Time passes day by day, and in the blink of an eye it is already one year later.
The mobilization state of the Eilanhir Empire continues, and countless soldiers are armed and then transported to the border.
Countless planets have been transformed into defensive positions, and more planets have become densely populated with tall buildings as they develop.
Due to the population explosion, many planets have begun to become prosperous, and various races have merged together, creating a prosperous scene everywhere.
However, due to the continuation of the war, the speed of economic development has actually slowed down. Most of the means of production were eventually concentrated on military production.
Invincible-class battleships joined the space fleet one after another. These battleships cruised in groups on the borders of the empire, which has become a common sight for everyone.
Due to combat needs, the Airansil Empire also built a large number of transport ships to carry soldiers. These transport ships were loaded with puppet robots and interstellar paratroopers, accompanying the fleet as mobile reinforcements.
Whenever a war breaks out in any direction, these troops will rush to the war zone as soon as possible and fill the border defense lines.
In order to prepare for this war, which may or may not break out when it will, Chris, the imperial family's wealth, has shrunk by one-third.
A large amount of funds have been turned into various types of warships. In a sense, Emperor Chris of the Airanhill Empire is now more like a gambler, a crazy gambler who has bet his own fortune.
If this war breaks out, the royal family will become richer and more powerful, and the royal family's reputation will become even more terrifying within the Elanthir Empire.
If the royal family, which is already like a god, really predicts war again and leads everyone to prepare for the war, then no one will question Chris, the emperor, claiming to be a god.
However, if Chris guessed wrong and the war did not break out in the end - looking at the current situation, Chris, the founding emperor, would probably become the first bankrupt emperor of the empire in the end.
"I'm exhausted!" Des sat down on the sofa in front of Chris and complained a little exhausted.
He grabbed the water glass prepared for him, picked it up and drank the elven moonshine wine with ice cubes in it.
Then he took a long breath and said: "You know, right? Just now, the number of the Empire's Violence-class cruisers has exceeded that of the Discovery-class destroyers!"
"You now have thousands of cruisers cruising in the universe." He grabbed the wine glass without any surprise and poured the wine into his own glass: "Have you ever thought about how much waiting like this will do?
Are you bankrupt?"
"I've thought about it, and my finances tell me that my bankruptcy is coming soon." Chris replied without looking up as he flipped through the documents in front of him.
"Yeah, you know, I did a little calculation of your investment, and if it were me, I would be in bankruptcy and liquidation now." Des pointed to himself exaggeratedly.
Although he is already the prime minister of the empire, in the eyes of outsiders, he is so majestic that he is inferior to one person and superior to ten thousand people in the empire. It can be said that he has complete power in the true sense.
But in front of Chris, Des has always been a peer. Perhaps, only in front of Chris, he is a "young man" in the true sense.
Although he is thirty years old, he is still too young for a prime minister of an interstellar empire - after all, the deputy prime ministers of the empire are already hundreds of years old!
If anyone heard Des say this at this time, they would be so surprised that their jaws would drop.
If Des, the second richest tycoon in the empire, could say that he would go bankrupt, you can imagine what a huge sum of money that was!
And placing such a huge sum of money in the imperial family only made Chris "feel the pressure of bankruptcy".
In fact, Chris is far from going bankrupt. With such consumption, or more and more consumption, Chris estimates that he can persist for another three years.
In other words, in the next three years, if the war does not break out, he will almost be completely out of control.
Of course, there are not no solutions. At least many people are helping him think of solutions, including Des in front of him.
"Even if we include my assets, as well as the assets of the consortium and wealthy people who are willing to follow us, we can only support it for four years at most! In other words, after four years, we will all be bankrupt and liquidated."
Des said.
Chris was very touched when he heard him say this. Because even though Des had been presiding over the economic development of the empire and should be opposed to the empire's militaristic policies, as a good friend of Chris, Des still said it when he opened his mouth.
Words like "even if you add me".
This shows that Des is still willing to spend all his assets and make a crazy gamble with Chris.
Even though Des's total assets are now countless times that of the Longtate family's assets back then!
The family heads of the Long Tate family are still alive today. They are watching helplessly as the wealth of the Long Tate family becomes as numerous as the stars in the sky with the expansion of the empire. Unfortunately, this wealth has little to do with them.
, because they had all become Des’ vassals back then.
"It's not time to touch your wife Ben yet." Chris joked and put down the documents in his hand.
There is no need for Des to keep any more wives now, because he has too many wives - a real group of wives and concubines. The imperial prime minister's current harem is more than ten times more than Chris's.
!
Already young and handsome, coupled with his astonishing wealth and power, he is simply a beauty harvester.
Chris now has 5 sons and 4 daughters, and Des now has 39 sons and 22 daughters - Chris once jokingly said that if Des continues to have children like this, his property may not be enough to divide.
"Merely passive defense is not enough! We sit at home and wait for the enemy to come. After all, this is a passive way of coping." Des shook the glass of wine he had poured and began to persuade Chris.
Admonition.
"Is this what you are saying from your heart, or is it something someone else asked you to tell me?" Chris also poured himself a glass of wine, and looked at the faint brilliance of the moonshine wine containing magical energy, and he asked.
Des laughed, shook his head and said, "It's not the first day you've known me. If it wasn't from my heart, I definitely wouldn't have told you. Either I will suppress this matter, or they will
I will bring my head to talk to you."
Chris nodded and raised his glass to Des: "Don't worry, I won't let anyone carry your head in front of me."
"This is really good news!" Des raised his glass and drank up the little wine left in the glass.
After drinking up the wine in his hand, he poured himself another glass. In fact, in the position of imperial prime minister, few people can make Des drink three glasses in a row. Normally, he only needs to say
If you stop drinking, no one will try to persuade you.
However, sitting in front of Chris, Des still wanted to behave more naturally. He felt that he was still the young follower and the crazy businessman who gambled all his wealth.
After pouring the wine, he continued to say to Chris: "You will have nothing to eat in the end... This is no joke. If your Majesty's wealth is not enough to control the entire empire, chaos will ensue.
"
At this time, he was an old friend of Chris, not a prime minister of the empire. Just listen to him speak and continue: "We should take the initiative to find the location of the enemy and strive to let the war break out in the enemy's controlled area. This is love
The Landhill Empire’s consistent approach.”
"For more than a year, the empire has not carried out any external expansion. The war has not broken out. Our weapons production is still going on non-stop. This is a huge consumption." Before Chris could speak, he continued.
Then he talked to himself. Because of his loyalty, he had the right to speak freely in front of his monarch.
Chris didn't speak, he just listened quietly. His current role was that of a listener, listening to the voices of his people.
This meeting was not a meeting between two people. It was a completely private meeting, and Chris just wanted to hear Des express his thoughts.
After all, he is an emperor and cannot completely ignore the thoughts of his subordinates. However, as of now, there are not many of his subordinates' thoughts that he can truly consider.
"I believe the threat you told me. Even if others don't believe it, I still believe it." Des, who was still holding a wine glass at this time, continued: "But believing is one thing. How to operate?"
That's another thing. We can't put all our eggs in the same basket..."
He was going to reveal to Chris some of the thoughts of the following people: "Actually, there are too many things that we need to consider. I even heard that many consortiums or wealthy businessmen are considering another possibility."
"Lots and lots of possibilities." Chris smiled, because he knew many things, many things that Des wanted to tell him.
As the emperor of an empire, if Chris couldn't control every dark corner of the empire, he might have died long ago.
No one who steps onto the stage of history and leaves his mark is truly an idiot. Most of the time, those inexplicable and stupid decisions are just one-sided manifestations of later generations' lack of analysis of the situation at that time.
Des nodded, then shook his head with a wry smile: "Yes, there are many possibilities. There may not be many choices for you, but for them, there are still many, many choices."
"It's just that they don't know the truth, so they think there are many choices," Chris said.
Both he and Des knew the truth about the crash of Fengling 004, so they both believed that the other party might be a powerful group.
But other people didn't know, and Chris didn't need to make everyone live in panic. At least no one knew so comprehensively. Everyone just thought that the battle on Higgs 5 made the emperor vigilant.
"Not knowing the truth is sometimes a kind of happiness, isn't it?" Des smiled bitterly and said, "At least, they are still full of hope now."
"I know that the intelligence department has provided a lot of information in this regard, but I just don't want to deal with it." Chris also poured himself a glass of moonshine wine and said.
The light blue magical light looks so crystal clear in the wine glass, giving this drink an inexplicable sense of sophistication.
Des continued: "Some of these people are actively preparing to get the maximum benefit after the collapse of your industry. Some are actively preparing to leave a way out for themselves."
Chris laughed, as if he didn't care about these things: "I really heard about it, it's a very interesting idea. I heard that someone is building a spaceship that is huge enough. Once there is a problem in the empire, it will bring enough
The population fled to unknown universes."
Hearing that Chris knew about this, Desel's face showed a smile that was no longer so helpless: "Yes, they call this the final plan. It was proposed by a businessman and has raised 20 million gold coins.
...However, I think this speed of raising funds is more like a scam."
Chris continued to say nonchalantly: "Absolutely. If those who are willing to pay know how expensive a spaceship is, they will know that they may have been deceived."
You must know that a real spaceship is very expensive, so expensive that it makes people desperate. If thirty million gold coins are placed in today's Ailanshir Empire, it is really impossible to build a super spaceship with amazing self-sustainability.
.
Because even a multi-million-ton giant-class space aircraft carrier does not actually have high self-sustainability - without the supply of resource planets, such a spacecraft cannot cruise outside for a long time.
Hearing what Chris said, Des asked curiously: "So, Your Majesty, have you ever thought about the second plan after failure?"
"No, actually I don't think such an escape will be useful. But I will seriously consider your suggestion. Maybe if the front line is tight, I will build a spaceship and take everyone away."
Reese said with a smile.
Des nodded and said to Chris: "I know what you are thinking. In fact, you don't think you will lose at all."
"Why did I lose? I have assembled so many armies and mobilized so much star power. If such an empire will fail, what is the meaning of my life?" Chris asked rhetorically.
Without waiting for Des to answer, he continued: "I have always felt that the meaning of my existence is to lead you to glory. If we are all destined to be destroyed, then wouldn't it be wrong for me to inherit China's heritage and build this empire?
Completely meaningless?"
"You are right, this is the meaning of what we have come to today!" Des nodded sincerely and agreed: "Respect... our meaning!"
"Here's to our victory!" Chris raised his glass and said to Des solemnly.
The two of them finished the glass and found that the wine bottle was empty. Chris knew that Des still had something to say, so he stood up on his own initiative, walked to the front of the wine cabinet, and asked: "Continue drinking?
"
"Of course, it's been a long time since we talked while drinking like this. It feels good, so... why not?" Des said with a smile, his face a little rosy after drinking three glasses of wine.
"Moonshine?" Chris asked.
"Well, what I drank just now tastes good. It's the only aged moonshine wine you can drink here." Des recalled the smooth taste just now and said with a smile: "No matter how rich you are, you may not be able to drink it.
Let the elves bring out the best."
"Other people may not be sure, but if you ask Andrea for it, it won't be a problem to get a whole room." Chris took out a bottle of moonshine wine from the wine cabinet, then smiled and nodded Desai with his finger.
you.
Des spread his hands and said, "I don't want to waste Her Royal Highness's favor on drinks."
"Okay, okay, why don't I ask?" Chris came back and helped Des fill the wine glass first.
There are not many people in this empire who can make him take the initiative to pour wine. Apart from a few imperial concubines, there are probably only a few old ministers left who can make Chris pick up the wine bottle himself.
Des was not frightened, but said to Chris: "I'll pour the rest, otherwise I won't have the shame to continue drinking."
"Okay!" Chris didn't show any pretense, he just replied Des with one word.
Then Des continued to talk about the topic he came here to talk to Chris about: "If you want to continue to maintain this state, the best way is to expand the territory of the empire and use these new peripheral star fields as a
Pay the money back to the consortium that provided the supplies."
This is the purpose of his visit this time, which is to hope that Chris will choose some safer ways to survive the possible crisis: "This is more reasonable than constantly using treasury funds..."
"You know, once a war breaks out, the land outside the defense line may become a scorched earth." Chris said to Des.
"Yes, I know." Des nodded: "I also know that you have always been a benevolent monarch in your heart, and this has never changed."
Without waiting for Chris to speak, he continued: "Actually, we can use a more cruel way to deal with these guys who are not treasonous but are always ready to act."
"It sounds pretty bloody." Chris motioned for Des to continue.
Des did not continue to beat around the bush and came out straight: "We can sell the land outside the empire's core defense line and throw all these planets out for those guys to eat!"
"If the enemy comes, they are the eyes outside our defense line and our buffer zone, which can buy us enough time." He listed the benefits of doing so: "These outer planets can provide early warning and allow us to
We prepare in advance... Only a small loss can eliminate unstable factors for us and increase our chances of winning the war."
As he spoke, he stretched out a second finger: "And if the enemy does not come, they can also get the benefits, and your economy will continue to be maintained and will not collapse."
"It sounds good, but you and I both know that the enemy will definitely come, and by then we will lose part of our manpower and national strength because of today's compromise!" Chris said.
He put down the wine glass and continued to speak without waiting for Desel's persuasion: "You know! After exhausting all my efforts, I still can't guarantee victory in the next war! If some resources are wasted, I'm afraid of losing.
When the war breaks out, I will regret it and be unwilling to do so!"
"Your Majesty!" Des drank the wine in the wine glass again, and the wine glass hit the desk with a crisp sound. Then he spoke and admonished Chris: "Some people keep it, and they fail to succeed and fail.
...throwing them out as cannon fodder is the best choice!"
"It's not like I haven't thought about what you said." Chris also drank all the moonshine wine in his glass, put the glass down, folded his hands and said to Des, "Maybe I should tell Desel everything we know.
Announce it to the public and let them make their own choices."
"It's useless! Your Majesty! You should know very well that even if everyone knows the truth, some people will still make different choices." Des shook his head and said: "This is a gamble! You and me, and us.
The followers are blocking the outbreak of war...then naturally, some people will bet on the probability that the war will not break out."
He stretched out his hand and pointed to the top of his head: "Do you know how much more money they would have made once the war had not broken out? They would have controlled countless planets, controlled more economic areas, become richer, and
More powerful!"
"At that time, your prestige has declined and your wealth has shrunk significantly. They may even take the opportunity to control the entire empire and turn you into a puppet emperor!" Des pointed to himself: "And I and I
Wageron and others will become losing gamblers and be expelled from the center of power of the empire."
Chris nodded, understanding what Des said: "What you said makes sense, so I should give up on these lunatics and let them have the opportunity now to develop those overseas star fields?"
"Yes, I think you can sell those areas to let them enjoy the benefits and use their money to support the empire's military expansion and war preparations." Des filled both himself and Chris with wine.
Chris thought of an "enhanced version" of this plan, and he said: "Why don't I do it more ruthlessly... Let them develop new star fields overseas, but I only approve puppet robots to leave the country.
!”
When Des heard Chris's thoughts, he was stunned for a moment, and then he gave a decisive thumbs up, expressing his admiration for Chris: "High! It's really high!"
-------
I’ll make up some of it first and continue tomorrow.
