About five minutes passed, and when the digital clock showed 9:00, all the attendees except Xie Yuduo had arrived.
Commander-in-Chief Chen Hanke sat at the upper left, while the crown prince of the empire, Ryann, sat at the upper right. The rest of the generals and their attendants sat solemnly along the oval table, with no one whispering to each other. The deep blue virtual space was filled with a solemn atmosphere.
“Although not everyone is here yet.”
Old Marshal Chen looked deeply at the empty seat of Xie Yuduo and lightly knocked on the corner of the table with his fist, “But the time has come, let’s start the meeting.”
As his words fell, windows began to flash on the screens in front of everyone, including images and text. This meant that the old marshal had inserted the corresponding chip into the interstellar communication device in reality.
Jiang Jianming lightly placed his five fingers on the screen, he quickly adapted to his body in the virtual space and began to read the windows in front of him.
In fact, his own qualifications were far from enough to attend a meeting of this level, let alone sit next to the crown prince. Many generals cast doubtful or scrutinizing glances.
But Ryann was sitting on his outer side, and at this moment, he adjusted his sitting posture just right, invisibly blocking many prying eyes.
Even taking advantage of the blind spot, the crown prince could quietly pinch his hanging fingers to soothe him–flirting at the military conference, which was very stimulating.
“The theme of this meeting has three points, which are progressive.”
Old Marshal Chen said, “Let’s talk about the issue of the Crystal Cult first. Lieutenant General Luther, please speak.”
“Yes.”
Luther stood up from his seat, “The Crystal Cult has a long history and has been regarded as a faith by some people since the establishment of the empire. However, recently, we have found that there are many alienated members in it, who are suspected of colluding with the evil forces of the space pirates, trying to incite unrest within the empire…”
With the old general’s statement, a large amount of information was also shared in real time on everyone’s screens.
At this time, the sound of detailed discussions began to spread in this virtual space.
Only Jiang Jianming and the Crown Prince were the ones who followed up from the front line, first fighting the space pirates, and then fighting the cult, they didn’t need to hear the recapitulation again.
So Jiang Jianming quietly approached Ryann and whispered, “Your Highness, what do you think of General Luther?”
The crown prince lifted his eyelids and replied in a low voice, “He has old qualifications and rich experience, but his own ability is not outstanding, and he lacks courage and flexibility…..He is far behind you.”
Jiang Jianming laughed, pretending not to hear the last sentence, “Your Highness, have you ever thought about why the highest general of the Golden Sun Wheel stationed in Aslan would be such a person?”
“……”
The crown prince looked at him somewhat unexpectedly. This kind of question carried a heavy consideration, especially in the current meeting.
Ryann pursed his lips and was silent for a moment, finding himself unable to answer.
He said, “You tell me.”
Jiang Jianming calmly said, “It’s simple. On the one hand, Aslan has a military headquarters, and there are Her Majesty the Emperor and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. to check and balance, so there is no lack of decision-makers. Therefore, for the main general of the Golden Sun Wheel garrison, there is actually no need to have outstanding strategy and courage, as long as there are no mistakes, that’s enough.”
“On the other hand, the power structure of the Capital Star City is intricate and complex, and many things cannot be solved by winning battles. An old general with mediocre talent can better coordinate the contradictions of all parties.”
General Luther was still talking eloquently, the surrounding discussion gradually grew louder, and some people stood up to ask questions halfway through, and no one noticed them here.
Jiang Jianming confirmed that his volume would not be heard, and continued to say to the crown prince, “Think about it, if you put a general like General Xie, who is sharp and outstanding, in Aslan, and he has to be suppressed by his superiors, and has to be cautious at all levels, his real talent cannot be displayed, he will be suffocated. He can find trouble in Star City even if there is nothing wrong, right?”
“The wise take their strategy, the foolish take their strength, the brave take their power, the timid take their caution…This is the way to use people.”
At this point, Jiang Jianming paused, the blue light on the screen flashed weakly at the corner of his eye, he looked at the handsome side face of the young crown prince–
If the person in front of him was still the original Garcia, he would not need to, and would never say these things to the prince. But the situation was different now.
Ryann was silent for a long time. At some point, his gaze no longer settled on his beloved non crystal human officer, but wandered among the attendees of the meeting.
“Look at that general again.” Jiang Jianming indicated one of the generals with his eyes. That was a man with a full face of flesh and a fierce face, who was now sitting in the seat of Golden Sun Wheel general with his arms folded.
“Lieutenant General Boris, who is violent and domineering, is a brute who once killed a civilian disabled person alive with a crystal bone.”
“But the environment of Maz Star City is harsh, with many contradictions and many violent civilians causing chaos. Before the empire completely solves the problem of Maz, only a general like Boris can hold the scene.”
In this case, with the iron-fisted style of Old Marshal Chen… It was not incomprehensible to employ such a person to use violence to curb violence and implement high-pressure rule.
“Of course, I’m not trying to say to you that this is the right thing to do, Your Highness.”
Jiang Jianming sighed lightly, “Sometimes in the world, there is no clear right or wrong, only results. And only history can truly witness the results.”
“What I want to say is…..You are very powerful, but if you want to be a good emperor, there are many things you need to think about.”
“This world is not perfect, and the seemingly glorious empire also has a dark side. What to compromise, what to insist on, what to give up, what to protect… It’s up to you to judge.”
When the last word was spoken, Jiang Jianming felt his palm being suddenly squeezed tightly.
Ryann suddenly turned his head to look at him, his eyes sharp as a knife’s edge, tempered by a fierce flame.
Jiang Jianming’s heart skipped a beat, but before he could figure out why the Little Highness suddenly looked like he was about to explode, a familiar voice suddenly came to his ears–
It was a voice that should be elegant and pleasing to the ear, but no matter how one listened, it was mocking. The only vacant position flashed, and the voice came before the person.
“Oh, I’m really sorry, everyone, have you all been waiting for me again?”
The next second, a slender projection appeared in the position of the commander of the first fortress of the Silver Big Dipper.
He was a young general with handsome and wild eyebrows and eyes, half-length black hair tied behind his head, dressed in the black and silver military uniform of the Silver Big Dipper, who else could it be if not General Xie Yuduo?
Fortunately, everything was safe after all.
At this time, the big stone in Jiang Jianming’s heart finally landed, and the surroundings had already exploded. Several generals glared in unison.
“Xie Yuduo!”
“You this–”
“Stop!”
They just saw Xie Yuduo wave his hand and shouted, “I know, I know, I went to war without passing the headquarters, acted recklessly, and disrespected the authority of the empire–right, I said it for you all.”
He sat down with boldness and grandeur, and said with a smile, “Now it’s our turn to speak, right?”
At this time, another figure appeared behind Xie Yuduo, and it was also a young military officer.
Jiang Jianming suddenly widened his eyes, never expecting to see a familiar face again–it was Tang Zhen.
It’s been just over half a year since graduating from the military academy, and the young master of the Tang family has changed a lot. He’d lost some of his innocence and gained some determination.
Jiang Jianming couldn’t help but feel relieved: being able to appear here means that Tang Zhen has also come out of the adaptation period in advance, and has followed General Xie on the expeditionary starship. His good roommate is also making rapid progress.
As soon as he entered this virtual space filled with senior generals, Tang Zhen seemed a bit nervous.
But after receiving a signal from Xie Yuduo, he immediately took a deep breath, stood up, and began to speak. “Next, I will report the results of the expedition to the esteemed generals.”
“The 28th Far Star exploration of the Silver Big Dipper, the first phase has been successfully completed, the precise value of the Crystal Nest positioning has been refreshed, the star map coordinates are…”
“Along the way, we have successfully cleared the alien creatures that were entrenched, and now we have opened up a new route that can be used for thousands of starships to travel normally, the star map coordinates…”
“As of today, real crystal ores harvested by the expeditionary fleet, in terms of quality and quantity, exceeds the total resources mined by three Silver Big Dipper fortresses in a whole year…”
With the young officer’s loud report, the generals who were originally about to explode because of Xie Yuduo’s lateness, one by one began to change their faces, even gasping in astonishment.
The exploration of the Crystal Nest had always been a one-way trip… This time, there were actually results?
Someone recognized the youngest son of the Tang family and enviously said to the head of the Tang family, the current Imperial Major General Tang Bohai, “Major General Tang, a tiger father has no dog son.” (TL: There will be no laggard among the children of a brave or talented men)
But Major General Tang twitched at the corner of his mouth, unable to express his bitterness… He always wanted to keep his youngest son away from the front line. But this kid was good, not only did he choose the Silver Big Dipper after graduation, but he also followed the half-crazy Xie Yuduo to the expeditionary fleet.
Xie Yuduo was complacent, “Hmm, not bad, right everyone. Even if the merits and demerits offset each other, maybe there will be a lot left to give Xie a promotion, right, Commander in Chief?”
Old Marshal Chen had long been accustomed to his antics, and his face was expressionless at the moment.
But it was the hot-tempered General Boris who jumped up and slapped the table, “Shut up!”
The harmonious word mechanism of the meeting space swallowed up the general’s swear words, and Boris’s facial muscles twitched. “The Far Star changes unpredictably, and the young boy is just lucky to live a few more days. Wait until tomorrow when the fleet is defeated, it will be hard for the main general to escape his guilt for his death, see if you can still come to the meeting across the stars with no one in sight!?”
Xie Yuduo retorted, pretending to be exaggeratedly surprised, “Isn’t that nonsense! Of course, Xie would only come to the meeting after winning the battle. If I were defeated, would I still need you to teach me how to die?”
Boris was so angry that the veins on his forehead were jumping, “You–”
The others looked at each other, seeing that the atmosphere was starting to get wrong, but it wasn’t over yet.
Tang Zhen had just finished his lines and barely sat down when his eyes lit up and he exclaimed in disbelief, “**** Little Jiang!? How are you here too–”
…Obviously, he was so excited that he habitually cursed, and then was muted by the harmonious word mechanism.
Major General Tang was so angry that he was short of breath and couldn’t bear to look directly. But he saw General Xie next to him turn his head as if he was stunned.
The next moment, Xie Yuduo let out a scream of pain that was even more piercing than Tang Zhen’s!
“**** Little Excellency!!! You, you, you–”
This voice was like a mourning, scaring all the generals and their attendants.
Even Old Marshal Chen was so tired that he held his temples with his hand and shook his head repeatedly.
But General Xie didn’t care, he didn’t follow any etiquette, and rushed to the front of His Highness the Crown Prince in three steps.
–No, on closer inspection, it should be approaching the young military officer sitting next to the crown prince, dressed in a platinum military uniform, in front of a quiet and handsome young officer with black hair.
The attention of the whole audience was focused on him in an instant, and Jiang Jianming felt like he was sitting on pins and needles, and smiled bitterly, “General Xie, long time no see.”
Ryann slapped the rushing general and said coldly, “Xie Yuduo, are you seeking death?”
“Why!!” Xie Yuduo pointed at the Golden Sun Wheel military emblem on Jiang Jianming’s chest and wailed, “Is the promotion of the Silver Big Dipper not fast enough, or the salary is not high enough, is the food not good enough, or the reimbursement is not strong enough, how could you, Little Excellency… how could you!”
Under the gaze of everyone, General Xie, who had just been cocky, seemed to completely collapse.
Jiang Jianming coughed awkwardly, roughly estimating in his heart that the degree of collapse was comparable to when he first learned that the Little Highness had emptied a box of tranquilizers.
“This **** Golden Sun Wheel, they’re all a bunch of *****, apart from having a slightly longer average lifespan, they’re not even as good as our Silver Big Dipper for half a point!”
Xie Yuduo was still crying without tears, “Even the military uniform is as ugly as ****, otherwise–otherwise you can go back to the fortress and do a civilian job!”
Boris cursed loudly, “Which army’s uniform are you saying is ugly, you little ****!?”
At the same time, several generals from the Golden Sun Wheel who couldn’t stand it, as well as conservative generals, spoke out, either scolding or lamenting.
“Xie Yuduo, do you even know what kind of occasion this is!”
“What a loss of composure, what a loss of composure…”
Old General Luther was so angry that he blew his beard and stared. “Quiet! Everyone be quiet!!”
For a while, harmonious words flew around, and the military conference, which should have been solemn and heavy, was in chaos.
In the middle, some people whispered. “Isn’t that young man the disabled human military officer who quelled the internal strife in Aslan a few days ago and was favored by His Highness the Crown Prince?”
“How did Xie Yuduo get involved with him again, could it be that the rumor that this young officer once served in the Silver Big Dipper is true?”
“Why is he called ‘Little Excellency’…”
Jiang Jianming calmly soothed. “Major General, calm down, I will show you the file later, I didn’t retire from the Silver Big Dipper’s military rank.”
Finally, just before this meeting was about to become a complete farce, Old Marshal Chen knocked on the table again and spoke.
“Alright, alright, everyone sit down first.”
