After decades of preparation, more than ten years of bloody battles, millions of lives were sacrificed, and too many troops were sacrificed. Finally, the glorious victory was piled up. The overall national economy of the Imperium of True Human Beings, on the other hand, was on the verge of collapse. It was barely possible to support the existence of such a bloated, complicated expedition army.
The Council of Elders was ready to stop while they were ahead and "end the war decently" by maintaining the current frontline.
The elimination and reduction of the expeditionary army was imperative.
As for the miscellaneous troops that were still strong and valiant, such as the tough soldiers under the command of "God of War" Lei Chenghu, it was still under discussion.
The surplus generals who did not have any troops and did not have anything on their hands were naturally the first targets to be executed.
Of course, those people were all generals of the Imperium nominally. They were either commanders or advisors. The worst of them even had the empty title of "commander of a branch fleet". They had also made great contributions in the Imperium's counterattack and had so many medals on their chests that they could be worn as Crystal Suits. It would be too unreasonable to kick them away directly. It would also damage the glorious image of the Imperium.
The Council of Elders' solution was to summon the commanders who had lost all their troops back to the capital and enroll them in the "Royal Advanced Academy for Generals". They would be put to great use after further education.
The so-called "Royal Advanced Academy for Generals" was in fact as shabby as the name sounded.
Before the commanders who did not have any troops were sent in, the military academy was designed to send high-level officers for the Imperial Guards.
The Imperial Guards. The glorious Imperial Guards. The invincible Imperial Guards. What a glorious and awe-inspiring name in the past!
When Blackstar the Great founded the Imperium, he once granted the five fleets under his command the title of "Imperial Guards". At that time, the Imperial Guards were truly one-in-ten thousand elites and gods of slaughter who had survived hundreds of battles. They were the best in terms of combat ability, equipment, treatment, and future. They were His Majesty's direct subordinates!
Good times didn't last long. Following the decline of the imperial power in the last five hundred years of the empire, the four great families rose. How could the four great ministers watch the emperor have even a powerful imperial guard? Naturally, they used all kinds of methods to contain, corrupt, and make use of it.
In addition, the Imperial Family themselves were also disappointing. After a thousand years of sitting idle and enjoying the fruits of others' labor and erosion, they had not learned a single bit of their ancestors' combat prowess and craftiness. Eating, drinking, whoring, gambling, women, and avarice were all self-taught. What a f * cking genius!
A thousand years after Blackstar the Great perished, the so-called "Imperial Guards" had been transformed into an out-and-out joke. Not to mention the direct descendants of the four Kurfürst families, they were not even as good as the miscellaneous troops at the edge of the Imperium. The miscellaneous troops were at least occasionally disguised as space pirates or privateers in their hometown, engaged in fierce battles with the mortal enemies in the neighboring worlds, or even fought on the hellish battlefields in the frontline. All of them had some combat ability. The Imperial Guards were the most useless garbage that the four Kurfürst families used to rear the royal family and the members of the royal family and raise everybody surnamed Wuying into pigs.
What good outcomes could the generals without any subordinates possibly have after they were kicked into such a pig farm?
Leaving the future aside, the most critical thing was that the "Royal Academy for Advanced Officers" right now had neither money nor resources.
Since the military school bore the name of "royal family", it had nothing to do with the four Kurfürst families at all. After the personnel of the surplus generals and the generals without any subordinates were transferred to the "School of Generals", their salaries and allowances were all the responsibility of the royal family.
Eight hundred years ago, everybody knew that even the dogs raised by the emperor were better fed than the local Immortal Cultivators. Whoever bore the name of "royal family" above their head would be automatically upgraded to a higher level when they encountered an enemy!
But today was different from the past. Everybody knew that the emperor's family did not have any overnight food. They were so poor that they could only count on the intermittent financial assistance of the four Kurfürst families.
Since it was financial assistance, naturally, the quantity and quality would not be high, either. It was only enough for the members of the royal family and the royal family to have enough food and clothes. If they wanted to improve their personal combat ability or to carry out drills on the vintage starships produced hundreds of years ago, there would be absolutely no extra resources and fuel.
However, the royal family and the royal family at least had one advantage. Instead of going to war, they lived a comfortable life in the capital all day long, rearing birds, listening to music, and fighting crickets. They were all fat and healthy. When they were more relaxed, they could live a peaceful and happy life.
The surplus generals and the generals without any subordinates, on the other hand, could not do it.
The weapons and secret treasures of the Covenant Alliance were not to be trifled with. They were all left by the Pangu Clan on the primeval battlefield. They were as sordid and brutal as they could be. One would be heavily wounded even if they were not killed by the slightest bit of them.
After more than ten years of bloody battles, which surplus general was not heavily wounded, seriously ill, or missing an arm or a leg? Not just maintaining their original level, even the medical expenses were astronomical!
The royal family certainly did not have the money.
The ball was kicked from the royal family to the Ministry of Defense, from the Ministry of Defense to the Ministry of Finance, from the Ministry of Finance to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and from the Ministry of Civil Affairs back to the royal family. After a round of kicking, the answer was still the same — no money!
The poor could only study and the rich could fight. Without money, they could not even build up their muscles. How could they possibly become deities?
Naturally, those surplus generals all had their hometowns, which were often at the peripheral worlds of the Imperium. By logic, if the royal family could not control them, their hometowns should.
But speaking of which, in order to fight the counterattack of the Imperium, the peripheral worlds of the Imperium had been squeezed dry to the last drop of blood and sweat. They were all poor. Their economies were all on the verge of collapse or in the middle of collapse. How could they have the money to support the recovery of those garbage?
Also, more than ten years ago, they were the ones who went out with countless men on a grand scale and vowed to fight for unparalleled wealth. Right now, the wealth was nowhere to be seen. Their men had all been killed, and they were the only ones who could drag their broken bodies back home in disgrace. How could they face the elders in their hometowns?
More practically speaking, when they were Cultivators in the Core Formation Stage or even the Yuanying Stage, who did not have a few mortal enemies in their hometowns?
Their enemies were all sharpening their blades and waiting for them to return. How could those loners and commanders dare to go back to their hometowns and walk right into the trap?
If they could not go back to their hometowns, it would be pointless to go back. The "School of Generals" was a bottomless pit, too. They could only deal with the trivial problems every day, barely managing to keep themselves alive and living a life that was neither human nor ghost. They were truly at their wits' end. As the saying went, "Kicking a donkey when it is no longer useful" and "Kicking the donkey when it is no longer useful".
Zhao Zhenwu was the most typical "surplus general" who did not have any subordinates.
He was born in a barren area at the periphery of the first quadrant of the Imperium. His ancestors had worked hard for several generations. First, they established a rather powerful sect. Then, they sold everything they had and turned the sect into dozens of armed carriers. Usually, they would abide by the law and smuggle goods honestly. When they had the chance, they would also do a few murders and robberies.
When it came to his father's generation, the business grew bigger and bigger. Gradually, the petty smuggling was no longer enough. Instead, it was officially upgraded to a privateer fleet, which meant that they were licensed space pirates.
When his father was killed in a battle in one of the deals, perhaps because of his subordinates, he surpassed his father and merged the other few leaders neatly, becoming the commander of the privateer fleet. But he was even more ambitious than his father. What was the point of killing and robbing at the edge of the cosmos? They would be nothing more than bumpkins even if they were killed. A real man born in the sea of stars should make a name for himself and honor his ancestors by fighting without caring about anything!
As it happened, the Imperium's counterattack gradually began. In his hotheadedness, Zhao Zhenwu gathered his own team and recruited a bunch of desperadoes at the cost of his family's wealth. As a major general of the Imperium's army and the commander of the fleet, he devoted himself to the "great and sacred" war.
As it turned out, the ten years of bloody battles were like ten years of a hazy dream. He received more and more medals, titles, and commendations, but his troops were fewer and fewer. In the end, even his left eye and his left hand were blown off. Even his most critical abdomen had been blown up. His spiritual root was so soft that it could not even be a ball anymore. When he looked back, there was not even a single brother behind him!
Zhao Zhenwu, the Immortal Cultivator, woke up from his dream.
But before he figured out what was going on, he was invited out of the VIP ward of the general hospital politely. He was awarded new medals and honors politely, and he was thanked for his unparalleled contributions on behalf of the Imperium. In the end, he was kicked into the Generals' Study Course of the Royal Academy for Advanced Military Officers.
At this moment, below the ground of the thirty-sixth district, Zhao Zhenwu was wearing the uniform of the Generals' Study Course that had been starched so many times that it was almost white. He folded and folded the wrinkled military cap again and again, before he began to daydream again.
It was a new habit that he had developed in the Generals' Study Course.
He was daydreaming not because he was daydreaming, but mainly because he was too slow to figure out what was going on. How did he lose his foundation step by step?
After all, there was nothing else to do in the School of Generals except to stare blankly. Many surplus generals were pondering all day long like him. When they could not stop pondering, they would burst into tears, or find those members of the imperial family who were as fat as pigs to fight. Even if they had lost an arm or a leg, and their Cultivation had plummeted, it was still easy for them to beat up a few members of the imperial family.
However, it was not a good time to daydream right now.
After a brief daze, Zhao Zhenwu's eyes were focused again. His palms were so sweaty that he was almost wringing his military cap out. He looked at the 'Seven Star Jade Cutting Saber' half regretfully and half uneasily.
At this moment, the Seven Star Jade Cutting Saber, which had never left his side in bloody battles for more than ten years, was like a salted fish in somebody else's hands.
That was the appraiser of the pawnshop. According to the old saying, he was a servant.
The appraiser did not seem to have any hair on his mouth, and he did not seem to be an experienced person. Perhaps, he was a newbie in the trade. Therefore, he did not dare misjudge the treasured saber that had been passed down in his family.
"A random saber made of scrap iron. It is rusted and edgeless. It has no rune arrays, chips, or techniques. It is estimated to be … three thousand crystals."
The appraiser looked at the saber, then at him, and then at the saber again. He yawned and said lethargically.
Zhao Zhenwu's heart was heavy. What did he say? He was truly a newbie. He had misjudged the saber!
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