Him and their stars.

Chapter 1905: Admiral Suo, a Man of Both Literature and Martial Arts

Yu Lian couldn't help but be startled.

He had never expected to hear this name here, so he couldn't help but ask again: "Who were you talking about just now?"

"Lieutenant General Jaeger Sobek, the Wolf of Dawn. I didn't expect that this dangerous imperial general is also here." Lieutenant Hines' voice was low, still with a hint of obvious worry.

That guy finally officially became a lieutenant general! In the sequence of the Imperial Army, reaching this position has the authority to command all aspects of the task. In the long history of the Galactic Empire's space conquest, many times, the commander who led the army to conquer a country was just a lieutenant general.

An imperial general who reaches this level may be able to obtain a dreadnought as his flagship based on his qualifications, military achievements, and background.

But, then again, Sobek is not even 30 years old yet. He actually came out earlier than in the previous timeline. Is this also my fault?

...Well, this doesn't seem to be a question.

No one noticed the commander's family entanglement, or rather, they were entangled in other directions.

Captain Nemo frowned with a worried look on his face: "Isn't he now a member of King Suluka's shogunate? Why isn't he with the community? Why is he here?"

This is of course what Yu Lian wants to know.

Of course, he remembered that Sobek should have been under the command of Marshal Ikenroga and was part of the Far Shore Raiders Group. After the fall of Said, he was also one of the admirals of the Imperial Squadron responsible for pursuing the remaining fleet.

From a purely tactical perspective, the pursuit was certainly not a success.

The main fleet and the Relic went their separate ways, and both managed to escape the pursuit. The former successfully reached New Shenzhou, with an entire star region that was easy to defend and difficult to attack as a backup, and had a chance to catch their breath by relying on the mountain and sea waterway. He took the Relic and crossed the far coast again, reaching the area controlled by the empire, and began a long and dangerous expedition.

Even so, as one of the pursuers, Jaeger Sobek also left a deep impression on everyone on the Cruiser. After all, he had made great achievements in the Judgment War in the New World, earned the name "Wolf of Dawn", and was also a "rival" certified by the superior.

According to the last battle report, the squadron led by this guy was vaguely moving towards the Cantilever Star Region, carrying out the strategic mission of blocking the Minton Channel and dismembering the community's territory. But today, three months later, this old friend appeared in the Empire's homeland, which was indeed unexpected.

"What a haunted fellow," Captain Nemo said with gritted teeth.

It can be seen that Sobaek's name did put a lot of pressure on him.

However, Yu Lian only felt hard work.

"...Speaking of which, from the cantilever to Helots, even if we take the shortest route, it will take at least fifty or sixty days." Feifei also discovered the same problem.

As a professional, the navigator immediately estimated and replied, "It will take at least six weeks to travel day and night, and that's if maintenance is kept to a minimum."

Captain Nemo said in a deep voice: "Forced march? He is indeed a great man!"

Yu Lian laughed and said, "In the past, officials were sent from the capital to Hainan Island to fish, and the pace was about the same."

"So that's it. He was ostracized and demoted?" the first mate suddenly realized.

"But the news said that I will be in charge of the exercise fleet? The next step is to take over the dreadnought, which is clearly a promotion." Anne disagreed.

Captain Nemo waved his hand. "Anyway, he's a tough opponent... Well, of course, I absolutely don't admit that he's the commander's old enemy! That's clearly a political claim by the Empire. From the beginning, he was never on the same level as the commander. General, please don't be offended. You are open and aboveboard, and you have a filter for your former friends. But we, the third party, have a different perspective. At least on this level, we should be more objective than you."

Yu Lian's expression was very proper and reserved, but his heart felt a little bit uncomfortable.

He still felt that being able to flatter Captain Nemo to this level was already an art. But the problem was that, flattery was flattery, but his words at this time were still about 70% sincere, which immediately made the atmosphere very subtle.

More importantly, I was perhaps the only one at the scene who could feel this subtle sense of unnaturalness, and my mood suddenly became even more complicated.

Perhaps thinking that he had made the atmosphere a little too tense, Captain Nemo hurriedly said, "I do not deny his ability. Although Vice Admiral Sobek's ancestors were from a famous family, he actually only has an empty title of nobility, which is equivalent to an ordinary citizen family. With such a background, he was able to become a general before the age of thirty, so you can imagine his ability."

Yes! What a complicated person! I used to think I knew him very well, Yu Lian thought.

Feifei smiled and said, "So, Captain, you mean that we should get away as soon as possible?"

The captain nodded vigorously. "This is actually a strategic shift, but it does not mean that we are afraid of the other side. But in the final analysis, the main task now is to meet up with our comrades in the raiding fleet and avoid unnecessary trouble."

Yu Lian couldn't help but laugh: "I thought you were advising me to set an ambush and strangle him in the cradle."

"Hey, can it be done? Well, actually with the capabilities of our Silence, maybe there is a chance." The captain immediately became interested.

"..."

"I'm sorry, sir. I lost my composure." Captain Nemo quickly said, "We should still follow your instructions: Under the premise of not affecting the current main combat objectives, we should consider killing the Imperial Army. The results of the battle are not the priority."

In short, now that the Silence has entered the Imperial Army's internal channel through the communication node, this small Steel Rock Fortress is of no use.

The fourth-level fortress of this empire was too fragile in front of the Illuminator warships, so fragile that it might be difficult to withstand three rounds of attacks from the arc cannon. If it were normal times, everyone could just launch a wave of bombardment outside the range, and then order the defenders to surrender and hand over energy supplies, weapons, treasures and girls, but unfortunately this was not everyone's main purpose after all.

This is probably why the pirate world, no, the ranger world, can always attract so many talented people.

In short, everyone spent a lot of patience and finally let go of the fragile space city. According to the original plan, they took the orbit outside the galaxy, circled the planet with dense space facilities, and continued to move towards Xumoe.

Of course, now that we have gained access to the internal reference authority of mid-level military officers, we can start to carry out a lot of intelligence work.

The chief intelligence officer on board was Colonel Singh, but the promising former secret police officer of the Communist Party of China has now begun to establish an independent intelligence station in the Great Freedom City and has taken a group of capable officers with him. However, the remaining personnel are not mediocre either, and they can conduct a more detailed military analysis through a large amount of semi-confidential briefings.

They quickly made a detailed report: the Imperial fleet that was conducting exercises and tests in the Helots area was indeed quite large, and included three of the latest Barbarossa-class dreadnoughts. In short, Jaeger Sobek's main task now was to lead these warships to complete a one-month sailing mission and ensure that the newly built warships could serve as usual and meet all construction indicators.

This was a not very important but very exciting job. According to the established practice, the Imperial general in charge of this task would receive one of the Dreadnoughts as his new flagship after completing all the tests.

This also means that the title of Admiral Sobek has more value. He can also sit at the table in meetings of the Grand Marshal's Office or even the Privy Council in the future.

Then again, he had just returned to Helots from the cantilever of the community in three months, which was basically close to a forced march. For a general to return from the front line at such a speed, he would either have twelve gold medals or clear the court of the emperor, but he got such a good job that was neither light nor heavy, which was really not normal.

...So, for a mere Sobek, Barbarossa is really needed? Is she enjoying the same level of treatment as Giafil?

To be honest, even the core members of Brunhildt's shogunate, such as Wolfna, Olivia, and Nerhana, are still using old ships.

Is it really because of “military achievements”?

With such doubts, everyone continued on their journey. Three days later, they received news that Vice Admiral Yeager Sobek had led the exercise fleet to Steel Rock.

"What a quick move!" Captain Nemo exclaimed.

"This is his undoubted advantage." Yu Lian said.

If you think about it carefully, even in the previous timeline, Sobek's mobility has never been questionable. As for whether his "speed is like the wind" is for marching or escaping, it is purely a matter of attitude rather than ability.

"Even so, he is only worthy of eating dust in front of you!" said the captain.

On the other hand, the commander of Steel Rock Fortress had probably never seen such a big leader as Admiral Suo, so naturally he wanted to try his best to entertain him, and naturally he had to slaughter pigs and sheep, cook cattle and brew wine, and have the sound of gongs and drums and the waving of red flags and so on.

On the local folk news channel in Helots, Yu Lian saw Sobek chatting and laughing with the various legions in the fortress. This old friend even met with many representatives of the people in the star regions and many leaders of the slave workers, as if it was a military and civilian party that transcended all races and classes, and it seemed like a happy occasion.

This guy really didn't seem to be worried at all whether there might be one or two assassins hidden among the slave leaders he was meeting.

So, from that heartless smiling face, Yu Lian could actually see a bit of magnanimity.

This is different from the reserve and arrogance of the imperial nobles and generals. It is a more upright and magnificent color.

It's not easy, a mere brother like Suo actually stood up. Yu Lian just thought it was very interesting.

Of course, although what people say among the people seems to be a very happy situation, the internal information seen in the military intelligence channel is a completely different story.

In order to entertain Commander Sobek, the commander of Steel Rock Fortress requisitioned daily necessities from more than a dozen labor camps in surrounding galaxies.

"Life supplies?" Feifei asked curiously. She felt that even though the empire was at war, it should not be short of even the basic life supplies.

"To be precise, it's a luxury product. Haha, you also know that luxury is a relative word rather than an absolute concept." Yu Lian said.

You know, the so-called "labor camps" of the empire are actually cities of varying sizes. There are orbital cities in space, dome cities on the surface, and of course settlements on habitable planets.

Except for a small number of security and management personnel, more than 95% of the residents in the city are slaves. They look no different from ordinary citizens, laborers or farmers, and they also have their own families and homes, hospitals and schools, and even some recreational facilities.

However, unless they have made some merit or received amnesty, they will live in this "city" of writing slave labor camp for the rest of their lives, doing the same monotonous work day after day like livestock and spending their lives in a narrow and cramped living space.

...If nothing unexpected happens, the same will be true for our descendants.

Their "city" certainly does not need currency, and all daily necessities are rationed.

As for the daily food, of course, it is mainly high-calorie, high-fat, high-carbon compressed canned food. This will not only prevent people from starving to death, but also make them fat, strong and energetic, and they will not die suddenly on the spot when doing heavy physical work. Of course, if people always eat these foods as their staple food, they will inevitably have various diseases when they get old. However, isn't this also the natural law established by the spirit of the universe?

Of course, the Tirrero people are not devils after all. Occasionally, they will send fresh vegetables and meat, as well as sugar, wine, and cakes to reward the slaves.

Even for real cattle and horses, sometimes eggs, oats, alfalfa, cheese, etc. are added to their feed. This is understandable.

For most slaves, the fresh meat, fruits, vegetables and the like, which were distributed once every one or two weeks, were the small but real happiness for these lowest-level laborers in the empire.

It was these little pleasures that the commander of Steel Rock Fortress had requisitioned to entertain Sobek.

This means that the dozen or so labor camps nearby may have to prepare to eat only canned food for the whole year.

So, after Sobek participated in the event with a smile on the surface, he immediately arrested the commander of Steel Rock Fortress. The reason he gave was not for collecting slave materials, but that "the fish delivered was not fresh enough."

In a word, if the fish is not fresh, it means disrespect to the soldiers. If you disrespect the soldiers, it means disrespect to Admiral Suo. If you disrespect Admiral Suo, it means disrespect to His Royal Highness Prince Su. If you disrespect His Royal Highness Prince Su, it means disrespect to the empire.

If you don't respect the empire, then you are a traitor, right? Who else should we arrest if not you?

Afterwards, Sobaik, in the name of King Su, opened the warehouse and distributed comfort items to all the slave workers in the Helos star zone. He also recruited 100,000 slave soldiers at one time.

The empire's large number of slave soldiers often do the hardest, most tiring, dirtiest and least technically demanding work on warships, and also serve as so-called cannon fodder in land warfare systems. Even if they die on the battlefield, there is no pension, and at most the Grand Marshal's Office will pay a buyout fee of fifty gold royals to their former masters.

This is the origin of the "Fifty Yuan Brothers".

But even so, joining the army as cannon fodder was really the best way for slaves to change their fate. As long as they could get a military merit, it would be enough to buy their freedom and transform themselves into the civilian class.

There are indeed examples in the history of the Empire where people were liberated slaves at the beginning and eventually became generals. His descendants are now also citizens of the Empire. So, why can't it be me?

In short, for slaves who had been like cattle and horses all their lives, conscription meant that they could no longer serve as cattle and horses in peace, but this was also a true grace from the emperor. One can imagine what kind of cheers Lieutenant General Yeager Sobek was receiving.

(End of this chapter)