had been trying to beautify themselves. As to what the truth was exactly, it probably had been obliterated in the dust of stars and nowhere to be found.
Apparently disgusted by what the Black Wind Fleet did, Li Linghai said coldly, "Now that the victims of the lost worlds had run off in fear, the private troops of the nobles and the warlords were certainly reluctant to take the blow for the entire Imperium and attack the army of the Covenant Alliance, which had a high morale after the winning streak.
"The four Kurfürst families did not want to waste their elite troops for nothing either. At the very least, they did not want to fight the Covenant Alliance in the first wave. So, they thought of General Lei Chenghu's fleet."
Li Yao exclaimed and said, "This is a scheme to kill two birds with one
stone!"
"Yes. Even a blind person could tell what the four Kurfürst families were up to. Whether or not the Covenant Alliance's attacks were blocked, General Lei Chenghu's strength would be greatly diminished."
Li Linghai said, "If General Lei Chenghu were a deeply-hidden schemer, as everybody thought him to be at that time, and a great warlord who valued nothing but his army, he couldn't ignore the order from the capital or send out some random cannon fodder just like what other warlords did.
"After all, with General Lei's prestige that was almost uniting the worlds at the periphery of the fourth quadrant, as long as he stayed back, what could the four Kurfürst families have done with him?
"It was not like that they could fight on two ends, dealing with the Covenant Alliance in the frontline and ending up on bad terms with General Lei Chenghu in the rear at the same time, right?"
Pondering for a moment, Li Yao bulged his eyes and said, "But General Lei still obeyed the order of the Council of Elders and led his elite forces to the frontline?"
"Exactly. In fact, General Lei did more than that. Not only did he led all his elite troops out, he also tried to bring as many soldiers of the 'Sailing Route Guards', who were all well-trained warriors from the dozens of worlds at the periphery of the fourth quadrant, as possible. Establishing an overwhelming coalition army, they marched to the defense line in the Black Wind Sector quickly!"
Li Linghai sighed. "At that time, General Lei had the highest prestige in the dozens of worlds nearby, and many fleets were under his command. However, the owners of the fleets, those nobles and warlords, entrusted the fleets to General Lei because they believed that General Lei would bring them benefits or even strike the privateers of the other few quadrants to earn their trophies. All in all, they gave him the fleets to make a fortune, not to let General Lei lead them to death for nothing!"
