Chapter 203 Huangliang Dream
"My lord, the Praetorian fleet has been destroyed, they cannot attack..."
Hearing the "general"'s cautious answer, the emperor smiled instead of anger, as if he had heard something interesting.
"Ai Qing is really good at joking, my imperial guard fleet is hard to find an opponent in the entire galaxy, don't you see that even the famous "Guardian" needs to avoid it?"
"..." His majesty's swear words made the other people present look at each other in blank dismay, and for a while didn't know how to answer.
The emperor they know is a perfect figure who is wise, omniscient, strategizing, and decisive for thousands of miles. How could he not even know that the Imperial Guard Fleet was destroyed?
"Where did you learn to tell jokes, so you came here to show me? If so, then you have passed the test, and I can give you the honorary title of 'Master of Performing Arts'..."
The emperor is still talking about it, and he has even thought about the court positions he will give them in the future.
Such a confident performance made these "generals" who reported to work suspect whether their memory was wrong.
Could it be said that the Praetorian Fleet has not been destroyed, and the news and images circulating in the society are actually false, manufactured for a certain purpose of public opinion?
Or is it that His Majesty the Great Emperor actually has a hidden guard fleet, and those wiped out by the "Guardian" are actually just the tip of his iceberg?
And no matter what kind of speculation it is, it will only make these "generals" more fanatical.
They are all "inferior people" who have been pulled up from the lower levels for some purpose. Compared with those real nobles who have their own minds, they are "modeled fanatics".
Even if the upper class headed by the emperor squeezed 99% of their blood and sweat, these "inferior people" who have been nurtured since birth and undergo genetic modification and spiritual castration are the most loyal admirers of the emperor himself.
This is a more thorough brainwashing than the "mind control" achieved by psionic energy, after all, their cognition has been completely distorted.
Even if there are some instigators who want to try to trigger the "inferior uprising", I believe that without waiting until then, the instigators will be directly killed by the fanatical "inferior people".
This is the bottom layer of the "Empire of Conquerors", a group of true "lovers" of the empire. Even if this is a distorted love, it has indeed maintained the empire, at least on the surface.
However, as the ruling class of the empire—those nobles, they don't have so much emotion.
This is a group of complex interests colluding. When the "Empire of the Conquerors" was still an indigenous civilization and had not yet established a foothold in space, these dignitaries formed enough bonds with the emperor.
They followed the empire in the sea of stars, and followed the ups and downs of the empire. It can be said that their family history is the civilization history of the empire.
They are the real mainstay of the empire. They are the ones who develop technology, open up territories, explore alien stars, and control production.
They are also the moths of the empire. They are also the ones who brainwash the bottom, squeeze vassals, conquer wantonly, and indulge in pleasure.
In the past, there were many talented and strategic emperors in the empire who set out to remove this piece of "rotten flesh", but they were like tumors that coexisted with the empire, deeply attached to the bone marrow.
The empire can continue without surgery, but once the operation is performed, the empire will only succeed if it fails.
And no matter which choice was made, it was an unacceptable consequence for the empire that had made countless enemies at that time.
In the end, from the emperor to the bottom of the nobility, everyone tacitly ignored this matter.
Just as some of the indigenous people disdain the protection of the planet's ecology, because the disaster caused by the destruction of the environment will not fall on their generation, and they will use it for the current development with peace of mind.
The ruling class of the "Conqueror Empire" also has the same mentality. The destruction of the empire will not happen for at least three or even ten generations of them, so even if they know that this is not going to happen, they are completely indifferent.
Conquest by force brought them enough wealth to squander, and a large number of tributary civilizations and vassal civilizations provided them with seemingly inexhaustible resources like bank interest.
At this time, the "Empire of the Conquerors" was still young, and technology was far from coming to an end. Obviously, it failed to pursue many things to the extreme, and fell into pleasure early.
The emperor and the top dignitaries who should be the "advanced" are the first to fall, leading to the fall of the entire civilization. The prevailing entertainment atmosphere and neglected cultural inheritance also make the sense of belonging weaker and weaker.
For those nobles, it doesn't matter whether they are a member of the empire, as long as they can satisfy their desire for pleasure, it doesn't matter where they are.
The motivation that is still driving them to "loyalty" to the empire is just enough wealth.
This kind of civilization without cohesion cannot go far at all, and its destruction is just a lack of an opportunity.
The destruction of civilization should be a long process, but the "Empire of the Conquerors" was actually dead the moment the tumor was not removed. What seems to be a beautiful thing now is just an empty shell of civilization, which will collapse with a single poke.
The arrival of the "Guardian" became the opportunity to pierce the empty shell.
The dignitaries are keenly aware of the coming of the end, and have made full preparations. In another place, they will be superior again.
The stupid emperor himself became a victim of lies, and under the secretly mocking eyes of the nobles, he became the last full stop in the history books of civilization.
At this moment, the emperor, who didn't know all of this and was still dreaming of the "ruler of the universe", was chatting and laughing with the "generals" around him.
“The financial situation has improved in recent years~”
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
"Have you seen "Yes, Your Majesty" filmed by the comedian? It really made me laugh out loud..."
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
"It is said that I am only one step away from being crowned 'Emperor of the Star Sea Empire'?"
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
The content of the chat was not nutritious. These so-called "generals" who were driven by the rich and powerful to put them on the shelves did not have a high level of accomplishment. They couldn't even say a word of flattery other than nodding and saying yes, which made the emperor a little boring.
Just as he was thinking about why the minister who was always in his favor hadn't come back, he seemed to be in good health when he suddenly noticed a slight twist in the clear sky.
As if the signal had been interfered with, the "image" of the entire sky became blurred, flickering, as if it was about to dissipate immediately.
The bad premonition reached its peak in the emperor's heart in an instant.
Before the future had time to think carefully, the giant projection device that weaved the last wonderful dream for the emperor also completely stopped working, allowing the emperor to see the cruel reality.
—In the sky covered with dark clouds, countless "Guardian" spaceships are passing by rapidly, as if they are scanning everything on the planet.
Through the gaps in the clouds, you can also see a larger spaceship slowly driving away. It is only equipped with a giant muzzle, but you can feel the power enough to destroy the planet.
The emperor recognized that this was the "Colossus", a warship specially equipped with Star Destroyer weapons.
There were also empires in the past, but in the birthday ceremony of a certain emperor in history, the colossus of the empire was sold to other civilizations to make up for the celebration funds.
The target of this "colossus" is not this planet, but just passing by here, but how could this kind of warship come to his "garden" without his knowledge?
So the emperor froze in place, he finally understood that he was deceived by everyone around him.
(end of this chapter)