Star Iron, conquer the world from Omphalos

"Chief Aodi was indeed hesitant." Tingyun smiled. "But when I told him that the Empire's army was about to conquer Asdena, he immediately expressed his willingness to continue long-term cooperation with us and asked me to convey a message."

"Oh? What are you talking about?"

"Odi said that he will always be loyal to the empire."

"puff."

Ash smiled.

You look like a profiteer. Do you think I believe you or not?

But it didn't matter. The relationship between him and Aodi was based solely on profit, so even if Aodi didn't help, it was understandable. Although Tingyun used some threats, as a businessman, he had more than one bargaining chip.

With this batch of supplies, there is no need to worry about the early stages of the Great Crusade. In the future, we can fight to support the war and gather the resources of the entire Griffith Galaxy first. Then we don’t have to worry about the problem of supplies.

......

Griffith, which had been peaceful for five years, was plunged into chaos by the Empire's sudden declaration of war.

Phantom seemed to have sensed Ash's intentions, and shortly after Petu led Ironheart's attack, he ordered his Legion of Destruction to withdraw from Griffith.

Without the obstruction of destruction, the other civilizations remaining in Griffith could not resist the expansion of Shurima.

In fact, there are many well-known forces in the universe, but the technological level of most civilizations is not high, and they don’t even know that there are powerful civilizations outside the universe.

So when the Empire's fleet descended upon those civilizations, the 'natives' on the planets were shocked and panicked.

The first attitude the imperial army encountered was counterattack. After learning the intention of the empire, more than 80% of the civilizations would not agree to join the jurisdiction of Shurima. Ash could understand this and showed enough respect for them - that is, to show the power of the imperial army to all civilizations.

Generally speaking, warships are only needed to deliver devastating blows in rare circumstances or when there are powerful enemies. On the road to imperial expansion, Ash would normally prioritize the benefits of conquering a planet, both in terms of manpower and material resources. Otherwise, what would be the point of conquering it?

Therefore, the expansion of the empire does not always bring destruction. The Ascended Corps will greet these planetary civilizations after landing, and after demonstrating their powerful technology and strength, they will begin to negotiate terms. Who is willing to submit to the jurisdiction of the empire and who wants to resist to the end, they will face different endings based on their attitude.

There's no other way. Diplomacy, based purely on negotiation, is far too inefficient. Conquering the universe this way? Dream on! Ash doesn't have Yugong's unwavering willpower to support his descendants.

Besides, to convince the other party, you must first let them know the power of Shurima.

However, on many planets where information is blocked, people have no idea what is happening outside.

Shurima Empire? Who are you?

You call yourself the Empire and I call myself the Empire too. Why should I listen to you?

There are even several empires on one planet, so the name alone cannot scare people.

People may not understand at all about the size of the army, its status, or its high technology, so the most practical and efficient way is to fight.

Not to mention, there are civilizations on these planets that are secretly supported by many companies. The better you treat them and the friendlier your attitude is, the less afraid they will be.

If the people in the company add fuel to the fire, they can easily stir up a large group of people to resist the rule of the empire.

After all, there is a saying that is true: where there is oppression, there is resistance.

But now Ash has become the oppressor, and all he has to do is to end the war as quickly as possible. As long as he kills all the people involved in the war, peace will naturally come, right?

The Imperial Army naturally strictly implemented Ash's request. Petu's vanguard was very efficient, and Ironheart rushed to the front of everyone, conquering one civilization after another for the Empire with unstoppable momentum. They were responsible for the capture, and the priests and the Astra Militarum were responsible for the subsequent management. This vanguard ship once became a sharp knife sweeping across Griffith, attracting most of the attention on this battlefield.

Because it was so efficient, the large force following behind Kane looked like an escort. However, in the fourth month of the Great Expedition, Kane dispersed the main force and launched an all-round attack.

At the same time, the offensive of the Imperial Guards reached a fever pitch. Seeing Shurima's posture, the Company's fleet chose to retreat directly. They had occupied only a few civilizations, so there was no point in fighting. Anyway, they could still comfort themselves in the end by saying, "We have already used most of our energy to blockade Shurima's economy."

In fact, it is not true to say so. If it were not for the company's deliberate suppression, these five years of development would be enough for the empire's economic situation to double again.

Compared with the fastest-running company, Xianzhou's resistance is indeed much stronger.

Even after discovering that Ash was beginning to expand, they sent additional fleets.

But in the end, this support force was predicted in advance by Cocolia, who set up an ambush and directly destroyed three-fifths of the support fleet.

It hasn't even arrived yet, and three-fifths of the people are gone. How can we fight?

Because of the rise of the Ascended Legion, they almost forgot about the Warmaster Cocolia. It was she who withstood the pressure of the Immortal Ship Fleet and dragged the situation into a state favorable to Shurima.

Moreover, Cocolia directly led the Star Army to blockade the civilization occupied by Xianzhou. When Ash saw her deployment of troops, he couldn't help but sigh. Perhaps if he had not genetically combined with Ruan Mei, he might have produced a large number of generals with full military capabilities if he had combined with Cocolia.

Otherwise, you are still the war commander?

Finally, after five months of resistance, the Xianzhou Fleet gave up its plan to hold its stronghold, gathered its last strength to break through the Star Army's defense, and leaped back to its homeland.

The front-line springboard is good, but it cannot be defended!

The rout of the Xianzhou Fleet meant that the largest "anti-imperial force" in the Griffith Galaxy was completely defeated. Ash did not rush to hunt down the Xianzhou Fleet, but continued with the Great Crusade.

This process lasted for two years. Without the harassment from the company and the immortal boat, the expansion speed was unprecedentedly fast. In the third year after the announcement of the official restart of the Great Crusade, more than 90% of the planetary civilizations in the entire Griffith Galaxy had been placed under the management of the Empire!

The remaining ones are either too remote or lack resources, so there was little point in conquering them in the past. This information is clear through the exploration of the Black Tower Space Station.

At this point, the eyes of all the major forces in the universe have gathered.

They were eager to know whether Shurima's expansion was limited to the Griffith galaxy or was heading towards the entire universe.

If it was just the Griffith galaxy, Shurima would be fully qualified to occupy it with its strength, but if it wanted to conquer the universe, the nature of the matter would change.

The speculation of the Society of Knowledge is more inclined towards the latter, because no emperor can refuse the word "unification". After repeated analysis and confirmation of Ash's character, the final conclusion is that the possibility is as high as 99%.

In other words, the Shurima Empire is likely to launch the "Third Imperial War".

Although the Polymathic Society has spread this inference throughout the universe and called on all forces to jointly resist the development of the Shurima Empire, there are very few responses. After all - the managers of your society are the company's people!

Are you sure that there is no 70 to 80 percent personal grudge in this conclusion?

Of course, there are also many people who believe the speculation of the Society of Knowledge, but they are not stupid. After five years of recuperation, Shurima is now making a great expedition again. It starts with an Envoy of Destruction leading the team, and there is also an Envoy of Preservation to back him up. The genius Heita has become the queen, and the Qingqiu Army is ready to support at any time. Although Ruan Mei has been missing for five years, who can say that she is not in the empire?

Just by pulling out this lineup, everyone below the rank of Commander would instantly be at a loss for ideas, and even those with the power of a Commander would have to consider the consequences of taking action.

The universe is a big gambling table. If you are in a disadvantageous position, no one will be kind enough to help you. On the contrary, they will take away your remaining chips.

And more importantly, after the Empire unified the Griffith Galaxy, the army's offensive did stop.

Although most people think that Ash is integrating resources to prepare for the next wave of offensive, people are like this. They will always have illusions about things that will not happen until the last moment... Besides, the fire has not burned his butt, so why rush?

Even if it really is an Imperial War, there are still tall people to hold up the sky if it falls!

I'm short, I'll hold the back!

Anyway, to put it bluntly, Shurima has already faced two of the largest forces in the universe. As long as the Immortal Ship is not destroyed and the company does not collapse, the other forces will at most make a symbolic shout or two. When asked, they will all say that Ash deserves to die, and no one will go when they are told.

You know what, Ash is indeed integrating resources.

"This group of people, each of them has at least ten keyboards in their hands, right?"

Black Tower Space Station.

After the successful completion of the first phase of the Great Crusade, Ash quickly ordered the empire to complete a series of tasks including civilization education, resource integration, military expansion, etc., in preparation for the subsequent war to destroy the Immortal Ship.

When he saw the accusations of crimes against the Shurima Empire on major platforms in the cosmic network, he was immediately delighted.

【Emperor Ash's Seven Deadly Sins! 】

[Arrogant: He disregards the importance of life, thinks he is superior to others, and wants to rule over everyone!]

[Jealousy: He cannot tolerate anyone who is better than himself. He controlled the destructive Cain and even had his lobotomy removed for his protection!]

[Rage: Trillions of lives have been tragically killed by his butcher knife!]

[Laziness: He only pursues conquest for his own desires and will not be responsible for any civilization that submits to him. Wake up!]

【Greed: He wants it! He wants more! His desires are endless!】

【Gluttony: He's eating people! 】

Lust: Wuuuuu, Black Tower! My Black Tower! How can I live without you?!?

The Seven Deadly Sins were ranked first on the top ten hot searches in the universe, and the rest were all accusations against Ash and Shurima. Some people criticized ten at once, while others were so arbitrary and powerful that no one dared to challenge them.

Sure enough, everyone on the Internet is an expert, no matter what race the person sitting in front of the computer and speaking is.

"Heita, look." Ash handed over the phone. "Your loyal fan, it seems he's very dissatisfied with you becoming the queen."

If he couldn't deny the first crime, then the second one... well, it seemed he couldn't deny it either.

"This genius has so many crazy fans, who does he think he is?" Heita said nonchalantly. "Didn't I tell you that on the day of our wedding, Heita's space received over 130 million emails. I had the puppet sift through the messages, and over 90% of them were asking me not to marry you."

"So many? Wait, you even went through the trouble of screening them? How boring is that?"

"Boring? I just want you to know the charm of this genius."

Looking at Heita's matter-of-fact look, Ash thought about it and really couldn't find any words to refute.

Only those who have experienced the Black Tower know how much value this sentence holds.

However, these online comments do not have any substantial impact. The truly influential forces have hardly appeared at the moment except for the companies that are constantly building momentum.

As for companies, the universe has mixed opinions about them. Some people think that the universe can develop so well thanks to the stable and huge economic system of companies.

Some people also believe that the company's monopolistic behavior carries countless blood and injustice, but under their own packaging, they have become beautiful words praising Clipper.

Who is Krippo, the Great Protector?

Does He really care about the company?

This question has actually always been intriguing.

No one knew what Cripple was thinking. The company's claim to this was undeniable. They were a powerful company, so their decision was theirs. But what about now? The Will of Protection had only recently descended upon Shurima!

Five years have passed since the Creperie's position war, and it has also been fought online for a full five years. Although Ash will not specifically use this incident to make a claim, he does not mind people speculating about the relationship between the Protector Dorn and the Emperor.

So far, the news of the Emperor x Ruan Mei genetic experiment has not been leaked, otherwise there would probably be more than 100 million Ruan Mei's crazy fans sending emails here.

Therefore, whether it is destruction or preservation, it is puzzling that the two great envoys obeyed Ash's words.

Everyone can understand the situation in the Black Tower. Geniuses are also human beings, and they have emotions and desires. Don’t fairies also have to poop, get married, and have children?

But the Order Envoys are the ones who are closest to the Star Gods. What kind of loyalty does it take to make an Order Envoy-level being willing to obey orders?

The existence of the Protector Generals has more or less won over a group of "fans" for Shurima. In this world where the Star Gods are supreme, there has been no clear conclusion to Ash's fate, which also means that it is difficult for the Shurima Empire to gain the support of some fanatical fans of the Star Gods under that fate.

If Ash turned around and told everyone at this time that he was on a path of destruction, I'm afraid that a lot of lunatics who pursued annihilation would immediately join him. Otherwise, he should firmly believe that his destiny was one of abundance. The universe is so big that every destiny has a large number of supporters, even if it is destruction.

However, Ash did not bother to make a fuss about this. There was no need to say much about the greatness of the Star-Forging Dragon King. As long as he could unlock the fifth-level power, perhaps his strength would be able to reach the level of a Star God.

Rather than fans following him, Ash only wants absolutely loyal warriors.

...

In the following year, Ash was consolidating his rule over the Griffith Galaxy. At this time, the benefits of the political ruling system established during the five years came into play. Even with so many civilizations joining at once, the internal operations of the empire were not affected at all.

The integration of civilizations takes time, and recruiting an army cannot be done in a year or two, after all, it requires loyalty, but material development can be continuous.

How many resources does an entire galaxy have?

At least for the Shurima Empire at this stage, that is definitely an astronomical number.

When Ash saw these resources being gathered on Yarilo VI, he was so excited.

During this year, the Immortal Boats attempted to break through the Empire's defenses and prevent the unification of the Griffith Galaxy. Unfortunately, they couldn't even break through the fleet defenses deployed by Cocolia.

It looks urgent, but it’s useless!

In the end, the Xianzhou Alliance had no choice but to give up the attack and turn around to develop with all their strength.

At this point, it was clear to them that once Shurima completed this stage of development, it would definitely take action against them.

This scene was also watched by various forces in the universe. Anyone with a discerning eye knew that the war between the two sides would break out again.

The construction of the Luofu Immortal Boat was eventually suspended because rebuilding an entire immortal boat would require too many resources, which was beyond the current immortal boat's ability to afford. They now needed to devote all their resources to the war that was about to break out.

However, once the Xianzhou Alliance enters a state of rapid development, they will need to seize sufficient information from other civilizations in the galaxy, which means that they can no longer hide their whereabouts as before.

Ash successfully let the Black Tower collect the whereabouts of Zhu Ming, Fang Hu, and Yu Que, but Xu Ling was too mysterious. It was the headquarters of the Ten Kings Division and also where Marshal Hua was in charge. It was not easy to find Xu Ling's whereabouts.

But this was enough. After determining the location of the three immortal ships, Ash gave orders to the sixteen children who were stranded outside.

These Primarchs, with their respective armies, divided into three groups and surrounded the systems of Fang Hu and Yu Que respectively, leaving four Primarchs hidden in Griffith as a precaution. Meanwhile, he dispatched Cain and Dorn to the front lines; after all, fighting against the Immortal Ship was impossible without a Commander-level force.

On Zhu Ming's side, Petu served as the vanguard, and Yashu personally led the imperial fleet.

Before this, Ash had performed ascension on each Primarch and helped them establish their own Ascended Chapters. The number was small, with each chapter currently having only 3,000 people.

The training cost was simply too high. Spread over five years, it almost emptied the empire's treasury before the army was developed to its current size.

However, the Ascended Chapters were not the main support of the Primarchs in their early expansion. In order not to expose the relationship between these Primarchs and the Empire, their development still relied on mortal armies, but technology and Imperial contributions.

It has to be said that each of these Primarchs possesses a very high technological talent. When Ruan Mei created them, she did not engrave this information into their minds through other means. She wanted to obtain the most realistic experimental results, so this knowledge was learned and mastered by the Primarchs.

In just a few years, even Heita would say, "People like that will definitely be very popular with the Boshi Society" when he saw this kind of talent.

Although they were not smart enough to be glanced at by the Lord of Knowledge, the IQ of these Primarchs was indeed ridiculously high, which made Ash wonder if he was also a genius?