Chapter 373: Newly appointed to the Imperial Military Intelligence Bureau
Atro heard bad news and good news early in the morning.
Bad news: The Military Intelligence Bureau will soon have a new deputy director. Since the last director and deputy director were removed by His Majesty the Emperor, the happy times of Major General Atlo and several major generals are about to end.
Good news: the deputy director is his brother.
Atlo couldn't understand why Hanton, who was fighting on the front line, was suddenly transferred to the Military Intelligence Bureau, but the Military Intelligence Bureau did encounter a series of difficult problems recently.
Of course, they certainly can't let the white ghost take the blame.
Arturo understood Hanton's abilities, and he felt that as long as Hanton was willing to take action, these small problems would be easily solved.
Atlo picked up the dedicated communicator and was about to notify all departments to prepare for the arrival of the White Ghost, but out of his professional sense and his own caution, Atlo hesitated for a moment and decided... to call his third uncle first and explain the current situation.
When the phone was connected, the old voice of his third uncle always made Artero feel particularly at ease.
"Third uncle...something's going on here..."
Atro briefly said that White Ghost would soon come to the Military Intelligence Bureau as deputy director.
Uncle San pondered for a few seconds, then said slowly, "Don't worry. The higher-ups don't want White Ghost to be on the front line all the time. His reputation in the army is growing every day, and that's something the higher-ups are quite wary of."
"Uh, what's up with that?"
Atro wondered:
"Hasn't Lieutenant General Thomas's reputation in the military been rising in recent years?"
"Atro, Thomas is different from the ghost. The higher-ups want to train the white ghost to be a sword in their hands, a controllable sword. Wherever the higher-ups point, the sword will stab. This is the consideration when the higher-ups allow the transformed people to participate in politics."
Uncle San sighed slightly:
“But the higher-ups didn’t expect that White Ghost would go so far as to offend the imperial power and give up his close relationship with the great emperor in order to maintain his prestige among the people.
“And we old men never expected that the White Ghost, who was supposed to have lost power, would take advantage of the gas bomb terrorist attack to decisively go to the New Federation and destroy the CIA base, allowing the higher-ups to see his value again.
"This young man is very difficult to deal with. You should get along with him properly in the future. Don't delay or slack off in the tasks he assigns you. Cooperate with him fully. In short, don't offend him, and don't get too close to him.
"If my guess is correct, he will leave your Military Intelligence Bureau soon. He will rotate through various sensitive departments in the empire, but the bottom line is that he will not be allowed to cultivate his own direct forces.
"Remember it, my dear silly nephew?"
"Okay, Third Uncle, I understand." Atro raised his steep eyebrows. "Don't reject him, don't get close to him, treat him as a proper boss... Third Uncle, you always mention "the one above". Isn't the one above the Emperor?"
"Don't ask too much about this. If you can sit in my position one day, you will see it."
The old man sighed slowly:
“If White Ghost can successfully marry Princess Daphne, he may have a chance to become one of the above in a hundred years. However, I always feel that this Hanton has some secrets.
"Okay, I'm going to get my health treatment. Don't keep calling me if there's nothing important . Remember, you're the emperor's man now. Why don't you report to him now?"
Atlo was stunned for a moment, then suddenly understood what was going on.
After hanging up the call from his third uncle, Atro sent a message to the liaison officer beside His Majesty the Emperor, a maid from a certain tentacle organization, that White Ghost was about to arrive at the Military Intelligence Bureau.
Soon, Atro received a reply letter with the words spoken by His Majesty the Emperor:
'Give him something more to do.'
Atro sat there in deep thought.
Your Majesty, do you still remember those two stupid words?
You have a really good memory.
…
Most of the Military Intelligence Bureau's offices are decentralized. For example, before Atlo was promoted to major general, he had always worked at an intelligence gathering point, and all meetings were held through projected video conferences on the Military Intelligence Bureau's exclusive network.
The same goes for the director and deputy director, who are like nails, driven into key locations throughout the empire and scattered in bases.
Apart from the Military Intelligence Bureau, only the Imperial Network Center has such a layout. The latter is mainly for maintaining the Empire's unified network.
Considering that Yang Ming and Atero are quite familiar with each other, Yang Ming's induction ceremony was held at the intelligence personnel training base where Atero was currently.
Atro was very concerned.
He held a grand welcoming ceremony for the heroes returning from the front.
The entire welcoming ceremony started from the underground dock. Virtual images were projected on both sides of the dock, with simple, direct and enthusiastic slogans such as "Warmly welcome the White Ghost" written on them.
All the instructors and students in the base were mobilized, the men put on imperial military uniforms, and the women put on miniskirts and short shirts, and lined up in two rows on both sides of the dock and on the road leading to the underground base.
Six acting deputy directors, more than 30 intelligence department directors, more than 160 heads of various departments, and thousands of intelligence station heads in the existing structure of the Military Intelligence Bureau all participated in the welcome ceremony using real or virtual projection images.
They even waited two more galactic hours.
Artero stood in front of a group of projections, wearing a neat suit and holding a cane in his hand. His face, which was somewhat ordinary in the Sherman Empire, always had an indelible smile.
Buzz——
With a slight noise, the dock gate hundreds of meters high slowly opened, and a beam of star light shone below.
Atro looked up and saw the blue sky and white clouds, then his vision was filled by the hull of the Imperial transport ship.
Wow, here he comes.
Supported by the magnetic field at the bottom of the dock, the ship slowly came to a steady stop. Fixed supports and bridges emerged from both sides of the dock. The middle hatch of the transport ship slowly opened, revealing two figures.
The white ghost stood with his hands behind his back.
The beautiful imperial singer Daphne, wearing a fluffy and elegant long dress, quietly stood behind the white ghost.
Without Atlo's call, the young people around him began to applaud vigorously. Many young female students moved towards the main passage, but they were not as enthusiastic as the male students.
"god!"
A man shouted, "You are our God!"
Shouts suddenly rang out all around.
Yang Ming smiled and waved his hand, then strode down the corridor bridge and hugged Artero tightly with his arms open.
Several maids appeared behind Princess Daphne and followed ... Looking at the current situation, no one asked her for an autograph or anything for the time being.
Atlo smiled and said, "My dear Mr. Ghost, it is an honor for us intelligence officers to have you come to the Military Intelligence Bureau system!"
"It's only been a short time since we last met, why are you becoming so hypocritical?"
Yang Ming sneered, raised his hand and hit Atero on the shoulder. Atero covered his shoulder and grinned.
"Come here, I have prepared a sumptuous canteen meal for you...Oh, no, I forgot to entertain Her Highness Daphne. Look at my brain."
Atro trotted towards Daphne, but was stopped a few meters away by Daphne's maid.
"General," Daphne said with a smile, "Just entertain Hanton. I just wanted to spend more time with Hanton, so I came here shamelessly."
"Please forgive my impoliteness, Your Highness. These are the officers of our intelligence system."
Behind Atro, a group of projections floated over and greeted Daphne.
It was still lively on Yang Ming's side. A large group of young men came up and surrounded Yang Ming, frantically asking for his autograph.
These young people who have not yet graduated from this base do not have the determination and perseverance of an "agent" at this moment; comparing it horizontally with the CIA base in the New Federation, Yang Ming feels that the students there are more professional.
Of course, there is nothing wrong with this. Young people should always be more energetic.
"Mr. Ghost! I have watched your speech dozens of times. You declared war on the corrupt nobles of the empire, right?"
"Yes," Yang Ming nodded with a smile, "I think that in the interstellar era, technology has brought about an increase in productivity, but to a large extent, it has not been fed back to ordinary people because of this part of the corrupt privileged class that greedily sucks the blood of the people and the wealth of society."
"Aren't you worried that the nobles will target and retaliate against you?"
"My parents are already living on the Imperial Star, so I have nothing to worry about. They can come and retaliate against me at any time, but as long as they are not the large-caliber main guns of the spacecraft, I have nothing to fear."
There was a burst of applause all around.
"Are you here to be the deputy director of our Military Intelligence Bureau?"
"It should be," Yang Ming said with a smile, "Now the war on the front line has stabilized, and there is no sign of a major battle for the time being. His Majesty transferred me to the Military Intelligence Bureau, probably because he wants to use the empire's intelligence system to wrestle with those corrupt nobles."
"Mr. Ghost, the war on the front line was brutal, right? After seeing the situation after that brutal war, did you regret giving that inspiring speech?"
The noises around suddenly quieted down, and a group of people turned their heads and glared at the female student who asked the question; the latter pursed her lips but still stared at Yang Ming.
Clearly, this is a pacifist.
Yang Ming said seriously:
“There is no regret after war, only fighting and sacrifice. War is never right. The destruction of human civilization by war is far greater than the stimulation of war to human technology.
"But please note that war is not our initiative. If we remain indifferent to the assassination of an entire department of the Empire by the New Federation , what will happen next? It will be an intensified erosion and a more rampant attack. This war has already begun, starting with their squeezing of the living space of hundreds of billions of people in the Empire and their continuous invasion of our internal systems. Remember, the Empire has long been at the top of the galaxy. They are the challengers and the initiators of the war.
"As beneficiaries of the Empire's power and as Imperial citizens, we should not think about how to criticize the Imperial Army that defends this power, but rather face up to the real demons that provoke us."
After Yang Ming finished speaking, he shook his head at the female student. The latter tried to say something, but several students gathered around and stopped her behind.
Someone should have some ideological conversation with her later.
Atlo had already rushed over, glanced at the female student, and smiled as he invited Yang Ming to go to the office area.
Of course Yang Ming wouldn't mind this girl's question.
He just felt that it was not enough.
The speed of the empire's train is far from enough at the moment.
…
After the welcome ceremony, the projections of the heads of various departments of the Military Intelligence Bureau all dissipated, and Her Royal Highness Princess Daphne began to visit the entire base.
In the newly decorated deputy director's office, Yang Ming and Artero sat down on the sofa in the corner.
Atlo asked quietly, "Do you want to find some pretty ladies to come over and have a drink with us? Many students here will take some private jobs for their future and Imperial Coins."
"Do you want to experience Daphne's jealousy?"
Yang Ming asked back with a smile.
"Of course not."
Atro raised his eyebrows, crossed his legs, and said softly:
"My third uncle said that you might only be here for a short time, so let's cherish this time. What do you want to do? I know a great sea view scenic spot, and there are some nightclubs nearby that are well-known in the imperial star circle.
"Of course, if you want to bring Her Highness Daphne along, that's fine too. The royal family knows how to have fun much better than we do."
"I'm here to work."
"Are you serious?"
"Of course, I will make it my goal to rectify the external relations of the Military Intelligence Bureau and make some achievements here," Yang Ming said with a smile, "By the way, before I leave, I will help you deal with a few competitors."
"Well, I have no competitors. There are many vacant positions in the senior ranks of the Military Intelligence Agency right now. It's because of the outbreak of the war that the Military Intelligence Agency needs manpower, so the original structure has not been changed."
Atro looked thoughtful:
"If you want to achieve some results and rectify the external affairs of the Military Intelligence Bureau, it is actually unwise because it will take a long time. I can say frankly that it will be difficult to fill this gap without five to ten years of effort.
"But if we do something that His Majesty likes and is beneficial to the empire, it will be different. Not only will it have an immediate effect, but it will also earn us some political capital."
Yang Ming leaned to the side: "Are you dealing with aristocrats?"
"Yes, I have a lot of evidence here of great nobles embezzling local defense forces' military funds, but I am too insignificant to touch the various forces involved."
Atro began to talk:
“Hanton, you may not understand the problem here.
"Local defense forces seem to have nothing to do with the nobles who own territories, but according to a law promulgated by the empire a long time ago, when local defense forces increase the number of ships beyond the original standard in order to protect the noble territories, the excess military expenditure caused will be shared by the imperial government, local finances, and the local nobles who own territories. The ratio is 5:3:2. The method often used by the nobles is to attach their own private fleets to the increase in local defense forces and use the empire's money to support their own ships.
“However, this is just the more routine and less harmful practice.
"When the hereditary nobles extended their hands to the local defense forces, all kinds of corruption and theft of local military funds became commonplace and very common. When the insect plague broke out last time, there was a serious problem of insufficient combat power of local fleets and the inability of paper combat power to reach the designated battlefield.
"We are now at war on the front line, and there is a huge gap in military spending. I think it's time to reap a wave of these rich pigs."
Atro paused.
"It's something only you can do, Hamton."
Yang Ming nodded and sat there lost in thought.
Atro really didn't disappoint him.
This guy has no sense of the overall situation.
When fighting breaks out on the front line, the most important thing is to maintain unity and stability in the rear, not to mention that there are thousands of private fleets from the nobles who are reinforcing the front line.
Using the local military budget black hole to deal with this group of nobles at this time, isn't that equivalent to raiding the homes of these private fleets?
Then... wouldn't he have one more source of fire within the empire?
However, Yang Ming is still relatively cautious.
The threat of justice is right above his head, and he can't take a wrong step now.
"My suggestion is to ask our third uncle."
"Well, okay," Atro said in a distressed tone, "Hanton, my brother, my idol, the two of us can get the job done. My third uncle will definitely be very conservative. We just need to inform His Majesty in advance."
"Our Military Intelligence Bureau is a department under the military," Yang Ming said earnestly, "Your Majesty's favor has a time limit. Look at me, the trust and support of the military is the most important to you."
Atro leaned back.
He wouldn't call the old emperor a big idiot...
"I'll contact them tonight."
"Okay, I'll take a break first," Yang Ming stretched, "Take me to my place."
"Come with me," Atro said with a smile, "I have prepared a little surprise for you."
