Him and their stars.

Chapter 2018 The Subtext of the Empire
King Soreen, of course, knew who his elder brother was referring to.

Half a month ago, the news about this dragon whose name couldn't even be mentioned, and the series of big news that followed, really kept these high-ranking generals of the Imperial Army busy.

From the turmoil in Schlenburg, the fall of Iron Shackles Peak, the fall of the Gate of Glory, its subsequent regaining and regaining, and then its fall again, to the destruction of Fortress 2 of the Gate of Glory, Fortress 1 was blown up. This enormous stargate was suddenly forced into a state of near-total collapse.

The sheer volume of information in this year's stories is overwhelming, far exceeding the processing capacity of a normal person's brain.

However, after this series of major news events that strained everyone's backs, the demonic dragon, along with the reunited Earth fleet, disappeared into the vast sea of ​​stars.

This is a piece of news that sends chills down everyone's spine.

The most terrifying being than a demonic dragon must be a demonic dragon in disguise.

No one would suspect that this dragon, whose name cannot even be mentioned, has left the empire.

King Shazam said, "This is a stage for geniuses, a battle for the children of the era. Let the peerless geniuses, who are invincible, be dealt with by those of equal caliber."

Regardless of personal relationships, almost everyone must admit that King Brunhilde of Suryuka is the most brilliant and talented of this generation of dragon kings. Even her enemies have to acknowledge this.

"Who exactly is the sole war god of this era? To be honest, I'm still very curious about this question. Just as curious as all ordinary soldiers." This time, not only his eyes, but also his tone carried a hint of excitement.

"What are you so excited about?" The young elector of emperors calmly placed his hand in front of him, even clenching his fist to shield himself from his distant brother: "But her rule on Earth has only just begun. She will be the best military governor."

"Is she? My young brother, is he really him? Come, look into my eyes." King Shazam stared directly at the other. Even though he was speaking telepathically, his tone was still filled with a chilling sense of oppression.

“Of course she is,” King Sorein retorted. “She is bridging the gap between the Tyrellians and Earthlings, and she is doing it very well.”

"By executing celebrities and wealthy businessmen? Many of their ancestors were even officials during the Directorate government era."

"What's wrong with that? Their lives will become light, and their deaths will bridge the gap between humanity. The spirits of the universe will witness them, and the gods of dawn will grant them a glorious rebirth. Since they truly consider themselves loyal subjects of the empire, they should be grateful for such an honorable death."

The two chosen emperors had been communicating telepathically, with the surrounding high-ranking officers only occasionally catching glimpses of the princes exchanging glances. But now, even the most oblivious could see that the two were truly locked in combat. Judging by their aura, it would be quite reasonable for them to pull out light spears and clash at each other at any moment.

As his subordinates, they naturally had no choice but to retreat as far away as possible to avoid getting blood splattered on them later.

Of course, if the two princes really start fighting with knives, even if they are accidentally injured, they will have no choice but to grit their teeth and use their fragile flesh and blood to stop them.

Fortunately, this tragedy did not happen.

After a half-minute standoff, it was actually the elder King Shazam who backed down. He slightly averted his gaze and sighed, "Perhaps you read too many books. Your thoughts are also dangerous, young brother."

“It is precisely because we are young that we should read more books,” King Sorein said. “Besides, my dear brother, you are choosing to be emperor and I am choosing to be emperor. At our level, no matter what kind of ideas we come into contact with, how can we talk about danger?”

“Perhaps so, perhaps so. But, young brother, when you reach my age you will understand that danger does not lie in the ideology itself, but in the public’s perception. And the public that we royal leaders are responsible for is not the majority, but the nobles and citizens,” King Shazam said.

King Soreen seemed somewhat dismissive, but he still respectfully bowed to his elder brother, saying, "I have learned much from your teachings."

"I'll leave this to you. Try your best to keep Yang Xiyi occupied. Young brother, if you can keep this Earth fleet pinned down in New Shenzhou, you'll have done a great service. You should be able to switch from offense to defense and stabilize the front line, right? Even if I leave, the forces under your command will still be comparable to the forces of the New Shenzhou cluster."

"That will suffice. Having more troops than I can command would only highlight the Earthlings' military achievements." The young elector, while taking on the responsibility without hesitation, also demonstrated remarkable maturity and pragmatism.
"However, I can only do my best to ensure they don't break out of the mountain and sea passage. If Yang Xiyi really does come from the Dawn Starfield, then it will be your responsibility."

"So, he first needs to break through the blockade of the Dawn Nebula fleets, the blockade of the Unity Fortress, and the patrol fleets of the Dawn Channel. Then comes the New World Highway Channel, which I'm in charge of. In the end, I'm just a general reserve force, holding down the New Jade Gate while ready to support any emergency battlefield on either side at any time." King Shazamen seemed quite nonchalant and carefree: "Compared to my sister, King Su, the problems I need to face are almost negligible."

King Soreen remembered what this guy had said: that dragon whose name couldn't even be mentioned was actually the only enemy.

“Yes, as long as we take him down, this protracted war can finally end.” King Shazamen once again showed a longing expression: “Brother, you should know me. I am actually a pacifist who is passionate about studying agriculture and garden art, and I don’t really have much ambition.”

At this point, King Soreen finally realized that what his distant cousin longed for was not an individual, but a peaceful daily life after the war ended.
So, you gay guys are really giving people the wrong impression!
This protracted war, which the empire originally only aimed to conquer the Dawn Starfield and the Ring of Miracles, has exceeded its strategic goals, achieving a groundbreaking and magnificent feat of annihilation. However, faced with the long list of lost capital ships, even a large and powerful empire cannot help but feel immense pain.

If it weren't for the fact that they also conveniently wiped out the second-tier power, Cherk, voices saying "the Tyrellians are nothing special" and "the Galactic Empire is all bark and no bite" would definitely have been rampant.

Even with Earth's fall and the Blue Star Community effectively defunct, the war was far from over. The Empire had realized that, up to this point, they were not fighting the Community, but rather that demonic dragon.

"This is actually a good thing! The Galactic Empire will always be handed over to the strongest person. And what could prove this better than destroying that dragon? Young brother, the fact that we can't get involved in this kind of stage means we're already out of the game! Hahaha, so let's hold our breath and witness all of this from the perspective of mortals."

For the first time, King Soreen felt that what his distant cousin had said made a lot of sense, and he couldn't help but look at him with longing, before shivering.

He suddenly felt like he was a bit gay.

……

At the same time, inside Juyong Pass, the newly formed Shenzhou fleet, having once again achieved a minor victory, seamlessly transitioned into a well-organized state of rotation, resupply, and rest. They didn't even bother to celebrate their victory.

Compared to the series of battles that took place in the Sed and Dawn star systems, the battles in the Mountain and Sea Passage were hardly even a warm-up.

Separated by the Juyong Pass, the total forces assembled by both sides were approaching two thousand ships, with battlecruisers and larger capital ships nearing the triple digits. However, after nearly half a year of stalemate and six battles, the combined losses of both sides remained in the double digits, and not a single large warship suffered damage requiring major repairs.

This is no longer a warm-up exercise; it's clearly just going through the motions.

Even if they won, it wouldn't really be considered a great achievement, so the high command of the New Divine Continent Fleet naturally had no intention of celebrating. In comparison, the real good news was that Commander Yu, who had been out of contact for a long time, suddenly reappeared, sweeping through the outer border of the Empire and even capturing the Gate of Glory to rendezvous with Eleanor's fleet.

When the news reached Xin Shenzhou, Mr. Qi even brought a bottle of fine wine that he had treasured for many years to the front line to drink with the soldiers.

However, this happened about two weeks ago.

After returning to base, Yu Lian led the returning fleet away from the Gate of Glory, and thus, as expected, lost contact once again.

On this point, Yang Xiyi made the following judgment very calmly:

"He's already heading into the heart of the Empire. At times like this, high-frequency, large-scale source-mass wave communication would expose him, especially the deeper he goes into the Empire's interior. Even if the divine ship he found somewhere has some kind of advanced technology, mystical detection is still unavoidable. Is that right, Master Tantai?"

He was so engrossed in transforming the royal court into an academy that he rarely even appeared in the prime material plane during this period.

However, even now that the headquarters of the Spirit Research Association has been completely moved to the new China, he still occasionally needs to fulfill his duties as a consultant on mysticism.

He nodded slightly: "We don't even dare to contact him through the Qiongjie. Of course, we don't dare to contact my master either. Everything is just like the War of Independence back then, only on a larger scale. At times like this, no news is good news."

Yang Xiyi felt that these words sounded familiar, but he really couldn't remember where they came from.

"Then why did Commander Yu lead his troops straight into the empire's homeland?" As Yu Lian's old subordinate, Chief of Staff Mukawa was still somewhat worried.

After the two fleets merged, he automatically became the chief of staff of the new Shenzhou Fleet. Currently, he and Yang Xiyi are working together very well.

The latter is definitely not the type to make things difficult for someone just because their subordinates miss their old superior.

"Perhaps he's going to dig up the ancestral graves of the Dawn Royal Family?" Akinayama Hachiman pushed up his glasses. "He's capable of doing something like that."

Everyone was shocked.

"Or perhaps he wants to storm into the Heavenly Realm and burn down the Dragon Palace." Akinayama Hachiman took off his non-prescription glasses and wiped them. "He particularly enjoys doing this kind of thing."

Everyone was so shocked that they fell silent.

Of course, Yang Xiyi and Tantai Jing remained calm. The former had expected this, while the latter simply shook his head and sighed, "Different paths lead to the same destination, different paths lead to the same destination."

Aside from expressing their feelings in this way, they really didn't know what expression to wear.

In conclusion, because the new Shenzhou is as solid as a rock, and although Yulian is elusive and has been reporting frequent victories, everyone is still quite safe despite being trapped in this small waterway.

Or perhaps it was precisely because everyone felt so safe that they were able to respond in an orderly and methodical manner to the Imperial Army's probing attacks.

After confirming that the Imperial Army had retreated, Yang Xiyi told everyone, "This should be their last attack. From today onwards, the Imperial Army will switch from defense to offense."

Akinayama Hachiman explained in detail: "After the fierce battle of the Said, it is clear that the Imperial Army has lost the patience to fight a long war of attrition along the mountain and sea routes. The previous five attacks were less about probing and reconnaissance, and more about King Sazamon proving to the Imperial Privy Council that even if a direct assault on the mountain and sea routes were successful, it would certainly result in far greater losses than the Battle of Said."

Yang Xiyi said, "This is thanks to Marshal Sylvester's efforts in establishing the organization, and also to the success of Commander Yu's early strategy."

Everyone bowed slightly and paid their respects to Marshal Sylvester, who had already been promoted to a high rank, for a few seconds. This theoretically legitimate commander of the Said theater, after handing over command to Yu Lian, devoted all his attention to the construction of the mountain and sea routes.

As it turns out, although he wasn't a top-tier general, he was certainly a top-tier engineering planning master.

With limited time, resources, and finances, he certainly couldn't build another Sky Tower on the sea route in just one year. However, he would certainly have all sorts of small space stations, hangar platforms, turrets, and probes. Combined with a fully equipped fleet, it might even be more impregnable than the Fortress.

Based on this alone, everyone felt that posthumously bestowing the title of Marshal was far too unfair to Commander Sylvester; he should be honored with a place in the Temple of Martial Arts.

Of course, the formation of this impregnable defensive line is also inseparable from the geography of New Shenzhou. This airway, even narrower than the distant nebula, was once the most important geographical problem restricting the development of the New Shenzhou star region, but now it also constitutes a natural defense support.

"However, on this issue, we and the enemy are actually facing completely similar situations. They can't get in, but we can't get out either," Yang Xiyi said, pouring cold water on everyone's hopes.

"So, will the breakthrough lie in the Dawn Nebula?" Major General Tovey asked. "And what kind of work are we preparing for in the future?"

He is now the deputy commander of the fleet. For a senior officer who comes from the experience of being a captain of a large capital ship, his greatest strength is actually in coordinating fleet operations, which makes him a good fit to partner with an "academic commander" like Yang Xiyi.

As for the main force of the new Shenzhou fleet always having to make round trips between the Tower of Babel and the mountain and sea routes, everyone is really too used to this kind of operation.

Yang Xiyi did not answer immediately.

In the brief silence, Akinayama Hachiman explained the situation in the Dawn Starfield: Yaochi was still standing, the last resistance of the Miracle Ring was still active, and the Imperial Fleet had begun to retreat but maintained a firm presence on the main channel between the Ring and the Throat of Dawn.

More importantly, despite our continued attempts to harass them, the reconstruction of Unity Fortress is indeed progressing steadily.

"The Imperial devils even plan to call that fortress Unity Fortress." Akinayama Hachiman concluded his report with this statement.

"They're not going to change their names?" Chief of Staff Mukawa sighed. "I don't know if I'm overthinking it, but could this represent some kind of... well, special subtext from the Imperial devils?"

(End of this chapter)