Li Yao couldn't agree more with Li Linghai's words.
He had even seen Li Linghai's zealous and idealistic expression on his face before. He had seen it on the faces of countless soldiers of the Union Army.
In a country that had been at war for years or faced with severe military pressure and threats of war, it was very easy for the army — the army — to be condensed into a gargantuan behemoth and an indestructible interest group.
At the very least, that was the case in the Xing Yao Federation.
The Union Army boasted enormous power. It had its own mines, refineries, magical equipment factories, and all kinds of military-industrial complex enterprises. It even boasted one third of the seats in the parliament of the Federation, which was more than enough to compete with the Cultivators.
One third of the military, one third of the Cultivation sects, and one third of the ordinary people. That was the general balance of power in the parliament of the Federation.
It was needless to say that the Xing Yao Federation respected martial prowess, and the soldiers enjoyed a very high social status. The tentacles of the 'Disabled Veterans Association' extended to every corner of the people and protected the interests of the soldiers as much as possible. Of course, a virtuous cycle was formed, too, which encouraged the young people to actively sign up for the army and defend the Federation and the civilization of Cultivators.
At the very least, in the hundred years since Li Yao was born to the new Federation and the defeat of the Black Wind Fleet, the gargantuan behemoth of the Union Army had indeed made tremendous contributions and sacrifices for the stability, unity, and happiness of the people of the Federation. It was certainly of positive value.
However, should the behemoth go out of control, it could still cause dire consequences. In the early years of the Xing Yao Federation, there had been a case where soldiers interfered in politics and established a 'military government', forcing all the Cultivators in the world to join the army, which was known as the 'Red Dragon Army'.
A hundred years ago, Lu Zui, director of the intelligence bureau of the Federation, conspired with 'Iron Commander' Zhou Hengdao, an important figure in the military, in an attempt to hijack the entire country.
As the old saying went, "When you have sharp weapons, you are determined to kill". Armed with chainswords and storm bolters, wearing Crystal Suits, standing on starships, and surrounded by their comrades who had fought side by side with them, they could congregate into an iron torrent that swept across the sea of stars within a breath.
For the soldiers in the steel torrent, it was only natural for them to be ignited with surging ambitions, believing that they had great responsibilities for their country, their people, and their entire civilization, and to be extremely eager to build achievements and realize their personal value while saving their country.
Therefore, it was only natural that the soldiers of the Imperium craved to end the current situation where they were constrained by the noble families and establish a unified, powerful, and 'glorious' army of the Imperium!
Perhaps the high-level commanders of the space fleets and the elite Crystal Suit Legions of the Imperium were all nobles so that they could have a high control over the army.
But those middle and low-level officers, especially those who had to charge and break through enemy lines on the front lines, were not necessarily all nobles and powerful families, right?
As Li Linghai said just now, the high-level Immortal Cultivators of the Imperium were living longer and longer.
If the noble commander of a fleet did not move from his position for two hundred years and seemed to be able to live another two hundred years leisurely, and if Li Yao was a bottom-level officer under his command who fought bloody battles in the frontline, Li Yao would certainly rebel!
"Right now, the insightful people inside the Imperium, be it the bottom-level Immortal Cultivators who can't see any hope, the Sector Masters and mine owners whose wool is being cut by the scissors at the edge of the resource worlds at the edge of the Imperium, the merchants who wander in the sea of stars looking for business opportunities but can't enter the industries monopolized by the nobles, or the young officers in the army of the Imperium who are ambitious and eager to make contributions and save the country as I said just now, they are all hated by the nobles and powerful families led by the four Kurfürst families!"
With his hands behind his back, Li Linghai said casually, "From the top to the bottom, everybody can see the sharpest contradictions. Everybody is hiding their claws and teeth and holding back. Everybody craves a world-shaking, rejuvenating reform to completely smash the old system that is decayed despite its appearance and build a glorious and great new Imperium!
"You should know that the Imperium has launched a magnificent, unstoppable strategic counterattack against the Holy League in the past ten years, right? It is the largest attack that the Imperium has launched against the Holy League in the past five hundred years. The strength of the entire Imperium has indeed been exhausted."
Li Yao nodded his head heavily.
It was exactly because of the astounding strategic counterattack that the Imperium had no time to investigate the real situation of the Black Wind Fleet or to send a new expedition army to the Federation, indirectly saving the Federation. How could Li Yao not know that?
"In fact, at first, the nobles and powerful families led by the four Kurfürst families were not in favor of such an intense strategic counterattack plan. It has always been the case for them in the past five hundred years. In terms of strategic choices, they are more focused on defense. They even hide and take the attacks passively."
Li Linghai narrowed his eyes and said coldly, "In many cases, it is not a military problem but a political one. Military strategies that are too radical can lead to a total failure, which will seriously damage the interests of the nobles and the powerful families.
"However, if they hide in the borderlands, they can keep their territory and interests safe.
"As for the Sectors at the borderlands that have been savaged to the point of devastation? After all, it is not their territory. They don't really care about it. Instead, they can use the hands of the Holy League to weaken the strength of the rising stars and prevent new 'cake partiers' from showing up. Why not?
"A hundred years ago, a new armed force named 'Black Wind Fleet' appeared at the borderlands of the Imperium. It survived the arduous war and grew stronger and stronger.
"The people of the Black Wind Fleet shocked the entire Imperium with their disobedience, brutality, and bravery. It was very likely that they would become 'cake partiers'. But in the end, they still collapsed. Even their mother world fell into the hands of the Holy League. Of course, it has been recovered now.
"While the collapse of the Black Wind Fleet was partly because the Holy League attacked too aggressively and because of their own inappropriate command, was it partly because the four Kurfürst families did nothing to help them?
"All in all, I was born in the Li family, and I've seen too much of the Li family's methods to deal with the competitors in the past thousand years.
"However, today, a thousand years later, the internal contradictions of the Imperium are so sharp that even the four Kurfürst families cannot pretend that they do not see anything.
"A war with a foreign country is always the best approach to transfer internal contradictions.
"If a large-scale war with a foreign country is not launched to transfer the resources, population, fury, and ambitions of the parties involved in the contradictions, the Imperium will really be turned upside down!
"That is the deepest reason why the nobles and the powerful families uncharacteristically launched the 'largest strategic counterattack in the past five hundred years' together with the new warlords, the young officers in the fleets and the low-level Immortal Cultivators who are eager to make contributions!"
Li Yao was greatly enlightened by the queen's explanation. He had a deeper understanding of the political ecology and the balance of forces in the Imperium of True Human Beings right now.
"The original idea was very beautiful."
Observing Li Yao's face, Li Linghai said without batting an eyelid, "The dozens of Sectors, world fragments, and resource planets that were recovered in the strategic counterattack could be distributed to the smaller nobles, the rulers of the remote worlds, the bottom-level young officers, and all the other experts who did not reap enough benefits in the previous five hundred years. Even the royal family could be given one or two Sectors to expand the range of their direct territory.
"In such a way, the contradictions between them would be resolved and a new consensus of interests would be reached.
"However …
"Should I say that the four Kurfürst families were scared that the new interest groups would continue to expand after they got the new territories and threaten their reign, so they decided to take action in advance, or should I simply say that they could never change their habits?
"All in all, in the beginning, the four Kurfürst families encouraged the young officers and the smaller sects under their command, as well as the warlords and experts in the remote worlds, to participate in the strategic counterattack under the banner of 'equal distribution of interests'.
"The Holy League is not a pushover. In the arduous war, it was also the young bottom-level officers, the smaller sects, and the new warlords in the remote worlds who paid the most sacrifices and suffered the most losses that allowed them to recover one Sector after another.
"However, after the Imperium recovered all the territories that were lost in the past thousand years and drove the Holy League back to their barren nest a thousand years ago, and after the defense line was stabilized and the cake could be divided, the big nobles and noble families all … regretted their decision.
"Hehe. When the dozens of Sectors were still under the heavy defense of the Holy League and seemed to be unconquerable, it was very easy to make the decision to give them away.
"After the Sectors were all returned to the arms of the Imperium and tasted like cherries and lychees that had been washed clean, how could the unchangeable nobles and noble families be willing to deliver them to other people's mouths?
"Not only were they unwilling to watch other people carve up the dozens of Sectors like wolves and tigers, they also thought that they were smart enough to find an 'opportunity'.
"It must be noted that in the gory strategic counterattack, countless smaller sects, relatively independent space fleets, and the Sector Masters in the remote worlds were all heavily struck. They suffered heavy losses, were exhausted, and were far away from their home camps to the frontline where they were not familiar with the environment. Many war assets had to be supplied by the four Kurfürst families incessantly. In other words, they were choked by the big nobles.
"Isn't this the best opportunity to swallow them?
"Not only do they not have to give away the dozens of Sectors that they just got, they can also swallow the territories of the smaller nobles and the new warlords, ensuring their reign in the Imperium again. For the four Kurfürst families, isn't it a deal that kills two birds with one stone?
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