StarCraft: Tyranid Empire.

Arcturus is the kind of person that people often say never shows his emotions. He can hide his emotions very well and is becoming more and more skilled at it.

In the process of dealing with the Imperial Prince, Jacob Kang, a member of the Umojan Council, had repeatedly said in private that Arcturus Mengsk could smile since he was born, and even the shadow guards of the Protectorate could not take off his mask.

When Augustus sent away his officials and looked over there, Arcturus clearly had an expression that could not be contained.

This powerful figure in the empire who was deeply trusted by the emperor was not without any emotions, but he was very good at hiding them. Arcturus still had his moments of rage, and usually his revenge would come even faster than his anger.

Arcturus's surprise was understandable; he was actually quite satisfied with his son, but he had never really understood him.

After killing the old Confederation elders, the Mengsk royal family became the largest noble family. As the next generation with high hopes, Valerian received a carefully planned elite education since he was young. Most of the people he met were either rich or noble, so he had a broad vision and was not surprised by praise or criticism.

Valerian is a qualified heir trained under this education system. He is polite, elegant and proper. He sometimes fails to realize his arrogant attitude towards others, but he is never overbearing, which is truly commendable.

In the past, if the old federal nobles did not have strict family traditions, no matter how good the education was, they would only produce a bunch of useless people.

However, perhaps because of the delicate relationship between father and son, Valerian was always a little restrained in front of his father. Who would have known that he was secretly familiar with the quotations of Augustus the Great, and when he wrote private letters, he not only quoted from classics and made a lot of dirty talk, but also included a lot of sharp comments on some senior generals of the empire. This must have come from his own mouth.

There is no doubt that this was influenced by Augustus, considering that Jim Raynor was almost the second person Valerian admired, and that he was not a serious person and his speech was full of witty remarks, which was also related.

Arcturus almost suspected that there was also the influence of the villain Tychus Finley. Allowing this dissolute scum to live in this world might be the most wrong decision he has ever made in his life. The old team of the devils in heaven are peasants' sons, soldiers, criminals and even drug addicts, and have nothing to do with noble gentlemen.

The Emperor's War Room was never truly quiet, and moments later Imperial Senator Corbin Fash walked in.

Corbin's son, Colin, has been detected to have a strong psychic talent, and he is now seeking to have Colin enrolled in the Ghost Academy in Tarsonis.

The function of this academy has now been separated from that of the Korhal Ghost Military Academy. It mainly recruits students with rare and special psychic talents, such as flame energy and mechanical induction. They also provide outstanding talents proficient in telepathy to the Imperial Judiciary to examine internal espionage, rebellion and conspiracy to subvert, and handle criminal cases, major cases and important cases.

In the old Federation era, even the senators could not stop the members of the Ghost Project from taking their children away. But in the era of Augustus, psychic power was more openly promoted by the imperial government, and it was not demonic. After all, the empress of the empire was a real telepath, and probably the most powerful human known.

But Corbyn is not here today to take the back door. As a member of parliament elected through voting, even if his political views are worthless before being approved by the emperor of the empire, he does represent the interests of the people in his constituency.

Today, Corbin came to the planet of Martell, which lived on mineral resources. Like other worlds, Martell hoped that its representatives in the Imperial Parliament could seek rights for them or get certain policy preferences.

They usually get what they want.

At this time, Arcturus sat naturally beside the emperor and read his son's letter, pretending that he was reading the war report from the front line, and sipping a glass of wine from time to time.

If Valerian were here now, Arcturus would probably criticize him: You are fighting the battle incorrectly, you should do this and that, etc.

Old Meng had a different way of thinking. If the boy had not been forged into steel, then he had not been beaten enough. He did not mind giving his son a beating himself to teach him a lesson and prevent him from suffering at the hands of others.

But since Augustus asked him to read Valerian's letter, there must be a reason for it. Besides, Arcturus really wanted to know about his son's experience on the front line, so he patiently read on:

Letter of November 11th.

Dear Uncle Augustus, the communication base station between Tulasis II and Korhal that was damaged in the fierce battle has been repaired, so I have the opportunity to send you the letter I wrote before.

We have rested in Tulasis. The personnel and supplies have been transported from the huge industrial worlds of Korhal, Tarsonis, and Moria through countless transfers.

Sun Tzu said that war is a matter of great importance to a state, a matter of life and death, and the key to survival or destruction.

This was an unprecedented grand occasion, and I think there has never been such a scene in any previous era. Countless candidate officers, recruits and whole ships of power armor were unloaded in Braddock. Most of them were as young as me, and they grew up in the past ten years after the establishment of the Empire. The concept of the old Federation has become increasingly blurred to these people.

Based on intelligent servers and transformation modules, the Imperial transport ships transport large mechas in folded boxes like shipping containers, just to save space for carrying more armaments. Every new train car produced in Moria is filled with supplies and sent directly to the front line.

Speaking of Braddock, I think you should still have some impression. When you served in Tulasis, Braddock was just a small town, but now it is a huge city with a population of millions.

It was Korhal's construction contractors who changed all that, and then the arms company built factories here, and other companies and individual businesses serving the military also moved in. To this day, Braddock's munitions factory is still producing a large number of military uniforms, bedding, and other necessities. In addition, the supplies stored here are always maintained at a very high standard. The ones I saw were enough for my legion to use for more than a decade.

This helps boost our morale.

The opening of a fertile new world, new agricultural policies that encouraged reclamation, and technological advances ensured that our people no longer went hungry. Today, few people join the army simply because they were short of food and clothing, but even someone like me who had no worries about food and clothing since birth couldn't help but feel reassured when I saw such ample reserves.

Your decisions always make sense.

The people of Braddock still remember you. The statue of the Heavenly Devils still stands here, and the Vulture Chariot that was said to have been driven by Emperor Augustus is still preserved.

When recalling a great man, everything he said and every place he went to is remembered. In Braddock, I heard that since a brothel in Tarsonis announced that His Majesty had visited it, the business there has been booming almost overnight, and all the whores in Tarsonis have become pretentious and must do things according to royal standards.

Below is a note from Augustus: From the perspective of the parties involved, this is a rumor. I went there to get Tychus out and never actually went in, and Raynor and Hank can testify to this. It is well known that Tychus is a jerk. I spent more money on this bastard than I did on my wife, and his greatest use was in gang fights in the tavern.

Arcturus saw this and looked at the date again. He suddenly remembered that it was no wonder that Augustus suddenly woke Governor Tarsonis up from his bed and scolded him. The next day, the confused governor personally led people to search the house and kill the witnesses. When he saw the plaque of the so-called Royal Strip Club, he was shaking all over. However, Valerian only mentioned it and didn't know the truth of the matter. He didn't even know what kind of shock this incident caused in the empire, because there was no such thing as a legal brothel in the imperial law, so this was illegal, not to mention the serious crime of openly insulting the royal family.

There was basically no baggage or barrier in the letter between Valerian and his uncle. He just wrote whatever came to his mind. Then he mentioned:

We received an order on this day that the Zerg appeared in Innisfree and an experienced Imperial Marine was needed to carry out a cleanup mission.

Well, I applied many times to go to Aiur battlefield or other more dangerous star fields, but all my applications were ultimately ignored.

I think it has something to do with my father, who was probably afraid that if I died there would be no one to inherit his title. But like you, I have no interest in inheriting the family business, I will create my own great cause.

11 month 30 day.

Our naval colleagues always name their transport ships with a bitter irony. The "Angel of Peace" does not bring peace, and the "Blonde Beauty" is full of men, just as wings do not always fly birds, they can also be magical girls.

The journey was not pleasant. The spaceship I took, the Space Express, was well named. Its construction dated back to twenty years before the founding of the Empire. It was old and dilapidated, and when it flew it was as slow as a sprinting snail.

My men thought the Navy must have a better ship, but out of jealousy of the Marines they wouldn't give it to them.

Maybe it was because of the unfamiliar climate and water, I got sick on the ship. It was a regional viral infection, but fortunately it was not contagious or fatal, just extremely painful.

In my time of illness, I miss you, Uncle Augustus, and my grandparents, my mother, my aunt, Louis and Charlotte.
I lay on the deck the whole time, half asleep, talking nonsense, and telling many embarrassing stories during the most part of the day, and sleeping like a peaceful dead person the rest of the time.

Unfortunately, I didn't recover until the ship reached Innisfree, and by the time I did recover, the battle on the planet was long over.

For me, the commander of a unit that had won a victory with virtually no losses, the trick was simple: do nothing.

The battle went smoothly. Innisfree was a newly reclaimed world and we didn't have much power there, but neither did the Zerg.

In addition, the local residents were the most tenacious I had ever seen. They relied on fortifications and only used the Femaro SMG submachine guns and a small number of flamethrowers urgently issued by the colonial government to resist the incoming Zerg, which greatly consumed the enemy's strength. Therefore, when our regular imperial army arrived, victory was almost easy.

My father once said in a speech that if the army and the people work together, they can defeat all enemies. He likes to say nice things, but no one can say he is wrong.

See, it's easy for me to win this kind of battle. By analogy, I also have the ability to be a general.

General Duke's most well-known quote during the Battle of Zev III was "Kill them", which was also the most important and only correct order he issued during the entire battle.

Seeing this again, Arcturus couldn't help but shake his head.

In fact, Duke had no problem with professional military accomplishment. In a sense, he was a giant in tactics but a dwarf in strategy. On the other hand, Duke lacked the ability to adapt to changing circumstances, refused to change, and only played cards in a fixed order, which meant that Renault, who came from a wild background and did not play by the rules in battle, could often beat him to a pulp.

Therefore, Augustus would not give Duke command of a fleet as large as Warfield and Horner, but he was capable enough to command a smaller fleet.

In fact, Duke often lost battles in the past only because his opponents were tough guys like Augustus, Reno, Pryor and UED. If he was really useless, he would have been fired by Augustus long ago.

If the petty-minded General Edmund Duke had heard what Valerian said, he would have blushed and shouted angrily.

However, even Arcturus, who has been in Korhal for many years, knows that making fun of Duke is an old tradition in the Imperial Army. The people who like to do this the most are Renault Tekes and his gang. The jokes they make to insult Duke are now very popular in the entire army.

For example:

General Duke claimed to everyone that he had fought in over thirty major battles in the defense of Tarsonis, and the Tarsonis were the last to know about it.

Marshal Horner, who was writing instructional materials for the military academy, sat through a night of hard work and finally found a record of General Duke's victory. He was overjoyed and looked for the source, and discovered that it was he who said it.

So the marshal had to write a negative example, which was a great success.

Which is the shortest hero biography in the Terran Empire? Answer: The Glorious Deeds of General Duke.

General Duke prayed to the omnipotent God that he could win the battle. God was horrified and asked him to convert to Allah overnight.

If each Imperial soldier particularly disliked an officer or general, he would replace Duke's name with that of the other officer.

Duke's Collection of Bad Jokes was so popular among the Imperials that their Darram Protoss allies were said to have adapted their own version for scholarly purposes, but this has never been confirmed.

But no matter who it is, no one would dare to mention this matter in front of Duke himself.

Fortunately, General Duke is unusual in that he always feels extremely good about himself and never doubts these things. At the same time, he has an extremely aggressive personality and is full of energy. After all, not everyone can maintain ambition and confidence after being defeated so many times.

Duke would be the kind of vicious dog your neighbor likes to keep the most. Even if someone dares to damage a piece of grass in the empire or rub off a layer of paint, no matter whether he can beat him or not, he will jump out to fight you to death in the name of the Terran Empire and the Emperor. You can't leave unless you kill me. (End of this chapter)