When Blackstar the Great was mentioned, Li Linghai grew excited all of a sudden. His eyes that had been as indifferent as ice were beaming with brilliance. He raised his voice and said, "In fact, both the Cultivators and the Immortal Cultivators share the same human nature. A country that has developed for a thousand years will always have all kinds of interest groups — tumors that suck the people's wealth and expand abnormally.
"Take the late years of the Star Ocean Republic for example. They are exactly the same as the Imperium of True Human Beings today. Rotten wood is the official in the court, and tigers and wolves reign supreme in the sea of stars. Even the 'four Kurfürst families' that control the politics of the Imperium were already taking shape at that time, except that they were not as large and awesome as they are today."
Li Yao thought for a moment and sighed. "As a matter of fact … when I was on Firefly, I read some of the files that were decrypted by the 'national archive'. Your criticism about the chaos in the late years of the Star Ocean Republic is not entirely wrong."
Li Linghai looked at Li Yao rather approvingly and nodded. "You are not one of those hypocritical Cultivators because you are realistic. That's very good.
"All in all, in the last years of the Star Ocean Republic, many of the chronic diseases that existed in the Imperium today were beyond cure, which can be seen from the fact that a tiny Alliance of the Holy Covenant in a corner of the sea of stars was able to crush the Star Ocean Republic.
"If the governance of the Cultivators at that time was truly fine, and the Cultivators and the ordinary people were truly united without any grudges, how could the Star Ocean Republic, which was at the center of the cosmos and boasted many prosperous worlds, have been unable to do anything about the Alliance of the Holy Covenant, which was outnumbered and outnumbered?
"Therefore, Wuying Qi, as the commander of the border guards of the Star Ocean Republic at that time, driven by the lofty ideology of saving the country, the people, and the civilization of mankind, purged the entire Star Ocean Republic with blood and fire, trying to remove all the tumors so that his country, his people, and his civilization could be great again!
"In Blackstar the Great's ideal, a great government that boasted absolute power and could extend its tentacles to the bottom level of the vast sea of stars was the core for the civilization of mankind to regain its glory. The noble families and nobles had no place in the utopia. Those who handled the specific affairs should and could only be the civil servants of the government. They were His Majesty's hunting hounds.
"By the way, even the peasants on the most barren planets in the most remote space zones of the Imperium should be loyal to the government, the Imperium, and His Majesty himself instead of being controlled by a certain sect leader, Sector master, or fleet commander.
"In such a way, the Imperium would be able to carry out the word 'fairness'.
"His Majesty and his government directly controlled all the resources of the Imperium. They had an honest, rigorous, and independent inspection system, as well as the ruthless secret envoys of the emperor who boasted a high combat ability, to monitor the implementation of the 'contribution point system' by the civil servants everywhere. Once any corruption or conspiracies were detected, they would be punished severely immediately.
"In the meantime, with the abundant resources under His Majesty's direct control, public education would be promoted, and the resources of the teachers and training facilities in the public schools of Immortal Cultivators would be significantly increased. It would be ensured that both the children of the Immortal Cultivators and the children of the hominoids could be admitted to the schools of the same level without discrimination. They would receive the same education and accept the test of potential according to the same set of rules. Background was not important but only potential. The strong would go up, and the weak would go down.
"All in all, Blackstar the Great's Imperium naturally had to insist on the distinction between 'true human beings' and 'hominoids' and ensure that the resources were tilted to the true human beings to the maximum extent so that the resources could be maximized.
"But on the other hand, the Imperium also had to spare no effort, and even a lot of resources, to ensure that the channels of promotion from 'hominoids' to 'true human beings' and from 'bottom-level Immortal Cultivators' to 'upper-level Immortal Cultivators' were smooth, open, and just.
"The two points complement each other and promote each other. It's like a person's two legs or two fists. Neither of them can be missing.
"That was the real, purest true path of immortality. It was the optimal configuration of resources and the only hope for the civilization of mankind to survive in the dark universe.
"The 'true path of immortality' that the nobles of the Imperium are promoting right now only retains the first principle, 'survival of the fittest, and the winner is king', but they have forgotten the second one, 'fair, open, and absolutely equal competition'. It is a completely castrated version. How can it guide the civilization of mankind to move forward?"
Li Yao blinked his eyes quickly and decided not to argue with the queen about the details. "Fine. Although I still don't agree with the idea of considering human beings purely as resources and war machines, I have to admit that if public education is promoted so that the offspring of the ordinary people have the rights, conditions, and environment to train themselves equally, and if the 'potential test' and the 'contribution point system' are ensured so that everybody can compete from the same starting line, it will at least be much better than the Imperium right now."
"Other than the mobsters of Starlight, I've never met any other Cultivators."
Li Linghai stared at Li Yao thoughtfully. "You are sort of the first real Cultivator that I've met. But you are different from the ones that I read in the books, too. It seems that we have both received too much vilification and brainwashing, resulting in great misunderstandings about each other. Perhaps, if we continue our communication, we will find more and more common understandings and opportunities for cooperation."
Li Yao smiled. "Perhaps. Please continue, Your Grace. I'm very curious about how Blackstar the Great's grand cause came to an end in the end. How did the great government that was fair, open, and fair, where everybody had the right to compete on an equal footing with absolute power and integrity in his dream turn into … the Imperium today?"
"Fate, destiny, and luck."
Li Linghai sighed and said, "It's like a curse. It's really like 'success is because of the Holy League, failure is because of the Holy League'.
"Blackstar the Great gradually established and gathered an enormous fleet in the confrontations, negotiations, and a series of battles against the Covenant Alliance. His prestige was established, and his team was established to compete for the hegemony of the world. Eventually, he marched to the capital of the Empyreal Terminus Sector.
"However, it was exactly because of the existence of the Holy League and the lingering military pressure that Blackstar the Great was unable to reform the Star Ocean Republic and build a brand-new Imperium of True Human Beings.
"In many places, the newborn Imperium of True Human Beings still retains a lot of remnants of the Star Ocean Republic — the hideous, stinky remnants.
"For example, the four Kurfürst families right now, including the Li family, have been 'noble families of Cultivators' with a long history since the age of the Star Ocean Republic. They control a lot of seats in parliament and the economic lifelines in various fields of the country. Some of the Sectors that they have high control over are also almost their private fiefs.
"Under such circumstances, if Blackstar the Great wanted to completely remove the tumors, he would've risked the 'hemorrhage' of the newborn Imperium of True Human Beings. If the Holy League seized the opportunity to attack him, he might've been doomed forever.
"Therefore, in order to get through the chaotic period of the change of regime as soon as possible and stabilize the situation so that he could deal with the Holy League, Blackstar the Great had to compromise with part of the tumors that seemed to be 'smaller'. He roped in the small interest groups to strike the big oligarchs and completed an incomplete 'reform'.
"Even so, the newborn Imperium was still faced with the crazy counterattack of the oligarchs of the old days. With the Holy League outside and the oligarchs inside, the Imperium spent the most soul-stirring ten years in its history.
"Hehe. Perhaps, in your history books, the war in that period is' the unyielding resistance of the valiant and stubborn Cultivators against the evil Imperium ', but in fact, it was the dying struggle of the oligarchs of the Star Ocean Republic.
"It's a shame that, although the oligarchs were annihilated by Blackstar the Great in the end, some of them escaped from the incomplete reform and slowly expanded in the hundreds of years that followed. Eventually, they evolved into the new generation of stronger, smarter, and greedier oligarchs led by the four Kurfürst families today."
Li Yao frowned and said, "According to the education that I received, Blackstar the Great does not seem to be a man who would show mercy to his enemies."
"Everybody has their limits. Blackstar the Great was a human being after all, not an immortal god."
Li Linghai said with a sigh, "Perhaps, Wuying Qi in his prime years could've swept away all the decayed structures and the greedy, blood-sucking tumors with his wisdom and vision, not letting go of even the smallest shrimp, and established the great, ideal country. However, when he overthrew the old and ascended to the throne, he was already more than three hundred years old. Also, his body and soul had been seriously exhausted after wandering and killing all his life. By the time he was truly crowned as' Blackstar the Great ', he had already passed the peak of his physical strength, wisdom, and combat ability."
Li Yao pondered for a moment and realized that it did make sense.
According to Su Changfa and Di Feiwen's introduction, Blackstar the Great spent his early years in the Martial Meritocrats Sector, where he was thrown into a volcano and almost burnt to death. Naturally, his body was greatly damaged.
Later, he seemed to have found a certain primeval relic or the legacy of the Star Ocean Imperium. He was modified into a half-human, half-ghost appearance and wandered in the sea of stars for a hundred years before he finally reached the Star Ocean Republic.
After he reached the Star Ocean Republic, it would've taken him at least decades for a Mr. Nobody of unknown backgrounds to climb to the position of a general of the border garrison step by step.
So to speak, Wuying Qi was truly hundreds of years old when he turned into Blackstar the Great. He was about to kick the bucket.
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