by <unknown>
Wei Guanghui breathed heavily and bulged his bloodshot eyes. Staring at the name list that was still floating in midair, he almost couldn't wait to snatch it and tear it into pieces.
The name list, however, was only a virtual object painted by mystic rays. It naturally could not be torn into pieces, just like how he knew the schemes of the four Kurfürst families clearly but could do nothing except to watch the noose on his neck getting tighter and tighter.
What else could he do except for holding the fury back?
"Father, are we really going to hand them over? Look at the list. They are all the critical roles in the Red Nimbus Fleet. Many of them are our loyal old brothers who have supported the Wei family for a hundred years. Some of the officers made remarkable contributions in the bloody battles in the past ten years and even rescued the Red Nimbus Fleet multiple times!"
Not everyone could swallow the fury like Wei Guanghui did.
The first to jump out was Wei Yuanjia, his deputy as well as his second son whom he thought most highly of.
Wei Yuanjia was a middle-aged, sophisticated man who never showed his feelings on his face. He also paid attention to his behavior closely and only addressed his father by the military rank. But right now, he was directly calling him "father", which was obvious of his untamable anger.
Shuddering in fury, Wei Yuanjia pointed at a name on the last line of the list. "Please take a look, Father. Even Ah Xiao's name is on it!"
On the last line of the list, there was "Wei Tianxiao", who was Wei Yuanjia's eldest son and Wei Guanghui's biological grandson.
"If we are truly going to capture everybody on the list and deliver them to the special investigation committee, all the Immortal Cultivators of the Red Nimbus Sector will be scared, and the Wei family will lose all our support!"
Wei Yuanjia roared, "How are we going to lead the army in the future? How can we explain to the Immortal Cultivators that have supported our family for a hundred years? How can we face our compatriots when we return to our hometown? Who will support such a spineless family to inherit the place of 'Sector Master'?
"Please think carefully, Father. You must—"
"Enough!"
Wei Guanghui glared at his second son; his eyes as vicious as a viper whose fangs were just cut off. He gnashed his teeth. "Do you think I like to be humiliated? Do you think I did not 'think carefully'?
"I am an experienced expert in the Nascent Soul Stage, the Sector Master of the Red Nimbus Sector, and the highest commander of the Red Nimbus Fleet! Even 'God of War' Lei Chenghu has to show me some respect and call me 'fellow Cultivator' when he meets me!
"But today, a little bas*ard in the Core Formation Stage who is still wet behind the ears, because of the support of the four Kurfürst families, is bold enough to barge into my fleet on my carrier, throw this bulls*it list to my face, and demand I hand over the brothers who have fought through life and death with me for decades, as well as their descendants, the future of the Red Nimbus Sector!
"It is needless to say that even my own biological grandson is on the list!
"This is a brutal slap in the face that is blowing off all my teeth. I can't think of a greater humiliation!
"Do you think I like to hold back my fury? Do you think I enjoy swallowing my teeth with blood? Do you think I am unaware of the consequences of delivering those people?
"But what choice do I have? As my deputy, you know the situation of the Red Nimbus Fleet best. We are now stranded on a barren, highly-unsteady planet that does not even have an atmosphere. Our food, ammunition, and crystals are highly dependent on the supplies from the rear. If the rear is dissatisfied, we wouldn't have s*it to eat!
"It is needless to say that all the mining bases here had been completely destroyed by the Covenant Alliance before they left. Even if the mining bases are intact and we could excavate abundant minerals, so what? Are they edible? Can we stuff them into our reactors as fuel?
"We will be dead for sure if we do not hand over the people on the list. Before the elites of the four Kurfürst families come at us, we will already be starved!
"It is because the little bas*ard in the Core Formation Stage knew it that he was bold enough to show off before me!"
"But handing over the people on the list will also mean death, a death that is slower and more miserable."
Wei Yuanjia said solemnly, "Father, as you are fully aware, the so-called 'incident of the Blood Oath Alliance' and the name list of the radicals are just the first step of the four Kurfürst families. If we do hand over the people on the list, they will certainly have their ways to interrogate the victims and frame us up with random crimes. What if they accuse us of being sympathetic toward the radicals and even involved in the incident of the Blood Oath Alliance?
"Hehe. The ambitions of the four Kurfürst families can't be more obvious now. They are simply using the incident of the Blood Oath Alliance as a leverage to offset our achievements so far so that they can kick us back to our hometown when they divide the cake!
"But it is impossible for us to return empty-handedly.
"Father, not that I'm making a reckless proposal, but the situation in the Red Nimbus Sector is already on the verge of collapse now.
"You know that the local finance of the Red Nimbus government already collapsed last year. It is needless to say that so many disabled veterans in the Red Nimbus Fleet need compensation after more than ten years of war. The hominoid soldiers among them are easier to deal with, but most of the Immortal Cultivator officers are supported by sects and groups who are our fundamentals. How can we default on them?
"The Council of Elders promised nicely that the compensations of all the disabled soldiers would be taken care of by the base of the expedition army, but the subsistence has been delayed every single time. The disabled veterans in the rear are all expecting the money to buy food and crystals. As a result, we have to fill in the deficit with the local finance of the Red Nimbus Sector first and even by applying for loans from the major banks at the center of the cosmos, which, of course, are the properties of the noble families too!
"Even so, the deficit, as well as the interest of the loans, is growing larger after every day. We can never expect to pay them off now.
"From the fleet to the rear, from the Immortal Cultivators to the hominoids, everybody is complaining like a crystal bomb that will explode at any moment!
"Right now, the only reason why the soldiers are still listening to the command of the Wei family and why the sects and groups in the rear are still shipping supplies to us incessantly is because they believe our promise and trust that we will earn enough benefits for the Red Nimbus Sector and themselves after the war is over. The shares in the 'Development Group of the Recovered Territory' and the big mining and transportation corporations will be enough to make up for the blood and sacrifices they have made in the past decade!
"But right now, it is obvious that the sons of b*tches from the center of the cosmos are about to swallow the fruits on their own!
"If our people realize that the only thing they get after a decade of war is an empty promise and a collapsed economy, there will be a mutiny in the next second, in which both of us, as well as all the members of the Wei family, will be torn into shreds and devoured without any remains by the infuriated veterans, disappointed Immortal Cultivators, and even billions of crazy hominoids. Do you believe me?"
Wei Guanghui was silent, his beard shaking nonstop.
"Perhaps… that is the real purpose of the four Kurfürst families."
With a strange look on his face, Wei Yuanjia pointed at the list and said in a low voice, "Do you not feel that a notable number of people on the list are loyal to the Wei family, but those loyal to the Huang family are few?"
Wei Guanghui was shocked. As he scrutinized, his eyes bulged wider and wider.
It was true. On the so-called "list of radicals", most people were the Wei family's loyal subordinates or their descendants.
But when it
came to the "Huang family", another important family of Immortal Cultivators in the Red Nimbus Sector, while there were some names on the list, they were all the peripheral members that did not matter.
Wei Guanghui felt that his heart was grabbed.
The Wei family did not start to rule over the Red Nimbus Sector five hundred years ago. In the beginning, the Wei family was just an inconspicuous family in the Red Nimbus Sector.
However, the previous dominator of the Red Nimbus Sector was not respectful enough of the big shots from the center of the cosmos and was always wary of the goods and investment from the center of the cosmos. Eventually, it was replaced by the Wei family, which "miraculously rose".
In other words, the Wei family only became the ruler of the Red Nimbus Sector because it was a dog of the four Kurfürst families.
However, humans and dogs were different.
The closer you were to a dog, the more loyal it would be.
The closer you were to a man, however, the more ungrateful they tended to be.
After two hundred years, Wei Guanghui had forgotten the past where his ancestors worked as the dutiful dogs of the four Kurfürst families, and he was thinking to resist.
But he did not forget that the big shots from the center of the cosmos could raise another dog to replace them at any moment, just like how they replaced the earlier "Sector Master of the Red Nimbus Sector'.
The same things had happened in the remote worlds too many times.
In the far-flung and invaluable worlds, raising several different dogs and making them bite each other was exactly a strategy of governance for the four Kurfürst families.
The Huang family was exactly another dog of the Red Nimbus Sector. There was no telling if they had contributed to such a detailed "list of radicals"!
"Father!"
Wei Yuanjia observed his father who was filled with both fear and fury and said, "We cannot wait to die such a worthless death. Let's fight them!"
Chapter 2239: War of Capitals! |
"Fight? Fight with what? Crashing into the enormous warships of the four Kurfürst families with the few canoes of the Red Nimbus Fleet or kill an elder of the Imperium in public like the idiots of the 'Blood Oath Alliance' at the cost of our entire organization? It is purely nonsense!"
Wei Guanghui almost couldn't wait to slap his son in the face to wake him up. After a pause, every wrinkle on his face was suddenly filled with wariness. "Wait. Tell me honestly, you are not a member of this so-called…'Blood Oath Alliance', are you?"
"Absolutely not. I am not as stupid as that."
Wei Yuanjia hurried to prove his innocence before his father, "Even Tianxiao, your biological grandson, has nothing to do with the Blood Oath Alliance at all as far as I know. He only joined the 'Thousand Cherries Union', another association of young officers."
"Hehe. The young people today are joining this and that organization every day in their fever instead of working for their family and the Imperium dutifully. They are either stealthy doing their own thing or have no courage at all. They won't accomplish anything!"
Wei Guanghui shook his beard and said in despise, "In my opinion, it is not a bad idea to let the special investigation committee bring Tianxiao away and let him examine what he has been doing. After all, they are just taking him as a leverage, and they certainly do not really dare to hurt him. If he suffers this time, he will learn to contain himself in the future!"
"Father… I'm afraid you're wrong!"
Wei Yuanjia, in an unusual manner, confronted his father determinedly. "The noble families from the center of the cosmos treat the Immortal Cultivators of the local areas so harshly that even the most peaceful people in the world would burst into fury. We've been fighting in blood through life and death for more than ten years, but what we get is a basket of cold water and even a sentence to prison. Those guys tell us what to do in the rear all the time, regarding us as cannon fodder and chess pieces, and come to steal all the fruits of victory now that we have won. Tianxiao is not the only person dissatisfied with them. Even I, as well as the fellow Cultivators from dozens of small worlds, cannot hold it back anymore either!
"Although the noble families at the center of the cosmos are powerful, the fellow Cultivators at all the peripherical worlds are qualified to compete with them if we join hands with each other. At the very least, we can take back what belongs to us!"
"Of course. Everybody knows that the hundreds of smaller worlds would be able to check the dozens of powerful worlds at the center of the cosmos. But the hundreds of smaller worlds are scattered in every part of the Imperium, with a distance of tens of thousands of lightyears from each other. Many of the smaller worlds have been in conflict for hundreds of years. They are also intentionally controlled by the four Kurfürst families with the strategy of 'divide and conquer'. They are just a tray of disorganized loose sand. How can they join each other's hands?"
Wei Guanghui sneered, "When 'God of War' Lei Chenghu was still here, it was perhaps possible to unite the forces of a dozen smaller worlds with his prestige and the powerful combat ability of the Astounding Thunder Fleet.
"But did you not hear what the little bas*ard of the special investigation committee said? General Lei has been arrested by them. There is no telling what kind of interrogations he is going through. I imagine that it won't take long before he completely surrenders.
"The Third Battle Area at this moment is in panic and lack of leadership. Even the Astounding Thunder Fleet can barely protect itself, and you want the Red Nimbus Fleet, with the few canoes, ragged guns, and the two assembled Colossi, to lead the resistance? Who will be idiotic enough to die with us?"
Wei Yuanjia was silent, but determination and weirdness beamed out of his eyes.
Nobody knew a person better than their father did. Wei Guanghui was slightly dazed. Knowing that his son must have very important intelligence that he had not spoken yet, he hurried to drag his son into the command room, locked the door, and blocked it with a soundproof rune array, before he finally asked solemnly, "What is going on?"
Wei Yuanjia cleared his throat, trying to pretend that everything was fine, but his shivering voice exposed the eagerness and excitement in his heart. "Father, what if I tell you that General Lei Chenghu is likely to have escaped from the prison and returned to the Third Battle Area, and that he is summoning the Astounding Thunder Fleet under the slogan of 'Honor the Majesty and Settle the Rebellions'?"
"What? 'Honor the Majesty and Settle the Rebellions'?"
Wei Guanghui was so shocked that a thunder seemed to have rumbled in his head. Despite the magnificent strength in the Nascent Soul Stage, he lost his control over his pores for a moment, and he had sweat all over his body.
He grabbed his son's shoulders; his fingers piercing deeply into his son's skin like pincers as he demanded, "Speak! Where did you get the news?"
He had every reason to ask the question.
The Red Nimbus Fleet was stationed at the edge of the Third Battle Area where the environment was harshest. The star here was like a temperamental child that was spitting out the most violent radiations and magnetic waves every second. There was also cosmic dust as thick as the fog that covered the area of more than one billion kilometers. Like a wall of fog, it significantly disrupted the signals of the Spiritual Nexus sent in from the outside world.
The No. 223 resource planet was like a lonely island. Even though the super-space communication base of the highest power had been deployed, the contact with the outside world was still intermittent. It was not unusual that no messages of the outside world were heard in two to three days. Sometimes, when they did receive messages, the information was nothing but meaningless, corrupted data.
The situation was even worse in the recent half month when the No. 223 resource planet had entered a period of frequent tectonic activities. All kinds of volcano eruptions and super earthquakes were happening, greatly hindering the communication between the Red Nimbus Fleet and the Astounding
Thunder Fleet, which was also the command center of the Third Battle Area.
At the very least, on the official channel controlled by Wei Guanghui, the command center of the Third Battle Area kept silent.
But right now, before the information came over through the official channel, his son had brought him such a piece of shocking, unofficial news. How could Wei Guanghui not be suspicious?
"There is no doubt about that, Father. My intelligence should be 80% trustworthy."
Wei Yuanjia said mysteriously, "It was sent over through the secret channel of the 'Business Alliance of the Ten Thousand Sectors'."
"The Business Alliance of the Ten Thousand Sectors?"
Wei Guanghui frowned hard. "You mean the organization of merchants that is quite active in recent years and offered us a low-interest loan half a year ago?"
"Exactly! The fraternities of young officers such as the 'Blood Oath Alliance' and 'Thousand Cherries Union' are just the child's play of the fervent young men. But the Business Alliance of the Ten Thousand Sectors is different. Even you might not know how powerful they are. They are an organization that stands for the power of the local capitals in the more than a hundred Sectors at the edge of the Imperium!"
Wei Yuanjia completely threw away his disguise and said determinedly, "The most powerful force in the universe is the spiritual energy, but it is not as powerful as capitals! The war between the peripheral capitals of the Imperium and the central capitals has already begun. With the connection of the Business Alliance of the Ten Thousand Sectors, we will not be loose sand that can be bullied by anyone but a real alliance that condenses the strength of hundreds of smaller Sectors. Then, under the leadership of trustworthy experts such as General Lei Chenghu and big shots of higher levels, we will definitely succeed!"
Different from his son who was slightly anxious, Wei Guanghui calmed down as he listened on. He stared at his son and said, "Good boy. It seems that you have done a lot of things behind my back, and I was too old and blind to see any of it!"