"There are two hundred and fourteen servants and one hundred and fifty-six security personnel and shadow guards in the White Castle. I need you to find out which of them are loyal to the Mengsk family."
It was now seven o'clock in the evening on Christmas Eve. Augustus put on his regular clothes and took the shadow guard Marcus and Umoyan ambassador Aline Pasteur to the banquet hall of the family villa.
They were walking in the domed corridor with carved guardrails on the outside. In the center of the hall under the guardrail was a giant Christmas tree decorated with gifts. This giant fir originated from the edge planet Brysis.
"It's hard to say. Some people may just want to beg for food, but they may not be loyal," Aylin said.
"Except for the loyal ones, they are the disloyal ones who need to be eliminated immediately." Augustus said: "The spies will be tortured, and others will be replaced. Only those who are loyal to the Mengsk family can continue to stay.
Down."
"What are you going to do with the betrayers?" Aelin asked.
"Interrogated and then thrown into the sea," said Augustus.
"You are so kind." Shadow Guard Marcus is a taciturn person most of the time. He only occasionally gives his own insightful comments on certain things.
"Start purging the internal staff now?" Aylin asked.
"The sooner the better." Augustus walked down a flight of mahogany board stairs and asked the shadow guard: "How long will this take? Do you want me to gather everyone together?"
"No need to go to such trouble." The shadow guard wearing only combat uniform blended into the surrounding environment after a burst of light and shadow distortion: "I will give you a list later. I will test the list here by the way.
Defense level.”
"I won't disturb those who are laughing. It's a beautiful night. I can see the laughing souls."
"Marchus is always gentle and poetic." Aylin said to Augustus: "In the words of people in the past, he was a Umoyan bard."
"I want to prepare a Christmas gift for him." Augustus shrugged: "I'm a little surprised that Marcus doesn't seem to have a helmet, so how can his head be invisible."
"...Umo Yang's refractive stealth battle suit can create an invisible force field that can cover the head. Our psychic warriors will fight more with the help of technology, rather than relying on psychic energy and body.
Aylin explained: "At the same time, we must also use some devices to suppress their spiritual energy to reduce the possibility of losing control."
"Many people believe that psykers are born super warriors. Psychics of level eight or above can already use their telekinesis to easily mash the brain tissue of an ordinary person into paste or crush the enemy from dozens of yards away.
The grenade hanging from the waist of the Fang soldier..." he said.
"But the more powerful a psyker will be, the heavier the psychological pressure will be. This pressure is something we cannot experience. It is said that every time a psyker kills a person, part of the other person's memory and thoughts will be imprinted in his mind.
Here, unless these memories are washed away every once in a while, they will soon collapse."
"They should not be murderers," said Augustus.
"Psychics are born extraordinary. They either become the experimental subjects of scientists, or they become gods or saints worshiped by people on ignorant and backward planets." Aylin shook his head: "They have been with each other since they were born.
If you are different, you cannot become the kind of person you want to be.”
"Psychic energy is innate. Whether this is some kind of gift or a curse of fate, we can still tell clearly."
"Psychics should be protected by the government. They will be guardians to maintain order rather than killers used by rulers to exclude dissidents." Augustus said.
"Be careful, young Mengsk." Arryn said: "If psykers are left alone, they will inevitably become a new ruling class in the long future. The power possessed by psykers comes from talent, but it is not the same as their own.
The mind has nothing to do with whether it is good or evil."
"A powerful psyker can even control the thoughts of others, and those with ulterior motives will use this to establish cults and create evil gods. Rulers need to be wary of the emergence of such characters, and are also eager to obtain this terrible power." He said.
"This is one of the reasons why the federal government trains psykers to become ghost agents. It is better to control psykers and train them into weapons than to allow them to become unstable factors."
"Our outstanding agents who worked in Tarsonis in the early years investigated their ghost academy. The first batch of psykers who entered the ghost academy became experimental subjects, locked in electrified cages like beasts, and became madmen or
It was a mental illness, and those who survived became the original ghost agents."
"But the fate of Umoyan psykers is completely different. Psychics are neither supermen nor gods. They also have their own emotions and pursuits. In other words, even the coldest federal psionic agents may still think
But to save others.”
"Maybe we can instigate some of the federal ghost agents?" Augustus said as he walked down the stairs and entered the hall with the huge Christmas tree.
"Unless we raid the Ghost Academy in Tarsonis, we won't even see the faces of the Federation's ghost agents." Aelin's cold joke was hard to make people laugh: "But you know that is to die."
"You seem to be sure that there will be psychic agents coming to assassinate Angus, but why would they do this? Killing him will only make the people of Korhal even more angry."
"Because the Federal Council and the founding families behind them have become accustomed to ruling their people with ruthlessness, the aloof nobles believe that as long as they kill the leaders of the rebels, they can eliminate all budding rebellions. If the mob loses their leader, then
It's just a ball of sand." Augustus walked past a laughing maid and walked towards his family.
"How arrogant." Aylin chuckled.
Augustus' father Angus finally put down his work and stayed with his family to prepare for the arrival of Christmas.
Over the past few days, Angus and Augustus had talked many times, sometimes until late into the night. Only then did Augustus understand his father's true thoughts.
As early as twenty years ago, Angus's revolutionaries began to operate on various planets in the sector. From this, he learned that on many main star worlds and edge planets, there were hundreds of millions of people facing the enemy.
Dissatisfied with the repressive rule of the federal government.
During the union war, this dissatisfaction gradually evolved into hatred and hatred, and rebellions continued one after another. By this year, no matter how much the federal government used unn and other news media to whitewash peace, it could not hide the fact that rebellions were everywhere.
The colonies of the Tyranid Federation are much larger than those of the Kaimorian Federation and Umoyan, and the increasingly corrupt government can only use high-pressure policies to maintain its rule. The powerful Tyranid Federation seems to be extremely powerful, but in fact it has internal contradictions
Heavy.
Angus believes that the Tyranid Federation has expanded too fast. It is like a high-pressure furnace that will explode at a touch or a tower of playing cards. Just draw a few rows in the right place. Then this
A tall tower will soon collapse.
On the surface, victory in the Union War will undoubtedly further expand the Federation's territory, but the Kaimorians' planet will only make the Federation's rule more unstable. But in just a few years, the Federation will take over the Kaimorians above.
The people of Moria rushed back to Moria to consolidate their rule. At this time just after the war, the federal government's rule was at its weakest.
Therefore, Angus believes that this is the best time to launch a revolution. Once Korhal takes the lead in declaring independence, those planets that are already dissatisfied will break out in rebellion under the instigation of the Revolutionary Party, and eventually the revolutionary upsurge will sweep across the entire Terran Federation.
But after the Tyranid Federation stabilizes their rule on the planet Kaimorian and completely annexes the mining guild of the Federation, the Federation will become an even more terrifying behemoth.
Angus doesn't want to wait any longer. He is aging. And his influence in Korhal is the greatest in more than ten years, so he believes that now is the best time to declare independence. Wait until the federal government can free up its hands.
When more troops are stationed to suppress Korhal's revolutionary party, this planet will never turn around again.
Old Mengsk felt that his body was aging, and neither of his two sons wanted to take over his career. Angus didn't know how long he could live, just as Augustus worried, his enemies had been there more than a dozen times
Hiring professional killers and retired soldiers to assassinate him, he does not know which day in the future he will die.
A family that is incompatible with the class that gives it wealth and power will inevitably be squeezed out. The federal government only needs to dissolve Senator Korhal, and Angus will lose power. Maybe in five or ten years, the Mengsk family will have disappeared.
.
He also knows that revolution has always required countless blood and sacrifices. But without the first person who dares to shout for the revolution to stand up, the people of the entire Koprulu Sector will forever live in the shadow of the Tyranid Federation.
under.
Angus believes that the revolution will not last long. As long as the entire star region knows that a planet has separated from the Federation and become independent, other planets will follow suit, and the entire Tyranid Federation will fall into chaos. By then, Kemerian
In order to regain the lost territory, the peace treaty will inevitably be broken, and Umoyan has already sided with Korhal.
Augustus knew that the actual situation was no different from what Angus said. The uprisings on various planets of the Federation had not stopped since Korhal became independent. The rebellions made the government troops exhausted.
But Angus had no chance to realize his plan. According to the original story line, after Angus declared Korhal's independence in 2489, his fanatical supporters and troops swept across Korhal. But only two weeks later,
The ghost agents of the Terran Federation brutally beheaded Angus.
After this, the Federation thought that Korhal's rebellion would dissipate with the death of its leader, and therefore did not rush to regain the planet. However, Korhal's revolutionaries regrouped under the leadership of Arcturus, son of Angus.
, so it was not until nearly a year later, in 2491, that the Federation Council ordered the use of nuclear bombs to destroy Korhal.
Although Augustus agreed with some of his father's views, he did not think Korhal 4 could survive the federal offensive for three months.
Augustus used a star chart indicating the population, garrison number and fleet number to prove to Angus that even based on a purely numerical comparison of military strength, it would be extremely difficult for Korhal to win, and the quality of their army would also be difficult to beat.
The elite troops of the Federation.
Building a loyal revolutionary army is just a transition. Korhal must have a fleet of his own.
In Augustus' plan, the Korhal War of Independence is roughly divided into three steps. The first step is to seize Korhal 4 and immediately declare the planet to enter a state of war and a wartime supply system, using the powerful manufacturing capabilities of this industrial planet
Ability to provide supplies and weapons for the war effort.
At this time, Augustus already had some small fleets that had been transformed into assault ships, light cruisers and even self-destructing airships. At the same time, Umoyan would also assist some battleships.
In the second step, after declaring independence, Augustus will personally lead the assembled fleet to raid the Delarian and Bennett shipyards of the Tyranid Federation and seize the battlecruisers inside.
During this period, Korhal 4 will become a bait to attract the attention of the Federation fleet, a victim.
Korhal 4 must establish an orbital defense platform in the shortest possible time, and build city-like anti-aircraft missile tower positions and missile interception arrays on the back sides of the two moons to delay the enemy fleet's attack. The Korhal Revolutionary Army must
Only by building strong fortresses and defensive positions and turning Korhal into a fortress planet, a cruel meat grinder that consumes Federation landing forces, can Korhal be defended.
In the third step, Augustus's fleet will go straight to Tarsonis, forcing the enemy fleet to return for reinforcements. Then, the Korhal Revolutionary Army will abandon the devastated Korhal, and the remaining Korhar people will be gradually divided into batches.
The land was sent to Yumoyan or established colonies in areas far outside federal control areas.
Of course, the premise of all this is that the Federation does not nuclear Pinkha. Augustus only vaguely mentioned this possibility to Angus and tried to convince his father through rigorous logical analysis.
Augustus knew that using nuclear bombs to destroy a planet with a population of tens of millions must not be a decision made by the fleet commander alone, but must be the result of a vote by the federal parliament.
Therefore, while launching a war, he must use political and public opinion propaganda methods to force the parliament to fail to pass this resolution or revoke this order.
In this case, he would have to control everyone who is eligible to vote. This is almost impossible to do, because in addition to the members of the Senate, every Tarsonis founding family has a vote, and the most powerful ones like Tagore
Older families have even more votes.
But Augustus vowed that he would do whatever it took.
After fully considering the cruelty of the federal government, Angus only agreed to the plan named Project Phoenix by Augustus two days later. This plan was still quite crude, and the latter was spending a lot of time perfecting it.
Or add or delete.
Implementing this plan means that millions or more people in Korhal 4 are likely to die in the war, and their beautiful homes will also be destroyed by the war.
At this time, old Mengsk, who was standing next to his wife and daughter, was looking at Augustus. His long dark hair was tied into a ponytail hanging down to his shoulders, and the thick eyebrows on his cold gray eyes were relaxed and stretched. An
Gus Mengsk has a resolute face and handsome appearance, almost exactly what Augustus will look like in the future.
Seeing that the Magic Lisa of Heaven and others were also in this spacious hall, Augustus remembered that he would return to the military camp in a few days.
He couldn't help but think of how many demons from heaven would continue to follow him after he retired...