Why…Jiang Jianming smiled bitterly, lying on his back on the bed, his head resting on his black hair.
There was no active kiss or confession of love. If it weren’t for Garcia speaking out, he wouldn’t even have realized it.
But when Garcia brought it up, he suddenly understood why.
“I’m sorry,” Jiang Jianming said softly with his eyes closed, “It’s my problem, it has nothing to do with Your Highness. Even if it were His Highness Ryann from back then standing in front of me, I might also…”
“Is it because,” Garcia reached out, his thumb gently stroking Jiang Jianming’s light-colored lips, his expression very serious, “you also feel that you’re about to die?”
Jiang Jianming: “…You really don’t avoid the subject.”
He once told Audrey that he couldn’t bear to let the Little Highness watch him go.
Even though this had become their two people’s fate, Jiang Jianming’s subconscious still instinctively resisted.
It seemed that as long as he said one less confession, do one less thing that only lovers could do, his Little Highness would love him one point less, and the pain of parting in life and death would also be one point less.
“Actually… it really shouldn’t be.” Jiang Jianming paused, guiltily said, “This is not fair, only accepting the other’s love, but not daring to give. Too selfish.”
Garcia didn’t continue to press, he looked at Jiang Jianming steadily. Perhaps because of the direct questioning just now, this person who always looked calm and desireless actually blushed.
The peach color added to the snow-white sick face made him feel…very beautiful.
It seemed that everything was no longer important, confession and kiss had become as small as dust. As long as this person could still be alive, everything else was fine.
Garcia brought over the apple he had just peeled, along with the plate, and fed a small piece to the person on the bed.
“Rest for another day,” he said, “Let you go out tomorrow.”
Jiang Jianming’s expression was soft, he bit the apple, wanting to feed it to Garcia’s mouth. But the prince didn’t appreciate it, he pushed him back down on the bed.
“You don’t have to do this.” Garcia said solemnly, as if making a vow, “You don’t have to say you love me, it’s enough that I love you. Save some strength, accompany me for a few more years.”
…This sentence made Jiang Jianming collapse, he obediently lay down, quietly lying in the hospital for another day.
Garcia couldn’t stay with him all the time. The crown prince was busy, and the things at the general conference also gave His Highness a lot of stimulation. He quickly switched to “Ryann Mode” and returned to the White Jade Palace.
The next morning, Jiang Jianming walked out of the ward alone, proposing to be discharged, which unsurprisingly shocked the old doctors who had just finished a round of expert consultations.
“Your Excellency Jiang…”
The dean, whose hair and eyebrows had turned white, also came to persuade him personally. “With our current medical technology, we can’t come up with a practical and effective treatment plan for chronic crystal disorder. All we can do is try to delay the disease and reduce the pain. Among them, bed rest is indispensable…”
Jiang Jianming smiled gently. “Thank you, I know. But I am a soldier, and I would rather die on the battlefield than in bed. Please arrange for my discharge.”
This patient was personally sent in by the crown prince and the commander-in-chief. How dare the old dean make a decision? He immediately contacted the White Jade Palace and the military headquarters to explain the situation.
Then he got the same answer. “Listen to him.”
After the procedures were completed, Jiang Jianming left the hospital. He rented an air vehicle on the side of the road and went to the Aslan Library for his next appointment.
****
After returning to the library, Jiang Jianming spent most of the day collecting information. Initially, because he speculated that the words left in the Crown of Golden Dawn were related to the founding emperor, he had specifically consulted many books on this topic, and he still remembered the important information, so it was not difficult to find them.
During this time, Jiang Jianming could vaguely feel people around him looking at him, and whispers came from all directions.
He didn’t care, he knew that his identity in the eyes of ordinary people was different now.
At four in the afternoon, he left the library with the sorted list of materials. But these were not enough.
Jiang Jianming’s eyes were deep, and with the information he temporarily collected, even if rumors and unofficial history were included, there was no decisive evidence.
For this, he thought about it for half a day while lying in the hospital yesterday, and finally thought of a suitable person to visit.
Ding dong…
The wind chime rang, Jiang Jianming pushed open the door of the small coffee shop next to the library, and nodded to the fat boss.
The owner of this coffee shop was Audrey’s person. Before going to the Far Star, he had received Audrey’s gift here.
“Oh, Your Excellency Jiang, this way.”
The fat boss rubbed his hands in surprise and led the distinguished guest in. “I was rude and negligent last time, you and your guests today, I must treat!”
Jiang Jianming shook his head. “No, thanks to His Excellency Lance and the boss for helping me last time.”
Around the corner, a small partition made of wood and vine appeared in front of him.
The fat boss gestured to him to “please come in”. “Your guest is already waiting.”
Jiang Jianming politely thanked the boss and walked in sideways. At the table, there was already an old man with a hunched figure, wearing very simple clothes, slowly drinking the cheapest coffee.
“Teacher.” The black-haired young man stepped forward, stood still, and bowed slightly, “I’m late.”
The old man raised his head, revealing a kind and benevolent face, and said with a chuckle. “Little Jiang, sit down, I dare not let the promising colonel of our empire stand.”
Du Song, Teacher Du, was a retired old teacher from Kaios Military Academy, and also the top military historian in the empire.
As the undisputed highest institution in the empire, Kaios Military Academy’s faculty gathered giants from various fields. And Jiang Jianming, who was smart and bold but weak and lonely, naturally attracted people’s love, and countless teachers took him as their favorite.
At this time, this relationship came into play.
As soon as Jiang Jianming sat down, Teacher Du pushed over a chip box. “Come and see, what you want to know…about the historical materials of the Holy War, most of them are here.”
Jiang Jianming didn’t rush to open the chip box, but bowed his head solemnly. “Please give guidance, teacher.”
“Now, there is a tendency within the Empire,” Teacher Du cleared his throat and set up a lecturing posture, “like to look at the five Holy Wars separately.”
“Of course, we have to understand, because the Holy War has wins and losses. Winning too brilliantly, losing too miserably, haha…”
Jiang Jianming: “But under the perspective of division, many internal connections are inevitably overlooked, right?”
Du Song looked at his former student appreciatively. “Let’s start from the very beginning and talk slowly.”
In the first year of the New Emperor’s Calendar, Emperor Kaios overthrew the tyranny of the old empire, was crowned emperor in the capital of the old empire, Yongle Garden Star City, and crowned his wife, Sylph, as empress, and the poor-born female general Lin Ge as crown prince.
In the same year, the new empire moved its capital. Perhaps the great emperor himself also thought that his name was not auspicious, the star city as the new capital was not named after the emperor himself, but used the name of the founding commander, Aslan.
However, things were unpredictable, less than a year after the founding of the country, there was a rift between the great emperor and the commander, Aslan was stripped of his military power, and left Aslan Star City, which was named after him.
The next year, the great emperor marched towards the Far Star, the expedition fleet of the Silver Big Dipper pointed the silver spear at the alien creatures wandering in the universe, and the first Holy War broke out.
“There is a saying,” Teacher Du said, “The contradiction that caused the emperor and the commander to break up that year was this Holy War. The great emperor wanted to march towards the Far Star, but the commander thought that the empire, which was full of scars, should first recuperate and solve the problem of space bandits.”
“The two of them quarreled every day, from the palace to the military department, and the outside world also divided into two factions to follow the quarrel… Later, the great emperor was furious and directly sent the commander to the rear.”
Jiang Jianming frowned. “The great emperor would be so eager to march towards the Far Star, mainly because of resources, right?”
He flipped open his wrist machine, called out the projection, and projected the information he had consulted onto the virtual screen. “During the war, too much real crystal ore was consumed as the energy of the mecha starships. After the founding of the country, there was a serious shortage of real crystal ore, and even the manufacture of tranquilizers was very difficult.”
“Yes,” Teacher Du nodded, touching his white eyebrows, “Little Jiang, you see this very clearly, very few people can pay attention to this point.”
“But unfortunately, the first Holy War ended at a heavy price.”
The old man’s voice became heavy, “The expedition fleet fought hard, and was ambushed by the Lava Space Bandits halfway, trapped in the asteroid belt… Oh, it is now commonly known as the Devil’s Tongue, and almost the entire army was wiped out there.”
“In the end, it was still Commander Aslan who took over the military power and led the army to rescue. But this battle is still considered a disastrous defeat, tens of thousands of soldiers can’t even bring back their bodies, and the public was filled with resentment.”
Jiang Jianming suddenly raised his head, his eyes clear. “Is it at this time? The commander erected a monument for the Silver Big Dipper and wrote that epitaph.”
–Even if it is difficult to bury the bones in the homeland, the sky and the universe can be buried.
–I see the heroic souls flying to the sea of stars, like white birds returning to their nests.
That’s under the snow of the Silver Big Dipper’s alien star, a jungle-like white monument filled with names, and the black bricks that hold the ashes, comforting the heroic spirits who couldn’t return to their hometown for decades.
Teacher Du nodded deeply, took a sip of coffee, and fell silent for a long time.
“…After the army was disbanded, Aslan voluntarily returned his military power and returned to Watson. But not long after, in the third year of the New Emperor’s Calendar, the commander died of illness in Watson, and the generation of legends came to an end.”
Whether it was the shock of defeat or the shock of the commander’s death, the great emperor was quiet for three years.
In the sixth year of the New Emperor’s Calendar, the great emperor, despite domestic opposition, forcefully launched the second Holy War and won a complete victory.
Starship artillery fire filled the sky, sweeping the universe, opening up territory, a large number of alien creatures were driven out and wiped out, the fleet inserted the empire’s golden flag on the first conquered planet suitable for human habitation, and brought back countless real crystal ores.
The great emperor’s footsteps did not stop, and immediately launched the third Holy War, which was still a complete victory.
The alien stars suitable for human habitation in the Far Star field changed from one to three, and later built a permanent fortress for the Silver Big Dipper Army. There were no more alien creatures rampant in the empire’s territory, so the concentration of crystal particles decreased, the stable supply of real crystal ore made tranquilizers popular, and crystal disorder gradually disappeared.
Extreme environments give birth to extreme thoughts. And when the war was far away and peace came, the disabled humans, who had previously been regarded as “inferior”, “vassals” and even “slaves”, also began to stumble and walk with their chests held high.
Infinite light, infinite honor, infinite hope, shone on the newborn empire at this moment.
“It’s a pity, it’s a pity that the commander left too early.”
When talking about this, the old teacher couldn’t help shaking his head and sighing.“Didn’t even get to see with his own eyes what this empire looks like now.”
Ding ding…
The small wind chime in the coffee shop turned mournfully.
A hero’s life, a page of history, whether it’s success or failure, prosperity or decline, it’s all in the past.
At the beginning of the eighth year of the New Emperor’s Calendar, the fourth Holy War broke out.
This time, the expedition fleet went very far.
As with the previous three times, it was still the great emperor who personally led the expedition, but this time the fleet no longer fought with alien creatures, nor was it obsessed with finding new habitable planets.
They just sailed far, striving to go further and further. Moving forward, exploring, pursuing the unknown, as if symbolizing the endless will of mankind.
“You suspect that the fourth Holy War reached the Crystal Nest.”
Teacher Du slowly said, “Yes, there are some signs of this, but there is no concrete evidence. Because the soldiers of the fourth Holy War almost also participated in the fifth, all sacrificed there, of course, they also took away the truth.”
Jiang Jianming suddenly changed color, he couldn’t help standing up. “Isn’t it said that the soldiers of the last Holy War were all Golden Sun Wheels?”
Teacher Du waved his hand. “Ah, that’s what they say. They’re wearing the uniforms of the Golden Sun Wheel, but the military status under the skin is everywhere.”
Jiang Jianming stopped talking, sat down with a headache, pressing his temples.
Too much fragmented information made his mind a bit messy, so it was time for a relaxing topic to unwind. Jiang Jianming casually asked, “Teacher, what do you think of the great emperor and the commander?”
“Oh,” Teacher Du’s eyes lit up in his deep eye sockets, with a posture of “I’m not sleepy when it comes to this”, he said with a smile, “Little Jiang, do you want to hear about the textbooks, or do you want to hear about the gossip?”
“…”
Jiang Jianming frowned, “Teacher, please be serious.”
“Hey!” Teacher Du slapped his thigh, deepening his disrespectful smile, “Little Jiang has read the evaluations in the history books, do you still need to find a teacher to teach you?”
“If you want to talk about the stories of the founding figures, the unofficial history is much more fun, haha…”
Jiang Jianming was sweating coldly, thinking, that it hasn’t been a hundred years yet, the emperor and the empress dowager are still in the White Jade Palace, can you not be so suicidal? (TL: Emperor mentioned here is Emperor Lin Ge, the current emperor)
That being said, he actually knew that the founding gossip stories were…irresistible to the people of the empire.
Especially between Great Emperor Kaios, Commander Aslan, Empress Sylph, and Crown Prince Lin Ge—
That indescribable, unbreakable, chaotic, infatuated, love-hate entanglement of the past.
One could argue about merits and demerits, right and wrong, and argue on the wisdom network; one could chat about gossip, talk about wild history, and stimulate people’s blood.
For example, who is superior in military and political talents between the great emperor and the commander, and who is the first to fail each other in this pair of monarchs and ministers?
For example, who does the great emperor truly love in his heart, his empress Sylph, or Lin Ge, who has been with him day and night under his command for many years? Was there a personal factor in the crowning ceremony that overruled the public opinion and crowned the crown prince?
Or, after the founding of the country, the great emperor and the commander disagreed, and Lin Ge, who was raised by the commander when she was young, what did she think when she was caught between the split great emperor and commander?
Even, the empress of that year and the empress dowager of today, Sylph, who was alone in the White Jade Palace during the Holy War, what kind of mood was she in?
It is said that the empress often goes to Watson Star City, could it be that the empress and the commander have something indescribable…
“In my opinion, Dawn is actually asking for trouble,” Teacher Du shook his head and said, “Relying on being a few years older than the great emperor, he regards himself as an elder, has no consciousness of being a minister, and even beats and scolds on the spot when he is angry, the great emperor dares not fight back or talk back.”
“In this way, the great emperor can still keep people in Watson Star City, which is already benevolent. That mansion backed by mountains and lakes, built to compare with the White Jade Palace, has servants, chefs, medical care, and robots inside, and even allows the commander to raise dogs and birds. After the commander died of illness, it was sealed off, and now no one can get in. I think…”
Jiang Jianming was looking around to see if there were any outsiders hearing this dangerous conversation. At this moment, hearing what Teacher Du said, his heart was slightly settled.
It seems that the teacher is a fan of the great emperor, at least he won’t be caught by the patrol police… He took a sip of coffee, trying to suppress his shock.
“I think!” Teacher Du slapped his thigh again, excitedly said, “This is simply the great emperor’s deep love for the commander, but failed to get it!”
Jiang Jianming choked on his coffee and coughed violently, holding onto the table.
