Chapter 331 Hidden Red Line
"cheers!"
On the second day after the birth of the Falling Wind Alliance, the Sherman Empire delegation left in a hurry.
In the Luofeng Palace, in the emperor's study, a unique barbecue dinner is taking place.
There were only seven people attending the dinner. In addition to Yang Ming, Adwang, and Emilia, there were also the two supreme commanders of the Luofeng Empire's military, Guton Maha and Lyon (Dabichi), as well as the energy tycoon 'Uncle Hatton' Kolev and Adwang's trusted female assistant.
The last person can be understood as Edwang’s partner.
The seven of them clinked their glasses lightly, and old Kolev hurried back to the grill to fiddle with the expensive ingredients.
Emilia changed into a loose sweatshirt and helped Kolev.
"It went smoothly," Edwang said with a smile, "Just as we expected, the Foreign Affairs Bureau got the news in advance. They also wanted to put pressure on us in public, so they deliberately didn't notify us in advance."
Yang Ming curled his lips slightly: "As long as we study their style of doing things, we can almost understand their thoughts. They just want to use this conference to let Luo Feng express his absolute loyalty to Sherman."
"Yes," Adwan sighed slowly, "However, if we take this step, it will inevitably arouse their vigilance and fear, and future actions will be more stressful."
"Since we have already started, there is no reason to stop," Yang Ming said, "Give up your fantasies and prepare to fight."
Edwang glanced at the beautiful woman who was chatting and laughing with Gutonma and Leon, and said with a smile: "How is it?"
"Your wife?"
"We haven't gotten married yet," Adwan said with a smile, "I plan not to get married, and she can understand me."
Yang Ming was surprised and asked, "Are you still afraid of the division of the family property? Why don't you get married, the emperor of a country?"
Edwang looked at Yang Ming, pursed his lips slightly, and a bitter smile appeared at the corner of his mouth, but the look in his eyes was very firm: "For our ideals."
Yang Ming was a little confused.
"This is bound to be a long and arduous process," Edwang whispered, "If we want to remove the word empire from Luo Feng, we will have to pay a heavy price. What I think is that when we achieve this goal, we must guard against the restoration of imperial power, and the greatest threat comes from my offspring."
Yang Ming looked at Ed Wang: "Are you serious?"
"otherwise?"
Adwant narrowed his eyes and smiled: "My successor should not be my blood descendant, but someone who resonates with my spirit and thoughts. Not getting married is also to prevent power from changing my lover."
"You... then find a few more lovers."
Yang Ming muttered.
Edwan was almost pissed off by this guy and whispered, "Do you think everyone has unlimited physical strength and energy like you? I can't even keep up with the energy now."
"Hey, you have to drink more wolfberries even if you are in middle age."
“Goji berry, what is that?”
"The food from my hometown," Yang Ming said with a smile, "is a blessing for men."
The two looked at each other, and Edwang said a few names of medicines, and then they laughed together.
Emilia muttered quietly beside the grill, "It feels like the two of them are mumbling something very obscene."
"Haha," Old Kolev laughed, "Don't worry about them. These two guys are like-minded. That's a great thing for the people of Luofeng."
Emilia curled her lips slightly: "I wanted to chat with him, but my brother took it all."
"You young girls."
Old Kolev smiled and said, "I have a daughter who, like you, has an inexplicable fondness for him."
Emilia hurriedly said, "I just respect my teacher. This is respect. He gave me a lot of spiritual guidance, which made me feel that my life was not confused. He was like... a mentor, that's right."
Old Kolev narrowed his eyes in a smile, and without exposing the beautiful and generous girl, he continued:
“My daughter doesn’t listen to anyone and is very , except for him.
“I asked my daughter to come and help me, but she said she was busy.
"He asked my daughter to come over and help him, and my daughter said, 'Oh, OK, I'll be there right away, I have nothing to do.'"
"laugh!"
Emilia couldn't help laughing: "If there is a chance, Uncle Hatton, please help me introduce this sister."
"Of course, but she's away on a long trip now," Kolev glanced at Yang Ming and muttered unhappily, "She's working for him."
Emilia understood immediately.
That sister should have gone to the Sherman Empire.
"I am a little worried now that the Sherman Empire will put pressure on us Luofeng."
"It's inevitable, little girl."
Kolev gave a thumbs up:
“The fact that you can think of this is enough to prove that you are not just a vase obsessed with cosmetics and bags.
“Luofeng’s alliance did not harm the interests of the Sherman Empire, but the establishment of the Luofeng Alliance announced the sudden increase in Luofeng’s national strength.
"This will cause the Sherman Empire to feel a sense of crisis. Although your brother's speech tried hard to say that his goal was to make Luofeng stronger, this cannot offset the Sherman Empire's suspicion."
Old Kolev added:
“Moreover, whether it is an imperial system or a federal system, the will of the state will not be shaken by the will of an individual, but will only be driven by the interests of the state.”
Emilia asked: "Will Luofeng's rise be detrimental to the Sherman Empire?"
"It is not conducive to the Sherman Empire's rule over its vassal states, as well as the stability of the vassal states and even within the Sherman Empire."
"What if we are a bridgehead against the New Federation?"
"Same," Kolev said, "The New Federation doesn't dare to provoke the Empire for now, so all the pressure is on Luo Feng. Now is the best time, because if we miss the current window of opportunity, Luo Feng will have to face the triple pressure of the Zerg, the New Federation, and the Sherman Empire."
“It doesn’t feel like an outright win.”
"This is just the beginning of this battle... These are ready to eat. Send them to the two big bosses quickly."
"Okay!"
Emilia picked up the plate and ran excitedly to Yang Ming and Edwang.
Yang Ming thanked them with a smile. Emilia, who was carrying a plate beside them, joined in the conversation with the two.
Of course, the three of them were talking about serious political issues.
…
At the imperial border, the imperial escort formation was resting between consecutive jumps.
Rona sat in the weightless massage chair with a mask covering her face, enjoying the slight pleasure brought by the vibration.
The sound of footsteps rang out, and Madam Marg came to the side, gave Princess Rona a noble salute, and said in a gentle voice, "Your Highness."
"Well, how's the investigation going?"
"The other three participating countries of the Luofeng Alliance have been completely controlled by Luofeng."
Madam Marg said softly:
“Although I don’t know how His Majesty Edwan did it, he is indeed very capable. Luo Feng annexed these three small countries in the form of an alliance, which not only made the original citizens of the three small countries less resentful, but also avoided the influence of our Sherman Empire.
“Of course, this form of alliance also has its drawbacks, and it is easy to form a situation where the tail is too big to be removed in the future .
"But Your Highness, if we think about it the other way around, if they continue to absorb physically adjacent countries to the alliance in this way, and bring them into the alliance... Luofeng may soon be out of our control."
Rona asked, "Is it serious?"
"Yes your highness, this is serious."
"But after reading their alliance letter, I found that they do consider dealing with insect plagues more."
"That's just the surface," Madam Mag crossed her arms and leaned on the edge of the table. "Your Highness, you probably haven't read the history of the empire carefully. This history, which is tens of thousands of years thick, is the source of our good policies for governing the country."
Rona nodded slightly, indicating that Mrs. Marg should explain it more clearly.
Mrs. Margot sighed:
"I admire Edwan very much. Out of personal admiration, I also like General Yang Ming. If these two young men are the rising stars of the Sherman Empire, it will definitely be a very lucky thing for us.
“I talk too much off-topic.
"First we need to understand why the Empire needs vassal states."
"More helpers in interstellar politics?"
"This is just one of the reasons," said Madam Mag. "Economically, the annual silver system of the vassal states can effectively transfer and cover up our domestic conflicts. This system allows us to have an income independent of the normal finances. If there is a problem in any aspect of the empire, we can use this brick to fill it. It is not just for maintaining military expenses."
Rona asked, "What else?"
"The second is to be a strategic buffer in military terms and to be a helper in the event of a total war.
“These vassal states are spread across Sherman’s borders. They may not be large in size, but each of them can help the Sherman Empire defend an area.
"I'm not just talking about fighting against the human fleet, I'm mainly talking about fighting against a real large-scale insect swarm."
Mrs. Margot pushed up her glasses.
"The third is the political aspect. It's not just as simple as having a few more shouting helpers in the interstellar space. Their existence is uniformly named as the empire, so that the Sherman Empire will not be so conspicuous in the interstellar political group.
“It must be acknowledged that our country was founded on the basis of the military, and the great founding emperor conquered a large area of territory and created this great country.
"But the empire's system is indeed not suitable for today's interstellar environment. The interstellar political environment changes in a spiral and cyclical manner."
Rona nodded slowly, took off the mask on her face, and asked in a low voice: "Then what? Why do you say that their alliance is a serious matter?"
"Alas," Mrs. Magg sighed softly, "you should study the materials we handed you more."
Her Highness Rona shrugged: "Anyway, my job is just to make a strong and powerful speech according to the speech you gave me."
"Your Highness, you are also part of the empire."
Mrs. Margot continued:
“The empire’s dependent states are constantly changing. Since the founding of the empire, it has had more than 600 dependent states. In each period, there have been dozens of dependent states. The average lifespan is longer than that of other political systems.
“Most of the vassal states implemented a reign of terror, restricting people’s freedom and providing blood transfusions for the empire.
“A small number of vassal states will see ideological awakening among their leadership, and for these vassal states, there is almost only one way forward.
"Betray us."
Rona was stunned.
Madam Mag smiled bitterly. "Edwang and Yang Ming, as well as Gutonmaha and Lyon, thought their decisions were absolutely correct. They used the form of an alliance to expand their power, and then transformed the Luofeng Empire into the Luofeng Alliance. They then used the same method to seek a larger regional alliance, and eventually developed into a large political entity with dozens of administrative stars. They then united with other powerful countries, changed their ideology, and added the word 'country' after the alliance."
"Luofeng, Allied Nations?"
"This should be their plan, a perfect plan," Mrs. Mag said calmly, "As long as they can influence the domestic politics of the Sherman Empire through other means, just like now, using money to bribe our officials - I haven't investigated it, but it is almost certain that this is the case."
Rona asked, "Are these just your guesses?"
"It's not speculation, it's the system, the hidden system of the Foreign Affairs Bureau."
Mrs. Marg looked out the window at the starry sky:
“After returning, I must report all matters concerning the Luofeng Alliance to my superiors.
“I rushed here after hearing the news to save them… You don’t have to laugh at me, I am a peace lover and I don’t want to see a large number of people sacrificed in war.
"Luofeng's outward expansion by signing an alliance happens to be one of our hidden red lines, a red line that will never be announced to the public.
"These young people suffer from a superficial understanding of the empire. They always think that the existence of this huge empire for tens of thousands of years is a fluke of history, and they have no inner strength."
"war……"
Princess Rona bit her lip lightly: "Is this war impossible to avoid?"
"It is inevitable. They chose to sign the alliance directly," Madam Mag sighed. "But the specific form will definitely be discussed later. The Empire will not directly bully a loyal follower. It should let other vassal states take action, and we will provide assistance secretly."
Rona said: "Tell them this, let them take the initiative to admit their mistakes and back off..."
Madam Marg looked down at Rona and whispered, "Politics is no joke. Your Highness, since they have chosen to break free from their chains, they must endure the pain that must be experienced when breaking free from their chains."
"Why?"
"Change will kill people. There can be no moderate change. Our interests are damaged."
Rona was unable to respond for a moment.
"I can tell you something that has been completely sealed up," said Madam Mag. "The old emperor of the Fallen Wind Empire was replaced by an omnic. His funeral was actually a ceremony to recycle the omnic."
Rona said: "I know this, and then what?"
"This is actually a countermeasure we have taken. Adwan's father, the old guy who appears to be completely obedient to us, has been in close communication with the Free United States behind the scenes, trying to find a way to get out of the suzerain treaty.
"We realized that he was going to stage a revolution on the Fifth Administrative Planet.
"We stopped him at the most critical moment."
Madam Marg said softly:
"During that turmoil, we only sacrificed one person, Edwang's father, and saved tens of millions of Luofeng people. If we can't solve it, it will be our fleet that will solve the Luofeng Empire.
“That’s a great achievement for us.
"But at that time, the Luofeng Empire had already been listed as a replaceable vassal state by us."
Rona pursed her lips gently: "Does Edwan know?"
"I don't know," said Madam Mag. "Yang Ming knew, but he chose to keep it secret from his good friend."
Rona leaned back in the massage chair and was silent for more than ten seconds: "Maybe he guessed it."
"Don't think too much, Your Highness. You are a member of the imperial family and the beneficiary of all imperial privileges. Don't let your personal subjective feelings affect your judgment. At this stage, let Luo Feng indulge in their beautiful dreams."
Madam Marg whispered:
"We all have to be loyal to our country."
Rona turned her head and looked towards the location of the Luofeng Empire’s first star.
The porthole was very narrow and only a spot of light could be seen.
Bright, and small.
