Counterfeit Hero

A burst of laughter, and the proposal was passed unanimously.

At the same time as the Leray Congress passed the final motion, a different scene unfolded in the Saleria Federation Congress Hall.

”You are selling out the country!”

Like an old lion with his hair and beard bristling, Tolstoy, wearing his admiral’s uniform adorned with medals, strode into the grand and luxurious Saleria Federation Congress Hall.

Under his furious gaze, the originally quarreling and crowded representatives quickly made way for him.

In this nation, there were many who did not know them. But there were few who did not know Tolstoy.

”Do you really think that by weakly conceding, we can avoid this war?” The old man was trembling with rage, ”Open your eyes and look! Look at the Suss fleet arrayed along our borders, look at their guns and cannons!”

”You announced your withdrawal from the war!” Tolstoy surveyed the surroundings, ”I said nothing. Even though I knew it was a terrible decision, I thought you were fulfilling your duty, representing the people of the Federation’s various states. People don’t want war, that’s understandable. We also need to focus our strength on the border to fend off the threat from the Suss Empire.”

”But! I never thought that after that, you would even pass a proposal allowing the Suss Empire to requisition Blue Stone Star as their forward base to attack the Leray Federation!” Tolstoy shouted angrily, ”How is this different from surrendering to the Western Alliance? You are pushing Saleria toward a dead end!”

”Isn’t it just letting them requisition a planet as a forward base?” a representative timidly retorted, ”Isn’t that better than letting the whole country be dragged down by war? We simply can’t continue to fight under our current circumstances.”

”Nonsense!” The old man’s hearing had not dulled with age, he was as sharp as a hunting dog, ”You opportunistic idiots! What do you expect to gain from the Western Alliance? Let me tell you, aside from painful lessons, you will gain nothing!”

”They are nothing but a bunch of vampires!” Tolstoy disdainfully moved his gaze from the shrinking representative’s face and looked around, shouting, ”They will leech off us, draining our blood with every concession we make! First, they demand we open our airspace, letting them pass through, now they demand we lease a forward base. What next?”

”Next, they will demand our resources, our production cooperation. They will find all sorts of excuses to create conflicts with us, forcing us to make concessions and compensations!” Tolstoy’s voice rose to a roar, ”And in exchange for such bullying, we pay the price of betrayal!”

”Will the Fei Alliance definitely lose?” The old man’s gaze was like a knife, ”When the Fei Alliance wins the war, what position will we, as a traitor and defeated nation, be in? Have you thought about it? Even if the Western Alliance wins the war, what can we gain? Apart from oppression and division, do you think those greedy Emperors will share their victory with you?”

”From the Fei Alliance to the Western Alliance, we face the same war! The Leray people have been fighting for three years, their losses are ten times, a hundred times ours! But they understand better than we do that in this war, there is no retreat and no choice, no rebirth without the fire!”

The Congress Hall fell into a deathly silence.

Under the evasive, numb gazes, Tolstoy left.

”I will not let you succeed! And I will not let them succeed either!” The old man’s parting words were powerful and resonant.

Moments later, a group of equally indignant representatives spat angrily on the ground and followed the old man out of the lifeless Congress Hall. They were all staunch opponents of the leasing proposal, now too weary to argue with those representatives anymore. That would simply insult their intelligence.

”What does he intend to do?” The remaining surrender faction representatives looked at each other in dismay.

”Bluffing!” The Speaker, Sefer, who had been hiding behind the podium, awkwardly adjusted his clothes and added angrily, ”Fearmongering!”

************************************

The Redbeard Pirate Base had officially been renamed the Bandit Army Base. Of course, this was for internal use; externally, it still existed as the Redbeard Pirate Group.

More than six hundred Leray Destroyer soldiers, along with nearly a thousand pirates, had been broken up and reorganized, training day and night.

For the Leray Warriors, military training was routine. But for a bunch of lazy pirates, it was sheer torment. Even the toughest pirates found it hard to endure. However, Tian Xingjian paid no mind to this; he needed to assemble combat power in the shortest time possible.

Running, fighting, shooting, warship maintenance, position drills, simulated battles. Various training programs were crammed into the schedule by Fatty. He wanted to use the training to occupy all the pirates’ energy, leaving their exhausted minds in a blank state.

How long had it been since this group of lazy and numb pirates last experienced the taste of being as tired as dogs...

”Being a pirate isn’t just about killing, robbing, drinking, and gambling every day. You are defiling the honorable profession of piracy! If you want to be respected, you must make others tremble in fear, and make the entire Free World bow at your feet!”

Running alongside the training lines, looking at the hundreds of pirates mingled among the Leray Warriors, Fatty roared loudly.