Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

It was exactly because of the War of Black Wind that the remnants of the Black Wind Fleet marched to the edge of the sea of stars, and the worlds at the edge of the sea of stars were forced to be united into the “New Federation” against the enemy together.

It was also because of the Imperium of True Human Beings’ brutal failure in the War of Black Wind that the ideas of reform arose in the past hundred years and the four Kurfürst families’ reign loosened. Eventually, an ambitious reformist such as Li Linghai was born.

Right now, the legend of General Lei Chenghu was involved in the War of Black Wind too.

Li Linghai sighed and said, “In the past thousand years, when the Imperium and the Covenant Alliance fought for the hegemony at the center of the cosmos, although the Covenant Alliance had attacked many times aggressively, the Imperium always managed to hold the positions and never showed any sign of losing.

“In the recent several hundred years, the Covenant Alliance’s attacks were more and more hasty and disordered. Many leaders of the Imperium believed that the Covenant Alliance had seriously exhausted the national strength, and although their brainwashing techniques such as ‘Three Fundamental Laws’ could allure the people to dedicate their lives to their ‘god’, it was impossible for them to persist on.

“Therefore, the Imperium was filled with optimism. Everybody believed that as long as the defense line in the space was held for another several hundred years, the day would come when the Covenant Alliance collapsed on its own.

“However, the War of Blank Wind poured a bucket of icy water on everyone’s back.

“The entire defensive line of the army completely collapsed. Quite a few deep-sky fleets suffered destructive strikes. Five war worlds, including the Black Wind Sector, fell to the hands of the Covenant Alliance, thus allowing the Covenant Alliance’s unstoppable vanguard to reach the softest abdomen of the Imperium. What the Covenant Alliance’s fleets were coveting became the prosperous lands that the Imperium had constructed hard for a thousand years!”

Li Yao asked, “War worlds?”

“Yes, according to the number of resources and the development, the Sectors within the territory of the Imperium have been generally divided into four levels, namely the underdeveloped worlds, the resource worlds, the industrial worlds, and the war worlds.”

Li Linghai said, “The war worlds are the level with the highest comprehensive value. They have the deepest industrial foundation and boast an enormous scale of weapon factories, magical equipment assembly lines, and even space docks. They are capable of producing a great fleet independently, and they are heavily guarded by the troops of the Imperium.

“One war world is more valuable than ten underdeveloped worlds!

“The five worlds including the Black Wind Sector were all the military strongholds that the Imperium had operated for hundreds of years. Now that they fell into the enemy’s hands, there was no telling how many resources would be lost and how many secrets would be leaked. It was the greatest threat of the Imperium in the past hundreds of years.

“Having heard the news that the five war worlds at the border were lost, the nobles in the capital, after the initial shock, naturally burst into fury and decided to counterattack.

“Other than sending the elite troops of the four Kurfürst families to the frontline, they certainly called for the troops of the nobles and the warlords to ‘defend the Imperium’.

“At such a moment, the consequence of the four Kurfürst families dominating the politics for years, resulting in the fragmentation of the local areas, was revealed.

“Most of the smaller nobles and warlords at the local areas wavered and hesitated. They all thought that the elite troops of the four Kurfürst families were before them, and there was no need for them to go to the frontline as cannon fodder.

“The most shameless of all was naturally the warlord that had been managing the Black Wind Sector before.

“The Black Wind Fleet was to blame for the collapse of the defense line in the Black Wind Sector, and the Black Wind Sector that had been lost was their hometown. Wasn’t it only necessary for the people of the Black Wind Sector to reclaim the territory they lost without bothering the cost?

“However, Heiye Ming, the commander of the Black Wind Fleet at that time, was an old and cunning warlord. He simply swallowed the remaining troops of the other four war worlds ruthlessly, which gave him enough bargaining chips to negotiate with the capital. While the situation in the frontline was still a mess, he simply ran to the edge of the cosmos under the name of expanding the territory for the Imperium!

“Hehe. Although the journey to explore the edge of the cosmos was long and perilous, it couldn’t have been more dangerous than dealing with the army of Covenant Alliance that was right next to them. If they really wanted to ‘expand the territory for the Imperium’, they could’ve just turned around and marched back to their hometown. Why bother going such a long distance?”

Li Yao: “… Well, the commander of the Black Wind Fleet is truly sordid!”

But in his heart, he couldn’t help but chuckle. This was already a third theory about the Black Wind Fleet’s march to the edge of the cosmos. All the narrators had been trying to beautify themselves. As to what the truth was exactly, it probably had been obliterated in the dust of stars and nowhere to be found.

Apparently disgusted by what the Black Wind Fleet did, Li Linghai said coldly, “Now that the victims of the lost worlds had run off in fear, the private troops of the nobles and the warlords were certainly reluctant to take the blow for the entire Imperium and attack the army of the Covenant Alliance, which had a high morale after the winning streak.

“The four Kurfürst families did not want to waste their elite troops for nothing either. At the very least, they did not want to fight the Covenant Alliance in the first wave. So, they thought of General Lei Chenghu’s fleet.”

Li Yao exclaimed and said, “This is a scheme to kill two birds with one stone!”

“Yes. Even a blind person could tell what the four Kurfürst families were up to. Whether or not the Covenant Alliance’s attacks were blocked, General Lei Chenghu’s strength would be greatly diminished.”

Li Linghai said, “If General Lei Chenghu were a deeply-hidden schemer, as everybody thought him to be at that time, and a great warlord who valued nothing but his army, he couldn’t ignore the order from the capital or send out some random cannon fodder just like what other warlords did.

“After all, with General Lei’s prestige that was almost uniting the worlds at the periphery of the fourth quadrant, as long as he stayed back, what could the four Kurfürst families have done with him?

“It was not like that they could fight on two ends, dealing with the Covenant Alliance in the frontline and ending up on bad terms with General Lei Chenghu in the rear at the same time, right?”

Pondering for a moment, Li Yao bulged his eyes and said, “But General Lei still obeyed the order of the Council of Elders and led his elite forces to the frontline?”

“Exactly. In fact, General Lei did more than that. Not only did he led all his elite troops out, he also tried to bring as many soldiers of the ‘Sailing Route Guards’, who were all well-trained warriors from the dozens of worlds at the periphery of the fourth quadrant, as possible. Establishing an overwhelming coalition army, they marched to the defense line in the Black Wind Sector quickly!”

Li Linghai sighed. “At that time, General Lei had the highest prestige in the dozens of worlds nearby, and many fleets were under his command. However, the owners of the fleets, those nobles and warlords, entrusted the fleets to General Lei because they believed that General Lei would bring them benefits or even strike the privateers of the other few quadrants to earn their trophies. All in all, they gave him the fleets to make a fortune, not to let General Lei lead them to death for nothing!”

Blinking his eyes for a long time, Li Yao found it hard to believe. “So… Not only was General Lei a fool himself, he also led the elite forces of dozens of worlds to be the greatest fools in the universe!”

“Yes. The universe is vast, and it is not difficult to block messages. When the nobles and warlords that governed the dozens of Sectors finally realized what was going on, it was already too late for them to regret. Their elites had all been gone in the depths of the sea of stars, probably never to return.”

With a smile, Li Linghai said, “You can totally imagine that General Lei’s crazy decision infuriated all the nobles and warlords of the fourth quadrant. He also left no retreat for himself at all. The blanket agreement about the ‘Sailing Route Guards’ immediately collapsed too.

“Right now, General Lei only had an enormous coalition fleet that did not have a base. The Council of Elders, or rather, the four Kurfürst families, controlled all the supplies.

“Not surprisingly, the Council of Elders deployed the coalition fleet brought by General Lei to the most dangerous frontline.

“Faced with the massive attacks of the Covenant Alliance, General Lei did not have any complaint or hesitation at all. He simply fought bloody battles for five years, almost wasting all his trusted troops and elites and blocked the Covenant Alliance’s attacks that were as overwhelming as tsunamis.

“Although he did not take back the five worlds, including the Black Wind Sector, he managed to reestablish an impenetrable defense line and completely stopped the Covenant Alliance before him.

“In the hundred years that followed, General Lei’s fleet had been stationed in the frontline and blocked the Covenant Alliance like an iron wall. Not a single starship of the Covenant Alliance was able to cross his defense.

“It is even safe to say that the dirtiest and most exhausting jobs in the battlefield since the War of Black Wind had been shouldered by General Lei alone. That was why the army and resources in the rear could be trained and mobilized unhurriedly. Also, the Covenant Alliance’s morale and momentum were worn out by General Lei. They were the reasons why the Imperium’s enormous counterattack went so smoothly.”

After hearing all that, Li Yao took a deep breath. “So to speak, this General Lei Chenghu is truly not an ambitious schemer but an honorable, selfless soldier?”

“Yes. All the warlords have both armies and territories. Although General Lei commands a massive coalition army that has a shocking combat ability, he does not have his territory anymore. Everything he does is ordered by the Council of Elders.”

Li Linghai said, “As he fought through life and death on the battlefield again and again, everybody began to realize General Lei’s integrity. Even the four Kurfürst families were awed by General Lei’s charisma. Or rather, if they killed General Lei, they would have nowhere to find such a dutiful, ambitionless man who was good at fighting.

“The Council of Elders and the four Kurfürst families were in dire need of the ‘real soldiers who are loyal to the Imperium’ such as General Lei Chenghu to deal with the Covenant Alliance in the frontline. In the hundred years that followed, they completely let go of their wariness on General Lei and did not withhold the supplies for the ‘Astounding Thunder Fleet’ under his command at all. He was also given many awards.

“‘Special Blackstar Medal’, the highest medal of the army in the Imperium of True Human Beings, had been given seventeen times. Fifteen of them were given in the first five hundred years of the Imperium during the expansion of territory. Only two were given in the second five hundred years. One was given to a commander from the four Kurfürst families, and the other was given to General Lei Chenghu. It is indicative enough of his accomplishments and prestige!”