Zhou Yifu was best at the decline and collapse of the Star Ocean Imperium. He was quite eloquent when he talked about the history. "Judging from the relics that we have excavated and the historical materials left by the Star Ocean Imperium, the Star Ocean Imperium was essentially the same as us in terms of communication and transportation across the Sectors. The only difference was that their starships were larger and faster, and their star beacons were denser and more extensive. That's all.
"If we speculate with the technology of the Star Ocean Imperium, in fact, the only Sectors that the Supreme Emperor could effectively control were the dozens of Sectors near the capital, the Empyrean Terminus Sector. As for the Sectors further away from the territory of the Imperium, his control over them was getting weaker and weaker and plummeting!
"To solve the problem, the Supreme Emperor adopted the enfeoffment system like most of the rulers of the Imperium in history.
"But the enfeoffment system had its own fatal drawbacks, too.
"If the central government controlled the local areas too strictly, the local areas would lose their initiative, and their development would be extremely slow. They would also be disgusted with the central government.
"But if the central government gave the local areas more control and let them develop freely, it was very possible that the local areas would not be able to get rid of them and might even threaten the central government!
"The Supreme Emperor's solution was to use a supreme secret technique to duplicate his genes and create twenty 'doppelgangers'. These twenty doppelgangers would lead the most elite forces of the empire and form twenty 'Primeval Sects' to rule the strategic areas at the border of the empire!"
"The so-called 'sects' were just another form of 'fief' and 'fief'!
"By logic, since they were his clones, they should have been more loyal to him than his' children '. There shouldn't have been any problem, right?
"As a result, everybody knows, when the Supreme Emperor launched the 'Billion Lightyear Expedition', trying to annihilate the last remnants of the civilization of demons, ten of his twenty clones, including the 'Blood God', the commander of the expedition army and his strongest clone that he dedicated his soul to, betrayed him!"
"Eventually, the expedition failed. The Imperium collapsed, and the universe entered the 'post-Star Ocean Imperium' era!
"Right now, many legends and stories believe that the Blood God, the commander-in-chief of the expedition army, was bewitched by the extraterrestrial devils in the Great Expedition of Billions of Lightyears. That was why he degenerated step by step and eventually turned into a demonic Cultivator known as' Mad Armageddon '. He directed the Armageddon Rebellion that led to the collapse of the Imperium single-handedly!
"Of course, this kind of story is very suitable for a teenage middle school student."
"However, since all of the fellow Daoists present here are extraordinary figures of the Yuanying level, this is clearly not enough to convince you."
"The reason for Blood God's betrayal is very simple. It's nothing more than a conflict between a powerful local warlord and the central government."
"During the thousand years of the rise of the Star Ocean Imperium, the Blood God, as the strongest clone of the Supreme Emperor, had been fighting in the frontline all the time. While he honed his astonishing strength, he also accumulated a powerful army that was loyal to him and countless loyal allies who fought side by side with him!
"When the territory of the Star Ocean Imperium was initially stabilized, the Blood God's' fief 'was in the cold, bitter land that bordered the last forces of the Demon Beast Dynasty. In order to survive in such a place, the Supreme Emperor had to give the Blood God greater autonomy so that he could do whatever he wanted.
"It is completely reasonable for us to speculate that, during the hundreds of years of war, the clones who fought at the frontier of the Imperium like the Blood God had long turned into warlords who had their own 'independent kingdoms' and were quite satisfied with the status quo.
"Once the last remnants of the civilization of demons are completely annihilated, the existence of those 'warlords' will no longer be necessary at all. The wise Supreme Emperor will certainly collect the power in the hands of the 'twenty clones' and even deprive them of their 'fief'. Their sects will be relocated to the 'Empyreal Terminus Sector' so that it will be easier to control them."
"When the birds are gone, the bow is put away; when the rabbit is dead, the hound is cooked. If we can think of such a logic, if the Supreme Emperor can think of it, his twenty clones can certainly think of it, too.
"It is absolutely intolerable for the clones who have turned into warlords!
"Therefore, ten of the twenty clones rose up to fight against the Supreme Emperor on behalf of the Blood God. It was not the Blood God's scheme alone but the irreconcilable contradiction between the local forces and the central forces!
"Even if the extraterrestrial devils were really involved in the matter, the sequence should've been reversed. It was not the extraterrestrial devils who bewitched the Blood God and made him degenerate into the Mad Armageddon, which led to the division of the expedition army and the collapse of the Imperium.
"The real sequence should've been that the Blood God and his clones had been harboring malicious intentions toward the Supreme Emperor for a long time. They were worried that the Supreme Emperor would deprive them of their power, so they took action before he did!
"They knew that they were not as strong as the Supreme Emperor and that they had forces loyal to the Supreme Emperor. That was why they allied with the demons and the extraterrestrial devils and destroyed the expedition army and the Star Ocean Imperium together!"
Zhou Yifu's new interpretation of the 'Armageddon Rebellion' silenced the spacious hall.
However, there was no Yuanying to argue.
They were all adults. Naturally, they did not believe theories that could only fool middle school students like 'the Cultivators are the good guys, the Demonic Cultivators are the bad guys, and the Blood God was good in the first place until he was corrupted by the extraterrestrial devils'.
According to Zhou Yifu, the competition between the central forces and the local forces, and the competition between the emperor and the warlords, was perhaps the truth of history ten thousand years ago.
Scratching his goatee, Zhou Yifu continued. "History is a lesson for us. Why can't everything that happened in the Star Ocean Imperium happen again in the Imperium of True Human Beings?"
"Fellow Cultivator Zhou," Jiang Hailiu said solemnly, "are you suggesting that the Imperium of True Human Beings is likely to be faced with the competition between the central forces and the local forces, too?"
"Not likely, but certainly," Zhou Yifu said confidently.
"As long as the technological level of the Imperium of True Human Beings is not far beyond that of the Star Ocean Imperium in terms of communication and space sailing, the dilemma that collapsed the Star Ocean Imperium in the past will certainly repeat itself in the Imperium of True Human Beings! By my estimation, the rulers of the Imperium of True Human Beings can only control the dozens of Sectors around the 'Empyrean Terminus Sector' effectively at best. They will certainly not be able to control the borderlands millions of lightyears away!
"Right now, the Imperium is faced with the serious military threat of the Holy League. It is even less likely that the Imperium will adopt the inefficient and slow way of ruling directly!
"If we govern it directly, the capital of the Imperium will have to react to everything in the hundreds of Sectors. It's like a dinosaur that is dozens of meters long has to control every nerve ending. If it is bitten on the tail by another ferocious beast, it will not feel the pain until a few seconds later. How can it work?"
"Letting the nerve endings decide on their own and adopting the 'enfeoffment system' is imperative.
"Didn't the star child say that? As long as Li Yao, Luoxingzi, and the rest of them are willing to surrender, the Flying Star Sector will be their 'fief', and they will be the 'Sector Master' of the Flying Star Sector.
"It is obvious that it is very common for the Imperium of True Human Beings to enfeoff a new Sector or even to the local natives after it is discovered. Otherwise, the term 'Sector Master' wouldn't have come into being.
"Is it because the Imperium of True Human Beings does not want to swallow the Flying Star Sector directly? Of course not! It is because they have too many Sectors that are too far away for them to manage!
"If that is the case, we will have to reevaluate the capability of the Imperium of True Human Beings.
"According to the star child at the beginning, the Imperium of True Human Beings occupied the prosperous area at the center of the cosmos and boasted hundreds of the most prosperous Sectors.
"But the context in which he said that was meant to intimidate Li Yao, Luoxingzi, and the rest of the Cultivators so that they would surrender obediently! There must be more to the story than meets the eye!
"It's just like in the wars of ancient dynasties, when the civilians and their families claimed that they had an army of a million soldiers. It was just a bluff.
"Right now, we know that there is also the Holy League at the center of the cosmos other than the Imperium. The two parties are on par with each other. Therefore, half of the thousand most prosperous Sectors will have to be cut down first. Each party will have control of three to four hundred Sectors at best.
"In the meantime, of the almost four hundred Sectors, only dozens of them are actually under the effective control of the rulers of the Imperium. The rest of the Sectors are all independent kingdoms governed by the 'Sector Masters' who provide resources, soldiers, and experts for the Imperium on a regular basis.
"When the Imperium of True Human Beings was at its peak, the Sector Masters were naturally loyal to the central government and were willing to provide tremendous resources.
"However, after hundreds of years of war between the Imperium and the Holy League, how much loyalty do the independent kingdoms have to the central government?
"Assuming that we can develop to a certain extent and turn ourselves into a tough bone that does not have much meat and is hard to chew, how many Sector Masters of the Imperium of True Human Beings will be willing to chew us at the risk of bleeding and losing their teeth?
"By then, it is very likely that the elite troops at the central area of the Imperium of True Human Beings, who are the real 'emperor's army', will be engaged in a battle with the main force of the Holy League. It is impossible for them to come out in full strength to deal with the unruly peasants in the middle of nowhere.
"For the warlords at the border of the Imperium, there is nothing to be gained from chomping on the dry, tough bones that we are. Even if they agree to the central government on the surface to send troops, it is very likely that they are bluffing.
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