The red pot was still boiling on the small table next to the glass window. The smooth meat and fresh vegetables were mixed with red oil. Together with a few random side dishes, it was the best dish to go with the wine. A bottle of high quality wine didn't take long before it was swallowed by Zhong Shouhu and Xu Le. The two of them didn't drink in a heroic manner. They didn't have the awe-inspiring aura of a whale swallowing the sea, but they drank one cup after another. They slowly sipped and kept turning their wrists, and their speed was extremely fast.
Zhong Shouhu picked up a wet towel and wiped off the sweat on his face and neck. He unbuttoned three buttons on his normal white shirt, but he still seemed to feel that the air was a little stuffy. He raised his eyebrows slightly and looked at the colonel beside him. He then looked at the glass window next to the table and the shade of the trees on the street outside the window. He said, "I want to get some air."
The colonel saluted him and waved his hand to summon a few soldiers. They walked out of the restaurant and took out all kinds of tools. Without hesitation, they quickly and neatly removed the entire glass window.
The night breeze blew gently on the floor around the stove, and it was slightly wet. Xu Le, who was taking off his military uniform, felt his fingers stiffen. He felt the cool air rushing in and couldn't help but be stunned and speechless. For some reason, deep in his heart, he thought of the arrogant back when he got off the train halfway through the Shanglin Mountain on the Shougang High-Speed Railway two years ago.
"Much better." Zhong Shouhu sighed softly and lifted the collar of his shirt to fan the night breeze that kept coming in. Seeing the emotion between Xu Le's eyebrows that he didn't try to hide, he smiled slightly and said mockingly, "I've been eating in this restaurant for decades. Of course, I won't let the boss lose money. Little guy, are you going to show your cute sense of justice even for such a small thing? "
Xu Le picked up the wine in his cup and drank it all. He grimaced slightly because of the spiciness, and then shrugged to show that he didn't comment. Over the years, he had seen too many privileges appear in the Federation. He wasn't numb yet, but he wasn't surprised either.
"In the eyes of many people in the Federation, I'm the darkest and most arrogant warlord. I'm the local tyrant of the West Woods who actually took over the Federation and damaged the authority of the government."
Zhong Shouhu looked at him expressionlessly and said, "My Zhong family has defended the western border for the Federation for thousands of years, but in the end, we will be cursed for thousands of years. Since I have to bear the infamy, why shouldn't I enjoy the feeling of power? "
"If the Federation wants to station an official, they need my approval. If the Department of Defense wants to draft a battle plan, they need to discuss it with me. I am the emperor of this galaxy. I … am the savior of the people of the West Woods."
Xu Le understood why this mature big shot sitting across the table would say such self-evaluation in front of him, which went beyond arrogance and bordered on arrogance and stupidity. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that everyone in the hotel, including the professional soldiers from the West Woods who had been protecting him, had already left, leaving only the two of them.
Based on the firm beliefs of more than twenty years, he quickly retorted subconsciously, "There has never been a savior, nor an immortal emperor."
"That's right. The Federation has already been free of the imperial system for tens of thousands of years." Zhong Shouhu looked at him with a slightly emotional expression and said with slight mockery, "But everyone knows that the emperor has never disappeared. They just changed a few clothes."
"George Carlin, the transcript of the conversation after the tea party at the beginning of autumn."
Xu Le raised his head and said the source of this famous quote. He had a strange feeling in his heart. He felt that Commander Zhong's words were not referring to himself, but to something else.
"I heard that you used to be a squatter in Dong Lin?" Zhong Shouhu looked at him and said with a smile, "If that's the case, you do have some fate with the Zhong family."
The real big shots of the Federation seemed to be very good at this kind of method of abruptly changing the focus of the conversation to control the atmosphere of the venue. In the few conversations that Xu Le had with the madam in the back of the mountain, he had deeply experienced this kind of headache-inducing communication method, so he did not feel too uncomfortable. He calmly replied, "Two years of maintenance of the mine, what fate?"
"Dong Lin … is that replica of the ancient clock still hanging on Bell Tower Street?"
Zhong Shouhu drank another cup of wine. The liquid, as hot as fire and as pure as water, entered his body and actually turned into a kind of reminiscence and a very distant heaviness.
Hearing the words "Bell Tower Street", Xu Le's heart shrank slightly. He stared blankly at the other for a moment and realized that the middle-aged man was only reminiscing about the past and did not seem to be grasping onto his most secret past. He said somewhat hesitantly, "I heard that it's been put in a museum."
"Yes, after so many years, it can only become a pile of trash in a dark corner of a museum. In this Federation, how many people still remember what happened back then?"
Zhong Shouhu's eyes lowered slightly and said, "Back then, the 4th Military Region was sent to Dong Lin to develop a mining planet. The command ship crashed into the main planet of Dong Lin and turned into a sky full of fireworks. Unfortunately, the ancient clock carried by the commander of the 4th Military Region was not destroyed."
When Xu Le heard this, he thought of the … clock in front of the square in front of the Zhong family's old house at No. 36 Wei2 District. He thought of the ancient story of Bell Tower Street where he had lived since he was a child. His body could not help but stiffen slightly. He thought of something and understood something. He could not help but feel that the world was really too unpredictable.
Zhong Shouhu's beautiful eyebrows raised slightly. He drank another cup of wine and said slowly with a hint of biting coldness, "This is a big joke in the history of the Federation. Because according to the investigation of the Federation government later … Oh, the Federation government at that time seemed to be called something like the Bullsh * t United States. They also had a bullsh * t management committee … They said that the reason the battleship crashed into the ground was because of a simple gravity calculation error that could not be any simpler. "
He stared into Xu Le's eyes with a cold gaze. "Do you think my ancestor would make such a stupid and heartbreaking mistake?"
Xu Le thought of the main character of this story that he and his orphan companions seemed to often laugh at when he was a child — the commander who left behind a famous quote about fireworks and then left with his tail between his legs. He could not help but feel his lips and tongue become a little dry.
"But the government thought so, the media thought so, and so did the stupid people who had just broken away from imperial politics and happily threw themselves toward the words like democracy and freedom."
Zhong Shouhu said expressionlessly, "So the management committee of the Federation took the opportunity to launch a rectification movement within the military. The Fourth Military Region was forcibly transferred away from the East Woods District where countless crystal mines had already been discovered and came to the West Woods that was still a piece of uncivilized land at that time. "
Xu Le lowered his head. The chopsticks in his hand were a little stiff and awkward. He guessed what this big shot wanted to say, but in the depths of his heart, he could not accept it for a while. The origin of the names of the streets in his hometown that he had known since he was a child was actually the fruit of the Federation's dark politics.
"What gravity calculation error? It's just a conspiracy that countless people participated in. "Zhong Shouhu's emotionless words finally proved his guess.
History appeared in front of Xu Le in a way that was personally narrated by the descendants of the people involved, but in a completely opposite way. It turned out that the first army to enter the East Woods District was the Zhong family's Fourth Military Region. It was also after this incident that the Zhong family was forced to come to the western border of the Federation, and that was how the name of the Zhong family in the West Woods came to be.
It turned out that this incident was just a conspiracy of the Federation government. It turned out that the sky was not really blue, and the clouds were not always white. The democratic sages who peacefully overthrew the monarchy and enjoyed great fame in history were not so clean. If this continued, could it be that George Card was really an uncle, and Li Pifu was possibly a woman? Was Schiller really someone in the five-person team? Were the two moons above S1 really the failed products of an alien experiment?
Xu Le thought so. He was silent for a long time, drinking three glasses of wine in a row, and then asked a question that even he himself thought was stupid.
"Why?"
Perhaps the current head of the Zhong family, Zhong Shouhu, had not had the opportunity to tell these stories that happened countless years ago, to tell the Federation people about the humiliation and conspiracy of the family that was once regarded as a warlord, so when he heard this stupid question, Commander Zhong's answer was very calm.
"Because the elected government that just won the election and successfully forced His Majesty to step down urgently needs an opportunity to weaken the seven families. Most importantly, the government needs the support of the former royal family."
"The Federation crystal mine union is the price for this support."
The Federation crystal mine union controlled the most basic lifeline of interstellar travel, and was the core and most crucial giant enterprise of the entire Federation. Xu Le lived in the East Woods District. In other words, his family had worked for this giant enterprise for generations. However, until a few years ago, he still thought that he was working for the Federation, like the people of East Woods, until he met a certain distinguished friend.
"It's the Tai family," he answered in a deep voice.
"The Federation government was able to make the Tai royal family peacefully hand over the power in their hands. I never believed that there was no insider trading. The crystal mines on the East Woods mineral planet that are more precious than gold were undoubtedly part of the deal. "
Zhong Shouhu said expressionlessly, "At that time, East Woods had not yet been fully developed. Our Zhong family was the first to enter, and naturally, we were the ones that had to be sacrificed."
Xu Le had never had any good feelings about the political circle, but as an orphan born at the bottom of the Federation, he always habitually stood on the side of the elected government, and did not have much good feelings about the seven families hidden behind history.
After a moment of silence, he said somewhat unnaturally, "But a privileged class like the Zhong family is not a good thing for the Federation to begin with."
"Could it be that those pig-headed politicians who only know how to compromise and exchange benefits, who only know how to wave their arms and use beautiful but illusory words to incite the stupid people, who slammed the table and scolded us while secretly taking our money and playing with the women we gave them are a good thing for the Federation?"
This was the problem of the lack of system and monitoring, but the system itself was much better than the seven families or the political system of the Dynasty even further away. Even if the stupid people's choices were very stupid, and even if the people they chose were very sad … they were only allowed to choose, but they still had some right to choose.
Xu Le wanted to refute the other, but when he thought of his experience after escaping to the capital ring and the strange stories that the uncle had experienced, he lost the will to refute the other.
"Now, you are the highest commander of the Federation's frontline. President Pabre has always given you the most selfless support, bearing the strong pressure from the parliament and the political circle. As far as I know, the Department of Defense has never interfered with your command in any details."
He said, "That is all history."
"Forgetting history means betrayal, not to mention that history is now."
"When the Dynasty ended, the Federation government and the seven families shared the benefits equally. Only the Zhong family was chased out of the rich capital ring and stationed in the barren East Woods. When they discovered the treasure in East Woods, we were chased out of East Woods by such a despicable and disgusting scheme and came to the barren West Woods."
"Now that we are about to attack the Empire, the West Woods will be the Federation's most important native region. Where is the Federation going to chase the Zhong family?"
"I named the girl Zhong Huoyan because I want her to remember what this newborn Federation did to the Zhong family many years ago. Child, you have to be alert. This Federation will continue to do such things to us in the future. "
Xu Le thought of the cute little watermelon, the weight that she might have to bear on her thin shoulders in the future, and the origin of her name. He could not help but silently say the words that had been passed down in his hometown by the ancestors of the Zhong family after the warship crashed.
"My mood right now is lonelier than fireworks."
"The Federation wants to destroy the Zhong family, and they are trying to destroy the Zhong family right now, just like the warship that exploded into fireworks years ago."
Zhong Shouhu raised his eyebrows slightly and said calmly, "I look forward to it."
…
…
(Yes, I have finally filled in the East Woods section in the first volume. How satisfying. This chapter is very f * cking difficult to write. Speaking of which, tomorrow's chapter will still be a dialogue, warning everyone first, but this is the most important thing in this volume.
If I were to drink too much right now, I would definitely say arrogantly, "These few chapters are writing history. Although what is written is actually rubbish, it is still very important rubbish in this story."
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