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Chapter 982, The Siege of Terra (Part 1)
Marshal Yan Xinzhen of the Imperial Guards has been preoccupied with two main matters over the past few days.

The first thing to do was to clear out the palace.

It was unrealistic to clear everyone out of the palace, since the entire palace area was formerly the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau region.

Although it is called a palace, it serves multiple functions: it houses residences for high-ranking officials of the empire; it functions as an administrative office, housing many central government offices; and it functions as a ceremonial venue, with various squares and halls capable of hosting grand ceremonies.

However, these are merely some of the functions that come with the palace.

Perhaps over the long years, these attributes have become very prominent.

The nobility and dignitaries considered it an honor to have a residence within the Terran Palace; the daily orders from countless government agencies determined the rise and fall of the entire cosmic empire; and various ceremonies, while leveraging the palace's prestige, also added to its aura.

However, no matter what, it cannot conceal the fact that Terra Palace was designed from the very beginning as a massive military fortress, humanity's last line of defense.

The Imperial Guard subsequently spent ten thousand years meticulously maintaining its war-fighting capabilities.

Therefore, it was impossible for everyone except the Imperial Guard and its subordinate palace guards to be eliminated.

Even though Yan Xinzhen no longer trusted any of the bureaucrats of the previous government, some institutions and personnel that maintained the normal operation of the palace still had to be retained.

As for the others, the powerful and wealthy who lived there, and the government offices that had little to do with maintaining the palace, they were all cleared out.

Once they were out there, the Imperial Guards didn't care where they worked or what they did.

Do whatever you want, just don't stay in the palace.

If you don't have enough time and energy to distinguish who is loyal and who is rebellious, who is pure and who is corrupt, then treat them all as potential threats and get out of here.

Anyone who could potentially pose a threat to the palace from within should be eliminated as much as possible.

The remaining maintenance staff, including a large number of engineers and technicians, will be subject to strict control, even if they are retained.

The Imperial Guards would absolutely consider every potential threat with the worst-case scenario in mind and would have ample contingency plans in place. No matter how small or large the problem was, there would be a way to deal with it.

These were the things that Yan Xinzhen valued most, and he took care of them personally.

This is the duty of the Imperial Guard. After the emperor's ascension, they lost their highest duty as the emperor's personal guards, and over the past ten thousand years, they have had to find a reason for their existence.

Protecting the palace is where this value lies.

This is something that absolutely cannot be lost.

Besides this most important matter, the second thing Yan Xinzhen had been thinking about during this time was how to help the Son of God - Robert.
He believed in Robert's identity, and he hoped that Robert could settle in Holy Terra and the Terra Palace.

The only master of the palace is the emperor, that's true; but can't the emperor's son stay for a while?

Yan Xinzhen has lived for over two thousand years, during which time he has witnessed the ugliness of the Terra government.

To be honest, he felt neither sad nor happy about it.

He doesn't care what happens to the Terra government; that's not the responsibility of the Imperial Guard.

The Imperial Guards' responsibility was simply to protect the palace.

Defend the empire... and defend it while you're at it.

But the core mission remains protecting the Royal Palace. The main force of the Royal Guard always stays within the palace—or at least within Terra. However, they also have covert units deployed outside the palace. Most of the time, it's their own intelligence network that receives intelligence about events that might threaten Holy Terra, and in those cases, the Royal Guard is dispatched to handle them. On rare occasions, they might be invited by the Ministry of Justice or the Ministry of Taxation to resolve a specific matter. But generally, it depends on their mood.

But no matter how much trouble those Terran officials caused in the past, and no matter how much the Empire seemed to be on the verge of collapse, that was not the case now.

Even within the empire, there are always those who, even the most perfect humans like the Imperial Guard, would be praised as heroes for their repeated acts of turning the tide.

That's very gratifying.

However, after the Great Cataclysm, the situation was somewhat different.

Yan Xinzhen discovered that Terra had gone out of control.

These insects, vying for power and profit, have made a complete mess of the political ecology of the empire's center. Yan Xinzhen has seen many similar situations in the past two thousand years of cold observation.

It's not surprising that they made a mess of the empire.

However, when you add to that the unprecedented, scarred wounds that tore the entire empire apart, it's a different story.

Over the decades, Yan Xinzhen gradually realized that if things continued like this, it seemed that... the empire might really be ruined by these people!

How can he then defend his palace?
But now that things have come to this, how can he save the empire?
They were just the Imperial Guard, they were a regiment of ten thousand men.

Even if each of them were perfect humans, capable of crushing those Space Marines they didn't really respect, they were different from the Space Marines. They didn't devote all their energy to combat and war. They would also study various disciplines according to their personal strengths and interests. Whether in social sciences or technical fields, they could all be considered outstanding scholars, artists, and administrative experts.

But... let's get back to the point, there are only 10,000 of them.

They lacked the legal basis for governing the empire.

If he were to take the initiative and do something earth-shattering, there would be many constraints within the Imperial Guard. Although he was a marshal, there were men with even more seniority than him, and there were also conservatives within the Imperial Guard.

Hesitation, confusion, and uncertainty... Amidst these emotions, he heard the news of Robert's arrival.

The Son of God—this is one of the few beings that the Imperial Guard can acknowledge, and even to some extent are willing to obey.

Having confirmed the high probability of the truth, Yan Xinzhen dispatched troops to provide support upon learning of the lunar war.

Then, in the following period of time, he actively tried to find a better way to bring the Son of God and his troops to the ground.

One such effort was to send Imperial Guard troops abroad to control those railgun defense facilities.

But he still felt it wasn't enough; he was still considering whether there were any other ways to help the expeditionary force.

One proposal after another was put forward, but he was still hesitant about which action to take.

However, the greatest crisis that Yan Xinzhen encountered in his more than two thousand years of service in the Imperial Guard and his one thousand one hundred years as the commander of the Imperial Guard has arrived.

An enormous number of enemies appeared from multiple directions around the palace.

They're going to besiege Terra Palace!
Now it's not a question of how to help Robert anymore, but rather how to get Robert's help as quickly as possible.

Although Terra Palace is arguably the most complete defensive fortress complex in the entire human empire, the number of Imperial Guards is still too small, and they have too many enemies to face.

(End of this chapter)