Chapter 987, Review of the Solar Fleet

Chapter 987, Review of the Solar Fleet

The person who lured out the corrupted officer from the "Flying Glory" was none other than Gu Jing, who had a demon lord of a thousand faces as his "advisor."

It's unrealistic to expect him to use his Myriad Transformations Demon Lord technique to deceive exceptionally high-level beings. After all, this Myriad Transformations Demon Lord only has one appearance. Its subspace essence has been cleansed by Gu Hang.

To some powerful demons of the same level, the difference was very obvious. They could easily tell that the thing in front of them was all show and no substance, and was completely different from the real Myriad Transformations Demon Lord.

However, it's still very effective at fooling younger children who aren't at a higher level.

Ordinary people simply cannot recognize the nature of subspace.

If you try to distinguish them by sound, light, color, or perception, even someone with strong psychic knowledge can tell. Gu Jing's "advisor" was transformed from a demon lord of a thousand transformations, and his way of using power, methods, and characteristics are exactly the same as the real demon lord of a thousand transformations.

Coupled with deliberate deception, they were virtually invincible.

As for whether using the power of the Myriad Transformations Demon Lord is blasphemous... at least, Marshal Song, in front of Gu Jing, dared not say much.

As the commander-in-chief, he should theoretically be the supreme commander of the Solar Fleet.

But in reality, it is not at all.

His position is very difficult.

Before the Cataclysm, he did have basic management functions over the Solar Fleet. However, combat missions and strategic command were entirely subject to the orders of the Imperial Navy High Command. After all, his superior, the Supreme Commander of the Imperial Navy, the Grand Marshal, was in Holy Terra with him. So, as his subordinate, he had no choice but to obey orders directly.

Although he himself was a high-ranking member of the General Headquarters, he was not as independent as the other naval fleets outside. Even the operational plans could not be decided by him directly; he had to see what the General Headquarters arranged.

After the cataclysm, the situation worsened.

The suppression and hierarchical management from higher levels remain, and have become even stronger. After all, the Imperial Naval Headquarters used to oversee the deployment of the entire naval forces across the empire, but now that it's out of reach, it can only manage the Solar Fleet—isn't that a problem?
Furthermore, Song Min was gradually losing power over his subordinates, various fleets, and even specific combat ships.

Everyone knows the importance of the navy. Putting aside everything else, the daily water and food consumption of trillions of people on Holy Terra is astronomical. No matter how well water recycling is done, or how advanced synthetic food technology becomes, externally sourced resources remain indispensable.

Because of the isolation brought about by the Great Cataclysm, the value of the Navy has actually increased to an unprecedented level compared to the past.

More and more factions on Holy Terra are reaching into the inner workings of the Solar Fleet.

Song Min initially tried to stop it, but later he couldn't stop it and even faced personal danger several times, so he could only protect himself.

Currently, he can probably only control less than one-tenth of the ships in the solar fleet; a considerable portion of them have been pushed to the vicinity of the moon.

The arrival of Robert and his expeditionary force brought a turning point to the situation.

Song Min was one of the people who was most actively in contact with Robert.

It was for the sake of the empire, and also for his own sake.

Everything went smoothly at first, but he underestimated the chaos under his command.

Besides the attempts to win over and infiltrate various forces on Earth, his solar fleet was also plagued by a large number of traitors.

Despite maintaining communication with Robert's side after the negotiations failed, and striving to preserve mutual trust, pushing for the next round of negotiations, especially the peaceful transfer of the entire Solar Fleet to His Highness the Regent, proved far too difficult.

He was afraid too.

If a single misstep leads to a civil war, causing a significant portion of the Solar Fleet to side with the opposing side, it would jeopardize Robert's grand plans—and would obviously have a considerable impact on his future.

That's not all; more importantly, if such a chaotic situation were to occur, his own life would likely be in danger as well.

Against this backdrop, he received a message from Robert saying that he would send a special envoy to 'solve the problem'.

That would certainly be welcome.

However, what troubled him was that Robert had given a deadline:
"This envoy will resolve the issue using three standard Terra days."

Song Min asked what would happen if the problem wasn't resolved by the deadline.
Robert only uttered two words:
"war!"

Song Min immediately understood.

This should be the final ultimatum.

He could only greet this person's arrival with trepidation.

Gu Jing, he knew this person.

Or rather, he knew about Gu Jing's father.

Gu Hang, one of the Empire's high lords, was considered a challenger and threat to the central authority in the era before the Great Cataclysm. However, no one could deny that he was the Empire's most powerful figure in the provinces.

Over the past century, Holy Terra wasn't entirely isolated from all news. Occasionally, information from the Empire's dark side would reach him through various means. At his level, he was still able to hear some of it.

The rulers of the Empire's dark side... The Dark Side Expedition... Legions of Space Marines... Vast interstellar fleets...

Every piece of news was impacting the hearts of the imperial elites.

The powerful and wealthy have complex mindsets. Song Min didn't know how to describe others, but at least from his perspective, he essentially had only one thought:
It seems that what happened in the East has made that so-called alliance more like an empire than Holy Terra.

He approached Gu Jing with respect.

It shows respect for both Robert and Gu Hang.

But what Gu Jing came up with next stunned him.

In his office, Gu Jing laid out his plan in its entirety—he claimed that he would spend the next three days finding as many chaotic corrupt elements as possible within the Solar Fleet.

The specific method of finding him was by relying on the phantom image of the ever-changing Demon Lord that appeared behind him.

To be honest, if it weren't for Robert and Gu Hang backing Gu Jing up, the mere sight of him revealing the phantom of the Myriad Transformations Demon Lord would have been enough for Song Min to immediately call the judges on the ship to take him away.

And you even said you were looking for corrupt elements? Good heavens, you're the one who carries a Tzeentch the Great Demon with you, aren't you the leader of the corrupt elements?
But after Gu Jing reassured him, Song Min reluctantly believed him.

Mainly, he didn't have much extra work to do.

It was simply a matter of preparing an interrogation room and a cell, preferably large and secluded. Then, he watched Gu Jing sitting in his office, barely moving.

Next, the team that came with Gu Jing, consisting of several Infinite Warriors and several Judges, together with a group of guards and Judges on the ship that Song Min could trust, formed a secret team.

In the interrogation room designated by Gu Jing, they "welcomed" batches of officers and generals from different ships. Once their identities were confirmed, they were taken away and imprisoned, and that was it.

These people were all acquaintances to Song Min.

After all, they were all his subordinates—though not necessarily from his faction, and usually difficult to command. But there were still a few among them whom he had previously considered to be his own people.

So, they were all arrested?
At first, he hesitated, struggled, and even didn't quite trust Gu Jing.

Although Gu Jing's methods were incredibly sophisticated—simply and silently teleporting people from different warships to his 'Eternal Flame'—it's not like Gu Jing can simply declare anyone a traitor.
He arranged for an investigation, a deep-seated corruption investigation of a person, a direct search of memories, an examination of genes and the purity and integrity of the skull.

The effect is very clear, and the test results are very reliable. It couldn't be used before because it was slow. It would take one or two days to thoroughly investigate a person, and the examination room that was built could only examine one or two people at a time, and it had to be done one-on-one by a professional examiner... This was not suitable for large-scale screening, especially when the screening was aimed at various disobedient, non-factional, and high-ranking naval officers and generals.

However, it is quite reliable in making qualitative assessments of a single objective.

The investigation proved that the people Gu Jing had captured were completely reliable.

Although the investigation cannot reach every single person, everyone who is investigated is a corrupt official.

Only at this point did Song Min finally give up completely.

Let's just follow Gu Jing.

The entire review process lasted two days.

Gu Jing captured a total of 1638 people, distributed across 273 warships. Each warship had between 2 and 9 corrupt elements.

This is almost a quarter of the remaining ships in the Solar Fleet.

When necessary, the level of destruction they can cause is quite high.

The importance of cleaning up these corrupt elements is absolutely paramount.

With these corrupt elements causing sabotage, any talk of peace negotiations is just nonsense.

Only after eliminating them can negotiations have a chance of success.

Of course, Gu Jing also told Marshal Song that they couldn't be complacent at the moment. The number of corrupt elements was definitely far greater than these thousand-odd people.

The investigation of senior officers and commanders on 273 warships does not mean that all the senior officers on the remaining ships are reliable. Some senior officers, perhaps out of caution or because Gu Jing did not have time to deceive them, have not been caught.

After all, the time left for Gu Jing was indeed too short.

What he was able to do was essentially use the characteristics of the Myriad Shapeshifting Demon Lord to broadcast information on a specific 'channel' that was most likely to be received by Tzeentch's high-level followers.

Through dreams, through whispers in one's mind.

If the other party doesn't respond, there's nothing you can do.

Moreover, even if they were on those two hundred-plus warships, it didn't mean that capturing high-ranking generals meant they were clean.

If even high-ranking officers have become corrupt, then how many ordinary officers and sailors on the ships have also been corrupted by these guys using their positions of power? It's impossible to quantify.

But what Gu Jing is doing right now is still of extraordinary value.

At least, those two hundred-odd ships that had their corrupt leaders removed would be much slower to react, or even unable to react at all, if they wanted to cause trouble later.

On the third day, Marshal Song Min, following Gu Jing's plan, in his capacity as commander-in-chief of the fleet, issued final orders to every ship of the Solar Fleet, carrying an order from Regent Robert:
He ordered all remaining loyal Imperial Navy ships to leave the orbit of Holy Terra and assemble at designated coordinates—a region in the airspace not too far from the lunar base—to come under the Regent's control.

This order could not possibly be carried out smoothly, and it undoubtedly caused a huge uproar.

If it could be executed smoothly, there wouldn't be so many steps involved.

Numerous dissenting voices emerged, with many even questioning whether Marshal Song Min was the biggest traitor, and whether they were being lured out to be killed.

But this time, Song Min's attitude became tougher than ever before.

He divided all the ships into three categories based on their behavior within a limited time.

The first category consists of those who, following orders, proceed to designated airspace to assemble and undergo inspection. These individuals are true loyalists of the Empire. They will receive the honors they deserve, and in the future, they will remain a part of the glorious Imperial Navy.

The second category consists of those who hesitate to accept orders, but that's alright. At the appointed time, the Regent's fleet will sail into orbit around Holy Terra to begin military operations. Those who do not obstruct the expeditionary fleet can also be considered loyalists, but after the war, they will undergo due diligence to determine their true allegiance.

The third category is the obstructors.

This type of person is an outright traitor, an enemy of the empire, and the Regent will unleash endless fury upon them!

This is an ultimatum, and the appointed time—20:00 Standard Terran Time—is the moment of final judgment.

After issuing this ultimatum, Marshal Song Min resolutely ordered his flagship to set sail, taking a fleet of ships completely under his command to the assembly point.

However, things won't go so smoothly.

The public channels of the Solar Fleet were filled with noise! ​​The loudest voices were calling Song Min a traitor and urging the 'true loyalists' to open fire on Song Min's ships.

There is no need to analyze whether these people are corrupt elements.

It's pointless, they're all enemies!

Song Min ordered all ships to prepare for battle; they needed to prepare to break out.

The greatest danger is coming; they will not only have to face the guns pointed at them, but also artillery fire from the orbital defense space station and the fortress.

But at that moment, a terrifying fleet gradually appeared in the distance.

The fleet was led by three Glory Queen warships.

(End of this chapter)