However powerful the Deep Sky Fleet was, even if all the important posts such as captains and advisors were taken by the Dongfang family, the remaining professional posts had to be filled by the Immortal Cultivators of other surnames who were ten times more numerous.
It was needless to say that the bottom-level posts required a hundred times more hominoid warriors to play the glorious and sacred role of "cannon fodder", too.
In the shipyards that produced the starships, the Crystal Suit Legions that moved together with the starships, the light infantry regiments that provided fire support for the Crystal Suit Legions, and even the fundamental posts that supported the effective operation of the Dongfang family, countless Immortal Cultivators of other surnames and hominoids were working hard.
If the Dongfang family's fleet was regarded as a pyramid, only the few bricks on the top of the pyramid were carved with the word "Dongfang", and the enormous base that supported the top of the pyramid was made of the Immortal Cultivators of other surnames and hominoids.
They had made the greatest contributions, and even the main work had been done by themselves, but their credit and achievements had all been stolen by the Dongfang family shamelessly. Most importantly of all, such days were not only the past hundreds of years but also the future hundreds of years!
None of the Immortal Cultivators of other surnames were willing to tolerate such a system.
When their fury that had been accumulated for hundreds of years finally found an outlet, the energy that they unleashed was astonishing.
Fortresses were always breached from the inside.
Those Immortal Cultivators of other surnames who had been suppressed by the Immortal Cultivators of the Dongfang family for generations and could never rise up were destined to be the gravediggers of the Dongfang family.
Governing dozens of Sectors as a single family, and lacking a glorious title or even a title such as "emperor" but only an awkward "Kurfürst", the Dongfang family was destined to never win the loyalty and trust of all the people under their rule. They could only manage to maintain their reign with violence.
Violence originated from fear, and fear originated from the lack of hope of a successful resistance. Right now, the weakness of the Dongfang family behind the violence had been revealed. The hope of a successful resistance was vaguely popping up in the hearts of the Immortal Cultivators of other surnames, like the first dawn on the horizon when the night was about to pass!
It was needless to say that the other three Kurfürst families had been supporting the Immortal Cultivators of miscellaneous surnames under the Dongfang family's reign in secret, giving them unrealistic promises and glamorous triumphs. The reformists had also infiltrated many worlds under the Dongfang family's reign through all kinds of channels. They boasted a high organizational ability and appeal among the Immortal Cultivators of miscellaneous surnames who took up 90% of the population!
A torrential storm swept through many Greater Thousand Worlds under the rule of the Dongfang family at the same time.
Starting from July, the incident of cannibalism was gradually fermenting. The entire Imperium of True Human Beings, especially the heavy industrial worlds where the bottom-level Immortal Cultivators were more concentrated, burst out an enormous and astounding meeting, demanding a thorough investigation of the matter. Most importantly of all, Dongfang Renxin's "clients" should be found out without letting go of any of them.
With the various forces fanning the flames, the scale of the gathering of the various worlds under the Dongfang family's rule was the largest, and the conflict was also the most intense.
It was said that more than half a million Immortal Cultivators were gathered in the largest gathering, which was known as the "coalition of a million Immortal Cultivators". The spearheads were all aimed at the highest leadership of the Dongfang family, and they even questioned the legitimacy of the Dongfang family's reign over the local world. The whole planet was on fire.
For such blatant "rebellions", the Dongfang family naturally chose to suppress them mercilessly in the beginning.
However, the opponents were not the defenseless civilians but the Immortal Cultivators who had also awakened their spiritual roots and could control spiritual energy freely.
A lot of Immortal Cultivators of miscellaneous surnames had boasted rather high combat ability during their hundreds of years of service as "cannon fodder" for the Dongfang family. They could even be called valiant warriors.
Besides, every battle-type Immortal Cultivator was a killing machine that was fast, super intelligent, and boasted high stealth and survivability. They would not be silly enough to confront the Dongfang family's fleet head-on. Instead, they would hide in the skyscrapers or even the underground cities that looked like a maze, where they would appear and disappear unpredictably while they sabotaged and fought "unrestricted battles".
In order to deal with an insane, reckless battle-type Immortal Cultivator in a complicated urban environment, it would take at least twenty battle-type Immortal Cultivators of the same level to be effective. During the pursuit, it was very possible that the enemy would sabotage quite a few skyscrapers and completely jam the traffic. It was even possible that the local spiritual energy transmission tubes would be destroyed, resulting in immeasurable losses.
That was just one Immortal Cultivator.
What if it were a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand, or five hundred thousand?
Fighting a protracted, devastating street battle, guerrilla battle, and unrestricted battle in the highly-developed economy and industrial town in their own territory, resulting in "collateral damage" of millions of people, and blowing their hometown into smithereens by the way?
No intelligent commander of the Dongfang family's fleet would be willing to face such a mission.
What was even trickier was that more than 90% of the mid- and low-level officers and bottom-level soldiers in the fleet that was sent to suppress the enemy were all Immortal Cultivators of other surnames and hominoids.
Under the reign of the Dongfang family, as long as the mid- and low-level officers did not have the surname "Dongfang", they would never be able to make a name for themselves. No matter how hard their ancestors tried, it was already their limit to be promoted to deputy captain or advisor.
With that in mind, was there any reason for the mid- and low-level officers to help the Dongfang family slaughter another batch of Immortal Cultivators of other surnames who were fighting for their interests?
Even the captains whose surname was "Dongfang" were not necessarily the core of the family. They were also faced with the glass ceiling and could never be promoted. Their military credits would be shamelessly looted by the core members of the family, and so on. Although it was impossible to write two Dongfangs at the same time, here came the question. Why were the main bloodlines and the secondary bloodlines treated differently? Why were the "secondary bloodlines of the east" only able to pilot the ragged, outdated starships no matter how many military credits they made, while the rookies of the "main bloodlines of the east" had the opportunity to pilot the cutting-edge warships that had just been produced?
Such a fleet of suppression did not have the slightest morale or combat ability. It would be a shame if they did not mutiny.
As it turned out, the Immortal Cultivators of other surnames did not have the slightest loyalty or reverence for the ancestors of the Dongfang family.
On the third day of the suppression operation, a mutiny really took place.
Two of the Dongfang family's arsenal warships were hijacked by the mutinous soldiers and landed on the surface of the planet. The Immortal Cultivators of other surnames who were having a gathering barged in and captured all the senior officers whose surname was "Dongfang" on the warships. They were tied up like pigs.
The picture, as well as the enormous gathering and demonstration of the Immortal Cultivators of other surnames, was all sent to the outside world through secret channels. It was then broadcasted day and night through the propaganda machines of the reformists and the three Kurfürst families, slapping the Dongfang family in the face again and again.
The Dongfang family's violent reign was mired in a vicious cycle.
The mutiny proved that all the Immortal Cultivators of other surnames were unreliable. In order to resolve the problem quickly, the only way was to gather all the Immortal Cultivators of the Dongfang family and suppress them with "their own people".
However, if they did that, they would be standing on the opposite side of the 90% Immortal Cultivators of other surnames. Even the Immortal Cultivators of other surnames who were not rebellious in the first place would be forced to rebel.
Besides, if the Immortal Cultivators of other surnames were unreliable, the secondary branches of the Dongfang family might not be reliable, either. They were even more unreliable!
In the various Sectors under the governance of the Dongfang family, two unquestionable rumors had been spreading out.
Firstly, it was said that the Dongfang family had reached a consensus that they would no longer trust all the Immortal Cultivators of other surnames. A great purge would be carried out within the Dongfang family's fleet, in which at least one-third of the Immortal Cultivators of other surnames would be killed.
As for the remaining two-thirds, it was not too early to celebrate. To ensure their loyalty, the Dongfang family would plant barriers in their bodies and even put collars on their necks that could explode at any moment.
As a result, all their descendants would have to serve the Dongfang family loyally for all their lives!
Secondly, it was said that there were serious disagreements within the Dongfang family. Many secondary branches believed that the incident was obviously caused by the leadership of the main branch and that they should take responsibility for it on their own. If they wanted to save the Dongfang family, the only way was to find out all the leadership of the main branch and hold a fair trial.
In other words, the secondary branches of the Dongfang family were planning a "family coup" against the main branch!
These two rumors actually contradicted each other and couldn't stand up to careful consideration.
However, in many cases, the so-called rumors were actually predictions that were far ahead of the truth. Even if something that had no shadow in the beginning became a reality as long as enough people talked about it.
The two rumors precisely hit the deepest weakness of human nature.
Nobody could deny the possibility of the two rumors.
For a moment, the Immortal Cultivators of the Dongfang family did not trust the Immortal Cultivators of other surnames, and the Immortal Cultivators of the main branch of the Dongfang family did not trust the Immortal Cultivators of the secondary branches, either. As Li Yao once said, the war of "everybody versus everybody" was about to take place within the Dongfang family. How could the so-called "suppression" be carried out?
With such chaos within the family, how could the fleets deployed in the capital and the noble lords who were loyal to the Dongfang family resist the aggressive attacks of the other three Kurfürst families and the reformists?
Rallies and demonstrations broke out in the Empyreal Terminus Sector one after another, too. The cries for Prime Minister Dongfang Wang to step down had never stopped. Quite a few times, with the acquiescence of the various forces, they even rushed to a place less than one kilometer away from the prime minister's residence and shook the glass of the prime minister's residence like tides day and night.
Many blood-boiling pictures and the roars of the ordinary citizens of the Imperium were transmitted to the entire universe through the modern Spiritual Nexus, further instigating the bottom-level Immortal Cultivators who were full of fury.
The so-called public opinion was mostly the groundless air, but it could occasionally turn into oil that would add fuel to the fire.
After more than a month of instigation and ferment, the trend of "everybody deserves to be killed" had been established, and the fatal dagger could be unsheathed.
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