"General Di, are you trying to turn the entire Federation into the 'party of the emperor' of the Imperium of True Human Beings? Even the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, where you were born, will be taken into consideration?"
Bai Kaixin sneered. "Are you betraying the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors?"
"What if I am?"
Looking at his white, fat hands, Di Feiwen said with a smile, "Betrayal is nothing unusual for the Immortal Cultivators in the first place. The Federation did not shelter me and the defeated soldiers under my command because of my loyalty, did it?"
Bai Kaixin was rendered speechless for a moment.
"We have been working on the changes in the politics of the Imperium, especially the intelligence analysis and the personality profile of the new emperor."
Guo Chunfeng, the seasoned head of intelligence in the Federation, coughed and continued unhurriedly, "What General Di said is not necessarily what we are thinking, but it is too dangerous after all. Interfering with the politics of a major country with the capability of a small country is no different from playing with fire in an abyss. One moment of carelessness, and we will be doomed forever!"
"It is playing with fire, but so what? Hasn't the Xing Yao Federation been playing with fire since it was founded to this day?"
Di Feiwen said, "You were playing with fire when you established the 'alliance of nine sects' in a harsh environment where devils lurked everywhere. After the Far East Demon Kingdom was annihilated, the war between the Tian Yuan Realm and the Blood Demon Sector every day was also playing with fire. Li Yao defeating Xiao Xuance in the Flying Star Sector was also playing with fire. When human beings and demons reached peace, when the Heaven's Origin Sector, the Blood Demon Sector, and the Flying Star Sector established a new Federation, it was also playing with fire. When the new Federation fought the Black Wind Fleet, it was also playing with fire. The rise of the Federation in the past six hundred years has been marching through mountains of blades, oceans of fire, and forests with steel, blood, and fire. How can there be a certain victory? How can there be an easy rise? How can there be peace in the world without any risks?
"This is not the first time that you are aware of the strength comparison among the Federation, the Imperium, and the Holy League. The Federation is a small country at the edge of the cosmos that only occupies nine barren worlds and one or two advanced primeval relics. If such a small country wants to compete with a superpower that includes hundreds of Sectors without playing with fire, taking risks, and gambling with all its assets, I don't know what kind of 'opportunity' you are waiting for.
"All in all, in order to maintain a strategic balance with a superpower such as the Imperium, such a small country at the edge of the cosmos, such as the Federation, must intervene in the situation within the Imperium and ensure that the Imperium is in a state of mutual strife. Then, it will be a 'third force' that all parties are wary of and have to fight for. Isn't that the basic national policy of the Federation in the past hundred years?
"Regardless of the specific implementation, the unparalleled armed forces of the Federation must be projected to the Imperium first. The Immortal Cultivators believe in the law of the jungle. If the invincibility of the Federation is not demonstrated first, no words will work, and no deals will be reached!"
Di Feiwen's words cast the experts of the Federation into brief silence.
After the silence, an even more heated debate ensued.
With Di Feiwen's words as a foundation, the experts of the Ancient Sages Sector were finally able to express their opinions incessantly. Their opinions might not be very well-organized, but they at least let the leadership of the Federation know that the arguments of the 'hawks' were quite popular in the Federation.
On second thought, it did make sense. In the past hundred years, under the threat of the Black Wind Fleet, the war machine of the Federation had been functioning at a relatively high efficiency. The construction of the entire society and the advancement of the civilization had always been focused on the army and armed forces. The status of the soldiers and the experts was very high.
At that time, few people believed that the scourge of the Black Wind Fleet could be resolved easily. Five generations of people had been prepared to fight until the last soldier was left and the entire Federation was burnt to the ground. They were prepared to crawl into the crust and fight for another five hundred years!
Right now, the threat of the Black Wind Fleet had been completely resolved by the sacrifices of Li Yao and countless people of the Federation.
However, the quasi-war state that had lasted a hundred years, and the iron-blooded personalities that had been shaped by the shadow of war for generations, was not going to be restored to the peaceful state so easily.
Other than anything else, the number of troops and the expenditure of the Federation, including the cost of the production and maintenance of the starships, were already astronomical.
Should the troops and starships that had been prepared for the 'general war, the war of the scorched earth, and the final war' be maintained?
If they did not intend to maintain such a large army, the retirement of the soldiers and the sealing and abandonment of the starships would lead to enormous economic, social, and even political problems. In the rise and fall of the dynasties in history, too many catastrophes were caused by the conflicts that were escalated because the retirement of the soldiers was not handled well, resulting in tragedies.
If the army was maintained, where would the money come from? It must be noted that not only was every starship a gold-swallowing beast, but every Cultivator was also a bottomless hole that swallowed resources. The daily expenses of all the fighters and Cultivators alone were enough to make Bai Kaixin, the Chief of the General Staff of the Union Army, worry about his every hair turning white.
For a war machine, once it had been activated to the maximum, it was impossible to slow it down. Enough flesh, blood, and bones had to be stuffed into it in order to stop it completely.
In the battle to defend the Federation, not enough flesh, blood, and bones had been stuffed into it. That was the biggest problem.
"War is money burning. Those who burn their own money are losers, and those who burn other people's money are winners."
Han Baling, the eagle on the prairies of the Ancient Sages Sector, or rather, the bandit leader on the prairies, declared confidently, "For the long-term stability of the Federation, the current scale of the army must be maintained or even expanded. There is no way that the army will be reduced.
"The Federation's finances are not enough to maintain such a large army. A few years ago, faced with the threat of life and death, the people were naturally willing to contribute all their resources and grit their teeth to survive the most difficult years. But is there any reason for them to do that right now?
"Without enough funds, and to maintain such a large army, what choice do we have except for expansion and victory after victory?
"There's no time to lose. If we march to the center of the cosmos right now, we will receive the assets and technical support of the new Imperium, and we will be able to loot the remaining members of the four Kurfürst families. We will even have a chance to seize the Sectors under the control of the four families and the Holy League and make a fortune from the war. With the immeasurable wealth from the war, we will be able to issue war bonds within the Federation. The stocks of the major sects and groups will have new topics to hype. All the people will be willing to offer their last capital to help the Federation government through the most difficult period.
"What deal can be more cost-effective than that?"
"The premise of making a fortune from the war is victory, victory, and victory!"
Bai Kaixin argued, "Can we guarantee a certain victory?"
"Of course not," Han Baling said nonchalantly.
Han Baling said unconcernedly, "If we fail, the Federation will be destroyed. The war bonds and the extravagant promises will not need to be fulfilled, and nobody will care about them, right?"
Such an irresponsible statement naturally raised a new round of retorts. The "war hawks" and the "war hawks" argued back and forth. The atmosphere was more and more intense, and there was no telling where the focus of the two parties had drifted away.
At this moment, the sound of an iron cane hitting the deck echoed from the end of the conference table. Shua!
Shua! Shua! Shua!
Everybody's argument came to an abrupt halt. Everybody looked at the old man who was covered in moss and looked like a rock.
It was Gui Suishou, the most famous old man of the Federation.
There was no telling whether or not he was "respected", but Gui Suishou was indeed the person who had lived the longest in the entire Federation so far. He was also one of the experts with the highest Cultivation level, almost on par with Meng Chixin and Wu Suiyun, the two spectral Cultivators in the Divinity Transformation Stage.
However, he had focused all his techniques on the skill of "health and longevity".
Even so, his long life was enough for him to pass countless soul-stirring, unpredictable years and accumulate abundant life experience to enlighten the juniors in front of him.
Gui Suishou was qualified to participate in the meeting of the experts of the Federation and regarded all the experts of the Federation as juniors.
He was even older than the 'age' of the Star Glory Federation. Six hundred years ago, before the alliance of the Nine Sects on the home planet of the Heaven's Origin Sector was established, Gui Suishou had already been used to all kinds of changes.
The old demon had always considered himself a "recorder of history". He had even come up with the "Monument Plan", which was to record the most glorious moments of the civilizations of human beings and demons at the edge of the cosmos in his "monument".
Right now, it was the most glorious and dangerous moment for the Xing Yao Federation. The time that Gui Suishou had stayed awake far exceeded the total of the previous hundreds of years. He was even appointed as the deputy director of the "Life Research Institute" of the new Federation, where he studied the mysteries of human beings' training and longevity with biochemical technology.
Speaking of which, the Xing Yao Federation, which owned the last organized force of demons in the Pangu universe, had also received a very complete biochemical technology system from the Blood Demon Sector. By combining the biochemical technology of the Blood Demon Sector, the primeval relics of the Ancient Sages Sector, and the bodies of the Pangu in the Kunlun relic, a lot of unique, marvelous biochemical training arts had been parsed and extracted.
The Federation's exploration in the field of biochemistry was even more advanced than that of the Imperium and the Holy League. In that regard, Gui Suishou was almost a living database and a museum. He had made great contributions.
The Life Research Institute of the Center of Spiritual Energy of the Federation, which was led by him, had even conducted extensive investigations and collected data on all the trainers in the Federation, regardless of whether they were Cultivators, Immortal Cultivators, or demons who focused on the path of body strengthening. Countless papers and research reports had further standardized, digitized, and repeatable 'training', which provided clear guidance for the advancement of countless trainers.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
