However, while the experts of the Ancient Sages Sector thought so, they did not have enough theoretical knowledge to express their opinions and interests clearly. After all, they had jumped from the "feudal era" to an information society with highly developed productivity, and they had fought hard for the feudal monarchy on a continent only a few years ago. It would be too much to ask them to make decisions on the unpredictable hegemony of the universe right now.
They, including the experts of the "four new Sectors" who were in favor of sending troops, all looked at the same person — Di Feiwen, the former deputy commander of the Black Wind Fleet and the current chairman of the Ultimacy Development Committee.
If there was one person who sincerely wanted to assist the Imperium without caring about the cost, it would be none other than Di Feiwen, the former Immortal Cultivator of the Imperium.
No, the word "former" was rather redundant. To this moment, Di Feiwen had not abandoned his identity as a native of the Imperium and an Immortal Cultivator. He still kept the very ambiguous "dual nationality".
Di Feiwen's experience and his position today reflected the ups and downs of fate very deeply.
A hundred years ago, he was just a common deacon of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors. At that time, the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors was just a common business alliance at the edge of the Imperium, a loose association of countless small merchants who were trembling in fear under the clutches of the royal power and the nobles.
He only became the liaison between the Black Wind Sector and the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors at first with his bloodline from the Black Wind Sector. Then, he gradually controlled the manager of the delivery of resources from the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors to the Black Wind Fleet. In the end, he suddenly became the deputy commander of the Black Wind Fleet.
But it was truly not the right time for him to be the deputy commander. It was exactly when the defense line of the Black Wind Fleet was riddled with holes by the Holy League, and the situation was hopeless when tremendous starships in the five Black Wind Sectors were fleeing in panic.
Otherwise, he would not have been the deputy commander of the unorganized fleet when he was born as a petty merchant and a logistics officer, who knew nothing about fleet command and space hegemony.
When the Black Wind Fleet marched to, or rather, 'fled' to, the edge of the cosmos with tremendous resources, nobody was optimistic about the future of the fleet. Naturally, nobody was optimistic about Di Feiwen's own future, either.
Heiye Ming, the disobedient "Black Wind King", would never be manipulated by anybody willingly. Even Emperor Shenwu could not command him, much less the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors and Di Feiwen.
Di Feiwen was, at most, a loyal God of Wealth that Heiye Ming and the Heiye family controlled. Di Feiwen himself thought so, too.
He only needed to manage the resources of the entire fleet. As for the specific strategy and tactics, it was not his place to interfere. Of course, he did not have too many private soldiers to seize more power.
When the Black Wind Fleet was almost completely annihilated in front of the Xing Yao Federation, Di Feiwen's fate hit rock bottom. He was about to die without a burial ground in the dark star.
At this moment, fate played a huge, almost absurd joke on him.
Heiye Ming, as well as all the most zealous militarists and warmongers in the Black Wind Fleet, were dead. The remaining defeated soldiers dispersed in the sea of stars, losing all their fighting will. Caught in a panic, they could not let go of the life-saving straw. Even Di Feiwen, the God of Wealth who did not have much prestige, was able to recruit and command them easily.
The Star Glory Federation did not have the appetite to swallow the remaining soldiers of the Black Wind Fleet, either. They had to grant them the right of a 'battlefield uprising', which led to a rather decent peace deal. They were also given a planet with abundant resources, which was Boneyard in the beginning and Ultimacy right now. It was a base for them to rest and recover.
It was the beginning of Di Feiwen's good fortune, but it was far from the end of his meteoric rise.
According to the general logic, Di Feiwen's action was a complete betrayal of the Imperium. Even though he, as a 'general of a defeated army', could lead the remaining soldiers of the Black Wind Fleet to live in the Federation and gradually integrate into the Federation as a high-level general on the Federation's side, he was still an unpardonable traitor on the Imperium of True Human Beings' side. He should be nailed to the pillar of shame, skinned, and minced.
But that was the logic under the control of the four Kurfürst families of the old Imperium.
The 'new Imperium' governed by the reformists obviously had a different opinion.
In order to consolidate their power, the reformists had to look for powerful allies from everywhere in the universe. They could even cooperate with the orthodox Cultivators. They could even turn a blind eye to the identity and belief of 'Vulture Li Yao' and officially grant him the title of 'Black Wind King'. Why would they care about the past of Di Feiwen and the remaining soldiers of the Black Wind Fleet?
As a matter of fact, as the only intermediary between the Imperium and the Federation, Di Feiwen and the remaining soldiers of the Black Wind Fleet were getting more and more important. Their position was rising day by day, too.
The officials of the new Imperium and the new Federation both ignored the slightly awkward identity of Di Feiwen and the remaining soldiers of the Black Wind Fleet, intentionally or otherwise. The new emperor, the little lion who was in dire need of foreign aid the moment he ascended to the throne, even granted Di Feiwen the title of 'marquis' of the Imperium, praising the 'loyalty' and 'valor' of the peddler in the past.
A marquis. A marquis of the Imperium of True Human Beings!
A hundred years ago, countless experts from the four Kurfürst families had toiled for their entire lives in vain, scheming and scheming countless times, only to be given the title of marquis of the second class.
Even during the Imperium's counterattack, when titles of nobility were distributed in batches like hats, the Sun and Moon Sword Medal, which represented a second-class marquis, still had to be forged with tons of iron and blood with authentic military accomplishments!
If all the marquises of the Imperium in the past five hundred years learned that Di Feiwen was granted the title of 'marquis of the Imperium' out of nowhere while leading the remaining soldiers of the Black Wind Fleet on Boneyard, they would've been so infuriated that they would've crawled out of their coffins and burst into fury even if they had been burnt into ashes.
However, exactly because he knew that his identity was very delicate and his position was rather awkward, Di Feiwen kept a lower profile after he was granted the title of marquis of the Imperium. He also appeared to be more and more 'loyal' to the Federation. In the multiple remote negotiations between the Federation and the Imperium, he stood firmly on the Federation's side and slashed the negotiators of the Imperium brutally, helping the Federation to exploit tremendous precious technologies of the Imperium.
Di Feiwen knew very well that his life and the wealth of the remaining soldiers of the Black Wind Fleet were in the hands of the Federation, not the Imperium.
The stronger the Federation was, the more important they would be to the Imperium, and the more valuable they would be.
If they helped the Imperium deal with the Federation, or even completely annihilate the Federation, they would be executed when the Imperium investigated the crimes of the 'shameless traitors'. They would certainly be beheaded regardless of whether they were marquises or not.
Di Feiwen had made a clear stand. The expedition to the center of the cosmos was such a sensitive topic that it was certainly not something that he, a general with double identities, could interfere with easily.
Therefore, from the moment the meeting began, Di Feiwen had been sitting solemnly with his head lowered, as if he were an old monk in meditation. His mouth seemed to have been zipped, and he had made up his mind to remain silent until the end.
He even ignored the blatant eyes of Han Baling, the expert from the Ancient Sages Sector.
Speaking of which, Di Feiwen was in a rather good relationship with the experts from the Ancient Sages Sector, especially 'Han Baling', the king from the Ghost Qin Prairies.
Most of the experts from the Ancient Sages Sector were not pure Cultivators. It was especially so for Han Baling, an ambitious' classical militarist ', who was more interested in the true path of immortality of the Imperium than the seemingly tender Cultivation system of the Federation.
In order to cure the chronic diseases caused by the population explosion in the Ancient Sages Sector, and in order to develop Boneyard on a large scale, the Federation had shipped tremendous immigrants from the Ancient Sages Sector to live on Boneyard. As a result, Di Feiwen and Han Baling had a very close working relationship.
Different from Yan Liren, Master Bitter Cicada, and the rest of them, Han Baling was very ambitious in politics. He was keenly aware of the ambiguous relationship between the Federation and the Imperium right now, and he also knew the reasons for Di Feiwen's meteoric rise. Also, the two of them were indeed in the same boat. After only a few years, they had become sworn friends and some sort of political allies.
Right now, the experts of the Ancient Sages Sector craved a glorious war to further improve their position in the Federation, but they did not have a clear reason to refute the questions that Bai Kaixin raised. Naturally, they placed their hopes on Di Feiwen.
Di Feiwen might have been thinking about making friends with the magnates of the few new Sectors such as the Ancient Sages Sector to balance the 'old Federation system' and secure greater independence and a brighter future for the remaining soldiers of the Black Wind Fleet.
However, at this moment, everybody was watching, and it was even more inconvenient for him to reveal his thoughts directly.
It was not until Ding Ling Dong, the Speaker of the Federation, glared at him that he finally put on a bitter smile, until he knew that he could not escape at all.
"General Di, the Imperium is your hometown. If the Federation does march to the center of the cosmos, you will be asked to play an important role. The cooperation between the Union Army and the Imperium's army, the safety of the Union Army, and the negotiation of the terms and conditions after the victory will all require your contribution."
Ding Ling Dong said straightforwardly, "What do you think about the concerns that Chief of Staff Bai raised just now?"
She was forcing him to tear apart his pretense of hesitation and ambiguity.
Di Feiwen sighed softly in his heart. For some reason, he recalled his life in his hometown in the Imperium more than a hundred years ago.
It was not necessarily a warm or beautiful memory.
But however dark and cold it was, his hometown was his hometown after all!
"It's been a long time since I commanded a fleet. No. I should say that I've never commanded a fleet before. I'm probably the most incompetent 'fleet commander' in the universe, right? Naturally, the military decisions will be based on Chief of Staff Bai's opinion. "
Di Feiwen smiled and said, "Deep down, I've always been a businessman. I'm just a petty businessman who buys low and sells high.
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