ca-book Chapter 708 On the way
Chapter 708 On the way
Chapter 708 On the way
Battleship HMS Rectification, captain's room.
"Congratulations, Qingshan Khan."
Vera put down her teacup and said sarcastically:
"In just a few hours, he went from being a Chapter Master of the Astartes stationed in a border sector to being the Supreme Commander of the Empire that led the entire human empire. It was a textbook military coup that caught the entire Throne World dumbfounded and unprepared. I dare to interview you. How does it feel to hold such power?"
Fu Qinghai smiled disapprovingly and said:
"If by 'commanding the entire human empire' you mean being hit in the face by the orcs' battle moon and almost being captured or reduced to ruins, or that after sending out a distress signal, only four founding chapters responded, then I have nothing to say. There is no such thing as 'holding great power'. I am here to clean up the mess of the high lords. You know this very well. If you are envious, I can give up my position to you."
"Humph, I can't argue with you."
Vera snorted and raised her teacup again.
Since Fu Qinghai did not inform Vera in advance, when she learned that a coup had taken place in Terra, the political subversion had basically been settled.
Strictly speaking, Vera saw the news of the coup in the news media, just like every Terran citizen. Of course, the original words in the news were "Lord Udo and Qingshan Khan completed the peaceful transfer of political power." As for the specific process and whether it was peaceful or not, only the Emperor knew. As Udo said, Space Marines were born with war and conflict. Where Space Marines appear, there is usually no peace.
Vera was a little unhappy.
She felt that she and Qingshan were allies, and allies should share information. She had told Qingshan everything she knew, without keeping anything to herself, whether it was the plot in the original novel or the secret information she had found out. But Qingshan didn't tell her about such a big thing as launching a coup, and she was kept in the dark from beginning to end.
But Fu Qinghai always said the same thing - "Sharing intelligence in both directions is meaningless to you." Allies also need to measure their strength. Compared with Fu Qinghai, Vera is too weak. Even if Vera is told that a military coup will be launched tomorrow, what can she do? On the contrary, the more people know the news, the greater the risk of leaks.
Countless lessons have taught us:
Things are made secret, and words are leaked.
They can't maintain confidentiality at all.
How to get rid of insects and shoot the sun?
How to build a good empire?
Fu Qinghai shut Vera up with just two sentences.
Vera was unhappy but had no idea what to say.
I could only keep drinking tea.
I heard that you assimilated all these Chinese tea leaves with your assimilation points? I'll drink you to death...
"Have some cakes, too."
Fu Qinghai looked at the angry Vera with sympathy and pushed a box of pineapple cakes on the desk over to her:
"Drinking too much Pu'er tea will make you hungry."
In fact, Vera was a nice person, sensible and obedient, and easy to work with. However, compared to her mother, Grand Inquisitor Sid Nora, her political vision was too naive and her political skills were too immature. But it was also normal. Vera didn't look very old. Fu Qinghai guessed from her words and deeds that before she entered the reincarnation world, her family environment or personal interests and hobbies probably had nothing to do with politics.
"This is delicious too, Vera."
Fei Yi kindly pushed another box of snacks over to this friend whom she had met a few times before to try.
However, when Vera saw the small and exquisite snack, she was furious: "Isn't this the snack my acolyte brought you from the banquet? That bastard called me to the airport just for this snack!"
"Thank you, I've eaten this."
Vera waved her hand expressionlessly in refusal.
Vera's current official identity is Fu Qinghai's plot consultant. The cooperation between the two is guaranteed by assimilation points rather than personal relationships. This is a very common "profession" in the world of reincarnation. Those reincarnations who have great power may not be familiar with the plot, and those who are familiar with the plot may not have great power, so the two naturally have room for cooperation. The latter provides plot clues, and the former is responsible for advancing the plot. If there is enough trust, the employer consultant does not even need to be a member of the reincarnation camp, as long as the employer can provide the plot consultant with enough compensation.
In the last adventure in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Afaf could be regarded as Fu Qinghai's plot consultant, but Fu Qinghai did not pay Afaf assimilation points as a reward afterwards. It seemed that the woman had some other plans and gains.
At this time, Fu Qinghai was leaning back in his chair, his eyes completely empty, thinking about another problem.
Until now, although the battle moon is still hanging in orbit, the crisis on Terra has finally been resolved.
Many people may find it outrageous that Holy Terra, as the political center and only capital of the Human Empire, was attacked by the Orcs without any defense, and then immediately faced a disaster situation where the country would be destroyed if it did not surrender. The Human Empire is a country with an extremely vast territory, and this kind of thing does not seem to conform to the inherent traditional cognition.
This situation is actually very, very normal.
There is a concept in the military called "strategic depth". There are many examples in the real world where some countries with large land areas can use the strategic depth of their land to resist foreign invasion, exchange space for time, and eventually defeat the enemy and win the war, while only some small countries will be pushed to the capital by the enemy within a few days or even hours and quickly perish.
But those were all wars within the atmosphere. In the era of interstellar warfare, various superluminal navigation technologies turned the distant universe into two small dots on a folded piece of paper, completely overturning the traditional warfare model. The term "strategic depth" almost lost its meaning. No matter how vast the territory was, it could not stop the enemy from striking directly at the enemy's heart and delivering a fatal blow.
This is not only the case in the Warhammer 40K universe, but also in the Star Wars Legends universe. During the Yuuzhan Vong War, when most of the planets in the inner and core regions of the galaxy had not yet fallen, the New Republic's capital, Coruscant, was directly captured by the Yuuzhan Vong. The so-called "strategic depth" also failed to provide any help.
Of course, the change in superluminal navigation technology is only a foundation. The reason why Terra is in its current predicament is that the human empire has been at peace for too long, and the high lords have been busy forming cliques and fighting for power and have lost their sense of crisis, and have failed to build a complete defense system for the capital.
Fu Qinghai paced slowly in the captain's room.
Before I knew it, I was outside the cabin.
Fu Qinghai stood in the corridor outside the captain's room, looking up at the dark space outside the large glass porthole on one side of the corridor. At this time, the fleet was sailing smoothly in the solar system. All the warships had just left Terra Lion's Gate Airport and were now preparing to pass through the Elysium Gate near Uranus to enter the subspace.
Speaking of the capital's defense system...
Fu Qinghai squinted his eyes and looked into the distance, facing the direction of the sunlight. He could vaguely see a small dot shining with golden light in the space between Terra and Venus.
Phalanx space fortress.
That's right, the Imperial Fists' chapter fortress monastery, the famous space fortress Phalanx, which should have been an important part of the human empire's capital's defense system, perhaps even the most important part, was absent from the battle throughout.
The Phalanx had suffered several damages during the Horus Heresy. The rebels boarded the space fortress several times and summoned demons inside the fortress. Fu Qinghai's old acquaintance, the Devil Prince of Destruction Storm Samus. These damages caused several of the Phalanx's berthing ports to be unusable and a large number of weapon systems to fail. In the past thousand years, these damages have not only not been repaired, but have even spread to other areas.
Therefore, when the Battle Moon descended over Terra's orbit, the Phalanx was urgently transferred to the space between Terra and Venus to avoid the risk of facing the Battle Moon directly, and the space fortress planned to defend Terra was evacuated first.
Some people may wonder, from 31K to 32K, a thousand years have passed, why has the human empire still not repaired the Phalanx in such a long time? The reason is very simple, because this space fortress was not built by the human empire at all.
The Phalanx was discovered by Rogal Dorn in the orbit of the home planet Invit. It is a technological relic left over from the Dark Age of Technology. The Imperial Fists can control the Phalanx, but they do not know the operating principles of many of its areas and functions. It is a complete black box, so they do not know how to repair it after it is damaged. Moreover, the technological level of the human empire has continued to slowly decline over the past thousand years.
The Phalanx is just a microcosm.
Just like Lucifer Blackguard.
Fu Qinghai stared blankly at the small shining dot in the deep sky. It reflected the bright golden sunlight. However, the shining light could not cover up the gloomy and decayed atmosphere behind it.
Who can stop the decline of the human empire?
Me? Wangerich? Or Vukan?
Fu Qinghai shook his head and laughed silently.
He retracted his gaze and returned to the captain's room.
……
"We are about to pass through the gate of bliss."
A few hours later, the magnetic and pleasant voice of Chief Navigator Tracy sounded on the battleship radio as promised:
"All crew members, get ready."
……
A few days later, according to the route planned by the chief navigator, the huge fleet once again emerged from the subspace. The warships tore through the curtain of reality and appeared one after another in a certain empty and dark space in the universe, and began to assemble and reorganize their formation.
"Sublight speed for twenty-one hours."
Tracy gave orders in the navigator's tower.
Warp jumps are rarely continuous, as conditions in the warp are constantly changing, and warships occasionally need to return to the real universe to avoid turbulent psychic currents. When to jump in and out is decided by the navigator.
"Well……"
Fu Qinghai just stretched.
"Khan, Bosimonde requests to see you."
The hatch opened and Qing Ming appeared and said.
"Hmm? Please ask him to come in."
Fu Qinghai was stunned for a moment in confusion.
"He invites you to his flagship, my lord."
Qing Ming said as he stood at the door of the cabin.
"What does it mean?"
Fu Qinghai said as he stood up.
……
Because of the time and space distortion properties of the subspace, the huge fleet continues to break through the reality veil one after another, and the warships that arrive first must wait for the subsequent warships to arrive.
At this time, a Thunderhawk gunboat flew out from the boarding deck of the battleship HMS Rectification, turned around and flew towards another battle barge anchored not far away, the battleship HMS Abomination, slowed down and slowly entered the other party's open boarding deck.
……
The Abomination, Captain's cabin.
Led by five Space Marines in black and white armor, three Space Marines in black and gold armor strode through the aisle of the battleship. If you pay attention to the details, you will notice that the three Space Marines in black and gold armor walking behind are obviously more than half a head taller than the five Space Marines in black and white armor in front.
The hatch slid open.
Fu Qinghai thought he would see many chapter leaders of the Final High Wall, but unexpectedly, there was only Poseidonde sitting alone behind the desk in the captain's room.
Even Kurland was not there.
"Qingshan Khan, welcome to my flagship."
The Grand Marshal of the Black Templar stood up to greet him.
"Why did the Grand Marshal come to see me alone this time?"
Fu Qinghai looked across the empty captain's room and asked. Bosimonde's personal cabin was very plain, even a little shabby, which was in line with most people's stereotype of the Black Templar ascetics and crusaders.
"Answer a question in my mind."
Bosimonde said with a serious face:
"It's a question that has been bothering me for a long time."
Bosimonde's face was a combination of ugliness and horror. Half of his face was embedded with an iron-gray metal mask and a white plastic fake eye, and the flesh and blood on the other half of his face looked like a wax figure that had been melted by fire and then solidified again. Severely burned skin hung on his cheekbones, and saliva kept flowing out from the side of his cheek with a hole in it. It was so creepy when viewed from close up.
"Appreciate further details."
Fu Qinghai spoke calmly.
Behind Fu Qinghai, the think tank director Danzhuer stared deeply at Bosimond's face and said nothing.
"Please come with me."
Bosimonde raised his hand to signal.
The three followed him into the depths of the cabin.
"Khan, his face was burned by psychic flames. Conventional plastic surgery can't heal it, but I can."
A voice sounded in Fu Qinghai's heart.
Fu Qinghai recognized it as Tenzin'er's voice.
The damage caused by psychic energy may be rooted in genes or even souls, and often only another psychic energy can repair it. The Bright Feather School, one of the five major schools of the Thousand Sons Legion, is a master of using psychic energy to tamper with flesh and blood, whether it is the enemy's or one's own. Danjur also knows the spells of the Bright Feather School, and he is confident that he can repair the horrible disfigurement scars on Bosimonde's face.
Fu Qinghai shook his head imperceptibly.
Tenjur may understand psychic powers.
But he didn't understand the Black Templars.
The Black Templars are the most psychic-averse warband, bar none. They see psychic power and mutation as symbols of uncleanliness, and the Black Templars do not have a think tank. Apart from the astropaths and navigators necessary to maintain the fleet's navigation, the Black Templars' fleet does not have any other psychic-related units.
The biological psychic spells might indeed be able to heal the wound on Poseidon's face, but before the other party took the initiative to ask or request, Fu Qinghai did not want to offend these fanatical space crusaders. Fanatics were not easy to communicate with, and some of the Black Templar's behaviors were very demonic.
Vera mentioned that in the original novel, after the Black Templars landed on the battle moon, they saw some strange human captives with long legs. They came from a low-gravity world. As a result, the Black Templars shot these long-legged humans without saying a word, because they thought they were all dirty and evil mutants, but in fact, the long-legged people belonged to the human classification category in the "Goldokin Purebred Manual" and were sub-humans like Ogryn and Ratling.
The Arbitrator of the Ministry of Justice, Haas, bravely stood up to stop the Black Templars from killing these long-legged human captives, which won him the support of the people and he became the new Minister of Justice after the war. Knowing this plot, Fu Qinghai repeatedly required all Space Marines to prohibit killing captives without authorization, which was actually meant for the Black Templars. He didn't want his coup to fail because these religious fanatics destroyed the image of Astartes in the minds of the people.
Bosimondo didn't know that Fu Qinghai was secretly criticizing him.
He walked to a hatch at the back of the cabin.
Raise your hand and press the button next to the hatch.
The door to the weapons room slowly opened to both sides.
A jet bike sat there quietly.
Black paint with gold trim, a cool and handsome bow-shaped front, brown leather seats, black vector nozzles, and a row of neat radiator valves and exhaust pipes on both sides...
Isn’t this my Blue Falcon?
Fu Qinghai's eyes widened slightly.
Bosimonde caught the look on his face.
"So, legends are just legends after all, right?"
Bosimond stared into Fu Qinghai's eyes.
"The unholy armor that bound demons, the ability to fight to a draw with the Emperor's champion, the ability to fight in and out of the Spirit of Vengeance... these are just legends, not real things that happened."
Bosimond still refused to believe it.
Even if the Space Marine in the legend appeared in front of him alive, he would rather tell himself: They just look alike, it is very normal for facial features to be similar in the inheritance of gene seeds; they just have the same ritual scar carved in the same position on the face, the descendants of the White Scars have this tradition; they just happen to have the same name...
"Didn't you keep a video of the duel?"
Fu Qinghai sighed with regret:
"Those were three very exciting duels, so exciting and memorable that I still get goose bumps every time I think about it. It was my honor to duel with the Emperor's Champion, the Black Swordmaster. Every Space Marine should watch that duel over and over again. It will benefit you a lot."
Bosimonde's expression gradually became stiff.
He admitted it, he admitted it.
"I'm sorry I couldn't save Sigismund."
Fu Qinghai looked at Bosimond with pity, patted his shoulder, and walked past him to the weapons room.
"What I regret more is..."
Fu Qinghai stroked his jet motorcycle:
"The traitor was not killed."
…………
"About to leave the warp."
The pilot's voice sounded again.
"All crew members, get ready."
"Countdown, ten, nine, eight..."
The ship paused heavily, and the giant bow proudly pierced through a torn and shaking light film that seemed to be real, and sailed from the bizarre sea of souls to the star-studded black void. The joint fleet successfully arrived at Mandeville Point in the Cauldra system.
As soon as they returned to the real universe, the crew of the battleship Supremacy became busy. All detection arrays were turned on at full power, scanning the galaxy in front of them over and over again. Simple images of the planets were slowly taking shape in the holographic projection.
"Battle Moon Found!"
A mortal staff officer shouted.
"Coordinate location: Cordra star orbit."
"A high-energy reaction signal was detected inside the galaxy, and the similarity with the gravity storm weapon is 92.3%."
Another crew member also hurriedly reminded.
Fu Qinghai stood in front of the strategic platform on the bridge, looking solemnly at the holographic projection in front of him that was repeatedly sketching and filling in details: the Orc satellite was parked next to a planet, and scattered tiny broken light spots were constantly drifting from the surface of the planet to the battle moon. This was a picture simulated by the detection array, and the real situation might be a hundred times more terrifying than what was seen in the holographic projection. These tiny broken light spots, which were supposed to be the components of the planet, were now constantly peeling off and rising into the air...
What are you doing this time?
Fu Qinghai frowned and fell into deep thought.
…………