by <unknown>
They had clearly made the greatest contributions and even done most of the job themselves, but it was those people who had the surname of Dongfang that stole their credits and accomplishments. More importantly, as it had been so in the past hundreds of years, it would still be so in the next hundreds of years!
Not a single Immortal Cultivator of other surnames could stand such a system.
When their wrath that had been accumulated for hundreds of years finally found a vent, the energy that they released was astonishing.
All the fortresses were conquered from within.
The Immortal Cultivators of other surnames, who had been suppressed by the Dongfang family for generations and who had no hope of rising at all for their entire lives, were destined to be the gravediggers for the Dongfang family.
Governing a dozen Sectors with only one family while lacking legitimacy, not even having a disguise such as "emperor" but only as an awkward "Kurfürst", it was impossible for the Dongfang family to win the loyalty and trust of all the people under its governance. It was merely managing the reign with violence.
Violence originated from fear, and fear came from no hope of success. But now that the weakness behind the Dongfang family's violence had been fully revealed, the hope of resistance vaguely popped up in the hearts of the Immortal Cultivators of other surnames. It was like the first dawn on the horizon when the dark night was about to be over!
It was needless to say that the other three Kurfürst families were all supporting the Immortal Cultivators of other surnames who were under the governance of the Dongfang family, offering them unrealistic promises and visions of success. The reformists had long leaked to the many worlds under the governance of the Dongfang family and boasted high influences among the Immortal Cultivators of other surnames who took up 90% of the population.
A storm was raised in the worlds under the control of the Dongfang family at the same time.
When it came to July, the incident of cannibal training was gradually brewing. In the entire Imperium of True Human Beings, and especially in the heavy industry worlds where the bottom-level Immortal Cultivators were concentrated, massive, astounding demonstrations were breaking out, demanding the case to be investigated thoroughly and all of Dongfang Renxin's "clients" be found out without leaving out any.
Under the instigation of various forces, the demonstrations in the worlds of the Dongfang family were the largest and most heated of all.
In the biggest demonstration, it was said that more than five hundred thousand Immortal Cultivators were gathered under the slogan of "Million Immortal Cultivators Coalition" against the highest leadership of the Dongfang family. They were even questioning if the Dongfang family's local governance was legal. The entire planet was set on fire.
Faced with such public "rebellions", the Dongfang family naturally chose to suppress them without any mercy.
However, their opponents were not strengthless civilians but Immortal Cultivators who could control spiritual energy freely with their awakened spiritual roots.
Many Immortal Cultivators of other surnames, during their hundreds of years of work as "cannon fodder" of the Dongfang family, also mastered rather magnificent combat ability. They were all adept at fighting.
Besides, every battle-type Immortal Cultivator was a fast, intelligent slaughter machine that boasted high stealth and survival abilities. They would never be silly enough to confront the Dongfang family's fleet openly but would place themselves in the skyscrapers or the underground cities, where they were engaged in the "unrestrained warfare" unpredictably.
To deal with an insane, battle-type Immortal Cultivator in the complicated city environment, it would require a dozen battle-type Immortal Cultivators of the same level. During the capture, it was very possible that the enemy would sabotage quite a few skyscrapers and completely jam the traffic. They could even destroy the tubes that transmitted spiritual energy, resulting in inestimable losses.
It was just the case of one Immortal Cultivator.
What if the rogues were a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand, or five hundred thousand?
In the highly-developed, important towns of economy and industry in their own dominion, they were going to fight a protracted street battle, which might result in a "collateral damage" of millions of people and reduce their hometowns into smithereens by the way.
No fleet commanders of the Dongfang family with a normal intelligence would do such a thing.
More trickily, on the fleets that were sent for suppression, more than 90% of the middle-level officers and bottom-level soldiers were Immortal Cultivators of other surnames and hominoids.
Under the reign of the Dongfang family, the middle-level officers never had the chance to be promoted as long as their surname was not "Dongfang". Even if they were blessed with luck, it would be their best to become a deputy captain or an advisor.
In that case, would the middle-level officers have any reason to help the Dongfang family slaughter another group of Immortal Cultivators of other surnames who were fighting for their own interests?
Even the captains, whose surname was Dongfang, might not be at the center of the family. They were also faced with the glass ceiling, unable to rise to the stop at all, and their accomplishments were sometimes stolen by the central members of the family too. Although they did have loyalty to the family, they had been inevitably complaining about the different treatments of the main branch and the secondary branches. Why were the secondary branches like them only allowed to pilot the ragged, outdated starships whatever accomplishments they made, whereas even the rookies of the main branch had the opportunity to make use of the latest warships that were newly produced?
Such suppression fleets did not have any morale or combat ability at all. They were already loyal enough to the ancestors of the Dongfang family since they did not rebel.
As it turned out, the Immortal Cultivators of other surnames had zero loyalty and reverence for the ancestors of the Dongfang family at all.
When the suppression operation proceeded to the third day, a mutiny did take place.
Two arsenal warships of the Dongfang family were hijacked by the mutinying soldiers and landed on the surface of the planet. The Immortal Cultivators who were demonstrating broke in and tied up all the advanced officers on board who had the surname Dongfang. All the captives were tied up as if they were pigs.
The picture, as well as the overwhelming gatherings and demonstrations of the Immortal Cultivators of other surnames, was sent to the outside world through secret channels and played day and night by the propaganda machines of the reformists and the three Kurfürst families, slapping the Dongfang family in the face again and again.
The Dongfang family's reign of violence fell into a vicious cycle.
The mutiny suggested that all the Immortal Cultivators of other surnames were unreliable. To settle the issue neatly, the only solution was to gather all the Immortal Cultivators of the Dongfang family and suppress the rebellions through blood with their own people.
But if they were really doing that, they would be completely standing on the opposite side of the 90% of Immortal Cultivators of other surnames, who would be forced to rebel even if they did not intend to in the beginning.
Besides, while the Immortal Cultivators of other surnames were unreliable, the secondary branches within the Dongfang family might not be reliable either. Or rather, they were even more unreliable!
In the worlds under the control of the Dongfang family, two convincing rumors had already spread out.
The first rumor was that the Dongfang family had reached a consensus to not trust Immortal Cultivators of other surnames anymore. They were about to initiate a purge within the Dongfang family and kill at least one-third of the Immortal Cultivators of other surnames.
The remaining two-thirds did not need to be happy too soon either. To ensure their loyalty, their bodies would be planted with barriers by the Dongfang family, and they would be forced to wear necklaces that could be
detonated at any point.
In such a way, they and their posterity would have to stay loyal to the Dongfang family for all eternity!
The second rumor claimed that the Dongfang family had serious disagreements within. Many secondary branches believed that the leaders of the main branch should take the blame for the matter because they were the ones who caused the trouble. In order to save the Dongfang family, the only way was to capture all the leaders of the main branch for a just trial.
In other words, the secondary branches of the Dongfang family were planning a "family coup" against the main branch!
The two rumors were in fact contradictory and could not stand scrutiny.
However, rumors tended to become self-fulfilling prophecies in many cases. Even if something was entirely ungrounded, as long as many people were talking about it, it might become the accepted truth.
The two rumors hit the weakness of humanity most accurately.
Nobody could deny the possibilities of the two rumors.
For a moment, the Immortal Cultivators of the Dongfang family did not trust the Immortal Cultivators of other surnames, and the main branch of the Dongfang family did not trust the secondary branches. Everyone's war against everyone that Li Yao had described before was about to begin within the Dongfang family. How could the so-called "suppression" possibly go on?
With the chaos inside the family, how could the fleets deployed in the capital and the noble lords in the court who were loyal to the Dongfang family defend themselves from the aggressive attacks of the other three Kurfürst families as well as the reformists?
Gatherings and demonstrations burst out in the Empyreal Terminus Sector one after another too. The voices that demanded Prime Minister Dongfang Wang to resign never stopped. In several cases, the crowd even marched to one kilometer away from the prime minister's office under the connivance of the many forces. The roars that sounded like raging tides shocked the glass of the prime minister's office day and night.
The blood-boiling pictures and "the roars of the regular citizens of the Imperium" were delivered to the entire universe through the modern Spiritual Nexus instantly, further prompting the bottom-level Immortal Cultivators who were filled with fury.
The will of the people was just unpredictable air most of the time, but occasionally, it could also turn into oil that was poured on the fire.
After more than a month of instigation, Dongfang Wang was already cursed by everybody in the country. The lethal dagger could be unsheathed now.
Therefore, the incident of the Blood Oath Alliance that had been cold for a while was brought up again.
Chapter 2300: Rescue His Majesty! |
"The incident of the Blood Oath Alliance was planned by Prime Minister Dongfang Wang in person. He had Elder Dongfang Tuo assassinated through careful arrangements for two purposes. Firstly, it was meant to frame up the young officers of the frontline and give him an excuse for a 'grand purge', which could strengthen his control over the expedition army and help him achieve his clandestine goals.
"Secondly, Dongfang Wang and Dongfang Tuo had not been the closest friends. The two of them had a lot of contradictions regarding the future development and the leadership of the family. Dongfang Wang killed him in order to eliminate a major rival of the family for himself too!"
The news spread out on the Spiritual Nexus quickly and soon reached every corner of the Imperium.
The breakthrough was found on Elder Dongfang Tuo's dead body.
The investigators from the other three Kurfürst families found one of Dongfang Tuo's secret offices. The tremendous files retrieved from a mini crystal processor in the office suggested that Dongfang Tuo had been dissatisfied with Dongfang Wang's policy of iron and blood. He thought that the consumption of the war far exceeded the prewar estimation and that the Imperium's hundreds of years of accumulations had been drained in it.
Because the Covenant Alliance burned everything to the ground during their retreat, it would take decades to cover the war cost from the newly-recovered territory. A lot of things might happen in decades. If anything went wrong, the losses of the war would certainly outweigh the gains.
Dongfang Tuo believed that Dongfang Wang was building the image of an invincible prime minister of iron and blood with the resources of the entire Dongfang family and even the entire Imperium and that his real intentions called for suspicion.
Dongfang Tuo even suspected that Dongfang Wang was going to control the expedition army and take one step further with the expedition army to become the first "lifelong Prime Minister" in the history of the Imperium. In such a way, his personal prestige and influence would far exceed those of the four Kurfürst families!
Therefore, the moment the war in the frontline was more or less settled, Dongfang Tuo returned to the family and associated with more leaders of the family as an elder of the Imperium, and to get the family to object to Dongfang Wang together. It was even possible for them to drive Dongfang Wang away from the seat of the prime minister of the Imperium.
The proof indirectly suggested that Dongfang Wang ordered the assassination of Dongfang Tuo in order to secure his place and to achieve his personal ambitions!
The proof whose veracity was questionable was almost like a gunshot right next to Dongfang Wang's forehead.
The four Kurfürst families could never tolerate any dictator to sit on top of them. Not the emperor, and certainly not a "lifelong Prime Minister".
The anxious Dongfang Wang had not been freed from the swamp of his brother's "cannibal training" yet when he was faced with such a fatal accusation again. He could hardly defend himself.
The entire Imperium was seething. Not only were gatherings and demonstrations that were even more intense breaking out in the heavy industry worlds which were of paramount importance, but even the expedition army was also shocked and expressed their concerns on Dongfang Wang.
The people not only demanded for his resignation but also asked for a new investigation group to be established to fully investigate the incident of the Blood Oath Alliance so that the name of the innocent, patriotic young officers on the frontline could be cleared.
In the meantime, more and more proofs were thrown out. More and more leaders of Dongfang Wang's group were proved that they had received "cannibal training". Even Dongfang Wang himself had been using the "special nutrition drug" provided by Dongfang Renxin to maintain his vigor. The massive undeniable proofs made Dongfang Wang's reputation hit rock bottom.
Faced with such a huge external pressure, the situation inside the Dongfang family had subtle changes too.
In only half a month, the main branch of the family was unable to get the situation under control anymore. The secondary branches, which had the advantage in number, all made their own voices.
"The main branch of the family headed by Dongfang Wang has already become the 'negative asset' of the Dongfang family. If we want to save the family, we have to separate ourselves from Dongfang Wang's company as soon as possible and send the criminals to the court of justice!"
"Only if the Dongfang family gives a fair and just punishment on the insane, heinous criminals can the honor and dignity of the Dongfang family be defended!"
"The family cannot protect those criminals anymore, which will only make us an enemy for everyone else in the Imperium!"
"People like Dongfang Wang are not the real members of the Dongfang family at all. According to the evidence of the Tribunal of Extraterrestrial Devils, they had long been corrupted by the extraterrestrial devils and transformed into Demonic Cultivators! Therefore, this is not the Dongfang family's fault, but because the extraterrestrial devils are too sly and evil! In order to recover the reputation of the Dongfang family, we have to fight the devils to the end without showing any mercy!"
Similar voices spread out on every heavy industry planet and every super enormous starship of the Dongfang family. Mixed with the angry roars of the hundreds of Immortal Cultivators of other surnames, they congregated
into overwhelming tides that could drown anything.
A losing army was as unstoppable as a falling mountain. When everybody hated Dongfang Wang's guts, even if he had a couple of Divinity Transformation Stage experts under his command, what could he do?
Getting to the bottom of it, as Immortal Cultivators, they were equally ferocious and fearless of death, and they would certainly not be intimidated only by Dongfang Wang's title and strength.
When it came to the second half of July, multiple mutinies took place within the elite fleets of the Dongfang family.
Different from the few mutinies earlier, the new mutinies did not happen inside a single starship under the organization of low-level Immortal Cultivators of other surnames but were raised by the captains with the Dongfang surname in multiple starships at the same time. They controlled their starships in the blink of an eye and gathered dozens of them together, stating that they would eradicate the black sheep of the family!
The mutiny troops and the suppression troops did not really fight. Nobody could stand the consequences of a great battle at the most vulnerable heartland of the family. Besides, the fleets of the other three Kurfürst families, as well Lei Chenghu's Astounding Thunder Fleet and Li Linghai's Deep Sea Fleet, were still eyeing them covetously.
If a civil war were to break out within the Dongfang family, everybody would certainly burst into laughter and enjoy the great show.
Therefore, the two parties merely confronted each other in silence.
But that was enough.
When the switch of the machine of violence went out of control and did not obey Dongfang Wang's command anymore, it equaled a death knell for Dongfang Wang and his company.
After each day of confrontation, countless Immortal Cultivators of the Dongfang family would be reaching out to the opposition. As long as the conditions were acceptable, they would abandon Dongfang Wang without any mercy.
As the "prime minister of iron and blood", Dongfang Wang was betrayed by almost everyone in half a month. His power was little to none now.
